It is me back with a somewhat philosophical aspect of life. A friend of mine recently texted me “If life throws a lemon at u…Don’t make nimbupani..!! Ask for tequila and salt…Think Big make it bigger”. Quite coincidently this message landed in my mobile’s Inbox at a moment I was feeling very low. And wanting it or not I did smile the very moment I read it. That was when it struck me, that whatever was the reason that my nerves were strained, all I needed was a Good laugh…Then I remembered them, a few people I had met 3 years back… Don’t be impatient my friends this again shall be an interesting read….
The story goes a few years back, my college days actually, those wild days when all plans were made in a split second, be it of bunking the class or rushing home for a week or so…The days when life used to be mostly about enjoying, a little or so about studying..:). We had a great gang, hanging out in the laboratories, or the tea stalls nearby, drinking “cutting Chai”, exchanging our frustration on any topic that happened to catch our attention. For instance “Who gave the Idea of constructing this college so far from civilization?” The only way in or out used to be the city bus transport (that came at the interval of thirty minutes, last bus at nine pm) or hitchhiking (well no strangers of course, anyone with a vehicle coming out of our college). This was the way we spent our days. On one such day, one of our friends mentioned about a Hanuman temple and an Old age home. Eureka! It was the change we were all looking for. We were all quite bored by the monotonous routine that we were compelled to follow. This was our chance, to try a hand into helping the society… (To be true it was an adventure, a trip to world so different from ours). We began planning on when to go, how to go, being from different faculties matching the time was the greatest issue. Hours and hours of thinking, meetings at the stairs, classrooms….the decision was made, we were to go on a Wednesday which was also the birthday of a friend and so we would celebrate his birthday there.. The preparations were done; we got gifts for all at the old age home, sweets, and holy books…small things that we could think of..
On the D day, armed with our entire luggage, our party of sixteen embarked on a journey that would change the way we looked at life. The party had to split into a set of two, as the Auto rickshaw couldn’t carry all of us together. Eight of us packed ourselves into the vehicle, sitting on the side bar, or any lap that was free… It seemed to take forever to get there, the state of our crushed feet were getting worse. At last after what seemed like eternity we stood outside the really huge Hanuman temple. Glad that we could get out, we walked into the temple. Calmness prevailed there, talking in hushed tones we walked past the huge statues of deities, admiring the craftsmanship, feeling serene. After touring around the temple we walked towards our next destination ‘The old age home’. Mixed feelings crowded our minds, will they consider this as an intrusion, and will they be happy?? After all we were walking into a place which acted as a sanctuary for them. Nevertheless we walked in; the director of the Home came out seeing such a large bunch. He took us in, explained about the place (most of the golden-agers were here because their children didn’t have time to look after them, a few others were here because they found it difficult to live with the generation next, yet a few others were those who had nowhere to go). It was hard to even digest the fact that Children could just abandon their parents.
The director informed us that all of them would come out and sit in the park, so we could join them there. We saw them walk out, few holding their walking sticks, head held high; some being led by their long term partners, stooping low…as if the burden they had borne all the years still held them down. They must have seen us too; we were a sight hard to miss…the colorful clothes, huge carry bags and confused faces. We hardly knew where to begin, all we could do was watch them move slowly towards the garden and stroll along. When they were all settled on different benches, one of them beckoned us. What are you doing here? Was the question…We answered that we were here to visit them. The answer didn’t seem to please him, and he retorted in an annoyed way, “why? To pity on us, or to see what we look like? Go back to wherever you are from.” We would have dashed out, had it not been for a lady with the kindest eyes I had ever seen. She saw our plight and became our advocate. Slowly we were asked by few others to join them on their seats. We came to know how hard life had been to most of them. The children, for whom they had spent most of their lives toiling, had chosen to leave them under the care of someone else. We saw anger, pain, and depression in those eyes. But even after everything that they had been through, all of them chose to live with dignity. They must have seen the admiration in our eyes……We celebrated our friends birthday with them….By the end of the evening most of us were being petted by them. We made a pact to visit them again and again whenever possible, and we did a few times. But now we all parted our ways, work, higher studies…..but we still remember and shall never forget what we learnt from them….The lines that just pass by, are those from a song ‘The Climb’
“There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb”
Life has its share of ups and down, learn from your mistakes, learn from others, stand tall and move ahead……Let all colors of the rainbow shine on you all….it’s me moving on, on my Satrangee Parachute..