Life Love Laughter: Oh Dear Nose!

This cute story is about my little cousin Shashank when he was a toddler, 2 and a half years old. He had a dear friend, an 11 year old boy who lived next door and often came to play with him. One day he tried a new game which freaked my little brother out! He held Shashank's tiny nose and acted as if he pulled it out, and told him- "Ha Ha! Your nose is gone, I took it away and will keep it with me now!" He enacted to keep it in his pocket, and ran away.

Poor Shashank was terrorised and started crying on top of his voice, calling his parents for rescue. My uncle and aunt then spent hours convincing him that his nose was right there, on his face but that did not bring any comfort to him. They even showed him a mirror and made him touch his nose to confirm, but of no use. Poor baby was disgusted, frightened and at a major loss- his dear nose!

Finally they called his friend, requested him to enact attaching it back to his face and only when he did so, was the baby pacified and everyone took a sigh of relief!

Well my brother might kill me for narrating this story out loud 😃, but the reason I shared it was that he did this as a 2 year old, but almost all of us do the same at some or the other point in our lives, and that too- as adults.

Like Shashank's friend, there are so many people who enjoy playing the same game with us, they might spread a rumour about you, might criticize something that you are proud or happiest about, might attack your character or honesty or might just say-"Oh God! Do you have a nose? Coz I can't see that!" The reaction we give to such actions is not much different from the kid. We get furious how dare he/she say that! We get disappointed if the person was close enough. We get heartbroken because we are accused to be someone we never were. We even start feeling bad about the same thing that was our dearest because looking at it reminds us of the false rumors or accusations.

Just think about it after reading this story, did that action make any change to your success, your character, your honesty or you beloved nose? No! They did not even touch them, just enacted to pull it out, taint it or destroy it. And we are so disturbed and agonised with even a thought of this little act. And only when that person comes back to us, enacts to keep our nose back to our face, enacts to give our dignity back from his pocket, enacts to apologise or accept his mistake, are we finally relieved and can sleep in peace. Do we really need that ritual? Didn't we already have the Nose in place?

This post does not mean that we should not fight back or we should not retaliate on something unjust, this is about your own peace of mind, your blissfulness! Whether you decide to punish the wrongdoer or not, you should not punish yourself for even a moment. Don't feel frustrated, restless or deceived on the silly act played by your friend or for that matter,"Enemy" too! Because this is exactly what he/she wants you to do.