Finding “Peace”

Few days before my 36th birthday, as I was replying to an ‘escalated issue’ from the client, my 5 year old
son, Joshua, quietly walked into my room. Sensing I was quite focussed on my work and had not looked
up from my laptop when he walked in, he gently patted on my shoulder and asked ‘Mamma..’ I cut him
short saying, “Josh, I am really busy..can you pls not disturb now”. But my son didn’t relent. He had
come with a very important query and he was determined to get an answer from me before leaving the
room. So, he continued ‘But Mamma..I just wanted to ask you one thing’. Since I was so engrossed into
writing and rewriting the mail, checking what words sounded better or rather ‘polite’ but still ‘firm’ for
the client, I was could barely hear him speak. And so, I didn’t respond. Seeing me still inattentive to him,
he shook my shoulder again and shouted out ‘Mamma am asking you something’. On any given day, I
can multi-task – talk to my son while checking my mails, attend to office calls while replying to a message
on my son’s school whatsapp group – like all working moms do. But, if I am trying to focus on an urgent
task at hand, I expect no disturbance around. And I was doing one such task that day. Hence, I blasted
off at him “What is it, Josh? Can’t you see am at an important task here”.
My 5-yr-old was a bit shaken hearing me raise my voice. But, since he got my attention finally, he
lowered his volume and asked, “I just wanted to ask you- what do you want for your birthday this time”.
Instead of feeling happy that he was trying to prepare for my birthday so much in advance, I was
agitated, as I was disturbed from my ‘urgent’ work and then being asked such a ‘silly’ and ‘unimportant’
question, I blurted out “I want some peace” and then went back to drafting my reply to the client. My
son quietly went back to his room.
Cut to the day of my ‘birthday’: My son was up before the sun (really!), excited more than me about my
birthday and trying to be the first one to wish me and present me my birthday gift. As I sat on the chair
waiting for him to get the present, I was curious to know what little things he had made or got for me –
may be a hand-made card or may be some fancy earrings – I was not sure what it would be. Finally, my
boy came with his neatly gift-wrapped present, tightly held in his hand. As he gave it me, it felt very cold.
I wondered if he packed ice cubes in it (you never know what your kids can be up to!) and then instantly
the ‘mom’ in me was worried of cleaning the water split over the dining table and floor, lest someone
slips. But, then I realized there was nothing dripping out of the packet. It helped the ‘mom’ in me relax a
bit. Looking at me holding his present but not yet opening it, my son insisted “Mamma, open it fast”. I
opened it and what do I find “5-6 green peas gift-wrapped”. Frankly speaking, I was surprised seeing my
son’s gift ‘coz ‘Peas’ was not my favourite vegetable nor was it his favourite veggie – so what was the
point in gifting me this?! While I was still wondering on what the gift meant, he gently tapped on my
shoulder and asked “Did you like it Mamma? Remember you told me you wanted “peas” for your b’day
and so I gifted you these “peas”!”
Woah! I let out a light laughter..hugged my baby tight and said “Yes, I love your gift..in fact, this is what I
was looking for!”. His bright-lit innocent smile made me ask myself “what kind of ‘peace’ was I looking
for all this while”.
As per the dictionary meaning of the word “Peace”, it means lack of any kind of conflict or tranquillity.
The feeling of being at peace with one’s inner self can’t be written or spoken about. It can only be felt
deep down in our hearts. What do you feel? How do you find “peace” in your busy lives? Does taking a

break from work and heading for a vacation help? Where do you prefer to go – a riverfront/ beach or
the mountains?