Life lessons

Whenever there are questions in life, you get the answers from unexpected quarters.  My India trips have always resulted in meaningful interactions with people who I have never interacted with before and I just walk away with important life lessons.

I clearly remember my 2013 India trip.  I was questioning everything about life and I remember this stranger in the bus, who looked behind from his seat, addressed me and said, "Brother, believe me, there is God.  Don't trust anybody who says otherwise." It was as though he had a premonition of things to come.  At the end of a rather difficult year, I remember going to my Rudram Guru with the question, "Sir, what's happening? Am I not chanting Rudram the right way?" That was the time I was starting to chant the Rudram and I was a beginner.  He told me, "Praveen, there is no way in the world that things can go wrong when you are chanting Rudram.  Remember, since you are chanting Rudram, you are just cleansing your bad karma as fast as possible.  There will be a calm after the storm.  One day, you will come and tell me how things have changed for good." I held on to his words, and I can say with confidence that things have only been better ever since.  I will always be grateful to him for helping me chant Rudram.  Learning to chant Rudram is a big transformative experience in my life.

My wife and I always wanted to have kids.  We love kids.  But, there is a considerable effort in raising them.  I am sure all parents will agree to this.  I would tell my wife, "If not for marriage, I would be in Sringeri now." My wife would reply,"You like the thought of being in Sringeri, but there is no way you would do it." I would say, "Imagine life without kids." My wife would reply, "Why would you want to imagine that?"

During a recent trip to India, I was traveling from Chennai to Madurai by train.  I wanted to get some fresh air.  So, I was standing in the passageway between compartments near the door.  There was an elderly gentleman sitting by the side.

"Where are you going, brother?", he asked me in Tamil.

"I am going to Madurai", I replied.

We were talking about different things and then he asked me, "Do you have kids?"

I said, "Yes".

"Good", he said.  "You have done the right thing in having kids at the right time.  People don't realize it.  It's God's gift."

"I was joking to my wife recently about the point of having kids and running around", I said.

"Brother, don't even think like that.  What's the purpose of life without family and kids? There is no sense of accomplishment if you live alone.  You need people around you.  This is the challenging phase of your life.  What's life without challenges? It will inspire you to work harder in life."

And then, he said the thing that hit home the point.

"Brother, remember, nobody will ask how much money you have? They will only ask how many kids you have."

"Nothing, no amount of money comes close to having a well-knit family."

We then went on to have other conversations.

I thanked him for an engaging conversation when we got down at Madurai.

As parents, there are crazy moments with kids.  But then, you also have those awesome moments.

Whenever I have those awesome moments, I look back at what the elderly gentleman said and smile inwardly at what exactly he meant with his wise words.