A chance encounter with a total stranger can brighten up your
life specially when you are feeling down and out. It all happened to me when I was going through a bad and difficult phase of my life.
I have been a hard working person who has always found
success by the dint of hard work. I am a person who always believes in the
theory of karma. You do good karma that is good deeds and you shall get good
results and If you do bad karma or bad deeds then you shall face the
consequences. This has been my motto in life that I have been practicing. This
has helped me to remain cheerful and bright. I had switched jobs and taken up a
job assignment in a new company. I was working hard but for some reason my boss
was not happy with my performance. Even the suggestions that I used to give in
the office meetings were ignored by him .I found that he was using a lot of my
suggestions subsequently and taking credit for the same. This became a very
difficult situation and indirectly when I tried to bring up this issue with him
at one of the appraisal meetings,he got very annoyed and as a result took away
the project that was assigned to me and instead got me transferred to a branch
office that was in a remote town.
When I took up a job in a small town that was actually very
similar to my paternal hometown, life was good to begin with.Everything was good
and life was easy. It was a nice town where everyone knew you and you knew
everybody. A typical easy going town where nothing changed much. It was a nice
change after the fast paced life of the city.However after a few months the novelty
of the place wore off and I began to feel very depressed and lonely. There was
very little for me to do. I had explored the market numerous times and there
was practically nothing new there. Even the single screen cinema halls had been
showing the same old movies that had gone off the theaters in the big cities. The
only thing left for me was to go on long walks in the jungle or by the
river side. It was one of those days that I was feeling very low and went for a
walk by the river side. I sat on the moist sand of the river bed lost in my
thoughts. Then I saw an old man sitting close to me. He was a bird seller with
lots of birds in his cage. He started talking to me . First I thought that he
would try to sell me a bird but he never brought up the topic. Though he was a
total stranger yet there was warmth in his voice. He reminded me of someone
perhaps my grandfather but I am not sure. After small chit chat when the
initial ice was broken between us ,he asked me directly as to why I was so sad.
Initially I was a bit hesitant but when he came and sat close to me and repeated the question with his toothless
grin I confided in him about how and why I got transferred to this place and
how I was bored to death here. He got up and brought me a bird which was in a
cage and told me that this bird is in a cage and cannot fly but I am an
educated person. I am not in a cage and I am free to make my decisions. I can
go and live in any city and get any job. His words were simple yet meaningful.
Spending this time with him, I felt a surge of optimism rushing through my
veins. Suddenly life began to look up. I began to see life from the new
perspective that he had given me. Now there was so much hope, positive vibes
and optimism around me. Soon I applied for another job and moved to a more
happening job in another city. Flipping back through the pages of life I feel
that those moments spent with this old
bird seller were magical and filled with hope and optimism and inspired me to
look up
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