I was traveling from Cuttack (Orissa) to Calcutta by train.It was an over night journey. My Father was with me, to help me settle down in the city where I was to join a new job. The train reached Howrah Station, its final destination, quite early in the winter morning.My Father and I, like the other passengers were all set to alight from the train, when I saw a Sanyasini, in her late fifties, trying to step out of the train with a bag and a small basket. She was small built and frail and her saffron attire suggested that she was from Sharada Math of Ramkrishna Mission. I offered to help her with her bag, but she insisted that I carry the small basket instead for her. When we stepped on the railway platform we realized we were on the far end of it and had to walk its length to exit from the station. In sheer urgency to hire a taxi to reach our place of destination, my Father hurried ahead of us, towards the main building of the railway station, where the taxi stand was situated. Trying to keep pace with my Father, while carrying my bag and the Sanyasini's basket, I found that she was walking rather slowly but steadily behind me. I found it to be quite a task to keep pace with my Father, who was hastily milling through the crowd, while the Sanyasini was walking slowly. I was trying hard to keep both of them within my visibility range, trying not to lose track of any one of them on the crowded railway platform. In sheer exasperation, I realized that I was a stranger to the Sanyasini and she had entrusted her basket to me; while my Father who knew me, would definitely turn around to look out for me and on not finding me, would halt and wait for me to catch up with him. So, I walked within the Sanyasini's visibility range and as I had thought, I saw my Father waiting for us at the exit of the Railway station. The Sanyasini thanked me when I handed over the basket to her and said, "So, it is not easy to carry a small and light basket too. God bless you Maa" and quietly merged with the crowd.
