The Red Scooty

It was a hot and humid march day in Chennai and it was barely a month since I had won a prestigious award at my company. So, as it had been for quite a few days, I gleefully entered the office premises with my black pulsar and headed right to the parking lot. And, while I was about to park my bike inside this tight parking spot, I accidentally rammed my bike right into this red new Scooty that was parked beside the parking spot. Bam!! I rammed in and one of the scooty’s rear view mirror broke! It fell down with a clang and came apart. I got down from my bike, parked it and then stood wondering what I should be doing next.
A shiny red scooty it was and I assumed it belonged to some poor lass. Imagine the pity on her face when she got back from work that day to find her mirror shattered to pieces. Not to mention the seven year old curse that comes along with it. So, with only goodness in my heart, I picked out a book and pen from my backpack and started scribbling a note (please observe that I would have done the same thing if it were a Bullet or a Hero Honda not just coz it was a Scooty). The note read “I am extremely sorry for what I have done to your bike. It was clearly an accident. I am willing to pay for the broken mirror, so please contact me at *** :) :) ” and left my number. I felt proud about myself for doing this instead of just walking away. I reached office and spoke to no one about this incident. I thought that the owner of the vehicle would be very happy with my gesture and may even thank me with a smile ;)

So, the day went and evening arrived, it was about 6:30 PM and people were leaving the office. Suddenly my phone rang and I found that it was an unknown number and I picked up the call. “Hello”, a MAN’s voice thundered from the other end, “did you break my bike’s mirror”. My head started reeling, firstly it was not a dame and secondly, I felt that the person on the other end wanted to thrash me. “Yes, sir” I managed to yelp and then apologized for what had happened and explained the whole incident. Then he spoke and told me that he would enquire around regarding the cost of that mirror or try to fix it and get back to me with a price tag. He sounded very friendly as the call progressed and as I had mentioned earlier, I agreed to pay up for the damages incurred.

A couple of days pass by and I receive yet another call from that person. We arranged to meet in the office cafeteria and I paid him Rs 400 for the new mirror. When I met him, I was quite surprised. He reminded me of one of my uncles and I quite frankly couldn’t help but wonder what a person who looked like my uncle would do driving around in a red Scooty. But nonetheless, no regrets – I had broken something and I am paying up to fix it. I paid the money, he thanked me and we parted our ways. It was a very short stint.
The day passed as usual and I was returning home by Share Auto that day as I did not take my bike out. When I was in the Auto, I got a call from the Scooty uncle. He called me up and asked me who my manager was. I was in two minds about this – this was either a good thing or a bed thing. But nonetheless, I responded and the call ended.

The next day, I was welcomed with a very special surprise at office. My manager called me and asked me about the incident. I thought the Scooty uncle must have mentioned about the incident to him. But no, there was something else. My manager opened his email and showed me. The Scooty uncle had written an email with a subject line “Proud to work for *****(my company)”. Inside the email, he wrote in detail about the entire incident and how happy he was when I had handed him the money and the very gesture made him very proud and happy to be associated with people like me at work (I was in cloud number 9). Also, as part of the email, he had scanned my note and made an elaborate thank you. He had forwarded the same to his managers and superiors and he had sent a copy to my manager as well. My manager shook my hand and told me that this incident was shared across several big people in the company and it rang across several units/busines towers.

The next day, my Senior Executive called for me and I was asked to get into the conference room along with my manager and Senior Manager. My Sr Exec mentioned that something I had done had made everyone proud and happy and recalled the entire incident. I was really flying high and later, the incident was discussed during one of our project meetings as well. It was truly a memorable day. It reminded me of the proverb “You always get back what you give to others, sometimes multiplied over several times”. This was certainly one such experience.

Folks kept pulling my leg for my assumed hidden ulterior motives behind the whole incident. But, I kept saying to myself, it was a deed well done :)