My Life My Stories : Come On ! GET SET GO ...
What and how we feel, stems from every moment of truth we experience during our lives. Some fade away and some stay. But, one from the many becomes a dream turn true. This piece is dedicated to my dream turn reality.
I remember my dad always telling me, “If you have a place for one chapatti, take only one. If you take two, someone will be left with none.”
While entering college, I told dad that I wanted to do pedicure, he put me on to a beautician training short course and said, “complete the program and go ahead with your pedicure’
I learnt the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’ well in time. Almost nothing came easy but I was generally a happy soul from a closely bonded nuclear family. Free-hours would find me with storybooks instead of Barbie houses.
Time flew by, but the one constant that remained with me was books. From Comics to Nancy Drews to Agatha Christies to The Roadless Travelled to the Stephen Coveys to the Daile Carnegies’ of the world.
Within three days of completing my graduation exam, I landed a job. Never to look back, I walked - I fell - I stood up. Again, I walked - I fell - I stood up….
Around fifteen years ago, a normal fight-patch up gift from a dear friend was this book. Reading being my first love as always, I started with it.
The opening line said, “The road to success is always under construction.”
Here is the thing - It was not just a book!
The author was talking to me. Each line was just what I needed. There was tremendous gravity. Somewhere, deep within, I felt belonged. Less than halfway through, I could well understand why the book was titled what it was.
‘Come On! GET SET GO’ had almost started wrapping my tears and smiles at every step. Sometimes, I would wonder if I would ever be able to meet this author in person and tell her what she and her book meant to me.
While I had never really aspired for more than a stable profession and a secured roof with a handful of honest people around, God had decided to be kind. Just that wish to meet the author lingered within.
Cut to three years ago, around mid – 2021, a lady with the same name as the author joined as the director in one of the major departments of the organization I was working with.
I did come across her during some of the common office meetings, but COVID being in the season, we were masks on; so she just remained as someone with the same name.
On 9th January 2022, day two of my COVID, I was burning with a 104-degree fever and the agony of a thousand needles pierced in my body.
Isolated and crying in pain to myself, at 2.00p.m. my WhatsApp beeped, “How are you feeling, Aditi?” I replied, “Will get better.” The next message said, “You are a brave girl.”
Who was this person asking about my well-being, like having known me but I do not have the number saved, nor do I know the name?
The message had a very strong and familiar vibe, but who was it? I chose to see the display picture of this well-wisher. It felt familiar, but I was not able to gather who it was.
One Saturday, a few days after my RCPTR report tested negative, I was clearing up my room. I picked up, GET SET GO for another much-needed read.
The realisation struck! The face on the cover page of the book and the WhatsApp display picture looked similar.
I checked to compare. Again, and again. I showed it to my parents and my neighbours to be sure. They said just what I longed to hear.
The next morning, when I saved her number, I realized that she was part of my workplace WhatsApp group. I felt sensitive to the gravity I was experiencing but was extremely unsure.
Is this author the same as her books? Or is she different? Should I tell her? Should I not?
A fortnight later, when I was swiping in at the office, I saw a big blue car come in and stop near the swipe machine. The driver ran out to open the door and a lady stepped out. She had not fixed her mask then.
Graceful as ever, her face reflected peace. Her eyes signified truth. Her forehead personified originality. Each step she took was thoroughly thoughtful.
She smiled at me. I was shivering with nervousness but I greeted her back. We walked towards the lift. I stepped back to let her get in first but she held my hand and took me along.
My eyes were moist with tears though I did manage to hide them from her. She was my GET SET GO!
It took me nearly six months to tell her that I had read her books and what she and GET SET GO meant to me.
Though we belonged to two different worlds, conversations helped us get to know each other bit by bit, with both, – gaps and no gaps put-together.
She was a hard task master but cotton soft from within, no different from her books. She inspired me to listen to my inner being and connected me to my core.
I started scribbling on to blogs, from zero then to 70 plus now. I would ask her insights on the making of her books, how the ideas would come to her, the research and thought- flow adapted.
She would help me polish up my writing and guide me towards the depth of my being with various integrities of life and much more. She unfolded me into an Aditi I never knew.
She extended me, the soft copy of her book, ‘360-Degree Excel’ while it was in the publish phase, even before it had touched the distribution market. I still remember the excitement of reading it overnight and the emotion of being able to express your thoughts about your favourite author’s book to the author herself.
She gave me a copy of her poetry book, ‘Ek Baat Teri – Ek Baat Meri,’ which she had co-authored with her husband. It was not on the sale track at that point and was one of her two written pieces I had not read amongst all her other books.
She did share some of its making, as to how she framed the answers first and questions were formed later by the co-author.
The tender flavour of her thoughts and its sync with the actionable was life-affirming!
Humble, reciprocating, understanding, and transparent, she would place me in a comfortable zone to handle whatever came.
I remember when the top floor of my building caught fire last year and we had to vacate it with immediate effect, I was out of home for almost two weeks. She made sure to send me meals daily. Just like a mom, she would ask, “Will you have dal-dhokli tomorrow?”
We shared so much in common, from the karela’s and the undhiyu’s to the boondi raitas and the patra’s to the soups to the khichdi’s to the dal dhokli’s to the infinities of our thoughts and actions.
The origin being - our bonding through books, to our conversations, to her aura, and her gestures and the feeling of care I was experiencing towards her.
She would hold me settle the tiniest of my discomforts. I felt vulnerable like never before and somewhere a little fear of getting used to her.
My journey from a stranger to being invited to the heights of her home was genuinely beautiful. A sacred experience - treasured for life!
I eventually realized her deep presence in my space and I do understand that I may not be the only Aditi in her world.
This middle-class normal being called ‘Aditi,’ who is from your local neighbourhood in Mumbai, did meet her favourite author to live what had felt belonged.
The thought, the connecting dots and the courage to align my debut book ‘Let’s Walk- Through’ in to a book comes to me from My GET SET GO, Dr. Swati Lodha.
Dr. Swati Lodha is a #1 bestselling author, educationist, leadership, and parenting expert, think tank for senior citizens' wisdom and ageism, serial social entrepreneur, coach, motivational speaker, and a mom.
She has bagged dozens of awards in her career, spanning of over 24 years and has transformed lives, coached more than 10k plus corporate executives and young minds.
Her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/drswatilodha
Most importantly, she is a simple human with an honest heart. I am truly grateful to her for nurturing and giving birth to an author in me.
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