A day that inspired me to keep looking forward!

Sometimes, you are destined to meet certain people in your life that will make you realize things that you didn’t know about yourself or couldn’t have known otherwise. And that, can give you a whole new meaning to life; a boost to keep climbing the ladder of hope and success that you needed all along. These are words of no renowned person; these are my sudden realizations that I collected on last couple of days via a serendipitous incident. (Yes, I am practicing for GRE test which explains the use of the difficult word ‘serendipitous’ ;) It means: occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way).

I met a wonderful girl at my GRE class last week. We actually know each other for quite some time but do not really talk that much because we both are busy with our other tasks, and heading to those right after the 2-hour class on the weekend, is the best we can afford. But last week was different and we both had some time to spare. And that day I came to know how intelligent, matured and established person she really is. She’s an engineer working in a multinational company on a handsome salary. I came to know that she has got 2 little children at home for whom she has to cook everyday after coming from work. And yet I had no idea that this is what she goes through everyday and still manages to finish her homework and perform so well in the GRE classes!

She was heading for a shopping complex as she had to get a gift for her colleague who is about to leave for Germany. I decided to give her company and so we walked the road to the shopping mall while I attentively kept listening to her story of life. She told me how she managed to obtain an MBA degree while being pregnant. “I had to do what I wanted to do, and nothing could stop me from achieving it”- these were her words. She went on saying, “I am a very stubborn person and my ambitions are high. I cannot compromise with my ambitions.

“Dream big and dream far. Whenever you get tired of working hard, think of how many days you have already left behind struggling for what you wanted so desperately. And never lose faith in yourself. The inner you can push you hard and long enough to achieve what you want”, she exclaimed. I don’t know whether it was the time of the late afternoon or the words that she articulated with so much of emotion, that when ever I close my eyes I can hear the words echoing inside of me loud and clear.

We entered the mall and I helped her choosing 2 shirts, one for her colleague and the other for her husband. She asked me to choose a color for her from the 3 different colors of shirt that she has finalized on: red, green and blue. “Please don’t ask me to choose if the color blue is there. I am a lover of blue and there’s no way I can pick any color but this one”, I said with a guffaw on my face and crossed my arms. She put up with my laughter and my choice and consented to buy the blue one indeed. We also wanted to grab some clothes for her kids but unfortunately the sizes seemed to be too small, “my daughter is very tall and beautiful, unlike me”, she said to me having a broad smile on her face. Sharmin is a very plain-looking woman on her 30’s maybe. but she looks a lot younger than her age because of her short height. Perhaps the brightest minds hide behind such prosaic physical appearances.

We grabbed our shopping bags and made our way out of the mall. It was a day unplanned with her and I realized how great a time I’ve spent with someone I knew not of until the last couple of hours. As I started to walk towards my road to home after bidding her goodbye, I watched her walk towards the food store to get meal for her kids and husband for dinner. I kept thinking on my way home that how could I allow myself to trust and go out with a person that I didn’t know so well when anything could have gone wrong that day. And then I realized that this was meant to be. I realized that I might have not planned this, but the Almighty did. I was going through some rough phases of life and I had doubts in my mind regarding all the hard works that I have been putting in my work and not been achieving the result yet. But now I know that I can keep looking forward for better days as the days too are there waiting for my arrival.