Rekindle Spirits

 Take from our souls, the strain and stress

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Your peace -Charles L Allen

Parvathi stood in the crowd, the mob pushed her and swayed backwards as the train sped through the suburbs  of  Mumbai. It had been a daily routine for her. Her office was situated at Church Gate very close to Fountain, a stop at Church Gate. The journey from Mira Road to Church Gate was a long one, but she was used to it. Taking a cab or bus was unimaginable due to long hours of travel. What infuriated her was the journey from the railway station to her house at Shristi in Mira Road. Her home was 4 kms away from the station. She had to depend on a sharing auto to take her close to her building. She had to hop out at the end of the long lane and then reach her building and scale six floors.  The flat was a huge one measuring 1600 square feet. This was possible only in the suburbs. She was an officer working in the Income Tax Office. People thought highly of her for having achieved the best in life at a young age. She belonged to Tamilnadu, but was brought up in Mumbai,and  this life was well known to her.

As a young girl and as middle aged woman, life seemed no different for her. She had followed the routine for 32 years now.  She had been posted in various places, but she felt the Church Gate  branch was the ideal one as she was an Assistant Commissioner. She had a loving family. Her daughters were well placed in the USA and had gotten married a few years back. With the major responsibilities completed, both Parvathi and her husband were even more devoted to their jobs. Parvathi had joined the organization  at the tender age of 21 and had got married within a couple of years. Rajesh was a loving husband and life had been the best for both with no dearth of money or comforts. They owned a car which Parvati would drive occasionally.

On the fateful day, Parvathi  had scrambled into the train at 5.30 pm as usual and hoped to reach home soon, but as there was a mail train ahead and the train paced slowly. Of late, Parvati had felt a dull pain in her knees and today suddenly it seemed a lot more. She felt a wave of heat engulf her and suddenly she broke out sweating. The swaying crowd had almost trampled her and she would have most certainly been thrown out of the doorway had the lady ahead not pulled her back. She prayed God to help her reach home safely. At last, the train reached Mira road station, she got down quickly, she now felt terribly weak. She moved to a seating bench at the station and plopped on the seat, when she felt no better she called Rajesh to come to the station. She felt feeble and snoozed on the bench. A little later she saw Rajesh looking at her apprehensively, he took her to the family doctor who prescribed medicines and advised Parvathi that she needed to take  care  of her of her health. The doctor told Parvathi that her blood pressure had shot up and he had to administer tranquillizers for a week. If the blood pressure wouldn’t lower in spite of the prescribed medicine Parvati would have to begin with the normal blood pressure lowering drugs and then there would be no respite. The week was a painful one with numerous tests  being carried out to understand the cause of the raised blood pressure. Rajesh took out time for Parvathi, he was there with her at home to help her recoup. At the end of the week, both of them felt they needed a change. They walked up to the nearby temple located on a hillock. After praying, they sat on the steps viewing a small part of nature. Dawdling breeze blew Parvati’s hair, she felt a peace descend on her. She wondered whether she had ever experienced this serenity.  She had visited the temple numerous times but had always been in a hurry to carry out her next task.

Life in Mumbai had always been a busy one. The travel of two and a half hours a day had always been used to plan the next schedule at home or work. The distance was so great that she could never travel by any other mode of transport. Parvati remembered that as a child she loved singing, sketching, gathering pebbles, flying kites, dancing to folk music and playing the Veena. With the job and marriage, she had forgotten her love. Today, as she sat doing nothing, there was a surge of gratitude for God’s ways which had shown her a way to peacefulness. She observed her surroundings with an air of intentness, she saw the birds returning home, the beaver's nest in the  nearby bush made her nostalgic. She told Rajesh that she wished to visit her village at the foothills of Nilgiris. Her grandparents had lived there throughout their life, but Parvati’s parents wished to earn a better livelihood and wanted a faster life. They moved to Mumbai and set up their own haven and Parvati followed her parents. But today she felt she needed to take a much needed holiday. The next day Rajesh and Parvati went to the doctor, all the tests showed that Parvati was absolutely normal. The doctor gave her a clean chit to begin attending her job, but both of them took a well needed break and flew to the Nilgiris.

Parvathi began her day at dawn, she trekked the hills to reach the beautiful clearing where the birds chirped and the cool wind created a tranquillity. She sat on the hilltop contemplating life. Her job had grown her resourcefulness competent, but she could never do much for her children nor did she ever give them her time. It was Rajesh who devoted greater time and attention. For a moment she felt like reliving those beautiful moments and doing the best for her daughters, but time has never waited for anyone. She knew it was a kind wave that let her reach this peacefulness, the health issue had been a new beginning, an eye opener. It had helped her reach God through his guiding principles, giving  deepest meaning to life. Parvati was reminded of the Goat’s story mentioned by Norman Vincent Peale, which says that the goats begin grazing at four in the morning. At ten the shepherd understands that the sheep should not drink or eat in the hot sun and so makes them lie down in a cool and soft spot to chew the cud. The sheep cannot eat lying down so have to chew their cud. A reflection shows that a life of rest and reflection brings the best out of health and life.The understanding and knowledge of a real being come into action when God puts one on his back to contemplate and look up. 

Parvati understood that life was a lot more than living a mechanical routine of job and home, a self awareness made her understand that real wealth was through a healthy mind, and that the mind grows healthy  through emotional and spiritual well being.  She felt the beaming rays of sun on her, she grazed her hands on the bushes to feel the dew drops, she waded on the grass on her naked feet, she smiled, walked and hopped. Parvati cared for nothing more, she cared for a beautiful life of simple things, and loved God’s way of reminding people that life needs to be balanced well to live well.

The world is too much with us; late and soon, 

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers -Wordsworth