“Greetings.
I Am sending you the story which inspired me.
“Zindagi”
“Bhaiya ek masala dosa, do idli sambhar aur ek plate upma…aur haan do chai…please, zara jaldi la do na”, a conversation which seemed to be common on every table in a very famous restaurant of Pune. The moment we mentioned about our trip to Pune to anyone who has previously visited this bubbling city would tell us, you should have breakfast at a particular restaurant, they serve the most amazing breakfast. So here we were eight of us, seated at one table, under a shady tree.
A quick glance around, all we could see were majorly morning walkers who turned into morning talkers the moment they took a break here before starting their daily chaotic routines. All the tables full, people chuckling and giggling with their morning doze of intoxicating teas and coffees in their hands, while, there were few who were eagerly waiting for their turn to come. A place bustling with people wearing their yoga uniforms, track pants, cyclist and few like us.
We were waiting for someone to take our order as we saw one waiter emerge like Superman with a tray in his hand to serve to the table next to ours. One of us could manage to make an eye contact with him and grabbed to opportunity to say, “Bhaiya ji please humara bhi order le lijiye na.” With A beautiful happy smile and a Tamil-mixed-Maharashtrian-accent he said, “Ji madam abhi Aaya”. Our Superman again vanished into thin air as we all waited to see him again.
He kept zooming past us. One peculiar thing we all could not help observing was that the smile on his face seemed to never leave him despite all odds. One of us even joked that he probably applies the quick fix on his cheeks before coming for work to make it permanent for the rest of the day. The other joked that maybe he is inspired by Boman Irani’s role in Munna Bhai MBBS and smiles when he is angry and agitated. It seemed next to impossible to see someone beaming like this amidst the environment. He was delivering the food that people ordered but kept one thing intact with him and that was his smile.
We finished our yummy South Indian food and all through our breakfast we kept talking about his smile, courtesy and also his calm and composed nature. As we were about to leave, the eldest member of our family took the opportunity to quickly give him a word of praise before we left,” Bhaiyaji, thank you so much. Aapne itna accha breakfast karaya, aap humesha smile karte rehte ho”. All we expected was again an ear-to-ear smile from him. But we did not know there was more to that. He did smile but grabbed an elbow, took him a little aside and whispered,”Saheb Mujhe 12 Saal se cancer hai aur maine 22 chemos le liye hain. Zindagi yun hi Nikal Jaayegi. Hanste rahiye, muskuraate rahiye..life ko enjoy kariye.” And here we were all standing dumbfounded and flabbergasted with his attitude.
With a happy and touched heart, we clicked his picture as a keepsake. Least did we know that apart from a sumptuous breakfast that this place had to offer, we would be served a lesson for life.
Thank you.”
Submitted By – Kajal Lunkad
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