An Evening with Grandfather........... The story of the Christmas carol and the childhood motivating stories have always played a deep impact inside my mind some way or the other and I have always been worried about how these stories are and how real are the way in which we call god. People believe in the concept of chanting mantras and prayers which have a definite meaning but to me the existence was always a question the answer of which was not properly framed, till that day when I believe god came to me as the old man.......... I was alone at home and so I decided to go for an evening walk and enjoy the cool breeze that was blowing by the pond. But then my eyes feel into an old gentleman who appeared to be a very knowledgeable and was in traditional white dress. His hair was dry ad had lost it's color but the shine in his eyes and the glow in his face proved that he had some depth inside him, from inside my heart wanted to speak to him speak to the person for the first time and interact because wisdom increases with increase in age and knowledge increases the more you listen but obviously not with some useless talks which we generally do chatting with friends. But I think no person in this world should be surprised if I say that sometimes very innovative ideas come up in the roadside tea stalls also. The man gave me a smile and asked me the time. I said and then asked my name and enquired my residence. I was not supposed to speak to strangers, he could be someone who could give me a biscuit containing a sleeping pill and could run away with my mobile but somehow form my inside it felt that this man was going to give me a good lesson in my life. We soon interacted he said he does a lot of things in life, but his primary task is to show mankind the right path in their life. I thought for an instant that he was crazy. He said as a normal human you say you want to be successful, and you always try to be perfect but you have not defined the definition of Success and Perfection till date and probably no human can because even god is not perfect and that is why sometimes defective humans and abnormal animals are born, hatred is still there, and whatever in this universe is being created shall one day be destroyed. I had to agree to him because I could use my logical reasoning to make his point invalid.......... He asked suddenly ," Do you trust strangers?" I replied ,"No!" but I had developed a hidden trust about this man inside me and it appeared that this man was trustworthy and I could learn something from him about the different perspective he was giving me about life. He was actually giving a concept that perfection is just like limit tending to one in calculus which means the value of unknown variable X shall move near zero but never be equal to zero, and perfection was kept at point zero. So I replied since now we have interacted for quite a lot of time grandfather so we are not anymore strangers. He asked me can you trust me and see what life is with me, I will take you to few places and show you people who are not perfect but they are happy, very happy in their life. If you do not mind walking with me and going to some places for sometime which you alone shall never go. I thought in my mind and decided to trust upon him, not totally ruling out the thought of being actually trapped and being kidnapped. I had a fear in my mind but my heart said me to move on. We decided to walk and look at three humans who are actually happy. The first was MALATI. We went to malati's house a shabby home from outside a small one, but inside it was beautifully neat and clean. People like you and me should never talk to malati to be very frank because she belonged to the third type of Human Being and earned her living by singing in the local train and begging. Malati greeted grandfather and greeted me with a warm welcome and gave us wonderful coffee to drink, I still felt it was an attempt to kidnap me and was a trap but some instinct inside me was telling me that it was a learning experience. An experience that would change my attitude the way of my thinking. I decided to have some courage and had a sip it was the best coffee I had ever had and the taste was superb with raisins, nuts and chocolates and the cream. I gained some courage and asked malati don't you feel sad sometimes for what you are. Malati smiled and said," You are lucky, but I am happy that I am atleast a human, I have all you have and I can do all you can do only thing is I cannot multiply. It felt sad but not when Grandfather met me and showed me how to find happiness in helping others, now every day I earn around Rs. 5000/- begging the whole day probably you give me more out of fear that my curse will ruin your life, but I have always blessed all everybody in my life. I now give food to beggars, I now buy fishes and put them back to the pond and that gives me the happiness the happiness to survive. I wished malati goodbye and touched her feet because it was she who was actually trying to maintain our marine ecosystem somehow by buying alive fishes from the fish market and put it back to the ponds and may be because of her efforts we were getting more local fishes to some extent. It was a small effort on her part but it needed a big heart to do it actually. I went out and I was feeling that humans like malati if allowed to come to the mainstream will make wonders, may be because they are special and should not be ignored till grandfather took me to the house of murshed chacha............. Murshed Chacha was a labourer. He did not even get two meals most of the days. His house were broken, clothes were torn. He lived with his son aslam and his wife Hasina. Aslam lost his hands and was unable to do his basic jobs and Hasina had to work as a domestic help. They had the troubles of the entire world. It appeared to me that if I was in their position my survival would have been at stake, But murshed chacha had a smile that would probably end all the hatred in the world, Hasina was so beautiful that she could have won the title of miss Universe if groomed properly but, for them getting a plate of rice twice was a question. Grandfather bought a plate of tarkadal and chapatis for them and when he gave it to them Murshed chacha hesitated. He did not want to take any food for free but grandfather convinced him saying it was form him a treat to get a new friend, and he pointed me. I was proud that for the first time my friendship to someone could give them their food for the night. I was about to cry. My heart was filled with immense joy and the pleasure of helping somebody to eliminate his hunger is also a great experience, the people who have done it must have known, if not some day try and feed a beggar's child with an "egg roll" and see the joy on their face. But then we had to leave them to because the time was short and the third man was waiting for grandfather............ But on the road a strange thing was happening to me I was walking quite fast, and doing all sorts of discussions with grandfather, I was literally walking faster than the automobiles at the road and I could feel some driving force beside me but I was not sure whether it was the effect of meeting malati's blessings or murshed chacha and his family's happy face but some invisible force was making me walk faster, faster than my original speed...... He was Mr. LAL or Advocate Dr. LAL, lived with his family and had all modern facilities available. A doctorate in LAW and one of the best known in his profession and was also a very famous professor. He had a beautiful daughter but she was totally a spoiled, be had his wife who had an affair with his brother and his son was addicted to drugs. For Dr. LAL money was always present as a motivation, he had money to do all leisure activities go to spa, best hotels and drink the costliest whine but he had no happiness because his family was totally shattered. I asked grandfather after we came out. In the meantime we were offered special chocolate cookies, imported biscuits, the best available champagne but the warmth with which malati was serving was totally absent, all that was done was done because it had to be done and was a part of the protocol, but then I asked why was it so that Mr. LAL could not make his family, Grandfather said ',LAL is a very successful man in his profession. He has won a number of cases and in the urge to make money has ignored his family and as his wife was lonely she ran with his brother when his twin son and daughter were kids. LAL was a strong lawyer and so he proved that his children's custody should be with them and their mother was incapable of looking after them. His wife cried a lot but forgot as she lost all hopes and LAL would not change his decision. She is now happily married with LAL's cousin Mr. NAG and has a son who serves as a doctor in the army. LAL had put the best governess and staff for his children but the result is in front of you because money cannot give you everything in life. Mr. LAL to everybody form outside when goes in his Merceedes may be a happy man but he is really sad and is a totally unhappy man." It was then Grandfather asked me ,"Now what do you feel about success, how do you relate yourself as the choice among the three characters and If you can chose to be socially responsible like malati, maintain your family like murshed chacha and make a sound carrier like LAL then you can be called a perfect man. To be called successful you must balance between all three and then you can say that you have gone very near to the limit of success........." , he smiled. I suddenly noticed that Grandfather was slowly becoming blurred. He said me, whenever you face a trouble try to imagine these three character's and think on behalf of them you will come out I hope and then my telephone rang. I picked up and opened my eyes. It was my mother giving me a wake up call, wishing me a good morning.......I was now with grandfather it was evening and suddenly how could I travel faster than time. It was either I met god who came to me and suggested me how to live my life or it was a dream of my imagination which was projected by my brain in co-ordination of my heart when I was asleep. I did not remember what had happened last evening, whether I had my food or not, I could only remember I came back from college and had regular evening tea and washed my face..........but after I had a bath getting ready for college I saw Grandfather again, this time in the photograph which we all worship as god............... And I remembered his words, "God will not help you if you chant mantras for him and give him offerings, give him water, god will give you positive energy when you have the self belief and the desire to perform, the motivation to respect and the ability to love, the way you perform and then you thank god for what he has given you, god will show you the way, he gives you several opportunities and you have to judge the best option for you. Because he is not perfect he cannot control you but he gives you several option and you have to trust yourself and if you trust yourself you actually trust god......................". From that day day in my life I have always tried to prove to myself my abilities and that has taken me far in my life, improving my communication motivation, my common sense and my desire to perform and survive........... Anindya Mukherjee