When the rich wore a shabby dress

 That was a sunday evening.

I was relishing a hot cup of tea , when the doorbell rang.

A lady wearing a  shabby dress stood at the door .  I thought,at first , that she might have come asking maid vacancy.

Surprisingly,  she said she had actually come  to introduce herself as my  neighbour.

I was quite surprised because our neighbourhood house was a very costly and lavish bunglow. Even the monthly rent was 5 times higher than the standard rent of the houses at my location.

She added to my surprise a great shock, saying she has bought the bunglow for a few crores and became owner of it.

At this point of time I was having only 1 doubt .

Why she is she wearing shabby attire if she is so  rich???

2 weeks passed....

I noticed that she always took the local bus for travelling daily and always wore uniform like attire which would be clean at morning when she goes and shabby while coming.

Everyday at night many shabby dress wearing people will assemble at the bunglow and leave after 2 hrs.

I was really curious to know what was happening .

So,one fine day,  I mustered courage and went to ask her.

When I asked her, instead of replying,  she hired a bus and took me to a place where she said she volunteered.

It was a river near a slum area.

The river was half crystal clear and half stinking.

I was confused and asked what this was all about.

Her answer made me flabbergasted.

" This river in this slum area was well maintained by the local people.This  river was their only source for drinking, fishing, cattle rearing etc. Not only for humans but also to the animals it was the only source of drinking water.

But , my dad, the owner of a nearby plastic factory used this river for dumping plastic waste from his factory for nearly 3 years. The people protested, animals died, but nothing stopped my dad.

Last year, my dad died of health issues and the factory, crores of wealth came to me.

Even though my dad died,the irreparable damage he has caused hasn't died.

So, I decided to close the factory and use his crores of wealth, which he earned by damaging  the environment,to repair the damage. I joined hands with the area people , and daily, myself and my team of 20 people clean up the river from dawn to dusk as much as possible.

As a gratitude for their kind act of forgiving my dad and joining hands with me , I , daily, invite them to the bunglow and arrange a tea party."

Now, for me,the shabby dress was sparkling with a miss world inside.

**Based on real story happened to my friend.

Thank you so much for your time...