Posts

Showing posts from March, 2021

The Compassionate Leader

There is a rice and potato shop bang beside my paternal house, run by a person whom we grew up calling as Prabhash da (da meaning elder brother in Bengali). Despite being a millionaire, he is one of the most humble persons I have come across till date. He dresses like an ordinary man, speaks very softly and always with a smile.  When the lockdowns began,  all shops in the market beside the house were closed. They opened on select days of the week and for a few hours only. Prabhash da however kept his shop's shutter partially down.  There were many vegetable and fish sellers who were stranded in the market. They somehow pulled in to cook vegetables for their meals till the supplies ran out. People thronged the market braving COVID with masks to buy weekly supplies. Soon, the sellers had only rice and potatoes as meals...mostly provided by Prabhash da.  I watched him one day, distributing the rice and potatoes to the sellers with a soft word or two and always a smile. As his is the m