One day I was working in my office. Just then my business associate came in to meet me. He was accompanied by an unfamiliar pregnant lady. I was puzzled by her presence. She looked anxious and tearful. She must have been under great pressure.
My friend introduced her and explained the reason behind their arrival. The lady was a belly dancer. She was an immigrant from a war-torn country and had lost her parents. As a lonely orphan in Dubai, she needed to connect with someone emotionally. One wealthy person took disadvantage of her upright nature and promised marriage. She trusted him and left her job. They got married.
One day the truth dawned. The cunning man divorced her after she became pregnant and vanished, leaving her alone. The lady was caught in a pitiful situation. She was penniless, jobless and helpless. She didn’t have any friends or relatives who would help her for her expenses. My business associate was a kind person. He himself helped her and sought more help from me. I sympathetically helped her. The lady didn’t utter a single word but at the time of leaving she said, “Sir, I am ordinary, but I assure you that one day I will repay your help. God bless you.” They both left. I soon forgot the incident.
A couple of years later I found myself in trouble. One of my stores was in a locality where a large number of immigrants from war affected countries lived. Their teenagers had a habit of playing football. The team would play the game in front of our store’s glass door. The football broke the glass and injured our customers frequently. We warned the boys but they refused to change. We registered a complaint with the police but since the boys were minors, the police couldn’t do anything more than giving warnings. I was worried about tackling the problem. I didn’t want conflicts.
One day when I was sitting in a restaurant, a graceful lady came to my table with a child and asked me if I recognised her. I shook my head. She reminded me of our meeting 2 years ago. She was the same belly dancer whom I had met. She asked if there was any problem. I first thought, “Why should I tell her my business problem?”-but suddenly I remembered that she was also an immigrant. With hope that she might know the parents of the vagabond boys, I told her my story. She smiled and promised to resolve my problem.
Next day a wonder happened. A police van appeared in the area and the troublemakers were driven to the lock-up. The police released the boys only after their parents gave a written assurance about their children’s behaviour. When I thanked the lady and asked how she could manage this, she answered, “Sir, I know the police chief. I called him and related your problem. He took the suitable steps. Sir, when it was your turn, you showed compassion. Now it is my turn.”
There are some things like relations and compassion and which are priceless. How true is a quote by Albert Schweitzer, a humanitarian – The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.
By: Dhananjay Mahadev Datar, CMD, Al Adil Group, UAE Bahrain,Oman Saudi Arabia & India.