On the other hand!!

A group of young students were asked to list what they thought were “Seven Wonders of the World.” Post some disagreements. The most votes were received on Taj Mahal, Pyramids, China great wall etc : While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little, because I find so many wonders in the world that I cannot quite make up my mind which seven to choose. The teacher said, “Well, tell us what those many wonders you found are. We may help you to choose seven from among them. The girl hesitated and then opened the write up on her right hand – it had the same list - Great Pyramid, Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, Panama Canal, Empire State Building, St Peter’s Basilica and China’s Great Wall. And teacher was curious to know what’s on the other hand – it had - some of the wonders of the world I found are: To See, To hear, To touch, To taste, To feel, To laugh, To Eat, To drink, To think, To live, To enjoy, To play, To love Stories of our life are powerful. Life stories can be just as incredible, beautiful, heartbreaking, and breathtaking as the fictional stories we watch on television and read in books. But compared to the stories of those who are around us our might be a euphoria. Existence as we fathom is a steered excursion through our own stories and the stories of others. It‘s a resource that will take you deeper into the lives of our friends, family, neighbors, and beyond. Our understanding will be complete only when we try to become compassionate, kindhearted and see what’s on the other hand. This is one such story. We live in a society that has vivid people. No matter how much we try to build the bridges and try to create a peaceful and happy society, it rather seems a utopia, a far-fetched dream. Nevertheless that effort must go on, because we are humans. With this in my mind, I too tried to volunteer at few places, few NGOs, social self-help groups since school and college days. Upping the ante I decided to do it further more. And one day we were involved in building some houses to cater to the needs of underprivileged people. That day I was more excited and enthusiastic. Being part of the society’s sustainable development is always a feel good factor. It’s like being involved and engaged with the down-trodden people. So, we a bunch of people, all young, energetic and idealistic groups traveled across to this place wherein houses were being built. We started with our assignment with lot of hope and with a sense of giving it back to the society. As usual what’s that life without pictures and selfies and there were few who were there just for that. So, after our genuine photo-session we started off with the work. That day we were painting few old houses already built by this NGO. We were painting blue, green, yellow, pink and brown and it was fun. As I was painting, I suddenly noticed a big double door, 20ft refrigerator. It really caught my attention. Not so brand new big refrigerator standing tall on the way to the small kitchen. It almost looked like bigger than the small size kitchen which was present there. My mind started pondering and wondering. If these people are below poverty line how come they have such a big refrigerator? It’s like India is a poor country filled with rich people. All my notions surrounding the fact that those who we serve as poor – are they really the needy one? Why the NGOs do not serve really the ones in sheer necessity of their service. These kinds of situations make people like us who are genuinely interested in contributing questions such contributions, suspect their credibility, question the reservation for the economically and socially downtrodden etc. That 20 ft whirlpool really whirl pooled my brain for 20 minutes. I came back and resumed my painting and decided now that I have come here, let me continue with this. Beyond certain point I couldn’t control my suspicious mind and went back and opened the door to check what is inside in it? Why do they really have to invest in such a luxury? Why can’t they rather send their kids to school? And I decided to open the door. For once I was taken aback, stunned and felt loathing about my own mindset that mistrusts, judges everything, qualms everyone. For my shock all I could see there was – any guesses? A stack of clothes. Yes they were using it as a wardrobe. It was an old refrigerator which was thrown out by one of their land owner and this lady who was serving as a maid brought it home thinking she could use it as cupboard and that’s what she exactly did. That day onwards my belief in the proverb that ‘to see is to believe’ has taken a further step ahead, don’t believe unless you examine it beyond all reasonable doubt. And I told myself don’t doubt everyone. We live in a world that’s full of complaints. We complain about our roads not being clean, our surroundings not being peaceful, our ac not working, our food not being hot, our beverages not being either warm, chilled or cold. Agree we have climbed up the ladder through our efforts, our parent’ efforts or efforts of someone else. May be not everyone in this world are not as privileged as we are. Never fail to understand what’s on the other hand. The society we live in the world we lead our life will be a better place when we make it better for all those others who are also trying to make a living here through their thick and thin. Those things we overlook as simple and ‘ordinary’ are truly wondrous. A gentle reminder that the most precious things are usually right in front of you. Your family, your friends, your love, your good health. Sometimes it is simple exercises and stories like these that remind us of the important things in life and that it is wise to stand and stare and stop and smell the roses from time to time.