A Lady At The Stairs

I had never seen her inside the temple. In fact, I had not visited the temple for the last two years. Her presence reminded me of the old days when I was a teenager accompanying my mother to the same temple. I had a vivid memory of the lady. She would sit on the top stairs, very near to the door. It always seemed as if she did not beg for money, her eyes were yearning for someone she knew. Someone she had lost. You would seldom find her pleading for alms. She would silently express her plight, just a few words. While others would be attacking me as I pull the purse out of the pocket, she would be calm. She had a pretty worn visage.

For years, I had seen her at those top stairs but not once inside the temple. That day curiosity got the better of me. But out of some self-created status, I could not talk to her. And by the time, I was done with the rituals for the day, she was gone. That ruled out the only reason I had for her presence that day. She was not there for the Prasadam (offerings to god). So, I decided to poke my nose into her dull, uninspiring life. First in my list was the head priest, a man in his 60’s. He was very disapproving of his knowledge about the lady. She had been living a miserable life for almost a decade now. With her husband dead, her son was the only reason she lived for. But, for years now, his son has not returned to his mother. The priest claimed that she should be grateful to him, for letting her live in the temple perimeters, especially, after she lost her house four years ago.

Then, I went to the tiffin stall near the temple. I had seen the lady have her lunch there once. So, I thought the vendor could add a few more colours into her story. The vendor, Ajit, was a busy man. For the little time, he could chat, he painted the picture of the lady daily routine. She would often come to the stall with few coins in her hand. But out of pity, Ajit would lend her an old packet of bread. He went on to speak how she saved money for her grandson and how she would have died had Ajit not been there when she had an accident last year.

At last, I went to the lady. The scorching heat had set in. I took out the Prasadam, I had bought. I wanted to give her some money, but what difference would it make for her? She didn’t want money, she had come to terms with her life. Anyway, I asked her if she needed money? What was she praying for inside the temple? She replied fuzzily “It’s my Shiva’s (her grandson) birthday, May God bless him.” That was the day, I learnt why should one be grateful.

Gratitude is more than an emotion. Although, we love to build our lives on our own, deep inside we must acknowledge, the people, the process and the incidents that shape our days. For the most unpredictable thing in our lives, is probably the interactions we have. Our roommates who diligently wake us up in the morning, the chef who prepares the lovely breakfast, to even the guard who helps to find the best parking spot, all of these are essential pieces of the giant jigsaw puzzle we solve every day. And gratitude is our response to their effort when we realised that the puzzle has been solved. Gratitude is the smile you have within when someone helps you fix the broken cycle chain, someone offers a lift when you are getting late to work or when you receive your coffee before you ask. Expressed or Unexpressed, Gratitude is an innate communication between two interacting people. Some quantify it in terms of “thank you”, some in terms of money and some in terms of help when we need them. But all of this shows how we have evolved as a social being. The very need to acknowledge the altruistic efforts of the other person. To say the least, Gratitude is a language of the soul, something whose existence is deeply rooted in ourselves.