I have received this mail from a friend and I reproduce it without comment. Poonawalla means someone from Poona. Poona is the old English name for Pune, which is my home town too.
This incident is not fiction, but a true and real one. It is about Mr Zavaray Poonawala who is a well-known industrialist of Pune. He had this driver named Gangadatta with him for the last 30 years driving his limousine.
Gangadatta passed away recently and at that time Mr Poonawala was in Mumbai for some important work. As soon as he heard the news he canceled all his meetings, requested the driver’s family to await him for the cremation and came back immediately by a helicopter.
On reaching Poona he asked the limo to be decorated with flowers as he wished that Gangadatta should be taken in the same car which he had driven since the beginning. When Gangadatta’s family agreed to his wishes, Mr. Poonawalla himself drove Gangadatta from his home up to the crematorium, on his last journey.
When asked in an interview, Mr Poonawalla was very sorrowful and replied that Gangadatta had served him day and night and he could at least do this, being eternally grateful to him. He further added that Gangadatta rose up from poverty and educated both his children very well. His daughter is a Chartered accountant and that is so commendable.
His comment at the end is the essence of a successful life in all aspects – “All earn money. Nothing unusual in that, but we should always be grateful to all those people who contribute for our success. This is the culture in which we have been brought up, which made me do what I did.”
Don’t you think that it is a superb example of humanity?
Someone has so rightly said that-
Life is like a sea..
We are moving about without end..
Nothing remains with us..
What remains are just..
The memories of some people..
Who touched our lives as waves…