A Good Samaritan

(Short story)

C. RAJAGOPALACHARI

After the new law against hand-pulled rickshaws came into force in Madras, they disappeared from the roads and were replaced by motor rickshaws.

An old man complained, “These motor rickshaws make insufferable noise! How convenient were the old time rickshaws!”

“What a funny thing to say!” said Ramanathan Chettiar, the Secretary of the Club. “Is it not against humanity and civilisation that a man must be made to pull a vehicle like a bull?”

“I agree, it is inhuman; but have you heard of the Swamiyar Nalli?” replied the old man.

“No, tell me. I am all attention” said Ramanathan Chettiar.

Those were the days, said the old man, when rickshaws pulled by hand were in vogue.

Rickshawala Nalli had many friends who were addicted to drinking illicit liquor. They often persuaded him to join them, but he steadfastly refused, saying he could not be a party to such evil ways.

“Oh! He has become a Swamiyar.” Thus and in other ways did his friends make fun of him. But Nalli remained firm.

There was an old neem tree near the rickshaw stand. Its roots had become knotted. Varada, an Anjaneya devotee, had given it colour and made it a habit of drawing pictures of Anjaneya on it. Drawing Anjaneya’s picture everywhere had become a holy passion with him. After drawing a lakh of such pictures, he settled down at Kumbhakonam, where he raised a temple to Hanuman.

Every morning, Nalli worshipped the picture of Hanuman on the neem tree before he began to ply his rickshaw. Other rickshawalas did the same after him, but the way Nalli worshipped was a special sight. He would stand with his eyes closed for a minute as if he were in Samadhi. Because of his great devotion Nalli came to be known as “Swamiyar Nalli.”

Swamiyar Nalli earned three rupees a day. He would pay half a rupee for hire to the owner of the rickshaw; the remaining two rupees and a half he would give every evening to his mother. He was able to do so because he did not smoke beedies or spend money on himself in other ways. They lived in a small hut in a hollow and paid four rupees a month as rent. What Nalli earned was enough for both of them.

Sometimes his mother would bewail, “My child, what sin did you commit in your past life that you were born as my son? Without going to school and obtaining a salaried job, you have to eke your livelihood pulling rickshaws like a bull.”

“What do we lack now, mother?” Nalli would reply.

“What is there undignified in pulling a rickshaw? What is wrong in carrying in a vehicle those who cannot walk? I think it is a noble occupation, mother, do not grieve. God takes care of us.”

Nalli’s wise and soothing words would pacify the old woman and both of them would feel happy.

One day, Nalli was returning after having deposited a fare, when he saw a woman near the tree at the roadside. When he went near and asked her the cause of her distress, she said, “I must go to the hospital. But I have not a copper with me. Oh! What shall I do?”

Nalli took her in his rickshaw to the maternity hospital.

There were tears in the woman’s eyes as she said, “My good man, how can I repay your kindness?” “I feel amply repaid now that I have brought you safely to the hospital. May you return after a safe delivery!” With these words Nalli turned .

“You are the God Muruga Himself” exclaimed the woman as she went into the hospital.

From that day Nalli made a resolution. He took a vow that after he had earned his three rupees everyday, he would convey a sick person in his rickshaw free of charge, and he stuck to his resolve.

“Look, this fellow has become a big Swamiyar. What shall we do with him? It is from sick people that we can extract a plentiful fare. By giving them a free ride, he is spoiling our business.” Thus did the other rickshawalas angrily complain against him.

“Let us not come in his way,” said a rickshawala who was drunk. “If we interfere with him, God will take us to task” said the old rickshawala making his obeisance to the neem tree Hanuman. After a little grumbling and arguing, everyone agreed that what the old man said was right.

News of Nalli Swamiyar spread in the city. Even Europeans would come to see this rickshawala who would take a patient on a free ride after he had earned his day’s fare. Sometimes they would offer a five rupee note as a gift saying, “Take this and spend it on yourself. You are a good fellow.”

“No, Sir, I don’t want it. If you like, get into my rickshaw. I shall not accept charity from anyone,” was Nalli’s reply.

Nalli’s mother too was proud of her son. In her joy she would exclaim, “Nalli, you are the image of God.”

“Are we not all his images, mother?”

“My son, where did you learn all this Sastra?” And she would embrace her son and kiss him on his forehead.

When the hand pulled rickshaws finally disappeared from the streets of Madras, when the new enactment came into force, people began to enquire about the whereabouts of Nalli Swamiyar. No one had news of him. Some said he was working in his uncle’s farm at Polur, but none could say definitely where he had gone to reside.

“I don’t believe your story,” said Ramanathan Chettiar.

“I don’t object if you do not believe it. I only told you what I knew.”

“Do not be annoyed, Sir. No rickshawala would behave like Nalli. That is against human nature. That is why I find it hard to believe the story of such generosity” said Ramanathan Chettiar.

“I am afraid, you are wrong, Ramanathan Chettiar. How can you say that there are no good men in our country? There is a lot of good among the humblest of us” said. the old man.
– Courtesy: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

“Narrow-mindedness in any shape or form is bad and should be really coped with. But the idea of coping with it by compulsion is as ridiculous as fighting the wind with a gun. Good example and education are the only weapons against narrow-mindedness, be it Communal, casteism or partyism.”