It was early morning. Mr. Khanna was getting ready for his office when His wife asked him to put just a few clothes out for a laundry today. He asked his wife, “Why?” She told him, “Because our maid is planning to visit her Grand Daughter today, she will have to leave early to catch the bus and she will not be coming for two days”.
Mr. Khanna asked her, “Where is she going for two days?” She told him, “Tomorrow is the Birthday of her Grand Daughter, so she is going to spend time with her and celebrate.” Mr. Khanna told her, “Ok, no problem”.
But then his wife asked him, “Oh one more thing! Should I give her Rs. 500 as a bonus?” Mr. Khanna said, “Why now? We will give her during the Christmas”. His wife said, “Well, She is hardly able to manage her expenses and she is visiting her Grand Daughter, so not sure how she will be able to manage as these days inflation is high. I feel she can use a little bonus”.
Mr. Khanna said, “Oh dear, I feel you are getting too sensitive and worrying too much”. His wife said, “Don’t Worry, I will cancel our plan to go out and have a pizza, that way we can give her an extra Rs. 500 as a bonus”. Mr. Khanna said with a smile, “You are ready to take the pizza out of my mouth…Well, do as you feel if you willing to let go of 6 sliced pizza, it’s fine”.
So, after a couple of days, when the maid had returned, she was cleaning the floor. Mr. Khanna was sitting on his chair. He asked her, “Did you enjoy a good time with your Grand Daughter?”
The Maid replied, “Yes Sir, I enjoyed a lot, I spent the whole Rs. 500 in 2 days!” Mr. Khanna said, “Oh really! How did you spend Rs. 500 so quickly?”
The Maid replied with a happy smile, “For Rs. 150, I bought a Dress for my Grand Daughter, bought sweets for Rs. 50, Paid Rs. 100 for Bus Tickets, bought bangles for Rs. 50 for my daughter, for my son in law I bought a belt for Rs. 50 and last Rs. 100, I gave to my Grand Daughter to purchase pencil and papers for her school”.
Mr. Khanna was surprised. He started thinking about the 6 slices of pizza. Each slice started hitting in his mind. He started comparing the cost of the pizza with his maid’s expense. He was lost in thoughts that how she bought something for everyone in her family and spent quality time with them for her Grand Daughter’s birthday. And all these just for the cost of the pizza. He realized something that day.
Moral of the story: ‘We have a right to do what makes us happy and spend our hard-earned money as we like for our happiness. No one has right to envy at how you spend money earned by your hard work. But, if you feel you had wasted your hard-earned money for something to gain nothing even if it was occasionally, you have a chance to do something of a greater good for someone by following above story. You may not be obligated to do so, but your little goodwill can light up someone’s life in many ways.’
