Kindness Ripples At The Mall

In the youth retreat last month, bunch of us showed up outside a nearby mall to do random acts of kindness – to offer nimbu paani and hand-drawn cards to strangers. 

A security guard approached us and asked “Have you taken permission?”  

And it became a powerful metaphor for us to reflect! That our world is perhaps so pre-dominantly governed by the logic of quid-pro-quo, that to be kind, one has to seek permission. And it even got us wondering – are we giving ourselves enough permission to step outside the box and experience the transformative power of generosity in our lives? 

In case you're wondering what happened, read on...

We offered some nimbu pani to that guard, and a volunteer spontaneously drew a hand-made card for another guard’s mother. We even went and took permission from the manager, who was appreciative and readily accepted. 

Then we were a bit worried, about how to approach people. They might be entering the mall to catch a movie that is about to start, or if they are here to have delicious food, won't it be totally awkward to offer them an ordinary nimbu pani? Luckily we grabbed some heartpins also on the way to tag people. 

Also, as we hand-made the cards, some of us had 0 art skills (while some others knew what they were doing!). But the beauty about doing some of these experiments together is it gives you the collective threshold courage to take the plunge. :) In a moment of my doubt, somebody else steps up. In a moment of his weakness, a third jumps in. And so on! 

Soon, we saw a man in late 30s, walk with 2 children. Vishakha approached them, gave them heart pins, and a card to the children, and nimbu paani for their father. Not only that, the young girl of about 7 got so hooked, that she spent next 20minutes with us, drawing a card for someone else. Their father was deeply moved, and we invited him to visit our retreat center.  

There are some people whom you easily feel confident that you can approach. And then there are people, about whom your mind throws pre-conceived notions -- either based on their dress, or their walking style, or talking style. There were a couple of ladies, whom we avoided reaching out to. We felt it might be an uphill task to explain to them. And lo and behold, in a few mins, they themselves call us out out of curiosity. And they were so touched, that they asked for pen and paper and wrote a card for us, to encourage us.  

An ice-cream vendor was so moved just witnessing the whole thing, that he started calling us out to gift us ice creams. Even though the ice-creams looked delicious, couple of us went and tried to thank him for his kindness, and decline the offer. As he didn't agree, Jay tried the classic Indian style to refuse : "accha, agli baar pakka." (We will take it next time for sure.) But the uncle gave us a lesson in persuasive kindness. He called our bluff, and he is like koi tum log next time nahi aane waale ho. Chalo abhi lo. 

Now that's when we melted. :) I mean, how does one say no to such a loving offering? To be mindful of the love, we asked him to not tear open one pack for each of us, but to give us just one cup of icecream as his blessing. And then, we all share from that cup. :) 

It's quite natural, that when we started this exercise, we all were a bit apprehensive, a little bit afraid. Some even seemed a bit cynical. I mean, none of us, have tried such a thing outside a mall. But after this, one of the cynical ones came with a completely different energy, and said that he has never ever seen such a thing before -- to see a stranger being moved by the power of love, and it's something he will never forget for the rest of his life. 

And tons of other ripples! You can see a video collage from the retreat here.