Being the best you

“The simple little qualities you possess are at times priceless.”

I just moved to Hyderabad for my academics. I have classes for a minimum of 6 to 7 hours and after that, I rest and then, I have to study up for the next day. So, nowadays I don’t get enough time to go around and pursue my passion. As most of you might know, I love photography. For those of you who don’t, I do love photography. I’m not going to ask you to follow me on Instagram. But, you know you can if you want to.

 Ok! So, coming back to the point. I got a day off on Ramzan. As, you know many there are a lot of Muslims in the city of Hyderabad. I thought it would be exciting to go for a photo walk on that day. I just wanted to get some beautiful pictures of those happy, god-loving and giving souls. I asked some of my friends to suggest me places. I got many suggestions and after some considerations, I decided to go to Necklace Road. Yeah! The name was kind of different. So, I took a bus to a bus station close to the place and hailed an Uber from there to get to this location. I got into the cab. The driver was a Muslim. So, I wished him and that broke the ice for us and so, as usual, I started a conversation with him. It is a really great experience to talk to cab drivers. They are from very different backgrounds. We can learn a lot of new and interesting perspectives on any matter. I’ll write about this on maybe my posts in the near future. Today calls for something more important.

So, as we were proceeding towards our destination and we were almost in the verge of reaching it. There was an amusement park on the right hand side of the road and we were on the left. The car in front of us was slowing down to turn towards the right and in to the park. So, my driver slows down and tries to go around it on the left hand side. There you have it. Typical Indian roadside tea shop and a few bikes parked there, blocking the way. So, my driver had to slow down a little more, by now, the car on the right had proceeded more than half way into the turn. So, my driver tries to go a little bit to the right to avoid the bikes and BAAMMM!! Good thing at the starting of the conversation, my driver asked me to wear the seat belt. This female driver behind us just accelerated in to the back of our car. If not for the seat belt, I would have definitely hit the dashboard. We instantly stopped and got down from the car. By now, I thought my driver would be furious. Well, to my surprise he was not. He was like, “Madam, I was moving slow only. How come you hit my car?” I was really surprised, because, we were really very slow. He was really polite. I couldn’t talk much, as I had a language barrier. I do not know Telugu. So, after a minute or so, he realized, that we were blocking the road and went and moved the car to avoid disturbing the traffic. So, I grabbed my bag from his car and He was like, “Sorry, bhaiya” in a very apologetic tone. I was spellbound! I was like, “It’s okay. It wasn’t your mistake.” I asked him to stop the trip and I had to pay him around 80 rupees. I gave him 200 rupees. He refused to take it at first. I told him, “Please, take it in the name of Ramzan. This is the least I can do for you.” Then, the traffic police arrived on the spot and were clearing things out. Anyway, I was not of any use there, without speaking the language. My driver was still very calm and respectful to the people who were on the other vehicle and to the police officers.

            So, there I was walking on a road which I have no knowledge about and pondering about this incident and this amazing person. I did not feel very content even after giving him an extra 100 rupees. I felt that he did not deserve this and also the day being Ramzan. So, I opened my Uber app and then gave him a five star rating and found this option of giving a reward to the driver and with a box for other details. So, I gave him an “expert navigator” reward and mentioned him being a good driver and this unfortunate incident happening to him and requesting any form of support from the company’s side. I then proceeded with my day. I got a lot of pictures and life went on.

Yesterday! Three days after this incident. I got a mail from Uber, saying that the issue has been resolved. The Uber executive went on to explain that my driver’s car was insured and that unlike most accident cases, the driver was not fired holding this as a reason, because of the customer feedback from me. Also, I got a refund for my trip, saying it was unfortunate for me to have undergone such an incident. Well, the feeling that my feedback actually helped him was enough to make my day. But, that was not it. My driver himself called me up too and thanked me for my feedback and if, I had reported it as an accident without the feedback, he would have lost his job. I responded only by saying, I do not deserve any thanks and that his patience, respectfulness to others and his belief in god had only rescued him from any bad happening.

I’m not saying the little thing that I did; the taking time to type in three sentences was the rescuer. But, even under such enormous amount of pressure and to keep his calm and still be respectful even to the culprit. Such qualities in a person. That is the game changer. These little qualities that he has developed of being humble and patient is what rewarded him.

As a human being, anyone would feel after such an incident that something like that should never happen to them. In my case, I just feel really happy that this incident happened to me in life. The force in the lessons that I have taken away from this incident is huge compared to the force I felt when the collision happened.

The lessons being these… It is not about the unexpected setbacks in life. It may not even be because of something you did or you are responsible for, but, it happens anyway. It is about how you respond to it. You need to be calm, patient, believing and fearless to find a way to overcome them. We need to learn to respect others. Put yourself in the other person’s place and ponder, would I be happy if I get treated this way. If he had sprung at the lady and shouted at her, she would not have obliged by accepting it to be her mistake and the incident would have been dragged on for years in the court, also he would have been unable to claim any insurance money without the case reaching a verdict.

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

______________________________________________________

I hope I have done justice to narrating this incident and also that all of you people got a worthy take away after having gone through this fortunate experience with me. Do share your remarks about my work and maybe your own relatable instances as comments. Thank you for taking time to read through.

Have a happy life.

Regards,

Nandha 😊