Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. ~
I am home in India 😀
Tag: Inspirational quotes
Floral Friday
Party Time
Nurturing Thursday: Respect
When Sudha Murthy, chairman of Infosys Foundation, was called “cattle class” at London’s Heathrow Airport!
Here’s an excerpt from Sudha Murty’s ‘Three Thousand Stitches: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives’
Last year, I was at the Heathrow International Airport in London about to board a flight. Usually, I wear a sari even when I am abroad, but I prefer wearing a salwar kameez while travelling. So there I was — a senior citizen dressed in typical Indian apparel at the terminal gate. Since the boarding hadn’t started, I sat down and began to observe my surroundings. The flight was bound for Bengaluru and so I could hear people around me chatting in Kannada. I saw many old married couples of my age — they were most likely coming back from the US or UK after helping their children either through childbirth or a new home. I saw some British business executives talking to each other about India’s progress. Some teenagers were busy with the gadgets in their hands while the younger children were crying or running about the gate.
After a few minutes, the boarding announcement was made and I joined the queue. The woman in front of me was a well-groomed lady in an Indo-Western silk outfit, a Gucci handbag and high heels. Every single strand of her hair was in place and a friend stood next to her in an expensive silk sari, pearl necklace, matching earrings and delicate diamond bangles. I looked at the vending machine nearby and wondered if I should leave the queue to get some water.
Suddenly, the woman in front of me turned sideways and looked at me with what seemed like pity in her eyes. Extending her hand, she asked, ‘May I see your boarding pass, please?’
I was about to hand over my pass to her, but since she didn’t seem like an airline employee, I asked, ‘Why?’
‘Well, this line is meant for business class travellers only,’ she said confidently and pointed her finger towards the economy class queue. ‘You should go and stand there,’ she said.
I was about to tell her that I had a business class ticket, but on second thoughts, held back. I wanted to know why she had thought that I wasn’t worthy of being in the business class. So I repeated, ‘Why should I stand there?’
She sighed. ‘Let me explain. There is a big difference in the price of an economy and a business class ticket. The latter costs almost two and a half times more than . . .’I think it is three times more,’ her friend interrupted. ‘Exactly,’ said the woman. ‘So there are certain privileges that are associated with a business class ticket.’
‘Really?’ I decided to be mischievous and pretended not to know.
‘What kind of privileges are you talking about?’
She seemed annoyed. ‘We are allowed to bring two bags but you can only take one. We can board the flight from another, less-crowded queue. We are given better meals and seats. We can extend the seats and lie down flat on them. We always have television screens and there are four washrooms for a small number of passengers.’
Her friend added, ‘A priority check-in facility is available for our bags, which means they will come first upon arrival and we get more frequent flyer miles for the same flight.’
‘Now that you know the difference, you can go to the economy line,’ insisted the woman.
‘But I don’t want to go there.’ I was firm.
The lady turned to her friend. ‘It is hard to argue with these cattle-class people. Let the staff come and instruct her where to go. She isn’t going to listen to us.’
I didn’t get angry. The word ‘cattle class’ was like a blast from the past and reminded me of another incident. One day, I had gone to an upscale dinner party in my home city of Bengaluru. Plenty of local celebrities and socialites were in attendance. I was speaking to some guests in Kannada, when a man came to me and said very slowly and clearly in English, ‘May I introduce myself ? I am…’
It was obvious that he thought that I might have a problem understanding the language.
I smiled. ‘You can speak to me in English.’
‘Oh,’ he said, slightly flabbergasted. ‘I’m sorry. I thought you weren’t comfortable with English because I heard you speaking in Kannada.’
‘There’s nothing shameful in knowing one’s native language. It is, in fact, my right and my privilege. I only speak in English when somebody can’t understand Kannada.’
The line in front of me at the airport began moving forward and I came out of my reverie.
The two women ahead were whispering among themselves, ‘Now she will be sent to the other line. It is so long now! We tried to tell her but she refused to listen to us.’
When it was my turn to show my boarding pass to the attendant, I saw them stop and wait a short distance away, waiting to see what would happen. The attendant took my boarding pass and said brightly, ‘Welcome back! We met last week, didn’t we?’
‘Yes,’ I replied. She smiled and moved on to the next traveller.
I walked a few steps ahead of the women intending to let this go, but then I changed my mind and came back.
‘Please tell me, what made you think that I couldn’t afford a business class ticket? Even if I didn’t have one, was it really your prerogative to tell me where I should stand? Did I ask you for help?’
The women stared at me in silence.
‘You refer to the term “cattle class”. Class does not mean possession of a huge amount of money,’ I continued, unable to stop myself from giving them a piece of my mind.
‘There are plenty of wrong ways to earn money in this world. You may be rich enough to buy comfort and luxuries, but the same money doesn’t define class or give you the ability to purchase it. Mother Teresa was a classy woman. So is Manjul Bhargava, a great mathematician of Indian origin. The concept that you automatically gain class by acquiring money is an outdated thought process.’
I left without waiting for a reply.
Inspired by Becca’s Nurturing Thursday
Sunday Trees
“Perfection”
Every oak will lose a leaf to the wind.
Every star-thistle has a thorn.
Every flower has a blemish.
Every wave washes back upon itself.
Every ocean embraces a storm.
Every raindrop falls with precision.
Every slithering snail leaves its silver trail.
Every butterfly flies until its wings are torn.
Every tree-frog is obligated to sing.
Every sound has an echo in the canyon.
Every pine drops its needles to the forest floor.
Creation’s whispered breath at dusk comes
with a frost and leaves within dawn’s faint mist,
for all of existence remains perfect, adorned,
with a dead sparrow on the ground.
Poet –
Inspired by Becca’s Sunday Trees
Nurturing Thursday: Time to reflect!
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.~ Lucius Seneca (The ancient Roman philosopher)
Inspired by Becca’s Nurturing Thursday
Sunday Trees
You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure~ Pride and Prejudice)
Inspired by Becca’s Sunday Trees!
A little note: This photo was taken in October this year and the snow photos on Wednesday were from yesteryears. Until now we have just gray weather with rain and no snow as for winter.
I want some colours on my blog instead of showing you REALITY 😀
Happy holidays everyone and never forget how blessed you are.
Every branch is significant!
For Becca’s Sunday Trees
And for Becca’s Nurturing Thursday
A little “thank you” that you will say to someone for a “little favour” shown to you is a key to unlock the doors that hide unseen “greater favours”. Learn to say “thank you” and why not? ~
***********************
Never overlook the littlest things that can mean pure happiness to someone else ~
Your limitation – it’s only your imagination!
An incredible story about a lady born on 7th November in 1867. In 1890, she was 23 years old without any formal degree, working as a governess in her father’s friends house in Warsaw to help support her sister who was struggling to get an education in Paris. She fell in love with the elder son of the family who refused her as she had no prospects or money. Heartbroken and weary she wrote to her sister Bronia that she was stupid, would remain stupid and nothing would ever come of her life…
… Thirteen years on she won a Nobel Prize along with her husband Pierre, and won another one for Chemistry eight years later. Marie Curie was one of the greatest and bravest scientists ever. Her research notes are still radioactive and she died of cancer from radiation.
Years later, that elder son who she sought, Kazimerz, became one of Poland’s most famous mathematicians. As an old man he was often seeing sitting quietly beside mother’s statue at the Radium Institute in Warsaw.
(Joy Bhattacharjya)
Inspired by Becca’s Nurturing Thursday
Sunday Trees : Autumn landscape
This image is one of my favourites. The autumn light on bare trees makes the surrounding quite magical.
Nurturing Thursday – Insulin
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
~
14th November is “World Diabetes Day”.
https://worlddiabetesday.org/about/2019-theme/
A story about today——
Today is the birthday of a man who made miracles happen. In 1920, a four year old boy Terry Ryder diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In those days, the only way to save diabetes patients was to put them on a starvation diet. In July 1922, Terry weighed less than 12 kg & could not take 4 steps by himself. He was one of the first put on Fredrick Banting’s new discovery. Within 2 weeks he started gaining weight. By September Terry was healthy.
Terry was just one of thousands of children saved around the world by Fredrick Banting’s miracle cure for diabetes. Also adults and children around the world now take this miracle treatment for granted.
When Fredrick Banting discovered insulin, he refused to put his name on the patent. He felt it was unethical for a doctor to profit from a discovery that would save lives. Banting’s co-inventors, James Collip and Charles Best, sold the insulin patent to the University of Toronto for a mere $1. They wanted everyone who needed their medication to be able to afford it.
Inspired by Becca’s Nurturing Thursday
