“The most beautiful
things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the
heart.” ~ Helen Keller
I remember when I first saw her. My heart felt like leaping
for joy out of my chest. It was as if I crossed paths with someone I knew from
eons ago and loved deeply and had been separated from for a very long time. My soul knew her. I desperately wanted to
hug her. Growing up in Western culture, I have been trained to respect the
personal space of others and have long grown past the age of random hugging being
perceived as acceptable. This is just not done because it comes across as
creepy and, in extreme cases, can land someone with a harassment lawsuit.
We exchanged smiles and she introduced herself and welcomed
me to the research lab. Her name is Pavarthi (pronounced just like ‘poverty’).
I was left in awe of this mysterious woman in a sari who emanated such a vibrant
light; in many ways she is one of the most beautiful creatures on
earth.
A few days later, Pavarthi came to my desk and asked me to
scan some documents for her. We started to chat. She told me an embarrassing
story from childhood. In turn, I shared a similar story from my own life which
was embarrassing to me at the time because there was no female figure in my
life to help me understand – only a grandfather who was probably just as
uncomfortable as me. This is when she took my hand, looked me directly in the
eyes and said, “I am your second mother.”
This is about when I my eyes welled up with tears and I
hugged her. She told me god is in me. It makes sense, not that I think about
it. A common Indian greeting is “Namaste” which means, “The Divine in me honors
the Divine in you.” I’ve always thought this was particularly beautiful. This
touched me, as I have set my spiritual self to the side for a time while I
focused on pulling myself out of a very dark place. Perhaps a sense of
spirituality would have eased the process, but I felt this was something I had
to conquer on my own.
The next day, Pavarthi came to my desk and told me that she
and her husband Vijay were celebrating their 31st wedding
anniversary. They have not had any children, and would love for me to come and
celebrate with them. I was touched and floored at the same time. Me? Really? I’ve
never thought of myself as a particularly loveable person and she extentded nothing but love towards me.
"Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest . . . It's about who came and never left your side."
No comments:
Post a Comment