20. Disha's church visit & who's this strange fellow?

Disha too had been going through bad times. After losing her dad, she was not able to concentrate on tasks she was required to do there. Her performance started deteriorating. Everything seemed dizzy for her. Her colleagues who worked with her were also sad to see her, as she had made a really nice place in everyone’s heart because of her commitment and friendly nature. One weekend, they decided to cheer her up. So they took her to an amusement park, and then to some market for shopping. This lightened her mood a bit.

While they were returning, on the way, they saw a beautiful church. Disha asked them to stop and all of them went to the church. It was really peaceful and had some different feel altogether. It brought the much required peace to Disha’s heart. Just beside the church was an orphanage, where many small children were playing. The whole group of Disha went to spend some time with them.

She went inside and started playing with them. After some time, a middle-aged lady came. She had no legs and was sitting on a wheelchair. She greeted all of them in a very nice way. Asked them about some refreshments which all of them denied. Seeing her, Disha couldn’t stop her from asking that did she manage all these children. The lady very politely replied, Yes. While her colleagues were still playing with those children, Disha sat on the pavement and started asking the lady about how she managed all this even after not being able to walk. The lady said ‘It all started one year ago. Initially I had some problems but gradually I got used to this wheelchair and now it’s not difficult to manage.’

‘What ? One year!!! What happened ??’ asked Disha.

‘Ahaa,,, leave it !!! Anyways its nice that you people came. These children really feel very happy when someone takes out time for them and plays with them,’ the lady said.

One of the children playing there called the lady so she went to her. Disha silently went to a person standing on the side who seemed to be working for the lady. Disha (curiously) asked that person, ‘hii… who are you ? Do you help her manage things here ?’

He said ‘I am Jonathan. Yaa, I work here and help her manage things.’

‘What happened to her one year ago?’

'Nothing!!! Why?'

'She was telling that she started working for children an year ago and then she diverted the topic. Please tell me.'

‘She has asked me not to say anything, so I can’t the person said with sincerity.

After being insisted a lot by Disha, he finally agreed to speak up.

‘Last year, ma’am, her husband and her two children went to market for shopping, for their son’s birthday the next day. It was a busy place. While they were crossing the road, a car running at a very high speed came around the corner and hit all of them. Her husband and daughter died on the spot and her son was taken to hospital where he died next day. She lost her legs. It was a really tough time for her, as within a moment she had lost everything. Her very essence of life seemed to have got over. Her family used to come to this church every week. After that big loss, she again came to this church with no desire to live anymore. There she found a little girl wandering and crying. That little child had lost her mother, who died of illness.' he took a pause after this and continued.

'Then ma’am decided to work for these little children. She dedicated whole of her remaining life for their sake. She enjoyed when they laughed, she did anything and everything funny that she could do when they cried, she spends whole night awake whenever anyone of them is ill, she is their everything and they are her world, a small world. She stops me from saying this to others as she doesn’t want anyone to sympathize with her and again bring back old memories infront of her eyes, that dreadful day. She works for them because she sees her children in each of them.’

Disha’s eyes were filled up by then. They all left the place with a promise to that lady that they would be visiting that place regularly. On her way back, Disha continuously thought of that lady. She thought that even after going through so much at such a young age, the lady had courage to live her life again happily just for the sake of others, just to make life of others worth, then as far as I’m concerned Dad's always with me, and he must not be happy seeing me perform bad. She got bucked-up to face life once again with a new energy and the same enthusiasm with which she had started her journey.

Advent of Junaid …..

‘Life is a pastry, if you eat it fresh, the time you have an opportunity, you’ll enjoy the most delicious sensation, and more you keep it aside to have it afterwards, harder it gets and less becomes the delight of its heavenly feel. Similarly, live every moment as it comes, if you wait to enjoy in future you would rather have left some of the most delightful moments which life presented you as a gift,’ this was the favourite line of Junaid which he used to tell everyone he met (except at times his pastry was replaced by some new innovative things). Oops!!!! now who’s this Junaid? I forgot.

There was this strange person somewhere infact everywhere, whose only motive in life was to be happy and if possible make some difference in others life to make them happy. I said everywhere because you won’t find any place where he didn’t go some time or the other. He was of the same age as ours and was working as an independent financial consultant. He never had any lust for money, he was not made for all these usual stuffs like working your ass-off to first earn money for 15-20 years of your life, when you can actually enjoy and then after that living life for your family (as he thought), moreover age factor also arrives into picture.

His father was rich enough to get Junaid’s minimum requirements fulfilled, so he never bothered much about being very sincere to his work, but that actually didn’t mean he was absolutely hopeless in his work. He worked independently and mostly because he enjoyed his work and didn’t want to be under any pressure to perform. He had worked on two projects till then which were mostly of some of his known relatives or friend's start-up project which had superb outcome. Although that was not for money, but he earned some money out of it as he didn’t want to be dependent on his dad for all other stuffs he did when he was not at work.

He and his bike were the best pals. He used to spend most of his time with it whenever he was sad (which was quite rare) or too happy. He was also working on a project which, thankfully, was not of some relative so he could get some money out of it. So, at that time it was his own money which he was spending and not his dad’s. There were many places he used to go. Firstly, he loved kids, and the same with old people (especially their smile which he felt was free of all burden of life). He went to any extent to bring that smile on their face. He went to parks where these people came in the evening. He used to go to temples, mosques, gurudwara etc. and where not, just for the pursuit of something lively.

Now he used to do many crazy things(not actually crazy but …). One day, while he was in some market, a child beggar came and asked him for money. Junaid, to a surprise for that boy and everybody else there, left the thing he was buying and made that child sit on his bike and started talking to him in his usual manner. He bought him some food, told him a funny story and then when he felt that what he actually wanted had been done he let that child go.

The story was about a small baby lion. This lion was unusually very small and compared to the other lions of the same age as his. Whatever this lion tried to do, he definitely met with failure, and if somehow he was close to getting things what he wanted, the other lions screwed up things for him. Once he was drinking water on riverside, when one of the lion came and pushed him into river, and on other occasions when he was hunting, they came and took away the meat from him and many more things (these things might not be very funny for us but for that little child these were hilarious) which embarrassed him a lot in front of others.

Now he had two choices, either to join that group and be one of them and lost your own identity for-ever or to fight for achieving something divine, that great power which comes only to those who are ready to fight and work for it. Choosing first path might have been the easiest path, but was this one and only life of lion meant for this. He chose the second and spent lot of time gaining knowledge and strength and one day became the most admired and respectful lion of all.’

This story was just meant to make that child believe that he had his whole life infornt of him, and begging would not lead him to a better life. He just said these words and left him to think what kind of lion he would like to be.

P.S. I know this post is big but it had to feature the two contrasting emotions.