If you are reading this, you must be very lucky

You must be feeling surprised, "Why I am telling you lucky, just because you got a chance to read this?"

I consider you lucky since if you are reading it means you must be reading it on your smartphone, computer or tablet. So you don't have to fight for your basic necessities like cloth, food, and shelter. In that case, I consider myself also lucky enough. But most of us (including me) often overlook those and take those things for granted, start creating new bigger problems for ourselves and start crying out loud about them.

But some around us are not much blessed to have things like we do have and they never get a chance to pitty on big problems like we do. They are just fighting for basic needs like cloth, food and shelter. They never get a chance to reach that next level of luxury that is education and are always caught up in fighting for the basic necessities for themselves and their family.

Yesterday while our visit to a temple, I meet a boy named GOPI. Let me start this story from start. It was a bright sunny Sunday. My family members decided to visit one very famous temple near Alandi, Maharashtra, India. We all started our journey to the temple in a car. Unfamiliar with routes, we took the help of Google Maps. After almost 1 hour of travelling, we reach the temple. It was a great view of the temple from the far.

Due to Sunday, it was a bit busy day. Lots of people have come to visit the temple. It took a bit longer to get parking for our car. The one that we found was far from the temple. We had no other option but to walk to the temple since the distance to the temple from our parking was not that far so an autorickshaw driver gets ready to give us a ride. In India, autorickshaws are very easy and convenient rides, but if the distance of travel is not longer then most auto drivers say no to riding. But for my elderly mother-in-law, it was more walking since she has trouble walking long distances.

We somehow managed to walk slowly and reached the temple. It was a bit overcrowded with visitors since it was Sunday evening. While we were walking to the temple, local kids came to us to apply tilak on our forehead. We said no to one or two kids. By seeing our forehead without tilak, other kids keep on coming to us on our way to the temple.

One of the boys (from the group of boys who was applying tilak to visitors) was determined to apply tilak on some of our family members. He started applying tilak on my son’s forehead, then he forced my husband to apply tilak. He agreed and let him apply it. After applying it, he asked for some money, which we were already aware of. My husband gave some rupees to the boy and the boy left.

Due to the rush in the temple, we visited the temple in groups of two. First my mother-in-law and I visited while my son and my husband were waiting outside. While my mother-in-law and I were waiting outside (for my son and my husband to complete their temple visit), one boy came to me and insisted to apply tilak on my forehead. As I am not so fond of it, I said no and request the boy to go.

The boy said, “Should I apply tilak?”

Me: “No, kid, I don't like it much.”

The boy: “Please, apply it. I am very hungry. The money that you will give me after applying this, I will buy something to eat.”

Me: “Have you not eaten anything?”

The boy: “No, I am very hungry.”

Me: “Ok. I am giving you some rupee. Go get something to eat. But please I don't want to apply tilak.”

The boy: “Ok”

Me: “What is your name?”

The Boy: “Didi, I am GOPI.”

Gopi took the money, and straight went to the snack shop near the temple and bought something to eat. From far away, I was observing him. He eat something and came back to play with his other friends.

I was wondering while many are struggling to get basic necessities of life and on the other hand, we who have an almost perfect life have so many complaints about it. If we see from Gopi’s eyes, we have all luxury of life, and nothing to complain about.

This incidence again reminded me to:

• Always count my blessings (my family, my friends).
• Be grateful for what I have in my life (food, cloth and shelter and many more things).
• Be kind to others, since I don’t know what they are going through in their life.
• Never ignore a person who is in real need(who knows god might have chosen me to help them in the best possible way).

Hope you like this story!

Thank you for reading!