Recently, one of my friends uploaded a certain poem he wrote, onto his facebook profile. the poem goes this way:
Sometimes in life we feel so blue,
but someone somewhere is not happy as you.
Somewhere far at a border when a soldier sleeps,
missing his loved ones he silently weeps.
Somewhere a mother painfully sighs
coz her new born baby dint open her eyes.
Somewhere a poor dad silently cries,
when he sees his son begging for a bowl of rice.
Somewhere in an orphanage a little girl is sad,
when she misses her mom & dad.
So at times a reason to smile you may not have any,
say to yourself that you are happier than many!
'coz life is beautiful & its always not blue,
and someone somewhere is not happy as you!
True.Very true. All of us know that it's true. But do we really understand how true it is?? at least, I didn't .
The truth behind this echoed only when 'She' came.
I don't know, but probably God wanted me to see her !! It was probably meant to happen. If I hadn't seen her I would have been very happy living my own selfish life.
Question- Who was she?? what really happened?? why did it have such a huge effect as to prompt me to write this??
Answer- The answer is in this incident that happened just a few days back-
"I am gonna go to Chennai!!" was all that was going through my mind as I reached the bus stop in Trichy and was walking to the railway station. I was along with my Gumbal(A name for my group of friends in college) "It's gonna be legendary!!" said my mind again and made a smile flash across my face.
But,then came She. She wiped the smile right off my face.
'She' was a feeble old lady. An old lady who could barely walk or talk. 'She' stopped me. And managed to get a few tamil words out from her mouth- "Aiyya, vayasaana kezhavi. Saapda onnum illa" (Sir, I am an old Lady, I don't have anything to eat) and she could say no more....she held her hand out. I almost let out a tear seeing her state. The picture of that elderly women....bowing down to me, begging for help, froze in my mind. I couldn't come out of that. It was as though I had entered into a state of shock. I kept pausing, rewinding and playing the entire episode in my mind while on my way through rest of the journey. The gaze, the gaze she gave of helplessness, mixed with shame haunted me.
No one fancies showing helplessness. It's basic human nature. When human nature can stop people from seeking help from friends and family, Well what adverse conditions would have driven this woman to bow down to complete strangers most of whom are half her age and ask for help?? the more I thought about this the worse it became.
I had shut down. I couldn't think about anything else.
I was overflowing with so many thoughts. But it was one thought that struck a chord. Shock and grief turned to Horror and Anger within seconds!!!
"I was the first one to heed to her cry!! The first one to help her!!! " . Atleast a hundered people would have walked right past this woman. And no one heard and saw the things that I did!! None had the heart to help her. She was crying for help into emptiness. What was she thinking?? Was she looking for Real people?? real hearts beating?? did she think that people help people???
No. Not anymore!!!
We are consumed in our own selfish life so much so that we ignore millions of others who are crying out loud!!
Well, I have woken up. The distressed old lady has shaken me up and opened my eyes to the people around me!!
And just when I think that things in my life are down and cant get worse, I recollect the poem that my beloved friend has written.
We are the lucky ones!!!
Let's help those who are not.
Sometimes in life we feel so blue,
but someone somewhere is not happy as you.
Somewhere far at a border when a soldier sleeps,
missing his loved ones he silently weeps.
Somewhere a mother painfully sighs
coz her new born baby dint open her eyes.
Somewhere a poor dad silently cries,
when he sees his son begging for a bowl of rice.
Somewhere in an orphanage a little girl is sad,
when she misses her mom & dad.
So at times a reason to smile you may not have any,
say to yourself that you are happier than many!
'coz life is beautiful & its always not blue,
and someone somewhere is not happy as you!
True.Very true. All of us know that it's true. But do we really understand how true it is?? at least, I didn't .
The truth behind this echoed only when 'She' came.
I don't know, but probably God wanted me to see her !! It was probably meant to happen. If I hadn't seen her I would have been very happy living my own selfish life.
Question- Who was she?? what really happened?? why did it have such a huge effect as to prompt me to write this??
Answer- The answer is in this incident that happened just a few days back-
"I am gonna go to Chennai!!" was all that was going through my mind as I reached the bus stop in Trichy and was walking to the railway station. I was along with my Gumbal(A name for my group of friends in college) "It's gonna be legendary!!" said my mind again and made a smile flash across my face.
But,then came She. She wiped the smile right off my face.
'She' was a feeble old lady. An old lady who could barely walk or talk. 'She' stopped me. And managed to get a few tamil words out from her mouth- "Aiyya, vayasaana kezhavi. Saapda onnum illa" (Sir, I am an old Lady, I don't have anything to eat) and she could say no more....she held her hand out. I almost let out a tear seeing her state. The picture of that elderly women....bowing down to me, begging for help, froze in my mind. I couldn't come out of that. It was as though I had entered into a state of shock. I kept pausing, rewinding and playing the entire episode in my mind while on my way through rest of the journey. The gaze, the gaze she gave of helplessness, mixed with shame haunted me.
No one fancies showing helplessness. It's basic human nature. When human nature can stop people from seeking help from friends and family, Well what adverse conditions would have driven this woman to bow down to complete strangers most of whom are half her age and ask for help?? the more I thought about this the worse it became.
I had shut down. I couldn't think about anything else.
I was overflowing with so many thoughts. But it was one thought that struck a chord. Shock and grief turned to Horror and Anger within seconds!!!
"I was the first one to heed to her cry!! The first one to help her!!! " . Atleast a hundered people would have walked right past this woman. And no one heard and saw the things that I did!! None had the heart to help her. She was crying for help into emptiness. What was she thinking?? Was she looking for Real people?? real hearts beating?? did she think that people help people???
No. Not anymore!!!
We are consumed in our own selfish life so much so that we ignore millions of others who are crying out loud!!
Well, I have woken up. The distressed old lady has shaken me up and opened my eyes to the people around me!!
And just when I think that things in my life are down and cant get worse, I recollect the poem that my beloved friend has written.
We are the lucky ones!!!
Let's help those who are not.
