The Secret of Happiness!


parsai
By Sagar Prasai
KATHMANDU, SEP 9: I got into a taxi to reach Bhrikutimandap from Kupandole yesterday. The taxi started moving and I asked the driver, “How often do wheel chair users get into your taxi?”
“A lot of people, sir”, he said.
I just replied with, “oh really?” and then he shared a small incident with me. He said, “yes, sir. I had one passenger yesterday only who was using a wheel chair. I was at Baneshwar Chawk when three college students came to me and asked the fair till Teku. There was an old man with them who was sitting on his wheelchair. I told them that the fair is Rs. 250 and then the boys collected money from each other. They handed Rs. 300 to the old man and said, ‘Dai, go in a taxi. It will be convenient for you.’ And they got him inside the taxi.”
Then I asked him,”and then?”
The driver continued his story, “The man did not say anything till we reached Teku from Baneshwor. He just kept on managing his things in his bag. I could not see properly but they looked like some papers from the hospital. I took out his wheel chair and kept in the ground when we reached Teku Chawk. He moved slowly and sat on the chair. He took out Rs. 300 from his pocket which was given by the college students earlier and gave the money to me. I felt like his hand was shaking. I did not wish to take the money from him and said it’s okay and asked him to keep it with him. The man kept on looking at my face like he did not understand what I said and then I explained it to him with some sign language. He did not say anything, kept the money back in his pocket and rode the wheel chair slowly.”
After listening about it, I asked him, “why did not you take that money?”
He said, “I thought that man did not have any money apart from that and I felt more satisfied than earning a lot of money by not keeping it.”
I asked him again, “but you had to bear a loss, right?”
“Sir, I might take Rs. 50 more from three other people. There are a lot of rich people here”, he replied with a laugh.
I couldn’t help but laugh after listening to that. We reached Bhrikutimandap in a while. He helped me with getting out of the taxi. I asked him, “how much?” and he said, “Rs. 200”
I gave him 300 and asked him to keep it. But he denied and so I said, “It’s okay, go ahead and keep it. I do have some money. May be you could give a free ride to a person in need later.” And then he kept the money and waved me goodbye.
I had read somewhere, “If you have to be happy for a year, earn a lot of money. And if you have to be happy for the lifetime, help someone in need.” I believe that taxi driver will remain happy for the rest of his life.
(Translated By: Neeraj Pun)
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Neeraj Pun (NEO)

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