One Boiled Egg

There is a happily married couple with children, enough money and social status. They have everything a family needs in order to be called a "Happy family". But somewhere deep inside them, they think that there is something amiss. May be they could have a still better life; with more freedom and adventure if they are more open against the existing traditions. A life wherein the wife could be husband and the husband could be wife. But even with such realization, they keep silence and continue to live their lives the way it is.

Such a situation is very common today. Not only in our relationships but in our day to day activities we have surrendered ourselves to fate and find ourselves caught, trapped in the cobwebs, we ourselves created. Some created it out of respect, some out of fear, some for the sake of sacrifice and many others for reasons unexplained and actions witnessed in our centuries old traditions. But it isn't true to say that we are irrational and impotent to reasoning. We do reason their existence and worth but while we grapple to find an answer, we are once again struck by the magnetism of our tradition and age old practices, blinding all our reasoning power at a point when we are at the brink of finding a solution. Let us take a simple instance to show the simplicity and yet the depth to which the cobwebs have swamped our thinking process. A boy one day felt a desire to eat boiled eggs while returning home. Unfortunately at that moment he had only Rs .4 with him which could buy him only a single boiled egg. So, he went to the egg seller who looked to him very poor and a man in his eighties. He took pity on the state of the clothes he was wearing and thought that the old man was too old to be doing such a job in the extreme cold. But again he thought- "What has that to do with my eggs." He asked to the man to prepare for him a boiled egg. The old man prepared the egg, cut it into two halves, salted them and gave to the boy, who now forgot about the poor old seller and was cherishing the delicious taste, he was going to experience in a few moments. His entire body would respond to the taste and he would feel complete and satisfied. But when the boy held the half cut eggs, he saw that they were not properly boiled. They would certainly not provide him with the taste he desired and thus he decided that it wasn't worth paying for. A half boiled egg couldn't provide him with the pleasure he wanted at the moment. But what could he do? He thought of complaining to the seller and returning the egg with his money back. After all he was an aware consumer; aware of all the consumer rights. But a second line of thought hit him. What would the poor old man do with the half cut eggs - throw it or eat it? In any case he would incur a loss of Rs.4 and he was too poor to bear any loss whatever be its magnitude. He thought "Was his taste and fulfillment more valuable than the needs of a poor old m?" At last he decided to eat the half boiled egg ignoring all his fears." He thought "Taste was a luxury; I can have it next time when I come here. I can live with sacrifices, after all a half boiled egg is still an egg having all the required nutrients. Taste always doesn't matter to me." And he left.

What the boy did to the poor old egg seller is gradually what happens to us in our day to day lives. Although the boy could have easily got the eggs replaced and enjoyed the taste of a fully boiled egg to fulfill his desires, but he on the other hand acted on the contrary. The boy's action demonstrates one vital truth which generally remains hidden and unseen by our naked eyes. The pleasure the boy derived by making a sacrifice; by helping a poor was much more gratifying and immensely fulfilling than his personal desires and goals. Whether it's a boy with a poor old egg seller or a couple living happily with unsatisfied hidden desires or any other human being having to make a choice between self desires and a desire to help others out of love, sacrifice, empathy etc, it's the later that always wins. It's the ethics that always win and drive humanity rather than the heart.

There may be about a hundred books written citing the significance of one's a desires, aims and what is one able to achieve in one's life. Numerous writers have explained how if one aims to achieve something, become successful if they direct all their energies in that direction.

But when you ask a common man about the realization of their dreams; dreams they had seen when they were children, then you would probably face a string of questions in return. "What about my responsibilities towards my family and society? Shall I ignore the dreams that my loved ones saw for me, while realizing my personal goals? What if I only like to sleep, eat and have fun all the time and don't want to be rich or famous? How do I get the money for my survival?" The questions are endless !!

What the great writers wrote in their books is to a great extent far from reality, especially in a country which is still developing, has unmatchable population, where millions of people are still starving to death, where there is massive unemployment and where people are ready to cut each other's throat for survival. In such an environment how can we just be a child, listening to our heart and leave the rest on destiny?? Yes, it's true that when we listen to our spirit, we experience a strange sense of power within us which takes us to virgin heights. But at the same time, it may mean murder of all the hopes, dreams and wishes which our loved ones, our parents and friends saw for us and our responsibilities towards them. What about the smiles we could place on their faces by becoming persons of their dreams rather than the single smile on our face by becoming the person of our dreams !!

- Abhijeet.