The Bounty

Let me introduce you to Ms Saraswathi who just entered her teens. She was witnessing fast changes in her both physiologically and psychologically and had a lot of burning questions about both. She belonged to the weaker section of the society and her mother as a house maid worked in few houses. Her father occasionally earned as a driver. Occasionally since his back could not withstand the rigor of long sittings and often, he had to skip work and take rest.

Saraswati as her name implied was highly inclined towards education. She believed rightly so that education is the way to emancipate her family from poverty and ensure a comfortable life. She dreamt of masters in technology space as she had been reading about that technology is a field that could dominate human life by the time, she would begin her career. Recently she read about Falguni Nayar, who was in the limelight for her company had entered the stock market with a bang. She was fond of her teacher Lakshmi Ma'am who often talked of such events besides maths in her class. Saraswati occasionally helped her mother in house work in the apartments. That was why she readily agreed when her mother called out to her to accompany her in a house cleaning job. Saraswati knew that she might lay her hands on one or two good books that the house owner might want to discard. Her intuition was right when she got to lay her hands on a worn our leather-bound book which happened to some sort of journal that the late house owner had maintained. She didn't know at the time of picking that journal what a life changing act that would be.

Later that night while lying on the bed she began to browse the journal as was her habit of reading before sleep. She randomly opened a page and found an entry about what Gandhiji had said. It read "earth has enough for every man's need but not even for one man's greed." It was beyond her comprehension but the journal had further entries as if the writer was trying to interpret the quote.

The writer had written "I am now a senior citizen. What are my basic needs? Food, shelter, medicines, utilities like electricity, internet fees, doctor's fees. If money is still there take a holiday. When it comes to food eat moderately avoid eating out and junk food. These are then my essential needs. The writer had put some figures against each of these categories and had estimated for a family of two the monthly expense comes out to be Rs 25,000. Saraswati got fascinated with the calculation. She had been to the house that day and the household would be called as a middle class to upper middle class. The lady owned a car but engaged her father when she had to venture out. She wondered how much her own family's monthly expense would be. She decided to ask her

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mom about it the next day.

Next day in the English class her teacher had taught poetry. They had learnt about a famous poem by Robert Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and the lines woods are lovely dark and deep, miles to go before one sleeps kept haunting her. She felt that the lines had many layers of meaning. As she opened a random page in the journal, she found some entries under the title Haiku for Daily Living. The author had also written a definition of what constitutes Haiku: 5, 7 and 5 syllable words in three lines, of Japanese origin. She liked the one on sleep.

Sleep

Switch of your thoughts now

And sleep blissful, let things be.

What for is morning?

She wanted to write one on herself. She mulled over it and finally wrote

Little girl with dreams

Study well, earn well, ensure

 family life good.

Not bad she thought as she went to sleep. She must ask her teacher more about Haiku which seemed fun enough to write.

As she came back from school she was in bad mood as one of the boys had called her black pig in a quarrel. She opened the journal and turned the pages randomly. She wasn't sure what she was looking but was hoping to find something. That was when she chanced upon the entry. It talked of a stoic philosophy: what it is, it is? The author had written further as if for himself. He had written what can be changed, try and change, what cannot be accept it. He was referring to his age, physical condition, what he could not achieve in life. Saraswati looked herself in the half-sized mirror. Her skin was black and she was not exactly slim as she tilted the mirror to view her body. It was a moment of epiphany as she understood the entry. She cannot change her skin colour but can start some exercise to trim her body. What it is, it is! Her mood took a turn for the better and she kissed the journal as she closed it. She called out to her mother and said she was going to the municipal park for some exercise. Her mother wondered what had come of Saraswati as she was always reluctant to do physical work and more of a book worm.

One night later when her mother had scolded and she was in a crying mood she found some writings on humor. She came across the following entries

Why was Bill Clinton always laughing?Ans: his wife was Hillary ous.

Why did Omicron have the last laughAns: People thought the 'pun'demic was over.

Which letter is older than Christianity?Ans" A as it comes before B,C.

Saraswati wished she had known the writer as he wrote on varied topics to amuse himself. As she reflected, Saraswati realised she had found a treasure of a journal and hoped the book would help her discover more about life.