The Day we were saved from being cheated

After my successful knee surgery in 2004, it was obvious that it would take time and exercise to rebuild the muscles around the knee. While I had still been in hospital my brothers had informed themselves about physiotherapists in Vrindavan who would be able to come to the Ashram, too, as I would not be able to get up and go anywhere in the beginning. In the local hospital they were introduced to a woman, a physiotherapist, who happily agreed to first come to the Ashram for the therapy and later do it at the hospital.

In the first sessions she did not show me a lot, just some small movements but soon it became more and more so that I could feel how challenging it really was for my muscles to work again. Obviously, when you spend time with someone like your physiotherapist, you also get into talk. Quietly doing your exercise is not that much fun and so she asked about my family, work and more. I was recovering well and doing good progress, too, enjoying the sessions because I felt my leg work properly again. People came by to visit and my sister and parents also came to the Ashram often as I could not come to our house in town. Sometimes my sister brought food from home and sometimes my mother came to cook at the Ashram.

On one day after my normal workout session, my physiotherapists asked me for help. My brothers were also there and she told that she was in a difficult situation at that time, that someone in her family was very ill and that she would like to borrow some money. It would not be a huge amount, 10000 Rupees, which is about 200 US-Dollars, and she would give it back very soon.

She had been quite reliable in her work and after all she was a physiotherapist, so she had a proper job and not a bad one, in a renowned hospital, so we did not hesitate, willing to help someone in need. I wrote a check and handed it over to her. She was very thankful and left.

Exactly on that day, some hours later, we had a talk with one of our former neighbours who had come by to visit the Ashram. I told him about the surgery and also about the physiotherapy. When I told him the name of my physiotherapist, he frowned. When I asked why and added that I thought she did good work, he replied ‘Her work may be very good but I know she is a cheater – she asks people to lend her money and she never gives it back!’

You can imagine that this information shocked us. We had just given her a check of 10000 Rupees! We got to know that many people had been cheated by her and nobody had ever seen any of his money again!

We praised the fact that we had given her a check and not cash and my brother straight away went to the bank to cancel that check. But we still had to talk to her! What would she think if she went to the bank and could not get money with the check? And could we actually say ‘You are a cheater’ to someone if we had only heard about it? That did not seem right, either! After all, I had been very happy with her work!

We thus decided to take another way and when she came for my physiotherapy session again, I asked her to please give the check back, as we had decided that we could not give her the money. With just these words, she understood that her reputation had reached us. She pulled the check out of her purse and handed it over. She mentioned that she would have given the money back just a few days later but we decided not to go in further details.

Obviously, our workout sessions were not as relaxed after this incident anymore and as I knew by now what I had to do, I soon told her that she would not have to come anymore. I was quite fit, strong – and of course happy I had not lost 10000 Rupees!