This is one of the incidents that changed the way I live my life... So I thought that its worth writing, though its a bit lengthy one...
It had just been few days since one of the most famous actor's movie got released.. Though I am not a big fan of him, I said 'ok' to go to the movie since all my friends were so much interested to watch it. I took my nephew also with me.. We had good fun at the cost of Rs. 600 (the amount from my side including the ticket charge of Rs. 250 each for myself and my nephew). The movie was good. Though I normally wont prefer spending so much for movie tickets, I didn't mind about that spending (since we had good fun), until I met two elderly women later the same day.
The same day evening, when I was talking to one of my other friend at the roadside closer to my colony, we were interrupted by two elderly women. Both of them were very old. We were four guys standing there, my friend, my two nephews and myself, and chatting just like that. One of those two old women said that 'it had been more than two days since they had food and asked us to help them with some money so that they can buy something to eat'... They also told that they have been walking for a long time to reach their house which was around seven kilometers away from there. They didn't even have energy to walk, but they didn't have any other choice since they couldn't afford to travel in bus.
One of my nephews searched his pocket and gave them a five rupees coin. I felt pity on them and I really wanted to help them as much as I could. I reached out to my wallet and found that I had only one hundred rupees note left along with some changes. So I took hundred rupees and handed the same to her. She first thought that it was a ten rupees note. Since i felt that they both might not be having proper eye sight, I told them that it was a hundred rupees note. Because I didn't want them to get cheated by someone..
They both were very much excited and surprised since they didn't expect that I would give them that much. But what I felt inside was completely different. I was really sad that I couldn't give them more than that. Because I thought that 'this hundred rupees can help them for another two days max, but what will they do after that?'.. Whenever I help someone in their need, I always feel that "their need is addressed temporarily, but what are they going to do after that?" I worry about this especially whenever I see some old man/woman suffering. One of those two women, quickly took my hand and kissed to express her gratitude. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was telling us how she was treated badly by others when asked for help. The moments became bit emotional.
I started feeling bad that just few hours back we enjoyed like anything in cinema theater watching a movie paying Rs.250 per ticket, which I regretted that time. I could have watched the same movie after few weeks for just Rs.30. The money (Rs. 600) I spent on that movie could have helped those two old women to survive for at least few weeks.
More importantly the happiness that I get by helping such people is so much that it cannot be measured or compared with anything else. One side we spend lots of money on something just for fun, without even realizing that there are lots of people out there who are starving even for their 'very basic' needs. What I realized is that, I get much more happiness when I help such people in their need than the happiness that I try to generate by other means like going to cinema etc.
I also realized that I don't even have to restrict the spending on my own personal needs to help such people. It is more than enough if I stop spending on unnecessary things, which I otherwise term as 'lavish and luxurious spending'. This is just my perspective though..
That moment, I decided that I will never spend such big amount for watching movies.. Whenever such situation comes, I simply decide not to go to the movie (rather I prefer watching it sometime later at low cost) and I will treat it as a savings that I will use to help someone for whom that amount can be a life saver.. This is just an example. There could be lot of such situations in our day to day life where if we decide to sacrifice our little joy, it can be used to light someone's life, which eventually can bring much more joy and happiness into our life...
What we think as 'little' is really a fortune to someone who is starving for his/her basic needs.
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