“When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you till it seems as if you couldn’t hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that’s just the place and time that the tide’ll turn.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe.

This happened to me last year in 2019 on Laxmi Pujan day. This is during the Indian festival of lights called Diwali, where we worship goddess Lakshmi in our homes. On the auspicious day of Diwali, while my house was in a frenzy preparing for Laxmi Puja, I gave my mom a small coin of one of the Indian Goddesses, Goddess Durga. I had nicely packed it in a plastic case before giving it to her. My mom removed the coin from its casing and placed it in a tray along with the other idols of other Gods and Goddesses.

The next morning, my brother was helping my mom with putting all the materials and idols back into their places. In the afternoon the empty plastic case was put on my table. The coin was missing! We looked around the whole house but it was nowhere. My spirits dipped. I was feeling guilty and sad that on such an auspicious day, the Goddess had gone away and was no longer in our possession. That is considered to be a sign of bad luck.

I started chanting with deep hope and belief that Mata Durga would come back to me. The whole day passed, but the coin was not found. My mom and others advised me to let it go and to forget about it. At one point my mom even lost her cool because I was sulking and blaming her for losing my precious coin.

I kept chanting and held my belief strong. I pulled up my sleeves and went into detective mode. I traced the chain of movements from my mom to my maid who had also helped in putting away the materials.

At 10:30 at night, I called my maid at her house that she goes back to in the evening. I wanted to ask her where she put the used puja flowers, rice, and other such things. She informed me that she had put them in a plastic bag under the tree in our building compound. At 11 PM I called our building security guard to look for the bag under that tree. He searched all around the tree and nearby it but could not find it. My family again advised me to let it go. I was not ready to give up, I kept chanting.

At around 11:45 PM the security guard rang our bell and there in his hand was my precious little coin. We all jumped with relief and joy!

It so happened that he too had given up. After searching all over the compound he went back to his seat. Suddenly something told him to go and look again. This time for some strange reason, he looked up at the tree instead of under it. There in the middle of two branches, he saw the white bag peeping out like a hidden treasure. He pulled it down and found my coin in the middle of the flowers and the rice.

My faith deepened at that very moment. I thanked him with deep gratitude. He was like an angel.

The next morning my mom said, “Neenu, you were always stubborn since childhood. Once you set your mind on something, then no matter what happens, you go for it till you achieve it.”

Friends, whether it’s our stubbornness or our determination, our faith, belief, and hope help us tide over our biggest challenges.