Magic Moments

Pardon the title; it is inspired from an excellent session I attended yesterday, held by MICA Alumni working in Google. So “Micro Moments” are a part of the Google consumer insights and service design process.

BUT, that’s not what this note is about. This note is about the Magic Moments of life. And they vary for all of us. Or to use Google analogy, we ourselves are at different stages of the chain.

The Magic Moment I experienced today, all thanks to the community radio station run by students of my college, MicaVaani, came along my way on a visit to a nearby village called Telav. We went there for an insights project, to talk to the people, get to know them.

The girl I talked to, Heena, is in her final year of BA, and she plans to pursue an MSW course post that. I was asking if there have been some changes in their life because of the radio station. Her mother, Asha Ben, said she wanted to say something. And this is what she said, that I want you to go back and thank your parents. She said it takes a lot for a parent to send their child far away, not knowing what exactly they are up to. There are always relatives and neighbors around criticizing their ways, telling them they are stepping a tad bit too forward, that they need to be careful. And consequently, it takes a lot of courage to keep those demons and fears aside, and send their child for studies anyway. She said your parents sitting somewhere far away must have put in a lot of efforts, in a different context maybe, or a different form, so you can come here, so you can try to make an effort to the society besides the studies that you are supposed to do anyway. To complete the cycle, us, sitting here, put in a lot of efforts, so that our daughter could be the first one from the entire locality to go for further higher education. (It was later told by Heena’s brother that looking at Heena, two more families had decided to send their daughters for further studies.) It’s all “vishwaas”.

 

So here I am, requesting you, on behalf of Asha Ben from Telav village in Gujarat, to thank your parents, to thank them for all the “vishwaas”. And as we go through hectic lives with people to be managed, competitions to be won, assignments to be completed, deadlines to be met, passions to pursued, parties to be enjoyed, chaos to be tamed, just keep it in your consciousness, that there are also karma cycles to be completed and differences to be made.

   

ज़िन्दगी में बड़े बड़े तूफ़ान भी आएंगे, छोटे छोटे मौके भी,
बस झड़े हुए पत्ते की तरह उड़ मत जाना ,
मृत मछली की तरह बह मत जाना।
कितनी भी दूर जाओ , अपनी जड़ें पकड़के रखना,
उस विश्वास का मान रखना।