Hi Reader,

It’s finally the festive season of the year, and with COVID going down slowly, and people coming out for vaccinations, hope that this season is better than 2020. Wish you all the best time of the year with so much happiness, joy, laughter, good health, wealth, positivity, and togetherness.

Celebrations are so great. Small or big occasion/memory/event/moment, a celebration is something that just creates the memory for the particular day or event. Having your favorite coffee after a good day at work, well that can also be a good one!

And when the celebrations are happening in groups, oh well, no match! Dance, fun, music, laughter, everything is so infectious that see you are yourself smiling thinking of some similar event, no? Then remember one! :) 

However, in the recent times, I had a different realization coming out of series of event happened over few weeks. Celebrations are good, but who do you celebrate with, are they also the ones who actually CARE about that celebration? 

Care, is something that we use very often in our lives, but do we really mean it as much as we use it? Never cared, right? And, why I am talking today about it, let’s find out.

Many of my friends might have known, I had a mysterious disease around 2015-17 called Sarcoidosis. It is unknown in the sense that the source, symptoms, and treatment are all unknown. However, fortunately, my doctor diagnosed in time, and I had a long treatment for around 2 years to come out of it. But, it was on one condition, that it can revamp anytime in life, so proper CARE will be needed with regular tests over time. And I didn’t care about it. Now, it is back, maybe to teach something back again. Yes, it has been revamped. So all those medical tests, doctor visits, waiting time watching other patients, medicines, everything is back again. But, nothing to worry about, treatment is going good, and as I have beaten it up once, so not in that fear anymore, and anyhow the only thing about any disease or illness is, they teach you a lot. They show you different mirrors of life and teach you the difference between what you think that matters and what actually matters. I certainly have lesser friends than the earlier, and I was not expecting any of them to do something as they actually can’t. However, few people, like my mentor and manager, my colleagues, and most importantly the family, the way they CARE, ask, support, and bring laughter, just makes it all better, so THANK YOU all. 

During all this, in frequent doctor visits, watching patients, there is one thing that clicked and sort of changed some dimension in my life. It is, Caring is the one who is standing right there holding your hand when you are ill or visiting a doctor, and not the one who is present when you offering drinks at some celebration. The ones who are there in your tough times, comforting you physically, mentally, socially, psychologically or in any way, never ever doubt whether they care for you or not. The ones who are there with you in the good times, well you might have experienced by now or will see in future, that faces will keep changing.

If I take one example, we often call out “Daddy’s princess”. I saw one of them! At the clinic, there was an old man, waiting for his turn. He looked like if he had his half of the body paralyzed. Waiting in the car, and his daughter was just standing there outside the clinic for her father’s turn, frequently checking both the appointment and her father’s. When the turn comes, she went back to the car, opens the door, helps her father to get up slowly, makes him stand, closes the door, holds his hand, supports him and walks along with him at a snail pace, and finally makes him sit inside the clinic, holding a bag of all the reports and prescription for the consultation. No other family person was there, but it looked like she doesn’t even need any. During the consultation, she was actively discussing with the doctor all the diet charts, sugar levels, and all the monitoring matrix she had prepared and maintained, and even the doctor looked pleased with the way she had arranged. She talked in detail about each of the medicines and each pain point. Everything was happening so patiently, that her face didn’t have a single emotion of stress or pain or burden. She actually CARED about whatever is happening with her father. I hope and pray, she gets more and more strength, and her father gets better sooner. 

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Theodore Roosevelt

This is just one story, and I guess each of us knows about such people. What I learned out of these days, that if someone actually means something in your life, CARE genuinely for them, and not just for the ostentatious purpose. I guess this time destiny had planned a test to implement my learnings too. Someone in my family had some injury that required surgery. Surgeries are themselves so terrifying, that even a healthy person is disturbed mentally, then think of someone who was actually suffering, and the concerns and stress within the family. Fortunately, we all were together, CARED, supported in whatever way each of us can, to help each other, and now wishing him a speedy recovery post the successful surgery. The feeling inside to be useful to someone you genuinely care about is unmatched, just like the feeling to make dreams come true of someone else. 

Friend, be loyal to yourself. Nothing matters more than the love and affection for each other. It is an unpriced asset and just grows exponentially. Do remember in your good times, who genuinely cared for you in your tough times, and no matter what happens, never leave them for any reason, because if you are here, they are the reason!

Cheers! Take CARE!
– Navneet