Story Contest 2018 #1 - Outstanding Stories (Sub-junior) » What goes around, Comes around

“What goes around, Comes around” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Adhrysa Utchil, UAE.

What goes around, Comes around

A lady named Mrs. Sheela Sharma was lived in a small village. She was a mother of three children Rahul, Ramya and Rohit. Her husband was in the army but was martyred in a firefight with the terrorists. Sheela and her kids lived a very simple life. They did not have much. She worked in a small school in their village as a school teacher. Shecould barely put food on the table with her salary but she was known to be a very kind woman.

One very stormy monsoon night, the village was plunged into darkness as there was no electricity. The kids were all huddled near the cooking fire to get some warmth and eat their dinner. Due to the heavy downpour, the only food available that day was some pieces of bread and milk. Sheela put bread in plates and warm milk in glasses. The children ate and slept happily. She had just sat down to eat her share of dinner when she heard a knock on the door. She wondered who it would be on such a stormy night. She opened the door to find a very well dressed man completely drenched and shivering asking for shelter. She quickly ushered him in and handed him a towel and her late husband’s clothes to change into. After changing, he asked Sheela if she could spare him some food as he was hungry. He told her that his car had broken down and he was walking in the storm to find a hotel or shelter. Sheela sympathized with the stranger and offered her food and bed to the stranger and went off to sleep with her children. She was hungry and cold but happy because she helped a person in need. Unknown to her, the stranger had noticed that Sheela gave him her food and bed. He was very humbled by the woman’s kindness. He did not want to repay her with money and insult her kindness. He decided to take the lesson of kindness from her and do his own deed when he gets a chance. In the next morning, when Sheela went to the room, the man had already left leaving a note on the bed. It said ‘’Thank you Madame. I am greatly thankful for your kindness and hospitality. My name is Shayaan Shetty and my phone number is 45258563. Please do let me know if you ever are in need of anything.’’ Sheela picked the note and kept it in her small empty kumkum box next to her God’s picture.

Many years passed and all the children were well settled in their life and jobs. Sheela was very proud of them. Rahul was a chef, Ramyawas an artist and Rohit had just got a new job in a software company. Sheela was still settled in her village and was teaching in the school. One day she received a call from the town hospital where Rahul was working. They informed her that Rahul had met with an accident and was currently fighting for his life in the ICU. Sheela was distraught and did not know what to do. She went and prayed to her God to save the life of her child. Her attention was drawn to the small box. On a second thought, she grabbed the note inside. She took whatever little money she had at home and travelled to the town hospital to be with her son. On arriving at the hospital, she was informed that an emergency operation had to be done to remove the clot in Rahul’s head to save his life. She called up her other two children and asked them if they could arrange the funds. All of them pooled up their money but they were still falling short of a substantial amount. When all the other means to get money failed, Sheela dug into her purse and removed the note the stranger had left for her years back. She was hesitant to call him as she did not want any repayment for her help as she considered it her duty to help anyone in distress. But as her avenues to gather money diminished, she had no other option than call Mr. Shayaan. She used the hospital phone to dial his number. The phone began to ring but Sheela lost her courage and disconnected the call. She sat contemplating her next avenue when she saw the head doctor come towards her. He came over and told her that they were going to take Rahul for the operation right now. She was very happy but also surprised how the hospital agreed to go ahead without paying the deposit money they had demanded. The doctor explained that all her medical bills have been taken care of. The doctor then went ahead and told her that Mr. Shayaan was a very big businessman and owned a chain of big restaurants in and around the country. He had paid the bills for Rahul. Sheela was overwhelmed and did not know how to thank Mr. Shayaan. Once the surgery was completed successfully, she built up her courage and called Mr. Shayaan to thank him. He picked up the call in the first ring. Sheela thanked him for his generosity and asked how she could repay this huge amount? She went on to tell him that she would pay off the debt if he would consider giving her some time. Mr. Shayaan laughed and replied that his debt was cleared in full by her kindness many years back. He was just repaying her kindness with his generosity. He then told her that he was so touched by what she did all that years back that he decided to start an NGO to help people like him who are affected by the turn of Mother Nature. Hearing this Sheela was very touched and thanked Mr. Shayaan. Now she truly believes that what goes around comes around. Kindness always repays itself sometime in your lifetime. Sheela was happy that her small act of kindness had triggered such a huge chain of events.

She thanked God for all his blessings and returned back to her son in his hospital room.