This is the story of what happened
when God googled “ THANKS”.
Not a long time ago, in a place nearby-
where God resides; He was having His normal day at work.
Amidst the clamor and din of answering
wishes and desires of all His creations, specially the ones who could “ speak”,
he heard a soft and gentle “THANKS”. He turned to one of the ameshaspendas,
angels, to find out where it came from, as He continued His good work.
4 hours past- God and His angels were
still doing the granting of wishes routine when suddenly, He heard it again- a soft and gentle “THANKS”.
God turned to see the overworked angel He had asked to find the source of the
thanks and decided not to admonish him
for forgetting his task.
Meanwhile the din continued –“ God
please help me study for my exams and score an ‘ A ‘. Please help me with a
raise after the appraisals’ results are out, I need it more than anyone else,
please You KNOW that. Please heal my wounds. Please get me a merc. I NEED that
Beemer. Please save me from my creditors, please let Firoz ask me out to
Saturdays dance, DON’T let that guy do
better than me, make our journey safe, make that guy drop dead, let me get
elected, where did I leave my false teeth after the party?, please trip Jessica
on the catwalk so I can win the contest, please make me win the lottery, please
help me get an auto rickshaw from Andheri Stn. to Juhu lane, please do
something about Mamta Banerjee, Vasant (hockey-stick) Dhoble , hang the rapists
and murderers of that brave girl NIRBHAY, help out Salman Khan, please let me
SEE Katrina Kaif at least once in this lifetime, please keep women safe on the
streets of India, make me a grandpa soon, send the Churchgate local fast…..”and
suddenly the same soft voice said “ THANKS”.
That’s when God decided to check it out
Himself. Having a particularly busy day , He simply scrawled Google into the sky with His
index finger, and in the search box
wrote THANKS, as he continued His good work. To His surprise there was only one result.
Locating the word to a site in Bombay
Central, He discovered the sender to be one Gustad. 5 times a day, at the
strike of evey Geh ( Call to pray), for the past 32 years it was a THANKS coming
from this particular address. He scrolled further down , only to find that
Gustad was a taxi driver till he met with an accident in 2008 that left him paralysed below his waist
and bedridden. Gustad’s 9 year old son would
wake up at 5am every morning to wash 15 taxis’ standing outside Nair Hospital
for an hour, and then rush home to give his mother the Rs.150 he earned for his
efforts , and be off to school at sharp 7.30am. His mother , Jeroo, would have
a glass of milk and breakfast of omlette pao or bun muska, ready for her child to take as his tiffin.
Jeroo would tend to Gustad’s
abulations and tea and breakfast till 8am with a loving smile on her face
always, before rushing off to cook meals
for 3 neighbourhood homes. At the stroke of 10.30am , Jeroo was back home to
pamper and care for every need of Gustad, who would reciprocate her love in the
best ways he could.
Jeroo ensured lunch was always ready
by 1.00pm, the time their son, Soli came home from school. After lunch the
three of them would take an hours’ nap .When
they woke up it would be around 3pm and Jeroo would start her routine of making
bhakras, vasanu, chapats ( pancakes), and whatever else she had collected
orders for from the neighbourhood on the previous days. Gustad would be helped
to the ground and then would start kneading the dough to help his dear Jeroo.
Soli would run all the last minute errands of getting whatever his dear mamma
might ask him to. After an hour Gustad would be helped back onto his bed, given
his medicines caringly , and then as the Geh, was sounded from the nearby
agiary ( fire temple), he would say his soft spoken THANKS. By 5pm Jeroo would step out with Soli to sell all her
wares and be back home at 7pm.
When God saw all this on his divine
screen of the blue sky, he felt a lump in his throat. He had his OOPS moment
right then and there.
He asked the helpful ameshaspendas ( angels)
to continue their good work and stepped out straight into Gustad’s small 10
foot by 15 foot home. HIS neatly turbaned face was blazing with ethereal energy ( Tez) , the neat white
robe , broad white belt around the waist and the neatest pair of shoes with an
unmatched gleam to them added to his divine aura. As God walked
towards the bed where Gustad was lying,
Jeroo continued to stir lovingly in the pot, without as much as looking up to
see what was happening. Soli continued doing his homework without the slightest
interruption too.
Sitting beside Gustad on his bed, God
held his hand gently and said……………………….” Don’t you ever ask me for
ANYTHING Gustad?”
“ But you ARE with me already, ALL the
time. See Jeroo stirring up the best guava jam this side of the Arabian Ocean,
sells like hot cakes every season! I see you in her eyes everyday and say THANKS.
See my son Soli over there……………”hey Soli say Hi to God”, said Gustad
cheerfully. Before Soli could reply ,God said “ Hey Soli how’re you doing ?”and
Soli looked up from his homework to say “ I’m doing good , thank you for asking
Sir” , almost in a distracted manner as he returned his concentration to his
pending homework. God had one more question for Soli, “ Do you want ANYTHING at
all from me kid ?” Soli said “ Yes, please taste some of my mom’s bhakras’,
every body around loves them.”
God felt another lump rising in his
throat. Turning his attention to Gustad, God spoke gently- “ Let me change your
life son, you shall walk again, you will drive your taxi again, Soli will never
have to wash cabs again, Jeroo and you can make All your dreams come true and…………..”
God paused mid sentence as Gustad
raised his hand as if to interrupt His flow of blessings and said , “ Sure God do it, but then what if I forget
to say THANKS ?”
And God hugged him and
CRIED .
