The small wonders in life

Have you ever realized that there are several episodes in our lives that we just take for granted? Did you ever realize that your life is full of small and seemingly "insignificant" events which are actually some of the most precious moments of your life? I realized only recently that my life was full of those events all these years, now that I am away from home (which is in India) and here in Singapore for under graduate studies. Out of all those events in my life that I miss so much, I would just like to share a few which mean the whole world to me.
Both my parents work and I have no siblings. So every second that I spent with my parents became so precious to me when I was back home. Out of all those precious moments, the ones I treasure the most are the long walks that me and my father used to take, the time I spent with my mother whenever my dad was not home and during diwali when all the three of us would spend afternoons preparing all kinds of sweets in our kitchen.

Whether it was a school day or vacation, one thing that characterized most of my evenings was the long walk that I used to take with my father. The various topics we used to discuss seemed unimportant then. But now when I look back, I realize they were not trivial at all. They serve as an inspiration to me. We used to talk about a lot of things ranging from what a tiring day it was at office for dad, or what I did at school to other important discussions such as what I was going to do when I grew up. My life's ambition is to become a good scientist. My dad was my biggest inspiration for that. He used to tell me so many experiences that he had and about the lessons he had learnt from them. He used to talk about great scientist and Nobel laureates and their work. He taught me that sometimes in life, the most complex questions can have the simplest solution. That includes science and that’s how several discoveries are made each day. Nothing else in this world has inspired me as much as those little talks we used to have during our walks. He taught me to be independent and to think independently. He taught me how to take control of my own life. He gave me a lot of courage to face so many things. I used to take them for granted when I was home. Now that I am on my own in a hostel, I realize that I use the lessons I learnt from him almost everyday! No other teacher in the world could have inspired me the way he did.

Another aspect of my life that I used to take for granted were the nights that I spent talking to my mom while she worked in the kitchen. My dad used to go out late in the evening almost everyday. I used to spend quality time with my mom then. If my dad was my strength for academics, my mom was my emotional strength. She is a very spiritual person and a very strong lady. I have never read the Bhagavad-Gita, the bible or the Koran. Yet I learn so much about faith, confidence and will power from her. I have learnt the joys of giving things to those who deserve it more than I do. I have become a stronger person because of my mother. From all those talks that I had with my mom, I learnt that no matter how many problems I may face, no matter how difficult life seems, I will always have someone to love me and guide my every step. She made me realize that I am one of the luckiest kids in the world (touchwood!!!!!!). I do have problems in life. But I am still lucky to be me. I learnt that from my mom as well as my dad. This little lesson has helped me cope with many challenges in life.

These were day to day events for me. Sound boring, don’t they? But we never used to talk only about these serious topics. We used to discuss fun topics too. But my parents slipped in these precious lessons in these fun sessions we had, and I never realized that till now. Today I am so happy they slipped in these pearls of wisdom because my life is a better life now. I miss them a lot. But I can feel them so close to me when I merely think about these “small and trivial” episodes of life. So can you remember any “trivial day to day” episodes in your life that has made a big difference?????