The Secret Santa

Jeremy was visiting his friend and her family ahead of the Christmas holidays. His friend had a son, Timmy who was 5 years old and went to a private Montessori school in the town nearby. Just a couple of days before Christmas eve, he came back home with a story – a new little boy had just joined his school. He had moved to France only a few days back from Nepal. The Montessori school had some type of an “exchange program” with their sister organization that was based in Khatmandu. According to Timmy the new boy Rishi was the only kid in the class who had no Christmas list. He had nothing to demand from Santa! All others had discussed their lists at length during the lunch hour, and Rishi had nothing to say. Timmy had asked Rishi an innocent question– “Have you been bad all year Rishi, that you don’t even have a list for Santa? I wonder what you did”. Rishi’s response was – “Santa does not visit kids with no families.”

Jeremy was intrigued by the story. Although he had no children or family of his own, he did love children. He had no desire of having his own family in the near or far future, but he did enjoy being around children and teaching them craft work, sports, games, songs and other fun activities from time to time. He decided to meet the Montessori head mistress to learn a bit about Rishi. Why was he here? Who was he?

The next day he visited the school and met the head mistress. He learnt a few sad facts about Rishi. He had lost his family, his home and everything in an earthquake. He was pretty much all alone now. Since the Montesorri in Nepal needed help to place children who were orphaned during the tragedy, they had asked for help from their French partner. The French Montessori had agreed to adopt and sponsor one of the kids for two years – and that was Rishi. Rishi lived as a “paying guest” with an old couple – the couple was paid monthly living and food expenses for accepting Rishi for the 2 years. After 2 years, he would be moving to another unknown place, depending on sponsorships – would he find something in France, the headmistress did not know. If not, he would be returned to Nepal, and would have to find his living and education there.

Yes, it was heart-breaking indeed. Jeremy was a kind-hearted man and could not stop himself from thinking of adopting the boy. But could he ever be a parent to a child? He had been a nomad for most of his adult life. He travelled from one place to another, and made a living by writing novels and occasionally performing at music concerts. He was sure he could not take the responsibility of having Rishi live with him, travel with him, and live off a modest and often uncertain income.

He was not a rich man. But he did have a small fund that his grandmother had left him. He decided to give away the fund towards Rishi’s upbringing and education. He took a deep breath and made a couple of calls from the head-mistress’ office. She was thoroughly surprised to see him donate whatever little he had towards the orphan. “Please think again Mr. Jeremy. Are you sure?” Jeremy was sure ofcourse – he was always sure of himself.

So he did it. “Madame, I have one request for you though – do not tell Rishi who his sponsor is. I do not want him to be in touch with me, certainly do not want him to thank me – I do not want him to think of this as a favor to him, because I am not doing him a favor. I am doing this for myself. I am alone, I have no family, and I know what it is like to be all alone. I see myself in Rishi – I want him to have a decent life, if not the best one.

My donation can take care of his very basic needs in France until he turns 16, and then he will manage by himself – hopefully he will be smart and hardworking enough to earn some scholarships after that!”

The headmistress agreed – this was the first time she was meeting somebody so selfless! Jeremy took out a little wrapped book from his bag and handed it over to her. “This is a little present for Rishi – from Santa Claus. I shall take your leave now, the funds have been transferred and you will have all the paper-work in the next week”

As he walked out, the 5 year old little Nepalese boy was rushing to the library with 4 picture books with him. He was startled to see Jeremy and accidentally dropped the books down. Jeremy bent down and helped him pick up the books. He placed a soft hand on his head as he stood up, and said “Books are great friends, aren’t they?” The boy looked up nervously and walked away.

That evening the headmistress called Rishi to her office and smiled politely. She handed out the little present and said – “Santa has a present for you Rishi - this book and something else. He is giving you the means to continue living in France with your new friends and teachers. You don’t have to worry about what happens after two years. You will be happy here. We will give you all that you need.”

Rishi had a broad smile on his face after months! While he was probably too little to understand everything, he did know that people needed money to live and learn. So he was happy that Santa was taking care of that for him.

Years passed, Jeremy’s life went on – moving from place to place. He published a few books, though none of them was a real best-seller. He continued to live off his little income as a writer, a pianist and a singer.

On this side Rishi continued to grow. At some point he learnt that Santa Claus was fictitious. So who was the secret person who had sponsored his nice & cozy life in France? He wondered. When he turned 16 he had graduated from high school. The headmistress called him and informed him that he had won a scholarship to continue with his university studies in England. Every year the school offered a scholarship to the most promising kids, and Rishi was no-doubt an excellent candidate for the same.

Rishi was ready to leave for England, but before he left he went to say goodbye to the headmistress. He asked her “Madame, who is the generous soul that sponsored me? I would have been a no-man if it weren’t for that generosity. I would like to have an opportunity to thank him. Can you not give me his contact?” The headmistress was tempted to tell him about Jeremy, but kept her word. She said “Rishi, it really was Santa! It was secret Santa. All I want you to know is that he was not a rich man financially, but had a rich heart. He gave away whatever little he had to support you, without any expectations. He said that he did not want to be thanked, because he was not doing you a favor. He was doing this for himself.”

Many more years passed, and Jeremy was now an old man. He lived off his little savings in a tiny apartment. He could not afford house-hold help, so had to manage his meals by himself. His extended family sometimes visited him and offered to help out, but he always declined. And they never insisted.

One day as he was taking his regular morning walk in the park, he suddenly went blind. He had a stroke and collapsed on the ground. Hours later when he opened his eyes, he was lying on a comfortable bed in a rather cozy room with a window, a closet, a beautiful lamp and a television. There was also a writing table with some books, papers and pens. He wondered where he was; a kind-looking woman entered the room and sat next to him.

“How do you feel now? You must be wondering where you are. Do not worry, you are safe and you are in a happy place”. She said.

“Where am I and who are you?” He asked.

“You are in the Secret Santa Old Age home. One of our volunteers found you lying in the park this morning. You had a sun stroke. He asked a few people in the neighborhood if they knew you, and many of them did. They told him that you were Jeremy Mathews who wrote books, who taught children, who played music and who lived alone in the apartment next to the park.”

“Our volunteer brought you here so we could take care of you until you got better. And of course, if you agree, you can make this your home forever. Here you will have friends, you will not have to cook and clean, you can focus on your writing and music. You can continue to teach children if you wish. We will take care of you.” She said.

Jeremy chuckled as he said “You are very kind Madame, but I cannot afford it. I don’t have a lot of savings to pay you. So, as much as I would want to stay, you will have to put me away.”

“No Mr. Mathews, you don’t understand. We are a fully funded old age home. We do not take fees from our guests – all our guests are just like you. They don’t have the resources to take good care of themselves. I can assure you that our entire team will be delighted if you would accept our invitation and stay back with us.” said the kind looking woman with a smile.

Jeremy did need help to get on with his old age. So he was happy to accept the invitation to stay at the old age home. “Who runs this home? I mean who provides the funding?” Jeremy asked. “A kind man who wants to give back – we call him Secret Santa” said the woman. God bless this donor, Jeremy said to himself. He did not inquire further – there are lots of good people out there who do good deeds, he thought.

The woman left Jeremy and went back to her office. A few minutes later she had a visitor. “Please come in Mr. Baral. It is so good to see you. I have the progress reports on all our guests ready on this folder. You can take a look. They are all happy and healthy. Today we have a new member added to the family, Mr. Mathews who is a writer and a musician. I am sure the others will enjoy his company”. Mr. Baral smiled and thanked the woman for her hard work.

“Mr. Baral, can I ask you a question please? Why do you do this? Why don’t you reveal your identity to the guests? You have been doing a great deed, and I wonder why is this kept a secret?”

Mr Baral said thoughtfully – “You see Madame Julier, I do not want our guests to thank me. I do not want them to think I am doing them a favor, because in reality I am doing this for myself.

I would not have been what I am today if it had not been for a kind, generous man – my Secret Santa who sponsored my early years in France. Till date I do not know who this man was, and I will probably never know him. But the Secret Santa charity homes are a tribute to him.”

They shook hands and Mr. Rishi Baral, who was a well-known industrialist in town and “Secret Santa” to the old guests in the old age home and to the numerous other men, women and children in the chain of charity homes, walked out of the office. As he walked out, Jeremy was slowly walking towards the library with a few heavy books in his old and fragile hands. Accidentally he dropped them down. Rishi ran to him and bent down and picked up the books – “Books are great friends, Aren’t they?” he said as he helped the unknown old man to the library.