Pay it forward.

Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.

Amma lived by herself in her first-floor apartment and spent most of her time following the news on Door Darshan. She preferred the regular Door Darshan because the remote was easier to operate. She would step out to go and pick up her groceries, from the shops in the neighborhood. She lived in her private world and was comfortable with how she had set things up for herself. Most of the bills were scheduled for online payments and would automatically get deducted. The only time Amma required any assistance was when Tata Sky was set up. Chennai enjoys a pleasant climate in the months of November-December when it also rains there. And usually, Amma preferred to spend these months here, because she liked the climate. This year was no different. She insisted she wanted to stay there and enjoy the climate. And nothing would change her mind.

Then the cyclone hit. The freak rains wreaked havoc on the coastal city and flooded it. And this resulted in the usual chaos of ailments that sprout when there is a flood. Lots of Gastro cases and cholera cases started getting reported. It was around this time that we also started evaluating a few home-visit medical care facilities located in and around Chennai. We had short-listed one and when the city got flooded, we contacted them and booked a home visit for Amma. While they promised the Earth and the Moon and lots of stuff in between, they were unable to make it to her home for the scheduled visit. Amma who had not been convinced of their service initially used this as an excuse to discourage us from finalizing. That phone conversation was hilarious, where she kept taking off on the farce the medical center was. Amma has an amazing sense of humor and in less than five minutes she had us rolling on the floor in mirth and chuckling at this small victory, she hung up on us. Typically, we spoke once every couple of days, especially after crazy natural disasters like cyclones that cause flooding. A couple of days after this conversation, we kept reading about the stories of the flood waters not receding fast enough. Every conversation with Amma during this time, we sensed that something was amiss, but she refused to give details and we had no idea how to get more information. A couple of days passed and then we tried her number again, and it was picked up immediately. But it wasn’t her voice. Her neighbor, Mr Andrew answered the phone and informed us that Amma had stepped out of the building to get some groceries and had fainted. A person in a car driving by saw her fall, pulled over, and helped her back home. After a couple of hours of rest, when we spoke again, Amma confessed that she had been feeling slightly feverish but had just put it down to a regular viral infection and had gone about her work. And now she was feeling very faint. We informed her that we would be there in 6 hours. After we hung up, we called her neighbor Mr Andrew again and informed him that we were on the way to pick her up and to keep an eye out for her in case there were any emergencies.

It’s a 6-hour drive from where we were to where she was. And the plan was to drive there, pick her up, and drive right back. I did not go on this trip because the kids were small, and we would have to take a break if they were a part of the plan. She was with us in less than 12 hours. Amma got checked before she left home, and when she reached me, I also had her checked up at the hospital next door. Reassured that it was just extreme weakness brought on by her viral infection, she continued to recuperate while at home. After a couple of days of rest, while eating dinner we ended up discussing the incident as it unfolded.

She had just stepped outside the gate and was headed to the grocery store. And even before she took a step, she felt faint and fell. In less than 5 minutes, even before the security guard at her building could react, this random stranger had parked his car and stepped out to assist her. He almost carried her up the stairs and helped her with the door left her inside and called for the neighbor. When the neighbor came in, he instructed the neighbor to call a doctor and handed him the bag that Amma had on her arm and had left.

What random luck to have had him right at the gate as she stepped out. The security guard would have taken a few minutes to step up to help her, but he was aged himself, and would not be able to assist her as well as this stranger had. And in all honesty, no one would have blamed him if he did not stop his vehicle to help her. All I could do was chalk it up to a random act of kindness. We have been unable to identify this individual and have not thanked him personally for his timely assistance. But his act has encouraged us to pay it forward.