The Wake Up Call

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi Mein Koi……

There goes my alarm, and it’s put off even before a line of the beautiful song is completed.With one eye open , I check out the time its 6.30 am. I roll on my bed for a few minutes before deciding that half an hour of more sleep ain’t going to hurt anybody. The half hour somehow ends up into a 3 hour long slumber.

Damn it, it’s 9.30 am. Had promised I would sweat it out at the gym today. Have been skipping the gym religiously for sometime now, and my ever increasing waistline would soon be the inspiration for setting up a few jogging tracks in my area. But there’s no time now, have to reach office by 11 am.That too seems an impossibility. Dadar to SEEPZ in an hour, that too on a rainy day, would be the height of optimism.

I curse my self for being lazy, curse office for starting at 11am and not 2pm, curse my servant for not coming on time, curse my clothes for not being ironed, curse my mobile for not having being charged. It’s 10 am by the time I manage to leave home. It has started pouring cats and dogs, monkeys and elephants, and I send a last curse to the skies for starting my day in such a miserable manner.

If you haven’t understood by now, I hate rains. Speeding cars splashing water all over you and turning your formal wear into designer stuff, buses being jam packed, auto-rickshaw drivers doing nakhras to take you in, and the Mumbai traffic and pathetic drainage do not help either.

Finally manage to get a taxi, and that’s a pretty difficult task, specially if its a rainy day and if you wish to visit a traffic prone area like SEEPZ. I flung my office bag at the side and decide to catch some sleep in the taxi until the rather long journey to office is completed. Hardly have I slept for a few minutes, that I am woken up by persistent thumping on the windows of the taxi. A little girl in tattered clothes is knocking on my window begging for some money.

I’m a total disapprover of giving money to beggars as I believe you are aiding some one to be reliant on others mercy rather than one’s own hard work. So as usual, I tell the girl to move ahead, without even looking at her. But she stills pleads, saying that she is in real hunger.

I look up at her, determined to tell her sternly to move on. But the determination vanishes as soon as I look into her face. It’s pouring heavily, the girl has tattered clothes, she seems to be hungry for a long time, and is nothing older than six years. Despite, having faced such adversity at such a small age, she still manages a smile on her face. A smile that crumbles me, her innocence makes me draw my wallet out. I see a sparkle in the girl’s eyes, realising perhaps that she can finally relish on some food now. I search my wallet for some coins, nothing’s there. No ten rupee or twenty rupee notes too, all I have are a few hundred rupee notes. Without looking at her ( this time out of shame) I tell her to move ahead. But she pleads, “Bhaiya kuch paise toh de do, khana khana hain“. I really want to help her out, but am feeling painful to part away with my hundred rupee note. I am feeling the pinch within me. Without giving me more time to ponder on my decision , the traffic signal changes from red to green, and my taxi moves away. Away from the girl and away from her problems.

That whole day passed by miserably. Every moment went by, having me in thought about my totally selfish behaviour. I can well spend money (without thinking twice) on some rather stupid coffee in CCD or on a rather unhealthy pizza from Dominos, but when it comes to giving that same money for providing someone witha days food, I start feeling the pinch. What kind of selfish person have I grown up to be?

I call my self unlucky when I do badly in a test or grumble about a bad day in office or the traffic of Mumbai daily. Don’t my problems with life totally pale down, when compared to that little girl? Am, I not the luckiest person from that little girl’s point of view?

That girl’s thumping on my window that day was a wakeup call from God. A call to make me feel how lucky I am, compared to the many unfortunate one’s around . And how I must inturn do something for being fortunate enough to be in a position I am. How I should wakeup everyday with a smile and thank God for giving me a life with comforts rather than grumbling about my miniscule problems.

Henceforth instead of spending unnecessarily on watching some stupid movies, eating in some fancy restaurant, purchasing excess of branded clothes, will be saving money to do something concrete for the less fortunate people amongst us . Do not know what it is going to be as of now. But every year, would surely return something back to the society I belong to. Because it is only our small actions that will collectively make this world a better place. That’s all for now, time to light some candles rather than curse the darkness around.