Nice surprise on couple's doorstep

Nice surprise on couple's doorstep

A couple were surprised after they found a small shoe rack made out of wood on their doorstep earlier this month.

Priveen Raj and his wife did not know who placed the rack outside their new flat in Yishun Green Walk.

"We thought it might have been our neighbours and we even thought someone had put it there because they were annoyed by us leaving our slippers lying about," Mr Priveen told The New Paper.

But when he saw Raj Kumar, a contractor with Straits Construction Singapore, he knew that Mr Raj was behind the surprise gift.

Mr Priveen, an aviation lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic, said: "He smiled at me and it instantly clicked that he was responsible for the shoe rack."

When he asked if Mr Raj had made and left the shoe rack at his doorstep, the Indian national said that he simply wanted to do something to return their kind deeds.

Mr Priveen and his wife would often give food and drinks to the workers.

So Mr Raj and his friends decided to make the couple a shoe rack.

The contractor, who was almost in tears, told Mr Priveen that not many people here even "talk to the workers", much less showed him "so much respect and kindness".

Overwhelmed, he made a shoe rack out of recycled wood as a way to thank the couple.

Mr Raj and the couple are now friends.

Mr Priveen told The New Paper: "We are going to hold a post-Deepavali and shoe-rack dinner for them, so they know that they are not alone. After all, they did not celebrate Deepavali and we want to show our appreciation."

This article by The New Paper was published in MyPaper, a free, bilingual newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.

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