A bowl of rice

I was reading a story to my son and realized that I was reading this story after years. It is an interesting story which I am sure you would have read and when I read it after gap of decades, it struck me hard.

The story is about Kubera – the lord of wealth and family of gods – Shiva, Parvati and their son Ganesha. One fine day Kubera decided to show off his wealth to Shiva and Parvati. So, he invited them for lunch. The almighty Shiva exactly knew why he was invited and refused politely – “Why don’t you take little Ganesha instead – he really relishes good food!”. Little disappointed Kubera agreed. Riding on his golden chariot along with Ganesha, Kubera thought ‘Hmmmm…. Actually it is good that little Ganesha is coming over. Being a child, he will get impressed even more!’……… As they reached home, Kubera offered the best seat in the dining hall to Ganesha and beckoned his servants to bring over the food. Little Ganesha started devouring the food as it was brought and his appetite surprised Kubera – ‘Hmmm – lord Shiva was right, little Ganesha really likes the food’………. As Ganesha went on for over an hour, there was a panic in the kitchen. The Head cook whispered in the ears of Kubera “Master not only the cooked food, but even the supplies are over”. As they chatted Ganesha yelled “where is the food, I am hungry”. When he realized that the food was over, he got really annoyed “That’s not fair, I’ll now start eating everything that I see” and he took a bite of the golden plate! Kubera was extremely scared and ran to Shiva and Parvati to narrate the whole story. As they heard him patiently Parvati brought over a small bowl of rice “Take this and give it to Ganesha. He will be alright” Little worried with the small size of the rice bowl, Kubera reached his palace. Ganesha was extremely angry by then and he was living up to his promise! Little scared by the scene, Kubera politely offered the little bowl of rice cooked by Parvati. Ganesha took the bowl and started eating. By the time he finished the bowl he felt very heavy and full – so much so that he just could manage to eat the last morsel in the bowl.

I had read this story as a lesson taught to pompous Kubera. But as I read it after the years, it had a whole new dimension. We all have a Kubera in us – it’s the ambition. Of course ambition is good and drives us to achieve great heights – gets us our place of honor…… But there comes a point where ambition also drives us over that thin line that separates honor from pride……. As the pride takes over the joy of belittling someone overtakes the contentment of achievements…….. Pride knows no boundaries and often invites self-destruction as Kubera found out……. It took only a small bowl of rice cooked by Parvati to calm down the storm invited by Kubera’s pride ……. It was those few morsels of rice cooked with pure love that could calm down the un-satiated hunger ……. As our ambition drives us hard, we all need to find our little bowls of rice …….. it could be that little daily chat with the family…… banter with old friends …… solace of a book or a melody …… Our little bowl of rice always reminds us the importance of peace, contentment in midst of a raging competition fought by our ambition……

Mind the Gap!

We were buying a bicycle for my daughter. As soon as we bought the bicycle, I clicked my daughter’s photo along with her bicycle………. I couldn’t help remembering the experience of buying my first bicycle……….. I wish we had a camera ready that time. What a memorable day! …………… Keeping in the tradition of those days we went all the way to Kalbadevi (a place in South Mumbai) and bought a lovely red color BSA SLR cycle………… We carried it on the top of the cab and all the way till we reached home, I prayed that it reaches home safe. As soon as we reached home, a group of 7/8 friends gathered around to admire the new vehicle in the neighborhood (there were no cars that time apart from couple of two wheelers so a new bicycle was a significant vehicle) ……. Though actually everyone had a similar bicycle, all my friends were excited. We spent considerable amount of time admiring the new bicycle! ….. Next few months, every day at the end of the day, I would carry home my prized possession (to think of it, it was little crazy to carry the bicycle two floors up over my shoulder!!!) ………

“Why are you taking my photograph in the bicycle shop?” my daughter asked me. “Oh! Its your first bicycle and I thought I should preserve the picture” ….. “But you have never clicked any photo other times when we bought a toy” …… she was really puzzled …… “A TOY?” …. Deep inside, I felt little hurt as I expected my daughter to be little more excited! As soon as we reached home she rode the bicycle for some time with a joy and was really happy. Once she was through, I asked her “Should I take it home for you?” …. “Bicycle?…. Home??.... why? Lets just leave it in the parking lot like my other friends do!” Now she was really confused and looked at me to check whether I was alright. “OK – lets go home”

Deep in my mind I wondered whether my daughter was losing simple joys of life …… has she lost the sensitivity? ……. I remembered the simple joys that we had ……. A family dinner in the restaurant once in two months …… new clothes …… new toys ….. firecrackers …… there would be an event around each of this……Firecrackers reminded me – she had refused the firecrackers that year for environmental reasons! Though she loved firecrackers, she had no qualms giving up once she studied its effect on environment at school……..

……. Suddenly I realized that I was unfair to the little one …… How fair was it to judge her sensitivity quotient based on what I was sensitive to? Life has moved on ……. What was luxury to me in my childhood was almost the hygiene factor to her …… expecting her to jump at things like bicycle was as ridiculous as expecting me to jump at the sight of new bath soap in the house!

Times change and so does the contextual reality. It is plain unfair to judge the newer generation based on our feelings that are stuck in the past……. Perhaps it is natural reaction but highly avoidable! It is great to cherish old memories but there is only one way to avoid conflicts of generation gap – “MIND THE GAP”