Here are 14 incidents from 2016 which will restore your faith in humanity for the best:

1. Sikhs serving water, tea in ATM queues

While the rest of the country was grumbling about the long queues in front of ATM kiosks after PM Modi banned the currency denominations Rs 500, Rs 1000 – a group of people from the Sikh community decided to do different. They offered water and refreshments to those standing in the hours-long queue and ensured they were slightly more comfortable. Such generous folk!

2. Indian cricketers wearing their mother’s maiden name

The members of the Indian cricket team pulled a surprise up their sleeve, by paying a tribute to the most important women in their lives. Everyone from captain Dhoni, vice-captain Kohli to all players wore their mother’s name behind their jerseys, proudly flaunting the name of the woman who gave birth to them and raised them.

3. 8 Muslim youth perform the last rites of a Hindu man

In a country where the religious climate is becoming more intolerant, it was a heartening sight to see eight muslim youth from Mumbra, perform the final rites of a Hindu gentleman. A 65-year-old Waman Kadam had no next to kin, and therefore was escorted by eight good-hearted boys who bought all the things for the final rites including earthen pots, bamboo, ropes etc and cremated the man around 3 am of the night of his death.

4. When a Hindu autowallah gave his Muslim customer a free ride to the mosque in time for his prayers

In another act of kindness, a Hindu autowallah dropped off his Muslim client, after the latter was getting late for his prayers and had forgotten his wallet. The rickshaw driver not only gave him a free ride, but also handed him some money to get back to his workplace. The rider Rameez Sheikh was so impressed that he took the man’s picture and said thank you to him after explaining the whole incident on Facebook. The post went viral and many applauded the rickshaw driver Shukla ji’s kindheartedness.

5. This couple took more than 40 children under their wing and got them an education

Humans of Bombay found this rather inspiring individual who talked about his story of how he and his wife took in children who could not afford education and paid for it. He said even though they were well off at one point to comfortably take care of it, soon the man had an accident which depleted their savings. However, the couple did not stop helping children and had helped up to 40 children in their lifetime. He would tell the children who had landed cushy jobs to do the same.

6. Cleaner made fun of for staring at jewelry, got showered by gifts from strangers

A Bangladeshi cleaner working in Saudi Arabia was trolled on Instagram with a mean caption saying ‘this man only deserves to look at rubbish’. Only to be rescued by online activists who didn’t quite bite into the post’s meanness and instead proceeded to shower the man with gifts including gold, rice, honey and an iPhone.

7. Hindu-Muslim men donated kidneys to save each other’s wives

Two sets of men (one Hindu and the other Muslim) in Jaipur found their blood-groups matched each other’s wives and therefore donated kidneys to the other man’s wife. They didn’t let religious bias get in the way and celebrated the festival of Eid-Ul-Zuha with all the more fervour as the transplant was successful. Both gentlemen Ahmed Anwar and Vinod Mehra shared the mutual respect and gratitude. 

8. Patna Medical College, where abandoned patients get the needed medical assistance

In a country where a man from Odisha had to carry his wife’s body for 12 kms, this comes as really good news that a run-down, dilapidated hospital is serving those abandoned by all the other medical establishments. The pioneer of this effort is one man Mr Gurmeet Singh, who comes with a full meal to supplement the medicines for patients, and hasn’t missed a single day in the past two decades.

9. An MP policeman helped an old lady cross a railway platform

We spend a lot of our life criticising the police forces, however, this one incident featuring an MP policeman went viral for all the right reasons. An old lady was having problems crossing the foot over bridge at a railway station, this policeman lifted her and carried her across the railway platforms. Now, that was way more than his call of duty.

10. This family took a dog in feeble health, and turned her around

A family took this starving dog from the streets, with parasites having attacked its sunburned skin. They took good care of the dog, named her Kelsey, and fed her nicely. Much to the family’s surprise, Kelsey grew her fur back and is no longer emaciated. Goes to show how far love and care can go in improving the health of our furry best friends.

11. Hundreds joined a dog and his owner on the last walk to the beach

An 18-year-old whippet was slowly succumbing to his ill health, and his own owner thought it was only fair that the pet be taken for one final walk to the beach. Now, since a dog is a man’s best friend, the owner made it a Facebook update and hundreds joined them for the whippet’s final walk to the beach. It was a sweet gesture on behalf of the dog lovers, as they gave the dog emotional support during his last walk before being laid to rest once and for all. 

12. An ATM Guard shared 20 bucks of change with this singer for a cup of tea

Singer Chinmayi Sripada and her actor husband Rahul Ravindra, had no clue what they were in for when they landed in India from US, shortly after the Modi Govt declared the demonetisation scheme. Having little to no cash, the duo went to every ATM in the vicinity only to disappointed with no cash. However, they found their good Samaritan in an ATM guard who lent them 20 rupees to spare for tea. The singer couldn’t thank the gentleman enough and even wrote an FB post about the same.

13. A young man helped this 70-year-old restaurant owner through a Facebook post

A 31-year-old Colin Ross entered this fish & chips place in Alberta, where he found its 70-year-old owner the only one seated on one of the chairs. Genuinely impressed with the halibut and the fries that he put up Facebook post urging everyone in the community to help out the restaurateur since he ‘deserves it’. The very next day, the restaurant saw 400 people and 500 people the next day. And that’s how the Canadian restaurant saw its biggest crowd in 7 years. 

14. This ATM guard had his bicycle stolen, and the Internet came together to gift him one

Tanvi Jain from Pune saw this ATM guard near her place of residence whose bicycle was stolen. Disheartened that he couldn’t even go back home because of the lack of money, Tanvi put up a Facebook post requesting people on her list to donate a cycle or contribute money so that they could buy him a new bicycle. Much to Tanvi’s amazement, a lot of people came together and they were able to buy a new bicycle for the guard, who was over the moon.

Well done, fellow human beings.