The day in Hyd and some contemplation
Reached Hyderabad this morning and managed to find the hotel without trouble. I commented in J’s blog in the afternoon that Hyd is very hot, but right now (its around 5.50pm IST) its overcast!
Things were quite set while I reached office to begin my session this morning. But all seemed spoilt. I've got a badly sore throat. And every line I speak seems to be ripping my trachea apart. The sad part is, I spoke for all day until a few minutes ago and need to do that all over on Monday too! I’m sounding worse than George Bush talking through his microphone from Air Force One caught in a tornado.
But not everything was spoilt. The morning coffee break saw me smile introspectively for a few pleasant moments. I was walking to the pantry and waited for my turn to get a cuppa coffee, and here was a person attending my session, S, who had just got hers. As she turned and saw me standing, she gave her cuppa to me 'take this Kishore, I'll get another' and a smile. The smile was so genuine! The gesture was far more soothing for my sore throat than the coffee I drank!
Just wondering how big a difference such teeny-weeny things make to someone. Here’s a guy who is struggling to keep up his voice with a pathetic throat and here’s someone you have hardly known for a few hours whose little gesture of care goes a long way to raise your spirits. We walked, with the coffee in my hand, back into the hall having a little chat about a technical point I had made earlier. But my mind was still at the pantry, introspecting my moment of truth.
Have I ever shown such a gesture to anyone? Have I ever made someone I hardly know feel good about himself when something wasn’t going good for him? Has some stranger who would never ever meet me again ever felt a sense of gratitude for something I did?
But if I had been telling myself I’m doing a favor to someone while I am doing it, then would that be a genuine favor at all? May be, a genuine gesture is all about an act of care rendered oblivious of the person realizing that you are doing a favor to him or returning the gratitude.. Or, is it something different?
|
Things were quite set while I reached office to begin my session this morning. But all seemed spoilt. I've got a badly sore throat. And every line I speak seems to be ripping my trachea apart. The sad part is, I spoke for all day until a few minutes ago and need to do that all over on Monday too! I’m sounding worse than George Bush talking through his microphone from Air Force One caught in a tornado.
But not everything was spoilt. The morning coffee break saw me smile introspectively for a few pleasant moments. I was walking to the pantry and waited for my turn to get a cuppa coffee, and here was a person attending my session, S, who had just got hers. As she turned and saw me standing, she gave her cuppa to me 'take this Kishore, I'll get another' and a smile. The smile was so genuine! The gesture was far more soothing for my sore throat than the coffee I drank!
Just wondering how big a difference such teeny-weeny things make to someone. Here’s a guy who is struggling to keep up his voice with a pathetic throat and here’s someone you have hardly known for a few hours whose little gesture of care goes a long way to raise your spirits. We walked, with the coffee in my hand, back into the hall having a little chat about a technical point I had made earlier. But my mind was still at the pantry, introspecting my moment of truth.
Have I ever shown such a gesture to anyone? Have I ever made someone I hardly know feel good about himself when something wasn’t going good for him? Has some stranger who would never ever meet me again ever felt a sense of gratitude for something I did?
But if I had been telling myself I’m doing a favor to someone while I am doing it, then would that be a genuine favor at all? May be, a genuine gesture is all about an act of care rendered oblivious of the person realizing that you are doing a favor to him or returning the gratitude.. Or, is it something different?