Dear Friends
The Little Wonder
I woke up to the thoughts “today is my birthday”…. I have been waiting for this day to celebrate my birthday for 364 days! I was eager to receive the day – my child like mind was looking forward for the wishes, the gifts and the love from scores of people. I was dreaming about the day, when a tiny bird perched on the tree next to my bedroom window, chirped – loud and intense as if to say – “see how beautiful the sky is” …. I sat up in bed, leaned forward and opened the window. I looked outside. It was still dark, and I could hardly see anything. It was just 5.00 a.m. The trees were still. The bird screeched again, now coming closer to the window….”see…see there, the moon is smiling at you”….yes, indeed the moon was smiling. Having admired the moon for a few seconds, I thought I should get down to the day’s routine. I thought I will get the little bird a few grains to feed and turned to go to the kitchen. “No …no …no” screeched the bird…I don’t want food, I know to get mine… see … cant you see that tiny star glittering …remember your nursery rhyme, ‘like a diamond in the sky’… Yes! so many diamonds , nice to admire….but I was getting restless, with the “to do list”. Mundane jobs of the day over powered my desire to admire the stars. Yet , something magnetic made me to gaze at the sky a little longer…. Ya…there I could see something bright…. was it a mobile TV tower signal …no ….it was the planet Venus, seemed to appear and disappear amidst the clouds.. so majestic…. “so full of energy rotating at dizzy speed” and then a bout of clouds seemed to cover the whole sky, and take away the feeling of beauty and joy I was experiencing. A momentary disappointment…
By then I was distracted when the mobile beeped with the wake up call…it seemed to tell me louder “get up and go, so much to do, don’t waste time, cook, exercise, be behind the maid, get ready, make calls, drive, send mails…oh god”. I attempted to get out of the room, driven by the duties of the household… but the little wonder bird, now into my room through the window, flying across the room, made a high pitched cry “Wait” !
What now ? I thought the clouds have come and covered the sky, what more ? may be he is hungry? …. As I turned to get down and offer a few grains out of great feeling of ‘giving’….. lo ! in the corner of my eye was a wonderful sight …… in the far east , an invisible artist seemed to stroke the canvas …bright orange …a beautiful ball of fire……and slowly coming up . ..frozen in its beauty, every moment was giving a feeling of expansion – a sense of inexplicable joy. Within minutes, streaks of white lines spread out from the orange ball… generously giving, life-kindling- vibrant light into the horizon and gently touching everything that came its way. The creator’s purity lit up and brightened the whole place in an instant. Yes, the tender morning rays of the rising sun engulfed one and all with warmth and care. In a moment everything seemed to come alive …… In fact, I realized Life came alive …. feelings of joy, peace, love, light – life came alive, all in a platter. In that instant I realized that the biggest gift of my life – LIFE ITSELF. While I would cherish every little gift that would come my way for the birthday, nothing would equal the gift of the daily sun rise. The daily promise of life.
Full of gratitude, I looked around for the little bird to say “thank you”. Oh! Where did it disappear….? There seemed to be no one around. Who is this little wonder who gave me such a wonderful message for my birthday ? Was it my soul mate, or my Guru or was it my inner voice ? Let us not get drowned in the routine of life’s activities. Experience the joy of every sun rise. Relish every moment of life with life…. Listen to the call of that chirping bird in you ….
This contribution is a simple but clarion call from my friend and fellow Company Secretary, V Chenthamarai from Bangalore. On the eve of Samhita turning 11, I thought what better way to celebrate the birthday than carrying a reader’s thoughts that resonate with mine. In these life-threatening pandemic times when we hear news about death of so many ordinary and extraordinary lives (as if death knows or cares about this !) day in and day out, isn’t it beautiful to just celebrate LIFE ITSELF ? On behalf of my entire team, I wish to thank all of you for patronizing Samhita since November, 2009 in different ways. We pledge to continue the journey of sharing for as many years as possible.
While we celebrate Life in general, to appraise you of the ‘life in the regulatory world’ during the last fortnight, this 249th issue of Samhita carries news updates from SEBI, GST, IT, IBBI & RBI. Check out “Let’s excel in English” if you want to test your proficiency in spoken and written English. For any previous issues of Samhita and the readers’ feedback, please visit https://sharadasc.wpengine.com/resource-center/.