Two Paisa’s — a storytelling
Two paisas. To some, it might mean money but to me, these two words and the story behind it, means a lifelong lesson. The first time I heard this story, I was a child of age 10 or 11 and the storyteller was my mother. In the story, a mother gives her son two paisas each day, one for his own use and one, to share with someone else. The son, growing up to help millions of people and saving many lives. My mother, she told me, that the son in the story is Abdul Sattar Edhi and that he’s a man we should all be inspired of.
A lot changed over the years but the two paisas stuck with me for years as I tried to save up even the smallest amount and shared it whenever I had the chance to. As I grew up, I realized how this seed of kindness and humanity was passed on by a simple story and had blossomed many hearts and families.
To continue the legacy of storytelling, I’d like to share a story from Edhi Sb’s life that I relate to. When Edhi Sb was growing up, while his mother taught him lessons of sharing and humanity, his father taught him how to live a simplified life. He would shave his head because his father used to say that appearance was just a distraction. Upon seeing him like this, his friends would laugh at him. They’d also mock him for his big plans and call him Shaikh Chllli. But Edhi Sb was determined and believed in himself and in amal. In response, he’d smile and say,
“I can begin small, but why should I think small.” — Abdul Sattar Edhi
I truly feel inspired by these words because I’ve been in a situation where I started small. In 2017, when I earned my first payment from a freelance project, I requested my parents to add in a few more rupees and help me buy a good printer. I was truly in love with graphic designing at the time and wanted to start a small shop online to sell my bookmarks and prints, to earn some extra money. My parents, considering how it was a vital investment, weren’t sold on the idea in the beginning. However, after a lot of promises and begging, I was able to get a printer. I worked on a few designs and opened my shop on Instagram and waited; for days, for weeks and then for months. While no orders were coming in, a lot of demotivating comments from close-by people made me even more upset over this dream to start my own shop. That Summer, our financial condition suddenly got worse. My freelance payment clarification was a month away, my brother’s payment was also weeks away and we were struggling to manage our daily routine. That moment of low and all the comments I had heard over the weeks, fueled within me a passion to work from what I had. I started from the smallest thing I could do; I made a post that allowed people to get any of their favorite quotes designed by me and get them printed as bookmarks. That one post changed my life. I got my first order within a few hours of creating that post. And after that, my shop was running way better than I could’ve imagined. That one step taught me the lesson of taking even the smallest steps possible.
So, do dream on and do believe. Start small and let it turn as big as your own dreams are.
