Attachment

Aug 27

While doing MBA, I had read a story of a man, who had just purchased a brand new car. One day he was polishing the car, when his five-year old daughter picked up a stone and scratched on the side of his car. He got terribly angry and hit her hand many times with a wrench. She had to be hospitalised, as she had multiple fractures in her fingers.

When the child saw her father, with painful eyes, she asked, "Dad, when will my fingers be alright? " The man was so hurt and speechless that he went back to the car and kicked it many times and sat in front of the car, when he looked at the scratches. His daughter had written, "Love you, DAD"

Love and anger have no limit. But we must remember that things are to be used and people are to be loved, and not vice versa.

I would like to share one more story.

Ranjeet had just retired from the post of Chief Secretary and shifted to his own house from the official one. One fine morning, he was sipping the aromatic tea sitting in the lawn with his wife Madhavi, when they heard a sudden piercing shriek of a woman from his bungalow. It left a shiver down the spine in that atmosphere of tranquility.

Instantly they left their hot morning tea and dashed to their drawing room to find the source of that unusual sound. Their maid holding a broom in her hand was sobbing and shuddering loudly and in front of her was a debris,
which till yesterday was their most favourite possession, which they attributed all their accomplishments to.

This was the statue of Buddha that they had purchased first jointly, just after their marriage during their first visit abroad to Colombo, almost three decades back. While selling the statue, the curio stall owner had said that this statue of Buddha would usher in life long happiness and success to them. The young couple thanked the seller for his prophecy.

Days melted into months and months into years, Ranjeet went through routine postings with rise in the hierarchy, but that statue of Buddha always occupied the pride of place on their mantelpiece, acquiring the status of a talisman. And now it was just a piece of debris. The dumbfounded couple had made up their mind silently what to do with that maid.

Not exchanging a single word, both Ranjeet and Madhavi left the maid to clear the debris and went back to the lawn. The morning brew had by then become tepid. A pall of gloom had descended on the environ.

While they were contemplating what will be their life sans the statue, the maid came hurriedly with a folded chit of paper, which she had found in the debris. Madhavi opened the chit with bated breath and quietly handed it over to Ranjeet. The anxiety was gradually vanishing into thin air. The chit had a handwritten message, "Detachment, the only way to happiness"-Buddha.