I normally turn off the Internet on my phone before getting to bed, to avoid incoming messages and their ping-pong sounds. And that’s what I did Tuesday night as well, around 10 p.m., before crawling under the comforter. I was aware that I hadn’t shut down my laptop, which was in the same room. Since I did not want to budge from that oh-so-good bed, I decided to let it be and was slowly drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, the entire room was washed with a brightness that only digital screens can produce.

The darned laptop! Aaaargh, I should’ve shut it down.

I got up and unlocked it to shut it down. That’s when I realised what had caused the hitherto dark and moody machine to light up so brightly without warning or prodding. There was an incoming call on my WhatsApp (desktop app), from my cousin who never calls at such odd hours. It instantly worried me – was something wrong?

I quickly shut down the laptop, not wanting to take the call in there and awaken the sleeping 5YO and husband. I grabbed my phone and stepped outside the room and called her back. Before I could finish saying hello, an unexpected little voice greeted me with utmost distress in his voice.

*Obviously, this was a Malayalam conversation, but let me reproduce it in English here for everyone’s benefit*

“Priya ammaiii…”, he squeaked.

That sound and the distress in it only made my hair stand up taller on their already busy ends. Because…why, oh why, must a 9YO attend his mom’s phone at that hour?! I had barely begun to shoo away the deluge of disturbing thoughts, when he continued in utter distress…

“I have a charity form, I have to submit, tomorrow is the last date.” I am completely flabbergasted at this point, going whaaaaaa!?
“Ok, what can I do about that?”
“I need money from you!” Now I am amused, this straightforward demand for money is cute.
“How much money do you need?”
“Any amount is fine.” Cool, no demands on the amount.
“And how will I give it to you now?”
“You can GPay it to mom.” Wow. The little boy’s as practical as one can be!
“What charity is it?”
“Help charity. Help India.” I can hear my cousin laughing away in the background at this point.
“HelpAge India?”
“Yes, yes!” I am taken back to my own schooldays, and I totally resonate with his distress.

It is at this point that my cousin took the phone from him. She told me how she’d received a reminder for the form submission from his teacher. It was only when she asked him about it that he frantically fished the form out of his bag: one that was given to him 3 weeks ago apparently! 😀 To her surprise, her 11YO also frantically fished out a look-alike form! Apparently, after that, it was a frenzy of who all they could collect money from so late in the evening. Neighbours were obviously not a choice; the inmates of the same house were. After all avenues were exhausted, they hadn’t collected enough for their liking! And, since it was all GPay, my cousin apparently was chasing her mom for currency notes at that late hour too 😀

Anyway, she and I had a good laugh, I told my cousin how I still remember the HelpAge India charity form from my own school days, and promised to GPay her. And as I was hanging up, I could hear her telling the 11YO “No no, stay quiet!” I am pretty sure he had his own distress he wanted to share with me 😀

For added effect, the 9YO sent me a snap of his charity form via WhatsApp, and I was floored!

Because, on Row #4, I saw his name, with a ‘(Myself)’ and a ’14’ against it!

For a 9YO, I thought that was pretty sweet! Clearly, he thought it was important for him to donate a share of his small savings too! That stole my heart. And, he seemed to have given it considerable thought. Though I couldn’t make out the initial amount that’s been scratched off, I am assuming it is 20, given that the next scratched off number is 18.

While Rs 14/- is nothing in today’s world on its own, for someone who may just be short of Rs 10/- for something really important to them, fourteen rupees can be immensely valuable! His decision to part with a big chunk of his tiny savings for the good of absolute strangers floored me.

I guess this is all we need in children. Instead of straight grade As in subjects taught at school, such goodness in their hearts. Knowing the importance of sharing, having it in them to ‘give’ ❤

I immediately made the transfer, my mom did too. And in the voice message that came later with a “thank youuuuu”, the distress was completely replaced with joy!

At 10.15 p.m. that night, I took it on myself to begin a fundraiser support for these little ones 😀 I turned to our extended family WhatsApp group that has over 25 “earning” adults, and requested them to urgently “GPay to his mom” any amount they pleased. While I didn’t care how much they got, I was glad to see “Thank you” messages going out to a good number of group members the next morning. A bit of ‘My good deed for the (previous) day’!

Long story short, that late night distress call was the sweetest, cutest distress call I’ve ever received.
I thought this needed to be documented for posterity. When this little boy of 9 turns 19 (or 29), I would like to see his reaction to this episode from his younger days! 😉 ❤