STORIES FROM THE STREETS #1

It's 5:30 a.m. The hurling wind outside, makes the window curtains flap in and out of the glassy panes. Dense fog covers the distant serene hills and engulfs the tall woody trees leaving patches of green here and there. Roads down there are wet, cause it rained cats and dogs last night. No dint of sunshine is to be seen amidst the dark grey clouds, which are aggresively rumbling beneath the supposedly blue sky. Half of the world is still amidst dreams. Who would want to give up their cosy, fluffy beds for a gloomy spine-chilling winter morning!

There I have a New York Bestseller, lying on the bed, pages fluttering in the cold breeze. As I rest, buried in my blanket, watching the gloomy skies through that bedside window, thoughts about the book keep peeping in and out of my brain mingled with a faint sound of someone roaming on the streets. This is not the usual roaming, it carries haste and activity.

Although I am a sloth when it comes to leaving the bed, I gathered the courage to sit up on my bed and peep out , through the window. Whatever I saw startled me for a second. It's our newspaper delivery boy. All of us see him everyday, but I and many people around me have always been very non-chalant about his existence. He might be eleven or twelve years old. He climbs down from his cycle, takes out a newspaper from a fat bundle with his little hands and throws it like a pro , such that it lands swiftly on the doorstep. He is wearing a worn out black sweater and a pair of jeans, rugged at the ankles. But what astounds me most are his little feet! In this nail biting cold , he wears very normal pair of slippers. Also, I couldn't help but notice that he has six fingers on each of his foot! 

He accepts and flaunts this irregularity that he owns. It adds to his uniqueness. He has big, bright eyes, that are filled with hopes of better days. No, he does not have glowing skin but the wide smile that he carries along glows better than the sun! This small kid does not have a sturdy physique, but the responsibilities that he carries on his little shoulders is much more heavier, than the weight of all the problems he deals with everyday. 

In no time, this person disappeared down the streets, leaving behind trails of life lessons for me to remember. 

We are privileged in so many aspects, yet we complain of so many things, without realising that whatever we own at this point of time, is a dream for many. Let's be grateful for all the opportunities we have.

LEARN TO SMILE AT GOOD DAYS, LAUGH AT BAD ONES AND LAUGH HARDER AT PROBLEMS because you know you can crush them, WHATEVER IT TAKES!

Also, I can't help but notice that, how some very ordinary people in this world are filled with life lessons, but appear nothing to us because we have been ignoring them for so long!

We just need to broaden our perspective to see and absorb all the colours that LIFE offers us everyday. We have a long way to go!

-- Manisha