Harshil Shah

It was January 2022

My wife and I were attending a friends wedding in Gujarat.
The hotel was a little far from the city in a small town.
The location was beautiful.
It was a very old Palace turned into a Luxury Hotel.
We were having a great time at the wedding.
Since it was mid January the weather was really good and cold.
It was around 8pm and the wedding ceremony was going on.
We were sitting on a sofa and enjoying the wedding.
The temperature was dropping and it was getting cold.
It was in an open ground and the entire palace was lit up for the wedding.
While the wedding ceremony was on one side.
On the other side this amazing local band was playing wedding songs.
There were 2 singers, and a band of people who were playing different instruments.
Out of which one was a tabla (instrument) player.
Suddenly the tabla player stopped playing the instrument and started breathing heavily.
He started making loud noises.
He was definitely asking for help but since he could hardly breathe he was making loud noises.
The band members started to panic trying to figure out what was wrong with him.
He was just grasping for air from his nose and mouth being wide open.
We were sitting right next to the band and everything was happening right in front of our eyes.
At that moment my wife told me Harshil there is a guest at the wedding whom we know and he is a Doctor.
She told me to find him and get him.
From far I could see the doctor standing with a few people talking.
I ran towards the doctor and told him about the situation.
The doctor and myself ran back towards the tabla player who was still trying to grasp air from his mouth, nose and eyes were just wide open.
The doctor at that moment said he is having a Seizure.
The doctor did everything in his power to help the tabla player.
The doctor told us to wrap him in multiple layers of blankets.
We started removing the sofa covers and wrapped him up.
The doctor told us to move him to one side and make him comfortable.
We made him lay down and turned him on the side.
He just lost consciousness.
His band members started to panic and thought they lost him.
But the doctor was still holding his hand and kept telling him - Don’t worry, I am here, you are going to be fine.
Don’t worry, I am here, you are going to be fine.
After around 60 seconds he opened his eyes.
Started taking shallow breaths and came back to consciousness.
Since we were in a remote location, the ambulance came after 15 mins.
Had the doctor not been there the tabla player might have lost his life.
The Doctor saved his life.
It wasn’t good luck for the tabla player that we had a doctor at the wedding.
But the Doctor was at the Right Time at the Right Place for the table player.

Lesson Learnt - When something miraculous happens we say it’s Good Luck.
But what is Good Luck - Good Luck is just having something/someone at the Right Time at the Right Place!

Do you resonate with this? Comment below.

It was the year 2009

13th February 2009 it was the day my sister was getting married.
It was a great day.
We were having a great time at wedding.
Wedding Rituals had started early morning.
By the time it was afternoon the wedding ceremony was done.
My sister was married.
She was walking towards the car.
Hugging each family member on the way to the car people where teary eyed.
Tears of joy and sadness together.
Joy about she being happily married and sadness about her going from our house to a new house.
She came and hugged me with her eyes teared up and I was smiling looking at her.
Trying to be all strong in front of her I was not letting my true emotions surface.
She sat in the car.
I saw her going away.
I turned around and started crying like a baby.
I hugged one of my brother and cried for good 5 mins.

Lesson Learnt - In moments like this we will try to be strong from outside like a watermelon, as soon as you let the emotions surface we become soft and watery as an inside of a watermelon.

Do you resonate with this? Comment below.

It was the year 2010

It was the month of June.
After having 3 great months of summer vacation.
The day was here.
The day of my 10th standard result.
One of the most important day in a student’s life because the number decides what is going to be the next 5-7 years of his life in the education journey.
I was never the guy who used to analyse his papers after the exam was over.
I used to never cross check my answers with my friends or my tutor.
Risk taker I use to call my self.
Deep down I used to be scared facing the reality.
After a good summer vacation all friends had reunited in the school waiting for our marks to come out.
Some confident, some happy, some nervous and some scared.
Less I knew my mother and my cousin brother were sitting at home and trying to get the results online on the website.
14,000 students approximately waiting for results on one online portal. 
The online portal had crashed.
That is why we were at the school thinking we will get results faster there.
After sometime I see my cell phone ringing and the call was coming from home.
I picked up the call and my mother was like Harshil results are out come back home.
I ran back home as fast as possible.
Sweating, breathing heavily I entered home.
My mother was there and she told me you scored 67%
I was shattered.
I got super nervous because I wasn’t happy with the number.
There was silence in the house for the entire day.
At the end of the day my father came home from work.
He knew that it was the day of my result.
Sitting in the living room he called me out.
I was nervous with my head looking down on the floor I came out of the room and stood in front of him.
His first question was how much did you score?
My heart sand and with a very law voice I told him - papa 67%.
He shouted - What!!
I got scared and repeated - 67% papa only.
He shouted again - 67%!!
Wow that is first class - I am so proud of you.
He patted me on my back - I am proud of you beta (shaaabash) he told me.
The entire environment of the house changed.
He had a huge smile on his face and he told my mother wow our son passed 1st class it’s time to celebrate.
He even took us out for dinner that night.

That night at the dinner table he told me this - Harshil it’s not about did you come first or did you rank on the top.
It’s only about that you gave an attempt and cleared it in one attempt.

Lesson Learnt - It’s not about coming first or last, it’s not about passing or failing, it’s not about winning or losing - It was about giving it an attempt no matter what the outcome is and being proud about attempting it.

Do you resonate with this? Comment below.