THE RICH AND THE POOR
Pic.: Sherry Haridas
At the Jaslok Hospital Arabian Sea in the west and the breath-taking view of the
setting sun, I forgot for a while the purpose of my waiting... the anxiety, the
strain and even annoyance, yes, all these seem to dissolve in the silence. Down
below, the thick traffic, on the left Mukesh Ambani’s outlandish mansion, ‘Antalia’...
on the rear side of the hospital stood the glorious twin-towers of Tardeo...
perhaps, the tallest so far in the city...
But, let me tell you this: Compared to the serene beauty of
God’s Nature, the opulence of man looked so pale... I was mesmerized and turned
speechless by the glory of God, which was so freely available to the rich and the
poor, the healthy and the sick, the literate and the illiterate... yes, all alike.
I came home, last night, a lot refreshed... A lot
unburdened.
Once, a
rich man, whose family lived in opulence of a big city, wanted to show his
young son, how badly the poor people lived. So, he took his son to one of the
poorest villages and they lived there for a couple of days.
On returning home, the father asked his son, “How was the
experience, son?”
“Too good, dad,” replied the son.
“Did you see how the poor lived... How different they
really are from us, the super-rich?”
“Oh, yes dad, I did see that very clearly,” the son said,
with conviction.
“Can you tell me how different they are from us?” the
father wanted to know.
“Dad, we have only one dog at home; they have four,” the
son began to narrate his experience, “We have a swimming pool which stretches
only till the middle of our garden; they have a creek which is boundless... Our
patio reaches our front yard; theirs touches the horizon... We live by the
light of our imported lamps; they live by the light of the glorious stars... Dad,
I saw this is how the poor live... and, this is how they are different from us,
the super-rich!”
Like
everyone else, I, too, work hard and work long to live well with decent comforts,
if not luxuries. But, honestly, the richness of life does lie in the kind of mindset
we possess and not the kind of bank balance or the mansion we own... I pray: “God,
give me some wonderful friends, some simple taste, a big heart, a loving
family, a strong mind, and, above all, the ability to live with my needs and
appreciate what You have blessed me with...and, help me eternally remain
grateful for it.”
There are two types of people in this world when it comes to
the divide called - the rich and the poor: On the one side live those who have
loads of wealth but suffer from the poverty of their heart. On the other side
live those who have hardly any wealth but rejoice in their hearts of gold!
To rejoice in the glory of the setting Sun, I need to have
a rich heart...
GERALD D’CUNHA
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