My Guru, Cobbler

As I was walking down the road in the late evening at Gola, I noticed a cobbler at work. That was when he looked up and our eyes met. We both smiled at each other and I was drawn towards him. I looked down at my shoes which I thought could do with a polish. I went up to him and asked him if he will polish my shoes. As he nodded his head, I removed my shoes and handed it to him. As he dusted my shoes, he said good leather. Then he applied some polish to the shoe he dusted and kept it aside and picked up the other shoe. He also asked me if I was new to the place. I told him briefly, I was from South and I had come to live in Ranchi and came on work to Gola, a one and half hour drive from Ranchi, in the Ramgarh district. I got a bit distracted by a message in the smart phone and then the cobbler called me sir and handed over the shoes. Wow! I have never seen this shoe shining this much except for the time I bought it from a Bata show room. Then I paid ten rupees for what I thought was peanuts for an excellent job he had done. That was when I noticed his hands had turned black with polish, grime and sweat from his day’s work.

 ‘Work is worship’ as someone had said and he had demonstrated that in a few minutes in polishing my shoes. I instantly thought I could accept him as my guru. I asked him if I can take a picture of him and he readily agreed. I took one and later WhatSapped it to my wife and daughter and said my ‘guru.’ I further explained why so.

As I took leave of him, the clouds from nowhere had gathered and the lightning flashed. It seemed as though an occult- phenomena was occurring in the atmosphere. I felt a few rain- drops sprinkled on my being, as if it were a blessing. I said namaste and hurried towards my hotel.

From then on-wards whenever I had down swing in my work or life in general, I thought of him and felt inspired by the shining work he had demonstrated.