A Stranded Biker, Karma and An Irony Called Life

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

A Stranded Biker:

This was like any other weekday evening where I had to ride the 12 km back home from office. Having started around 7 pm, I had to wade through heavy evening traffic and drive through a 5 km stretch of National Highway before I reach the area where I live. This was around one of the days my pulsar (Motorbike) needed a service, so I was running it on a limited ration of petrol. I knew the current stock would last about 15 kms so rode around like everything was cool. It was exactly when I diverted from the main road to the highway that my bike gave me a jerk indicating I might be running low on fuel; well I was still sure it would last the distance till the gas station. 

It was exactly 1 km later that my bike gave up and wouldn't accept to continue. The nearest exit from the highway was 1.6 km ahead and I had no idea how far the gas station was from there. Started doing the only thing I could under these circumstances, push my bike for the 1.6 km journey towards the highway exit. Now it was befitting to call me "A Stranded Biker".

Karma:

Well, I'm a person who would offer anyone a bit of help if it was within my bounds. I would'nt hesitate even if it was a stranger and even if I have to go out of my way to do it. Like today on 2 occasions, I offered a couple of strangers a lift and drop to their destination. It does feel good to help a random stranger, try it sometimes. I do have a problem in seeking help though, but none of that mattered now while I was on the highway pushing my bike towards the exit and the next gas station. A thought did cross my mind if someone would stop by to offer me help of any kind, but who would be stupid enough to stop cruising at 80km/hr on this highway just to help a stranger. So this thought didn't stick around for long. It was after sometime that I finally exited the National Highway and was now asking directions to the nearest gas station. One gentleman suggested it was around a km further down this road. I stopped by to inform my sister about the delay in reaching home and was about to resume pushing the bike when another young man came by; he must have been in his mid-20s casually dressed. This is how our conversation went:

Mr. A: Any Problem sir ??

Me: Yep, I ran out of gas.

Mr. A: Do you need my help, I could lend you a few ml of petrol

Me: Why not, but I ain't carrying any container to transfer the petrol.

Mr. A: Don't worry about it, I have a bottle. 

He leaked a few ml petrol from his bike into a small bottle, and offered to drop it into my pulsar's tank. Looked like he carried the bottle just for this purpose, needless to say I was surprised. He assured me that this amount of petrol would last another couple of kms just about enough to reach the gas station. I didn't know how to thank this gentleman, so decided to pay for the petrol. He politely declined and requested me not to price-tag his favour. I felt a little embarassed and just verbally thanked him and shook hands. He introduced himself as Anand and told me to return his favour by helping strangers in future and parted by quoting; "It's a good feeling to help strangers and you'll like it, I make it a point to help 1 stranger per day". Today I was his stranger :-).

I have helped countless strangers in the past, even if they were all trivial things and today my Karma paid off. A stranger volunteers to help me and bring me out of my misery; this is an event that reaffirmed my belief in kindness unlimited and I will continue to do it even more so. In a way adding on to my "Karma".

An Irony Called Life:

So my bike took off, thanks to the little ounce of petrol Mr. Anand offered, and I was on my way to the nearest gas station. After a few minutes ride, I did spot a gas station at a distance and had a smile on my face that I'd finally be making it. Here I was riding my bike into the gas station and asked the gas station guy to fill in some petrol. He smiled, politely declined and said "This gas station serves only diesel !". Now I had a wry smile on my face that quoted, this is "An Irony Called Life".