Gauri Shastri – My Story
Wedding bells were ringing in my house that month. It was a culmination of my love, and I couldn’t have been happier. It also happened to be Gudi Padwa, the most auspicious day of the Hindu calendar. I went shopping for my “Mangalsutra” with my best friend and my mother. I chose the most beautiful diamond, “Mangalsutra.” I stepped out of the jewelers elated at the newest addition to my trousseau, placing the box in a “plastic carry bag.”
My mother had other chores to do and drove away in our car while my best friend and I hailed an auto to go back home. On the way back, I placed the bag on the seat and chatted endlessly with my friend. I was so excited to show my relatives my “Mangalsutra ” that I got down from the auto and rushed home. I opened the bag to show them what I had shopped, and suddenly a colossal dread engulfed my heart. I realized the “Mangalsutra” box was not in the bag.
I ran down to my friend’s, asking her if she had it. Her refusal made me even more anxious as I rushed to where we had left the auto. We searched high and low for the auto. Engrossed in our conversation, we had not bothered even to see how the auto driver looked nor the number plate of the auto-rickshaw.
I was almost in tears. My friend suggested we register an FIR for the loss. We went straight to the police station, and the police took all the details. They traced our route back to the jewelers, embarrassing them with non-consequential questions. The police jargon was not fruitful. I was asked to come back the next day for my complaint. Dejected, my friend and I walked towards home, still hoping to find that auto.
I was crestfallen. The happiness a few hours ago had turned into utter grief for me. I thought about how my parents would chastise me for this carelessness. I cursed myself for my impatience. Just then, my phone rang, it displayed an unknown number. I picked up and, in a sad voice, said, “Hello.”
The voice on the other side said, “Hello, your lost Mangalsutra is with us. I am calling from Lalji Bhai Jewellers” My eyes filled with tears as my happiness knew no bounds. I ran back to the Jewelers to find a lady in a Burqa standing with my box of Mangalsutra.
I didn’t have words to thank her enough. The lady in the burqa narrated her side of the story. She was to take her sick son to the doctor and had come from Kurla to Mulund. She sat in the same auto that I had left. The moment she sat in the auto, she realized something piercing her thighs.
She looked under to see an intricately carved box with some jeweler’s name inscribed on it. She looked inside to see the gleaming diamond Mangalsutra in it. She knew it was Gudi Padwa that day, and some lady might have shopped for this exquisite thing for the same. She could feel the sadness of the lady on discovering she had lost it. Inshallah, she would try to return this to whoever had lost it.
She immediately looked for the inscribed phone number and dialed it. She gave the details and asked the address of the jeweler. She asked the same auto to drive her down to that address. There she stood with my priceless gift. I hugged the woman and cried with relief. I couldn’t thank her enough for her gesture, and I invited the lady to my wedding. The lady obliged, and she attended it happily.
A new bond was born that day, a friendship for a lifetime. I will never forget, the lady never gave up on her principles. Sometimes we are so prejudiced about specific people, but we fail to realize that we are the same humans after all.
“You don’t need religion to have morals. If you can’t determine right from wrong, then you lack empathy, not a religion”. No religion is more significant than humanity, and no prayer is more extraordinary than being kind. Humanity is more precious than any of the religions that exist in this world. Before becoming a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sikh, or a Christian, we must become human first.
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