Dignity and divinity

Kajal Chatterjee
An evening of a week ago. Standing in front of a roadside stall in my neighbourhood for making a purchase. Just beside it, a key maker has a makeshift bench. Urdu speaker. Everyday he comes with an Urdu newspaper to read it in free time.
That day I saw his "friend" sitting near his bench and loudly saying to him(and all other gossip mongers all around who all have nothing better to do in life) in mocking tone "This is the reason why Modi hates you people so much. In the whole paper, not a single pic of Modi"! And just like a record in loop, he was repeating the same sentences again and again to him and all other gossip brigade!
He could have got angry. He could have given him a thrashing(the key maker is a muscled man of early 50s, his mental tormentor is a thin man of same age group). He could have calmly asked "Is there any law that Modi's pic should be necessarily published? Can Modi hold any right to hate us even if the paper does not publish any pic of him"!
But to my utter surprise, the "mere ordinary" key maker(just like a lion) simply remains unmoved to such relentless verbal pokes. Without caring to answer his rubbish or  even give a stern look at his tormentor or instigator,  he continued to work calmly with lock and keys!
What a grace! What a personality! What a sense of dignity and conviction to one's own belief ! Just remaining true to his own ideology principles values work  and marching on with own job silently despite being surrounded alone in such an unfriendly environment!
Over to a senior colleague of ours, now retired. I don't want to dwell on his personal or domestic issue, but the fact remains that always he used to declare that he is without adequate cash!
If anybody jokingly asked him to gve a treat of say just a cup of tea, he used to admit in a very pitiable tone "I am helpless. My fund is too meagre"! If someone continued to insist for that cup of tea, he would get very angry! So he used to be called a "miser" by many, if not all.
But one day a boy, hardly 15-16 years of age, came in our office with bunch of Incense sticks and approached him. At first he told that he does not require it. When the boy once again humbly insisted to take at least a single pack; he stood up from his seat, took out a Rs.10/20 note and very very humbly offered it to the boy, but also making it known that he will not take the sticks. The boy, obviously poor, but was possessed of immense self respect. He would not take the note without handing the sticks. And our colleague would just give the money, not take the sticks! This tug of war continued for few minutes. Later sensing the immense humility of our colleague who is not giving the note as alms but with utmost love and also perhaps respecting his age; the boy finally took the money.  The eyes of both the boy and our colleague turned moist.
And without venturing to a temple, without longing to know whether heaven indeed exists up above the sky or not; I muttered to my soul "If God or heaven resides somewhere; it is right here here here"!
The writer is based in Kolkata