Year: 1983; Place: Shillong, India
The year was 1983, a few months into our marriage. We were young, newly married and spontaneous. Well, one of us was, and it wasn’t me. My hubby was a veterinarian serving as an officer in the Indian Army. He was posted in Assam (land of lush tea gardens) and I, while completing my studies, had joined him for a short period.
One fine day off, we decided to visit Shillong, a beautiful hill station known for it’s well manicured gardens, lake and waterfalls. As the daylight turned into dusk we figured it was wise to stay the night. There was one problem though. We had no booking anywhere. Since there was a huge army station here we thought accommodation would be easily available for us.
We found our way through the large grounds of the army headquarters straight to the officers’ mess. As my hubby talked to the officer, I watched a worried look appear on his face and knew we were out of luck. It turned out there was a big event happening and all the rooms were taken.
Now what? We had no idea. As we began to walk back we noticed a gentleman jogging in shorts and sneakers. Ravi politely got his attention and explained our situation. We were hopeful he may be able to suggest an accommodation somewhere close by. After listening to our dilemma he simply said to follow him. He began walking swiftly and we followed right behind towards the same army headquarters. He went inside the office and came out quickly.
“Please go see the officer inside,” he told us as he jogged into the distance. We looked at each other and walked inside.
“Please follow me, Sir” said the officer. We followed without a question. He lead us through the gardens towards a beautiful British style building and up the stairs. He opened the door to an elegantly decorated, spacious suite. “This is yours for the night, Sir.”
“What”, … we looked at him, then each other. We both had one question. “Who was that gentleman?”
“That was the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the Shillong area army unit and this is our Presidential Suite opened only at his command.”
We were literally grounded, more like frozen. How was this possible? How amazing! What a gentleman. How could we say thank you? As we both struggled and contemplated different thoughts and questions, “Enjoy your evening, Sir”, said the office and walked out.
We closed the door and danced around in awe with our hearts full of gratitude and relief. Almost 40 years later we remember this act of kindness, from a total stranger, as if it happened yesterday. To this day we send him our gratitude with a wish to maybe meet him one day. Such is the impact of kindness.
Have you ever been that man in the shorts and sneakers for anyone?
With love,
Devinder 💖
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