The sadness that seems to be invisible sometimes reflects eye-openly when we have a bothersome look at its actual sufferers. This sadness has rendered a diversity of people lead into thorns. What we perceive in our day to day life is our self-centeredness, leaving silencers into more pain and discomfort.
Some years back during my MBBS college days, one day I was waiting for my College Bus at a bus - stop in Kachi Chawni Jammu .On the road-side I could see an old-aged woman who was in distress and signs of sadness were imminent on her face. I could see her in this hanging face for a minutes' period. A thought touches my soul that whether she is alright. I finally got close to her and could witness sweat was rushing down her entire face. I asked her Daadi Ji ”Why you are so upset ,your face is blushing with sweat. Take my hand-kerchief and clear your face. ”She didn’t reply I asked her again the same question .But again she reacted the same way as she did earlier .Half a minute later, she started waving at me with her hands .I could not understand if she craves for some help. She was waving her hands first at me and then immediately to the opposite side of the road. I could think if she wants to cross the road. I also mimic my hand movements in the same manner as she was waving and could get a smile on her face with nodding her head saying ‘Yess’. Finally I realised that she is deaf and dumb and couldn’t speak. I pulled her up, support her with ease and patience and helped her in crossing the road to the opposite side. After crossing, she was praising at me by waving her hands towards the sky, put her right hand on my head and was saying something that I couldn’t understand. The moment I left there, I dwelled deep in my thoughts and felt disheartened to see such sections of the society during our self-centered era. My friend could tell me that there are many such examples through out the Jammu city, who have been abandoned and disappointed by their families and are rendered in isolation. They leave their homes on early mornings and live for whole day in thorny bushes, returning back in evenings. Perhaps, they are in this hope that one day their silence will be eared attention by democratic governance.
During this era we have such sections of the society-who are living in slums, who don’t have a hand to hold a glass of water, who don’t have a leg to walk, who don't have speech to address their sufferings, who don’t have a home to live, who don’t have even a rupee note to get themselves adequately treated, who have been discouraged by their families, who are orphans discouraged by everyone ,who are handicapped roll on the roadside or foot paths. I think if we have an access to them- that will prove instrumental in realising that unconcernig luxiourousness ,self-centeredness ,greediness for money and other evils in the society will lead us to nowhere. And to gain empathy sympathy, peace, prosperity ,happiness and generosity in our lives - instilling a sense and performing "acts of humanity” to our maximum capability would suffice.
Om Prakash, 70 years old, nowadays a cobbler by occupation lives in R. S. Pura Jammu. He is actually a native of POK. In 1947 on partition of Baharat into India and Pakistan , when Om Prakash was not yet even born, his family migrated to Jammu. In 1965, when Om Prakash was just 16 years old, he started working as a labourer and moved outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He had worked as a labourer in many states of India like Rajasthan, Maharastra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and almost every state of northern India. He for some time worked as a truck – conductor in Maharastra. Since, he found that job not suitable for him as he always used to do work with dignity and “dignity of work”, as he said is the most important thing that keeps you honest and humble in your life, . In 2002, he came back to Jammu and started working as a Cobbler. Since then, from last 15 years, he is working as a Cobbler at a place in Panjtirthi Jammu, just opposite to the Jamia Masjid of Ustaad Mahalla. I most often used to visit this cobbler during my MBBS college days whenever I used to went city for some work. I could get my shoes-polished there and could always see him charging a fair amount. One day I offered some extra money to him, he refused to took. On other occasion, I had to paid him an amount that was more than he could charge. I told him to keep this extra money, he refused and told that he would polish shoes next time for that extra amount of money. I could see elite class persons visiting him and getting their shoes-polished there. Anyways, the advices he put forth before me are always worth to imbibe. The good thing is that we could learn and realize a lot of things whenever we intimate such kind-hearted persons in our society. I owe a lot of respect to this man, who being in this age, is working hard with dignity and devotion to earn their livelihood and feed their family. Above all he is serving the humanity with his calibre and honesty. He is an inspiration that gives us courage and strength to work with passion and energy in this young age. I would quote some lines that instill us some realisation how important a cobbler is in our society, “Whenever we have to go for a party or function, we could check our shoes many times if there is any dust stitched. If we go to the party with our shoes in this mal - condition, we would fear that if anybody might tease us. That time, a cobbler is an artist who puts his whole soul in our shoes and mesh them with charm and light. And then we would feel confident and fearless enough to go to the party or function."
Three values of compassion we should always keep in mind to instil a sense of humanity .First to consider - we all are here in this world temporarily only for a short period of time. Second, in this short period of time, let us try our best to serve the humanity according to the graces we have received. And third, let us respect each other as well as each other’s job, like a shoe polisher has his own significance in our society. He puts his whole soul in our shoes and spark them with charm by his tireless work and this way we are feeling confident and fearless enough to go to parties or college ,office or our work places.
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