The feel-good factor

There is something about an early morning punya that leaves you with a feel-good factor from within. I realised that this morning. My sister had come home from Kolkata for the weekend, and she had to return to Kolkata this morning. The train to Kolkata leaves Asansol station at thirty past five in the morning, so it was probably after three weeks that I got up at four-thirty (the last time I had done that was the last time sister had left home for Kolkata). After dropping her off at the station by car, I had only just left the station premises when I noticed the space between two dividers in the middle of the road (that allows for a U-turn) covered with shreds of wind-shield glass. Someone must've suffered an accident last night, I thought, and shook my head. Then something struck me: I had passed this very spot only moments ago, and I had not spotted the glass on the road; it was unmissable. Then I saw the wind-shield itself; broken in many parts, the smaller ones having been shredded and strewn all over the place. And there was the auto-rickshaw, the right hand side of its front end dented in on itself, standing in the miidle of the road, blocking it. I slowed down, and caught sight of this bleeding man, barely able to stand on his feet, blood oozing from the top of his eyebrows, where there was a deep gash into which a piece of glass must have gone in. Something made me stop, and rush out of my car. I wasn't fully aware of my actions. I hurried up to him and noticed he was about my older brother's age. I asked him, "Where are you going?" I later realised it was a stupid question to ask, but like I said, I wasn't fully aware of what I was doing. "I was going to office, but now I must go home.", the man managed to croak back, doubled over in pain. I told him I'd take him to the hospital, but he said, again in a strained voice: "Please take me home, I don't think I need to go to the hospital."

Without further ado, I seated him in my car, gave him a sterile swab from the first aid kit, and drove off. Taking directions from him, I reached him home, where his parents were already out and waiting for him, having been informed in advance. They thanked me profusely, and then I drove off home.

Any thoughts I had had of going back home and catching up with my sleep vanished on my way back. I reached home, and found myself wanting to do more: help anybody out for anything. For want of anything else to do, I started giving my bike a thorough cleaning.

I have found, in the past, that a good deed here and a good deed there leaves you with a warm feeling from inside. But the timing of this particular incident, and the peculiar feeling inside to do more; to be of help to another person, be so who he/she may, made me think. IS there some truth in the old saying after all: that an early morning punya makes your day worth living? Is that why old men used to feed pigeons early in the morning? Maybe..