WORDS OF WÜNDER

WINNERS

  1) A harmony out of sync

I am rather rational. data-driven individual and for me, miracles were nothing more than mere “Chance”. My stubborn mind may not change, but today I realized that maybe, even chance can bring some miracles in life!

During my college days, I had auditioned to be a part of the College band. I played the guitar and the keys and occasionally sang. I was just the with music, but more than anything I loved everything about music. Irrespective of genre, language, timing, etc I get immersed while performing. But on this day, I was quite nervous if I will be selected or will it be a complete embarrassment. When I stepped into the audition classroom, I was surprised and shocked to see that most of the instruments were Indian classical instruments. Turned out that the band had merged with the Drama group who had been building their ensemble of background musicians and they were keen on looking for those who have a knack for Classical music.

Now I did not know how to play the harmonium or the tabla and I was dejected. Right when I was leaving, I heard one of the music crew members singing an Abhang. Immediately, I remembered that

I had heard that before and could transpose the music into chords. I spoke that I can play that on a guitar and everyone was startled at how one could play a classical Indian song on a Western instrument. And guess what I nailed it! I know I might sound like Mozart now, but that moment changed entirely. Had I not heard the person humming the tunes, I would not have gone ahead with the audition. In 9 months, we performed in multiple State level competitions, bagging many Music awards and captivating audiences everywhere. Maybe it was more of a risk but I think my stars aligned perfectly that day!

-Rtr.Tejas (Rotaract Club of DYPUSM)

 

   2)  5 Seconds

It was a Sunday morning, and all the kids in the colony, were out riding bicycles, playing games, and running all around the locality, as though Sunday, is a festival. I being a proper high school teenager, was making plans with my friends to hang out and chill, go to someplace, click photos, Instagram and have fun. That day, I left home and crossed the road to catch a rickshaw, it was September, the winds were cool and soothing, yet there was a lot of moisture in the air which gave my shoulders a sudden chill, as it was monsoon season, and Mumbai and monsoon are best friends, it’s the longest season in Mumbai after all. As I stood there for a while below a tree’s shade, waiting for a rickshaw, I saw my neighbors, coming back from routine shopping, with hands full of groceries and snacks, they waved at me, and I waved back.

My grandmother used to say, “you shall never wear dirty shoes, while you go out” I had never spent much time with her, as she lived back in my dad’s hometown, I never had the chance to create a proper bond, yet I respected her and wished to have spent more time with her, although, it had already been 3 years since her death. But this thought had suddenly occurred to me, out of nowhere, and I happened to notice my shoes, they were muddy at the corners, because of the rain, and mud everywhere, although I am not that self-conscious about such things, yet I felt the need to change my shoes, and started to cross the road again, 5 seconds, just 5 seconds later, the tree started to bend and my neighbors who stood there with there groceries, dropped their bags and ravishingly pulled me to the other side of the road, and with a huge thud the whole tree fell to the ground.

I was petrified for few minutes and relieved that I was alive and alright, it was almost a miracle, that something which my grandmother used to say, whom I hardly ever thought of for years, suddenly occurred to my mind, and it was a question of a few seconds only if I hadn’t moved, if that thought never occurred to me, if I hadn’t noticed my shoes, I would have died then and there.

I have always heard of guardian angels and that they protect us in many ways, but now I truly believe it.

-Payoja Mohanty

 

3) I was 7 when my neighbor had a child after 9 years of marriage. The child had toes folded inwards and didn’t walk till he was almost 4. The neighbors used to remain sad at the fact and started doing whatever everyone suggested to them. However, on my mother’s suggestion, they started worshipping Sai Baba. One fine day, when the mother was praying to Sai Baba in the morning, she heard a loud thud followed by a shriek and a cry of her child. The child was four at that time and the bed she slept on was high from the ground. The mother rushed towards the room holding her heart and expected the worst. On reaching the room, she saw her child on the ground and rushed to pick her up and started checking whether she is bleeding or not due to the fall. However, then, she noticed something. The child’s toys had become normal.

-Rtr. Payal Kuber (Rotaract Club of Navi Mumbai Sunrise)

4) My father loves to drive and covers long distances by road. On one of his solo long road trips, he had to travel through a mountainous road. On that mountainous road, he met a man whose bike had broken down and he needed a lift to get to the nearby village. My father being the kind soul that he is did not even think twice before saying yes to the man. On the way to the next village, both my father and the man bonded over travel stories and tea stops. When my father dropped the man at the next village, he mentions that the look in his eyes was different and apparently, it had made my father feel a bit awkward. My father continued his journey and returned home after a good seven days. On returning home, he was going through some local newspapers that he had gathered during his trip to the hills and he got the most massive shock of his life. The man that he had given a lift to was a nasty serial killer on the run who was known for attacking unassuming solo travelers and he had even killed a few foreign tourists in the village where my dad had dropped him. My father still does not know how and why he was not among one of the victims of that serial killer and to date he thanks his stars for the life he is living now.

-Rtr.Sawrab Samanta (Rotaract Club of Navi Mumbai Sunrise)

5) At some moment in life, a thing happens in every person’s life which makes him think whether he deserved it, one of such thing happened with me as well. When I was in 7th standard I went to mallakhamb coaching in my school itself. So mallakhamb is a sport wherein you have to do yoga elements on a wooden pole and you get 1 minute and 30 seconds to do as many elements as possible. I participated in the district competition in my 1st year itself; frankly, I was an amateur in almost 40 participants. I started my set and while I was going to finish it on my second last element, a casualty happened i.e. my chin bone was hurt severely which eventually negatively affected my set. I straightaway went home as I had no hopes of qualifying for state-level competition. But as soon as I reached home a strange thing happened I was called by one of the judges and he informed me that I was selected to represent the Thane district in a state-level competition. I was actually in shock as only 5 out of 40 participants were to get selected and I was one of them so I went back to the competition place and I asked the judges why was I selected and they just simply answered - your other elements were so good that we were forced to ignore the error. That day I started believing in one thing i.e., “Miracles Do Happen in Life, Just keep Working Hard”.

-Rtr.Rushabh (Rotaract Club of Thane Midtown)