Monday Blues & The Ice Cream Vendor

After a lazy weekend, it was yet another Monday morning, and the daunting ‘Monday blues’! To add to the woes, because of the heavy traffic on NH17, I had to take a detour through the narrow lanes of Majorda village. This meant that I was to reach the office a few minutes late. Not really a comfortable situation when I knew that I had a pretty hectic schedule for the next two days and that the tight deadlines would keep me belted on my chair in the cubicle. 

Festive season it was, as Diwali the festival of lights is approaching … and here I am complaining about being overloaded by work and pressure. As I steered along the curves, my mind was only complaining about how ruthless and demanding the work can get sometimes!

The narrow roads touched the NH17 again, and I had successfully dodged the traffic! Now, I zoomed on the busy Margao-Panaji highway to make it as soon as possible to my office and get going! My car was taking pace, but then I had to put my feet on the brakes. Right in front of me, I saw a 13-14 year old boy, frail and skinny, is struggling to push an Ice-cream cart, apparently too big for his size. The cart was on highway, and the boy with all his might, was leaning against the cart, thirty degrees from ground, and his knees almost touching the road. As I passed by this ice-cream vendor, I was stunned by his perseverance. I looked through the rear-view mirror, and he was mid-way across the road. The streets were busy, and it could be dangerous to this chap, with the rash bus or truck drivers.

I soon lost the sight of this boy behind, but not the thought. It was the beginning of the day’s work for both of us. A while ago, I was complaining about my miserable position. But what was I complaining about..? The cool air-conditioned office environment, the soft and cosy chair, the water bottle on the right and a coffee mug on the left. The only struggle perhaps I would be doing was a few lines of code or a puzzling bug… Much better than pushing an over-sized ice-cream cart on the busy and dangerous NH17! What a tough day that child may have trying to sell the ice-creams walking bare-feet in the blazing sun?

I didn’t want to complain any more. The Ice-cream vendor had a lot to teach. Yes, there are people in worse situation, who do a much more mentally and physically tasking jobs than what we do. But the lesson I learned from this lad is giving more than 100% of your abilities. That cart was too big for him. But it’s the attitude of giving his best to achieve it, which counts. Working whole-heartedly and doing the job good is more important than completing the work half-heartedly and haphazardly.

Thanks to this lad, the Monday blues were gone, and I was raring to go for my task ahead.