I WOULD LOVE TO HOST YOU... AMITABH CAN WAIT














“Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful
than all the banquets in the world ...”
― E.A. Bucchianeri,

Some weeks ago, Shoba, a dear-old-student, and now a dear friend, of mine, who lives in Gurgaon, had posted some lovely pictures featuring fresh veggies from her garden. I loved the way she was showing us the ladyfingers in a plate. I teased her, instantly:
“ Shoba, be warned: Amitabh Bachchan is so fond of 'bhindis', he may kidnap u today along with that plate in ur hand! And, yes, I am planning to pitch my tent next to this veggie garden, too. Love.”

Shoba replied:
“Gerry sir, would love to host you. Amitabh can wait!”

I concluded:
“Ah!!! With those few words of Shoba, my lunch and dinner both done! Yes, for Amitabh, Ash can cook bhindis! Tcre, Shoba... Keep growing more and more of those fresh veggies.”

Now, this kind of conversation really holds no special meaning unless you really pause for a while and reflect on it… Well, should Amitabh really appear in Shoba’s garden, I know Shoba will certainly skip a few heartbeats! But, then, like her, we all know that in life there are moments and there are people – very simple though – who give us great joy when we choose them in place of the celebrated ones…

We all, deep down in our hearts, long to spend time with simple souls with whom we feel happy. Ditto about the work in hand… So many times, I just don’t feel like doing the work I am supposed to do immediately… the urgent and important work. Yes, my heart simply doesn’t find the motivation to do it… On the other hand, I find myself longing to do something that makes me really, really happy – including writing a small blog or watching a beautiful video or listening to some heart-warming speech… I find myself in that space very, very regularly. “The ‘important and urgent’ work can wait,” I hear my heart prompting, “May the ‘blissful work’ bless me!”

So, just as my friend Shoba, playfully flattered me saying, “Gerry sir, I would love to host you… Amitabh can wait,” yes, just as this, I keep telling my ‘big works’ to wait outside my garden, till I host my ‘small and simple ones’…






The veggies Shoba has grown in her garden are hardly sufficient for her few days’ consumption… Leave alone making some money out of this venture… and leave alone the ‘effort’. The effort and the joy are incomparable… Nothing can substitute that… Nothing! I can hear Shoba telling her ‘big works’, “You can wait… I would like to host this simple and humble one!”

Some really ‘big ones’ are waiting outside my gate… as I am 'hosting' this ‘small one’, here!

GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Shoba N Krishnan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...