Don’t think too much before helping someone-Strangers who became family.

I received a message on facebook 2 days ago

“ Sat Sri Akal Gomti, this is “I am calling him uncle, we call any older man uncle in India” from Punjab, India. Me and my wife are in Distress in Round Rock Austin. We came here for tourist visa but our daughter in law is treating us very bad. Our return flight is on 18th Nov. Can you please help us to stay in any Gurudwara for 2 weeks. Please help..”

I didn’t think much and responded “ Yes, I will help you, here is my number XXX-XXX-XXXX, please text me or call me.”

Uncle responded “ Ma’am I don’t have a phone, I can talk on my Whatapp no from India. Thanks for the response. Humbled. Please support us, We shall be whole life indebted to you.”

I called “uncle” it was late night. They gave me a little bit of background and I told them that I will come and meet them near their home next evening after I finish work. So I met them last night “10/09/2019” at 7:30 PM across the apartment they were living in.

We walked across to Hyatt lobby and I asked them to tell me what happened. They started crying and couldn’t speak for some time. They said, they sent messages to 5 different people and I was the only one who responded back. They started telling us how they ended up in the current situation. Their son and daughter in law wanted to buy a franchise and asked the parents to help with money to buy and asked them to move here with them and run the franchise with them. Being the Indian parents, who give up everything for their kids, sold all their belongings, transferred their savings to the son and daughter in law and came to US. The son and daughter in law were living in CA. The franchise was in Austin, daughter in law moved to Austin first to start the process of buying franchise and son was still in CA. Parents came directly to Austin. They came here in October. Daughter in law put mother in law for a nanny and cooking job right away. In few weeks they learnt they wouldn’t get the franchise, the contract fell for whatever reason and now they didn’t need dad and mother anymore, they just wanted to use them as free labor once the franchise opened. The harassment started to an extent that the daughter in law turned the heating off in apartment, took away all the blankets and let them sleep in cold while having a room heater in her bedroom. The old folks didn’t have money since they gave it all to daughter in law and son.

I told uncle and aunt that I will book a hotel for them right away and buy the groceries for next 10 days they are here and move them out right away. They kept insisting that they don’t want to be a financial burden and if I could talk to Gurudwara or temple and find them shelter there. So I decided to do that. I called the guruji I know at Austin Gurudwara Sahib. He said, the owners of Gurudwara will be there on Sunday so I should bring the old couple there on Sunday and see what the owners decide. I managed to find the phone number of Gurudwara owners and called them. The owners talked about legal implications of hosting strangers in Gurudwara and declined to host them. I am part of Steiner Ranch Indian females whatsapp group, I decided to post a message there and ask for any pointers. Someone from the group responded saying

“This sounds like a scam message, please check thoroughly before you do anything and whatever you do, do not send money directly, if these are people you know then call and talk with them directly”.

Someone responded saying “If this is legit then its unfortunate they are going through this”. Another person responded “What a pity, poor parents”.

Someone from the group sent me contact number of an Indian woman who works closely with the temple “Radha Madhav Dham”. I called her but she gave me the same reason of legal implications and declined. Some people on the whatsapp group suggested to talk with Asian support organization. I tried to follow up on that but that didn’t go anywhere either. So I messaged the old couple that I tried to find a place for them in temple or gurudwara and they declined to host them. I told them that, I will book them a hotel room with kitchen and buy groceries. They were worried about hotel room expenses and how they will pay me back. I told them, they shouldn’t worry about paying me back for anything. I managed to convince them to stay in hotel.

I posted back on the whatsapp group that neither temple not gurudwara owners agreed to host the old couple so I am going to reserve them a room with kitchen in hotel. This resulted in some folks responding back saying with messages like

“Please be aware that there could be legal implications for the actions. Please consult any legal contact before proceeding”.

Those messages made me really disappointed and I responded to the group saying “I dont care about legal implications, I am just paying for someone’s groceries and accommodation in good faith”.

Another message came warning me about legal implications and so on.

I couldn’t take those messages anymore so I responded.

“I dont even know how to think that far. I met these old folks, they just cried at their fate and the fact that a stranger is there to help them while their son and daughter in law are treating them like this. They have probably never experienced this before, its a shock for them but not for me. I have been through this and have seen others going through it. This is life and all you can do is be strong for yourself and help someone when you see it happen to them. I might be more emotionally attached to this since they contacted me directly but I dont think even if someone takes me to court the judge would be like, “How dare you help someone in good faith?”. I have fought my own divorce case in court here. Judges here are very good and the legal system is quite fair. I believe you do good and pay it forward. Whatever happens, I will deal with it. For now, a problem solved.

I do feel disappointed that we are so cautious that we look beyond humanity and help but instead think about saving ourselves first from getting in trouble”.

This last message brought a change of heart in people and people started responding positively. I started receiving messages of support and encouragement like below.

“Bless your kind heart”, “Bless you, there are enough scams in the world but sometimes you have to follow your heart..”, “Kudos for helping, let us know if we can pool any resources or help in any other way”. “Can we contribute some money?” and so on.

I received PM from this amazing woman “Mona” from the group. She knows people who own hotel and has good connections with Sikh community”.

Another amazing woman “Athsole” responded.

“Hi Gomti, I talked to my husband and we are willing to host them until they head home. I would love to meet them if they would like to”.

I created a smaller group with Mona and Athsole to hash out the plan to get the old folks out of the misery.

As I was working out on the plan with theses ladies I received a message from old couple “Just saying thank you, will never be able to repay your kindness. Words can’t express my feelings nor my thanks for all your help. We both are obliged till we die. Thanks once again for being a lifeline beta (child)”, we are packing our luggage, please let us know the next steps”.

I talked with Mona and Athsole. I messaged the old couple that I and another friend of mine “Mona (haha, I have’t met Mona ever before but she is a friend already) will pick them up at 8 am next morning while Athsole will get the guest bedroom ready for them. I told the old couple that Athsole another friend (again, I haven’t met Athsole ever before but she is a friend) will host them at their home.

I and Mona set out to pick them early morning. Old couple wasn’t still ready to be a burden on anyone and didn’t want to stay in someone’s home. I and Mona kept trying to convince them to stay with a family, it will make them feel supported and not alone. It seemed very hard to convince. So I said, how about you just visit Athsole’s home with me, meet the family and if you still didn’t want to stay there, I would set you up in hotel. They agreed. We reached Athsole’s home. She lives very close to where we live. Athsole and her family is amazing. They were so warm and welcoming. Athsole consoled old lady as she cried, Athsole hugged her. She told them that for her, they are like her parents. We sat down, talked for sometime and we were able to convince them to stay with Athsole and her family till 18th and then on 18th I would drop them at the airport.

I visited Athsole’s home this morning to visit the old couple. They were very happy. Aunt (old lady) was cooking breakfast for everyone and was so happy being in the kitchen and being loved by everyone. Uncle (old man) was spending time outside with Athsole’s husband. I asked them how they are feeling and they said “Fantastic”. I couldn’t be happier. Uncle and aunt, Athsole and her family, Mona and her family will be at my home tomorrow for a meal.

In this whole experience of helping someone, we have found great people who were strangers but now are family”.

Don’t ever think twice before helping someone, you never know how you are changing their life, it could be small effort for you but could make huge difference in other’s life”