Tag: People

Reaching Out.

“I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world. I may not complete this last one but I give myself to it.” -Rainer Maria Rilke, poet and novelist (1875-1926)

When I came across this beautiful quotation, I immediately thought of what is happening to me in and through this blog and I am sure, most of the readers who visit this blog. I am sure that a lot of the blogs that I visit regularly also are from people who will feel exactly as Rilke did.

We now have the internet and the medium of the blogs to achieve this magnificent goal. During Rilke’s time, telephones and telephones were also rarely used, and communications were incredibly slow. Despite that, his desire to reach out to the world resulted in his extensive travels to Russia and throughout Europe. Without traveling, we can meet people, relate to some, exchange views, advise each other, share our joys and sorrows, comfort each other etc. I am reaching out. So are all of you who read this.

Are there any other inspiring quotes that you can come up with that reflect this phenomenon?

I believe that this is divinity at work to bring the world closer and to enable people to reach the level of togetherness that nature wants.

A Chapter Closes.

Earlier this evening, a very important person came to take leave of us. We have known him for the past eight years as one of the most cheerful and obliging people that we have ever known.

He was the Counter Salesman and home delivery person for the neighborhood chemist that we had been customers of, for the past fifteen years. The last eight years however, were when our purchases of medicines went up due to the illness of my wife. As part of their regular service, the Chemists extended home delivery service which was our lifeline. I would simply telephone them and by evening, the medicines would be delivered home.

The owner was a General Practitioner from Mumbai who took retirement and moved to Pune to spend his retirement in better climes. He became our neighbor in our co-op and opened this shop just half a kilometer away from where we live.

He has grown older and wishes to spend his time in better pursuits and has closed down the business with effect from last Sunday after he personally called on all his customers to announce the clousure and to explain the reason for the closure.

The Assistant who came to take leave of me, joins the doctor’s son’s business located about 15 Kms away from where we live. It is a measure of that man’s character that he came to take leave of us just as his employer did. He need not have. I however was touched that he chose to do so. He has assured us that he would visit us for a cup of tea whenever he came to the doctor’s residence on any errand.

We shall miss that man. On every visit, he would cheerfully ask us about our well being and inform us of any juicy news in the neighborhood. He would also share news about his children and their academic achievements. Whenever we needed some other help from him, he has never denied us the service as long as his employer did not object. Ever helpful and cheerful, that breed is a rapidly dying one. I wonder why. Apart from difference in the character, we also notice that other home delivery services have a high turnover of people. We see new faces every few months. This man however has stayed with one employer all these years and has just shifted from the father to the son’s employment.

Do you have such people in your lives? I am sure that there must be people like plumbers, electricians and other service providers from among whom one or two may be like this. What impact do such people have on your lives?

Connections.

My readers will recollect my post of December 4, 2008 on an article by Jerry Davich called the Ground Zero Mentality. In that post I had talked about the book that Jerry and his cousin Dennis Berlien had written called ‘Connections – Everyone Happens For A Reason.’

I have now had the privilege of reading the book. It is a small book by the standard of current surfeit of self help books, only 170 pages long. What it packs however, is a total knock out punch. Once I started reading it, I just could not put it down.

The book essentially talks about reaching out to others and what can happen when one does. It takes us into the lives of some remarkable people and their stories.

Since by nature and inclination, I am a compulsive ‘reacher outer’, a trait that I believe I inherited from both my parents, I could identify with and relate to many of the experiences written about in the book. I have always wondered why most others cannot be like that, and this book comes along at a time when I think is most appropriate.

I strongly recommend this book to my readers. You can get more details about the book, its authors etc, in its website.

Old Man On Porch – A Moving Newspaper Column.

There are a number of people who read my blog who will, I am sure, be happy to read a very nice article that I read today during my surfing period. Please spare some time and read it. You will not regret it.

This is a poignant and moving reflections about a columnist’s visit to her home town.

There are many old men on the porch in my life, some still there and some gone away, but seeing them has always evoked peculiar feelings in me. When I was younger, I used to long to be able to do that and watch the world go by instead of being in a rat race. Now that I am the old man on the porch, only we call it veranda here, I can sit for hours and muse about so many things. The musings are indeed very therapeutic as the writer suggests.

The difference is that I rarely sit alone. My wife sits besides me and we exchange some comments now and then and the world really stands still. Early mornings are best when there are people walking or jogging for exercise. Most regulars by now must be wondering about us, I am sure. Some, who have not met us formally simply wave or pass the time of the day and it is wonderful.

I intend contacting the writer and complimenting her on an article that has touched me. I hope that some of you do too.

Do you sit on your porches or verandas or whatever and watch the world go by? It would be nice to hear from those who do.