Making space - It is not what you have that matters, but rather what you are capable of sharing that makes you a bigger person.

 Making space

It is not what you have that matters, but rather what you are capable of sharing that makes you a bigger person.

The reporting time for my exam was given at 1pm and Shirin is standing at 12:34 sharp, at  the metro station struggling to find an auto. There is ample time for her to walk to the centre even, given she started 2h early for a 1:30 ETA journey. It is a rainy Sunday afternoon in Delhi and there isn't much footfall, neither inside the Metro station nor outside. 

The day was rather humid as expected, with a minot possibility of rains in evening. Rasika made a few failed attempts at finding herself an auto or cab whichever her app would find. Tired of recurrent app failures, she asked for directions, and that too was met with looks of confusion making her doubt her navigation. FInally, a kind juice vendor asked her to describe the location or read out the entire address, and was able to identify the road she wanted to visit. He guided her to the way for the road, over hearing which another rikshawpuller pulled up closer and asked,

“Madam aapka bhi paper hai kya aaj?”. Rasika was not entirely surprised as she was familiar with such instances where auto drivers would figure out the exam centre location and offer seemingly clueless aspirants a ride.

“Ji, ye plot number 5 old Palm road pe” 

“Madam hum le chalte hai, aap dekh lena sahi pata hai, abhi do aur madam wahi utaari hain sawaari” Rasika boarded the rikshaw and sat for her rickety ride. 

The view was a rather scorch for an observers eye. Rasika had only been to this area once a couple of years back, visiting yet another exam venue that was. This particular road had a metro bridge towering over the rickety old road flanked with farely new shops and old homes lined up together. In between a few empty plots served as warehouses andstables. With metro going over head and horses tied down below, this was like superimposing a black and white with a digital frame. Rasika was enjoying her scenic ride when she looked in the front at the rikshaw puller,a frail frame of a man shrouded in a white shirt which was worn to a faded yellow, somewhere in his late forties, aged beyond his years. She often felt an undescribable sadness seeing these hardworking souls, and just then she realized, she did not have any change for the fare.
“Bhaiya aap k pass paachsau ka khulla hoga”
“Nahi madam”
“Aap rastey mei kisi dukaan pe please rok dena, main chhuttey kara lungi”
“Thik hai” And the man went back to his rythm of paddling the carrier.

The rikshaw was at a decent pace given the hot weather and humidity. Passing by the entire main road, he did not stop only to yturn into a sparsely populated street leading to the location. Here, there were even lesser houses or any constructions to be seen. Vast plots being utilised as farmland could be seen sprinkled with industrial units erected in between and ofcourse cattle. Rasika was not sure if she could find any shops or a change for Rs500. She spotted a small super store standing alone in this vastness like a clown in a business seminar, totally out of place and completely deserted apart from the cashier and his uninterested attendant. Rasika walked in, looked around to a disaapointed stock with barely any goods. She scanned their cold storage and founs herself two tetra packs of fruit juice. Making the purchase and pocketing her change, she came out of the store, while the rikshaw puller patiently waited for her under the Babool tree outside the store. The weather was rather discomforting and she handed over one of the chilled juice packs to her human companion and sat back again. Shortly after, the rikshaw puller dropped her at her destination and left. 

He was used to of exam students being anxious and irritating but this passenger was different, weird nonetheless, but she seemed kind. He said a silent prayer for the young girl and went on his way. 

At the exam centre, Rasika knew there were no arrangements for baggage, but phone lockers would be made available. The exam committee had issued guidelines for students to show Arogya Setu App on their phones in order to be permitted entry to exam venue. Flouting social distancing norms the students were all stationed in front of the online exam venue. An industrial scale exam centre crammed between a woodwork shop and a mechanical warehouse with a busy road right in front of it, and flooded partially with the rains from last night. 

While lined up, rather packed one behind the other, Rasika spotted two friends of north east origin looking at her. Thanks to the face mask rule, people had lost faces and it was difficult to guess if the stranger next to you wanted to smile, give a complimet or simple scorn at you. Unsure, Rasika retracted a steps trying to not invade the space of those around he. When it was time to submit the belongings and Rasika moved closer to the help desk with only two people in front of her, she noticed the two girls from earlier struggling to stuff their bags one in the other. Being forced to proximity, Rasika could see the contents and feel the palpable struggle the two went through trying to fit their stuff in one bag. What surprised Rasika was their kind offer. 

It so turned out that the girls had spotted Rasika without any bags and wanted to offer her a pocket space to safely keep her phone. Rasika consulted the helpdesk and found a locker facility available on site for phones, but she was touched by the generous offer those two strangers made to her. They had struggled for space for thier own belongings and yet wanted to make some space to help out a stranger in need. Little acts of kindness are what keep this world from falling apart, and I thank those two unknown women for having offered support to a girl they thought could use help.