Teaching Story - Donkey in the well

by Life Positive

In spite of his soiled clothes and ill appearance, Ravindra knew that the 85-year-old man was no beggar, but someone in distress.

Ravindra took the man, who he later found out was Jarnail Singh, a resident of Patiala, to the police station who blankly refused to help. He then took him to his fire station where he bathed him, washed his clothes and gave him food and a fresh pair of clothes.

Jarnail Singh later told him that he had been separated from his family on August 6, after which he had been wandering streets in search of help. He had hurt his hands badly and could not even untie his pajamas to answer nature’s call. “Everybody thought I was a beggar, and threw money at me,” said Singh. He had just about lost hope when Ravindra came to his rescue.

Ravindra found a diary among his belongings and contacted his son in Patiala, who then left immediately for Mumbai. On August 13, Singh’s wait was over as a relative came to take him home. On their way back from Nanded, the train stopped at Itarsi where the family got down to eat, but Jarnail Singh accidentally boarded the wrong train when done, said the relative. Family members searched frantically for him at Nanded and Itarsi, but to no avail. They were overjoyed and relieved when Ravindra called them. Ravindra says, “I can’t help but reach out to senior citizens in distress. Don’t we take care of our parents?”