Joy of giving

Yesterday 7:00 PM @Office

I got a call from my daughter in the evening, “Don’t forget to bring one white card paper, fevicol, and scale.  Tomorrow we have paper  plate Rangoli activity”

Why don’t schools provide such activity material of (barely)15-20 rupees from the collected fees(mostly in thousands)

With this instant thought , I shouted “Why does your school keep on demanding new things every often?”

“Please mom, teacher told this, what can I do? ”

“Ok . And see, I will bring only card paper. Fevicol is already there at home, and why scale ? have you lost it again? Or gave someone and then forgot ? I think, It was your 100th scale”

“Sorry , that scale was broken last week. I forgot to tell you. And the fevicol is finished. You only finished it while making Chandrayan in Ganpati”

This generation kids are too smart I tell you. 

“Enough.  Don’t try to be over-smart. ”

“And mom, bring one small lantern for Dhruva. He too have Diwali activity tomorrow in school. Just now I read his homework book.”

I have assigned this duty to her since my son started going to school. And being elder than her brother, she sincerely takes it as her responsibility to read his homework and inform me everyday. 

“OK. Anything else ? ” I asked.

“Nothing”

“OK fine. I will bring everything”

“Mom, card paper should be white only. Don’t forget the color” she laughed remembering the other day incidence where I brought Green color marble paper instead of grey.

“Just shut up. Finish your homework before I come”

I don’t like when someone make fun of my short memory

Yesterday 8:00 PM @Diwali Lantern shop

I entered the shop for buying one small lantern for my 3 years old son Dhruva. As the biggest festival of the year , Diwali is on it’s way, you can feel the liveliness in the market.

And if it is Diwali celebration in India, somethings will never change, like Moti soap, lanterns, fire crackers etc.

The shop was shining with a variety of colorful lights and lanterns. I chose one among the cute short lanterns for my son.

While paying for that lantern, I figure out that my daughter is doing seriously a great job as an elder sister. I then paid for two and bought one extra lantern to give her a surprise.

At that time I didn’t know that, the extra orange lantern I bought was a magical lantern. 

Yesterday 8:30 PM @Home 

When I returned home, my daughter was overwhelmed with joy when she saw that extra lantern for her, as she had not expected it.

This small surprise moved her  to the point of tears and she hugged me tight. To be honest, I had no clue that surprises can be so beautiful.

Of course my son was too excited to show that lantern to his teacher. He chose one for him and gave the other to Durva.

She told me that she will hang that specific orange lantern to the window near her study table.

With such happy mood, she thanked me number of times before going to sleep as it was truly a surprise for her.

Today morning 10:10AM @ Home 

It was just 1 minute left to leave the house for office and to drop my son to school.

I heard  a loud noise from the bedroom. Both kids were arguing for that extra lantern.

The story is, my son had taken both the lanterns for the teacher to impress her. 

She was very angry as that orange lantern was her gift. Obviously!

 A ridiculous situation for any parents to solve such conflicts. 

After a quick 1 minute court, finally the son won the case with a promise to the daughter that she will get a new and big lantern at evening.

Today morning 10:25 AM@ School

My son was proudly carrying two lanterns in both hands. I was crossing the road with him in front of the school gate.

Suddenly one old man came near me with his granddaughter. She was wiping her tears with neatly folded kitty printed handkerchief.

It was a cute sight though she was crying. 

“Please tell me where to buy this lantern? Is there any shop near the school?” he asked me in a hurry as it was just 5 minutes left for school to start.

I could not look at the helplessness in his eyes and teary eyes of that cute girl.

There was only one quick solution for me at that time. So I bent down and whispered in my son’s ears, “if you give this second lantern to this girl, I will buy a new and big lantern to you”

Within a second, I explained him the joy of giving.

Sometimes corruption is good if it’s not selfish.

But he was too innocent to look at me in a way that I was doing a hell big injustice to him. But as I said, I didn’t have any other option to help that grandpa.

“Actually , I didn’t know about this. ” that old man said.

He saw that I was taking my son’s lantern for her grand daughter and he felt guilty.

I forcefully took that orange lantern from my son and handed over to her.

I was afraid that my son should not start his drama in the middle of the road in front of the school for that lost lantern. 

But to my surprise he just reminded me of the new and big lantern in place of that.

Huh ,It was a relief.

Sometimes kids behave surprisingly better whenever not expected.

I crossed the road, and send my son in the queue. He simply forgot about the other lantern.

When I turned back, that same grandpa was coming in a hurry to talk to me.

“Please tell me the cost of this ” he urged while pointing to the lantern in his granddaughter’s hand.

“What?? No uncle…that’s just a Diwali gift for her.  Please. ” I said.

“Thanks beta. Mrunal, say thanks to aunty” he said.

“It’s okay uncle.  ”

Now that unknown girl was happily standing in the queue, holding that cute lantern , smile on face, saying ‘thanks aunty’ on her way.

Slowly the train of those tiny kids started moving in the direction of their classrooms. 

I could see my son happily saying ‘bye bye’ with dancing hands holding his lantern.

And the next thing which made me more satisfied was that face, of the little girl, who was crying few minutes back; now proudly going to her classroom in the same queue, with a broad smile, twinkling eyes, her tiny hands now holding the same orange lantern which was supposed to be settled in  my daughter’s study room.

Life is so full of unpredictable beauty and strange surprises. Sometimes that beauty is too much for us to handle.

Do you know that feeling? When something is just too beautiful?

Ah , I experienced that today.

While on my journey to the office, I was extremely glad and smiling with myself.

I felt that the orange lantern was so special that it made both the girls happy; my daughter and the innocent girl.

I recollect the journey of it’s owners, right from the shopkeeper, to my daughter then to my son and finally to this girl.

It brought such a charm in their life as it was a wonderful surprise for both.

But at the same time, it made me glad too. Didn’t know the reason that time.

After a lot of thinking, I noticed that it was not just the lantern, but it was the joy of giving. Yes, it was a bliss. 

Joy of giving :

I read it somewhere, when you give with all your heart, you’re most happy as your act of giving has no selfish motives. And the joy of giving is better than receiving.

I appreciate that we should always be thankful to GOD for everything.

But you know what, it made my day when I received ‘thanks ’ from that girl. The feeling that I made someone happy was beyond any other emotions. 

There is a certain joy in getting something but the joy in giving is much more fulfilling than the joy of receiving.

We should do at least one thing in a day or at least a week that  someone should say thanks to us.

Trust me, it gives so much pleasure. Giving is one of the best investments you can make towards achieving genuine happiness.

To help, to make someone smile, to make people happy, to motivate or to encourage ; ‘giving’ can be of any form and you will experience that joy of giving once done.

That great inner joy comes from sharing and helping others to better their lives. Right ?

And a famous American author, Ken Blanchard once said, “The more I give away, the more comes back.”

Isn’t that a great thought for the day?