Please don't pass it on to me!!!

Some things I enjoy...
If they are passed on to me....

Like Good wishes....
A Blessing from Loved ones....
Compliments....
Happy secrets...
Positive stuff!!..

But increasingly...
I find...
I'm left holding...
A different kettle of fish altogether....

I seem to be at the receiving end of.......
Complaints....
Worries....
Problems...
Made to listen to the woes of others!!!
A lot of negative stuff!!!

Granted that...
I too am guilty sometimes..
Of doing all the above to those I love!!!!

But usually...
I do not let it all hang out...
Or at least...
I save the personal rants and disclosures for close family and even closer friends!!!....

So..
It does not seem fair that
Wholesale cribbing is so much a part of the stuff...
Of the conversations...
That seem to be coming my way now!!!

Things would be so different..
If we took a leaf out of Jainism...

When a Jain nun ...
Is inducted into the fold...
She is told...among other things...
Not to react to attacks.. or beg...cry..or feel superior...demand...or be disturbed by illusory things.....
And most important of all...
She is told NOT TO COMPLAIN!!!!...

If only WE would do the same!!!

A few weeks ago...
It was the turn of
The Matriarch of Sweatshop..
To do the dumping...

Now in her early sixties....
She amazed one and all...
By choosing our monthly meeting...
To tell us..
By reading aloud...
Two morbid poems...
That all was not well with her world!!!!

Deaths of sundry authors...
Left her feeling that...
Nothing mattered any more..

All that had happened up until then..
And the rest of her life that stared her in the face!!!
Seemed meaningless!!!

And we were privy to this information...
And knew not what to do with it!!!
Apart from feeling low......
Ourselves!!!

In quite an unconnected development..

A few weeks ago...
Surrogate Mother bought a new car!!!!....
Now well into her eighties....
She was excited at the prospect....

After a lifetime...
Of being an ardent fan of the Fiat brand...
And only white ones at that!!!
She suddenly switched loyalties.....
And decided to get herself a silver-gray Maruti A Star....

She was excited!!!!
And
Dragged herself to the photographer for the mandatory passport size pix...
Bright and chirpy and happy...
At the thought of this new toy!!!

She may be in the evening of her life...
But she is no whiner!!!!
She loves life...
Ups and downs and all!!!

Surrogate Mother makes me feel that...
That there are...
Happy moments out there in abundance!!!!
And..
We can find reason aplenty to be happy..
Even when we hit ninety!!!!!...

Problem is...
We are conditioned to think that life should happen..
In a straight line...
That the graph should only keep moving upwards...
Or else...

We also associate happiness...
With that fireworks feeling!!
That it should be an intense...long..experience..

But often..
It could just be a quiet peace...
A moment of calm and restfulness!!!
Or the delight that a new beginning can bring...
A very subtle thing.....

Surrogate Mother shows me that...
Life is worth looking forward to...
One should not despair!!!

Happy patches appear....
Not only in one's youth...
But in middle age...
Or even when one is old
And the world expects you to vegetate....

The realization so comforted me!!
That I felt I had to tell you all about it!!!

It also signals......
I think...
That it is time...
I checked myself out of Dullsville!!
Where I have been a permanent resident...
These many weeks since I came back!!!

Adios then!!!
And Good Cheer to one and all!!!