One's responses to happenings, conversations or for that matter, anything, get affected due to a whole lot of reasons and without realising it, one reaches a point of being unable to respond. I'd like to give three specific instances that have fetched upon me recently......
(a) Nyet to Begging.
One used to be a regular to dole out something to the beggars that one came across, be it on the
streets or during journeys by bus or by train. Then a very respected person prevented me from
doing it, by saying that in doing so, one's actually letting that person make money without
having to work to earn his/her daily bread! She, however, did make an exception for those who
really had observable problems. Even that becomes subjective and over the years, I've stopped
doling out 'favours' altogether!
This morning, a man who should be in his early 40s - but looking older for his age - knocked on
my car's window asking for alms and I'd refused. A sense of guilt at refusing him weighed in my
mind for a fairly long time subsequent to the episode probably because I'd just returned from the
bank after pulling out money. To say 'nyet' while you have the wherewithal to give, is a difficult
proposition and the guilt gets to be overwhelming.
(b) Messing Up The Dates.
Last month, I'd goofed up on two events. Babu Sahadev, my classmate, had about a month
earlier, informed me about his arrival at Guruvayur accompanied by his wife, Suma, and I'd
made a mental note. Usually they stayed with us on such occasions saying that it gave them a
good break from their Canadian surroundings! Similarly, Charlie Mike, another classmate, had informed me about his younger son's wedding at Thirur during mid-December and again I'd made a mental note. But when the time came I'd goofed up and what was unpardonable was
that the gaffes took place in quick succession, within a week!
Spoke to both of them and asked for their forgiveness. Babu had told me that he'd come in
connection with a wedding and accommodations were booked. Lessons learnt - my mental
notes need to be backed up in writing.
(c) A Difficult Situation.
This is consequent to the ruffling of feathers that I'd caused last week. A young lady has
cleared a public examination with flying colours. Congratulating her has become difficult
because I'm sure that they wouldn't like to hear me at all. And hence, I stay mute, unable to
respond!
Tailpiece.
Mohanachandran's medical bulletin.
"No change from last sitrep". From Suresh Laxman.
(a) Nyet to Begging.
One used to be a regular to dole out something to the beggars that one came across, be it on the
streets or during journeys by bus or by train. Then a very respected person prevented me from
doing it, by saying that in doing so, one's actually letting that person make money without
having to work to earn his/her daily bread! She, however, did make an exception for those who
really had observable problems. Even that becomes subjective and over the years, I've stopped
doling out 'favours' altogether!
This morning, a man who should be in his early 40s - but looking older for his age - knocked on
my car's window asking for alms and I'd refused. A sense of guilt at refusing him weighed in my
mind for a fairly long time subsequent to the episode probably because I'd just returned from the
bank after pulling out money. To say 'nyet' while you have the wherewithal to give, is a difficult
proposition and the guilt gets to be overwhelming.
(b) Messing Up The Dates.
Last month, I'd goofed up on two events. Babu Sahadev, my classmate, had about a month
earlier, informed me about his arrival at Guruvayur accompanied by his wife, Suma, and I'd
made a mental note. Usually they stayed with us on such occasions saying that it gave them a
good break from their Canadian surroundings! Similarly, Charlie Mike, another classmate, had informed me about his younger son's wedding at Thirur during mid-December and again I'd made a mental note. But when the time came I'd goofed up and what was unpardonable was
that the gaffes took place in quick succession, within a week!
Spoke to both of them and asked for their forgiveness. Babu had told me that he'd come in
connection with a wedding and accommodations were booked. Lessons learnt - my mental
notes need to be backed up in writing.
(c) A Difficult Situation.
This is consequent to the ruffling of feathers that I'd caused last week. A young lady has
cleared a public examination with flying colours. Congratulating her has become difficult
because I'm sure that they wouldn't like to hear me at all. And hence, I stay mute, unable to
respond!
Tailpiece.
Mohanachandran's medical bulletin.
"No change from last sitrep". From Suresh Laxman.
No comments:
Post a Comment