My Maid Made Me Realize The Value Of Money!

A lady to her husband: Avoid giving too many clothes for laundry.

Husband: What happened?

Wife: The maid won’t be coming for work for a couple of days.
 
Husband: Why?

Wife: She’s going to see her granddaughter over to her daughters place over the Ganesh Chaturthi holidays.

Husband: Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.

Wife: Before I forget, how about we offer her a festive bonus? Rs. 500?

Husband: But why? Diwali is around the corner, why don’t we just give her the money then?

Wife: Oh, no… She’s a poor lady, works as a domestic help. She’s going to see her daughter. With her meagre income, how would she be able to enjoy a good holiday? Poor thing!

Husband: There you go! Getting overly sentimental again!

Wife: Don’t worry about the money; let’s cancel our plan for pizza for dinner tonight. No point wasting money over eight slices of stale bread.

Husband: Great! So now we have to give up on our pizza night so the maid can get a bonus?!

Three days later, when the maid is back at work, the lady’s husband asked her.

Husband: So, how was your holiday?

Maid: It was wonderful, sir. Didi had given me 500 as a festive bonus that added to the joy.

Husband: I heard you went over to your daughters place. Met your granddaughter?

Maid: Yes, sir. I had such a great time. We spent 500, all of it in just two days.

Husband: What did you buy with that money?

Maid: I bought my granddaughter a shirt for Rs. 150 and a doll for Rs. 40, sweets for my daughter and to offer at the temple for Rs. 50, each, spent Rs. 60 on the rent, bought my daughter bangles for Rs. 25, and a nice belt for my son in law for Rs. 50. We spent the rest of the money buying notebooks and stationery for my granddaughter.

Husband: All that for Rs. 500?

In a shocked state he started thinking and seeing pizza in his head.

Each piece of the pizza started buzzing in his head. He started comparing the pizza’s price with the maid’s festive expenses over her family.

He started imagining each piece of the pizza as different things she bought for her family like kids dress, sweets, rent, the bangles she bought, the belt she bought for her son in law, the books and pencil she bought.

He had only imagined the delicious part of the pizza, he had never thought of the other plain and dry part of it and today because of his maid he could understand the other part of the coin or the pizza. A simple 8 pieced pizza taught some reality of life.

This incident made him realize the meaning of “Spending to live not live to spend”.

देवाचा शोध

एक छोटा मुलगा, आज त्याने काही ठरवले आहे. त्या देवाबरोबर जेवायचे आहे. तो देवाच्या शोधात निघाला. काही खाण्याच्या वस्तू आणि पाण्याच्या बाटल्या बरोबर घेऊन तो घराबाहेर पडला. खूप चालला. एका बागेत गेला. थोडी विर्शांती घेण्यासाठी एका बाकावर बसला. जवळच एक म्हातारी होती. तिच्याकडे त्याचे लक्ष गेले. तिला बहुधा तहान लागलेली होती. त्याने जवळचे पाणी तिला दिले. ती पाणी प्याली.

बाटली परत देताना ती हसली. इतके सुंदर हसणे तो प्रथमच बघत होता. त्याने तिला खाऊ दिला. ती परत तसेच हसली. ते हास्य बघण्याचे त्याला वेडच लागले. तो उठला. दिवस सरत आला होता. आता त्याला घरी परतायचे होते. तो तिथून निघाला. थोडे पुढे गेला. वळून पाहिले. ती म्हातारी गोड हसत होती. तो धावत तिच्याकडे आला. तिला मिठी मारली. तिनेही प्रेमाने त्याला कुशीत घेतले. जराशाने तो निघाला. घरी पोचला. आज तो खूपच खुश दिसत होता. आईने विचारले तसा तो म्हणाला, ‘देव कितीतरी थकला होता आई! भुकेला, तहानेलाही होता. तरी खूप गोड हसत होता.’

इकडे ती म्हातारीही घरी पोचली. केवढी आनंदी, केवढी तृप्त! रोजचा शीण नव्हता. एकटेपणाची बोच नव्हती. तिच्या मुलाला सारेच अनपेक्षित होते. ‘कुठे होतीस दिवसभर?’ त्याने आईला विचारले. ती दैवी तंद्रीतच होती. म्हणाली, ‘मला वाटत होते त्यापेक्षा खूप तरुण आहे देव! तरुण कसला? बालच!! न मागता मला सारे दिले. प्रेमाने मिठीही मारली!’ म्हातारीच्या देहावर वसंत ऋतू अवतरला होता. केवढा आनंद, केवढी तृप्ती, केवढे समाधान!!

माझ्या मेलबॉक्समध्ये आलेली ही छोटीशी गोष्ट मी वाचली आणि दिवसभर त्या मुलाचा आणि म्हातारीचा चेहरा माझ्या डोळ्यासमोर येत राहिला. सारे अध्यात्म एक छोट्याशा गोष्टीत ठासून भरल्याचे मला जाणवले. हजार धर्मग्रंथांचे सार एका गोष्टीत साठवणार्‍या कुणा अज्ञात लेखकाचे मला खूप कौतुक वाटले. देवाला निवृत्त करायला निघालेल्या किंवा देवाला शोधायला निघालेल्या प्रत्येकानेच ही गोष्ट वाचली पाहिजे. या एका गोष्टीत सार्‍या शंकांचे समाधान सापडते.....!!!!!!!!!

देव हा माणसाच्या मनात जेवढा असतो त्यापेक्षा जास्त माणसाच्या कर्मात असतो. आणि आपल्या चांगल्या कर्मातला देव कोणाला दाखवाण्याची गरज नसते. तो सर्वांना दिसत असतो. म्हणुन मंदीरातला देव टाळला तरी चालेल पण कर्मातला देव कधीही टाळु नका.

Black Spot

 
In a School, a teacher came into a class and told all the students that there was a surprise test. The students were all shocked and scared. The teacher handed out the question papers to all the students.
The students were surprised to see the question paper.
One of the students got up and asked the teacher – “Sir, There are no questions on the question paper, but just a black dot.”
The teacher replied – “That’s the surprise. Whatever you see on the paper, write around 200 lines about it.”
All students started the test feeling happy that everyone would pass. The test time was over and the students handed over their answer sheets to the teacher. Surprisingly, the teacher instead of marking them started reading the answers, loud among the class. Everyone wrote about the black dot, how it looks, its shape, size, the area where it was located on the paper etc.
After reading everyone’s answers, the teacher asked – can anyone tell me today’s moral?
No one had an answer.
Then the teacher said – Everyone is busy describing the Black Dot, none of you bothered to think of the White/Blank area surrounding the Black Dot.
Hence the moral is Everyone in hie or her life just concentrates and feel sad about the Black Dot in his or her life and no one sees the White area in life or the things one has achieved in one’s life.
Hence, in today’s world, we are all pin pointing at each other regarding the black dot/Mistakes in each other’s lives rather than looking at the bigger picture i.e. the White area/ or the things people have achieved.
Be it the NEWS, or in our working company, or be it Life.
We judge people only by the black spot without even having the perspective to think about the white area/ Good things he/she achieved in life.
Hence I request everyone through The Logical Indian, to look at the bigger picture (the White/Bright side) in life rather than pin pointing the black spot and fighting over it.
Be it News while blaming a political leader, or in office blaming your co-worker, your maid etc.
Because life is short, don’t waste time finding the Black Dots.
Submitted By – Ashwin Shenoy