Eyes ... Never Lies ...
Suresh was very busy with his usual morning routines. He recently got married and also purchased a new house which is worth crores. He deserves this kind of a life as he had put in all the hard work to come up in life to this level. Suresh is the CEO of one of the leading leather company in the society, he completed his graduation in IIM and was flooded with offers from all the major companies of India, but Suresh chose to stand on his own and hence he became an entrepreneur and now his company is very near to a monopoly in the market. Suresh dad was a rag picker on the streets and all suresh had seen in his younger days were dust and polluted house of his on the platform of a busy mount road in chennai ...
It really took a long time for Suresh to change his image of being a person from a very poor family. One good thing to be mentioned and appreciated about Suresh dad his, though he roamed across the streets of chennai for a living, he made sure that he gives the vital "education" to his son, as he does not want him to be like him, Suresh too recognized the importance of studies and put tremendous effort to come first in the state. Now Suresh is living in one of the hi-fi areas of the society and he is taking care of his dad and mom very well. At times Suresh used to think that GOD has put him into a hardship during his early days and hence to correct his mistake, he has given him this kind of a life now.
Environment and circumstances make a man, some change their life for good and some change their life to doom, similarly Suresh too had some painful incidents in his life, but fortunately those became the stepping stones for his success. It was the day after diwali and his dad was very happy, because that’s when the roads would be bubbling with papers and he can collect as much as he can and give it to the paper mashing company. He gets rs 10 per bag, and since this is the time where he could make more money, he used to carry three, four bags and then collect as much as he can. Suresh used to go with his dad, not to pick papers, but to pick those crackers which failed to burst, for Suresh today is diwali. He never had new clothes on such occasions as his dad could not afford to get him those stuffs.
Suresh was happy in collecting those waste crackers, when he and his dad entered a different street, he saw an "atom bomb" which was left unattended, Suresh though was initially scared to lift that up, did few rounds of inspection and then carefully took it on his hands and then he was about to put that into his collection bag, which is nothing but his pant pocket, suddenly he saw a boy shouting at him and came running towards him, without asking Suresh a word, he slapped him hard on his face, that boy yelled at him saying "I went inside my house to light this agarbathi and in the mean time you stole my bomb, give it back to me you thief", Suresh did not mind losing that atom bomb, but that tender face just could not bare that painful blow and the humiliation that followed it. Suresh dad, apologized to that guy, though he knows that it was not the mistake of his son.
This incident made Suresh to be even stronger in life and he had that fire in him to win this game called "life" and he wanted to emerge as a champion. Now diwali's for Suresh is not a big deal, he not only buys new crackers for his own, but also procures loads of crackers for all his employees who work in his company. Every time he celebrates a diwali, he used to remember that slap. One such diwali came again and Suresh was busy winding up one of his meetings, he knew its diwali tomorrow and he has to rush home to spend some quality time with his family. It was very cloudy and it was about to rain anytime. Diwali's worst enemy is rain and Suresh hates it when it rains on a diwali day.
Suresh was about to get out of his car and it poured like mad and he felt as if a thick gush of cold water thrown on his face and an acute pain developed in his stomach, Suresh the "table cleaning" boy in a nearby hotel got up after his owner poured a bucket of cold water on him and kicked him hard in his stomach for sleeping and day "dreaming" when customers were waiting for that table to be cleaned. He took his bucket and sponge and rushed to that table and cleaned it, not only with water, but also with his own tear drops. Suresh smiled to himself, though he tried his level best to hide the pain that he had in his stomach, he felt so nice about that dream, where he was on top of this world.
I had this storyline in my mind, when I had been for a tour recently and the inspiration for this story is a similar boy who came to my table to clean the remains of a previous customer. I just looked into his eyes and it had all the stories to say. He was just wearing a cut baniyan and he must be 12 years old. His appearance shook me very badly, and raised lots of questions in me. What am I giving back to this society ? Am I so selfish in life ? Being a table cleaner would not be a job that little one would have opted to do with an interest, it’s just his situation and environment which would have pushed him to do that. He too would have dreamt for a peaceful life like us, but GOD has scripted a different story for him. Please don treat those table cleaning guys like "shit" they are also human beings, just look into their eyes for a minute and you will feel how blessed you are to be like this today.
It really took a long time for Suresh to change his image of being a person from a very poor family. One good thing to be mentioned and appreciated about Suresh dad his, though he roamed across the streets of chennai for a living, he made sure that he gives the vital "education" to his son, as he does not want him to be like him, Suresh too recognized the importance of studies and put tremendous effort to come first in the state. Now Suresh is living in one of the hi-fi areas of the society and he is taking care of his dad and mom very well. At times Suresh used to think that GOD has put him into a hardship during his early days and hence to correct his mistake, he has given him this kind of a life now.
Environment and circumstances make a man, some change their life for good and some change their life to doom, similarly Suresh too had some painful incidents in his life, but fortunately those became the stepping stones for his success. It was the day after diwali and his dad was very happy, because that’s when the roads would be bubbling with papers and he can collect as much as he can and give it to the paper mashing company. He gets rs 10 per bag, and since this is the time where he could make more money, he used to carry three, four bags and then collect as much as he can. Suresh used to go with his dad, not to pick papers, but to pick those crackers which failed to burst, for Suresh today is diwali. He never had new clothes on such occasions as his dad could not afford to get him those stuffs.
Suresh was happy in collecting those waste crackers, when he and his dad entered a different street, he saw an "atom bomb" which was left unattended, Suresh though was initially scared to lift that up, did few rounds of inspection and then carefully took it on his hands and then he was about to put that into his collection bag, which is nothing but his pant pocket, suddenly he saw a boy shouting at him and came running towards him, without asking Suresh a word, he slapped him hard on his face, that boy yelled at him saying "I went inside my house to light this agarbathi and in the mean time you stole my bomb, give it back to me you thief", Suresh did not mind losing that atom bomb, but that tender face just could not bare that painful blow and the humiliation that followed it. Suresh dad, apologized to that guy, though he knows that it was not the mistake of his son.
This incident made Suresh to be even stronger in life and he had that fire in him to win this game called "life" and he wanted to emerge as a champion. Now diwali's for Suresh is not a big deal, he not only buys new crackers for his own, but also procures loads of crackers for all his employees who work in his company. Every time he celebrates a diwali, he used to remember that slap. One such diwali came again and Suresh was busy winding up one of his meetings, he knew its diwali tomorrow and he has to rush home to spend some quality time with his family. It was very cloudy and it was about to rain anytime. Diwali's worst enemy is rain and Suresh hates it when it rains on a diwali day.
Suresh was about to get out of his car and it poured like mad and he felt as if a thick gush of cold water thrown on his face and an acute pain developed in his stomach, Suresh the "table cleaning" boy in a nearby hotel got up after his owner poured a bucket of cold water on him and kicked him hard in his stomach for sleeping and day "dreaming" when customers were waiting for that table to be cleaned. He took his bucket and sponge and rushed to that table and cleaned it, not only with water, but also with his own tear drops. Suresh smiled to himself, though he tried his level best to hide the pain that he had in his stomach, he felt so nice about that dream, where he was on top of this world.
I had this storyline in my mind, when I had been for a tour recently and the inspiration for this story is a similar boy who came to my table to clean the remains of a previous customer. I just looked into his eyes and it had all the stories to say. He was just wearing a cut baniyan and he must be 12 years old. His appearance shook me very badly, and raised lots of questions in me. What am I giving back to this society ? Am I so selfish in life ? Being a table cleaner would not be a job that little one would have opted to do with an interest, it’s just his situation and environment which would have pushed him to do that. He too would have dreamt for a peaceful life like us, but GOD has scripted a different story for him. Please don treat those table cleaning guys like "shit" they are also human beings, just look into their eyes for a minute and you will feel how blessed you are to be like this today.
Dont tag it as story.Its good enough to be an article.
ReplyDeleteI would always feel that i should tip them rather than the waiters.But, practically we will not be able to give them.Once i tried but the cleaning boy was met with a cold stare from other waiters. So stopped.
So, i make it a point to atleast thank them .