A day with Manual

 At half past four they reached a big mansion. They saw a person aged around forty five lying on a double cot bed in a well furnished room. He was glancing through a file and he dozed off.

“A rich man!” exclaimed Litha and looked at Manual. In response he waved his hand and the next moment they were standing on a road. They saw a crowd and moved closer.

 “It’s a leper. Don’t get nearer”. One man told another standing nearby.

 “The vehicle that hit him didn’t stop.  Has anyone informed the police?”  Another one asked.

 “Who will inform?  Who is mad enough to catch a tiger’s tail knowingly,” answered the first one and walked away.

Before long the crowd dispersed. That hapless victim regained consciousness and crawled to the verandah in front of a shop and lied there waiting for his death, praying for death to arrive before the shop owner came in the morning and threw him out.

Suddenly a car came and stopped in front of that shop. The shopkeeper had already arrived to cast him out, so feared that poor man. A well dressed man stepped out and without any hesitation lifted him up and put him inside the car and speeded towards a hospital.  The first two hospitals refused to admit him, but the third one accepted him. The rich man paid for the treatment and deposited some money there and left promising to send his man with more money in the morning.

“A good Samaritan!” said Litha glancing at that rich man, now in a deep slumber.

“John,” called Manual, “Peace and happiness be with you, for you sow the seeds of comfort to the people around.  We see the traits of humanity and compassion in your eyes. You are blessed with more than enough but you didn’t turn a blind eye towards a leper whom most wouldn’t even touch. How could you help him when he was in need?”

“What if that person struck with a disaster is a leper or an AIDS patient?” replied John remembering that incident. “I can’t act blind when someone is suffering. But is it a big matter? I have just taken him to the hospital? I can’t become a Father Damian or a Mother Teresa to treat him with my own hands.”

John’s wife Rosy who sat near him flipped through the papers of a fashion magazine without being aware of this conversation.

“You don’t have to become a Father Damian or a Mother Teresa to do a little help to your brother,” said Manual.

“Very true,” agreed John. “Even the common man can serve his  brother a little. But often they turn their faces away not because of their heart’s hardness but because they fear to be caught in the tentacles of the law. If the common man has to run around to and for between the police station and the court to testify as a witness, he would act inhumane. When I met with an accident a stranger appeared from somewhere and took me to the hospital and disappeared without giving his name. He was also scared of the law. I express my thanks to that person  and the Lord who send him there to help me by helping others. I believe that the Lord expects me to perform this duty”.

“So you wouldn’t have helped others if you were not helped by what person,” said Manual.

“It I hadn’t been called by the God, would have I been like this, I don’t know, Frankly.” John admitted.

“If your servant does as commanded by you, will you be grateful to him? No. But imagine the happiness you derive from your servant who knows your wishes beforehand and acts accordingly. You won’t hesitate even to thank him”.  Manual said.

John’s face fell when he understood what Manual meant. Manual noticed it and asked to comfort him,

“John, was that sick man the first person you helped?“ “No,” answered John regaining enthusiasm. “We have set up an arrangement to hospitalize the accident victims. In the highways, there will be a volunteer trained in giving first aid in every ten kilometers.  When an accident occurs the people will inform them. We will handle the law keepers and so the common man need not hesitate to hospitalize the victims. Some doctors have shown interest in our work. We hope to utilize their service also. Then the death rate in accidents will surely come down.”

Litha gazed at him with respect. Irrespective of whether being rich or poor, an accident victim, balancing on the thin thread hanging between life and death was helpless till help reached him.  He that tries to make help reach them on time was fit to be elected to their list.

“You are satisfied fully, aren’t you?” Manual put on a serious face. “You don’t have anything more to ask from God. Is that the reason why you have stopped praying to God?”

“Service of man is service of God” answered John. “I am fed up with the church and the priests and their fights for fame, wealth and power. Those supposed to lead us to heaven don’t even know whether Jesus is more important or his disciples. I don’t think they are fit to be called true believers of Christ. So I don’t feel like praying and it’s a fact.”

Litha noted that Manual was rebuking John, though he was perfectly fit to be elected to their list. She hadn’t seen Manual talking like this before. Only then she remembered the words of Jesus, I am the true vine and my father the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruits he takes away and every branch that bears fruits, he prune it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

“John, how many offices do you have?” She heard Manual asking and she was brought back from her thoughts.

“Nine in total, at different locations,” answered John. “Eight are working efficiently, but in the ninth one I need to devote more attention?”

“John, do you ever keep in touch with those offices that work well?”

“Always. They work well only because I am constantly in touch with them. In the one I mentioned earlier, I hadn’t focused much under the impression that they were working well. Their shoddy work caught my attention only recently.”

“Is it possible for you to contact them when the telephone companies’ services fail?” Manual asked, ignoring Litha’s uneasiness in his wasting precious time.

“How else will I know if they don’t brief me on their work? They can’t blame the telephone companies for not contacting me. They have to keep me informed by fax or mobile or e-mail if the telephone is not working or they‘ve to come directly to me if such a case arise.  But I can’t be kept in the dark. I am very strict in that and my managers know it.”

“You are to the God as your offices are to you. You can maintain contact with him only through prayers. He who doesn’t pray is like an upturned pot, he can’t receive any blessings from his  Father in heaven.”

“That’s true. I was lacking something after I gave up praying. From now onwards God will be in my mind always.“ A smile appeared on John’s face and this caught Rosy’s attention.

“Who’s that bitch that makes him smile in his dreams!” said she with displeasure. John woke up hearing it.

“Whom are you dreaming of?  I saw you smiling in your dreams,”  she looked at him with suspicion.

“None. But from now onwards I need to think about someone while awake and while going to sleep. Do you know who it is?  God.” John ignored her and was lost in deep thoughts.

“Um! God! I know your mind is filled with the thoughts of your secretary.”  Manual who was adding John’s name to the list heard it and raised his head.  He turned to Litha and said. “She can’t trust her husband who is right in front of her eyes. How will she trust the God that is invisible?”

“That night two people will be lying on a cot. One will be taken and the other left of, right?” asked Litha.

“Right. What you said is very true. One will have his own deeds only to talk for him on the Judgement Day. Husband’s deeds won’t help his wife nor will a husband be helped by his wife’s goodness.”

He paused for a moment and then said, “John is like the servant who knows the will of his master. He has to be prepared all the time to receive his master upon his arrival even if it is at the most unexpected hour. For it is said, That servant that knew his lord’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required and to  whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.