Few people have the pleasure of saying this but my work place is like 15-20 odd minutes away from my house...see I said it ;). Normally I love to walk down to office and back coz lets face it that's the only exercise that I am getting these days and god only knows whether this is helping or not. On the odd day I don't feel like walking or I am sinfully late I like to take the cycle rickshaw(and no I am absolutely not embarrassed like some people are about admitting this one ..I love the cycle rickshaw rides..it's fun people!).
Three weeks back I ran out of my house..late again..praying that I could find a rickshaw asap..that's when I saw him ..standing between 3-4 rickshawalas ..chatting away to glory..this young boy about 5 feet nothing. He looked like a child among all those burly men..filthy,grubby ..looked like he had not had a bath in weeks maybe months..skinny like hell..don't know why as I ran up to this group thanking my lucky stars ..my eyes seemed to notice only him.Thankfully his eyes seemed to be the only ones noticing my plight as one by one they all refused to take me.
Maybe it was the desperate look in my eyes or maybe he took pity on me as he said..mein leke chalta hoon na madam ..kahan jana hai. As I gave him directions to my destination I felt a little guilty..he was a child after all and if I was not so extravagantly late I would have never taken him..the words child labor kept coming in my mind. I don't know why but there were more things that I kept noticing about him as the wind whipped past us in a frenzy ..his face darkened with filth and muck, a mischievous smile played on his face like a little adorable monkey and his teeth were white shining like stars on a dark night..can you Imagine!
As we passed a corner, a delicious aroma of fresh samosas being fried struck my nose and so did his..he gave a hungry look at the samosa and quickly glanced away..Come to think of it,I don't know why it had skipped my notice that he looked kinda hungry and weak.I don't know what came into my head at that moment but I made him stop the ricksha ..got down and bought some of the samosas..it smelled divine. Since I was anyway's a minute away from my workplace I decided to walk but before that I went up to him and held out the packet towards him..Guess what he did..it shocked me as he shook his head smiling all the while as he said "nahi nahi rehene dejiye"! There he was this little chap refusing the very samosa's he had been drooling over a minute ago. I felt a strange tug at my heart and my throat suddenly seemed so constrained..I managed to croak .."Le lo garam hai...thanda ho jayega". I thrust the packet literally in his hands as I walked away..for some strange reason my eyes felt moist ...I felt a pair of twinkling eyes staring at my back ..I couldn't muster the courage to look back at him.
That day seemed to pass away in a daze quickly.. it was no different than any other day except that I felt somewhat happy ,contended and thankful towards my life. I learnt a very hard lesson that day ..a lesson that I am hoping will be like a talisman for my coming days ahead..days when I feel frustrated and I feel like giving up..days when I feel like a looser and I crib and I rave and I rant ..I hope that I can look back on that day and remind my self how fortunate and blessed my life truly is! :)
You know u always keep reading about this phrase "Always count your blessings" that day I think I did and I had so many things to be thankful about, that it could fill books. You don't have to have a supremely amazing life to be happy.. you just need to take a look around at people ..the sweeper on the road, the beggar at the red light, the child selling books on the pavement.
So many things to be thankful about...your life might not be great but remember it's not that bad either....
