AUNTY Toto was not her real name, though strangely we all called her that! She had every kind of problem that you could think of, resting on her shoulders. Her husband had left her, her children had married wrong, her grandchildren were a source of worry and finally she found her body racked with cancer. But she smiled.
There was never a day when the passengers on the local train she travelled to work every day, didn’t hear her voice, rising over the din and telling everybody a joke. There wasn’t a day when those in the office she worked in, at an age when most others retire, didn’t see the smile on her face. Aunty Toto seemed the happiest woman in the world.
There you were on your birthday or wedding anniversary, wondering how the rest of the world had forgotten the date and the phone would ring and you would hear Aunty Toto’s voice cheerfully greeting you. Her fellow commuters in the Borivali local train, loved her company, and felt good as she brought a cake for a birthday commuter and sang gustily, louder than the sound of the hooting train.
Very, very few people knew that her life was full of suffering. She did not load her troubles onto people. Her friends and relatives loved to be with her, not just because she made them feel special, but because she infused positive energy into them. Aunty Toto lived with a smile on her face, and even though troubles tried to push her down, her buoyancy kept her afloat.
I was asked to speak at her funeral, and I remember telling the people, that right now she must be making all the serious angels and saints up there to laugh and guffaw and roar with laughter. I once asked her, her secret, “How do you manage to have such a positive attitude, with so many troubles?” “When you give others positive energy, it comes back double!” she said.
I never heard her pray, but I can imagine her prayer. “God, give me not just the strength to tackle the days problems but the joy of not getting affected by them. Help me to look beyond those troubles and enjoy the life you have given me. And then God help me spread it around!” God’s Positive energy. It’s yours for the taking. But if you want to double it, start spreading it around.
Can you hear laughter up there, maybe there’s a double dose of positivity for her even in heaven, what about you here on earth? Let’s double our positive energy..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
