My cleaned Plate!

 

On our cycle expedition, we were 6 of us along with Mr Naik, who had come for his passion for photography. We were to be joined in Manali by another group of 9 from Mumbai which was led by a tour operator, Mithali. 

We were surprised to find that this group had hardly practiced cycling for this tough 10 day rigorous tour. Our fears did come true when only two of them, Pushkar and Prachi, could complete the whole route successfully. 

Next day our adventure started early in the morning at 6:30, from Manali. By the time we reached Marhi which was 4500 ft above Manali, we were totally exhausted.

Mithali, could not do much cycling. She along with many of her companions in the group could join only as a tourist, thereafter.

We were to live in a tent at Marhi. Our Kitchen staff was with us and we were told to clean our plates after having food. We ourselves were already frizzed  under the cold on the cliff. The water on the hill was ice cold and after dinner, at 7:00pm, to clean our plates was a horrible task. 

As I completed my dinner, shivering as I was, somehow went to clean my plate. Mithali, was at the place, cleaning her plate diligently. As I waited and waited for my turn she just wouldn't leave the tap. Finally as she completed her task and went up to the Kitchen assistant, Jeevan, she instructed him, " this is my plate which I have cleaned very specifically. You will take care to give this plate only to me and no one else from tomorrow". I thought, so much love for a plate which anyway will not belong to us after 10 days! 

The next day we reached Sissu, about 49km from Marhi. As the dinner time arrived, Mithali was after Jeevan to give that particular cleaned plate of hers.  I had almost forgotten about this previous day incidence.

At our next destination, Jispa, Mithali seemed to be in discomfort and at Zing Zing Bar she had fallen sick. At Sarchu, the Military hospital doctor checked her Oxygen saturation and found it at an alarming low of 38 and advised us to move her to Leh. She was than rushed to Leh in a separate vehicle.

The following day was a tiring day and we reached Pang quite late in the day. The only thing we could do after reaching the Dhaba was park our cycle and remove our shoes. We just threw ourselves into the bed. At that time nothing in the world mattered!

In the evening, Jeevan came and informed that the dinner was ready. We somehow pulled ourselves out of the razai and went for the food. As we neared the place where the food was arranged, I saw something which made me contemplate.

The steel plates were kept ready for us to have dinner. Mithali, who was so much attached to her 'cleaned plate' was no more with us but in Leh. She will probably not see her 'cleaned plate' again in her life. All the efforts to scrub it to perfection and than instruct Jeevan to keep it aside for her, no longer, had any meaning! 

Don't we sometime give too much importance to these worldly things?

We know that we won't be able to take them along with us in our last journey. But still we want the attachment towards My Plate, My Car, My Mobile, My House, ..........

There is this classic story which explains how God gives a pin to a man who throughout his life keeps on praying for a better house, better car, more wealth, and asks him to bring that pin along with him after his death and all his prayers will be answered. This man could not to carry this pin to God after loosing his life however he wished!

I took a plate, had the food served on it, ate it to my satisfaction, again mustered up enough courage to clean it with the ice cold water, kept the plate in its place and went inside the Dhaba to doze off.