Being Nice

A funny thing happened a few days ago.
I was on my way from Alfa to Akbarallys Andheri (for those not acquainted with Mumbai...lets say I was going from one place to another...the names don't matter).
So I was walking towards this place and I saw this young girl, possibly 17-18 years of age (she may have been a little older) desperately trying to hail an auto-rickshaw. She seemed quite timid and for some reason no autos (even the empty ones were stopping for her). From her face I could see that she really needed to get to someplace. So after I walked a few metres past her I stopped and looked back at her. Seeing that she was still unsuccessful at stopping an auto I thought I'd lend a hand. I waved out and called for an auto from the other side of the road and the guy came over. I know, it sounds funny that a guy could hail an auto while a girl couldn't but I'm not kidding you, the auto came. The girl was still looking in the other direction and she hadn't seen this auto come and stop in front of me.
I then called out to her. I said "Excuse me"...I smiled and we spoke a bit with our eyes. My eyes said "hey...here's an auto for you". Hers were shocked for a minute. If I could read them right this is what they probably said. "What the f**k. Who...what?? Why is this stranger getting me an auto".
I smiled again...and gestured at the empty auto. She walked ahead and smiled at me. I was ready to walk out of there, back to where I was initially going...and just then before she entered the auto, she looked at me, smiled again and mouthed "Thank you."

I had the biggest smile on my face for a long time after that.

Being nice for the sake of being nice. Its awesome.
(For the record...I have no idea who she was, can't remember her face...and had no interest in getting to know her. It was an impulsive desire to do something nice for someone. If you ever have such a desire...act on it. Believe me...nothing feels nicer than just being nice.)