“I love cleaning cars”

At 2 in the afternoon – on a wednesday, while people in Ahmedabad are taking it easy, shops shut for the owners afternoon nap, my friends Neerad and Sheetal spot a 20 something year old boy smiling and singing away in his own world, while sparkling his owners car “The reason i say sparkle is because he did it with such concentration, cleaning the smallest of spots with a microscopic view, as if polishing a diamond” said Neerad. They were quick enough to notice the enthusiasm in his being. Surprised at this, they started chatting with him. And he immediately responded by saying “i love cleaning cars” Thats it! How amazing to be accepting something without reasoning it in anyway. His simplicity floored them, and they immediately requested him if he could clean their car. He was so excited! It was like a child with more toys to play

Neerad and Sheetal came home quickly with this little story of theirs and pointed me to the boy below our apartment cleaning their car. We were soon to add on another car for his enjoyment. It wasn’t so much about us getting our cars cleaned. It was more of the fact that he enjoyed it so much, that we wanted to step up the happiness for him.

And while we were still feeling good about our little act of kindness – and that ‘giving’ feeling, he decided to blow us by his act of service! A couple hours later he came home to give us the keys. I humbly thanked him and offered him some money as gratitude. He waved his hands in the air and said “i can’t take this. I just love cleaning cars!!” He quickly dissolved the ego of ‘giving’ inside me with his simplicity. Absolutely bowled by his reaction i tried to convince him to accept my offerring. But he suddenly started to ‘run’. He got into the elevator and left – and i found myself following him 2 floors down by steps to bring him back up, promising him that i won’t give him money. Rather i just wanted him to have a conversation with me. After a few minutes of this crazy adventure, i managed to bring him back home. I started asking him about his name, where he came from, what he did, et all. His name was Akash and belonged to a small village near Ahmedabad. He worked for one of our neighbors downstairs and lived with them in their other apartment in a nearby area. I was so touched by his humility. I thanked him for his gesture and introduced myself as a volunteer of service at the Gandhi Ashram, inviting him to interact with our community and friends. I took down his number and asked him if he could visit us again. Not knowing how to react, like a little child he responded that he could only come after the 16th since his owners were travelling

Before i could say something else, he started to run again! And i found myself following him again – to come back just one last time. I quickly run inside and get a bag of pistachios for him to share with his family. Thankfully he accepted them With the sweetest smile on his face and mine, we parted knowing that we would meet again.

In that moment, i didn’t know who was the giver and the receiver. As Nipun would say ‘Give, Receive, Dance’. Truly, all i could do was Smile and Dance!!

Posted by Meghna on Jan 13, 2012 | permalink