THE CHICKEN IS FINE...

Happiness is a rare feeling which can only be experienced by those who wish to be happy. Seasons may come and seasons may go but those who do not wish to appreciate them will just take them in their stride. Comforts of life may never be experienced if we accept them as part of the package deal and simply pass them as they come. Beauty actually lies in the eyes of the beholder. Unless one learns to be amazed everyday, the beautiful sunrise and the grand finale of the day as the sun sets majestically in the west, will never cheer you up, as the grand spectacle may appear  mundane, regular and routine.

Appreciation of beauty, nature, the comfort of a happy home can never be experienced by people who accept everything as it comes without an appreciation. 

Appreciating everything, being thankful for small mercies, is perhaps an art that needs to be inculcated. I spent almost all of my student life from the age of five onwards in boarding houses all over the country as my father was in a transferrable job and was posted in dam projects and collieries, while India was still developing in the 50's. In a boarding house there was strict discipline in everything. One thing that I learnt in all these years was to appreciate everything that I got. Before every meal we said a small prayer, being thankful for what we got to eat. We could not waste, as there were many who did not get anything to eat. We were taught to take only that much that we could finish and not be a glutton.

I learnt to be appreciative of whatever food I got, tasty, bad or worse. Food was food which I needed to eat to grow.

Every day began with a wish of Good Morning. Every day ended with a wish of a Good Night and Sweet Dreams. Life was all about wishing for everything good, being happy, appreciative and thankful.

Now, when I come across people who can only grumble about everything, I am amazed. I  think that this is such a waste of a life. When all that one can see is a dark cloud, a boring and dull day, a too hot day, or a too cold day, I wonder how this person will ever be able to appreciate that the dark clouds bring rain which is so useful. A sunny day is a beautiful day, a cold day is another beautiful day. What can I do to make my dull and boring day better, to cool myself on a hot day and keep myself warm in a cool day is a question I need to ask myself. I love wet and drab days as I can walk out in the rain, drench myself and wear the most colorful clothes which I possess. I love the raindrops on my face.

On a hot summer day I can wear my beautiful summery lemony colored clothes and sandals and in winter wear those huge chunky sweaters and mufflers and feel like a film star on a locale at Srinagar or Switzerland. 

Those who can only see the darker side of life can only feel grumpy, angry and dissatisfied. A permanent scowl on their face makes them look for darker sides of everything. Every good gesture of another is looked at with circumspection. Why did that passer by smile at me? Do I know him? They can never see that perhaps a smile was being passed on to him to pass it on and make the world a more smiley place.

One meets all kinds of people everyday. Some are happy, some are grumpy, some are angry, some are sad and some are dejected. One also sees a lot of happy children running, skipping and jumping around. They are the ones who are always happy with life. I have seen little beggars on the traffic lights of Delhi, skipping about, jumping into rain puddles and laughing as if they owned the world. Children are children, rich or poor.

I wish all the grumpy people of the world would shed their mantle of sorrow, unhappiness, impatience and fault finding, and see the world as it is. Beautiful, bountiful, colorful, magnificent. 

Look at the world with open eyes. Enjoy the world as it is. Be true to yourself and the world will appear better. 

There are some who measure everything in terms of passable or not acceptable. For them a chicken dish cooked with a lot of patience, hard work, labour and love  is just , "Oh the chicken is fine."

 It is never "Oh how delicious/ fantastic/ fabulous/ tasty. I know they are a lot of adjectives, but then these adjectives add to the spice of life. Don't they? Life is not about Quality control, it is about living, enjoying, appreciating and encouraging.

What do you think? The chicken lost its life, the cook worked hard to make a tasty dish and the master just said, "Oh the chicken is fine". My question is "Who paid the fine?"