"Vtzzz Vtzzzzz......",my cellphone signalled me to get up.I didn't want to get up as the warm bed felt no less than pardise in that chilling winter.I used two blankets,a relatively thinner one and the other thicker blanket that could suffocate anyone easily but was the most ideal thing when it was about fighting the winter.I looked at my phone."7a.m."was the only thing I could see flashing on the screen as I was still half asleep.I hated the old mobile as it used to get hanged every now& then and I wished if I could throw it at a speed of 200 miles/sec towards the head of someone who annoyed me but I didn't have a choice.
"I can sleep for 5 more minutes and then I will surely get up",I assured myself and covered my face under the blanket.As soon as I covered my face,I could feel how heavy the blankets were and I started complaining about the blankets to myself.Maybe I had already taken enough sleep so I could not go back to sleep again even though I tried for 15 minutes .I had already crossed my deadline to sleep so I just quickly jumped out of my bed before I would change my mind again.
I searched my mobile to see the time.It was already 7:30 .My 5 mins had already given me a delay of 30 mins.I started searching for my toothpaste and brush.I was a very careless person and I would throw my things here and there.I was not very happy with my habit but I could not help it.After a thorough search of 15 minutes,I found my toothpaste and toothbrush in the washing tub under my bed.It was not my fault as the white shirt that I had kept in the tub to wash was covering my paste and brush completely."Here it is.Finally found.....Yipeeee.",and a big smile came to my face.I went near the closet that had this big mirror that would always make me feel inferior because of the acne marks and freckles I had . Ignoring all that,I just opened my closet and I could see my clean, tidy& well ironed shirt,pant and my doctor's white coat on the hanger.I collected them along with my socks,muffler,gloves and handkerchief and I was ready to go to the bathroom to freshen up.I poured a generous amount of shampoo on my hand and had soothing bath.Then I got ready for my college and headed for my breakfast-cum-lunch.I had been trying to manage my time to preapre food by myself but it was in vain so I used to pay a lady who lived next to my rented house to prepare food for me.She was not a very good cook.She used to serve all boiled and unspicy food that I didn't like at all.I would always feel a pity on myself each time I put a morsel in my mouth to eat but I had no other way out so I had to eat.Then I took the big capsule out of my pocket that I had been taking for a few months for the infection in my skin and gulped with with a sip of water.It was already 8:45 a.m and I had be in the college by 9 p.m..Being late was not allowed in the medical college.So I decided to take the short route that ran through the middle of the barren fields .I took my headphone out and started listening to my favourite classics.It was only during the time I used to listen songs in my mobile that I didn't feel like throwing it away .It was a cold day and the sun had just started fanning its rays around but the thick fog would not allow it to do so.I was literally shivering even with my gloves,shoes,woolen socks ,muffler and jacket.As I was about to reach the road,I could see something kept in the middle of the gravelled road that seemed to be some kind of vehicle.As I reached near it,I could see all dirty papers,plastic bags,bottles and all other shit collected in the cart like vehicle.Some of those dirty things were scattered on the ground.I spoke to myself,"Who the hell might have kept this shit in the middle of the road?" and I walked away.As soon as I just crossed the vehicle,something struck my mind and I felt I had seen something amid the garbage in the cart.I didn't know if it was just an imagination so I moved back to see if there was actually something.To my surprise,I could see a person lying on the cart amid the garbage who seemed to enjoy his sleep completely even in such cold winter and without enough clothes on his body.I knew I didn't have a good phone to click great pictures but I could not help it and I clicked his picture.It was an innate reflex....nothing planned...nothing intended.
I don't know what happened to me at that moment.I had seen other people at different ocassions who actually suffered more than him .But I think, we the human beings, see so many things but never try to analyse them and always try to skip.But it was the moment of reality for me.I just kept thinking how a man could sleep in so much peace without an actual bed or pillows ...let alone the thick blankets.He had nothing but still he was happy.I felt like the man at that moment gave me the biggest lesson of my life that we need to see things more deeply .Happiness is a state of mind and possession is not equal to happiness.
I didn't realise when I reached my college as I was still battling with the philosophy in my mind.The man had given me new dimensions to see with my own old eyes.Just as I reached outside my medical college ,I could see a woman weeping beside the body of her deceased husband.I would see so many dead people everyday in the hospital but I never appreciated the fact that I was alive.I put my hand on my chest and I could feel my heart beating.Actually it was racing.I closed my eyes and I could feel the air moving into my lungs and out of my nostrils."Oh shit!I am alive .I have life and I should appreciate that I am alive"...I told myself and thanked god for my life.
I was posted in the "Otorhinolaryngology department( branch of medicine dealing with ear,nose and throat) so I sat with the senior doctor and started seeing the patients.The man was not leaving my mind.There were patients of all kinds...some with mild,some with moderate and some with severe disease.I used to see them everyday but I never realised how lucky I was to be in a good state of health. At that time,it came to my mind that we have so many systems ,so many oragns and millions and billions of cells in the body .A small defect in a single gene in any of those cells could cause cancer to me and I would have a different life.I had already started seeing things more positively in a way I had never thought before.All thanks to the man.
The class was the same as it used to be.The friends and teachers were also the same but I had never appreciated their presence in my life the way I did that day.I was thankful that I had a college and I could study what i wanted to study and I had friends to share happiness and sorrow.(264 million children worldwide don't have access to education -the Global Education Monitoring report 2017-18 by UNESCO)
It is just a matter of perception.How we want to perceive things depends upon us.It is upon us whether we want to appreciate things that we have or we want to cry for things that we don't have.Many people who don't have what we have are living a life happier than ours.So what matters is the state of mind.Appreciating what you have is the only way to be happy because we all have flaws and no one is perfect.
After a hectic day,I came back to my room.A new person had taken place inside me who had decided to see things more positively and appreciate life.I was happy that I had a place where I could come back after a hectic day and feel safe and relaxed.(1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced intimate partner sexual viloence or non-partner physical or sexual violence -fact sheet revised by WHO on Nov 2017).
image source
I was very hungry so after freshening up,I went to have my food at the same place where I ate in the morning.Unlike many people in the world who are dying because of hunger,I had food to eat and I appreciated it and the food had never seemed so much tastier before.This time when I had to take my capsule after food, I was not sad because I had realised that I was lucky enough to get medicines for the disease I have unlike many people who die of simple diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia.I was very tired so I decided to sleep but the man was still on my mind.I didn't realise when I fell asleep while still thinkng of the man.
The next morning I got up the same way at 7a.m. by the sound of the alarm in the cell phone.But the morning seemed more beautiful and I didn't want to sleep anymore .But I wanted to get up and find new reasons for appreciating life.I went infront of the mirror and I realised that I was actually beautiful and someone somewhere is praying to look like me.
image source
WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE WANT TO BE?
image source
WHAT SOME PEOPLE ARE LIVING WITH!BUT STILL SMILING
I went to the bathroom and as soon as I poured the shampoo on my hand,I realised that I was lucky that the fruit shampoo that I was using had more fruits in it than a man somewhere in some part of world has in his plate.I realised there are many people in the world wishing for a life like mine.
image source
Wanna know what malnutrition looks like?
This is how a person changed my outlook towards life without even saying a word.We need to choose to see and feel rather than skip things.HAPPINESS WILL COME TO US ONLY IF WE LEARN TO APPRECIATE THINGS.SO IT IS YOUR CHOICE WHETHER YOU CHOOSE TO APPRECIATE OR KEEP COMPLAINING FOREVER.IF YOU HAVE LIFE,YOU ARE LUCKY.