I THINK, YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG NUMBER

 



“The meaning of life is to find your gift.

The purpose of life is to give it away.”

Pablo Picasso

 

In last two weeks, I have personally visited, or consulted (over the phone), at least  half-a-dozen specialist doctors in connection with my wife’s health. Well, these doctors, as I said, are specialists and extremely busy people. People wait patiently for their turn to come, at times, for hours… That’s why they are called ‘patients’…

Patience!

“I can think, I can wait, I can fast”… I remembered Siddhartha’s famous reply to the question – “What work can you do best?”

I am talking about the protagonist in Hermann Hesse’s famous novel ‘Siddhartha’ (and the movie by he same name starring Shashi Kapoor and Simi Garewal).The wanderer monk, Siddhartha’, was hired because of this response – “I can think, I can fast and I can wait.”




Late last night, one of my old students called me. “Sir, I am your ex-student, Siddharth Punjabi,” he introduced himself. Then, he explained to me the reason behind his call. His wife, Urvashi (newly married), wanted to go through some public speaking sessions as she was planning to get into a training profession. As we conduct such programmes only during summers, I suggested Siddharth, that if she was free, she could come over to my office at 11 today (Saturday) so that I could give her some tips and gift some of our motivational books. “But, please call me or message me in the morning if she would be coming so that I can keep myself free,” I insisted.

It's 10.40 now. I must have made at least five calls to my ex-student Siddharth. Probably, he is in his office or busy at home, I don’t know. So, my calls haven’t been taken. Finally, I sent a WhatsApp message…

In a while, a reply appeared:

“I think, you’ve got the wrong number.”

“Oh! I am sorry for disturbing you. BTW, your number is stored on my phone as Siddharth Punjabi. By any chance, do we know each other? If not, let me delete it. Sorry again.”

To this, came a quick reply:

“Gerry Sir, I am Siddharth Punjabi. But, I don’t know about Urvashi. I’m from 2008-2009 batch with Abhijeet Menon and Pankaj Menda.”

By now, I had realized this mix up… and, I knew who this Siddharth was. But, I wanted to make my ex-student realize: That, all that he had to do in his first message was to add ‘Gerry Sir’ before saying “I think, you’ve got the wrong number.”

No, my boy, you’ve got the right number. You may be a busy professional somewhere in your swanky office… as the super-specialist medical professionals I have been seeing these days are…

I never forgot to go to them with out some of my books… And, they, never forgot to waive off the consultation fees. Well, I did not gift my books for a tradeoff… I gifted them because, as Pablo Picasso said, writing was my gift, and giving was my purpose. Those specialist doctors – despite being busy like crazy – too, knew about their ‘gift’ and ‘purpose’ in life…

We don’t become ‘too big people’ in life to forget such too simple lessons…

“HaHa, my boy, I had to say ‘Sorry’ to you!”… I hammered the last nail on this coffin called – ‘Siddharth’”.

Anyway, the right Siddharth just called me to inform, that he would be here at 11 with his wife, Urvashi…

It’s sharp 11 now… They are here.



GERALD D’CUNHA 

Pic’s: Pixabay

Video: Kahlil Gibran in 'The Prophet'/Simerjeet Singh

 

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