Life is like riding a bicycle; you need to continue pedaling to keep going. The slow riders are overtaken by the fast ones and there’s absolutely no one stopping for the ones who have fallen down in the line of this race. It has always been this way, and will continue to be the same.
But this journey, this race is not a cakewalk for sure. There are times when the riders encounter hurdles in the form of speed breakers, or there are times when the tyres of their bikes get punctured. That’s just a halt, not the end. But we always fail to see that. Small failures, disappointments and bitter moments sour our mind and heart and we in turn lose the spirit to go further. We invariably start cursing our stars, fate, and destiny and supposedly lose faith over the almighty. The simplest way of reacting to any such downhearted situation is by merely saying that we’re the unluckiest souls of the world.
Going by the same mentality and approach, I, an average human being, after having a hard time at work was sitting by the sea, on a bench, and was shamelessly cursing the stars that ran the course of my destiny. Calling myself the unluckiest being on the world, I stood up, picked up a few pebbles that were lying on the beach and started throwing them into the never ending sea in an attempt to vent out my anger and frustration. After about fifteen minutes of sheer mindless madness, I realized that the sun had already gone down and the pebbles too had disappeared into the murderous waves. So I realized that it was time for me to leave.
I walked down the bus stop and checked the time. It was 6 47 pm. The buses were jam packed. A bus came and halted. It was then that I noticed a sweet young little girl of about twelve or thirteen, struggling among the adult working class of the city to get into the bus. She tried but could not get through it. Tired, she came and stood beside me, waiting for the next bus to come. I looked at her and with an apologetic smile said, “Unlucky.” In the least expected reply, she looked and smiled back at me and said, “Well I don’t really think so.” Being in one of my worst moods ever, I didn’t expect an opposition to this thought of mine in the least! I frowned. She smiled sweetly and cared to miss the next three buses and explain me why did she think in that way.
Meera was a fourteen year old girl who stayed in the under-developed part of Mumbai. She worked for a flower selling woman at Charni Road, South Bombay in the evening hours and studied in a Government school in the morning hours. She began with the thought of hers that conveyed that she considered herself as a very lucky girl.
She then began, “I woke up this morning with good health and high hopes, that means I’m luckier than tens of thousand people across the world who would have woken up today morning with some illness, and thousands of those who had left this world yesterday at night. By God’s grace, I’ve two legs to walk, two hands to work, ears to hear the birds chirping and melodies singing, eyes to see the beauteous mountains and lively waterfalls, I’m luckier than lakhs of people who are painfully devoid of these beauties of life. By his blessings, I’ve a roof to shelter me, clothes to cover me and food to fill me, I’m luckier than crores of people who’ll sleep tonight on roads and footpaths, in rags of clothing, empty stomach. I can read that Hindi newspaper, understand this Marathi announcement and can talk to you fluently in grammatically correct English, I’m luckier than lakhs of those who cannot read write and understand languages at all. As a part of God’s un-payable debt, I’ve got parents who love me and friends who care for me, I’m luckier than half of the population of this world who has been a victim of cheat and deceit in some form. Ma’am, am I not truly lucky?”
I stood there dumfounded, stupefied and ashamed. A billion thunderbolts struck me at the same moment. I clasped her in my arms and tears welled down my eyes. This young girl taught me what years of education at school and college etc. could not teach me. She said she was getting late so she got into the next bus itself leaving me alone to my thoughts.
I pondered over what had just happened. I concluded that as humans, we have become so materialistic that we fail to look beyond these wordly comforts and attractions. We blindfold ourselves to the best things in the world that are absolutely free for all, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, social status and gender. We never value what we’ve got, and instead run after the things that are owned by the others. In this mad race for power and money, we lose our peace of mind, our happiness and sometimes our own selves. We are all responsible for our own happiness and sadness and no one can change that until we permit them to do so. God is kind and fair; and each one is lucky in some way or the other.
