Sunday, July 9, 2017

It all comes down to a Name

Image result for name
A girl was endowed upon a religious Hindu family and they gave her a name reflecting their religious sentiments and devotion which came out in a form which spells their sacred book-"Gita".

Once the little girl was asked  the meaning of her name in her school. She had no clue and she turned to her mother for the answer. Her mother at first ignored the curiosity of the little girl.But on finding out that the school wanted the child to write a paragraph on the meaning of her name,the mother told her that it is their holy book after which they have named her.But, children are so inquisitive. They explore,they question every single event they found amusing.And Geeta now had grown immense curiosity for the red cloth wrapped book which her mother pointed towards while answering. Geeta kept eyeing the book for hours as if the book will herself pour out the answers she wanted. In evening hours,she sat with her mother in the puja ghar and she saw her mother worshiping the book with the incense sticks. Her mother never actually read it. Geeta wanted to hear the words of the book,so she asked her mother to read out the lines as she used to do for her during bed time stories.
Her mother refused which made the child to do her stubborn acts. This infuriated the mother and she admonished the little curious Geeta that the book was meant for grown ups and that Geeta was not ready to understand what it means and when she grows old she could read it on her own.
The words of her mother made Geeta to think hard. Harder than a nine year old kid can ever think.
Maybe the wisdom was the result of the  name she acquired.Few days later her summer holidays started and she cornered her curiosity for while until one day her uncle came to their house. Geeta was his uncle's sweetheart. He doted her and Geeta would spend hours in his company asking all types of queries she ever had.His uncle would travel all around India and bring back some special memory of the place and would present it to his niece and paint her mind with the stories of the places he used to wander. Geeta used to store all those presents in her closet and paste a memory in a scrapbook she had maintained since she was five years old. In fact this place was her all time favourite and she could sit there gazing for hours after hours.This time her uncle had wandered along the sacred streets of Banaras and this time he came up with a unique gift for her niece. He asked Geeta to close her eyes and he unveiled the gift in-front of her. It was a children edition of the holy book Gita. On seeing the book her jaw nearly dropped and she could not believe that finally her curiosity could be quenched somehow. Geeta was also a little hesitant to go forward and grab the book by her own because of all the scolding her mother gave her due to the book. His uncle asked her about the matter. Geeta in her own innocent ways asked his uncle that if the book was meant to be read in an old dying age. And before his uncle could answer her ,a relative from the neighborhood came rushing inside as if something very undesirable had happened. It was indeed an undesirable yet the most fated thing that was happening.A person was dying. An old man in his 70's was lying in his death bed encircled by his family members. An adult intellect of the village had advised to call a learned man with the knowledge of holy scriptures,Gita in particular,to utter some hymns in the ear of the dying man so that he could die in peace. That was the reason the man came rushing to look for Geeta's uncle. Her uncle did as desired and the old man was relieved from the earthly existence. They both returned to their home and now her uncle had the answer Geeta wanted to hear. And his uncle explained her the meaning of her name and the value the holy scripture holds. The next day she wrote the essay and presented it in the class. The very next day her parents received a call from the school principal. The principal wanted the parents to immediately visit the school. This left them quiet anxious as such a thing never happened before. Geeta's conduct was always by the rules and she never created any mess whatsoever. The anxious parents ran on their heels and reached the principal's office in no time. They even had a sorry speech ready for the occasion.When the Principal saw them by the door he stood up with a broad smile on his face. Geeta was also sitting in a chair nearby along with her class teacher and other staff members. Everybody kept quiet and only a gesture was made to make the parents look towards the notice board. Then they saw a piece of paper scribbled in their child's writing.And they began to read it.
"I was asked to write an essay about the meaning of my name. I am Geeta. My parents named me so because of the holy book of our religion. And I am indebted to them for doing so. Because they didn't only gave me a name consisting of mere alphabets but name of.the holy book that is the true way of leading a human life.Even though I'm just nine year old,I can still feel the gravity my word holds as each of them are heavily coalesced with the wisdom the book holds in itself. Yesterday I saw a dying  person for the first time. My eyes were watery for no apparent reason.My uncle recited the hymns from Gita to a dying man! As I already mentioned Gita is indeed a way of life. So doesn't it mean that it should be read as early in life  so to get the most out of it. Only a person who is alive needs a way in life,isn't it? Only when a person is facing dilemmas need an expert advice and not when his life has ended. So what are we waiting for? Waiting for to get old? Waiting for death to listen to the wisdom that the Gita holds?Are we that naive? Believe me I am not that intellectual that I get it all figured out on my own. My uncle is the real gem. As when he said to me Geeta if you were to get through a maths test and you already know how frightened the subject makes you,won't you start preparing for it a long before its gonna take place or would you wait for the last moment? And this simple question raised by him made it all crystal clear to me. I will read each and every line of the gift my uncle has left me this time and I shall prepare for my test well in advance. Are you still waiting or you're gonna start today!"

The parents teared up and they held their child,who has taught them a lesson of a lifetime.