Another one...

A couple of months back when I wrote this, I had vowed to come up with at least one more stab at this topic... S reminded me of this today and here we go... 


On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to the Chennai station... Although it was really dark, the lamp post shed enough light that Roshan Arumugam, the station master at Chennai station, could see that it was a small boy desperately trying to cover himself with a visibly inadequate and a dirty shawl... 


The sight took him 25 years back when another kid lay on the footpath of this very city... Having lost his parents to a cholera epidemic back in his village of Kumbakonam, his only means of survival lay in going to the city and earning a living, or so the elders in the village said... 


But easier said than done... Even after coming to the city, the kidstruggled for survival... No one was ready to give a 10 year old boy any job, and anyone who was kind enough to give a job was cruel enough to pay only in form of a square meal... No money, no home and the torrential rains made it worse... After suffering from fever for 3 days without medication and a morsel to eat, he lay there on the bench forlorn and devastated, fearing the worst... 


Thats when Gopalji saw him... Walking back home from his night school duty, Gopal Arumugam saw a kid lying on the bench doomed to die, and he took him under his shelter, literally... Gopalji , virtually gave him a new life... He gave him a home, gave him a chance to study in his night school and most importantly, gave him a reason to live... Gopalji guided him at every junction of life and ensured that every turn at that junction was in the right direction... Eventually, that kid became an independent young man and today thoroughly deserved the station master's chair at the Chennai railway station... 


So today, when Roshan Arumugam saw another kid in a similar state, it was very easy to make the decision... He decided to take the kid home, just like Gopal ji did to him... This was his chance to give back to humanity, what humanity had given to him -- a life... 


Roshan hurriedly ran across the tracks and held the kid closely in his arms... The moment he touched the kid, he could make out that the kid had high fever... The kid was very weak, and although not unconscious, barely able to utter a word... 


Roshan took him home, bathed him, fed him and gave him medication... After a couple of days of thorough care, the kid looked little better... When the kid woke up from his slumber, Roshan went to his room, gave the most gentle smile and asked the kid -- What is your name? 


From a pair of torn pink lips, popped the name -- Gopal... Roshan's smile said it all...