A wonderful lesson...

It is interesting how life presents us opportunities to keep a check on the principles and values that we think we observe judiciously. The most amazing part is, when life catches us unaware at its most unexpected nook and corner, where we engage ourselves with others and are compelled to ask some uncomfortable questions to ourselves!

Last week, I was busy with the shifting of my house. Amidst all the chaos and high action, I had very insightful conversations with two members from the packers and movers team. They hail from a remote village near Darjeeling, were in their early twenties but looked much younger, almost like my teenage son. I was instructing and helping them pack things according to my requirement and learning about their difficult work schedule that barely allowed them to survive in this city. Despite the challenges, they seemed extremely content and there was some beautiful aura to their personae that made me curious about their life.

After my clothes, shoes painfully collected crockery and artifacts were packed, one of them jovially remarked, "madam, we can dress half the women from our village with these many lovely clothes" and the other followed, "we can  feed the entire village in those beautiful utensils"! I laughed at their innocent remarks. But when I went to sleep that night, those remarks revisited my mind and compelled me to think if I was following the very rule that I had set for myself and my family.

I lead absolutely uncluttered life and like to be very organized. As a rule, when I buy any garment, shoes, bag or anything for the house, the exact number of the same things I already possess, goes to the needy, even if it is hardly used. This way, I find immense joy in sharing with the less privileged and get a chance to peep in their life and also don't accumulate things that have served its purpose. Sometimes, in that process, I have to part with things that were very carefully chosen and collected after lot of efforts. But that exercise helps me understand if I am buying incessantly or crossing the line of greed under the disguise of great taste.

The next day when I woke up, I had already made a mental note of what all I had to take out from the packed boxes. My heart strings tugged at the thought of parting with things that had great sentimental value. It was difficult dilemma, where on one hand I wanted to keep everything while on other, my conscience forced me to give away some of the most enviable and precious things that I cherished for more than two decades. I also immediately arranged for these things to be given away before my heart engulfed me in its "greedy" mode.

The two young men's nonjudgmental, innocent comments helped me do what I should have done long time back! They had a completely different background and were uneducated with hardly any life experience, yet they taught me a wonderful lesson. Though I was in emotionally wobbly state of mind as that was the last night in my old house, I slept very peacefully thanks to those angels. Isn't it awesome, how some chanced upon interactions end up with enriching outcomes?