I visited my parents a few days back. They stay in a quiet non-metropolis. While brewing a cup of tea in the kitchen, I saw a thatched roof and tin walls of a small hut right outside our window.
It was almost falling apart and the walls were caving in. The heavy monsoons had caused a mini puddle inside the hut. I asked my mom if it was inhabited. After all, who could stay in the slush pool..
My mom replied that it was an ex-Army officer who stayed there. He had an injury in his shoulder due to extensive bullets and could not continue in the Army any longer. To feed his family, he took this job of looking after a plot of land. The plot owner had asked him to be a watch-guard there. So he setup his own hut there and managed his meals by cooking over stones and coal. He occasionally sweeps the slush out when it over flows.
This ex-Army guard had once told my mom how he misses having chapatis.. He can cook them for sure, but due to his shoulder injury, he cannot knead the dough or roll them with a pin. It hurts him each time he tries it.
My mother would occasionally give him food, but she lives on a lonely road and was worried about constant interaction with strangers. She could not give him chapatis everyday and if she did, he would crave them more, incase she could not provide for it.
I thought it wasn't fair, but then it crossed my mind that we live in a world where we cannot trust strangers. Dad leaves for work each day, while my mum and sister stay at home. SO I gave up the thought of persuading her to give him food, even occasionally.
Now whenever I put a morsel of that hot roti in my mouth, I feel grateful. I guess that is why god is in small things.
Here was a man, who served his country , got shot in the arm and lives a life full of struggles to make ends meet. While I live in a fabricated world of perceived perfection, away from the real struggles.
We live lesser 'in the moment' each day. Our lives are now digital records of every day activities (obnoxious selfies and location tags on Facebook and Whatsapp), where Personal spaces are trifled with over-communication.
It is always about Better jobs, higher salaries, move to a better country/city, bigger cars, fancier lifestyles and some more obnoxious selfies and thus Emptier minds.
In this rush, I have missed many a little pleasures, which I want to cherish. Every now and then I remind myself to live at peace with the moment, be grateful, do what my heart says, take risks cause i have the liberties to do so, and look beyond that perfect horizon. so that I do not miss the vision of simple pleasures right under my nose..
