A Piece of Sugar .....!

“The sweetness we taste from a piece of sugar,

is neither a property of that sugar nor a property of ourselves.

We are producing the experience of sweetness in the process of

interacting with the sugar.”

The thought given in “Wings of Fire”. I liked it when I first read it. And I wrote it in my Diary to forget like all other thoughts, quotes which I once liked and wrote to the same diary. May be it has become a habit of mine now to forget all the good things, or to ignore them rather. Then why this thought suddenly came to my mind?

From the very first day I landed in South Korea, I am a bit taken aback by the respect, love and affection these people have shown to me and my country. Isn’t this the same we also do with our guests? I asked this to myself several times. And yes we also do the same, but only with our guests. But here I could see the same love and care for all the people in everyone’s eyes. Those smiles on the faces, those good day wishes in the morning, and that respect for what you are and what you do, even for the unknowns, is great and unbelievable. This may be what I see of Korea. May be this is not the actual picture also. But what could I see and feel, is the easiness in the air, the easiness with the life. You feel safe here. Though you are far away from your country, you feel safe. I feel safer here than that I feel in Bangalore. In both the cases, the language, the people are unknown to me but the assurance in the eyes I find here, I could not find in Bangalore. As if these people have learnt that there is much more in life than hatred, jealousy, and money.

Do we show the same respect and love to our own countrymen? How many times a day do I smile at a person whom I don’t know or whom I care the least? How many times I wish somebody for his/her good day and ask to take care? Or even with my loved once, do I always well behave?

These all things are the most simple and takes a very little or no effort. But these all things matters the most in our daily life. Few more smiles, few more tender words, a little restraint on our temper may make all the difference in our lives.

But I must admit, I find it the most difficult. Why? Huh …. Don’t know. May be I am insane. May be I find pleasure in hurting people. May be I like the faces going down, the water in eyes, broken hearts, the disbelief and the sorrow. Lots of time I wonder about myself. Why I am angry with that person? I even don’t know him. Why I was angry with that laundryman? He had already told that he will bring cloths today and not yesterday. Why I play horn continuously even if I could see the traffic jam and no space to move ahead? Why I am angry with the life? ……… I don’t know the answer. Or …… may be this is me….. or I am taking out my frustration on those people.

Is this the same with most of people in our country? I see that anger in, if not everyone’s, but in most of us. I read an article some days back. It said “Beware of Dumping Trucks”. In day to day life, we come across many people who take out their frustration on you or in some manner which annoys you. And most of times we let those incidents or those people ruin our day. We get frustrated with their act, then we take out our frustration on others and then they take it out on some one else ……. And this continues. What if we could respond to someone’s annoyance with a smile? That may save our and lot of other peoples day. And this may build an atmosphere which is full of love and respect for all. We may come out of the continuous fear and disbelief we have in our minds about others and this may prove to be an answer to most of our problems today.

Gulzar has written somewhere …….

आओ आज सब पहनले आईने,

सभी देखेंगे अपनाही चेहरा,

सभी खूबसूरत लगेंगे यहा.

May be Koreans have learnt this……

This New Year, I have decided that I will try n change myself. And believe me ……. these good thoughts have already started showing results……. I feel more content these days ……… I feel happier than before ……… I am in ease with life ……