A MEANINGFUL LIFE ...

During last summer vacation I went to my friend’s villa in Goa. Her parents had invited me to stay with them for two weeks. Goa was one of the places which had always been at the top of my bucket list. I really loved the place and was very excited when I got their invitation. I started packing everything which would be required by me over there. The day before leaving I was all packed up and ready to go. Our flight was the next day in morning. When we finally reached Goa we drove up to her villa and Oh boy! It was so beautiful. It was very big and looked very spacious. Next to it was a garden with colourful flowers and green grass. At one glance it all looked so pretty that I was mesmerised by it. We went inside it and the chauffeur helped us with our luggage. Next to their villa was the beach. When we reached my friend’s room I saw a full length view of the beach and became very excited as I always wanted to learn how to swim in the sea water. I told this to my friend and we went to her parents for their permission. They agreed to our plans and said we could start it from the next day.

As we had travelled almost the whole day we were very tired and went early to bed that day, but I was so happy and excited for the next day that I could barely get any sleep that night. Next day we got ready early in the morning and had our breakfast. Then we got changed in our swimsuits and strolled for hours along the beach and splashed and played with water. Then we started swimming. My friend was a very good swimmer and had won many awards and medals so it was a piece of cake for her to swim here but even I turned out to be pretty good at it. So after swimming for around four hours we went back to the villa and from there we went outside to have dinner. I enjoyed the day a lot. The next evening my friend and I were sitting and making sand castles when I heard a very faint cry. I asked my friend if she heard it too but she replied me a "no" so I thought that it was probably just my imagination and continued with making the sand castles. After some time I heard the noise again and this time without asking or wasting any time and stood up and started going in the direction from where the sound was coming. After walking for maybe five to seven minutes I found the source of the sound. I went a bit more near to get a clear view of the matter and what I saw took me off guard. A woman was sitting at the beach side with a small baby in her arms, wailing on top of her lungs. Even the baby was crying.

I went to her and asked what was the matter and why was she crying. She said nothing and just pointed her hand towards the sea where I saw a head bobbing up and down. Without wasting a single second I just jumped in the sea and swam up to the boy. I took him I my arms and swam back to the beach near the wailing woman. After pumping the water out from his chest, he finally opened his eyes. As soon as he did that the woman hugged him very tightly. When she finished hugging him and finally stopped crying, she hugged me too and thanked me for what I have done. I said that I was very glad to do it and it was not something great and if she would have been in my place she too would have done the same, so there was no need for her to thank me. After talking to her for some time I came to know that her name was Sarah and the kids were her son, Anil and daughter, Anaya.

They had come here to celebrate Anaya’s birthday. She was playing with Anaya when Anil fell in the sea while playing with water. As she herself did not know how to swim she started to shout for help. After some time I told her that it was getting pretty late and I should probably start heading home. As I left with a proud smile on my face, I thought that this incident taught me many lifelong lessons. It taught me that helping others makes you happy in a special way that nothing else can and it also taught me the importance of our lives and the impact of it on others. Seeing Sarah crying on top of her lungs to save her drowning son made me realise that how meaningful our life is to our loved ones, because after we die, we leave this material world and everything in it but it is our loved ones who have to face the loss and feel the pain we left them with. It also taught me that life is full of surprises, mysteries and adventures of its own kind as you may never know when your life may take a sharp turn either towards happiness or misery. So sit back and enjoy this roller coaster ride and live each moment to its fullest.Surely this incident made this trip more special and much more memorable.

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