I was thinking about India last weekend and I remembered this lady I had met when I went there in June. Somehow, of all the people I have met, I would place this lady a class apart. I knew her from childhood since she was living a street from my house. The story of her life is an inspiration to all those who cannot find it within themselves. From my mom and aunt I came to know of her life. She had promptly fell in love with a guy when she was doing her 10+2 schooling. Soon after she got married and after her father's death, she moved back to madras to live with her maternal family along with her husband and kids. Eventually, things started getting bad and then worse. Her husband fell into bad habits and eventually was involved in some sort of felony and cops eventually put him behind bars. Her personal relationship with him also deteriated to the point that she had almost filed a divorse. She had enough debts to eat away whatever she left of the property and bank balance. Very soon, she literally found herself in streets. Her brothers refused to help her and relatives were a far cry. She was in chennai, with a high school level education, two kids to feed and none to help. Many would have taken various approaches at this point. She managed to get a job as a saleswoman in spectacles selling shop, put her kids in govt. school, and rented a small house,far away from the city where rent is low. That is all I had known about her before I left for US. This time when I visited India, she came to see me and my newly wed sister. While we were talking she said, her first son, is having a small shop for electrical goods and doing his bachelors via mail. Her second son is in 10std. She had also moved on. From a saleswoman, she had earned the trust of her employer and now she singly manages an entire branch of the spectacle selling shop in T.nagar, earning close to Rs. 13000. Her husband had eventually moved back with her. He had apparantly had a heart attack and now mostly stays at home. She gave a confident smile and said, "I dont depend on him anymore for anything". There was no pride, no vindication, no revenge.....nothing. She just felt contented. Not everybody would consider her life as spectacular nor her achievements. But to go through all she had gone through and come out is something really nice. When she at 35yrs of age can start a career with little or no education, with family in shambles,....well she is indeed an inspiration. We dont get to meet a helen keller or mother teresa around every street corner. It is only these ordinary people to whom we rarely pay much attention, hold the key to inspiration and faith that life does hold something for each of us.