They say christmas is a time of giving and sharing. But there are some people for whom it is christmas time all the year round.They give without thinking and it is a privelege to know them, meet them or just to be sharing the same planet at the same time as them.

Anu teaches in a college in Delhi. The degree class she teaches has R.K.Narayan in their syllabus and anu was totally shocked when she found out that none of her 45 students had seen the television serial "malgudi days". She decided to fill this great vacuum in their experience by buying a CD of the same. When she could not get it in Delhi she contacted Pankaz,a friend who contacted me to check if i could buy them in Bangalore. I got in touch with my friend Prasanna who knows the producer of the serial. He took the trouble to contact Mr. Narasimhan but found out that there are no Cds and the rights are with the television channels. So we closed the chapter. There was some disappointment but it was soon forgotten. Anu was still grateful for my efforts for someone I have never met. I have neither met her nor Pankaz whom i know only through the internet. But we all made the effort and tried to help.

End of story you think? No!

A few days later Prasanna got a call from Mr. Narasimhan, the producer that he had actually converted the film copy in his possession into VHS tapes, and would be happy to send it to the college. He had gone to the trouble of spending his time and money for a reason that the generation of today may hardly understand - he felt that if the children wanted to see it, he must find a way to facilitate that. So the tapes were sent to anu and screened in the college. The students enjoyed it immensely and anu wrote back to me that the screening made "" 45 raucous girls' eyes light up". They expressed their gratitude to Mr.Narasimhan for his kindness by sending a picture of the entire gang - 45 lovely faces, enthusiatic, smiling and grateful- with their signatures and a thank you card and a small memento. Mr. Narasimhan was touched by the warmth of the kids. As he looked at the faces on the picture, his eyes were wet.While the kids felt that they could not thank him enough he felt they were too generous!

End of story, you think? No!

This morning i receive a mail from Anu that Mr. Narasimhan had sent the college a photocopy of a book containing R.K.Laxman's illustrations of Malgudi days to be kept in the college library! When she wrote to me the book was still making the rounds among the enthusiatic kids lapping it up.

If they learnt something from "Malgudi days" i hope they learnt a little more form Mr. Narasimhan - I did! I am sure that he has touched 47 lives and taught us some lessons on being generous and doing it all so gracefully and naturally!

End of story? I hope not !

I believe the story will go on as long as we all make the effort to keep the spirit of selfless giving alive!