Lessons to learn

Couple of weeks ago I met a lady. I visited her along with my sisters and spent about an hour and a half talking to her. Yet I don’t know her name. I will call her Lakshmi.

Lakshmi is a qualified Economics teacher at a Government School in Chrompet – a suburb of Chennai. She is very passionate about her profession. She takes pride in her capability as a teacher and works hard to make atleast two students score 100% in her subject each year.

During the conversation I got to know a lot about her. Everything about her way of life was so simple, and yet seems to be so meticulously well planned.

She lives just walking distance from her school. She and her husband bought land in Chrompet and built a house when many people wouldn’t have thought of living so far away out in the suburb. Now her three sisters and a brother also live in Chrompet.

Her daughter Arthi (again the name I have given), an engineer, went to school and college in the same neighbourhood. When the parents were looking for a suitable alliance for her marriage, the boy from Chrompet was found to be more suitable than the ones from Ambattur or Thambaram. Now, after marriage, Arthi lives just half a kilometer away from her parents’ house.

That is not all; there is more.

We followed her into the kitchen when she went to make coffee for us. Looking around I noticed that only in one wall storage space of 3 ft. x 4 ft. with four shelves, there were containers with ingredients for cooking. I was amazed and I expressed it.

She said, for a couple, with simple taste in south Indian food and a set standard menu, the requirements are very little. And there is a good shop in the same street, just four doors away (we noticed it on the way and appreciated it too) where everything is available. She can buy anything she needs almost on a weekly basis and on occasions when she is expecting guests.

I have been thinking of her, so often since then, and her amazing focus, and clarity of thought and planning to lead a simple uncomplicated way of life.

For me meeting her was an extra-ordinary experience. Yet if I had just passed her by on the street I wouldn’t have thought of her ‘as the master of her destiny’. Every individual I meet has a special lesson I could learn from.

To do or not to do

Last week I visited Coimbatore again. It is my second trip since May. I got myself booked into the same hotel as last time – standardization. It is a fairly decent hotel, very conveniently located near the railway station, with an Annapoorna restaurant and a Pazhamudhir cholai located at a very short walking distance. Difficult to find another one this good. And anyway I am the type who sticks to something if it works.

In the morning when I had my bath I noticed that the water didn’t drain fast enough and it was flooding the bathroom. I thought of complaining, yet I didn’t. I felt it is not worth complaining, and waiting and letting somebody in to do the job of fixing it. I could just adjust.

The next morning I decided to have a shower. I moved the bucket from under the tap and found the drainer under it. It was most unexpected. I felt happy I didn’t complain. I would have felt so embarrassed.

I simply assumed that the drainer would be somewhere behind the WC and didn’t care to explore. The thought that it could be under the bucket didn’t even cross my mind. Of course the water couldn’t drain with the drain hole covered firmly by the bucket.

Lesson learnt –

1. Make sure there is a problem in the first place before complaining
2. Learn to think laterally – something can be different from what it normally should be.

I put down all these thoughts while waiting at Annapoorna for my (breakfast) order of Kesari and pongal to arrive.

The Kesari arrived first. That is not how I wanted it. I expected the pongal first. But I didn’t let it bother me too much.

But the kesari was coloured yellow. It was not appealing. Still I was not going to be upset by it. I so much wanted to have something sweet. I started eating it. The rava wasn’t roasted well and there wasn’t enough ghee. The kesari got stuck to my palate. It had no cardamom flavor. The cashew nut was well cooked. On top of all this it had big lumps of rava. This was too much. I was terribly disappointed. While testing out all these aspects I had eaten nearly half the serve of the kesari. Then it occurred to me that I need not eat it. I called the ‘manager’ who took the order and showed him the big lumps still in the bowl.

I just ate the pongal and had a cup of coffee. When the waiter brought the bill I saw that it included the cost of the kesari. It was only Rs. 18 but I refused to pay. The waiter got the bill changed. I explained the issue to the person at the cash counter, paid the bill and tipped the waiter, as he had nothing to do with the way the kesari was prepared.

A second lesson learnt - Not every inconvenience or poor service need be accepted without a protest.