Such Moments

I played a fundamentalist who vandalized an art galary, in a stage play called Wood. There was this guy called Prasanna who acted as one of the visitors to the gallery in it. Since his was a minor, non-speaking role he had come only a couple of times for the rehearsal. We had exchanged just a few words on those occasions. During one of our shows I cut my right index finger. I had to carry a blade for the role, which required me to bring down paintings. That was the time I was getting fascinated by method acting. While ravaging the gallery, in a moment of intensity, I managed to let the blade cut me.Despite of the blade being relatively bland the cut was deep enough to cause substantial bleeding. I did not even notice how bad it was until I left the stage.Our director was playing the lead role and was caught up on stage. Most of the cast and crew were preoccupied with various work related to the play. I went to the washbasin in the backstage room, and let water fall on my finger, which was bleeding quite badly by now. Prasanna came up to me at this time. When he saw me in some pain and noticed that the bleeding had not stopped, he immediately insisted on taking me to a hospital. I felt awkward being helped by a relative stranger. I insisted that I would manage until one of my friends came. Ignoring my polite reply he short of dragged me to the hospital. He oversaw the first aid and bandaging done by the nurse and doctor. He paid the bill at the hospital, dropped me off at Alliance,where the play was being staged and left.The injury turned out to be superficial, not requiring any stitches. So the next day I was able to perform with a bandaged finger. When I saw Prasanna the first thing I did was thank him and pay him for the hospital expenditure. I was very embarrassed that he had left the previous day before I had payed him. Was I really able to pay him back for what he did for me? Is it possible to measure the value of someone’s spontaneous kindness to a virtual stranger? Any effort to put such moments of genuine compassion and concern for a fellow human being in words can only result in failure. I don’t know if I will ever meet this guy again. But one thing I know for certain. I received affirmation that day of something Nalasivam, played by Kamal Hassan says in Anbey Sivam.Which is“muna pina teriyada ore paiyanukaga kanner odara anda manase iruke…adan kadavul”.Roughly translated this means, the heart that cares and aches for a stranger’s suffering, that is the divine.