Skip to main content

Little Gestures

FADE IN

INT: AN AIRPORT TERMINAL FILLED WITH PASSENGERS AND STAFF. THE DAYLIGHT MAKING ITS WAY INSIDE THROUGH HUGE WINDOWS. A PASSENGER SITTING BESIDES AN EMPTY SEAT.

I'm anxiously waiting for my flight back to home. 

It's a long journey and I don't particularly enjoy sitting in a closed aluminum tubes with three-hundred other people for hours.

I'm not claustrophobic or aerophobic; maybe I just share nerves and jitters before a journey with hundreds out there.

A middle-aged man comes to me and asks, "May I?" as he points to the empty seat next to me. He has a warm smile and the mannerisms of a gentleman.

"Of course", I answer back with a smile. He is carrying a huge duffle bag. He tucks it under his seat and ensures it doesn't invade my space.

We just share a smile but no conversation for the rest of the time.

However, something has changed within the last few minutes. I'm more relaxed and take out my copy of Buy-ology and enjoy the revelations on marketing.

Soon my mind begins to wander around etiquette and curtsy. As human beings a major portion of our life is spent with other human beings. Whether our family, friends, co-workers or just strangers waiting in a public place.

We not only bring our abstract emotions like fear, anxiety, prejudices but also the not-so-abstract gadgetry we carry around with us. Whether it is the music on our iPods or huge bag we carry on our backs.

As a social animal we should realize that we're sharing the space with another human being. The dictionary defines sharing as using or enjoying something jointly with others. The etiquette and curtsy are just gestures to other human being implying "I respect you".

So next time you're in a public space just remember it's your duty as a fellow human being to share the space with others unselfishly. And we just need these "little gestures" to make lives of others (including us) a harmonic symphony.

FADE OUT

THE END
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scuba Diving 36 feet deep in Goa (Surreal but Nice!)

"Surreal but nice" that's what Hugh Grant's character managed to blurt out, mesmerized by the beauty of Julia Roberts (in the movie Notting Hill ). And this was the exact thought that was running in my mind as I was rising from a depth of over 35 feet under water in the Arabian Sea near Goa, India. I had just finished my first dive (rather second dive of my first dive) with grouper fish, tailor fish - and many more - knelt at the bottom of the ocean floor and touched a ship wreck that sunk more than sixty years ago! It was a surreal experience that has left me with a feeling of self-satisfaction as well as endless curiosity. The two feelings very rarely take a house together in my mind. Probably the last time they shacked up together was when I got an admit for my Master's from State University of New York . The feeling of gliding underwater among the fishes, water pressure trying to burst your ears drums, flying over huge boulders of rocks under sea; like an un...
21 comments
Read more

How not to read History? Avoiding Sophistry, Deceitfulness, and Irrational Narratives

Introduction A few days ago I wrote on how a contemporary Dharmic mind is enslaved with various narratives meant to degrade the tradition of Dharmic spiritualism (or Hinduism) and relegate the spiritual path as non-sensical, patriarchal, and regressive (i.e. against modernity). I've three examples below that show the eagerness in contemporary conversations to push this narrative. Since free speech and vaad (Sanskrit: वाद, discussion) are two-way streets so it's well within my right to share my opinion based on sound reasoning and well-established examples. And my opinion doesn't rely on the play of words (Sanskrit: सामान्य छल, quibble)) or a mere attack on the opposition (Sanskrit: वितंडा, cavil/sophistry). Just a side note, these categorizations are based on the ancient  Nyaya philosophy composed by Akṣapāda Gautama between the 6th century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Example 1 -  वितंडा / Sophistry Buddhism and Sanatana Dharma have a long history of coexistence and assim...
Post a Comment
Read more
The debate on Times Now Summit 2022 between Salman Khurshid, Dr. Vikram Sampath, Sai Deepak, and Pavan K Varma showed how disconnected the left, right, and the middle are from each other.  We all know these 'luminaries',  as Rahul Shivshankar, Editorial Director & Editor-in-Chief  @TimesNow introduces them.  How left and right  do not apply to Indian political viewpoints  is a matter for another time, therefore pardon my use of the western paradigm of left and right for the rest of this blog post. Times Now Debate, 2022 We all know Sai Deepak through his YouTube debate with  Asaduddin Owaisi  (Sai Deepak in fact moderated the debate) a few years back. And since then he has authored a couple of books on the historical context that surrounded the drafting of the constitution of India between 1946 to 1950. His first book on India, that is Bharat forced us to rethink colonialism and introduced an entirely distinct scholarly way to look at middle-e...
Post a Comment
Read more