I have stopped reading newspapers in the morning the last couple of years. Now I read them in the evening instead. I feel there is no point reading depressing news first thing in the morning since that’s what the newspapers are full of these days. And so a few days back it was a pleasant surprise to read a humane story among those of bomb blasts, scams, murders, robberies etc.
This news story was about a nun in Noida who started an initiative in her church. She was moved by the plight of cycle rickshaw-pullers, most of who don’t own the rickshaws they pull but instead take them on hire from contractors on a daily basis. As a result more than half of their daily income goes towards paying the hiring charges of the rickshaws.
This lady used her savings to buy a few rickshaws and gave them to a few rickshaw-pullers to use as their own. These were given out through a draw of names and the lucky ones became the owners of the rickshaws. The deal was that they will pay her back on a monthly basis. And so the cycle of monthly draws started - the new rickshaw owners pay their monthly installments to her and she uses that money to buy a new cycle rickshaw every month. This new rickshaw is given to one lucky winner of the draw (loads of rickshaw-pullers gather once a month at the church for this draw). The lucky winner becomes the owner of that rickshaw and he too starts paying her back through monthly installments.
This whole arrangement is purely on a personal basis. There is no paperwork involved. The rickshaw-pullers are under no compulsion to pay the monthly installments yet they pay it dutifully on time. According to the article, there hasn’t been a single default till date. And so the cycle goes on (pun not intended).
There is a way to identify these cycle rickshaws. All of them carry the message ‘GOD LOVES YOU’ on the back. I had seen this message on the back of many rickshaws in the past and used to think that it’s some kind of a new fad. Now I know better.
Why can’t the newspapers carry more such stories that reaffirm one’s faith in humanity?
