It's nearly been a year, I came to stay at this place, and, almost the same amount of time, I've known this girl Preet...She comes to this place, everyday, at around 11.30 at night, and does her share of cleaning up the kitchen, washing the utensils used throughout the day, making sure that everythin in the rest of the house is in place, and finishing all the necessary arrangements for the next morning...And, when the morning comes, she prepares the tea for four people (including me), cooks food for two and does the morning round of cleaning up the house, before she leaves at 10 to start the rest of her day...She has been a real surprise and amusement for me for all these time, and that is the reason why I initiate conversations with her everytime I can manage...And, to add a cherry on top of the already yummy cake, she narrates her story in such a jovial manner that it always perfectly compliments my late night chilled coffee...
Today, she tells me, that she has attended some seminar on dental therapy this afternoon...Oh, did I tell you about her job in a dental clinic??I guess not..Yes, every morning, after she goes back from our place, she goes to her permanent job of being a help to a dentist...And that is not the end, after coming back from the clinic by 9 every night, she also attends to her daily household chores at her own home...Then she finishes her dinner, and comes to our place by 11.30...Yes, everyday, she works 3 shifts...3 back to back shifts...Not to mention, it's being Mumbai, she travels in local trains, at the rush hours, walks from the station to her place and it's something she does without a hitch and of course the slightest complaint...
She tells me that her seminar was at Lower Parel and after reaching home, she cooked fish curry for her family...I ask her, doesn't she get tired...'I'm used to to it', comes her reply...She seems very happy for having cooked something special for her family for a Saturday dinner...'It was Navaratri na, so nobody in the family had eaten non vegetarian for last 9 days, so cooked today...Actually I was tired, but so many days mum and dad didn't have this kind of food...So ended up cooking', she explains to me...I get surprised as I realise how one can think so much at a given point of time, espicially when one has a life like Preet's, in which, she has to devote more thank 17 hours, sorting other's lives than her own...Yes, at any given point of time she thinks about others...Others' priorities are hers, and she has hardly anything left for herself...At least one would definitely feel so when they see Preet for the first time....
But, no...One who knows Preet a little more, he would know, she had also planned her life...Sometime's back, in a conversation like today's, she had told me what she wants to do in life...Of course, being a girl from a typical local family, she wouldn't have dreamt of making it highly big in her professional life...And most obviously she hasn't, but, as a daughter (or should I say, an earning daughter), she has done what she should and has to do...She has completed her complete studies with her own hard earned money...She supports her parents with her share of contribution towards the family spending, bears all the cost for her brother's studies....And, and...and...At this point of time, she has made sure that she has her future secured financially...Yes, the most amusing fact of this girl is that, she has done everything that is ideally done by somebody who's highly matured and experienced in life...And if you go by her age, she is 3 years younger to me!!!
It's amazing, how some people know how to handle life the way it appears in front of them...It's amazing to see how some people don't consider problems as problems, rather find out solutions gracefully...It's surprising to see, how for some people, life is all about living every moment with an open mind rather than complaining about the non existent possibilities...It's so inspiring to see, how some people don't consider hardships as barriers to their existence, rather take as the most usual way of life, and thus succeed attaining mental peace...
As the twinkle in this girl's eyes starts transforming into my soul, I realize, yes, life is all about finding small happinesses in the mundanes...No matter what comes on our ways, if we start taking them as something we can do, nothing can stop us from implementing those....A little vision, a little maturity, a little understanding, a little patience and a little readiness in our mindsets, to accept and find happiness in any situation, and we are all set to conquer the world...And that's when comes other positivities too on our way...Other positivities being peace of mind, joy of living, purpose of existence and of course the worth of being human....(Ah! sounds like Salman Khan's trust, but on a serious note no)...
I'm done with my coffee...And Preet is with her chores...She wishes me goodnight and leaves the kitchen, leaving me behind...I switch the lights off, but sit back on the chair... I'm not ready to sleep yet...Probably, because, it's one of those rare times, when my senses are awake...And I really wish, they stay that way, at least for a while....
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