From 8 to 8

It was late in the evening. Me and Mukesh were going for walk when we came across a middle aged security guard of our area. And just like that Mukesh asked him about his duty hours, to which he politely and with a smile replied, “from 8 to 8”. I couldn’t believe my ears. Twelve hours shift under this scorching hot and humid weather of Delhi! I have noticed these guards to be sitting below a tree, or under the wooden kennel like cubicle of theirs, and also one young guard working on his laptop sometime. Later after dinner when we again went for a little stroll, I saw a guard having his dinner, savoring the taste of his food. The way he ate his meal was so satiating.

Just then I remembered the story of Olympic medalist Mirabai Chanu. This woman got trained for weightlifting in her early childhood itself and her qualities for the sport were discovered accidentally, when she brought back a huge bundle of firewood all alone from the jungle to her village. Mirabai was 12 years old then. Next in line I remembered the story of Dipika Kumari, ace archeress. Young Dipika practised archery while aiming for mangoes with stones. She would use homemade bamboo bows and arrows for her practice. There are many other artist, players and professionals who have made it big after breaking the shackles of hardships only by their sheer zeal and resilience.

These fellow brothers and sisters teach us a lot many things. And one of them is to not give up. Even if the night seems pitch black, even if the world seems better than you and bitter for you, even if you have lost hundreds of battles, but still do not give up. And do not give up only in terms of your confidence and beliefs, but also on your ability to laugh at things. It may sound ridiculous but you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. And once you can do that, then anything can be done and everything can be loved, even an 8 to 8 job.