Inspiration !

I have a small boutique and besides that I am involved in many things which either I wanted to do or which I like to do. Due to my work I meet many people from various fields of work and also from various social status and needless to say all very interesting people. The most interesting person I met is this old lady in the picture...she is Ranu Basu. Mrs. Basu was very good at art,took admission in Calcutta Art College but could not complete her degree there as she got married at a very early age.

She always had this unquenched thirst in her for art , color. In the 70's with her second son few months old she set for Manchester to do a course in textile designing. She won many inter European competitions ,completed her degree and came back and set up a printing unit in the adjacent space along with her beautiful house in South kolkata 40 yrs back. She was the first lady to do so in kolkata. She trained young women from adjacent slums to work in her unit. She in the 80's designed and printed sarees for air hostesses of AIR INDIA and INDIAN AIRLINES. She had a big unit and almost 40 women working for her. Time went,she grew old , her husband died , her sons left home , the women who worked for her some died and some went off to some other place. Now she is 82yrs old...lives alone in that big house with two attendants and gave her unit in lease to someone else...she spends her days sitting in this rocking chair in her long,big veranda and looks at the work that she was an expert at once done by some other people. When I went to meet her,she told me her story and told I don't like the work that they do,they don't know work but I am helpless and don't have the strength anymore, so I keep quiet. When I told what a meaningful and enchanting life she lead...she just smiled and told, " sob ii toh holo,kintu ei buro boyesh ta khub kharap...ekhon sudhu mrittyur jonnyo opekkha....aage koto lok asto,ekhon r keu ase na dekha korte...keu nei kotha bolar. "
I often face questions from many people asking me why I do whatever I do. Why I learn dance , why I learn french , why am I involved with a NGO , why I work for my boutique so hard if I can't run a family ?? The answer,I do everything because I want to,because I like seem not very convincing to people so they ask me the same set of questions again and again. While answering these questions nowadays I often remember the words of Mrs. Basu....if the end is inevitable then why always do things for some gain only...why not do things that may not lead to any gain but will bring a smile at the end of the day ??