Yesterday was a normal day for me, just like every other day until this happened to me. My office is around 7-8 kilometers away from my house, I take an auto rickshaw to my work place to and fro everyday. I did the same yesterday too.

After finishing the hectic office I head out and my eyes keep looking for a rickshaw and suddenly I saw one. I waved my hand signaling that I need the rickshaw. He turned around his rickshaw and came towards me and stopped right in front of me. It was a everyday thing for me so I just asked “bhaiya sector 120 chalogay” (brother will you go to sector 120) ? Without taking even a second he replied “ha ha zaroor chalengay” (yes, sure I will go).

I haggled a bit (old habits die hard) and then we both settled on an amount and I hopped into the rickshaw. He knew the way so I didn’t bother keeping the track of the way that he took. I plugged in my ear phones and enjoyed the evening breeze.

Merely after 15 minutes (thanks to the light traffic) we reached to the destination, I prefer to stop it outside the society so that I can walk the rest of the way. I searched for my wallet and gave him the money and he returned me the left amount. As soon as I got down I said “dhanyawaad bhaiya” (thank you brother), and continued on my way. He peeped from the other side of the rickshaw and just said “ye toh humein koi bolta nahi hai, paise lekar kaam kiya toh kis baat ka dhanyawaad ?” (nobody says this to me, I have taken money for the job then what is the thank you for ?).

I was startled and didn’t know what to say, I say it every day and it’s a habit and nobody has ever said anything after it so far. But this was an absolutely new thing happening to me. I turned back to him and said “aray aap ne mujhe drop kita na, uske liye dhanyawaad” (you dropped me home, thank you is for that) then he instantly said “uske toh paise liye na” (I took money for dropping you). I just smiled and said “bhaiya aise hi bola” (brother I said it just like that) and again started turning to my way again. Then all he said was “madam sun ke accha laga, koi kehta nahi hai” (it was nice to hear mam, nobody says it) and started his rickshaw and turned around.

While walking into the society I was pondering over what just happened, and I realized “thank you” was such a big deal for him. Why can’t people say it more often, it doesn’t take much. Just one thank you has made him so content and happy today.

How often do you say thank you in your daily life ?

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