JOY IS THE SIMPLEST FORM OF GRATITUDE

 


“When the mind is pure,

joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

Dharmapada


When I leave my work place, that’s around 6 in the evening, on most days, I meet these two-year-old. They are twins, a boy and a girl. The maid brings them to play… Their three-wheeler cycles, too, are identical…

“Can I take a ride?”

“No.”

“Can I take home one of these?”

“No.”

‘One of these’ – sometimes, it means, one of the twin babies; and, sometimes, it means, one of the twin cycles…

I can take neither, you see!

Apparently, these little babies love my teasing. So, last evening, even before I could open my mouth, they were shouting in a chorus -  “No”… “No”… “No”!!

This little one-minute act fills my heart with joy. It serves as a nice stressbuster…

“Come on, you are a 66-year-old man,” somewhere inside me I hear this voice, “they are babies… You’re a grown up.”

For last two years, I have been teaching Prini the Accountancy subject. She is a 12th-standard student (CBSE Board) and lives in Abu Dhabi. Her aunt, Shyla, who lives here in Mumbai, had connected me to Prini and some of her  UAE friends to form a batch… It has been a satisfying experience, ever since.

Late last night, I saw a message from Shyla… “Sir, can I meet you tomorrow whenever you are free?”

It’s not in my nature to ask, “Why?”… So, we agreed to meet around 12 noon, today.

And, today at 12 noon, I was pleasantly surprised to see Shyla accompanied by my student, Prini and Phina (Prini’s mother)…

Had I asked ‘Why?” last night, the meeting, today, wouldn’t have been such a ‘pleasant surprise’. I could make out how, by trying to act ‘too busy in life’, we end up spoiling so many of our daily surprises…

I drop my ‘big-man’ guard every time I meet those two little babies outside my classes. The guard is a spoiler of simple, spontaneous joy… Trust me, it is.

For Prini, doing crochet is a provider of simple, spontaneous joy. I learnt, today, that she had specially made these two ‘babies’ to gift her teacher…



 

 

The thought, that Prini, my student from Abu Dhabi, specially wanted to do it for her teacher was my own simple, spontaneous joy-provider…

Hello, we do not need ‘big-fat things’ to bring us such simple and spontaneous joy…

We need to just drop our guards down… become children, again.

Once my visitors left, I sent each one of them a personal ‘Thank-you’ message. Shyla, known for her quick wit, replied to my message:

“Sir, proofreading kiya… Spelling galat hai: it’s Shyla.”

I realized, that I had spelt ‘Shaila’ instead of ‘Shyla’…

But, Shyla wasn’t complaining; she wasn’t making me feel wrong, right? There were enough laughing emojis to prove, that she was just being light-hearted…

I was equally quick and witty in my response… “For some, I am Gerry; and, for some, I am Jerry. But, I know who I am… barabar hai ji? So, as Pontius Pilate said, ‘What’s written is written’.”

“Haan ji, whatever you wish to call, fine Sir,” Shyla wrote.

“Jokes apart, thy will be done, Madam,” I ended the conversation…




“If you carry joy in your heart,” says Carlos Santana, “You can heal any moment.”

 

GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic’s: 1. Internet 2. Prini Thomas

Video: TheCottageFairy

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