Small moments, big insights

Often small things get ignored in life and we miss to see the inherent beauty of it. As Tagore once wrote,"I traveled miles, spent riches. I have gone to see the mountains and oceans. But I have not seen just two steps from my home, there upon a grain of corn, the glistening drop of dew". Passing through life, we all come across many such moments that usually go unnoticed. But they have the capacity to fill the mind with joy. Once when I went went to Jodhpur with my husband to have a glimpse of magnificent view of Thar desert. I never experienced such breathtaking beauty of a desert before. Where ever I looked, I saw only waves of sand dunes, which were glittering in the sun light. There was not a blade of grass in our vicinity. We came to know that, poor villagers stayed in far away scattered villages, devoid of all modern facilities and without eveb basic education.Young boys earned sustenance by driving camel carts for tourists. It was here that I met a simple village boy whose generosity and jolly nature has stayed vivid in my memory. After reaching there we also selected a camel cart for a ride. The driver was a young boy with chiseled features and a smiling face. While driving his car he was humming a folk tune. He seemed to be a very good natured person. While passing through the sand dunes I wanted to gather some informations about their lifestyle and so asked him some questions - "how far do you stay, how many family members, what is the source of income etc." But he was especially surprised when I asked him about his morning breakfast before leaving the house for the whole day. He answered, "Why? Roti and fried chillies of course". This innocent boy blissfully living in utter poverty had no idea of any other choice of breakfast. So again when I asked him about his dinner menu after whole day's work, his answer was the same, "roti and fried chillies". I realized that in that desert, where no vegetation can grow and far from the towns, there was literally nothing to eat other than bread and spices. The poor villagers had no options and this boy accepted this destiny with a smiling face. As I was thinking of this great disparity between the most fertile regions in the country just a few hundred kilometers from the arid lives of these camel drivers, all in the same country, his cheerful voice broke in - "Madam , will you please to my home and have a meal with us? We will be very happy". I was deeply touched by his loving invitation, and had no heart to say no. So I said ,"surely son, I will come next time around. He was happy to hear my answer and continued to drive his camel cart joyfully, while humming his favorite folk tune all the way back through our journey.

Life connects lives

Few days back, I was pleasantly surprised to get some soul touching photographs from my son Prodeep, who stays in America. Pictures showed, it was evening time, and near the road side bushes, he was sitting quietly holding the head of an injured deer on his lap. Both of them looked very peaceful,depicting the eternal bond of love between man, nature and animals. Later I came to know that an insensitive driver hit the deer badly and ran away leaving the severely injured deer near the road side. Prodeep was passing through the same road, and seeing that helpless animal, stopped his car, came down and called the rescue team to come immediately, though they took full three hours to appear there. They never saw this sort of scene before, where a wild animal can rest so peacefully on the lap of an unknown person. But this is nothing new. Animals can respond to loving energy very intensely. I also experienced this through my three legged dog Gujia. He was a stray dog and was hit by an insensitive driver. But he was rescued by an organization called 'Red Paws', where his leg was amputated and he was hospitalized for six months, before he came to us. He expresses his gratitude through his eyes, and modulation of voice or body language, which all animal lovers can understand very well. The great Indian Saint Ramana Maharshi could understand the language of birds. Once a bird's nest was removed from the garden by some of his disciples. Next day when the Saint was sitting in that garden, birds started chirping near him and he understood their complaint and asked his disciples to bring back their nest and put it where it was before. Like animals, plants too have their feelings of joy and sorrow. The great scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose invented a measuring tool "Crescograph" to track growth and feelings of plants by magnifying subtle electromagnetic measurements 10,000 times. Today's environmental problems are caused mostly by our ignorance about the lives of animals and planta. A life which we can not create, we have no right to destroy either. Being respectful and kind to all life, we can make this earth more livable and lovable place for all. Mahatma Gandhi said,'to my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being "