THE DAY STARTS WELL, ENDS WELL... WITH SOMETHING 'GOOD'

Pic.: Rohit Makhija

This Post is about ‘Good-morning’.

The first person to greet me ‘Good-morning’ is our doodhwala boy. The door-bell rings around 6.15 every morning and I open the door to take the milk. “Good- morning sir,” the greetings come before the milk...

“AHHHH!” I can feel the positive vibe, “Good-morning beta; thank-you,”  I give the vibe back to the young-boy, who, after doing the morning milk-rounds, goes to do his regular job as an office peon.

Honestly, I feel very, very happy about this young-man, who must be up on his feet before 5 every morning and goes about doing his door-to-door service by giving every resident more than what his line of duty expects, calls for… He lives in one of the slums in our vicinity and has studied till twelfth.. So, every time I close the door, I shake my head in a pleasant disbelief and ask, “Who must’ve inculcated this value in him?”

When I reach my classes, invariably, a group of young-students await me. “Good-morning every one,” I push it out of my lungs the way our doodwala boy does…

But, what I get back is very lukewarm!

“I said Good-morning!” I remind them as I have just crossed them…

“Good-morning, sir,” some of them remember…

“How come these college-kids forget to greet their sir, that, too, right at the start of their day?” I ask with a lot of disbelief and denial, “Were they not taught this in school as a golden value? Were they not repeatedly reminded by parents, “Beta, say Good-morning” to uncle, aunty and others? And, now, how can they forget it? They have come to learn from their teacher… It’s the very first lecture… and, how can they just ignore this simple basic lesson in life?"

Many a times, before I start my typical Accountancy or Taxation class, I let them know what crosses through  my mind… I tell them about the doodwala boy… I tell them about the book by the title: ‘What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School’!

They make faces; obviously, they don’t like a sermon in the morning…

“If I don’t give this sermon, darling, someone else will,” I read their sermon-allergic faces and tell them… Yes, tell them on their faces!

Finally, at 9 in the night, when I close my classes and come out, there is this watchman, who I love for his gung-ho greetings… “G00D-MORNING sir!!!!”

“A very, very Good-morning raja,” I give it back to this one-of-a-kind watchman, who - despite being reminded by many, that, at night, he shouldn't wish ‘Good-morning’ -  keeps doing the same, and does it so happily, proudly and sincerely!

“So what if it is night?” I tell myself. “He does it in style, with lots of gusto and honesty!”

The day starts well, ends well… with something ‘GOOD’…

In between, Life only reminds me to see ‘good’ in everything… even when my heart finds  hundred reasons to grumble about!

Have a nice day…

GERALD D’CUNHA