10 years ago, when I had gotten my first car, it got towed within 4 months.
It turns out, I had parked it in a no-parking area outside a mall.
When I did come out and observed that the car was no longer there, I started crying. (Stop sulking, Nishtha. Grow up!)
Anyhow, I went to the place where towed cars were kept, and did a strange thing.
“Please let me take my car, please, I promise I won’t repeat it,” I requested to the officer. The highlight was an emotion of behaving like a kid.
The officer gently told me, “Beta please andar aa jaiye (in the office, to pay my fine and have an official receipt). Please, cooperate kijiye. Please, please.”
There was a certain assertiveness yet kindness in the way he spoke to me, that I almost complied. His demeanour also made me shut up my kiddish requests.
Fast forward to a decade, I have always parked right, and never been challaned for breaking any law. (I know that’s basic, but nevertheless an achievement for how I started.)
A huge part of that goes to the way a random officer handled my rebellion with loving kindness, when I was facing something unusual for the very first time. I don’t think I would have changed so quickly otherwise, I never do.
We often think that our jobs require us to be strict and wear a façade of “I am important”.
However, invariably every job title comes with the requirement of giving love.
People aren’t machines that operate just with instructions.
People, regardless of their age, are bundles of emotions waiting to be seen and acknowledged.
When we acknowledge the humanity within the other person through our nature of love, they will be willing to move mountains for us.
Correcting their own flaws is a tiny byproduct.
Kindness. Niceness. Inherent goodness that we all have.
That is it. That is it.
Car towed within 4 months
