A MISERABLE EXPERIMENT

“God is always looking after you, so chant His name n be at peace” thus concluded the only discourse I ever heard on ASTHA channel. It was a chill morning n my parents were rapturously watching the live telecast of some saint whose name I am not hiding but I really don’t remember, n how can I ? Everyone is either some shri shri swami shri or some ‘anand’ in the end, so its quite a task to recognize nowadays saint by their names.

Anyway, after its conclusion, I went to my study room but was unable to forget the concluding remark “God is always looking after you....” I wondered how can it be possible! Saints only say that god is ONE. So how can that one look after so many people on earth. Of course, I didn’t believe in it even a bit.  So I thought to put this statement to a test. I made a plan. Next day I had an exam n had to go to Varanasi from Allahabad. Its roughly 150 Kms apart. I departed the same afternoon by bus towards Varanasi n deliberately took minimum money with me, I just had Rs 200 in my pocket. The fare was Rs 85. I paid it from the money I had. N in the middle of the journey, bus stopped at a point for some refreshments. I took this opportunity n gave the rest of my money to a nearby beggar. Now I was penniless. Bus reached Varanasi nearly at 5 pm. As I was not having any money, I thought to roam aimlessly in the city. I didn’t have any other choice. Till    7 pm, i wondered here n there appreciating the beauty of the city. But after all that travel n aimless wondering, I got very tired n hungry, the latter was more dominating. I said to myself- Don't worry, if god is looking after me, he has to make some arrangement. One hour passed, the hunger took an intense form n there was no help from the so called GOD! I thought may be He is checking my trust n patience . Another 2 hour passed but my hunger got worse n my little belief in god started diminishing exponentially. I was cursing myself for deliberately putting myself through all this. It was 10:30 pm n I was so tired that I sat under a nearby tree. I tried to sleep but the damn hunger was not allowing my body to fall asleep. I started cursing that saint “how liar he is! Misguiding so many people in the name of God”

Suddenly I remembered, that I had a 500 rupee note inside one of the chains of my bag. Actually a week ago, a friend of mine returned me rs 500 which he once borrowed from me. I am in the habit of keeping high value currency in my bag instead of my pocket so that time also I did the same thing. When i checked my bag, yes, it was there!! I can’t tell you how happy I was to find that... I  first managed my hunger by visiting a restaurant, then took a very ordinary room for one night within that stringent budget n even managed to return home the next day comfortably.

HENCE....my conclusion after that incident was-“ If I have even a ten rupee note, my belief in that note will always be million times more than on some abstract concept like GOD “

We  should always use our common sense  more, rather than believing in god, blindly. God is nice n good in books n theories. But in reality, if you have a better means, choose that always instead of sitting in a hope that god my descend to you n say-“ Are you hungry my child? Here is a burger n coke for you.”

-Kaavya

A familiar stranger

 

Dont you think, even the best friend of yours was once a stranger...
You sit in a garden n look at multitudes of people with their own life, their own joys, sorrow, problem, talent, exitement. Two strangers can become friends , best friends, lovers n what not.
Sometimes some stranger seems so familiar, so close but we just cannot recollect our memories with them. This concept is used in making love story movies, in novels n in other entertainments, but this beautiful bond is not only confined to lovers but to every human.

Suppose, you are sitting in a library, everything is very silent. A girl comes n sit right in front of you. It might have occurred with you million times in your life in school or college or in some random public library. But there might come an occasion when you feel really drawn to a few of them.Suddenly she starts seeming so familiar. You look at her but can't look everytime as it may seem awkward but the few second of glances you have, they are assuring enough that there might have been some conncetion in the past may be n that feeling of friendship n good times starts flooding you by some dimensionless link! She sits a yard away from you, you want to talk n explore the transient bond but you hesitate to make the first move. What stops you!? may be you fear that she would mind talking suddenly to strangers, but may be she is also hesitant to make the first move, may be not. That time everything is yours...the moment, the space , the time, the conditions... You are there , she is there,  all you need to do is break the ice but you wait n think..well sometimes too much thinking is bad. All you know about her is that she is a stranger sitting in front of you, reading a book. You see n observe her every movement, how her hair falls in front of her face n she tucks it behind her ears, how her lips lit up with smile on reading something funny but she can't laugh out loud being in a public library, how she becomes serious on reading something important, how she plays with her pen by flipping it in her hand while reading. An hour or so passes by like this n when finally you decide to approach her n make a conversation...., she closes the book, gets up , n without realizing, you even exist, she leaves...

May be you again meet her someday, may be not forever... You dont know who she was, where she lived, her name, nothing! She just came suddenly for an hour in your life n gave you a memory in which she will remain exactly like the way you saw her for the first n the last time.
And like this  in most of the cases, you miss the chance to know a person n share their life. Someday after years, you suddenly think about her n regreat that only chance you had.


-Kaavya