I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet
When I see people around me cribbing, complaining, making noises about the things/people/situations that they don't have by their side, or as they would want them to be, that they, according to them, so righfully deserve, I feel a sense of gratitude filling up inside of me. No, I am not (that) crazy to experience a wildly off the track emotion as a reaction, neither am I a saint, I have my share of complains as well, though I try to minimise them. But I feel grateful for everything that defines me, for everyone who has made me, who is responsible, in some way or the other for me being alive and enjoying life. Why? Because I think I have learnt a little respect along the way.
Big words? Let me bring some facts down to earth by the way of a simple example for everyone's benefit. Just work with me.
Do you drink a cup of tea or coffee every morning? Well most of us would say yes, after all tea is the world's second most popular beverage, right after water. Now, have you paused for a moment and pondered what goes into bringing that cup of tea to your table/bed? I am sure that not many would go beyond the person who is making/serving the tea at this point. That's exactly where I want to expand the horizons, the views. Here's what goes into your daily cup of tea:
1>Water:
Thousands of Kilometers of well planned, working, monitored pipelines passing water from Vaitarna lake around 50 kms from a western Mumbai suburb to your home. The water passing through probably 7 stages of filtering, chlorination, reverse osmosis, more filtering. Your household filter that uses even more technology like activated carbon and electricity to make it even more pure. I haven't even started thanking your builder, your plumber, your society watchman (who starts the tap at 7 am daily, religiously)
2>Sugar (optional of course):
Months of preparation of soil, hard work from farmers; tractors, bulls, ploughing the fields relentlessly. Fertilizer industry and chemical industry being invovled. Ground water drilling pipes for irrigation. Loads of trucks to carry those fertilizers and other tools required for producing Sugar cane. Sugar mill separating those unwanted impurities and converting it into sugar. Yet another fleet of trucks to carry those sacks of Sugar from those farms to the APMC market, then from there to your grocery store. Let's also not forget the labourers working under the municipal contractors who maintain those roads, the motor industry that provides such utilities like trucks, the rubber industry that makes their tyres.
3>Milk:
Let's talk about the huge dairies that hold hundreds of cows, buffaloes, the fodder that feeds them, the labour required for their upkeep and milking them. The packaging industry that works overnight so that it gets distributed along the proper channel to your doorstep at sharp 6 am.
4>Gas (or Electricity for the electric stove)
Do you really want me to write about the huge process by which Crude oil is drilled from ocean beds, refined, then transported to your homes; or do you get the idea? Or do you want me now to write about how Uranium is mined in an eastern-central state in India and then processed to be sent to Tarapore to be fissioned to produce energy for electricity?
I should stop here. There is no limit to this thinking. But the point is, there is a huge clockwork of processes running around us to provide the things that we think of nothing more than "basic". And we need to be grateful to all the people, all the machinery that works just so that we can fulfil our "basic" needs. If just one cog fails to work properly in this machinery, the whole machinery will grind to a halt.
To sum it up, at the risk of it sounding like an award speech, I am thankful to:
1>My parents. For bringing me into this wonderful and amazing world that never ceases to amaze me. For teaching me how to walk, to talk. For patiently answering my really stupid queries. For making me stand on my own feets. For being my friends, my confidantes.
2>My teachers. For not just teaching me the whats, the hows, the whys, the wheres, the whos and the whens, but also for instilling the values that make me a human. For making me a part of the society, the country. For showing me the way, for selflessly working so that I can progress.
3>My friends. For developing me as a person. For sharing and letting me share my passions, secrets, desires, loathings and love. For providing me with different point of views. For talking to me, for listening me. For helping me throughout. For removing the unnecessary fear and shame from my head. For playing with me. For pointing out my shortcomings. For helping me discover my sexuality (I am not kidding, it is an integral part of growth).
4>Mother nature. I am sure that those who know me closely, will associate this line as my line: "My mother nature is a babe. She is a hottie, she is that beautiful"
For unconditionally providing me with all the resources that I use, sometimes squander, but I require just so that I can live. For the air, the water, the food, the beauty, the inspiration. You are the reason for me to live. The more I explore you, the more I fall in love with you. I really am indebted to you. No one can justify the statement "The best things in life are for free" better than you.
5>Evolution. For giving every living thing a purpose to live. For starting this magical phenomenon called life. For giving us the power to learn, to understand, to question, to deal with the worldly phenomenas, to change things for good.
6>The society. I am thankful to the roadside cobbler who mends my slippers so that I can walk again, freely. To my doctor who gives me the medicines so that I can get back to enjoying life. To my vegetable vendor. To my daily newspaper supplier, my cable wala, my mobile service provider. The railway clerk who parts with the change for a 100 rs note because I don't have the exact change. The traffic policeman who helps me find a landmark. The exam invigilator who ensures that my answer sheet goes to the correct person. The 3 year old kid who lives on the second floor, for teaching me the power of simplicity, the miracle of an innocent smile, the excitement of an untainted mind. The buddhist monk who explains to me the rituals that they perform to please the God at Enchey monastery. The temple priest who conveys the ideas that first evolved in the minds of my forefathers thousands of years ago. The forest rangers who fight poachers from getting the better of helpless big cats just so that the balance can be maintained. The news readers who mouth the latest happenings in this world. The people who don't agree with me, for adding a whole new dimension.
I want to conclude with the most important part of it all. My gratitude doesn't end here. I feel that if I am alive, if I am doing what I want to do, it is possible only because of everyone and everything that I mentioned above. Hence, in a way, I am answerable to them for my deeds. That if I say or do something, it shouldn't be something that brings shame upon them, that lets them down. That I should not just take everything I can get, but carry their good work forward. That I should be able to return a part to them. It is this same thought that motivates me to donate my blood multiple times. The same thought that makes me part with a small amount of my earnings to make the life of at least one child in rural India better. That makes me buy a gift for my parents. That makes me call my PC dealer to pursue him to give a good deal for the Rickshaw driver, who lives nearby and wants to add more value to his Son's education. That makes me carry heavy weights for the neighbourhood aunty. I hope I get more opportunities to return something in life.
So the next time you want to complain about the quality of food that you get in your college/office canteen, just try to remember the photos that were circulating in an e-mail first. You know, the one that showed a starving child trying to make it to a nearby food camp, and a vulture waiting for it to die. Or if you feel that you don't have enough friends in your vicinity/work, just remember the female colleague who has left her home town/village, her friends, her family, to adjust everything possible in another city, only so that she can earn a living.
