It was early in the month of June’12; we had shifted our house
which has been our home for over 20 years.
We shifted to a rented house as a temporary arrangement,
since our own house; my dad’s first big investment had to be pulled down owing
to poor construction. It’s humiliating to get cheated, but the fact remains
that we were cheated by the contractor and the building was almost in the stage
of collapsing just after 20 years of its construction.
To describe about our house, it was a 1200 sqft building
giving us enough space to accommodate our family and guests. We had enough
garden space around the house featuring different plantations for the sake of
beauty and for few cooking utilities. It is also customary for our family to
have a chat post dinner by sitting near the entrance enjoying the evening
breeze and we would each account the day’s happening or any plans for the next
day.
This routine was thoroughly disturbed one for the reason we
moved to a house on the first floor which doesn't leave much space to sit and
chat, second we all were upset about losing our house. I was even more upset
about moving to a cramped space having lived in a rather spacious building. The
first day was very difficult and I was all tears when my dad was sitting in a
cramped space having his dinner. I couldn’t stop complaining about how small
the house was and I was not able to accept the drastic change in our life style
and it was as if we lost our freedom. Days started moving slowly but I never
stopped complaining, even the best healer “Time” failed in front of my
discontent until, I watched the program of Oprah
Winfrey. I have heard about Oprah Winfrey as the most highly paid celebrity
in USA and I have feebly wished to watch her show sometime. Oprah Winfrey was
visiting India and there was a program about the people and their life style in
India, guess it was in TLC channel.
I tuned up to the channel and was waiting for the program to
start, a visibly old Oprah Winfrey appeared on the screen and exchanged pleasantries
with the Organizers of the program and her quest to explore India started. Her
first stop was at Dharavi Slum, I knew
some information about Dharavi and its composition of the population.
She entered the slum (I
prefer not to call it a slum, it’s a colony with most houses built by bricks)
and was greeted by a family and the kids out there. The man a security guard by
profession greeted her with garlands, sweets and invited her to visit his home,
the procession steered through the narrow streets with Oprah Winfrey leading
the crowd to reach the house of her host. The most shocking truth filled the
television screen the moment she entered the building, the house what her host
referred to was just a 10x5 room.
Oprah Winfrey gave a shocked expression and sure the people who were watching
the show would have been shocked to see, what the gentleman referred to as his
home.
The house was
occupied by the man, his wife and two daughters. This house (literally a room) is the kitchen,
living room and bed room for all the four members of the family. This man has
lived here for over 30 years and has inherited the house from his parents, while
enquired about his goal; he stated that he wanted to give his daughters a very
good education so that his daughters can live in a comfortable place. While his
younger daughter was just getting into school, his elder daughter was around 10
years old and by the way she communicated conversed Oprah Winfrey, I felt
really proud for her father. She was so clear in communicating their plight,
her thoughts and her aim in life; quite a rare phenomenon for a girl of that
age (at least as far as I know). Oprah Winfrey spent some time understanding
their problems and their lifestyle before moving from Dharavi, the program
ended in roughly another 30 mins.
The plight of the security guard and his determination to
give best education to his daughters moved me. The best part was how his
daughter understood their situation and the way she gives her best to studies.
I switched off the
television to take a good look at the place we had moved in. It was at least 15
times larger than the one the security guard was living yet I was complaining.
That was a moment of awakening and I felt guilty for complaining for
complaining about the fate of moving to a smaller house. I stopped complaining and
realized that, I must be grateful for having such a huge place to live and I
was also thanking my parents for giving me a much comfortable and luxurious
life.
My state of mind was
the same as that of a person who stops complaining of not having shoes when he
sees someone without legs. I do have
legs and I am grateful for that.
