My contribution to Sunday Scribblings #39 - Change
A tense Uday was staring at his home computer at 2 AM. He was supposed to complete a lot of work by next morning. For the past six months, his work had always been stressful and hardly he had time for himself or his family. Strenuous work pressures and taking more responsibilities than he could handle had started showing negative effects on his health. Stress, RSI, migraine attacks - he had everything.
His wife Reena could no longer bear to see his health getting deteriorated. Thinking that she should do something about this situation, she woke up the next day with a sense of conviction. After seeing her husband off to work, she went to visit her psychiatrist friend Pooja. As enthusiastic as always, Pooja greeted her with a warm smile. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, Reena explained the problem to her. As though she had been listening to such problems day in and day out, Pooja smiled and said "This is such a simple problem. Why don't you ask him to take a course of humour pills?". "Humour Pills? What are they?", Reena asked in a surprise tone. "Any problem can become solvable after a hearty laugh. Isn't it? These pills will help a person to remember funny moments in life and make him/her laugh", explained Pooja.
Satisfied with the solution, Reena returned home. "Reena, give me a strong cup of coffee. I'm having a bad headache", Uday said after returning from work late evening. "I've got you something dear. This will help reduce all your tensions and worries. It's called the humour pill. My friend Pooja who is a psychiatrist recommended this pill. Take this tablet everyday and you will start seeing the effect soon", explained Reena, looking at Uday's tired face. "Are you joking? There can't be such tablets", Uday said, not believing the concept of humour pills. "Why don't you give it a try before concluding that this is not going to help?", asked Reena. "All right. I'll try for a week. If it doesn't work, I will stop", suggested Uday.
The next day, after breakfast, Uday took his first humour pill. "Is this going to remind me of funny moments in life? No way", laughed Uday. As the day progressed, he started thinking about a funny incident that happened when he was in school. He was playing cricket with his friends and a sixer that he hit broke the neighbour's window. All of them ran towards a nearby bush to hide when the neighbour peeped through the broken window and shouted. After about half an hour, they came out slowly to check if the neighbour had gone into her house and they ran quickly to their respective houses. A smile flashed in Uday's face and then he realized the first effect. At first, he thought it was just a mere coincidence. But as days passed, he was reminded of many such funny moments in his life - how he was wearing different kind of footwear on his legs when he came out of the crowded temple, how he and his brother was having a fight for the big chocolate bar his aunt bought for them from UK, how he felt scared to sit in a ride in the amusement park etc etc. He started to look very calm and joyful these days. A big change had swept his life. He had started to think positively. His face had a slight glow and his health problems seem to subside very well.
After 3 months, Uday was a very happy person and his life had changed a lot. His wife Reena was happier and felt grateful to her friend Pooja. They decided to visit her to thank for her help. As usual, Pooja greeted them with a smile that is so contagious to resist. After knowing the details, she couldn't stop laughing. Uday and Reena stared at her with puzzled looks on their face. "Humour pills didn't create this effect on you, Mr.Uday. It was your mind. When you heard about humour pills for the first time, I'm sure you wouldn't have believed it. You want to prove it wrong. So you tried to resist thoughts that could remind of funny moments. As someone rightly said, 'What you resist persists'. Your mind can be a very good helper and healer. Alwaya remember that you are bigger than the problems you face. It's not the other way", Pooja explained.
"What are those tablets then? Will it cause any harm?", asked an innocent Reena. "Not to worry. Those are just vitamin tablets", Pooja winked.