I may not be a great writer, great marketer or anything related to great, but what i am writing below is worth mentioning and worth knowing.
Most of us are the kind of people who believe in goodness, righteousness and virtuous deeds, but one thing which all of us are fond of is cribbing. We actually crib about everything in life, whether it be more work less work, good food bad food, nice weather bad weather, have a girlriend don't have a girlfriend, practically any damn possible thing. We are just not happy about anything which we have or we don't have. As if we get a sense of happiness in feeling ourselves the most unfortunate and miserable person in the whole universe. I wonder sometimes "HOW EASY IT IS TO BE UNHAPPY"!
But this story is not about our usual never ending unhappiness, but about this girl named Ujjwala. She is not more than 22 years of age, good looking, soft spoken, lively, kiddish and happy go lucky kind of girl. Though she is not lucky by even the worst standards of luckiness. She works for her meagre living and i wondered why is she not like most of the 22 year old women in India, who think that they should work only if they feel like doing it but not out of need, and by any chance if they have to then they are again the most unfortunate ones. (I am not generalising, but you know thats true). But this girl was working and was more than happy about it. She used to come work and go and sometimes used to accompany her child, 3-4 years old. The great country ours is where Yes we still have child marraiges. Still she was happy and loved her child. One day out of courtesy i asked her to get her phone recharged and i will pay if required. She laughingly said its battery is damaged. With same smiling face she continued that her little child is not getting admission in school, beacuse of some mistake in form filling and thats why she is tensed. Also the authority person is asking donation (read bribe) of Rs.15000 to get her child admitted. I thought for a minute and asked what does your husband do. She poker faced no expression, he is "off". I asked "off"? She lifted her hand in air, and i guessed "expired"? and she said "haan". All this while she seemed fine, no emotional overreaction, no feeling of pity on herself, no nothing. And then again lost in the thought, how to get her little son admitted in school.
This is not something which i heard, or read but i faced it. I was numb. I was numb at how brave this single poor girl is, who is mother of a child, who wants that her son should study, who is being bribed by our self-righteous society (people who later shouts jai mata di at temple), who doesn't have any shoulder to cry upon, and who is fighting everybattle of her life alone and is not cursing her destiny or God for all that happened. I was numb at how even the smallest of shortcomings in life makes me feel like what kind of life is this. I was numb at how the worst social evils like child marraige are still thriving in society. I was numb at how someone can ask bribe from a girl who have to work twice a day at i dont know how many houses just so that she and her son can have their food. I dont know what will happen to her after 20 years. May be she will survive for the sake of her son, who will grow up as one able person. May be she will succumb and something awful will happen. I shudder to imagine how i would have survived if i was there in place of her. But i am sure of one thing. At this moment of time she is more happy, more able, more deserving and more brave than me. I know people would say that its the circumstances which make you what you are, but i'll choose to differ and still believe that she is better human being than lot of us. Everything around her is trying to make her feel miserable, but whenever i will think about her i will just wonder " HOW EASY IT IS TO BE HAPPY"!
Most of us are the kind of people who believe in goodness, righteousness and virtuous deeds, but one thing which all of us are fond of is cribbing. We actually crib about everything in life, whether it be more work less work, good food bad food, nice weather bad weather, have a girlriend don't have a girlfriend, practically any damn possible thing. We are just not happy about anything which we have or we don't have. As if we get a sense of happiness in feeling ourselves the most unfortunate and miserable person in the whole universe. I wonder sometimes "HOW EASY IT IS TO BE UNHAPPY"!
But this story is not about our usual never ending unhappiness, but about this girl named Ujjwala. She is not more than 22 years of age, good looking, soft spoken, lively, kiddish and happy go lucky kind of girl. Though she is not lucky by even the worst standards of luckiness. She works for her meagre living and i wondered why is she not like most of the 22 year old women in India, who think that they should work only if they feel like doing it but not out of need, and by any chance if they have to then they are again the most unfortunate ones. (I am not generalising, but you know thats true). But this girl was working and was more than happy about it. She used to come work and go and sometimes used to accompany her child, 3-4 years old. The great country ours is where Yes we still have child marraiges. Still she was happy and loved her child. One day out of courtesy i asked her to get her phone recharged and i will pay if required. She laughingly said its battery is damaged. With same smiling face she continued that her little child is not getting admission in school, beacuse of some mistake in form filling and thats why she is tensed. Also the authority person is asking donation (read bribe) of Rs.15000 to get her child admitted. I thought for a minute and asked what does your husband do. She poker faced no expression, he is "off". I asked "off"? She lifted her hand in air, and i guessed "expired"? and she said "haan". All this while she seemed fine, no emotional overreaction, no feeling of pity on herself, no nothing. And then again lost in the thought, how to get her little son admitted in school.
This is not something which i heard, or read but i faced it. I was numb. I was numb at how brave this single poor girl is, who is mother of a child, who wants that her son should study, who is being bribed by our self-righteous society (people who later shouts jai mata di at temple), who doesn't have any shoulder to cry upon, and who is fighting everybattle of her life alone and is not cursing her destiny or God for all that happened. I was numb at how even the smallest of shortcomings in life makes me feel like what kind of life is this. I was numb at how the worst social evils like child marraige are still thriving in society. I was numb at how someone can ask bribe from a girl who have to work twice a day at i dont know how many houses just so that she and her son can have their food. I dont know what will happen to her after 20 years. May be she will survive for the sake of her son, who will grow up as one able person. May be she will succumb and something awful will happen. I shudder to imagine how i would have survived if i was there in place of her. But i am sure of one thing. At this moment of time she is more happy, more able, more deserving and more brave than me. I know people would say that its the circumstances which make you what you are, but i'll choose to differ and still believe that she is better human being than lot of us. Everything around her is trying to make her feel miserable, but whenever i will think about her i will just wonder " HOW EASY IT IS TO BE HAPPY"!
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