moved in hatton: an old man and a three-legged dog

People travel for a lot of different reasons. For some, seeing beautiful landscapes or architectural wonders is the priority. For others, it is the chance to immerse with different cultures or taste mouth-watering cuisines. Some others go for adventure and exhilarating experiences. Some will still give you another reason but as I see it, everything would boil down to one thing. People travel to experience something good and create beautiful memories.

But travel isn't all about seeing the good things. There are times when we are faced with situations which aren't exactly bad but we'd prefer not to witness. But it could turn out that these things would eventually move us and be part of the memories we wouldn't easily forget.

This happened to me when I was on my way to Ella and waiting for the train at the Hatton Station. Since the train wouldn't arrive until 30 minutes later, I made myself busy looking at the comings and goings of the passengers. And then an old man caught my attention. With only a threadbare shirt and a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist that dropped halfway to his knees, he stood out amongst the crowd. Hatton, being above 1270masl is chilly. Add to that the fact that it had been raining the whole day. Sitting on a bench, I watched him from across the railways as he walked on the platform followed by a white dog. He stopped in front of a trash bin, opened it and started scavenging.

Seeing what he was doing made me feel uncomfortable. Of course it wasn't the first time that I saw something like that. I know from watching TV documentaries that there are a lot of people who survive on scavenged food. Still, it's hard to be used to and indifferent to this. Especially when it happens right in front of you. But this isn't what I am writing about, so..

Finally, he pulled out a white plastic bag, opened it and took something out of the bag. Just as I was about to look away, assuming that what I was thinking was what he would do, he placed a paper on the ground and put the food on it. He was scavenging for the dog! He probably knew that the dog must be so hungry because he kept looking for more food while the dog was feasting on his find. Watching as the dog was enjoying his meal, I also noticed that the dog was missing half of a leg. I could only assume that the dog had an accident on the train tracks and it was also the old man who took care of him.

I may never know their whole story but while I only felt pity for the old man at first, he gained my respect with a seemingly simple act. For someone who has almost nothing, he had the heart to be generous to a dog. And while life hasn’t been very good to him, he had kindness to give to a helpless creature.