Help is Human

I am trying to break my long blog silence with this post. This is a true story, happened a few hours ago.

With wife out-of-town, I was starting the weekend catching up with the “Breaking Bad” series on Netflix. From no where, around 9.30 PM, got a craving for burger from in-n-out. I was in my PJs and did not care to change. I put a decent t-shirt on and drove to the nearest in-n-out joint in Burbank, CA. Since I was in my PJs, I thought of taking the food over to my place and continue watching the TV series. When I was about to pull into the drive-thru, I saw an Indian guy, let me call him “X” for the rest of this post, probably in his mid or upper 20s going around people’s cars asking for something. I was waiting for a family to cross the parking lot and saw X coming towards my car. When I rolled down my window, he told me his car’s battery was down and asked if I had jump-start cables. Unfortunately, I did not have them. I politely answered no and asked if he had AAA (Auto-club membership). He replied negative and I felt sorry and drove toward the drive-thru lot. Something occurred to me and i wanted to help this guy. I called one of my best friends, Subra (who is also my ex-room-mate), and asked if it is possible for me to help X with my auto club membership. Subra is a super helping guy. He gave me the specifics and I decided to help X.

I pulled out of the drive-thru lot, parked my car and offered to help X. I called my auto-club help line and they dispatched someone from local repair shop. I told X to wait and went inside to grab my favorite cheese burger, fries and Vanilla milkshake. Man, I love this stuff from in-n-out. Seriously, I should write a separate post about it.

When I was in line, looking at the friday night crowd around realized I was wearing my PJs and felt little embarrassed. When I was waiting for the food, help from the auto club came through and so did X. He came in looking for me. I went out showed my membership to the repair guy and he started charging the batteries. Meanwhile, X’s wife “Y” came out of the car and the three of us chatted up for a few minutes. They were happy that I could be of help. X got my phone number and said we should meet sometime. I wished them good night and asked them to drive safe and bid good-bye.

I went inside and grabbed my food and left home. Here I am, at home, writing this post to share the little help I was able to offer someone today. I am not a rich, I don’t have big savings, I don’t do much charity but I felt really good when I was able to help someone in distress. As my parents would put it, you don’t need to have money to help someone. All you need is a good heart and good will.

Seeing someone happy is priceless, I saw that in X and Y’s faces today.

P.S: Call it timing or coincidence, I happened to look at the AAA’s Roadside app for Android installed in my phone today and was wondering what all my membership offered. It said it included battery service and replacement (for an extra charge).