‘Life is beautiful…Jiyo Dil se!” – the laugh that followed is a lifetime remembrance- It was surprise as It came from a man which apparently was a villager and of little means!
Everyone has a different percept
of life and one is living as according to his beliefs and aspirations, I thought
and moved ahead – it was a short stint with a man who I met on a recent
excursion in the hills.
To fend himself, Damodaran makes ‘Lemon
Water’ or Neemboo Pani as people call it
in local dialect and thus makes a ‘Decent Living’ – as it was a chance encounter,
the heat and humidity accompanied me and made me exhausted – Call it a meeting
which was destined to happen and it do so at the right time – Damodar had a bad
habit as I could sense and Smell – he had made a Morning Drink for himself – probably
a peg as I vividly thought so.
The smell was apparent and
staunch and it led me to talk to Damodaran with a whimsical smile back as I asked
“ Sir, Subhay – Subhay hi chadda li 😊?, Din tak to ruk jatte !” { Sir, You
had a drink in the morning 😊 , could have waited till afternoon at least!}
Hearing this he laughed like
anything as there was nothing beyond that – I just left his gist about his
laughing from heart – he surely has life a very observant life, as I thought –
he matched my thoughts as if it was some kind of frequency match and thus spoke
“ Zindagi mein aish karo, kal ka pata nahi – jo mann karta hai karke jao – kal
kya baankar aauge wapis is duniya mein, kisko pata!” { Life is uncertain and whatever you need
to do , do it right away and don’t procrastinate – don’t know when, where and as
what you would be born again, Who knows ?”}
The talk deserved another Neembu Pani
{Lemon water} and as I ordered so, he was quick to prepare one with much
enthusiasm, alongwith he started to ask me about my whereabouts – what you do
and where you work – much of it was sort of over head transmission for him, as I
could sense his reaction to my answers.
The second Neembu pani was much tastier 😊 – don’t know why, but maybe Damodar had accepted me as a friend now 😊 – as I paid him and started my journey, we exchanged an open ended goodbyes – “open ended” because, you never know what is store for us – we may meet again in sometime, which both of us wish so – till then ..let seconds pass…