Behave & Balance ~ This week
SALT ~ This week ~ Behave
Last weekend I was travelling and I thoroughly enjoy it. Most importantly for the fact that I get to meet so many people and listen to so many stories. Some they share themselves some their behaviours share. This incident happened last week as I was waiting at the Mumbai Airport for my connecting flight.
There was an elderly couple just ahead of me in the queue for check in. The queue was very long hence I had ample time to observe them closely. I observed that old man was pretty short tempered and kept on talking very roughly to his wife. And his wife, poor thing was just smiling and listening to all that he said. It seemed as if it was the first time that lady was travelling by air and hence was not aware about the way things are handled there. Instead of telling her calmly , he would say it gruffly ending it words like moron, idiot etc. I was wondering why was that lady not saying anything at all.
He seemed to have a habit of blabbering as even after the check in was done, he continued his lashing in the waiting area too. He was able to pick up something or the other to snap at her. However much I tried to look in some other direction this old man would start saying something loudly which would bring back my attention to them. I met the lady's gaze a couple of times and we exchanged smiles. Co-incidentally she was standing next to me in the bus as we were about to board.
She smiled at me and said,' You must be wondering what makes me go through this...' I was startled by this question as I was not expecting this. I just nodded in denial,' Sorry but I did not get you...'
'I know... See we got married when I was 12 and he 15. I have grown up with him and I cannot imagine an existence without him. The creator has given him a nature like this. You need to believe me when I say he is an excellent father. All our children are well educated and settled abroad. And to me he is extremely caring. It is only his fault picking that hurts. But then I like to accept it like this. God made him like that and me like this. If he cannot change his nature, how can I? It is like expecting fire to not be hot and ice to not be cold... And for all the good things he has if he has one bad habit I think it is okay. I had to only decide if I could live with this one vice or not. And my heart said I can. Since then I have never ever minded anything that he has said. Everyone around us knows his nature so even they don't as they know he never means them. You know this makes survival easier.'
'But don't you think this is wrong?'
'In our times divorce was something unheard of. But given an option today even then I would not want to divorce him. You know why? Because he has only one vice I have many! ' Saying this she started laughing.
What she said was so true. We all have different natures given to us by God. So then when they behave in a particular fashion why do we get offended? We should not let such things affect us as need to accept that they are doing this out of their nature. Just like we are helpless with ours, they are with theirs too. Here both of them had accepted each other with their vices and hence their behaviors did not offend either of them. And this surely makes survival very much easier. There was an elderly couple just ahead of me in the queue for check in. The queue was very long hence I had ample time to observe them closely. I observed that old man was pretty short tempered and kept on talking very roughly to his wife. And his wife, poor thing was just smiling and listening to all that he said. It seemed as if it was the first time that lady was travelling by air and hence was not aware about the way things are handled there. Instead of telling her calmly , he would say it gruffly ending it words like moron, idiot etc. I was wondering why was that lady not saying anything at all.
He seemed to have a habit of blabbering as even after the check in was done, he continued his lashing in the waiting area too. He was able to pick up something or the other to snap at her. However much I tried to look in some other direction this old man would start saying something loudly which would bring back my attention to them. I met the lady's gaze a couple of times and we exchanged smiles. Co-incidentally she was standing next to me in the bus as we were about to board.
She smiled at me and said,' You must be wondering what makes me go through this...' I was startled by this question as I was not expecting this. I just nodded in denial,' Sorry but I did not get you...'
'I know... See we got married when I was 12 and he 15. I have grown up with him and I cannot imagine an existence without him. The creator has given him a nature like this. You need to believe me when I say he is an excellent father. All our children are well educated and settled abroad. And to me he is extremely caring. It is only his fault picking that hurts. But then I like to accept it like this. God made him like that and me like this. If he cannot change his nature, how can I? It is like expecting fire to not be hot and ice to not be cold... And for all the good things he has if he has one bad habit I think it is okay. I had to only decide if I could live with this one vice or not. And my heart said I can. Since then I have never ever minded anything that he has said. Everyone around us knows his nature so even they don't as they know he never means them. You know this makes survival easier.'
'But don't you think this is wrong?'
'In our times divorce was something unheard of. But given an option today even then I would not want to divorce him. You know why? Because he has only one vice I have many! ' Saying this she started laughing.
Lesson Learnt : Every individual has been given a particular nature by the Creator. Never try to be something which is against your nature. The results will surely not be pleasant.
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PEPPER ~ This week ~ Balance
In my earlier posts I have mentioned that I am very accident prone because of which both my legs and hands are full of scars from these injuries. I have spoken about the various things that I have learnt from my accidents, today once again I am sharing with you one such lesson.
I was 9 years old when I got my first bicycle. Like any other child I was hyper active and would be cycling at unearthly hours as I had fallen in love with this newly found skill of mine. Gradually from normal cycling I moved on to trying stunts on it like standing and cycling, cycle with only one hand,spinning, slow cycling etc. We would race around the colony everyday trying to prove who is the best.
One day we all decided to try double seats. So we made pairs and joyfully sat behind our partners to enjoy this new trick we had just found out. On your marks....get set....Go!!!..........and then suddenly a scream echoed in the entire colony. My partner had instructed me to keep my legs close to the cycle as otherwise they would hinder her cycling quickly and we would lose. Not wanting to lose the race I followed her instructions and within no time my leg was stuck in the cycle wheel.
My parents were called and I was rushed to the hospital. The injury was very deep and the doctor had to put stitches on it. I was in terrible pain and could not stop crying. Worst of all I could not understand why were my parents blaming me. It my friend who was riding the bicycle not me. At that time one of my dad's friend had come to see me. He saw the entire scene and understood what was happening. He sent my parents out and sat next to me. He loving stroked my hair and asked 'Hey Princess...what happened...?' As I narrated what happened he asked, 'You know what happened exactly?' I nodded in denial. 'You both lost your balance. Always remember it is good to try new and exciting things in life but the moment you sense you will loose your balance, back off. Or else you will end up getting hurt very badly. Just like the way you have now.' I looked at him and smiled,' So now you promise me to apply this rule of balance before you venture for any adventure in life ever....Promise?' I put my hand on his and whispered 'Promise'.
Maybe at that age I could not really understand the depth of what he said, but today when I look back I realize how right he was that day. From a bicycle I have come a long way now moving on two wheelers or cars, but till date my heart does not stop from applying this rule of balance before I am about to experiment something new in life. It could be a job, relationship, friends, food, clothes or anything for that matter. Even if I am trying to juggle between two things I try to maintain an equal balance so that none of them suffers.Balance is very important in everything.
Lesson Learnt : Striking a balance in everything you do in life is very important or else you have the fear of falling down and hurting yourself.
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