‘You don’t look yourself’, the young lady, stopped to take a longer glance at her senior.

‘This is not how I saw you always. What happened, what is going on?’

‘Why are you like this?’

‘Do you know you inspire me, I have never talked to you but from a distance, I have always watched you.’

The senior stood quiet, a bit stunned and taken aback.

The young lady was talented, a writer and a professor of great merit.

‘Me?’

‘Yes, mam, you are a strong woman and I look up to you. Life is not easy mam, but I want to be strong like you.’

‘Don’t come like this, get back to your original self, please’, the girl implored.

The senior stood quiet, a flurry of emotions racing through her mind.

As she walked ahead she asked herself, ‘Is this true?’

Sometimes it is good to see yourself from others eyes, the eyes of those who don’t censure you because even when you know you are a fighter, a cheer from and a cheer from there does not hurt.

Sometimes it is great to see someone stop by a little longer to hear you out, it is like, ‘I know there is hurt, just get it out’, so they come with little pieces of advice and suggestions, ‘ self care’, ‘have fun , you see that is what you should do’, ‘ net work, hmm, that is the mantra of the day’, ‘ go on, travel, why not?’, ‘ call me, let’s talk’, ‘ come, come, just come out with me!’, ‘chalo, this movie is great, let’s watch it’, oh! wow, how do you manage to look so good!’, stuff that comes out of sheer goodness, a large heart and concern for another human being.

So, when she sees a fighter herself, she does not fail to go up and say, ‘hey, you are doing a good job! I admire you’. Sometimes it is a student who has captured amazing pictures, a song writer, a speaker, an entrepreneur, an aspiring writer, a future film director and so on, sometimes it is a colleague who stays back after the class to clear a few more doubts even when he is missing his lunch break, at other times it is a friend who manages to fight back or extend a caring hand to someone in need, ‘hey, what is there, mam, that is life right, to help each other’, the simplicity of human spirit enthuses you to look bright everyday, even when the skies are clouded.

So, who did you walk up to, to say a good word today?

‘Ps: Team spirit not just in Gabba!