THE BIG PICTURE…….

Many of us might have came across this sentence “the big picture” haven’t we??? And I believe many of us have had a nightmare of a lectures on this topic from our parents, teachers and elder siblings………try to take a look at the big picture, open your minds, think out of the box and blah blah blah……… I had many of them from my teachers during my schooling days, college and at my post graduation level as well. I never get rid of this sentence called THE BIG PICTURE. I have always been thinking or you can say always been in an impression that the big picture means looking at the brighter side of the situation or life, being creative, doing good deeds, thinking out of the box and etc etc…

But yesterday I realize how wrong I was, how I was living with that wrong impression what big picture of life means (at least to me). I m working in gulf, I was returning from my job and a friend of mine called   and ask me to meet at a cafeteria near by his house. I went there and was waiting for him on the footpath outside the cafeteria, I saw a black (negro) woman coming from the opposite side of the road towards the municipal trash container which was located this side of the footpath a fifteen yards away from where I was standing. The woman was very poor, was wearing an oversize maxi which had many patches on it and looks as if its not washed from many months, I saw her foot and to my surprise she wasn’t  wearing any sleeper because it was a hot afternoon almost 42 Celsius temperature, it looks she was habituated to it. When she reached a little nearer I noticed on her well combed and nicely tied hairs she was wearing a half torn scarf and another cloth just like dupatta on her waste knotted very tight, then I realize she is carrying an infant on her back with the help of that dupatta. When she came very near to me I gave a look on her face it was very tired and looks much older than she really was, it has several sun burns on it, dark and tired but oddly glowing and innocent, it was shining I don’t know why but I realize a sense of dignity on her face, yet it was very kind and humble. She was pulling a small two wheeler cart which contains several damaged cartons, cardboards, waste papers and woods. She had another kid of around four years with her who was carrying a big polythene bag which contains the tin cans of soft drinks. The boy was very cute and was very active in helping her mother collecting things. I went nearer to her to give her some money, I called her and told her to accept this BUT she smiled at me and believe me she said “thanks brother but no thanks I don’t want to feed my kids by begging money” I was dumb struck by listening this, she don’t have a proper clothes to wear nor does her kids has and even though she is refusing to take money , she continued “ I brought my kid with me to teach him how to struggle in life but not to surrender to it, I know we can get 100 bugs a day by begging but I feel happy in earning 50 bugs  a day and feeding my kids with that money”  and she was leaving the place I tried to force her to take the money by saying its not a begging I am giving it with my will as a gift but she gave a nice smile and thanked me again and left without taking it.

I stand at the same place looking at her till she disappeared, I saw her son who was carrying a polythene bag which contains the empty soft drink cans on one shoulder and on the other he was carrying his school bag full of books, I stand there looking at there fight, fight with the life, fight for living and living with dignity, fight for survival and surviving with pride, I was thinking how hard it may be for her to give a damn to this whole world and living her life with hardworking and determination, living with pride whatever she does in and dignity in what she was making of her kids.

By looking at this woman I fully understand the meaning of THE BIG PICTURE this is the big picture of life, not to look for the opportunity but to use whatever resources you have as she does, not to wait for some one to come and explain you or help you out of the situation but to make your own ways as she does, not to make a fuzz of the situation but to take actions on it. Above all I learnt from her that the big picture is not the analysis for ones’ own self but to look for the situation which in turns help others in long run and benefit the whole society, look at her she might not be having a food to eat in her house but she was making her kids to study, she might have slept many nights without eating but have never begged, never insulted life itself, she, in this tight situation of her life looking at the big picture, looking into all aspects of life, she was definitely thinking out of the box, she was looking the future of her kids in those thrash cans, she was finding her dignity in those rotten cartons and cardboards, and she knows that her kids will definitely take her out of this situation of life and give her a good standard of living in future, it’s the confidence in her eyes I can see which makes me to write this post today, its her eyes through which she already saw the future of hers and knows it will only be achieved through strong will power, hard work and determination. This post of mine is dedicated to that lady who taught me what the real meaning of the big picture is…. I hope u will say she was definitely thinking out of the box… doesn’t she??