No, this blog has nothing to do with web series by the same name. Though, I also belong to ‘How can Mithila Palkar be so cute’ group. But, this blog is about what that series is about, all the little things that matters! Things that we hardly notice when everything is super normal and things we forget as soon as the things go back to normal. Just like remembering God during exams!
Considering how my last one & half month was spent, I really started appreciating these little things. Like a simple hug to your mother, or eating hot rotis, even the work she does (okay that is not a small thing). But as soon as she recovered and slowly started doing these things again, I kind of forgot to appreciate these little things. Not that I intended it, but you just get used to other people being nice to you or doing these little things for you, and unknowingly, you stop appreciating it over the time.
But I guess that happened to all of us in this pandemic! I mean, we never fully appreciated the small business vendor who filled our lives with delicious food. Ask yourself, if you have ever said ‘Thank you for existing’ to a pani puri/vadapav vendor or momos seller?! I certainly wish to say thank you to my favourite Missal Pav seller. Never in my dreams, had I thought that, it would be this difficult to eat that missal pav! It was only some 5-6 Hrs away. All I had to do was plan a trip and go to my native place! And I am pretty sure; I would forget to thank him after I eat it again; because people easily get used to other people doing good things for them. And there is no better thing than feeding delicious food to others.
And a person like me always thinks that we should be grateful for anything that makes us happy or makes our work easy. May be just like Ranchhoddas, I think zip is machine and makes my work easy, so I should be thankful for a machine as well. Remember, most of the time it remains a thought only. Like food vendors or machines, I now think (see the pattern, not normal times) I have never appreciated random people smiling at me on road. I know, this may sound creepy to some people, but the joy of stranger smiling at you is out of this world yet very human. Now a days, like a friend who works at a bank pointed out, since you don’t see the face, you just have to guess, whether the person is angry or smiling (for her it was a great relief from being polite to rude customers).
There are many tiny tiny tiny thing, that I miss now a days. Walk in nature, people meeting each other, hanging out with friends (even if they don’t appreciate my lame jokes), eating out, drinking Chai at Chai tapari (not the shop but actual Tapari), sitting on a park swings, going to places, sleep over with my best friends (its been 7 months), planning a *never gonna happen* Goa trip (I want the option to plan it open). And I don’t think I’ll ever appreciate these things when things go back to normal. And knowing you all, I am sure neither are you.
In all this missing, I started meditating. You have to find a way to calm all that craving. No matter which app I choose, they tell me to show the gratitude. It is like telling me to do what I cannot do, because no pani puri wala is open, I cannot talk to stranger or tell him/her to pull the mask down and smile at me (that is just creepy), machines won’t understand my gratitude, you shouldn’t tell your family that you are grateful for them or they get hurt (no logic) and if I tell my friends I am grateful to have them; we all know how that ends.
So, in a nutshell, I should be grateful for myself?! In a sense, I am enjoying all this or feeling all this because I am alive. But is it allowed? Is it allowed to be grateful for being you? No book or app has ever told me that! So I am asking you people, Is it okay to be grateful for understanding as you like to understand, comprehending as you comprehend, loving as you love, struggling as you do, forgiving as you want to forgive and just being you? Can we be grateful for all the little things we are and all the little things we do and all the little things we see?
This is what I realised in my abnormal time and 99% what I’ll stop appreciating when things get started at their own pace, because people get used to other people (may be even yourself) doing good things for them. So should I just love myself, while I can? Be grateful for being Myself while the gratitude lasts?
A Heart-felt world 