कैसे भुलाऊँ अंकल मैं आपको

Anonymous

THESE words hold unfathomable meaning. It's very true that you never know who can be your savior. In the days of terrorism, my savior turned out to be a handicapped person, who not only stood beside me in biting cold for two hours, but also walked 5 kms with me.

In 1990s, when the terrorism was at its peak, I had boarded the last train from Ludhiana to Dhuri. A 15-years-old boy, I was awfully tired. Yielding to the sleep, I stole a nap at the last station of Dhuri, Himmatana. As the train chugged towards Sangrur, I was in deep sleep.

As I descended on the Sangrur platform, I noticed only 10 to 12 people were my platform companions. A chill ran down my spine when I realized I was alone in alien land with terrorism at peak and no one to rely on. In those dreaded days of terrorism, when one could not believe even one's own shadow, that strange "uncle" came as my savior.

I decided to try my luck boarding any truck going from Sangrur to Dhuri. On stepping outside the railway station, I saw an old sardarji uncle standing by. I narrated him the whole story and asked for way towards Sangrur bypass road, from where I can get on some vehicle bound for Dhuri. He cleared that I wont get any help so late at night, but if fortunate, can hop on a petrol tanker and reach Dhuri.
We reached the octroi post in that biting cold and stood for two hours. My legs started aching badly and it seemed that cold crawled under my flesh. But that uncle ji stood battling against the chilly winter.
When all the hopes of boarding a vehicle for Dhuri faded away, uncle ji suggested that we should go back to his home. "You can stay at my place tonight and board train to Dhuri tomorrow morning," he suggested. Caught up in a piquant situation, I had no option but to follow his advice.

We started walking away from the octroi. On the way to his home, we had dinner at a small dhaba (the only one to be open even after 10 pm). I could not even call my parents at Dhuri, as we had just one telephone in the entire lane and to place a call, one had to first book the call.

Anyhow, we walked for 3 kms long distance and by the time we reached his place, I was dead tired. When we entered his home, he sat down on the bed, rolled up his pant to knees and unlatched the lock of his artificial limb! I was surprised to find that this aged person stood by me in the most difficult times! Being a handicapped he walked with me! And thence I remembered that God comes in the form of human to help.


EOM