Shades of gratitude

'Thank you' is a term we use often as a token of appreciation for the service or favour we receive. When we visit a restaurant, we often leave behind a small tip for the waiter; when it is Diwali, our housemaids and drivers get new clothes; companies offer bonuses to their working staff; return gifts at functions is another norm that is fast catching on! In other words, gratitude is usually expressed in one or more of these conventional forms.

This is where my story begins. The protagonist is Suresh, popularly known as “Red Suresh” due to his love for all things red—he wore red t-shirts, red pants, and sometimes even red ties and socks! Now, for a dapper young boy, this choice of bright colour would be acceptable. But Suresh was a middle-aged scientist. Should he not be opting for sober grey, black, or blue? But since he was a smiling, fun-loving, popular figure in the colony, we just attributed his red looks to one of his idiosyncrasies and left it at that. He too took his title of ‘Red Suresh’ in his stride, sportively and cheerfully. His fascination for red extended beyond mere outfits. His car was red, and so was his watch strap. The front door of his house, the window curtains, and other gadgets were all in shades of red. Even the pillars holding the solar water heater on the terrace were painted red.

One day, I got wise to the real reason for this odd and unconventional behaviour. It really touched me and left a deep impression of appreciation and admiration for the gentleman whom we so casually addressed as Red Suresh.

He had once gone to attend an interview at IIT, Kanpur. Just after he alighted at the railway station, he suffered a bout of concussion and fainted. When he recovered consciousness, he found himself alone on a bench, bereft of all his belongings. His purse and his bag were gone. As a native of Karnataka, he did not know the local language. It was then that a few porters (coolies) on the platform came to his rescue. They took him to a local doctor, gave him some refreshments, and even pooled some funds to help tide over until he could contact his own family. (In those days, mobiles and GPS were unheard of.)

Some simple people, who laboured for a living, total strangers, had reached out to him when he was in distress, out of the sheer goodness of their hearts. Naturally, our scientist was overwhelmed and felt a deep sense of gratitude. He realised that mere spoken words or a generous monetary compensation would not suffice to express his appreciation of their noble gesture. He decided to embrace their identity—their red uniforms. He became “Red Suresh” thereafter, thereby offering a lifetime of salutation to these kind samaritans.

Of course, we brush against such ‘unsung heroes’ on many occasions in our own lives, but how many of us are capable of saying such a beautiful and long-standing thank you?