Caring from the soil

I wash hands.
Very often.
Most importantly when i have to examine any patient.
It so happened that last night i was on my paediatric ICU call,  and got a speck of blood on my hand while sampling a patient for blood gases, i washed my hands, thoroughly. 
There was no sterile towel available so i made up my mind to let hands air dry. 
At this very moment mother of my baby patient  called me to her bed. I went there,  sat on a wooden bench to listen to her .  On the next bed, a very old woman, mother of a comatose patient was observing me and in no time i was offered a clean shawl by her to dry my hands with,  saying "ay lo doctor sab hath punj lo"  , "here, respectable doctor, cloth to dry your hands".Quickly i had calculations in my mind that no this isn't sterile and whole purpose of handwashing will be compromised.  But the love in her offering and the caring in her voice smelt like coming from the same soil as i was brought up from.  And i dried my hands with the shawl.  After listening to the mother who had called me,  i went to my personal washroom to wash hands and come back to duty.
I felt cared for. It was just one extra handwash to accept the caring.