Another errand for an MBA college right after the CAT results was out. I had to get few of my documents attested for a form submission. 15th February was the last date and I woke up from my slumber on 8th February. Unfortunately, I had to go to office on Saturday and spend 8 hours retesting the defects which were not even fixed. Another TL revenge you can say. Somebody told me about a govt school nearby where the head master was obliging everyone. Thank God was the word I uttered as I was planning to go to a government hospital which was 1 hour away. All these happened just few weeks before my appraisal. I could not even take risk of taking an off. The next day I woke up early, collected all the photo copies and originals to reach the school. It was pretty much like a government school. Kids were running here and there. Confused to the core I asked a woman in pink sari: “Excuse me!! May I know where the head master’s cabin is?” First she stared at me and then asked why wanted to meet him. I replied that I had the documents attested. She told me to come after 3 pm.

Sad and depressed I told her that I cannot wait so long, on that she showed me the head master’s cabin. I thought pretty fair, If he says no I can go to the hospital.

I gave him a brief introduction of the background story and he instantly agreed to attest. He asked for a contribution of Rs 400 which I gave readily. May be he would have kept the money for himself but that is not what touched me. What touched me was that he looked at my CAT score card and asked: “With this score will you be able to apply to IIMs?” I was wondering what was wrong with this guy; couldn’t he just sign and let me go? Then he said: “Why I asked you is my son graduated from IIMA, we went to his convocation. He arranged a car for us to visit few places.”

I could not speak for 10 minutes.

I kept on looking at that old man’s face. He was so peaceful and happy. The sapling he nurtured so long was blooming today. He taught so many kids and must have struggled all of his life but today when he was telling me about his son , the twinkle in his eyes was worth seeing. I went back to office , worked like hell as usual but there was something I wanted really bad that day.

Yes to be that child who made his dad so proud and brought that winning smile on his dad’s face. Hopefully someday, somewhere I will also be able to make my dad and mom proud.