I love biscuits, in fact, I am fond of all the bakery products like biscuits, rusks, muffins, brownies, cakes, etc. Being born and brought up in Dehradun I had the privilege to enjoy excellent bakery products from some fabulous bakeries like Sunrise and Elloras. Their biscuits are simply divine and the plum cake that they make is out of the world. I don’t live in Dehradun anymore, however since I love them so much that while traveling back, I usually have a separate suitcase full of biscuits alone.

I was back in my beloved hometown Dehradun for Diwali celebrations. Nothing feels better than being surrounded by your old friends and relatives especially during the festive time of Deepawali. I love this festival and as a matter of fact, I love this time of the year as I see positivity and celebration everywhere. As usual, after reaching Dehradun, me and my wife, we both got busy cleaning the house and buying gifts for friends and relatives. One evening while I was leaving for a friend’s house, I noticed decorative lights being put up on my neighbor’s house, he had hired somebody to do the task. I immediately spoke to him to do it for my house as well, which he agreed to and did quite beautifully.

As we know nothing remains forever, festivities got over and so came the time to remove the lights and other decorative stuff that was put up for Diwali. The guy who had put up lights at my house for Diwali had promised to come back to remove them, and as committed, he came back to do the job. I escorted him to the terrace where he had made all the joints and connections to make all the lights work with just a single button. While he was removing the lights, I took the liberty of enjoying the winter sun. Nothing like basking in sun during winters. I still remember my grandmother’s words “Ye to sardiyon ka mewa hai” (meaning – this is the fruit of winters). 

When I observed that the job is almost over, I asked him if he would like to have a cup of tea. A hot cup of tea in winter mornings cannot be compared to any other luxury in the world. As expected, he said yes to tea with a broad grin on his face. Once he came down I served him a cup of tea with biscuits and went back again to the kitchen, to see what is there for the breakfast. 

When I came back, I got really surprised to see that though he had finished his tea, he had not even touched the biscuits, and for somebody like me who adores biscuits, it was quite astonishing. I couldn’t stop myself and therefore asked him why did he not eat the biscuits; to which he replied saying he didn’t eat them because he will be taking those biscuits for his kids. I couldn’t believe to what I had just heard him saying. Something as insignificant as a few biscuits can have so much importance that he was saving them for his children.

While I was trying to process and absorb his words, I recalled my discussion, rather I should call it an “argument” that I had with my wife just before he came, about the biscuits that she offered me and what I wanted. I was not ready to compromise with the biscuits available in the house and wanted to have only my preferred ones. What a contrast! On one side, I was not ready to settle with what was available and on the other side there was this man who couldn’t even think about the choice, just because he wanted to give it to his kids.

We expect big things, and we’re fascinated by miracles, but we forget that life has already given us plenty of little gifts that other people want and don’t have. I think we more often count the things we don’t have than savor what life has already given us.

I immediately went back to my room and came back to hand him over the pack of cookies that I had bought for a friend but couldn’t give it to him because of being occupied with stuff during Diwali. Though I know we must value what we have instead of being grumpy about what we don’t, but he gave me a practical reminder of this.

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