I am not 'Born With A Silver Spoon'… Are You..?

Darkness. There is darkness all over this place not even a beam of light can invade here. I am lost in this vicious circle . I don't want to live in this jail. I don't want to live in this bondage. I want to be free. I am hungry. I can die at any moment. I am hungry."

Can you recognise me ? No ! You don't even know my name. But, you know who I am ? I am the one that cleans up all the dishes of your house! I am the one who cleans your car. I am the one who mends your shoes. I am the one who wheedle the garbage in the hope of getting a silver coin. I am the one whose face burns in the smoky factories of fireworks. I am the one who cleans up the road every morning for you to walk upon. I am the one who does your grunt and untidy work so that you can lead your life. I am the POOR. I am poverty.

Like you, I also have a family ! A mom, a sister but no dad. He left us in this darkness, that is hauntingus every day , every hour ,every second. Alone. He left us to survive in this poverty. To survive alone. To fight alone. You know, I was not born like this. I was not born with these shaggy clothes. People say our country has developed. But for me it is still the same. I am still there where I was some years back. My home is still there in that dark alley that no one cares or knows about. There is a woman in my home with a frail face, with lines of struggle and eyes that has lost its shine. She is in front of fire since morning, cooking our meal which is barely enough for even one of us. But still that small amount of food is heaven for us. She has to wake up every morning for work, putting up a smiling face that shadows the agony and suffering, that she faces every day. I have a sister, who can just dream about going to school. I want her to be educated ,to lead her own life independently. To play and learn. But, when I search my pocket for any penny I hardly find any for her school fees. I have got none to buy her any happiness. She wants toys , she wants to play, she wants to go to school like every other child. But, she is too small to realise our miserable condition. We are deprived of the luxuries that you get, which we can only dream of !

You might be having a pleasant day today. You might be having a nice time with your family. You might be enjoying and playing with your friends. You don't have to worry for the next meal. But, you know what I am doing ? You know how my day went ? My day went in scrounging for food, for work, for something to get through this day. But, each second and each thing just reminds me of my state. It seems like I can't get over this no matter how hard I try or want to. This is a never ending tunnel of despair and hopelessness, that engulfs me in more I try to get out of it. Now that you know what I am going through , what will you do ?

You might feel empathy for me ! But, it will be just another thing you read, just another piece of writing, nothing else ! You will go on with your life. You can do nothing. Nothing at all. But, only you can try to change my state. You can take a step. Only you can get this child out of darkness.

Amaresh

Find Something You Love and You'll Never Have to Work again.

YOU ARE LIVING........ BUT ARE YOU LIVING?
What did you do since morning that made you really happy? Which part of the day was entirely yours whatsapp, Facebook or any of those devils? All day long did you just smile or did you actually laugh from your heart? Can you actually tell me that in your daily routine there's that one thing that belongs to you, only you and not anyone else?

Everybody has something which makes them special. Everybody! Something that makes different from being ordinary, something that makes them extraordinary but not all can find that about themselves, some are lucky to know it, some take years and the most unfortunate lot believe that they are ordinary. But I don't believe that. There's got to be one stage which you totally own and where you can give others a run for their money. For some it would be capturing life under their lenses, for some it would be playing a guitar and for some it could just be crazy dancing. What's that one thing for which you would be crazy enough to be willing to wake up from your deep sleep at 3am? Do you have that one thing?
Well if you have something like that then that's awesome but if not then take a break, stop and find it. Because unless you find it you will just be ordinary and no one wants to be ordinary. Everybody wants to stand out in the crowd, believe it or not.

In school I read a story named 'Portrait of A Lady'. There's the character of an elderly grandmother in the story. The writer Khushwant Singh tells his readers that the grandmother's happiest times would be in the evening when she would feed the sparrows. She found happiness in something doing that way. The daily life routine is pretty monotonous. School, college, work or family whichever takes your most time needs you on a daily basis. It requires you to completely devote yourself to them and for that to happen you have to have laughed. Find things which make you happy and keep on doing it. Materialistic pleasures come in life to everyone, sooner or later but they won't keep you happy and going on till the end. That one thing that defines your uniqueness, that one thing that defines you, would.
Take the road less travel, join pottery class, learn the guitar, take salsa lessons just do something for yourself. "La dolce far niente". An Italian word literally meaning 'the sweetness of doing nothing'.
Can you believe it? The Italians made a word for even that so even if you do nothing you can define that. I would rather do nothing and be happy than do something I don't love.

My Anjul Sir used to tell me, "Find something you love and you'll never have to work again."
Find that thing you love. The one that keeps you happy, makes you, your heart, your soul smile. And then and only then would you be living in real sense because just breathing is so mainstream....

Amaresh