As always ,one of the young boys who used to work outside ran away , back to Bihar . Before you lambast me and call me names or report me they are all of legal age , we had one of the social activists report us and make a wrong case because we made good press copy ! That is a story of another day . So ,his replacement , a young boy called Azad , came to work . He’s a an impressive , young lad , hard working and would not shirk his work . On the farm , we have these chickens who are slowly and slowly growing and would become hens to start lay eggs . Once you’ve started eating free range , farm fresh , organic eggs , you just don’t go back to the dark side .
They do taste better ! So Azad became the care taker and he would follow them around and would be all after them and in the evening returns hem to their coops so that they would be safe from the big fat cat or snakes ; just an everyday ordinary adventure .
The hens stated laying eggs and he would proudly run in showing the eggs and would speak in chaste Hindi ‘ murgi me anda de diya . . Every day , it would be the highlight of his day , to bring in eggs and chase them to lay eggs .Today ,was no exception as one of them lays eggs in a crate of red chilies ,maybe its a habanero special . So I was outside , asking him whether there were any eggs today , so he says Meena Kumari baithi hai .
I was taken aback , and then he turns and says he’s named all of the . There is Rhea, Anjali , Kajal , Veena and Shweta and Vani , and of course the most beautiful Meena Kumari .
I kid you not ,he’s kept names and calls them by the names . He knows which is which . I was so moved by his innocence and his ingenuity to name them and give them different characters . All our lives we want to be guided by a system of education , values and our success is defined by our degrees and what we have , what we wear , what we possess . And then , we reach a point we aren’t happy , then we try to decrease the stress and turn towards to happiness. Happiness that has been missing and is caught up in the rat race and the drive to have more , realising much later that more is not what we wanted !
Talking to him and hearing the names he’d kept , made me feel that this boy had it all , he was happy creating a life with what he had . And , to name them and to treat them so well ! I have a smile because of him and just thinking how he felt , made me realise happiness is in the little things !
Just his face and the twinkle in his eyes , and the way he rattled of the names , set the tone of the day ..naming the hens and not even caring whether he gets an egg , just the moments .
Now and then its good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy .Guillaume Apollinaire .
