Helping unknown family

(Another page from my father’s life)

My father was an idealist and had no hesitation in helping anyone. Helping an unknown family was a common practice for him. I remember my mother narrating me this story. Amma has always mentioned his character of sharing. Regardless of how little he had, he would not be satisfied unless it was shared with at least four others. Throughout his life, my father has always shared and helped everyone without question. This is one of the traditions that we brothers carry forward too.

The story was funny in ways as you will find out soon. This was back in the ’90s. We lived in Raghavavari palem, a small village. Everyone in the village knew everyone else as is the case with every village in India even today. My father was known as a just and fair man among all the villagers. As a matter of fact, people came to him for solutions as his decision-making skills were excellent. I wish I could inherit his intellect and experience.

One day he was going about his paddy field related travel. In those days walking was the main way to go through places. And I remember, my father used to walk even through the forests, sometimes for more than 20 kms in a single stretch. Now a days, we use our MI fit to count our numbered steps. Back to the story, that day as he was walking through the village road, he saw this family of four by the road side. He had never seen this family in the village before. And their looks suggested that they were distressed.

Seeing someone unhappy made my father stop and enquire what the matter was. The family told my father that they had been robbed and were stranded. As a result, they had no money to return to their village. Due to this situation, they were worried and wondering how they would return home. Their only option was to beg. Therefore, they asked my father to help them.

After hearing them, my father immediately brought the family to the village. The family shared the story with everyone in the village. Listening to the story, everybody poured their hearts out and together they raised money. Some even contributed the 5o paises (one rupee made 100 paise) they had. Finally, they counted the money and realized that they were short of four hundred rupees. Moreover, in those days four hundred rupees was a huge amount of money. Father ran back home and took money from his long-term savings which was approximately about four hundred. He returned and donated his savings without any hesitation.

The family of four thanked everyone in the village for their kindness with grateful tears in their eyes. Everybody in the village was just as happy to help that family. Anyhow, with the money the family continued their journey back home. The villagers returned to what they were doing and my father carried on with his routine.

A few days later, one of our villagers visited another village some twenty kilometers away. As soon as he came back, he reported seeing the same family of four narrating the story to the villagers there. It was then that everyone realized that the family was an imposter and that they had made a bogus performance deceiving everyone, including my father! Although he lost his savings, Amma said that she never remembered him worrying about it, even though he had been defrauded and cheated.