Life's best lesson

The night before I didn't have my dinner. I woke up late on that day. I left home without any breakfast. I sat on my friends pillion. We left for breakfast at our old joint, but we couldn't due to an interrupted call.

 

He asked me if I could volunteer for blood donation. I instantly agreed, although I was six months less than the permissible age. My friend rushed to the hospital. While climbing the stairs I asked him who was unwell so as to find out if it any any of his kin. He disclosed that it was none from his kin but a lady who worked as a helper in the school where his mom was the Principal. We rushed to the ward and found a young girl in her early teens lying on the bed. We found out that she had severe haemaglobin shortage and needed blood urgently. Donors were asking for fifteen hundred bucks and the lady's salary was such that she could pay only for two such donors and she needed more. She managed a few donors from her known relatives. We immediately volunteered. The lady and one of her relative rushed to touch our feet, but we asked them not to do so as we were younger than them. We rushed to the room where there was some pre-donation inspection by a doctor.

 

"How old are you guys?" asked a lady doctor.

 

"Nineteen," my friend replied.

     

"Me too," I lied instantly.

 

"Did you guys have breakfast?"

 

"Yeah, we had had rice for our breakfast," I replied.

 

After our blood pressure check we were taken to the room. We were asked to take rest on adjacent chairs.

 

"Are you seriously nineteen?" I asked my friend.

 

He laughed and replied, "I have two months left to be eighteen."

 

"I have six months left," I added.

 

After our blood donation was complete, we visited the lady and said her that few of our friends would volunteer the next day. We were welcomed by a smile of relief from a helpless mother. We were contended.

 

With empty belly's we headed to a food joint. We emptied our purse and ordered for three chapatis and 1 butter chicken. We were allowed credit for some more as the manager was one of our close acquintances.

 

We broke a lot of rules hat day. We rode a two wheeler without any proper driving license and helmets. We donated blood even when we were not allowed too. We lied to the doctor which could have been fatal for our health. Things didn't go in vain. We got the good news a week later, when the lady called to inform us that the girl who had very less chances of survival as per the doctor was out of danger now. We saved a live.

 

The lesson we got is that we should never step away from helping someone because it could even save someone's life.

Allure of Marriage

An elderly man was disturbed by his neighbours compalints of a married life and he often got offended when recently married couples often cracked jokes that that 'happily married' was an irony. He called a few couples one evening and he asked any lady to volunteer for a small game.

 

 

 

"Write the names of twenty five near and dear ones in your life?" he asked the lady pointing the board.

 

The lady got astonished and she looked at the man. The man insisted her to continue. She wrote the names of her husband, her child, her parents, her in-laws, her friends and few of her close relatives. In no time her list of twenty five got filled on the white board.

 

The man read the entire list and asked her to remove five names, She removed a few relatives. The man again insisted to remove five more names. She removed a couple of her friends. When asked for the third time, she removed the names of few more friends. The final list contained six names which had the names of her parents, her in - laws, her husband and child. The man now asked to remove three names, which left the lady in despair. He reminded her it was just a game. She omitted the names of her in - laws and her Dad. The only three names in the board contained the names of her husband, child and her mother. The man now asked her to remove one more name. She left the game. He insisted her and reminded her about the veritability that it was just a mere game. She stepped forward unwillingly in the saturated silence of the entire room and unwillingly rubbed her mother's name. She was left with a board full of two mere names that held her whole world. The entire room of compalining youths was now left with silent sympatheies and realizations. The man broke all went to test the extreme endurance and now asked her to omit the final name. She broke down like never before. She forgot the game and repeatedly said that it was impossible. When insisted again and again, she rubbed her child's name.

 

"Now you all know the game", the man said and he helped the girl to her seat and asked her to calm down.

 

The irony of a happily married life was now turned in to deference. The man gladly remembered his dead wife.

Secularism

I don't get it why even there is a need to declare yourself as a secular? If you are secular, you are and its perfectly normal to be one. If you aren't secular than you aren't fit enough to be a social animal. Even if you are or even if you aren't, why is there a need to declare?

 

The first known person who took me in the lap just after I was born is my Dad. Just after him, his childhood friend, who took me in his lap is a follower of Islam. My parents recall that he occasionally gifted me the 'Kufi' skull cap and even I was too fond of it. They never hesitated me wearing that. In fact, they proudly recall that a few times I even insisted on going with him to the Mosque for offering the Magrib Namaz, and that was when I barely understood what was religion.

 

I inherit a lot of religious beliefs from my Dad and my family members. The 27th day of Ramadan is considered sacred among Islam followers and for the last 37 years my father has had the oppurtunity to arrange the Iftar at our village Mosque and he wants me to continue that. He has also been doing the same for Hindu festivals like Durga Puja. He says he finds a lot of peace when he watches people celebrate. Perhaps that is the essence of religion for him.

 

My Dad has a small wooden book shelf. There stands with dignity, the three sacred religious books - The Madbhadwad Gita, The Quran and The Bible. The Bible was guifted to my Dad by one of his friends Dad who wanted my Dad to know the preachings of Jesus. The Quran was gifted to my Dad by one of his Islam following seniors. He got the Mad Bhagwatgita as a birthday gift from one of his college mates. The three books stand together, supporting as walls, not for differentiating but for upholding the dignity of human belief, preaching good deeds and inspiring great deeds.

 

I have grown in a society where people hardly try to dig in to a persons name and surname to find out their religion. It disappoints me when I see some doing that. The only time when I saw my near and dear ones digging in to a persons name was when they tried to know the persons gender and a few times they miserably failed. Some names, belong equally to both the gender. Religion is a personal thing and I don't understand why it should be bothered about. All that should matter to us is who the person is and not which religion he beliefs it.

 

My thoughts on secularism doesn't indicate that I am an atheist. I am religious and I strongly belief religions brings discipline to our lives.