FINDING SHABRI!

“FINDING SHABRI!”

Shabri is a very humble character from Ramayana. The old ascetic woman who waited her entire life in the forest of Dankaranya for her lord Ram, so that she could serve him ‘ber’ fruits {Indian plum}.

For years she used to keep her hut neat and clean and used to diligently pluck those bers everyday from the forest. She used to taste them, running a quality check that they may not be affected by insects or be raw or over ripped to an extent of being spoiled.

For her entire years of living that was her daily routine. And when at the ripe old age when Lord Ram do came to her hut, she was more than delighted. Her patience has paid as she got to serve her Lord.

With motherly affection and altruistic love she served her lord, picking and tasting the ber fruits and then serving him. The lord took immense pleasure in eating shabri’s half eaten bers. He immortalized shabri’s affectionate bers forever. That even today they are talked in high regards.

That’s the story part of Ramayana.

The question is, do you find Shabri in real life, the lady so poor in finances but rich in heart to serve all?

Well I fortunately stumbled over the one and look at the co-incidence, the cute old lady plays the part of shabri in the local ram leela, though her professional credentials is of the vegetables vendor.

What so Shabri about her, apart from her acting skills?

So here her real life story goes. Once upon a time she was a very wealthy woman living in a very posh locality of Delhi. Her husband lost all their wealth in gambling and the poor lady and her entire family came to bare grounds of poverty. Her kids didn’t turn out to be brilliant and instead of supporting their mother became a parasite on her meager

income.

Such hard reality check would break people and push them to cliff end of depression but this lady turned out to be a contrast. She didn’t have one freaking line of frown on her forehead but instead her phizog sketched out the laughter lines.

She is always ready and enthusiastic to take part in religious activities and surprisingly ready to donate a big part of her earnings too. She is ready to serve the people and sometimes give away her vegetables for free to those who couldn’t afford. Well such statistics with economy won’t have made her business last long but surprisingly she has been on the firm grounds since past twenty years.

Is she foolishly philanthropic?

I don’t know but when you ask her that, she would say, “it doesn’t matter you have big pocket or the small one but it does matter if you have a big heart or the small one.....”

Well what ever be her life philosophy, the lady is busy now-a-days with her role in the on-going ram leela, rehearsing her dialogues with her clients and working on her act to bring perfection to the shabri she plays on stage, though she had perfectly nailed it in real life.