Dearest Darling Friends,
It was the last working day before Diwali. Our car driver Kishore, parked the car perfectly. My eldest daughter Jo, gave him his diwali bonus ( a few Rs 1000/- notes – they were still valid. ha ha ). I hugged him and said Happy Diwali.
His eyes moistened. I smiled and kept walking. He looked at Jo and said, “He hugged ME”. Two drops rolled down his cheeks. Two drops rolled down her cheeks too.
It was a little thing. It mattered.
“Hi Anirudh. Good to see you after such a long time.” I was meeting Anirudh after 12 years. He was taken aback. YOU remember MY name? I answered, “Who can forget you?”
Anirudh was a successful man. Yes! He WAS a successful man. Last two years were super tough on his finances. Some say, he was going through a very bad patch. Friends and relatives had deserted him. He looked lost and broken. His slightly tilted shoulders, unshaven face and wrinkled unkempt clothes told his story eloquently.
He was an example of ‘Physical pain is so much easier to take, than emotional pain’.
Anirudh said, “After a long time, someone has looked at me and SMILED.” It was clear that my smile had lifted his spirits. When he left, he promised me, this meeting will be the turning point of his life. He also promised me that I will soon be very proud of him.
The moment I had looked at him, I had smiled. It was a little thing. It mattered.
Some times, our children have a late night. On every such occasion, my darling wife Bharathi says to the children, “Whenever you come home, wake me up and just tell me, ‘I have come’.”
The children would counter this by laughing and saying, “Why to wake you up when you are asleep? If you wake up, just come and check na?”
Bharathi would smile her ‘heart filled with love’ smile and say, “After you wake me up, I will sleep peacefully”.
The kids are always amused at her insistence, yet they do it. They know their safe home coming matters a lot to their mother. They know this is a living proof of how important they are to their mother.
No fights. No arguments. No hard core rules. No threats. Just loving insistence.
It is a little thing. It matters.
Every morning when we step in the car, my elder daughter Jo, who stays nearby, would ask if I had a good breakfast? Her question makes me feel pampered. It makes me begin the day with a HUGE smile.
It is a little thing. It matters.
The mother taking the cold roti and gving the hot one to her children. It is a little thing. It matters.
The father tired from his days work, patiently listening to his daughter’s animated version of the days event, battling his fatigue and tiredness. It is a little thing. it matters.
While we wait to do big things, give big things and achieve big things, it is the little things that brightens up our daily lives. Isn’t it?
Do you agree with me?
Are you in the habit of doing the little things?
Have you seen someone doing these little things?
What impact have the ‘little things’ make in your life?
If you wish to write and share, I would love to know about it all.
Writing back is a little thing. It matters!
With love, prayers and exceptional wishes,
naren
Imagine, when we wake up, we are given only what we had thanked for.
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