Hello Friends !

After 3.5 years of murky hostel life, one moment really ticked on the bomb as if it was the instant at which enlightenment was imparted. Maybe enlightenment is too heavy word for the flash of thought in mind (in my vocabulary enlightenment = Buddha+43 days under bodhi tree). But after this jiffy, the heavy physique of mine, that to with an empty head (the icing on the cake) came to realize that petite voice of the tiny soul within me (tiny is actually when it is compared to my HUGE body) can sometimes make a point so valid that it can be woven into words for others to ponder on (my dumbness).

So here’s the moment, instant, flash, jiffy [no not the thesaurus] the event which led me to a reason to start this blog. Well my room like any other hostel room goes uncleaned, undusted, unswept for months (read ages) and its not usually till the end of days (spiders and lizards attacking on my pillows) that I tend to spare a thought to clean it. But this time I had to get it done because I had my parents visiting me in 5 hours. Hurriedly I located the sweeper of the corridor and gave him the offer of his life (perhaps my). “Rs. 50 for a room and balcony but you will have to sweep it up and then wash it up with phenyl”, I said in hurry still worrying if any of the termite colony had made holes in some of my clothes. He seemed way too happy and readily did what I had asked for. He also told me to keep him calling on weekly basis (maybe it is much more difficult to remove eons old dirt and dust which settles down as an integral part of the room, without which room looks more spacious and lively or maybe it would save him the cost of sandpaper he had to use to wipe off the artifacts of dead brave mosquitoes and flies who tried to sneak in my kingdom). Accepting his request I handed him the decided amount which I had kept in my pocket while he was working (too bad I forgot to flaunt my Gucci wallet in front of him).

Since then week after week, I would gather a couple of ten or twenty rupee notes in pocket (whatever would be the appropriate change available) and hand him over after he was done over with the room. It was interesting for me to note his face expressions while he counted the money he earned from me. The element of uncertainty attached to it was the prime reason that the situation would be worth studying. Sometimes his face would light up as if he had got what he desired and other times it would be like ‘I should not have wasted my time in this brat’s room’. I knew he would secretly wish to know what would be there in my pocket when I would call him for room cleaning, so that he could respond or act accordingly. 7-8 weeks had already passed by in this exercise and the wage he would earn was not by any means in proportion to the amount of dedication he would show while work or the trash he would generate out of the room but only to the left change notes in my wallet. This week, as was evident he had suspected a less wage, he rather came with a sad and bad mood, quietly and less enthusiastically did his work. I had two twenty rupee notes this time in the pocket but his half hearted attempt made me fish out just one of them for him. Was this his anticipation which made him loose another 20 bucks? Even if he had done his work as he did before would not he have got much happier?

This made me realize the importance of thoughts, what we think and how that affects our lives. No one knows how or with what one will be rewarded by what action of his. Only thing that matters is performing one’s obligations with utmost sincerity and honesty, dedication and dexterousness, patience and perseverance (and the list goes on… reason why Oxford has such long list of words) in other words to the best of one’s capabilities in whatever situation he may be in. If we presume that the actions will yield bad results, level of our output is bound to fall and we land up with the outcomes which we expected. Whereas if we put in our mind that we will get good results, then we actually are molding our actions in a positive direction. So saluting this great power of thoughts (though creepy it may sound but it is karmanyavaadhikarastey maafaleshukadachana coming from land of Kurukshetra in one form or the other) lets constructively design our thoughts for the benefit of humanity. After all philanthropy is the sweetest sin of all.

Saamir Gupta