Mother: ‘Priya, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your marriage life. When there’s something happy and memorable happens in your new life, put some money in. Write down what it’s about next to the line. The more memorable the event is, the more money you can put in. I’ve done the first one for you today. Do the others with Hitesh. When you look back after years, you can know how much happiness you’ve had.’
Priya shared this with Hitesh when getting home. They both thought it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit can be made.
This was what they did after a certain time:
– 7 Feb: Rs.100, a first birthday celebration for Hitesh after marriage
– 1 Mar: Rs.300, salary raise for Priya
– 20 Mar: Rs.200, vacation trip to Bali
– 15 Apr: Rs.2000, Priya got pregnant
– 1 Jun: Rs.1000, Hitesh got promoted
and so on…
One day Priya talked to her Mother: ‘Mom, we can’t stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can’t imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!’
Mother: ‘Sure, girl, that’s no big deal. Just do whatever you want if you really can’t stand it. But before that, do one thing first. Remember the saving passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first. You shouldn’t keep any record of such a poor marriage.’
Priya thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waited in the queue, and planned to cancel the account. While she was waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joy and happiness just came to her mind. Her eyes were then filled with tears. She left and went home.
When she was home, she handed the passbook to Hitesh and asked him to spend the money before getting divorced. The next day, Hitesh gave the passbook back to Priya. She found a new deposit of Rs.5000. And a line next to the record: ‘This is the day I notice how much I’ve loved you throughout all these years. How much happiness you’ve brought me.’ They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back in the safe.
Do you know how much money they saved when they retired? I did not ask. I believe the money did not matter anymore after they had gone thru all the good years in their life.
“When you fall, in any way, Don’t see the place where you fell, Instead see the place from where you slipped. Life is about correcting mistakes.”