Smelly and unkempt, stubble more than a week old, the fellow in crumpled and torn clothes hovered near me. Tom was a homeless man and looked like one too.

Waiting for the bank to open, I had to make a deposit. My silvery hair distinguished me, perhaps. Tom approached me. He smelt bad. Backing away, I asked, "Do want to borrow my pen?"

Tom smiled, “I don't know how to read or write. Please fill the form for me, Sir. You are like a God-sent angel for me.”

Reluctantly I agreed. He said, "ask for 2000 bucks, please."

I wrinkled my nose as the stench wafted from his unwashed body. Feeling nauseated, I filled the form and gave it to Tom.

Meanwhile, I went to another counter to get my work done. Hearing an altercation, I glanced at the other counter. The teller, a young woman, was shouting, "How many times should I tell you? You must leave a balance of 1000. You have just 2400 in your account. So you can withdraw only 1400 bucks. Please write another form and give me."

Tom looked askance. "Madam, I am illiterate, I have to beg someone to write the form for me." He came to me again, hesitantly, "Sir, can you help me again, please? It seems I can withdraw only 1400 bucks."

"Wait till I finish my work," I replied turning to the bank clerk. He waited for me. I helped him again. "Thanks a lot, Sir," said Tom as he turned to the counter.

Withdrawing a safe distance from him, I watched Tom. a safe distance from Tom. Fascinated, I wondered, "what makes him tick?"

Tom clutched the cash he got from the teller. As he shuffled out, I followed him. He bought a few things from a grocery store. Feeling a twinge in his heart, I pondered "why can't I buy a few groceries for this poor fellow? God has given me enough and more money." I moved in and paid his bill.

Surprised, Tom looked at me. He fumbled as he accepted the packet. "Thank you so much, Sir. My kids will eat well today."

"How many children do you have?" I asked. Tom was happy to speak. "I have three kids, Sir. I lost my wife last year and I am struggling alone. I cannot hold a job. The benefit I get is just enough for us to eat one meal a day. Today we can eat two meals, thanks to you. May God bless you, Sir!"

Back home, I looked at the well-laden dining table. Vegetables, fruit, meat and lamb, all were available to us. In fact, sometimes they had to throw away food as it got spoilt.

Sharing this with my wife and son that night, I said, "let's cook a sumptuous meal and take it to Tom's family, next Sunday, we should learn to share and care for such people. Don’t you agree? "

Come Sunday, we shared and enjoyed doing it.

It was a routine service at my church. I was a young man looking for some significant other in my life. Saw a girl who seemed new at church, kept watching her. This distracted me from worship one Sunday morning.

I made it a point to follow her after the service was over. She was patiently waiting at the subscription desk in the Church office. I had no business there, but I went and stood there.

With great difficulty, I tried to start a conversation with her. She seemed reluctant to answer my queries. But I persisted, and we had a conversation of sorts. She had refused my offers of tea or coffee and so we talked over some fresh lemonade.

She appeared to be interested in what I was doing then and asked me intelligent questions. I went overboard explaining intricate details of my work. In hindsight, I wondered if she was really interested? When I asked her recently about that first Sunday, she told me she was merely being polite!

That began our relationship, which blossomed into marriage one day. It is now 35 years that we are together! Only God has kept us together, being the unseen cord of the three corded braid!

Doing the same thing again and again. There is comfort in routine. It instills into you a false sense of security by the simple repetition of the rhythms again and again. Like the beats of a drum, like the sway of music, like the waves from the sea and the tides, ever repeating.

Take a risk. Change your routine. Do something different. Or do the same thing differently. It will surprise you!

Take my example. Usually, I never do spontaneous writes as I am doing now. I feel I am taking some risks. But I want to do it because I feel I am getting stereotyped. I feel I am being huddled into a ghetto with no openings!

Change is the only constant in our ever-changing world. Not an original quote, surely, but a true one. While one sage commented that we never step into the same river the next time, someone else said that we step in into one river and end our step by getting immersed in another one. How true?

All the cells in my skin are being changed every night. There is a turnover of my gastrointestinal and respiratory epithelia. There is a turnover of all my neuroglia and a reshaping and restructuring to some extent of my neurons.

So, I ask, I am the same one I was when I began writing this five minutes ago? I wonder. As I wonder, cells and synapses in my nervous system are changing, getting re-ordered and reshaped. I am a living organism, a changing organism indeed. How do you expect me to remember what I wanted this write-up to end as?

"Change and decay in all around I see", said the hymn-writer. I agree with him. The only Changeless One is the One whom I for one cannot comprehend. For a change, let us focus on Him and meditate on Him. Doing that will bring a true sense of serenity and security, I am sure. Any takers?

Rubbing my eyes again, I stare at him. He has the trademark fuzz below his nostrils. He is Adolf Hitler in person! Though he seems to be disappearing partly, he continues to stay as I scrutinize him.

I am not totally surprised. Being a true Aryan and a staunch Neo Nazi, I often dreamt of this day. Now was my chance, I sit up straight, smile at him.

“Good morning, Fuhrer!” I start in German. He responds in German too. “Good morning, Gunther!”

Cutting to the chase, I ask him the question bugging me for many years. “Why did we lose the war, Sir?”

The Fuhrer looks surprised. He says, “You really want to know? The spies, the spies were responsible for our fall. They revealed our secret plans to the Allies and we were caught out. Goering and the others made a major mistake underestimating the Allied spies.” He looked wistful as he gazed strangely at me.

“I wish I had you with me Gunther, in those days. I would have slipped you across the Channel. You would have gone to London and fooled that Churchill fellow with your char and intelligence. You look so much like an English fellow. Your accent would have fooled them too.”

Astonished, I ask him, “How do you know all these things Fuhrer?” He smiled and said, “There are many things made clear here in this land I inhabit dear Gunther.” He swore softly and said, “If only we could go back to 1940, the beginning of the third Reich! How I wish” He sighed deeply and relapsed into what seemed like a trance.

I tapped his shoulder. “Fuhrer! Can I say something? How would you proceed if you could be in 1940 today?”

Hitler gave a start. He smiled. “I would do some things differently Gunther. I would have recruited young men like you and sent them to the Allied side to gather intelligence. They also would serve to confuse the enemies about the intelligence they gathered. That would serve me well. I am sure we would have won the war!” His smile was so genuine that I was taken aback.

“But, what went wrong in 1940, Sir?” I inquired. I really wanted to know. Hitler fumed. I could sense his fury as he coldly replied, “Gunther, you are missing the whole point. We did not lose. We lost the battle, but the war we are winning. Thanks to young people like you. Don’t you understand, Gunther?”

He paused dramatically. “The neo Nazis will take over Europe tomorrow. We will have the Final Reich soon. You, Gunther are the new Adolf Hitler. Heil Gunther!”

When he stood up ramrod straight and saluted me, I was flabbergasted. Of course I did have some wild desires deep in my heart to head the neo-Nazis. But to be saluted and greeted by the Fuhrer as the new Hitler. This was beyond my wildest dreams. I pinched myself furiously. “Am I dreaming?”

Hitler disappeared. I rose up. Now I knew what I have to do. Smiling, I walked out of my bedroom.