Lesson from a Cobbler.

I was once visiting a cobbler in Thimphu and when ever I am with a cobbler or a barber I always speak Hindi and try to have a conversation so that I get to practice my Hindi. I love this language to the extent that I envy it when I compare it to our Dzongkha. It is so rich with vocabulary. But I my writing is not about praises for Hindi, it is something totally different which I came to realize only later when I got the time to think about the conversation I had with the cobbler.

The cobbler was from the Indian state of Bihar like most cobblers and barbers in our country. I asked him about our country and the prize of getting shoes repaired in Bihar and there were many other topics that came up. Of all the topics what I remember very clearly is about telling the cobbler that I visited Bodhgaya three times in my life untill now. Then I told him that he must have visited Bodhgaya as he was from Bihar but to my surprise he said he did not though he lived only few kilometers away from Bodhgaya. I was taken aback for a moment but then I realized since he was a Hindu, Bodhgaya wasn’t so important to him like it is to the Buddhist so I asked him was that the reason.  But he told me he visited Phajodhin Gompa. I never imagined someone from Bihar visiting Phajodhin as it was something totally out of reach.   I was born in Thimphu and lived my entire life in Thimphu but I never visited Phajodhin Gompa.   The cobbler told me that most of the time we overlook what we have and appreciate what others have.

Later I thought about what the cobbler said. I came to realize a simple human nature and found it enlightening.   

Confucius once declared, "Don't complain about the snow on your neighbor's roof when your own doorstep is unclean."