99. TO BE OR Not To Be

I had a long conversation with my cousin yesterday afternoon. It’s been quite a while since he and I talked. I have always appreciated his views on matters not only concerning life but also about religion. He had been never been too inclined towards religion even as a young boy and I remember one thing he told me when I was a little girl. “You know, my biggest achievement as a religious person would be to do good unto others and not do them any harm.”

And now, in his middle age, he is still of the same views and says that his very same friends who were least bit religiously inclined are calling him a heretic. As if that concerns him!

I have to some extent followed my brother. In a way that makes me leaving contented, I have tried to make a difference to peoples’ lives; the teaming millions of people who need me in some way or the other.  So, isn’t this supposed to be the religious mantra of every person? Isn’t this what the Gita, Koran and Bible have taught us? Can we think of praying for each and every person in the world, whether we know them or not?

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Yesterday evening, as I stood in queue to pay the grocery bills at a super-market, I saw two kids, off the streets, a girl and a boy, of around ages 5 and 7 walk through the door and make their way to the chocolate section. None of the staff noticed as they picked up chocolates from the shelves. All the while I watched as the boy, the taller of the two, picked two extra chocolates and hid them behind his back while the little girl paid for the two she had in her hands. While they went out through the door, jubilant that they didn’t pay for the other two, I quietly followed them out. As I walked up to them, the little boy looked slightly scared, as the all the colour drained from his face. I told him that whatever he had done just now was simply not right. They found it strange that I offered to pay for the extra chocolates and looked at me with questioning eyes. I said, “Look, if you are going to keep doing this, you will end up with the grand title of a thief when you grow up. So, can I request you not to do this again?” I was careful not to be too reprimanding lest they feel that it would be great to enact the whole scene again next time around.

I took them in, paid for the chocolates and let them go. If I had complained to the people at the shop, they would have probably taken some strict action against the kids. But I thought it is so much better to talk to kids and make them understand their mistakes, instead of scolding them unendingly about some ghastly act. After all, if we don’t tell them which way to go, then who will? 

(Summer is here with a sweltering feverish high and I simply want to splash my ensemble with hues of love. My sunset orange denims and the soft pastel shaded tie-up spaghetti top are both from Forever New and the shrug is from Vero Moda. And Tirus and I unendingly haunt Baskin Robbins for the best flavoured ice-creams!)