The Inner Rose

Friends, here is an uplifting story of change in mindset. Thanks.

It was 7 pm of an Autumn evening in Delhi, and Mala, dressed in all her finery, stood looking at herself in the long mirror just beside the main entrance of her luxury villa. The occasion was the wedding reception of her best friend, Arati.

Her face was set into a frown.

Her white silk ‘saree,’ her fashionable makeup, her stylishly coiffured hair and her diamond jewellery… Yes, everything seemed to be in order. Everything was glittering under the lights and looked picture-perfect.

Yet, something was missing. What was it?

After a good deal of more self-scrutiny, Mala found it out. Yes, a rose was missing from her stylish hairdo. Immediately, she sent her driver, Ramu, to the florist and got the needful.

With her mood restored, Mala next entrenched herself in the backseat of her expensive sedan and signalled to Ramu to start for the reception. It was being held in a 7-star hotel.

Alas! Her smug self-satisfaction lasted only for a short while. The reason was quite unexpected.

As her car swerved out, it had to stop for a signal. From inside her air-conditioned interior, Mala looked out through the tinted car windows. No one could miss the disdain that showed on her face: this was directed at the world in general and the less fortunate walking on the footpaths in particular.

Her attention was suddenly arrested by a lone figure on the footpath: something was striking about her. The figure was that of a nun dressed in a simple, cotton dress of ochre colour and a headpiece of the same colour. She hailed from a convent located nearby.

What particularly struck Mala was the nun’s facial expression. It was peace and serenity which lit up the face of the nun as she stood distributing food packets to the children of the poor.

Normally, Mala tended to look at other females only when they were better dressed than she was. Yet, in this case, the nun was not wearing a single piece of adornment. Her dress was plain. Her whole getup looked drab vis-à-vis Mala’s gleaming attire.

Yet the aura that radiated from that sacred figure was sufficient to set her apart from the milling crowd. And the love with which she distributed food to the needy was beyond compare.

Thus, Mala was almost forced to continue looking at the figure of the holy sister with intense concentration till the signal turned green, and Ramu resumed moving.

Something churned inside her. Coming to an abrupt decision, she instructed a surprised Ramu to stop. Then she asked him to take a U-turn at the next traffic island and take the car back to her residence.

Once there, she went straight to her dressing table and, one by one, took off all her ornaments. The first item she took off was her expensive rose. Then she took off her costly silk saree, replacing it with a humble cotton one. She also removed her makeup and, lastly, she undid her stylish hairdo into a simple bun.

Finally, she left a message on Arati's WhatsApp number, stating that, due to a sudden development, she was unable to attend the wedding reception. She promised, however, that she would call upon the newly-wedded couple at their home after they returned from their honeymoon and thus, make amends for her unexplained absence.

Having done all this, Mala decided to walk to the sacred precincts of the convent. She had made a new resolve in her mind. So far, her life had been devoted to climbing the social ladder and finding a place among Delhi’s glitterati. If truth be told, it had not brought her even the slightest bit of satisfaction and instead, left her craving for more acceptance from that snooty crowd.

Now, she decided to steer her life in a new direction. She longed to help the nuns serve others. It was a sea change in her thinking and living style. Because till now, she had been accustomed to being served by others.

And for such a noble mission, she did not need to add an external rose to her dress. The inner rose of contentment was good enough and always would be.
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