Our Future Is In Good Hands!

The day dawned bright and clear. The sun’s rays streamed in through the open window of the lovely hotel room. The chirping of the birds added to the cheer of the morning. It filled our hearts with an inner joy. The darshan of Dwarkadheesh the day before was a dream come true.

We were getting ready to go on a tour of a few places in and around Dwarka. A sumptuous breakfast awaited us in the restaurant downstairs.We made our way down. Did justice to the delicious spread laid out for the hotel guests. At half past eight, Aniketh, our driver for the trip, informed us about his arrival. We lost no time in making our way to the car.

Aniketh was proud of his native city. As we made our way through the city, he gave us a history of the places we were passing through. Some of which weren’t there in our history books. One of the places we visited was Gopi Talab. As we alighted , a boy of about 8 or 9 years came running to us. In his hand he held a few packets of fish feed.

Which he said was just ₹10/- a packet. And that we could feed the fish in the talab. We said we did not want it. His face fell. He then said something which will remain with me forever. ‘ le lijeye na, aap yahan bar bar thodi na aaoge’ meaning please buy it, you won’t be coming here often, will you. All this, he said in an endearing tone. We decided to give him the ₹10/- . And asked him to sell the fish feed packet to someone else. Without batting an eyelid, he said ‘aap packet rakh lo, main paise rakh leta hoon’ meaning, you keep the packet, I’ll keep the money. He said, we should buy the fish feed from him. Then and only then would he accept the money. We did as he wanted. A bright happy smile lit up his face. “Namaste”, said he. And off he went in search of tourists to sell his fish feed. Our blessings went out to him.We looked at the little boy in admiration. We saluted his parents for instilling this quality in their son.

This little boy ,in a nondescript place, rekindled our hopes for a better tomorrow. We are not to underestimate the youngsters of today. We talk of how the present generation seems to have changed. From what we used to be. There are times when we say the future is bleak. Well, it isn't. This incident strengthens our hope in humanity. It did, for us. Our country is in good hands!