~ Time and Money...~

 The inter complexity of Money and time cannot be understood without loosing one of either as we live today in this uncertain world . Can these two parameters of life be made mutually exclusive, so much so that sometimes you have all the time on this planet and you are just a wastrel – just don’t want to do anything and idle around and attract the ire of friends and foes but you at the end of the day are the happiest lot as you know the quintessential truth of the world “ Time” is all that is in rarity!

At other moments of life, you will have money enough to purchase your zestful objects , be it cars, house or other expensive items in your deck but you will be lacking in one essentiality of life and that is ‘Time’ , for that is what you have sacrificed to have that aplomb of life… You may earn heaps of money to satiate your greed but one day time would make it worthless for it would have moved on and the biological clock would be ringing bells for us to call it quits for life!

The art of living today is a tough choice and making a balance between the two have’s requires considerable thinking and acting as both the wannabes can elude you till eternity as has been with many people who have started to chase money to have that ‘Quality of life’ which they thought could be bought only by having so much of it but after years of struggle when they finally heard people calling them successful and rich, they had lost the battle to the ‘Time’. Such is the equation between money and time that many of us find it immensely tough to balance the two on equal podium and gauge our life with a measurable success. The quest for pelf will make you poorer by many hours as time would elude you silently as its true character is shaped up by its skipping away second by second.

Thinking at this moment of our lives when so many years have passed in a timely silence, we can never think of so much time I have spend as what we are and what we have truly become. The constant chase for success and money as a byproduct has made us evade the ticking timeclock and we have made ourselves workaholics to the tune of not identifying our own presence.

As time and money play hide and seek, we all will one day realize a dastardly fact – that probably we would have utilized our most precious resource ‘Time’ for our own selves and our families and that we would have had an enriching life to be followed by our next generation , which would act as a teaching for everyone to emulate.

Lastly what we have to realize one day is that the biggest difference between Money and Time is that you always know how much money you have but will never get to know how much time you have …!!!

~ I am Alive...~

 I am alive! , this was the short sentence which fancied my eye when it was being spoken by a octogenarian gentleman whilst he was conversing with his friends of almost same age – the gossips and murmurs continued to elevate their feeling of happiness and that most of them have had a lucky streak and was saved by the deadly virus post April and May, when it had created mayhem for many!

But all set and done, the group was at their vivacious best, many of them had a toothless smile and were cheering on to life’s fairness towards them, though I could also see some gloomy faces amongst them and that they had valid reason for being so – as the thought of loosing near and dear ones can play havoc on your mood when you try to remember them.

Nevertheless, the cheered to their heart content and caught the attention of almost everyone why bypassed them on the aisle! After many months , I could see the camaraderie of these octogenarians diving into the spirit of life and meeting for that one last time as if there would be no tomorrow – but in reality who knows what is bestowed on every one of us – do we have an enabling future – it stands as an open guess for everyone!, but for now such time and moment is nothing short for them as home away from home...

This liveliness is the moment of time when they can think of their present and live with gravity of thoughts thereafter, this is the lesson many of us have learnt in short period of time. We have been engrossed in our own worlds of anxiety and have actually forgotten to set our truest emotion – “Laughing out loud” to its grave.

Seeing these age old friends whilst I brisk walked in our neighborhood park, feelings of hope and containment came a natural progression – the good time is certainly back and is at its good swing , no amount of WhatsApp videocalls can compensate for a physical meeting of friends – the gourmet of emotions were at its best, asking about each other’s wellbeing and cracking of jokes made these men a different genre altogether as if they had once again started to live their younger days and reversed the time for their own betterment!

They seem to be rejoicing the end of lockdown and had been given permission by their respective family members to venture out and enjoy the moment – being in that vulnerable group of being easily falling prey to covid, many were talking about the vaccination they had taken and even boasting about being safe from the threats of the invisible enemy they would ever see – I internally wished them ‘all the best’ till they meet again and may I see them all clustered together, brimming with confidence and showing their liveliness for all of us to emulate in our own lives when we touch such age!

~ My Gardner Friend...~

Today, I write about two strangers who used to stay in vicinity, they hardly knew each other but only through eye-contacts which they did when they used to come face to face during such time.

They refrained from communication as there was no common subject which they could speak on. Years passed by, one of the strangers retired from a government bank and develop a new found passion for plants and gardening – his sole aim was to kill time and steady his mind towards some activity – Gardening being the activity of choice he was thinking since long but could not devote time to his hidden desire.

He didn’t know that he had unknowingly created a subject of discussion with the other stranger and next time they both would come face to face, there surely will be a communication to start with. The time came and both were facing each other on the same lane, immediately the retired stranger broke his silence and asked “Namaste, how long have you been doing gardening? And what plants are your favorites?”

The other stranger, not expecting a communication from the elder stranger was little astonished but gently replied – “Namaste Sir, I have been doing gardening for more than 15 years now, and my all-time favorite is Money Plant!”

The pleasantries were exchanged as they had broken the silence – soon a friendship developed and both strangers started to visit each other houses to discuss the wellbeing of plants – they also exchanged new born saplings which they cut out for each other to be planted otherwise.

As time progressed, their bond grew over a cup of coffee and they also started to visit the nursery to share the commonality with gardening. Over a period of time, both the strangers became good friends and started to communicate photos and videos of their small garden which they had maintained, technology had played a great role to cement this friendship!

 Then one day, suddenly one of the phone stopped sharing the WhatsApp pics of newborn saplings, this was the phone of the old retired stranger – the younger one became apprehensive of any eventuality that might have happened to his new found mate – he started to ping him earnestly and found no response. Out of sheer curiosity, he rang the phone up but no one responded, his curiosity led him to suspicion. As both of them lived quite near to each other, some blocks away, he planned to visit his older friend to know about his whereabouts. 

The day came he stood In front of his old friends house – he rang the bell and found an old lady came out and asked what was the matter – out of inquisition, the young stranger asked him about his older pal as he was not responding to the phone calls or WhatsApp messages.

All hell broke loose when he was told that Mr. Srinivasan (the name of the older stranger) was no more and had passed away last month due to Covid. The young stranger was at loss of words and had choked breath and just paid his condolences and came back in a thoughtful mood. 

The only thing mattered to him was his older pals absence – he started to reminisce his past and the talks he used to do with his friend – they both shared their life’s journeys on a cup of tea , surrounded with hordes of beautifully nurtured flowering plants. How time has just passed that now his gardening friend was no more – though he lived in the plants which he had gifted his younger friend – now that its been quite some time that he is gone, beautiful saplings have blossomed out of plants that the banker had given to this young fellow…

Still whenever the young stranger passes through his friends house, he is reminded of the plants that lay near his main-gate and which is now caressed by his wife, a grim reminder of life lesson – no one is permanent here… by the way the young friend was myself and I write this story in all melancholy today as today was the day when his gifted ‘Money plant’ has shrouded itself in all new leaves , making me remind of His presence around men. Rest In peace my dear old pal… till we meet again ..somewhere… and in some other dimension…!!!

~ Theme of life…~

A bunch of youngsters sitting in the park were discussing their model of life and what they think life should be like…All were echoing the understanding they had about life lived now, with their own pressures and failures they had got acquainted with. Some were studying in college and some were in their school, the only common bond they shared was a game of football which they regularly play now with the ease of covid restrictions.

The magic of imagination can be a precedent for many – you can imagine your life as a first step and start to work towards it – for sure, it can bring drastic changes in your thought process, your persona and of course builds up your optimism.

These youngsters sitting and taking stock of their life aspired to make it big in fields that they have decided in their mind.

Some were fascinated with the armed forces and want to crack the NDA (National Defence Academy Exam), some wants to be a Doctor and has been burning the midnight oil to become one, I heard few voices who wanted to make it big in the world of technology and innovation – they visualize the fast changing dynamics of the business world and perceive that everything would revolve around information technology in the coming times.

Amongst all of these urchins , I could see a boy listening to all of the aspirational talk but was himself was a silent listener – a time came when they all focused on ‘Hitesh’, as they call him by name and asked “ you never shared your dreams and aspirations as to what you want to be in life?”

A brief silence dawned on the group and after some time, Hitesh broke his silence and uttered sheer wisdom, not expected out of a lad of his age…

“I want to be a happy man whatever I am doing and be at peace with myself!”

It came out as a surprise for many, some called him as a confused lot and not aspirational or an aimless fellow and was also made fun of, many thought him to be Mr. cool and a believer in the expression “ Come whatever I will run the race at my own pace!”.

For me, observing curiously about the talk the group was doing, Hitesh came out as a thought-provoking example, who was real to the practicality of life. Though he had dreams but were substantiated with the tinge of uncertainties which life may bestow us anytime!

Many of us must have had such discussions in our teen years, an obvious question must have been asked “ What you would like to be in life?” and many of us would have spoken about our dreams there and then, but asking yourself sincerely, have you really achieved what you thought of ? The job, work, business whatever you are doing right now, how many of us thought to be doing this many years ago!

There is a big element of uncertainty of life which we all disbelief in our prime as we all are young blood and want to be achievers in our own might – we are ready to slog and have the go-getter attitude, we crack best of the exams and start our careers with aplomb, sure of what we thought , we would achieve in no time but … the silent dance of destiny or fate will have its way… you will realize this with passage of time – The theme of life turns out to be different to what many think…

As Rumi once said… “In order to understand the dance, one must stand still and in order to truly understand stillness, one must dance…”

So taking this as a magnificent clue, go and churn your own theme of life today, think beyond imagination and sought a purpose of your birth…we all have only one life, live it gracefully and with gravity of thoughts and actions which will propel consequential results for people around you…. Remember you will always find place in the thoughts of people whom you have touched anonymously… but doing so always remember that what you tread may lead you to an uncertain outcome which you might not have every thought…That’s life!

~ The Barefoot Runner...~

Living a simplistic life has its own benefits and a recent meeting with a soul lead me to accept this idiom with modesty of my thoughts. Today, I present before you a man who is slowly going towards nirvana – if not spiritually but surely ‘Un-materialistically’, a recent meeting with my friend Shubham lead me to jot his thoughts for you to concur.

He has been running for almost a decade has been catapulted into a running icon in our vicinity – with an aim in his mind to complete a certain distance everyday as a key benchmark, his focus is always on his rhythm and presence of mind.

“I thought of running barefoot after a beautiful experience I read decades ago as a newspaper article. A lady took up this peculiar sport out of an instinct and after much practice, she was able go gauge health benefits which had silently creeped in – She was not a diabetic anymore, and also had severely cut short her daily intake of insulin and BP medicine(s). All this was just because of barefoot running.

Taking that as an example, I took upon myself to try this style of running, though at initial stages of doing so, I had to pass through my own setbacks and had to tackle problems of wounds, corns etc but the resolve was strong enough which kept me going. On the lighter vein, I had much hilarious comments by people who knew me or those who were ‘regulars’ in the park – some sought my explanation of myself trying to run barefoot, some gave me suggestion of running with certain set of spongy shoes, one uncle was just as concerned for me that he was not shy of asking me if he can help buy a pair of sneakers 😊 – that was the best comment I had in my life!

Now that I have an empirics to rely on myself, I have become a vociferous proponent of barefoot running, though the start was tough and I was not able to hold on to my rhythm and pace, with practice and carefully choosing the path in the ground, I was able to create my own niche of running without any footwear.

No wonder I have been able to simply stabilize my blood sugar levels and have ‘almost’ done away with daily dosage of my medicines – also, I have been able to control my anxiety levels – the benefits are aplenty.

I feel good and elated when I am finished with my regular rounds of running and people courageously ask me all sorts of questions about the larger good that I am achieving whilst I run without my shoes – I being an example myself have turned some into ‘Men without Shoes!” , though they are at a nascent stage of their practice, the road is long and arduous but certainly seeing the benefits themselves as an aftermath of such exercise, they are on the verge of engrossing themselves as barefoot runners!

The art of running barefoot has instigated in me a strong feeling of living the way of a minimalist – we all have an inclination of hoarding objects such as clothes, books , electronic devices and much more – usually many of these inanimate objects are of not much of a repetitive usage – keeping them at bay can only be practiced with a strong mind – we all have a lineage of footwear for different occasions but to my it has been a novel experiment to have the minimal approach to live life with the bare minimum.

Consider this , everything that your brain exhumes of many objects that you have collected over a period of time – you waste you precious energy and time to think over it – just try to cut short your items for day to day usage and see for yourself the inert benefits they accompany – think over it as I did long time back and here I am presenting myself the benefits of doing it – all thanks to Barefoot Running…

~ Tsundoku, We all do it...~

Reading books can be the best companionship you can have in the silence of your being. You are your own speaker and the listener too. Diving into the glance, you create an image of the character whilst you read on and it turns out to be such a magnificent experience when you absorb yourself with a character of your liking,

A good book becomes a best friend and leave a lasting memory for years to come – you can have a déjà vu feeling for your thoughts and observations as you create a fantasy of scenarios whilst you turn pages! 

But nowadays, many people have started to stock books with a notion to read them on a future date or time, not knowing such tomorrow might not happen and those books carefully selected according to your interest will be kept as a showcase for ever – a far reaching possibility can be that they might be thrown as scrap by a family Smartian who has the least interest in them. He/she may never know the talk one can do with a good book and how earnestly a change of mind can take place whilst you are in conversation with it.

Tsundoku what they call it – stacking or piling books with an intent to read one fine Day!

‘Tsundoku’ happened to be a word I came across the other day and that formed the basis of my writing today. To a certain extent, we all are practicing Tsundoku knowingly or unknowingly – with a feeling of going through in our minds that a day would soon come when we would have read all the stacked books in our shelves – on the contrary, we also know deep inside our mind and soul that it will be greatest ever wish we can have, yet we are oblivious to accept this reality.

A general reprimand from the family becomes the order of the day, for these bundles of paper we call ‘Books’ occupy a hell lot of space in our cramped places, where every family member is in search and want of a delicate corner to ensure his/her privacy – the sight Tsundoku becomes envious to the delight of everyone – you get into a mode to defend the presence of these inanimate objects bundled together, but carry a vast reservoir of untapped knowledge – What these books preach, if put on to use, can be a life changing moment for many of us, but we are ordained to not read them till the end of time as we are engrossed in other nitty-gritty of our day to day chores.

As you start to finish the books with the passage of time, you will find yourself in harmony of knowledge which somehow creeped in your conscience and which made you a lateral thinker towards day to day living. You will observe a stark change in your persona, which you shall start to cherish as you grow old day by day - that is the magnificence of keeping in touch with your best companions - Books!

A piece of sincere advise – make sure that you lay your hands on to a book which you have not touched since ages – which you always see lying at the corner but intent to read but did not find time to do so, break the shackles and excuse yourself of all invalid explanations of time, space or mood - pick the book up and start reading – that is the only way to be in touch with them – if at all , you could laze around your bed or a park nearby or a library, if you have one, and enjoy the company of your best friend who silently speaks and brims your mind with thoughts and musings of life … till then, Tsundoku is the order of the day!

~ Humans of Delhi...~

He comes once in a month and is always brimming with a smile. In all sweat, he has a bogey of 2-3 gas cylinders – which he exchanges with the empty ones whilst he treads house to house, floor to floor.

The job is tough, but he has now got used to the rigmarole as one does after going through the initial grill of life. The best part of his persona is his bubbly nature, as his demeanor – he is always ready to start a healthy conversation – be it about life, family and rising prices of Gas and petrol.

People often ask him the question of next government decision to rise the price of a gas cylinder which is so indispensable in many households, though many have now switched to piped gas. Acknowledging their pain, he replies back with a smile – many do take his reply quite seriously as somehow, he has that vital information people expect of him.

He always wears his ‘Official’ dress – a green T-shirt splashing the company’s logo he works for and is proud of what he is doing in life – as he tells me with a sparkle in his eyes “ I have been doing this work since 20 years now!, I came from Bihar empty handed and have made my own house and got married here and have kids!”  - he had just shared his entire life sketch in two simple lines, as I watch him with much interest.

He quickly puts the empty cylinder on his cycle and hooks it with all neatness, takes out a cloth and rubs his face to clear the sweat. He smiles again and take out the water bottle to satiate his thirst.

Hearing his fable, I see in him a man in all completeness and satisfaction of life he is living. He has proudly absorbed his life’s situation and is in complete harmony with the situation he is in. In spite of his meagre living and earning capacity, he is happily married, has made his own dwelling, is hale and hearty and of course is proud parent to his two kids – a boy and a girl, both students in a state run school. Of all the parameters I have mentioned, many of us who are reading this today have missed either one or more of the parameters – internally you will move to a thought provoking mode – how come a man whose work entails paddling for miles in Delhi summers remain all contended in life’s situation and still present himself with a contagious smile!

Many of us would envy the fine balance he has made out of his life – he is a winner for many of us, we might not be able to balance things with so many bounties but he has done it with  an ease.

Asked if he wanted a glass of water as it was too hot and humid, he turned down the request as he told me that he always carried a bottle with him whilst he deliver’s cylinders, same was the answer when he was asked if he carried a sanitizer for himself in these times of pandemic.

“Sir, I have small kids and have to work outside and visit homes, I have to be extra careful – which I always am to the best of my ability!” – Such contentment flowing through can only be achieved through strong meditative practice – programming your mind, the worst culprit, is the most arduous task in this world.

Somehow, knowingly or unknowingly he has achieved it , though he must have his own set of regrets, he is treading the path towards a bigger goal. His small achievements which we interpret are actually his biggest!

As he has little time left to report back to his ‘Office’, as he calls it, he hurriedly packs up his bottle and take permission to leave whilst he exchange pleasantries – as he slowly balances his dilapidated bicycle of his three cylinders he has collected, his current task is complete – I watch him silently as he diminishes in quick seconds leaving me with some vital life lessons to follow , one being “Be Contended with what you have, It is HIM who knows what to bestow on you and When….His test of time has no flaws….!”

~ Art of being Idle…~

Have you ever thought how it is to be like sitting completely free, devoid of your thoughts and what you want to do next moment... ? Do this gesture in your life and see for yourself what magnificent change it does to your aura...

Idleness is the synonym of a meditative state of mind, with no thought, your mind is at complete rest with itself and is not processing any information. Idleness can be a new found art of happiness, all you need to do is to shed off your baggage of ‘To-do-List’, howsoever it is important till the point , it is not life threatening.

In idleness, you get superlative thoughts to perform your best – you plan your journey ahead and try to tread the off-beaten path towards your purpose. History is replete with examples where the best minds in the world have got their eureka moments in times of complete Idleness.

In this life of perpetual scurry, we need to take stock of other important things which we might be losing every second. We need to connect to ourselves and listen to the inner voice which has been kept at bay by us for want of time. So, does idleness is another name for lethargy or you can be termed a recluse? Not really, for many of us Idleness can be a blessing in disguise from the razzmatazz of life we all chase every day, setting our own fictitious goals and sky-touching aspirations, Idleness bring about peace and tranquility to the volatile mind.

Give yourself a reliever, it is not you who has to accomplish everything and every target in this universe – you are not the sole object of an example being set as an achiever. Millions of people who are living a mediocre life are happy in their own grooves, better-off than people who are rich and constantly on the toll. We always embark on the deep-rooted prejudices and a heart filled with guilt that makes us constant on the move, we lose peace of mind over trivial subjects and constantly overthink them.

Idleness is the coolest way to be far from all the vices and deserved to be the top priority of your living, now that we have known through recent experiences that all your bank balance which you have acquired through fancy degrees is not sufficient to buy you an oxygen cylinder or a hospital bed- then what makes you run around at the cost of your happiness.

Ever since we took shape, a sense of “Duty’ has been instilled in our beings and ever since we are on the boil, devoid of thoughts and free mind, something always constantly working in our mind.

Today, do yourself a service – sit down in all idleness, stare at the twinkling stars, dive into the color of blue skies, monsoon is just round the corner – listen to the divine music nature plays whilst it rains! And yes don’t forget to have your favorite cup of tea or coffee – you will yourself see the happiness in your entity creeping through, your thoughts getting still, suddenly you will find that all the burdens of big achievements you ought to run after have actually vanished – you feel light and you have done yourself  a mighty favour in doing all this… so next time, make yourself ideal for a while and see what it does to you…don’t think much about what others would think about you…for let them ‘’think’ about your state of ‘Idleness’!!!.....

~ Guddu...Man on a Mission...~

 He comes everyday with his benchmark e-rickshaw, a semblance of his presence nearby as he hoots a peculiar horn which he has installed just recently. Ringing the bell and with a loud shout “Dhoodh) [Milk] , I get to know that ‘Guddu’ is here. I have never ever asked his formal name, for me this name begets a companionship, a sense of being a family to me.

Throughout the corona upsurge, he has been a constant source of motivation and a ray of hope for many of us who had secluded ourselves in the confines of our home. Motivation because, in spite of all the news of death and mayhem, here was a man who was doing his duty with full dedication and honor, knowing fully well that there are sick patients stuck up at their homes who cannot jump out of their peripheries – A lot of it depended on him to provide the daily groceries of essentials – from milk, eggs , bread, lassi (Butter Milk) and bread, Guddu was the man wanted by many of us in every morning.

Doing a thankless job, as many of us believed that he also has to earn his bread and butter and hence he takes this risk of coming out in open at peak of this pandemic where people are getting infected whilst at the closet of their homes. Whatever was our thinking, Guddu just kept on doing his work with equal zeal everyday – making our lives easier day by day!

Today, when I clicked his picture to be included in my blog, his eyes widened with a sense of pride. Many of us have thanked him for the marvel he has done at that critical juncture. Of course, we are not thankless souls after all, in those dire needs, everyone tried to help and assist each other , even if it was through kind words or by passing of keynote WhatsApp messages for medicines or Oxygen cylinders, whatever people could do , they did.

Amongst them there were many such invisible and nameless souls who kept on going on and on and didn’t held themselves back out of fear or inhibition of getting contracted by the virus – for they also have a family back home and are susceptible to the same vagaries of life as we all were!

I asked him, who all are there in his family and didn’t he feel a sense of apprehension when he used to come with same rigor everyday to sell his sundries to homes and sometimes entire containment zones.

His answer was quite astonishing coupled with a gleeful smile – “Bhaiya, I have my old father and mother and wife and two kids, we all are family of six people. I took ultimate precautions everyday I went home as I knew this disease is very contagious and it was running at its peak that time, for an entire two months, I stayed in another room near my home.”

The answer stupefied me and made me think about the dedication of this man and how he successfully balanced out his situation of life. He had to work and had to provide essentials to the needy ones – which he did without failing for even a single day and also made doubly sure that he should not be called the culprit of spreading corona at his home!

As I paid for my buy today, a special mention of thanks was passed on to Guddu from me, His smile said it all - but for me it was really important to make him realize that what seems to be his mundane work was a life savior for many of us!

Many of us have such “Guddu’s” in our vicinity who are invisibles by virtue of regular work they do for the benefit of all – sometimes they are street vendors , garbage collectors or delivery boys – all have families to support and all are equally susceptible to the virus as we are – today I thank them All for their unflinching effort and support and helping us go through that tough phase which made us more human and to see another day of HIS existence!

~ Lost It All..~

 “There is no one at home now…I go and cook for myself, Covid has devastated my life – I had no money to provide for hospitalization or Oxygen Cylinder when my wife and brother died in my arms.”

This poignant story of a rickshaw puller which I boarded today shows the grit of human endeavor to live life come what may. Though Shambhu has openly admitted that he thought of killing himself out of depression but at the last moment some voice made him stop.

“Don’t know what made me stop Sir!” he told me as we forged a connect whilst he was taking me way back home. Today was his day of speaking, to puke his emotions on someone whom he thought gave him a patient hearing – I consider myself blessed and humbled to know the nadir of humanity which Shambu told me.

“Bhaiya, I put my wife in my rickshaw and took her to a government hospital in my vicinity – she fainted on the doorstep out of breathlessness but the guard simply did not let us enter – after some time, a doctor and a healthcare worker came and declared her dead. I could not believe that my destiny had turned so cruel towards me!”

“Bhaiya, being poor and powerless in this world is the worst punishment, as no one listens to you and everyone just shoo you away as filth! We are poor and struggle everyday for our survival. We could not afford doctor’s fee or high-cost medicines and thus have to be dependent on government run hospitals.”

After a brief silences, he again continued … “One week later, I lost my brother, who was also suffering from Covid and for whom I was not able to arrange Oxygen cylinder – He died in my arms in my jugghi (makeover Shanti)” – ridding pillion, I was just listening to the tale of a man who had lost his family out of human insensitivity. I had no better words of comfort than telling him “ Shambhu bhaiya, it was all God’s will.” – though I knew fully well that we as humans did not try and did our best to save his family’s life – We blamed God as that is the easy way out.

“Will you go home now after dropping me Shambhu?” – I asked.

“No bhaiya, I wont go home, the moment I will go home, I will deep dive into fateful memories of my wife and my brother – I only had them as my family and there is no one left now for me to go home. I will sleep in my rickshaw and would go home early morning to take bath and freshen me up to begin my day again.”

I asked him one more question –“Shambhu, from where you get the zeal to live and look towards a better tomorrow?”

He did not speak a word and I presumed that he might not have listened to my question midst the hush-hush of vehicular moment. I repeated the same question but to no avail. Though I felt offended at the gesture shown to me but I understood his dilemma of thoughts and kept quiet. There was no further conversation with Shambhu throughout my journey.

Soon I had arrived at my destination and hurriedly got off to pay Shambhu for his services and lo!. I could see his wet eyes and he was crying silently whilst he drove. I swiftly tried to engage him in the worldly talk and made him remind of his boldness to counter the situation life had thrown him into.

“Shambhu bhaiya, very less people have the courage to live life alone – that too when they have lost their near and dear ones in close interval of time. You are bold and strong and an example for many of people like me who would listen to your story of guts!, I know what you have lost, for I have been in your boat sometime back.” , telling this I paid him and took his phone no - for I want to be in touch with such a man who is a tower of inspiration for me to live on despite being alone and enduring his pain silently. 

As I am writing this now, I can clearly envision what my friend must be doing at this midnight hour – I am sending him my prayers and wishes for I want to see him a family man again – a prerequisite for every one of us to live beautifully in this world full of unexpected happenings and mishaps…

~ The Art of Begging...~

 She Clings to her mother’s loosen cloth and shows her disagreement to ask for alms. Her prawning eyes though are always looking at passersby and their behavior. On a busy road both mother and daughter sit on the pavement and watch life moving on.

I have never seen them ever but until recently they have started to appear and make their presence felt. For sure, they come in the afternoon as I have seen them many times. They sit the whole day asking for whatever they can get from passersby. The girl is shy and keeps a veil around her face – a clear sign that this is oblivious to the life outside her mother’s protective cover. Just the other day she steps out may be the first time and crosses the busy road in a hurry and approaches a mother-daughter duo – fearlessly reminding herself of her own mother. Suddenly, she starts a communication with the lady who happens to come to the mart to purchase her monthly grossly with her daughter.

She starts to beg but with a peculiar grimace on her face , her eyes looking down out of shyness or the shame she has been made to face by her mother – The lady is soon convinced and gives a 10 rupee note to her with a warning not to beg – I can well analyze the whole predicament of the lady who according to me did because she cloned the situation fast and thought of the ‘beggar girl’ as an image of her own daughter- almost of same age. True to the situation, her own daughter threw a volley of questions towards her generous mother, which she had no option but to answer whilst they both unlocked their car and sped away in no time! 

Left behind was the little girl with a 10 Rupee not in her hand and a task to cross the road back and pass on her first beg for the day to her mother – who already had a pouch full of paraphernalia of her askance from many pedestrians who went passed by that pavement where she was sitting.

The sense of greed had just creeped in and the little girl was again reminded to beg more but with some stark instructions – this time the ‘Prey’ was me 😊 . She again crossed the road and directly came towards me asking for alms. The ‘Script’ was thus

“ bhaiya paise dedo.” – [ Give me some Money.]

As I was noticing the begging drama but stood helpless and obligated by looking at her innocence and her helplessness, I asked her “ Beta, Kitne Chahiye.” –[How much you want].

Guess what the answer came – “Bhaiya Dus Rupay!” – [ Ten Rupees!], as if that was the only benchmark set by her mother to ask for – nothing more, nothing less.

I further asked her “ Beta School nahi jatey aap, kaunsi class mein padtey ho?, aapko achcha lagta hai bheek mangna aise? Aapki mummy mana nah karti?” – [ Don’t you go to school? And In which class you study, don’t you feel ashamed whilst you beg and ask for money?]

She gave an answer straight from her heart “ Bhaiya, khane ko nahi hai ghar par, school band ho gaya hai , Ma ne nahi bheja fir, kaapi kitab nahi hai mere pass, paise bhi nahi hai!” – [ I don’t have anything to eat at home, school is closed now and I don’t have books either nor money!]

This time, I knew, her answer was not scripted and it poured my heart out of love and compassion for what she was going through in her life at this age!

What I did, I did but such a situation tore my heart rock bottom – Destiny has an alternative plan for her, I didn’t ask her name in a hurry , may be next time when I forge a bond with her – my little friend, I make sure that she gets much more than she deserves – till then I wait for that meeting to happen!