“Have you ever been touched by someone’s altruism?” I asked.
He looked at me with a very pleasant and a hearty smile, and said, “Some time back, I was with my wife in Dubai. We did not get a local number, so our internet connection only worked as long as we were in our apartment. One day – it was probably our second day there – we decided to go out for some grocery shopping. Using the apartment’s internet, we booked an Uber taxi and asked the driver to take us to the closest supermarket. As we arrived, I could see ‘Spinneys’ written on the building in bright green color. I asked the driver what that area was called and he told me that it was ‘Silicon Oasis.’
“We went inside the building and picked the things on our list. After about forty-five minutes, we were standing at the checkout counters with four bags full of groceries. After settling the bills, our next mission was to find the taxi-stand to get a cab that would take us to our apartment. We approached the security desk to find out where would we find the taxi-stand and to our dismay, we were told that there wasn’t any in this building. ‘Then where would we find a taxi?’ I asked and was told that we will have to take a chance, waiting at the front entrance for a customer who takes a drop there. ‘That is your only chance to get a taxi, other than using your phone and booking an Uber or a Careem taxi.’
“Neither of us was carrying our passport, so we could not get a local number. Now, there was nothing else to do but to wait. So, we stood at the front entrance, hoping for a customer to take a drop there. Many customers came, but none in a taxi. By this time, Dubai was engulfed in the dark of the night.
“Then – it seemed like a long time later – a young man in his late 20’s, who was approaching the entrance and was about to cross us, when my wife suddenly said, ‘excuse me, do you know how can we get a taxi here?’
“The gentleman answered, ‘if you want to get a taxi here, you will need to call Uber or Careem taxi.’ While we were talking to the gentleman, from the corners of our eyes we saw a tall and fair young lady hurriedly cross us, almost running into the supermarket.
“’But we don’t have a local number,’ I heard my wife say. The gentleman reluctantly pulled his telephone out of his pocket, but before he could even turn it on, the tall, fair, young lady who had hurriedly crossed us, was standing there with her cell-phone in her hand and asked, ‘you need a taxi?’ It was not really a question, as before we could answer, she was already booking one. Within a minute, she looked at the two of us with a smile and said, ‘it will come at the front entrance and this is its license-plate number,’ and as she started to turn back toward the supermarket, my wife said, ‘thank you very much. You’ve really been a great help.’ She casually turned back and said, ‘no, it’s ok,’ and she was gone.
“As she left, we looked at each other inquisitively. It seemed that we were both searching for the appropriate words to say when suddenly, she was back by our side and said, ‘sometimes, the cab drivers ask the name of the person who has booked the taxi. In case he does, my name is Maria.’”
Then he looked at me straight in the eyes and said, “Yes. Maria’s altruism touched us.”
“How did it feel?” I asked.
“Very honestly, it made me feel that God had sent an angel for us.” He said with a smile and then added, “It made me feel that we were visible to the world; It made me feel that what was bothering us as a problem could be felt by someone else in the world too. It made me feel that our existence was noticeable and it actually mattered to someone.”
January 5, 2020
(Dubai, UAE)