Before leaving for the vegetable market this morning, Rahul’s papa again scolded him for sleeping so late and said, “Stupid fellow, if you keep sleeping like this throughout your life, you will not be able to achieve anything in life.” He further continued, “I have told you a thousand times that if you want to be something in life, then you must wake up early. But I feel that you will never be able to mend your ways ever.” Rahul who was still lying in bed, countered his father by not getting up and saying, “Don’t you think father if this was the case then all milk and newspaper vendors would have become millionaires by now?” Before matters could flare up further between Rahul and his father, Rahul’s mother intervened and pacified Rahul’s father and sent him to the vegetable market. Soon after, Rahul’s mother prepared his breakfast and went out to do some important work.
Still sleepy, Rahul decided to take another nap. He was finally woken up by the arrival of the servant, who came with a newspaper and an envelope in her hand. Rahul started opening the envelope and asked the servant to bring him his morning tea. After reading the letter, Rahul had a big smile on his face because he knew that his childhood dream was soon going to be a reality. The letter contained a job offer letter from a Canadian company that had offered a lucrative job offer to Rahul in Canada. From the time Rahul had come into his senses, he always had this dream of going abroad and earning big dollars there, because somehow he felt that he would never be able to realize this dream by managing his father’s vegetable business.
Now with the job-offer of the Canadian company in his hand, Rahul was filled with immense joy and was itching to share this good news with someone. So the moment the servant came with the morning tea, Rahul immediately disclosed this good news to her in all his excitement. But to his astonishment and surprise, she reacted very coldly to this news as if it was of no significance at all. Instead of congratulating Rahul for this opportunity, she almost scolded Rahul in a subtle way and said, “You have got everything that a man would be happy to be blessed with. You have a house, a car, all the comforts, and most importantly you have such loving parents by your side, then why are you thinking of leaving all this to go and earn money in a faraway country?”
Rahul felt offended by the remarks of the servant and said to her in an angry tone, “You are just a simple illiterate woman. What would you know about the other countries of the world? I can’t think of spending my whole life here in my father’s vegetable shop. If I ever want something, I must beg my father for months before he finally fulfils my wish. Neither can I go with my friends to parties, nor am I allowed to have any enjoyment in my spare time. When at the shop, I must spend my entire day bearing the foul smell of rotten fruits and vegetables, and god forbid if I commit a mistake, I’m showered with the choicest abuses from my father for days and even months.”
The servant was quick to understand the dejection in Rahul’s tone and said in an understanding way, “It is true that when kids make mistakes, parents might scold them, saying things that may hurt them, but the truth is that they never mean anything bad even if they ever say anything bad to their children. Parents never have any ill-feelings for their children in their heart. The fact of the matter dear Rahul is this that parents can never be angry with their children for a long time.” She further said, “Rahul, you are only thinking about yourself at present, but you should also think about your parents who have taken so much pain to raise you to become the well-groomed person that you are today.”
Looking at Rahul with a motherly affection, the servant said, “Son, you must never forget that the relations we have in life are there for loving and caring about, but the money that we inherit or earn is only for spending on our daily living. However, kids of your generation usually end up doing the exact opposite. They start loving the money and use their relations for selfish reasons. Even a person who earns a lot of money does not gain importance in the kingdom of the almighty; instead, a person who manages to win even a few hearts with his selfless deeds is many notches above anybody else in the God’s kingdom.” She again said, “You’re just like my own son Rahul, and that’s why I’m telling you; when we are empty handed in life, we often learn a lot about the good virtues of living. But when our pockets are fully stacked with cash, we invariably end up adopting lots of evil ways in life. That’s why I want to tell you that whatever decision you take about leaving the house, you must consider its worth from all possible angles.”
This long lecture given by the servant to Rahul stung him like a venomous thorn. He was almost boiling with anger as he said, “Now I must learn from low-standard people like you about what to do and what not to do in life?” But before he could say more offending and insulting remarks to the servant, his mother came back to the house after finishing her work in the market.
Having heard the foul language her son was using with the servant, his mother said to him, “Rahul it is sad that you are using such language despite having such good education in life.” She continued and asked Rahul, “Do I need to remind you the kind of effect our words have on the people we are using them against? In fact, we should never use language with anybody that we don’t want to be spoken to ourselves by others. And how can you forget that this maid-servant has taken care of you more than her own children from a very early age in your life?”
She thoughtfully said to Rahul again, “Son I know you have grown up enough to make your own decisions and I cannot keep you in the house against your wishes, but you must always keep one piece of my advice in your mind no matter wherever you go or live. Son, always give your enemies ample chances to be your friend, but never give even a single chance to any of your close ones to become your enemy. Son, it is only when you go away from home that you will realize the love of parents is like that salt that is always present in our food and enhances its flavor, but never intrudes itself to be noticed by us. If by chance the salt is missing from a dish, we immediately realize its absence and want it to add it.”
After hearing such inspiring thoughts by Rahul’s mother, Jolly Uncle wishes to advise the young generation of one thing: Even if you succeed in earning millions of rupees after leaving the home filled with your parents’ love and affection, in the deepest sense, this money will still not be worth any more than just the paper it is printed on.
