💬 A small act of generosity I still remember from college

When I was in my 2nd year of B.Com in Nampally, I had a 40 page assignment to print. The photocopy shop near college charged 1 rupee a page. I had 20 rupees on me. The man at the counter, I never knew his name, counted the pages and looked at my face. He said, 20 rupees? Fine. Just give me 20. And he printed all 40 pages. I didn't understand at first. Then the next customer paid 2 rupees a page, and I did. I thanked him twice. He didn't look up. He was already stapling someone else's file. The exam week was bad that year. Our hostel mess ran out of eggs for 6 days straight. I went back to that shop 4 more times and he did it again, every time. I never told him it mattered. I'd have felt stupid saying it. Students don't say things like that. I finished the degree, got a job, moved around. Passed that shop maybe twice after. Last year I stopped the bike outside it. It's still there, with a new signboard. A younger man was behind the counter. I asked for 10 copies and paid 2 rupees each. Then I added 50 rupees extra and told him to give the next student a discount. He looked confused. I said, just do it. He shrugged and took the money. I don't know if he did. I didn't wait to see. I felt a bit silly the whole ride home. What's something small like that someone did for you? I'm curious what other people remember.

The man at the counter saying 20 rupees, fine, and stapling the next one without looking up is the kind of kindness that never makes the news. A canteen uncle near my college gave me tea on credit for a whole semester and never wrote it down.

A classmate shared his whole tiffin with me in class 6, the day I forgot mine. Lemon rice and 2 boiled eggs. He ate my biscuits instead and said it was a fair trade.