This weekend, at our HHH retreat in Sugadh, we witnessed a super sweet moment in the bus, as we were headed to Seva Cafe! :)

Two participants seated next to each other were chatting -- Madan from Bangalore and Somnath from Maharastra.  Meghna was behind them, chatting with a third participant -- Anjali from Chennai.

Suddenly, Madan got super animated when he learned that Anjali could speak Tamil!  Seeing his elation, we inquired, "What happened?"  

He replied, "Somnath recently was a on a walk across India, and while in Chennai, he approached a rickshaw driver for a lift.  The rickshaw driver asked him for Rs. 100 while Somnath, in his not-so-fluent Tamil, offered Rs. 50 and they finally settled on Rs. 80.  But as they rode together, the rickshaw driver learned about how Somnath was trying to spread seeds of peace through his walk, he just melted!  By the end of the ride, he not only refused to take any money from Somnath, but he gave him biscuit packets, water and few others thing he was carrying.  He even gave him his phone number -- to call him if he ever needed any help!"

Right after listening to Somnath's story, Madan learned that Anjali speaks Tamil! Putting the two and two together, he was so moved that he wanted to call the rickshaw driver to thank him for his offering to Somnath.  He insisted that we call the driver right then, and express gratitude on behalf of all of us in the bus!

So we called.  As he dialed the number, the rickshaw driver picked up the phone and Anjali thanked him profusely reminding him of the young pilgrim (Somnath) from Maharashtra!  The rickshaw driver immediately recognized him and started thanking her for calling him!  Madan then animatedly took the phone and also added his bits of "Thank you Anna! Thank you Anna!" Somnath was beaming big smiles at the memory of his dear friend from Chennai! :)



As four of us witnessed this whole moment taking place, we were so moved by ripple that was ignited by one person who insisted on sharing gratitude.  It went from two people next to each other, to a third-party listener in Anjali to a rickshaw driver in Chennai, to our whole bus!  And now, all of you reading this too.  It's hard to tell who was giving to whom, and who was receiving what, but it reminded me of beauty of "give, receive, dance" -- all happening in one huge scene right there in the bus! :)

So grateful to witness it and be moved ourselves! :)