Kabiraa… Maan ja…

Finally, after a long gap of three months, I got a chance to meet myself at my favourite destination... My own space... My Blog!!! 

A lot of things have changed in last three months. It was not less than a roller coaster ride since I landed in Bangalore. I still reminisce the day when I woke up in the morning at 6 am on 1^st September.  I rushed from my bed to the bathroom, to get ready to meet my parents, who were staying in the hotel and waiting for me to come over their place so that we can leave for the airport.  As soon as I got ready to leave my PG, I bid adieu to all of my friends and rushed to the hotel. My parents were already waiting for me in the taxi. We all left for airport then. I crossed the same traffic signal about which I am going to write in this blog. We then headed to the way of my previous organization which was on the way to airport. It was a strange feeling because I hated that place from core of my heart, but still something pinched me…  the thought that I am never coming here again smashed me. It was a mixed feeling. We then reached to the airport after 20 minutes of road journey. Since it was Sunday morning, we got lucky not to have traffic on road. My flight was at 9.45am. When we reached to the airport… I looked at my parents; another thought smashed me that I do not know when I will get lucky enough to see them again. I saw my Dad getting sad that I am going so far from him… I saw my Mom almost crying that she have to leave from the gate of the airport as they were not allowed to go inside the gate. I assured them that I will be fine and forced them to leave first so that they don’t see me leaving and feel bad. When they left I saw them going all the way to the taxi and I assured myself by the thought that I have to do something for them that is why I have to go away from them.

I then started moving to the counter to get my boarding pass and waited for the check-in process to get over. I boarded my flight and after the journey of two hours, there I was… Bangalore!! A place I never thought in my weirdest dream that I will ever go to. I was so glad that when I landed here, my batch mates, my friends, my sweethearts, were already there. I met them in the evening and we enjoyed a lot. I forgot all the pain by which I was going through in Kolkata. I was constantly thinking that the time I am spending with these people was worth having that pain. It was because of that one horrible year, that I was able to appreciate their presence in my life. A lot of things have changed since then. My two of the friends are gone from this city, but still it’s much better than Kolkata.

Coming back to that traffic signal which I was talking about… Every day when I used to go to my office, I used to walk on that footpath which was right next to the traffic light. There was this road side food stall, where few middle aged ladies used to prepare food for office people, autowalas, truckwalas and whom so ever interested in their food. I don’t know exactly how many kids they have in their family but I used to see five kids on daily basis. One of them was so cute that I always had this feeling of adopting him. It was a boy. A cute looking, around two feet, round faced, bald boy, who just learned how to run. It was such a pleasure to watch him dangling on the footpath. Those were few of the seconds of my day, when I really used to smile from my heart. I never happen to see any men of their family. There were two ladies and five kids as I said; there was no shelter for them. They used to sleep there itself on footpath under a tent. A constant thought which was always there in mind during my stay in Kolkata was how happy these people are. At least they looked like one happy family. I very well understand the fact that it’s not easy to survive on a footpath with five kids around. But still they were living there happily and I … I was working in a MNC, I was earning, not much though, but I had the liberty to buy anything which I wanted, and still I was not happy. I really don’t get the fact that how these people find happiness in small small things and we don’t, given the fact that we can buy whatever the hell we want.

Apparently similar kind of experience happened here in my new company where I am currently working. There was this ‘Happy giving week’ few days back in my office during which they placed a handmade tree of thermocol at the reception -- > ‘The Wishing Tree’. The speciality of this wishing tree was that, it was filled with around fifty apple shaped paper cutting placed on itself at the place of fruits and leaves. Each paper cutting had a wish written on it. The wish was of the children who were there in an orphanage. There was a union done from our company’s side with this NGO which was working for this orphanage. This NGO gave us the list of wishes which these children wanted and our HR team beautifully planted those wishes on these apple fruit shaped paper cutting on the tree. We were supposed to pluck one paper cutting and fulfil the wish which was written on it. I plucked an apple cutting and the wish was ‘A Football’.

It was such a strange feeling that a mere thing which has no importance in our life is a wish for someone out there. I was so moved by this thought that someone whom I have never seen, never met and probably will never meet, will play with the football which I am donating. I felt so blessed that God made me capable of fulfilling someone else’s wish. We all are so indulged in our day to day issues that we forget that there is someone out there who is living happily even on the footpath, because they have mind peace. They are happy and content in whatever they have. They don’t demand anything like we do. They don’t look at life the way we do. They are happy staying near to their family even if it is without the shelter. I do feel bad for the kids who are there in the orphanage, but they have also accepted the fact that they have to live their life happily, even if it is without their parents, then why are we so reluctant to the fact that we can also live happily. Why we do not accept the fact that whatever we have is enough to stay happy. Why are we so demanding? Why the pressure of this society is so substantial? It’s true that we have to do something in order to make our live comfortable and successful so that at the end we can stay happily with our loved one, but it’s indeed a very sad fact that we are losing ourselves in order to make our live successful!

So, this song Kabira maan jaa, as per me undoubtedly verves my thoughts…

Ban liya apna paigambar, Tar liya tu saat samandar
Phir bhi sookha mann ke andar, Kyun reh gaya….
Re Kabira maan jaa, Re Faqeera maan jaa
Aaja tujhko pukaare teri parchhaaiyan…
Re Kabira maan ja, Re Faqeera maan ja
Kaisa tu hai nirmohi kaisa harjaaiya…

Tooti chaarpaai wohi, Thandi purvaai rasta dekhe
Doodhon ki malaai wohi, Mitti ki suraahi rasta dekhe…
Kaisi teri khudgarzi, Lab namak rame na misri
Kaisi teri khudgarzi, Tujhe preet purani bisri…
Mast Maula, mast Kalander, Tu hawa ka ek bavandar
Bujh ke yun andar hi andar, Kyun reh gaya…
Re Kabira maan jaa, Re Faqeera maan jaa
Aaja tujhko pukaare teri parchhaaiyan….
Re Kabira maan ja, Re Faqeera maan ja
Kaisa tu hai nirmohi kaisa harjaaiya...