Simple Lessons from Unknown Places

Sandra

I met Sandra at Obdachlos Hilfe, a group which provided meals to the homeless people every Sunday. On one such Sunday I was busy setting up the table – arranging the plates, glasses, spoons, forks. Everyone organizing this meal were quite busy and worked up. However, I noticed Sandra’s gentleness in the way she arranged things. She was quite opposite to the existing rush we were in! The queue with destitute people was quite long. In a few minutes we opened the counter. The organizers asked them what food they wanted and served them accordingly. I noticed that unlike the rest, Sandra spent a few more minutes with each of the beneficiaries, and then finally asked them what they would like to have from the menu and served them with utmost respect. I wondered what she could possibly talk to these people from the streets. My curiosity was heightened and unknowingly throughout the time we were serving meals I kept noticing everything she was doing.

She had a beautiful, roundish face studded with jet black eyes hidden behind a pair of spectacles. She was tall, thin with her lovely long hairs left freely! She laughed without any inhibitions. She spoke to everyone as though they were her relative. Maybe this was the most striking quality I liked about her.

As we were clearing up for the day I was introduced to her. As soon as she knew I was an Indian, she was overjoyed. She told me about her Indian guru. She flaunted her Tulsi thread from around her neck, red thread on her hand. I just smiled at her, deep within I felt proud! We called it a day and anticipated to catch up the following Sunday.

From then on I got to know Sandra over many Sundays. She loved to cross her legs, smoke a cigarette and talk endlessly as we sat on the steps. We kept interacting over the homeless meals. Once I casually asked her, “What do you talk to these homeless people while serving them meals?” She replied, “I feel that their biggest disappointment is not being homeless, rather it is the ‘damage to their dignity‘. Every man has their own dignity. So I treat them as a human without defining any limits. I ask them what they did, how they felt, how they were doing”. Her response stunned me, as to me these people were always thought of as ‘homeless people‘.

Sandra was filled up with these lovely thoughts and every once in a while she would enlighten me. She loved India and used to say that even though India is chaotic but in the chaos there is peace. Her guru showed her the right from wrong and taught her to meditate. He changed her life and had improved the quality of her life. I never asked her what she did for a living nor did she mention it. We never worried about our personal details.

One Sunday she approached me with a weird request. The request was that if I knew where one can find cow dung cakes in Germany. Seeing my quizzical face, she explained that she was conducting a puja and the fire was lit using cow dung cakes. She had collected most of the puja articles, except for this. I told her I would let her know if anyone was coming from India.

She was always on her own terms, content with herself and made everyone around her happy. She accepted people with an open heart as they were.

Another Sunday, after we finished serving meals, I had to leave early so I turned to tell Sandra. I saw a man in disheveled clothes with an unbearable stench but more than his appearance it was his eyes, filled with despair. The face was drowning in deep sadness. Sandra immediately approached him and started speaking to him. His lips seemed to move but not one word came out. He seemed completely lost for words. Without speaking a word Sandra leaned forward and hugged him. She caressed his back as a mother would comfort her crying child. Slowly his face tuned alive and he started to talk. It was as though the clouds of sadness just vanished away. I kept wondering where she gets this ocean of love and care for everyone and anyone. How does she find a person in rags appealing?

For Sandra, a person’s caste, creed, religion, financial status did not matter. For her the dignity of a human life was more important. She was just this happy spirit ready to share her happiness to all who came her way.

That day as I left them behind, I was a changed person, changed by seeing someone transforming others life in small ways that matter at most.