Unlike the two stories narrated by me earlier in this series
the story I am going to narrate here was told to me by someone whom I can rely
upon. The incident narrated below might not have occurred exactly in the manner
described by me, but the essence is not likely to be biased in any manner.
This story is about a brilliant village boy (I will refer to
him as ‘the village boy’ from now onwards), about 18-19 years of age, who after
studying up to 12th Standard was targeting to clear a competitive
examination for admission into one of the prestigious colleges that award
professional degrees. We can say that a success in securing such an admission
amounted to becoming eligible, rather being certain of getting jobs with high
salary brackets. In a country like India almost all of the young students dream
of it.
The village boy had tried earlier to clear the examination, but missed
by a narrow margin. This was his last attempt and all his hopes were pinned on
this eventful day, the day of the examination, which was the day when something
very unusual happened.
He started early from his village on a motorbike to reach the
city about 28 kilometers away to reach in time at the examination center.
Instead of going by the main road he took a diversion to visit an old ‘Hanuman’
temple to pray for his success in the examination. When he was about to reach
the temple, he saw a man lying on the road in a pool of blood and a man
standing near him. He reached the spot. That was an accident; some fast moving
vehicle had hit the man lying on the road. This diversion was not frequented by
the usual traffic; otherwise, possibly, some help could have been made
available. The man standing there was a villager who had been passing through
that road just by chance. The villager told the village boy that he had not
witnessed the accident and had only stopped to help the wounded man. He asked
the boy to help in carrying the wounded man to a hospital at the outskirts of
the city. Someone was needed to hold the wounded man on the motorbike and the
villager was ready to help.
The village boy did not know what to do in those
circumstances. If he tried to help, there was only a remote chance that he
would be able to reach the examination center in time. The chances of driving
up to the main road and fetching some help were remote as almost all the
vehicle owners avoid getting involved in accident cases; further, not being on
the site of the accident could have made it easier for them to keep themselves
away from an unknown problem. A wicked thought of making a false promise to the
villager who was ready to help (hereinafter, we will call him ‘the helpful
villager’) of bringing help from the main road and running away from the scene
flashed in his mind, but was immediately demolished by another thought that it
might invite a strong disapproval from the Lord Hanuman; as, then, he would
have not only avoided Lord Hanuman whose temple he was committed to visit
before the examination, but also the badly wounded man who was in dire need of
his help. The thought of leaving the wounded man and visiting the temple did
not occur to him; perhaps, his conscience was aware that no God ever accepted
prayers from the one that selfishly avoids helping others whose needs are
comparatively more pressing than that of the one who prays. His mind thought of
everything, his past, his present and the future within virtually no time.
Unable to find any solution for satisfying both the needs together, of the
wounded man and that of his own, he remembered Lord Hanuman and asked Him to take
control. He quickly told his problem to the helpful villager and decided to
carry the wounded man to the main road and ask for help from some
drivers/passengers of four wheelers, as that would have been safer and quicker.
What he failed to imagine was that any help was unlikely to two
unknown individuals carrying a profusely bleeding person on a motorbike.
Finding no help, he continued driving in the direction of the hospital.
Finally, they reached the hospital. Had the help extended by some passers-by to
a person wounded in a road accident merely involved bringing him to the
hospital and handing him over to the authorities there, the village boy could
have perhaps managed to reach the examination center being only that much later
as to permit him to take the examination on humanitarian considerations.
But,
that was not to be; according to the hospital staff the case necessitated information
to the police department. That was done and the police acted quickly. They
immediately decided to detain the village boy and the helpful villager for
further inquiries. The village boy showed his admit card and sought permission
to leave immediately. When the police officer did not agree despite the helpful
villager expressing his willingness to be detained alone, the village boy
offered that a constable could accompany him to the examination center and keep
a watch on him till he completed his papers; and promised to surrender after
the examination. The police officer had only one argument that if the
examination was that important for the village boy why at all he ‘wasted’ his
time in bringing an unknown wounded man to the hospital. The boy tried to
argue, but humanity at times, perhaps, needs a proof that it does not have. The
boy’s fate was sealed and signed by the police officer on duty. The boy had no
resources or contacts even to manage a detention at the examination center.
Having lost all hopes the boy along with the helpful villager decided to attend
to the wounded man voluntarily, of course, under detention by the state police.
After about 35 hours the wounded man was not only out of
danger, but also gave his statement absolving both the detainees. He gave his
address and asked the village boy to inform his family members. The hospital
staff was sorry about what had happened to the village boy, but the police officer
maintained that he did his duty.
The one who narrated this incident to me had no information
about what happened to the promising career of the village boy. He, however,
told me that the old Hanuman temple referred to in the story was renovated with
the initiative of the man who had met with the accident. He also told that the
said temple had become very popular among students of nearby villages. I did
not ask him why.
[This series is being written and presented by Promod Kumar
Sharma, the author of “Mahatma A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” &
“In Search of Our Wonderful Words”. This series shall be published only on this
site.]
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