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8/26/07
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Vengrai Parthsarathy
Life is one long saga of learning. Some lessons, we learn from our
parents, some from our teachers and most in the school of hard knocks.
Here is the lesson I had learnt from from an old lady.
you can call an obsessively regular temple-goer. Sitting on the steps, watching
men and women– fervently praying or chanting some mantras, or circum-
ambulating the inner precincts of the temple., I used to wonder what they
were praying for . Perhaps someone was ill or someone was appearing for
an exam or was praying for a good son-in-law. Possibly, they were nearby residents
just wanting to have darshan.…to each his own.. On such occasions I
like to give some prasad or small change to the old, people waiting near the
exit, for alms.
After one such visit, as I was coming out ,I saw a dilapidated old lady in a
corner, totally oblivious to the people around her. She seemed to be in a world
of her own. I was in a generous mood and since I had some money in the
purse being pay-day, I thought I will play the Good Samaritan. I gave, or
rather, offered her a five rupee note.What followed shook me to the core and
took me quite a while to recover from.
She gave me a withering look which rather surprised me : ”You, You are
giving alms to ME, to ME.. Who do you think you are.. Some Karna?
but say ‘Sorry’, ‘sorry’, again and again and slithered away like a thief at night.
I don’t know who she was. perhaps a once-rich woman now fallen into
bad days.. perhaps an ungrateful son or bossy daughter had
driven her away.. or , may be a drunken husband Whatever it was, she was
unbelievably offended , She had her self-esteem in tact though her once
rich pattu sari was in tatters now.
It was my self-esteem too which was in tatters”..