It is needless to mention that like any European country, Austria is very beautiful and idyllic. It is a small country full of historical places, theatres, opera houses, restaurants and whatnot.
Just to two or three month before our transfer to Turkey, I started feeling some pain in the lower part of my abdomen. The X-ray report showed an ulcer in it. The doctor advised me to go in for an operation to remove it. I readily agreed to his advice. After one week I was discharged from the hospital and advised a rest of one month.
Unlike most husbands, mine loves office more than home. He took leave only of two days to take care of me. My coaxing and cooing for extending it fell on his deaf ears. Not only that. As was his wont, he used to go to office not in time but before time. My children would return from school not before four o’ clock. As a result I was feeling bored and confined to the house.
On one fine morning on a Sunday I asked my husband to take us for some outing. My husband is very fond of walking in forests, meadows and mountains. So not surprisingly, instead of taking us to some restaurant or an opera show, he lost no time in driving us in the car to a forest located on the outskirts of Vienna.
We parked our car near the entrance on the main road and started walking in the forest on a narrow kutcha road lined with bushes and very tall trees. Willy-nilly we staggered along behind our self-styled walker and went deep into the forest. To show himself as a good pathfinder, my hubby took a different way while returning from our odyssey of sorts. Lo and behold! We lost our way in the forest. Luckily these forests have only bears, deer and other herbivorous animals .We were, therefore, free at least from fear of being pounced upon by the dangerous animals like lions, leopards etc.
I was distraught, dead tired and left with no energy to walk further. At the same time, there was not a soul round to help us to find our way. After one or two hours, we saw an old couple passing by. We stopped and explained them our problem. They listened to us very attentively and asked us to follow them. They were from a nearby village bordering the forest and going to attend the evening prayer in the church which was also near the entrance of the forest where our car was parked.
We told the couple about our inability to follow them as our children and I could not walk fast. I still had some stitches on my stomach. The old couple also showed their helplessness to slow their pace as they were to reach the church in time. But they proved to be very ingenious. They told us that they would draw an arrow sign after every half kilometre or so, on the path while they walked on and we should follow those signs. We thanked them profusely for their kind gesture and they moved on.
We followed the arrow signs without any difficulty. But we had hardly walked for half an hour when it started raining. The rain water started washing away the arrow signs. We were completely at our wits’ end. However hoping that that the same foot path would take us to our destination, we went on walking. To our great surprise, after some distance we saw arrow signs made with wooden sticks obviously by that gracious couple. We followed them and reached our car.
When I recollect that incident, I cannot help thanking that old couple wherever they are. Some people leave a life-long unforgettable impression on our mind through their selfless acts of kindness, help and sympathy.
Source: The Tribune, Chandigarh, India.
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