I remembered a story from my childhood last night. I was unable to sleep, I remembered my english textbook from Prep class, 1990, 20 years ago... About a dog in Japan, which faithfully waited for its master everyday at the railway station, for 10 years, until it died. It used to see its master off every morning and meet him in the evening at the railway station. He was a professor, he didnt come home one day, he'd died of a heart attack. The town people noticed the dog waiting for him, they erected a statue at the railway station in its memory after it died.
That's all I remember about this story.
I know it was a true incident, I was wondering if I can find it online through the world of googling on the internet... But I didnt have sufficient details to search... I thought I might as well try...
But for some reason, today, I started reading an article about Hellen Keller on wikipedia...
and guess what, I read the following lines:
"
When Keller visited Akita Prefecture in Japan in July 1937, she inquired about Hachikō, the famed Akita dog that had died in 1935. She told a Japanese person that she would like to have an Akita dog; one was given to her within a month, with the name of Kamikaze-go. When he died of canine distemper, his older brother, Kenzan-go, was presented to her as an official gift from the Japanese government in July 1938. Keller is credited with having introduced the Akita to the United States through these two dogs.
By 1939 a breed standard had been established and dog shows had been held, but such activities stopped after World War II began. Keller wrote in the Akita Journal:
“ If ever there was an angel in fur, it was Kamikaze. I know I shall never feel quite the same tenderness for any other pet. The Akita dog has all the qualities that appeal to me — he is gentle, companionable and trusty."
I was really shocked, I just had this big big hunch that this is the dog I was thinking of last night, 20 years after having read about it in my textbook... Thanks to Wikipedia, I just clicked on the hyperlink, and reached the article "Hachiko".
So "Hachiko" is the name of the dog, he was of the Akita breed, his owner was Professor Hidesaburo Ueno, he worked at the Department of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, he died of a stroke, the dog lived from Nov 10 1923 - March 8 1935.
The power of my childhood memory, I remembered all the details right, I just forgot the names of the dog/owner/province/breed/dates. But the main story made a huge impact on my head, or heart...
Why am I blogging on this, several times in life, I have felt, I think of something, and it materializes in my real life, it crops up out of nowhere even after several years...
These kind of small incidents make me feel that the energy that is out there in the universe, is somehow connected to the energy that is inside me, that's how it knows what I thought of, and linked me to it! Not just once, several times. I thought, let me at least blog once! ;-)
Thanks God for saying hi to me in these small ways! :-)
My friend always told me, that whatever I say seems to happen! It is not that I can prophecy or influence the world, it is not like I can consciously say things which will materialize because of my having said them...
It is simply that sometimes something is supposed to anyway happen in the future, and I end up saying it spontaneously. Or my heart tells me that it is wrong, it will do no good, and that's what happens.
There was once we walked into a shop that sold souvenirs, knick-knacks, all kinds of 'showcase' stuff at cheap prices, 5 for $10, 7 for $10 etc. We bought something at 4 for $10 and stepped out. For some reason, I said, "Don't tell me we'll find it even cheaper in the next store". And wow, seriously, we entered another store and found it even cheaper! So went back to the earlier seller, had a brief argument with him and got a refund. And of course, my husband lectured to me on how I should control my tongue, he said all this happened only because I said it! :-P
The other day, I was searching for a long lost friend on google, and what a coincidence, when I signed into facebook, I noticed that one of my friends is now friends with a new user who had the same first name but a different last name! Turns out that the friend whom I was trying to locate got married and changed her name, but God made me bump right into her! :-O Sometimes I myself get shocked at how these things happen!
There is another thing I noticed, if somebody really troubles me or fights with me for no fault of mine, or wishes me ill, they get into a lot of trouble in life! It is not my doing, it is like God punishing them!
There was a time I was in a bus going from Bangalore to Tirupati. Two good-for-nothing loafer guys were sitting behind me. They started eve-teasing me, whispering things into my ears, one of them tried to slip his fingers into my seat from behind! I was appalled at how dirty people can be. My eyes welled up with tears. When we were passing through the forests of Karnataka, the loafers kept whispering that Veerappan might catch me!!
There was some lorry drivers strike going on, so some rioters/strikers wielding sticks stopped our bus to check it, to make sure that it wasn't transporting any goods. I really panicked looking at their sticks, I was in the first seat, some of them were staring at me and laughing at my fear, thank God they didn't get any perverse ideas. Meanwhile, the loafers sitting behind me started laughing too, whispering, "O am scared"...
I felt so broken, I just told myself, "If Draupadi's honour couldn't be cared for by five husbands in Dvaparayuga, how can I expect my dignity not to be hurt when I am a lonely woman in Kaliyuga"....
What happened in the next ten minutes was literally a miracle...
The loafers shut up for some reason... One of the guys started complaining of a severe stomachache, he said he needed the loo... but he was stuck on a bus in the forest... Finally his friend begged the conductor to stop in the forest.. The conductor refused (because of his earlier experience with the lorry drivers), the guy tried his best to control himself, soon he started weeping tears like a baby! Finally the conductor relented, and the guy went into the bushes after begging one of the passengers for a bottle of water to wash himself with.... He was thoroughly embarrassed with his condition, both of them shut up, all the passengers were irritated at the delay they caused.
I won't say life is easy, but I thank God that wherever my self-respect has been hurt, God has made those who wished me ill to repent and removed them out of my way. I believe in "Live and let live", but if some rowdy gangster kind of person doesn't let you live, you can only pray to God to solve the tangle.
Other problems of life, I can manage on my own, after all life is a struggle. But there are situations where I have really prayed for divine intervention and got it.
No comments:
Post a Comment