Listening to my conscience

It was a 3 day weekend this April. I and my friend Lalit got bored as other friends already went for outing with their parents...So we decided to have a short trip to OOTY!
There is a national wildlife sanctuary before ooty, Bandipur so we decided that first we'll go to OOTY n then while returning we'll cover Bandipur the next day.I was extremely excited as this was a perfect oppurtunity to experiment with my new Canon S5 IS, its a kind of semi slr camera!
Fine, we boarded the mysore bus as didn't get the direct one to ooty...Yeaah Nothing comes so easy.We started around 8 pm from Bangalore.Although we wud have loved to have a loooooooooong nap but since the weather was cool n the lights were off, we started singing old Hindi songs.
The singer in me was at its peak at that time n so did the irritation of my co-travellers :-)
But man who cares!!!!!
By the time we reached Mysore it was already 11:30 n it was raining outside.We were pretty confident or rather lalit was quite confident of getting a connecting bus to OOTY..
There you are, at times we lose Hosh when we are in full Josh n exactly thats what happened next. Me n Lalit waiting for the OOTY Bus at the Mysore Bus stop.First one came... "yesss..we are off to OOTY " we thought but God wanted to teach us a lesson for this unplanned journey. There wasn't a single seat available!! then the second bus and the third and the foruth came n went ...phewwwwwww.The excitement bubble was turning into frustration.Newayz we went for a quick tea. As we were having tea we saw an old lady,very short ,fair complexion but in dirty clothes was standing there.For once I thought "She can't be a begger..Can she?"
Neway who cares I turned towards Lalit n we talked about what to do next. Then I had to turn to my right as someone addressed us saying, "Excuse me!". Gracious me it was that old lady herself n what did she just said..excuse me????
Never thought that indian government has taken a brave step to educate beggers. She continued,"Hello, where are you guyz going?"
We told him that we were on our way to OOTY n got stuck here due to lack of seats in the buses.
Old Lady:"Well, there is one bus from the platform 11 at 1:15 pm you can confirm it from the enquiry office."
Me:"O yes we just got that info from them, thanks newayzzz"
I was absolutely mesmerized by her polished english in British Accent n was thinking how come she was in such a poor condition!
She:"Shall I ask you a favour for me? I shall be very grateful to you."
"There you are ..coming to point finally!" I thought.
She:"I have to recieve money from Bombay tomorrow but right now I have to fed my dying mother so that she can get atleast something in her mouth before she leaves me. I am not asking you for money. Just asking you to pay for the food which is alreday packed at the shop close by."
I thought "Comon... you still have your mother?? Why can't just say that I want something to eat? Why the hell unnecesarrily making stories!" Newayz I asked her the amount.She replied,"Its 236 rs.!!"
I saw Lalit as he was silently staring at me. Already we were short of funds and now this. But I just cudn't deny her. Its strange that at times your inside dominates you like the way I was dominated.
I said, "Ok.. but where do i have to go then?"
She pointed to the other end of the bus station which was dark.For a moment i thought that I shud accompany Lalit for what if this was a trap!!!
Newayz I moved with her towards the shop n she continued speaking during the short walk we had.
Me:"How come you are in such a bad condition? What do you do for your living? Seriously speaking Ma'am, I am helping you not by believing you but because of your state."
She:"Oh no! God will not forgive me if I ever do that."
"Gimme a break... granny!!!"I thought.
She:"Actually I am a tourist guide for foreign tourists here in Mysore. I can speak 6 different foreign languages apart from English!!!"
"As if I can catch your so called 6 different languages lie" I thought.
We reached to the shop and I paid the bill.
Her packet was full of chips n biscuits!
I understood that she was lying but I still felt pitty on her. At last she asked me for some cash ..136/- for the medicines of her mother.I said that I can go upto medical store n pay the same.But it was closed as it was midnight.
There I was...Even before reching to my destination paid half of what I had to a begger who was lying to me but I have no regrets as my conscience was telling me to go ahead n help her.I asked her name.She replied,"Jyoti Patel" and blessed me again in the polished English with British accent!
Many of my friend believed that I acted foolishly but as I said .. one can't and shudn't deny the voice of one's conscience.Having said that I don't think my conscience will act to the same extent if I spot her again with same story!