It was a little tiring day. We had a journey by car for around 4 hours from Panjhora and then we reached our next destination- a beautiful place named Mouchuki. Mouchuki is not that much of a popular place, it has still not being explored to that extent. It is a kind of forest based hill station throned with flora and fauna. Our shelter was Mouchuki Eco resort (picture given below). It was a reasonably nice and cosy cottage, well furnished and most importantly well neat and organized. We reached over there tired and hungry. After getting fresh and in place, we were served a sumptuous lunch by a boy whose age would be around 12 years. His cordial behaviour and twinling eyes caught my attention. There developed a brother-sister feeling between us. After finishing off with the lunch and a short post-lunch nap, we decided to go for forest tripling. Just when we were locking the doors, it struck my mind, that we were not having the lock and key of that cottage.After searching here and there for a while, I came across one of the cottage staffs. We exchanged smiles and then I asked for the lock and key of the cottage room. He was initially a bit surprised then he asked me just to lock the latch and go for the trek. I was not that much in favour of it because I had all the so called branded belongings inside the room. Many things were going in my mind. He broke the train of thoughts, "Madam, dont worry, we wont steal anything from your room." Those words just hit me so badly that I felt ashamed of my action. I somehow gathered my words and said, "No I never meant such." We then left for the trek. We returned back late in the evening. We had a campfire where we were giving adda and having freshly prepared snacks. The cottage keepers also joined us. They were a bunch of jolly enthusiastic chaps. They shared the stories about their lives. This plot belonged to them which the government undertook from them promising them jobs in forestry instead.But neither the promises were kept neither they were given their dues for their plot. They are now mere keepers in their own land. I hesitantly asked them how they manage to earn livelihood now and how they still manage to be this happy? Their answers were short and simple. Not a preachy one. I learnt a big lession from these hilly guys, their honesty, their willingness to toil hard and to help each other. They have more needs but less demands. They are perfectly satisfied and happy the way their life is. They dont beg, instead they dont shy away to do any kind of jobs - big or small.
That night, I went to bed with a good lesson - Lack of money does not always maketh you poor. A happy person is a rich person :)

P. S it is a blend of fiction with reality.

Author: Krittika Samajdar