A Very Special Person

            I have always thought what it would be like to be a very special person in someone else’s life. It would be a good feeling isn’t it? But I don’t want to talk about me as a very special person. I would like to introduce a person who is very special to me. I know we have lots of people who have really mattered in some way or other but I would like to say about a very special person who touched my heart.

            The person is a she. She really helped me in being my present self. Her persistence, patience and above all her love for whoever comes in contact with her is what made her special. Her speciality is, she makes everyone feel special, as a VIP (Very Important Person). But that is one facet of her personality.

            The other is her strong will to make something happen from nothing. She is a social worker. And she works in a very remote poor village. The work in itself to make the illiterate villagers understand the intricacies of laws for getting government services to their village is a herculean task but her persistence, patience and a will to win have earned her a reputation in her field of work, as a winner. All officials are at awe with her work. Everyone has total faith in her that they just give her a free hand to do what she feels because they know in the end she would succeed. That’s her clout in work.

            After all the hectic work day and night as a social worker, when she reaches home she is a meek housewife through and through. She prepares according to the liking of all. Her food is very tasty that she sometimes had to sleep with just water to drink. If there is a visitor, she ensures, to make something special for that person too. I haven’t heard her utter a resenting word against “always working” and “nobody helps her” or anything of that sort. But everyone knows that she is really wilted totally but her touch is the magic of her family. They need her presence. And she knows it too. So she prepares food wholeheartedly without an utterance.

            The first time I met her at her home, I was a teenager and I had a sweet tooth (even now I have it) and she knew it so she always made me a sweet until the day of my departure and she used to give me some beauty tips so that I should look beautiful. She would say, “This is the age to look beautiful. So you should use Besan (Dal Powder) on your face, do that, do this and she would make sure that all ingredients are there ready for my use. It was the first time, I had this experience. At first I didn’t know because I felt it natural but when I left her presence I knew the difference because only mothers do like this, none others. Then  I knew, she is indeed special. She is one in a million, who could do this to another child without any prejudice or qualm. Its not only me that she passed on this feeling, to all the children, to all the cousins of her husband’s, hers, friends, neighbours, etc...

            Now I know, what a difficult task is to become special. For her these acts is not forced, its like a second skin, but for me and the others who was touched by her is a lesson, which we would never forget to pass on because I met most of the kids (my cousins) who stayed with her, after that and still now, they’re different, very social people. Its not like simply talking and laughing, its something that is different from within. We can feel it.

            I feel lucky that I had the opportunity to have been with her, live with her and help her which actually she did it for me, understand myself and help me find my potential and to be persistent to reach  my goal and she is none other than my all in all Mrs. Chinnamma Thomas. She is my sister. She is working in Andhra Pradesh as a Social Worker in her own firm named Rural Development Society(RDS). Her husband, my brother Mr. P.J. Thomas is the backbone of her success who supports her in all her endeavours and with two kids, Renjith and Tara all grown up and studying and ready to take flight from the nest grew up as very nice kids, you might ask why nice? Well, they left their studies to look after their ailing grandmother until her demise (that comes to nearly two months). In this day and age I don’t know any parents who would allow, their kids to stall their studies for grandparents. Now you understand how people change because of her. She values human being, relationship not the money, nor the position.

            I have felt that her policy is to love fellow beings without bounds when alive than grieve after death. I don’t know whether she have had any regrets regarding relationships, whether it is for a villager or for her family, she is there for all. Seeing her work I feel awed and small. Such a multi faceted personality giving her best in all facets and living selflessly is the lesson we should learn.

            She is like a garden with a variety of flowers and fragrances. Let many be able to be touched by her. Though I can’t be a garden, I’ll try my level best to at least be a flower. To tell you frankly, its a hell of a lot of hard work, to make someone feel cherished and special. Wish me luck. I’m persisting.

Meena