The Favour Bank

The Shuklas and the Varmas were next-door neighbors for the past twelve years. The Varmas were an elderly couple, whose son and daughter-in-law used to stay in a different city, for their work.

The Shuklas were a middle-aged couple whose elder son was sixteen and the younger daughter was twelve. The Varmas had known both the children since they were born. They too, were very fond of the elderly couple.

Once, while coming home from the grocery store, Mr. Varma slipped and fell down on the staircase. Vaibhav Shukla saw him and ran to help. Luckily, Vaibhav managed to call for an ambulance and take Mr. Varma to the hospital. Once they reached the hospital, Vaibhav informed his parents. Both of them came directly to the hospital after their day’s work. They tried to inform Mr. Varma’s son. But he seemed to be too engrossed in his work. He said he could not come over to the city because he had meetings lined up.

The Shuklas were upset about this, but that did not change their attitude towards the elderly couple. A major fracture was detected in Mr. Varma's leg. All the ten days that Mr. Varma was hospitalized, the Shuklas took care of him very lovingly.

One day, Mr. Prasad Varma saw a mail in his mailbox. The subject was: Application for sponsorship of Vaibhav Shukla.

Prasad, the son of the aged Mr. and Mrs. Varma, was a Public Relations Officer at Reebok. He recognized Vaibhav’s name. The application was written by Vaibhav’s coach.

Basket ball was Vaibhav’s passion. He had been selected to play at National Level. But his parents could not afford expensive training. Prasad was not aware of these recent developments in Vaibhav’s career. He knew how sports sponsorship worked in Reebok. Prasad understood what he could and could not do in his capacity as an employee. But Vaibhav was special. Prasad remembered how Vaibhav and his parents had taken care of his ailing father.

Prasad immediately forwarded the mail to his boss. He also spoke to his boss personal saying that he knew Vaibhav personally and could assure that he was a very talented boy. The boss went through all the certificates of achievements that were attached with the mail and was impressed. He approved of the application and assured Prasad that Vaibhav would get the sponsorship.

A week later, Vaibhav and his coach got mails saying that Reebok would be glad to sponsor Vaibhav. The joy in everyone’s heart in Vaibhav’s family knew no bounds.

Sure, it was Vaibhav Shukla’s record of achievements that clicked. But in a very small way, it was also the word dropped in by Mr. Prasad Varma, an employee of Reebok. This is something Vaibhav and his family would never know. And Prasad too was not very keen on disclosing the secret to the Shuklas.