Pls don't wait..

While I was doing my bachelor's degree in India, I used to stay with my friends in a private hostel. There was an old man as the care taker / manager of the place. He never used to talk with the inmates other than any notices or terms / conditions etc. I thought he prefered to be alone doing his own activities. Most of us did not bother to get any more friendly with this old man. Every first week of the month, he would come around asking for the previous month's rent which was Rs. 1500 per head. There were some inmates who would try to evade him during the first week and some would say silly reasons to postpond the payment to the next week. He would not say anything back, but will come around the next week.

I used to pay him whenever he came around, but once I forgot to keep the money ready when he came. So I went out to the ATM and when I returned back with the money it was late at night. I went to his small room and there was no electricity at that time. I gave him two 1000 rupee notes and he gave back the balance. I placed the balance in my purse and went to my room. After an hour or so, I checked my purse and found that, by mistake, he had given me a 1000 rupee note instead of a 500 as balance. I wanted to immediately to go downstairs and inform him, but felt sleepy since it was around 10 PM. So I thought I will inform him the next day morning when I start to college.

I had a good sleep and got ready for college the next day morning. On the way, I went to the old care taker's room and knocked on the door.. He opened the door. I have not ever seen him that tired and agonized. I informed him about his mistake and gave back a Rs 500 note. To my shock, he burst into tears and went speechless for some time. It was partly from joy and more from agony. I was heart broken when he narrated his story and why he was so wiery that morning. The owner of the hostel would scold him for any delayed payments and will reduce any misplaced money from his small salary. The old man had no income other than this and he and his wife were abandoned by his children. He could hardly meet the ends with his little income and a loss of Rs 500 would be devastating for him and his old wife. In fact that old man was re counting his money and re checking his account keeping books the whole night to know how he missed the money, while I was comfortably sleeping. He thanked me many times and said that I had shown more mercy to him than his children !!

I was late in college that day and all day long I could not forget his tired face. Once I was back in the hostel I informed all my friends about his situation and urged them not to delay rents. Also on that day I learned an important lesson..

If we are planning to do some good or kind action .. do not wait .. Just do it !!