Contentment

Author: Adit Vishnu

The incident is set in Kerala, India.

It really is a monumental achievement if you can reply “I am content” to someone asking “How are you?” I asked myself the question and realized that at all points in my life the answer has never been that. A few months before, I chanced upon someone who did not have anyone or anything to claim as his own. He was also seen to be in no fit mental state and spent most of his time in the local temple. While I did not talk to this man myself, I overheard the conversation he was having with a couple he had just met then. Whatever I know of this man was from this conversation.

It seemed that some good Samaritan had given him a room to sleep in. While he was in no shape to cook, some household and a restaurant in the locality had assured him a meal at some point of the day. While he was talking to them, he noticed that the couple did not have any prasad with them. He decided to give them some of what he had, which was presumably the only food he was going to have that night. The couple objected but the man would have none of it. He rushed to his room and found them a packet to take the prasad. They reluctantly took the packet and continued chatting with him. His parting words to them were about how content he was. The highlight of his routine, according to him, was that he got hot tea two times a day from someone.

While at my extravagant dinner that night, I asked myself,

“Will I ever be content?”