“Sir! My brother won’t be able to pick you up from the station as a massive fire has broken out in his house.”
My husband was shocked to hear the news. The first thing he asked the person was: “Is Babu okay? Is his family fine?”
It is a nightmare for a person to lose everything in their home. Babu is our first driver and a very kind and humble person. He never speaks much and never remembers routes though being a driver. I like him because of his peaceful nature and timeliness.
Recently a massive fire broke out in the slum area of our driver where 300 jhuggis burnt because of a cylinder blast. Many people lost everything from their degrees to money, lives, and even things saved for their daughters’ marriage and so much more.
What could I do other than feel sorry? I should donate blankets to them, but the idea looked too big. If Babu had been here, I would have asked him to buy and help me distribute them. But Babu was busy finding a new place for himself.
I called him up and asked him how he was. He replied he was fine, but everything other than one cylinder had turned to ashes. Babu saved one cylinder because had he left that cylinder, more jhuggis and lives would have been lost.
I transferred his salary, gave him extra to get new things for himself, and asked him to let me know if he needed anything else, which I could ask my friends to donate.
My heart felt better that I could at least do something, although who am I to do anything? I am just the medium.
Takeaway
Consider your employees as your family!
~ anamika