Sunday, April 30, 2006

C.E.L.E.B.R.A.T.I.O.N.S. ! ! ! !

Think events - birthdays, anniversaries, monthi-versaries(all young people in relationships will know exactly what i mean), engagements, weddings, bachelor parties, first job/first paycheck parties, baby showers etc ..the list goes on & on ...

Think celebrations - lavish parties, large no. of people ... catering, lavish luncheons or dinners, bashes ... lots of money involved ...

Now, let me tell u about a family i know of very closely
they are a family of 3 - husband, wife & a child ... i am a very good friend of their child n they take me as a second son ..

Now, uncle recently turned 45 & for their celebrations, invited me also ..
i reached their place at 7 30 in the evening .. wished uncle, spent some time doing tp at their place till everyone was ready to leave..

we left their building, went to a nearby fruit vendor & bought 10 dozen bananas ! ! ! ..
i was scared (lol) ... & i asked them exactly how they were planning to celebrate the day in a mocking fun-filled tone ...
Uncle just looked at me with kind eyes without replying ...

we were supposed to go to a modest restaurant 20 minutes away by foot ..now, normally i dont mind walking, but i was in formals - good clothes & expensive shoes... but, it wasn't my call...so we walked ...

on the way, there is a portion of the road covered with poor people's hutments ... we went to each hutment & gave a banana to each person living there ...1 banana per person ... throughout the road ... we gave food to a hundred & twenty people ...

they were soo .... happy to see us , thanking us ... a couple of kids even sayin "thank you uncle" in their very broken english ... it was the happiest moment of the day for me ...
seeing all these people so helpless & realising that a very small thing like this could make them so.... happy - it was a lesson for me ...

i realised how i wasted money in "enjoyment" all the times i decided to "celebrate" ... What i did that day was more enjoyable, satisfying, the most fulfilling thing i ever did as a "celebration" ....

Celebrations need not me lavish ... they can be the most simple & still bring happiness to you.. also, the feeling of making people happy in such a way is just incomparable ..
from that day onwards, i decided to spend a certain % of my meagre monthly earnings on such things ... there are a lot of things to do, once u start to take interest ...

doing good to other human beings is the biggest religion...

about that night, well we had dinner at a nice-ish restaurant & also walked all the way back, me enjoying each n every bit of it.... all in my formal shoes ... ! ! !

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