The Humanly Touch!!

Often they televised ads where small kids loved to touch gentle, wrinkle free and smooth skin of their respective mothers or someone closer in the family. Even the adults are shown to be in awe of a smooth clear wrinkle free skin!! Somewhere, even butterflies are shown to be attracted to an even and glowing skin!! Highly modified human imaginations!.. I tell you...!! Somewhere these ads indirectly seed a thought in our minds that a skin without any moles, wrinkles, patches, dark complexion or any hair on it is the perfect skin!! Even highly influential cover magazines photoshop their models on the cover pages so as to brighten the skin tone, remove any moles, blemishes or unwanted hair from the face of their models. There have been instances where photoshop was done to such an extent that they almost changed the face or body structure of the models.. resembling it to some alien kind!! There is this hypothetical world we are secretly implementing in our real lives and we don't even know it..!!

Talking of ignorance.. well.. life sometimes make you meet people or put you into situations, where you are abruptly awakened from the deep slumbers of ignorance!! Such a day pondered upon me.. which questioned my perspective of looking at people. The very people whom I met almost everyday!! I was walking on the road to go to a nearby ATM. Since the road was crowded, the auto rickshaw drivers had to slow down their vehicles to let people cross the road. One such auto rickshaw was moving forward besides me.. just like a normal day it was!! In a brief second, a big butterfly came in front of me flapping it's wings and flying happily in it's own mood! I smiled because butterflies are almost rare to be seen in a crowded polluted city like Mumbai.. and every time I saw one. I admired the beautiful intricate patterns that God made on it's wings.. As I saw the butterfly passing across me.. a very uncommon thing happened.. something that challenged my thoughts at that time.. the butterfly flew and sat on the auto rickshaw driver's hand.. the driver noticed it and smiled.. I looked at the driver and thought may be he will shoo the butterfly away.. but to my surprise he kept his hands steady and moved his auto through the traffic so as to not disturb the resting butterfly.. he looked straight.. then at the butterfly.. this happened a couple of times and the driver drove his auto out of my sight.. his face was lit with happiness.. maybe a good sign he was anticipating.. or it cheered him up..!! Not to my surprise. The driver's hands were not at all smooth.. they had hair.. sweat from his daily routine in the scorching summer heat and were rough due to long working hours.. yet this beautiful butterfly decided to rest on his hand!! This was the unbiases of the Nature.. it never discriminated anyone and it never will!! The sun, the moon, the trees, the rivers, the mountains never discriminated any living being from the other.. this dialogue I had heard many a times in the movies.. but never reflected upon.. I had always loved the song from the movie Refugee whose storyline I don't remember now, but this song stayed in my head like an old melody..

"Panchi Nadiyaa Pavan Ke Jhoke.. Koi Sarhad Naa inhe Roke.. Sarhade Insaano k liye hai.. Socho tumne aur maine kyaa paayaa Insaan hoke!!"

Maybe we as humans have limited ourselves in every thing.. it was earlier for the betterment of the civilization, but now it is confining us to the walls of wisdom we have very much built on our own!! Maybe if we started seeing the rest.. like we do ourselves.. maybe then lot of things could change. In my very own daily routine.. how often did I ask the cleaner Bai who comes to my house almost everyday whether she and her family is doing okay?? how often did I notice or looked at the face of the BEST bus driver who safely transported me to the destination?? How often did I take out time to think whether the birds and animals in my locality are getting enough water and food in this scorching summer?? How often did I think of giving a hungry person some food and water?? How often do I realize that someone who is front of me is living the same life as I am living.. trying to make ends meet.. trying to survive.. trying to find happiness in the most challenging times.. and still working with a smile.. as if everything is fine!! How dumb I was to ignore these people. These living beings completely as if they never mattered.. as if they were non existent if they were not going to do any benefit to me.. I had heard this quote somewhere that... Life tests you in two situations.. when you have everything and when you have nothing.. To add to this a philosopher quoted.. The behavior of a person, with other living beings, in a situation, which is not going to do any benefit to the person.. determines the true character!! And I couldn't agree more!! The butterfly taught me to be free of the so called stereotypes I had created in my mind and to accept life.. to accept people and living beings with their own flaws and strengths.. ME.. NOT BEING AN EXCEPTION!!