While still in my teens, I often heard my dad recite his favorite lines from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. For years the true meaning behind these lines eluded me, and no matter how deeply I dug into the words, somehow I couldn’t touch what the author really wanted us to understand. My dad, who would always return a mildly challenging smile when asked what those lines meant, would never satisfy our questions fully, but rather leave us in a grumpy, confused, self-defeating state of mind.
And then one day, I finally got it. That occasion was of no particular significance, barring the fact that it had been an extremely tiresome day. I had picked up Sid from his childcare center after my evening MBA classes. It was already ten. Sid, being tenderly fussy on the days he was forced to be away from me till late at night, refused food and went straight to bed. Another night of non-stop studying was about to begin and my mind was already dishing out mini deadlines for the night. Under severe time pressure, I rarely crumble; instead you’d find me pacing back and forth in the kitchen for a few minutes before digging into the assigned tasks with the vengeance of a murdered spirit.
For some reason, that day, while pacing through the kitchen I paused and thought “Why can’t I take a few moments off and make myself some tea! ”. More accurately (since I remember every second of that night), I wanted ginger tea with extra sugar. Now you must be thinking, what’s so incredibly enlightening about making tea that I dedicate this blog post to the occasion. But I assure you this really was a life-altering moment. Ginger tea changed my life forever. Ginger tea made me smell the roses and interpret Tolstoy.
Perhaps it was also the fact that for the first time of my life, I had been on my own with Sid, and despite the never-ending days and very frequent night-outs, life was working. Living was happening! And that was the very essence of my joy. And the aroma of my ginger tea, left no doubt in my mind that yes I had found the key to my happiness and hence the happiness of my family.
****
Nowadays I find myself hear the birds sing more in the mornings, although nothing in my life has changed ( NO, I haven’t rented a new apartment near a bird sanctuary). Everything is the same but nothing's the usual.
Especially the fact that now I’m addicted to ginger tea for life.
Live it !
****
And then one day, I finally got it. That occasion was of no particular significance, barring the fact that it had been an extremely tiresome day. I had picked up Sid from his childcare center after my evening MBA classes. It was already ten. Sid, being tenderly fussy on the days he was forced to be away from me till late at night, refused food and went straight to bed. Another night of non-stop studying was about to begin and my mind was already dishing out mini deadlines for the night. Under severe time pressure, I rarely crumble; instead you’d find me pacing back and forth in the kitchen for a few minutes before digging into the assigned tasks with the vengeance of a murdered spirit.
For some reason, that day, while pacing through the kitchen I paused and thought “Why can’t I take a few moments off and make myself some tea! ”. More accurately (since I remember every second of that night), I wanted ginger tea with extra sugar. Now you must be thinking, what’s so incredibly enlightening about making tea that I dedicate this blog post to the occasion. But I assure you this really was a life-altering moment. Ginger tea changed my life forever. Ginger tea made me smell the roses and interpret Tolstoy.
Perhaps it was also the fact that for the first time of my life, I had been on my own with Sid, and despite the never-ending days and very frequent night-outs, life was working. Living was happening! And that was the very essence of my joy. And the aroma of my ginger tea, left no doubt in my mind that yes I had found the key to my happiness and hence the happiness of my family.
****
Nowadays I find myself hear the birds sing more in the mornings, although nothing in my life has changed ( NO, I haven’t rented a new apartment near a bird sanctuary). Everything is the same but nothing's the usual.
Especially the fact that now I’m addicted to ginger tea for life.
Live it !
****
Comments
I love ginger tea myself. Though I didn't get the connection:P Maybe you need to give me some sweet ginger tea, for me to feel what you felt.
I guess I have a vague idea about it though. Sometimes a simple event, a ginger tea, can act like a switch, lighting up our dark room. It is easy to keep sitting in the dark, and how a simple act of striking the match just makes all the difference:)
Hail Tolstoy!
Nicely written. :) So how many ginger tea did you have today?