A Realization

Sometimes,
What you want in life, you do not get
Sometimes,
What you get in life, you do not want
Sometimes,
You fail to realize, what happens is for your good
Sometimes,
When you realize, it is too late!
With the above few lines in my head, I come to face the fact that how often (or I guess, always), I fail to appreciate the things that life has bestowed on me.
Yesterday, when that immensely thin hand woke me up from the doze (I probably had dozed off to a beautiful landscape in Switzerland) in the Kolkata bound Raichak bus, I seriously got a jolt! With no piece of clothing to cover the emaciated body, what stood in front of me was a stark contrast to the scenery I was, virtually, in a few seconds ago. What stood in front of me was scary! It was an insignificant beggar with a very significant presence. Many reading this piece would just laugh out because such entities are a part and parcel (yes, I too admit that they are) in these corners of the country, then why was/am I astonished? An answer to be searched for; perhaps the mesmerizing beauty of Switzerland is at fault!!
His age, I failed to fathom; may be six or seven, may be less or more but that’s immaterial. Whether he is suffering from Rickets or some other such deficiency disease, I am not aware of and that again, I guess, is immaterial. What is material are those eyes; asking for a penny or two from every traveler in the bus. Those eyes had hope and innocence.
Like most of my fellow passengers, I just threw buckets of water on his hopes. The ones, who yielded, gave him an amount, which am definite, was not more than Rs 0.50! In such circumstances, what holds me back is my revered thought: Even if I shower him with my benevolence of Rs 2 (Strange! That is always the maximum I can think of!), how can such a meager amount help out anybody? What goes unnoticed at that point of time is that if I can spend Rs 500 for a new pair of shoes, which mostly goes out of fashion in a fortnight and finally just adorns my shoe shelf, why can’t I think of increasing the amount from a Rs 2 to a Rs 20 (even if it happens to be just a thought and not an action)? He can then, at least, afford one decent meal that day. Probably that is the time when I start to think of saving! When that urchin (that’s the word such creatures are usually referred to by, by bus travelers, conductors and drivers) hopped out of the bus, I did not care to notice; they usually stay In the bus for the period till they have managed to pester every passenger for "something", successfully or unsuccessfully is immaterial.
There are times when I feel extremely ashamed of my ways of life (though such times are very short-lived). I have always been getting good and nutritious aahar every day of my life but I complain over the mundane menu. I come across this fellow who probably has had no food for, God knows, how many days; I do nothing. I do not remember appreciating ever the variety and number of apparels my closet boasts of, yet my shopping spree continues. My house needs a new coat of paint, is what I think, but I never ponder over the statistics as to how many people sleep (or I suppose spend sleepless nights) under the sky.
Life is short. Life is transient. The urchin of that day made me realize that it is not my house that needs a fresh coat of paint but it is my thoughts and my conduct of life that need a new and a more meaningful coat.