Gifted!

Last weekend, when I was making this journey home from college for navratri with my dad, I was feeling quite low, didn’t show any interest in talking and sat sad. Dad, after easily making out that I was unhappy asked me what happened, I replied, “Nothing.”
“Got awful marks in some midsem or quiz?”
“No.”
“Someone said something? Fought with a friend?”
“No.”
“Then, what happened? Everything sounds so perfect!”
“Nothing!”
Then he went on to explain how people of our generation have developed a complex which just prevents us from being happy. We glorify sorrow and like being sad. Irrespective of whether we achieve or we keep struggling, we always whine about our situation, we keep asking for more and complain to God if we do not get everything. We have just forgotten how to thank Him and people around us for whatever we have. We just look at all that we do not have, and never take pleasure in what we have. I tried to understand what he was saying, threw a light smile but couldn’t just feel good. In a few minutes, I dozed off to sleep.

A couple of days later, at home, I went to visit our maid at her home with mom. She was teaching a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. They were mostly watchmen’s or other maids’ kids. Three of them were there. One was scribbling down Gujarati counting, another was recognizing pictures of objects and writing their names in English and the third was trying some basic addition. Except for the one who was recognizing pictures, the rest were 100% correct in their work. I sat down beside the girl who was writing counting and tried to chat with her. She was friendly! :D
She told me that she goes to the municipality school outside the street and her mom is a maid and dad does some job of transferring furniture stuff from a shop to home on his raali. Her school starts at around 11 in the morning, before that, she does the housework along with her sister while her mom leaves early morning to work. She gets back in the evening by 4 or 5 and directly comes to this tuition after which she goes to home, prepares dinner along with her mom. I asked her as to why she needs the tuition (silly of me, how would a kid know that!) and quite much to my surprise, she answered me! She said that her parents aren’t literate beyond doing some hisaab, and she wants to grow up and become great. She wanted to grow up and become a Chartered Accountant just like the daughter of one of her mom’s employers. Amazing and surprising, so much struggle, at this meager age without any complains! She made me go back to my childhood. At around her age, I would go to school, study some shit, get back and mom would keep a check on what I was studying, I never realized whether I needed that check from mom or not, in the evening, I would go out to play with the colony kids, get back, have dinner, watch some TV and go to sleep. Since mom’s chat with the maid almost got over and the kid’s exams were to start in a couple of days, I wished her luck. She thanked me cheerfully (in the gujju accent - thenks).

This small interaction with this kid made me realize all that dad was trying to communicate through his lecture. I learnt that the education I took for granted for these many years is such a precious and valuable thing for this kid! If we just try to look at things we have been taking for granted as a gift, we realize that we are actually very gifted! Whether struggling or not, if we try to do everything with pleasure, it’ll be done just better! And now, I am reminded of the booklet by Panna Ma’am, which said that irrespective of whether we believe in God or not, in the concept of nirvana, there is one thing certainly common with all beings, we all want to be happy and the more we try to look for this happiness together, the easier we get it. It also taught that this happiness is intrinsic. It lies within oneself, and if you really want to be happy, nothing on earth can prevent you from being so.