I Hesitated to Care

It has been raining in Bangalore for the last one week or so. The day starts with a bright sun, a hot noon, and then around 4pm, clouds gather in the sky. It starts drizzling around 6pm and sometimes rains heavily till late in the night. This causes problem for the people who travel on two-wheeler. They have to not only brave the rain but also flooded roads that are full of pot-holes.

One of my colleague, Senthil is just one of them. He comes to office on his Bajaj Discover. Due to rain he has been getting wet daily while going home. In addition, he had been forgetting to get his rain-jacket from home. On two occassions, he told me about this forgetfulness of his.

Next day while I was getting ready to come to office, I just remembered Senthil. It just occurred to me that I can call him at the moment and remind him about bringing his jacket to office. But I also thought that today he himself will remember to bring his jacket. And calling him will cost me Rs 1.20. So why bother? Just then, I remembered a quote that I had read on a blog: "If you care, people notice".

It stuck me at once. And next moment I sent a message from my mobile (which costs Re 0.70) to Senthil that he should not forget his jacket. What happened next was unexpected. Senthil called me up just to convey his thanks for reminding him.

I realized that even though I had hesitated to 'care' for him, he had not hesitated to 'care' for me. It was a lesson. He could have as well thanked me after coming to the office. But he chose not to delay it. The call costed him Re 1.00. But he did not think about it at all. It is a lesson for me about caring towards others.

It did not rain that evening.