Indian festivals, especially Ganesh Chaturthi are ones that bring out heartwarming stories of people being there for each other, helping one another, and we are all for stories like that.
Stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal recently took to her Twitter to talk about how she was going to an open mic and her the man who was driving her was looking for his son. She writes, "He was calling people, asking 'tum log ne mere bacche ko dekha kya? Woh tum log ke saath hai kya?' (Did you see my kid? Was he with you?) I could hear the response of 'nahi' in call after call."
By this time, she asked the cab driver if he wanted to cancel the trip and go look for his son instead. She also said that she was surprised how he was so calm during all of this, because his wife on the other end of the call was absolutely hysterical.
Even after the cab driver dropped her off and she made her way to her venue using an auto rickshaw, she couldn't get the cab driver and his child off her mind. About an hour and a half after her open mic, she got a call from the cab driver informing her the whereabouts of his son. In a very releiving and surprising turn of events, the boy had joined a Ganpati pandal procession and wandered off with them without informing his parents, but they soon found him in a perfectly fine condition.
"They found her son, apparently this three year old criminal had seen a ganpati pandal and had wandered off with the procession, dancing and eating while his parents panicked," she wrote.
However, this isn't the only wholesome thing that happened that day. Not only did the cab driver thank her, but also brought her coconut modaks (nariyal modak) at her doorstep the next morning. Apparently, Mittal had been talking to her friend when the cab ride started, requesting her to send some coconut modaks. The cab driver, hearing this, asked his wife to make some of those modaks and gave them to Mittal as a gesture of thanks for understanding his situation and cooperating with him.
Aditi Mittal ended the rather sweet thread with this line: "Moral of the story: Both the driver and I were listening to each others calls. Also Ganpati time in Mumbai is ridiculous."
You can also read the entire story here:
Ola, the cab service Mittal used also came across the story and replied: "A good ride, happy endings, and delicious modaks This is THE motivation we needed for kickstarting our Monday morning, Aditi. Can you also share the CRN of this ride with us via DM? We would love to pass on the compliments to our driver-partner as well."
All's well that ends well, right? Also, who would blame the kid for just wandering off with a pandal? These things are damn attractive and you can't blame a 3-year-old for being in awe of them. Anyway, as Mittal said, kids really are terrifying.
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