The soulful touch



It is rightly said that ‘They never fall who have fear of falling in their own eyes’. The fear of falling in one’s own eyes can act as the most formidable deterrent in guiding and navigating the human behavior. But the need is to properly nurture such fear in one’s conscience and give due space to such moral policing in purifying one’s body and soul. Souls need to be stirred at times. Such soul stirring can be provided by any casual incident or episode, or by any ordinary human being. Such genuine stirring of the soul can purify one’s character and make any person, a true human being.

I got a chance to visit Goa on a pleasure trip during this winter break.  After enjoying complete leisure and fun I boarded the flight back to New Delhi. With all the excitement of returning home after a full week and ecstasy of those fun filled moments in my heart I took my seat. A couple of rows in front of me, three youths in their early twenties were seated. They all appeared Punjabis from their accent. The T shirts they were wearing proudly depicted the signature picture of the legend S. Bhagat Singh. No sooner was the plane airborne than they started summoning air hostess on the smallest of pretext and insisted on ordering the things which were not available on plane. With continuous repetition of their tantrums everyone seated around started noticing them, some of them even commented upon the degradation of today’s youth in getting indulged in booze, drugs and other habits as they appeared under influence of liquor. The view point emerging there pained me badly deep inside as some of the persons even dared to generalize the scenario and specifically mentioned the menace of drug abuse in Punjabi youth. With my heart badly bruised I decided although reluctantly, to talk to them and advise them to mend their ways but the fear of inviting the uncalled for trouble for myself haunted me and dampened my desire. My heart sulked somewhere and got restless and wanted desperately to pounce upon a chance to talk to them.

Amidst all such feelings I saw one of the boys getting up and walking through the aisle. Perhaps he intended to head towards the wash room. As he was about to pass by me I mustered courage to talk to him and gestured towards him my intention to do so. He very consciously stopped and leaned forward to listen to me. I started with pointing my finger at picture of the all time legend and iconic figure S Bhagat Singh. “I guess he is your ideal and role model” I asked. He nodded embarrassingly. I affectionately but in a very candid way asked him “Then why are you not feeling his touch?” “Are you paying him the respect and honor he deserves? His soul might be cursing you as you appear to be in grip of such nasty things. How can he be your ideal? Perhaps your generation likes to keep him close only cosmetically. The need is to feel his touch, nurture him in your heart and ingrain him into your soul. Then try enjoying his aura and dwell deep into it”. I continued. ‘OK sir’ was the reply as he headed towards the wash room. As he came back to his seat his friends seemed to be enquiring the crux of his conversation with me. They sheepishly continued talking to each other. After a couple of minutes of their conversation two of them got up and laid hands to their cabin bag, opened it, drew a carry bag and headed towards the wash room again, bearing the sarcastic and coquettish smiles of people all around. When they returned, I was pleasingly amazed at seeing them with the changed T shirts. As they  passed by me, both of them threw a very gentle smile at me. This time their gait depicted an immense amount of confidence and pride. I thanked them by reciprocating the smile.
 As I was patiently waiting for my luggage at the conveyor belt at New Delhi airport, the trio approached me and felt sorry for what they did. I in a very loving way told them the importance and value of the sacrifices made by those martyrs. How The real life Paras Manis dwelling in those martyrs possess the power of turning even the rusty character of human beings into gold just by a mere touch and how that touch is being sinfully missed by today’s generation which is interested only in giving cosmetic respect and idolatry to these legends who made supreme sacrifices for the country. I urged them to ponder over all such things if they really respect and adore their role models. “Adopting their teachings and mannerism in our life would be the greatest tribute to the departed souls who should continue to live in endeavors”. I advised them. They promised me to put off all the dirty habits instead of putting of the signature T shirts.  The deeds and charisma of those departed souls who after all these years continue to maintain their patina and aura in such a way that only a hearty touch with their memories is enough to purify the rusty character of human beings keep me mesmerized. Long live the martyrs in our deeds, hearts and souls.
DR SANJEEV TRIKHA

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