The existence of a greater force which guides us and at times even protects us never ceases to amaze me, provided we are able to feel the signs and pick up the clues. The other day during one of my spells of disenchantment after dropping my daughter for her tutorial class I ambled my way towards a nearby park, walking past a row of houses on my right my string of thought was interrupted by a voice emanating from one of them.Through the main door i found a lady sitting in the veranda of her house who beckoned me inside,ambivalently i entered her premise i guess my gait was a total give away because she guessed my purpose of loitering around.She was eighty-ish and seemed quite amiably in need of a company:I took the chair next to her and we started chatting her accent and mannerism confirmed she was no ordinary grandma,she retired as a professor of botany from Osmania university Hyderabad and settled here some ten years back with her son and his family.
She was a complete stranger at that time, armed with confidence, knowledge and enthusiasm she set to woo people,her first step was to help develop the park then she started teaching the marginalized children of the locality in the park ,her house or vacant spaces around her place,she made friends.She also became an active member of the Arya Samaj and helped people selflessly,according to her being part of a joint family, traits like responsibility ,sharing and caring came naturally to her which is sadly absent in people like us living on the other side of the fence, but now because of her failing health, since the last few days she was confined to her house and unable to move.On asked about the pre-independence days she talked animatedly about her experiences all this while the twinkle in her eyes was unmistakable no wonder her charm enthused people which was vouched for by her friend who had just joined us.
By now it was time to rescue my daughter from the travails all the parents must put their children through the paces in the tutorials today,I bid her adieu and as i walked back i wondered maybe its her generosity and sociability which is her key to happiness and which motivates her to go on.
Today i learnt an important lesson,we all have lives to live but the reason to live differs .In the end I wish to ask one question,should we be happy first to be able to give happiness or should we be happy in others happiness?
She was a complete stranger at that time, armed with confidence, knowledge and enthusiasm she set to woo people,her first step was to help develop the park then she started teaching the marginalized children of the locality in the park ,her house or vacant spaces around her place,she made friends.She also became an active member of the Arya Samaj and helped people selflessly,according to her being part of a joint family, traits like responsibility ,sharing and caring came naturally to her which is sadly absent in people like us living on the other side of the fence, but now because of her failing health, since the last few days she was confined to her house and unable to move.On asked about the pre-independence days she talked animatedly about her experiences all this while the twinkle in her eyes was unmistakable no wonder her charm enthused people which was vouched for by her friend who had just joined us.
By now it was time to rescue my daughter from the travails all the parents must put their children through the paces in the tutorials today,I bid her adieu and as i walked back i wondered maybe its her generosity and sociability which is her key to happiness and which motivates her to go on.
Today i learnt an important lesson,we all have lives to live but the reason to live differs .In the end I wish to ask one question,should we be happy first to be able to give happiness or should we be happy in others happiness?
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