Jaygovind Sahu

Being Extraordinary

There is a dialogue (perhaps the last one) in the movie ‘Marley & Me’ which I really liked.

How many people in the world can make you feel extraordinary?

We dream of being extraordinary; being a rock-star, being a super-hero or may be being a celebrity with millions of fans no matter what we really are. We dream of driving the crowd crazy with every gesture we make. Then there are people who prefer being in the crowd in those dreams of ours. It’s our family and our loved ones who make us feel extraordinary.

A child’s first step to walk and the first attempt to speak a word – for parents these moments are just priceless. The moment we are born, their dreams are ones to fulfill ours, their needs are the wants of ours. The first sketch that we make is the finest art they have seen. When we get a prize, they feel like the winner. Fallen from bicycle, injured with a cricket ball or crying because your favourite team lost a match, they are always beside you. It’s nice to be loved. It’s nice to find people around who really care for you. But, what happens to people when it’s their turn to try and pay a fraction of what they got in return?!

I remember an evening in August (last year), when I was in front of a super-market waiting for something I had ordered in the food court nearby. I felt a gentle tapping on my shoulder. I turned back to see an old lady who must be in her late 60s, actually trying to stand tall. She looked at me and asked with a smile and respectable dignity – “Can you please help me reach there so that I can get a place to sit somewhere?” My reflex was – “Yes, of course…”. She started walking with me, with her hands on my shoulders, to the nearby exit gate where there was a place where someone could sit. I could feel her hands trembling, and that she should not have been there considering what her health permits her to do. One of friends, who was also with me, came with a digicam to take a snap of what was going on. The old lady perhaps did not like it because she wanted to remind herself and others that she doesn’t depend on anyone, still she managed to take out a gentle smile. When we got to the place where she wanted to be, she sat down on a cement make, turned to me and asked my name. The security guard in duty near the gate was trying to say something about sitting there but somehow he finished his speech soon without the old lady hearing anything what he wanted to communicate. She thanked me and it was time when I started minding my own business, but I felt like asking her if I could do anything else for her. But, before I asked she said that soon her driver will be with her with the grocery and she is fine. I was surprised to find that she was not with any of her family members. In places like Mumbai, everyone tries to be self-dependent, but I felt like there’s something I am missing and it doesn’t have to be like this. At the same time, having the lady helped, I felt being someone really special. For those five minutes, I felt being extraordinary.