Thank God! You are there

(Published in Middle Space on 15^th Aug 2009)

Thank God! You are there

                                                                Dr. Jyoti Patil

It all began with the discussion why today’s youth is turning towards God these days which is perhaps a very startling shift in this cyber age where amazing discoveries have become a commonplace happening, where materialism and physical pleasure rule the roost and youngsters are free to follow their whims and fancy defying their parents’ dictates. When you only face dismal situations on home front, in your close circles, in society and in the world in general, you have nothing left except distress and depression. There you have someone looking at you with compassion and care and it does not matter to Him whether you are young or old, beautiful or ugly, rich or poor, good or bad. The only thing required is to seek His help and He is there to help you in any situation.

Recently I was travelling  in a train from Amritsar to Delhi, I happened to get a chair car face to face with a young couple with a year old daughter. They settled down very comfortably and before the train started they all fell asleep. It seemed they all were very tired and hardly had strength to revel themselves in the beautiful surrounding. The train started moving and gradually gathered good speed. After half an hour I noticed them all awakened and little worried about something. They were searching their entire luggage frantically. They were talking in a language which at first was difficult to decipher for me but slowly I understood that they were talking in some south Indian language. But later I was informed by the girl that they were speaking Konkani.

They both started making frantic calls to the hotel people where they had stayed last night after having darshan of Harminder Sahib and a visit to Indo-Pak border at Wagha. I gathered from the fragmented information they were sharing on phone that the girl had left her mobile on the side table of the hotel room. She had perhaps left few other things but she was worried about her mobile. I heard her telling the hotel manager in chaste English that they were doctors and had an important visit to certain hospital for MCI inspection and they were awaiting some important calls on the cell which they had forgotten at his hotel. It was very important for them to get the mobile back in any case. The boy contacted the trip manager and conveyed about their problem. But the manager told them to wait and see if the mobile was retrieved by the hotel boy.

 Watching them in such a fix, I also in a way got                          involved and became worried about them. Just to give them some courage to tackle the situation I initiated and gave them few counsels to keep their cool. Then I enquired about their visit to the Golden Temple and told them to remember the Holy Granth Sahib perhaps God will suggest them some way out. I also narrated about a reality show in which the girl was about to loose and there she prayed to Saibaba and surprisingly she escaped the situation. The strong faith in God always plays wonders, it was my strong belief.

The girl then following my advice prayed to God and chanted some incantations for Saibaba to rescue her from the situation. Quite surprisingly the help came earlier than expected. The girl got a call from the hotel manager that the mobile was not found in the room and they must check their belongings properly. I then suggested them to send a ring to the number of their lost mobile. She followed my advice and a phone started ringing from their bag in which they had kept their daughter’s eatables. It was a moment of relief and joy not only for them but also for me as I became more concerned about them. She exclaimed with a sigh of relief, “Thank God! You’re there.” I only remembered Robert Browning’s famous lines in his ‘Pippa Passes’ “God’s in His Heaven, And all’s right with the world.”