Brutally Frank: My good Samaritan is from India

By MARY ANN MANJA BAYANG

It was one normally busy day for me, leaving the house at the nick of time to rush to a meeting in town. I jumped into my car and slowly moved out into the main highway traffic. About half a kilometer away, my car coughed and stopped. I started it again and after two meters, it coughed some more and did not start anymore.

I was in the middle of a busy road so I got out of the car and opened the hood so that motorists would know there was a problem with my car and to prevent anyone form unnecessarily blowing their horns.

I stood at the shoulder of the road and tried to call a friend whose office was nearby. Unfortunately, he was not at the office. I tried to call my office and the person who could have helped me was out of the office. I stood there worrying about what I should do.

There were a lot of vehicles who just passed me by. The persons I was supposed to meet with were calling and I had to explain I got stuck in the middle of the road and had to appeal for them to wait for me.

I was really hoping that some Good Samaritan would stop and share his gas with me. I waited long until a car stopped. The driver, who I suspect was in his early twenties, went out and asked what was wrong. I told him I ran out of gas and then he went back to his car and informed his companion who also alighted.

I noticed that he was not a Filipino and he looks like some of the businessmen in the city whom we always refer to as “Bombay.” He asked if I had a container for gas; I said none. He then offered to fetch some gas for me.

When they returned with a gallon of gas after some minutes, I asked how much I owe them and the “Bombay” insisted I should not pay. I started talking to him and I learned he was the Chief Administrative Officer of the International Department of Medicine of St. Louis University. His name is V. Rameshkumar and he is from India. Of course, I was immensely thankful to him and I told him so.

Filipinos normally boast about their hospitality and good values like these are something extraordinary. On that day however, I realized that in my own land where I was supposed to depend on my people, my people passed me by at a time that I needed them most.

My Good Samaritan was a foreigner and a very busy person I suspect, who went out of his way to help a person in need.

I realized that hospitality and good virtues are universal, after all, and the Filipinos are losing it. #