Good Deed for the Day

We used to perform this daily chore in school - compile a list of good deeds we've done every single day and note them down in our 'moral science' notebook; then sketching a few flowers, butterflies and confetti next to the same as 'decorations'. Didn't we try our best? Be it helping out mom in the kitchen or helping Uncle George with his heavy shopping bags to his 4th floor apartment, we were all at our spiffiest best. But the days of yore are long gone. Soon we became immersed, and then one with the all-devouring madness of this chaotic city. "I don't have the time yaar!" is the most perfunctory pretext everyone's hurriedly mouthing. On one such manic day when spare time was on its usual business of evading me, I was suddenly stopped in my breakneck stride by a man. An old man. Now this is probably going to sound too storybookish/ Ekta-Kapoorish/ much ado about nothing etc. etc.... but I did the oldest good deed in the book today. No prizes for guessing which one... yeah... I helped him cross a busy road this evening. "Will you help me, beta? I can't walk fast," he said. Naturally, I awww-ed and oooh-ed in my head (Finally! Someone thinks I am capable enough and my twiggy-self won't just collapse halfway down the road) and agreed instantly. Holding my hand and trusting me, he slowly followed me, doddered a bit and crossed the road. No shrill sitar/trumpet sounds in the background, no thumping claps, no streaks of tears generated by the old man/bystanders (what did I think this was... some '80s Bollywood flick?). Instead, he simply had this grateful look on his face that I kept with me for the remainder of the day. Placing his wrinkled hand on my head and face, he repeatedly said, "Ganpati bappa tujhe aashirwaad de!"

Amazing isn't it.. how small, seemingly inconsequential things like these can make you gloriously happy for the rest of the day?

So, if you want to know the true effect of performing a 'good deed' for someone on yourself, its simple. Just look up the dictionary meaning for 'happiness'.

Oh, and prefix 'ultimate' to it.