In our culture, ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ or ‘A guest is akin to God’ holds immense value. Hence, we treat our guests with the utmost respect, feed them delicious food and often ask them to spend the night at our house. Even those who come to visit our country from foreign lands are, more often than not, met with kind-hearted people who go out of their way to make their stay comfortable and memorable.
Similarly, Parminder Singh, who is the ex-MD of Google, took to Twitter to share the story of his kind cab driver. The driver had dropped them at the Delhi Airport and they forgot to pay him. However, when Singh realised this later, he desperately called the cab driver and asked him how he would pay him.
To this, the cab driver said, “Koi baat nahi, phir kabhi aa jayenge”. This roughly translates to, “Don’t worry. Pay me next time you come.” The man had realized that Singh doesn’t live in Delhi.
“We eventually paid him and learnt decency exists,” Singh wrote. Have a look at his tweet here:
The soft spoken cab driver dropped us at Delhi airport. We walked off without paying. Desperately called to ask how to pay & he replied, ‘Koi baat nahi, phir kabhi aa jayenge’. Won’t even tell the amount. He knew we don’t live here. We eventually paid him & learnt decency exists.
— Parminder Singh (@parrysingh) December 3, 2022
Upon reading this, several other people took to the comments section to narrate similar tales of public transport drivers who made their journeys memorable. Some claimed that kindness is infectious and that it goes around the world in a loop. Have a look:
This is great. It happened once with me in mumbai we walked out engaged in talk forgetting it’s mumbai not police car in Punjab. For cab drivers soft skills I returned paid him 10% extra.I still feel how soft skill influence. Most cab drivers are v good.
— Gurinder Dhillon IPS (@gurinipspb) December 4, 2022
Once I took a cab from the airport. Got caught in traffic. In danger of missing my evening prayer I decided to offer it in the cab. On getting down, I paid him d agreed sum. He insisted on returning half d sum, saying, ‘Aapne ne namaz padhi. Gadi pak ho gayi’. He was a Sikh guy.
— ziya us salam (@ziyaussalam) December 5, 2022
Delhi Dil vaalo ki..
Same Incident happened with me
But that time he was cycle riksha vaala.
I was in rush to Metro
During the ride he was so humble & civil-spoken.
I forgot to pay him.
i am still in debt of that 15 rupees.— Manish Sisodiya (@manish_sisodiya) December 4, 2022
We often hear about the good & bad experiences of travelers while visiting India. And your positive experience gets me thinking about how the smallest act of kindness can shatter the stereotypes & biases we have built only in mind.
— Naveen Maheshwari (@Naveen_ALLEN) December 5, 2022
In this, our India, millions of such “acts of decency” happen every day.
It’s just that we don’t hear about them, coz our media, without exception, concentrates mainly on the negative, the controversial, and the horrific !— Daraius Ardeshir (@DEArdeshir) December 4, 2022
Really its surprising but not unusual in #India.The sense of hospitality is within the Indian culture itself. My love and regards to both Mr. Singh and the decent #CabDriver.
“Atithi Devo Bhava”— Partha Banerjee🇮🇳 (@ParthaB34769052) December 5, 2022
Ya it does, a gentleman in a crowded popular event signaled that a single chair next to him is available. He didn’t have to, he just did….decency also spreads like fire, I offered him my prepaid card so that he didn’t have to queue to buy card to pay for snacks.
— Sandeep Bhogra (@SandeepBhogra) December 4, 2022
This makes me so proud of the people of our country!