Beauty from Ugliness

“The people who make a difference are not the ones with most credentials but the ones with the compassion” – Max Lucado

I have often wondered how an ordinary woman from some ambiguous country can come into one of the largest countries in the world and serve the poorest of the poor so well that she was the recipient of that country’s highest honour. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu became Mother India by choosing to see beauty in ugliness. We must respect and admire people like that simply for the reason that we may never be able to achieve what they did. (Although some of us may, in our dreams!)

Waiting for bus to get home one evening; I have encountered a most repulsive being. Lost in my thoughts, I felt something moving on my right side. As I turned, I saw a man, well! actually an egg shaped head with an owl eye on one side and an elephant eye on the other (Actually, he resembled one of those crooked creatures in LOTR trilogy. Please don’t shame yourself by asking what is LOTR). Attached to the egg head, was a pumpkin with one hand that was twisted beyond hope and one leg was shorter than the other one. I just had to turn my eyes away in convulsion. It really was the ugliest sight I have ever seen. As the initial shock wave passed, I became curious, so I sat watching him with a corner eye. He was leaning on to the bus-stand railing, clothed in torn clothes, face shabby, and looked very drowsy.

My mind was filled with million thoughts. “Oh! God, what a horrible condition… I wish I could do something…I wish I have the power to make him a human being…but what could I do, I am powerless…I am not God….” While my thought process was in full swing, I saw that somehow he managed to pluck himself from the railing and moved towards a young couple that were on the other edge of the railing. I can see a loathing look in the eyes of the guy, the same look I had at first. The Ugly head was saying something and the boy was frantically waving away his hands, even as the girl simply turned her head away and sat as if nothing really is happening there.

Then, to my horror, he turned to where I was sitting. As he dragged himself along the railing towards me, I panicked. Feverishly I searched my pockets for some change, as I assumed he was begging for money. The least I can do for him is give at least a two rupee coin. To my dismay, I only had five rupees, and that’s exactly what I needed to get back home. My face turned paler and paler even as he was inching closer and closer. I wanted to help him, but I didn’t have anything to give him. Oh God! please help me.  The closer he came the faster my heart was beating. A sudden urge to disappear gushed in.

I would have quietly got up from my place and walked away, if I had not seen his face. When he was seated far away I could only see the egg head, but now as I looked at his dust filled face, a distorted drooling mouth caught the attention of my eyes and I suddenly turned numb.  My legs just gave away and got stuck to ground. My eyes bulging out of their socket, watched helplessly as the hideous head arrived. He was saying something, I was still petrified at the sight of him. I just wanted to run away. After what felt like an eternity, as if someone hit me on my head, I jolted and came back to senses. And what I heard with my ears, at that moment, changed my life forever.

“Bhayya, can you help me cross the road. My tricycle is on the other side of the road.”

Now, I understand why Mother Teresa is a Mother and I am a Moron. I guess, the probability of us starting destitute homes, orphanages, hospitals, and changing the world, as saints like Mother Teresa, are as remote as Yuvraj Singh making 10000 test runs. But I realized, what made Mother Teresa worthy of Bharat Ratna. – She chose to ‘LISTEN’.

The ugliest person I have ever stumbled upon, taught me a simple and yet the most profound lesson – If I can leave my prejudices aside and choose to listen first, I can really make a difference. Beauty from Ugliness, the oxymoron of life!

next time let’s talk about Blindness…ciao!