Hope is Life!

It is very true that hope and optimism can inspire us in the most unexpected moments. This incident dates back to the year 2008 when a recession hit the world markets mainly because of the sub-prime crisis in the United States of America. It created far flung effects and lead to millions of people being handed pink slips esp those who worked in IT sector. One of my acquaintances unfortunately belonged to this category and lost his well paying job at a very crucial point. His wife had given birth to twins a few months back and of course, the expenses were high. His wife, who was a homemaker, was extremely worried with the tension gripping her nerves and the stress showing up in her day to day life. Since we are quite close to that family, I knew how difficult that phase had been for them. However, her husband, whom I fondly call Bhaiyya, (brother) was not that nervous, rather he was looking more at solutions than whining over the problems like others in his family.

One fine evening, some two weeks after losing his IT job, when we all were having evening tea, he came and put forward his idea of starting a business of his own, something that would get him through similar times of recession even in future without any worries of pink slips again. At first, just like people react on every new idea, we rejected it out rightly but he was adamant and again, patiently put forward the same. He said he wanted to open a stationary and shop that would also stock common items like men’s lingerie and other things of day to day use. Since these things are often insulated from recession, he thought it would work well. His wife had no other option or idea left and decided to help him. They, with some initial capital, started a small shop and for a few months, nothing much came however, the sales slowly picked up pace. Later they added a photocopy, scan and print facility to it and then, after a few months, it started giving good profits. Bhaiyya was able to cover his initial investments and then, most of what they earned each day was pure profit!

This inspired me in more than one ways. Firstly, he made a pearl out of the dirt and beautifully, rather profitably, turned a loss into a solid opportunity. Secondly, he was unperturbed and did not lose his cool; rather he focused on the possible solutions when most of his colleagues were busy searching for new jobs (or perhaps, visiting shrinks!). Also, this incident gave me a hope that setbacks can be gotten over by persistent efforts and a hopeful attitude. If you are suffering a stroke of bad luck now, that does not mean it will continue later too. Who knows, you might become successful in something else, just like he did in setting up his own venture! Now his wife too runs a boutique of her own and it is doing well. Their twins are studying in one of the leading schools of the city. Hence, we do not need to look up and hunt far for little moments of inspiration that can fill us with hope; they are often right around us!

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