Should I?.. Is this
something to be shared at all?... Why not (as at least a few hundred read your
posts)? These were some
of the questions that kept lingering since 25th January (just a
couple days ago). But I rescinded the idea to web my thoughts initially. You
might well ask me “No quandary now, to pen your thoughts?” Honestly neither I am Ms. Rhonda Byrne, nor
what I am about to share is ‘The Secret’.
On
25th January in the forenoon, I stepped inside ‘Selvam’ Departmental
Stores at Poonamallee. (Oh, please do not ask me why I ended up there!),
wanting to chip in a selected merchandise. Surf Excel Top Load was one among
them.
Up
I went there, at the specific spot and I had to keep looking up. Because, all
the 1kg packs (for a one-person- use, buying more than 1kg does not go fit with
‘Lean Management Principles’ that I terribly failed making my Mom understand
(while being a phenomenal success with others) were kept on top of each of
others. To get one pack and conquer in my shopping-mission, either I had to
scale up to 6.5 meters height or seek support.
I
did ask for support by looking at the young women at the counter. But I made
sure that I did not issue an imperative statement rather, to politely ask. I
made sure that I should let my request be common instead of pointing out one particular
person. One person, volunteered quickly. I guess I was polite in asking her as
though it would be a favor done to me. I said thank you and gave her ample of
room to get the job done.
She
swiftly drew a four-legged Stool made of plastic / nylon fibers (I wish it was
of nylon fiber) and scaled up the heights to get me one box. While she did all
what she had to do, I was very ‘watchfully’ observing her ascent to the height from
the Stool and her descent. Had Ajay (my only nephew who is about to get into a
UG course – for him ‘His uncle is a Hero’; naive boy to think of me so) been
there, he must have immediately reached to a conclusion that I was about to
formulate a theory and suggest her precautionary info-bits.
As
I was a complete stranger and that person there being a female, I wanted to go
mild. I looked at her with compassion and said to her with my hands pointing
out the locations on the four-legged Stool, “The next time, you use this Stool,
please make sure that you keep your legs here, and here. In this way you
distribute your body weight equally on the legs which then later distributed
over a larger surface area on the ground. This will make sure that the Stool
does not break and you do not fall due to imbalance”.
After
slowly moving around both my hands around areas in vulnerable points of the
Stool (not only on that Stool, but practically on any Stool), not thinking
about laying my hands on areas where she had kept her feet a few seconds ago, I
did want to make sure that she does not fall. I knew I wanted her to be safe,
and nothing else.
You
must have seen her face, emanating different kinds of energy altogether. She
said a ‘profuse-thank you’. I never wanted to make her feel that I felt something
special about her (had there been a comparatively older lady, I could have been
more compassionate), I nodded my head acknowledging her in a gentle way, by whispering
‘No Problem’.
After
all these, I could find a vibrant young woman who was married, observing all
what I had done and watching me carefully. I moved to the next counter where I
wanted to get two packs of my Mom’s favorite ‘pain palm’ so that I could give
them when I would meet her next. When I
said that particular brand pain-balm, the young lady at this counter was not
sure. As I have several habits (my Dad and my God Father - Rev.Fr. Maria
Lawrence SDB are the two guys responsible for such habits) that are way beyond explanation
let alone justifying them; I first glanced through the availability of what I
wanted so that I could pin it down exactly. I helped that young lady to locate them.
The
lady at this counter looked at me differently.( 1 Kg box of Surf Excel, Maggie
Pasta packs – 2, Maggie Oats 3 – Maggie Chicken 2 packs (newly introduced and I
wanted to try whether it is any good.) Well, the topping that my Surf Excel box
had was very tall as I wanted to get those without putting them in a basket. ) I
thought like, ‘oh lady… this is not something I do not know already. I know I
do not have room to accommodate nor could I just get those two packs of pain
balm by stretching out either of my hands’.
I
told her after she took it from the shelf, ‘yeah thanks, please keep them here,
I will swing back to get those two, after leaving one of the tallest ‘merchandise’
burger held in my hand, at the billing counter.
I could see that the vibrant young married lady had to buy some cosmetics
and hence was there after some moments I reached this particular counter.
What
happened next made me think very nobly of this vibrant young married lady, with
so much of appreciation for me in her eyes. As I walked with my ‘merchandise’
burger towards the billing counter almost 15 feet farther away, she collected
the two packs of pain balm and literally followed me. When I turned around to
get back to the counter to pick my pain balm packs, I was surprised to find her
at my back extending those two packs ‘Your two packs of pain balm’.
Now,
I had say to a ‘profuse thank you‘. I meant it. If there was anything / anyone great
here: I would say that the vibrant young married lady is great and her gullible
gesture of helping me is great ( I do not know whether I actually deserve that
help).
Here
are the key takeaways:
Though
married women tend to become very reserved with the opposite sex unless there are
too old to be her grand-father(s), this person could consider me ‘fit’ / deserving
her help.
Why?
Maybe she too thought of what Ajay and my guys (my Dad, Mom, and my elder sisters)
think about of me! Well my guys could be wrong!
Let
me cut to the chase and present you the conclusion:
Gullible
Gestures, the one I had for the young woman at the sales counter was very
straight and not crooked, in any way; and the one I had from that fine young married
lady was of appreciation /consideration and or of kindness.
We
all get back what we give to others. I felt like sharing this is one incident. There
are countless others where I was blessed enough to receive consideration /
kindness from others, early in my life. And, now I make sure that give back to
many without expecting anything in return, at least in equal proportion of my
receipt earlier.
Guess
what? If you know the manager / owner of this particular Departmental store
(these guys have a chain of departmental stores), you could possibly, watch this
entire episode recorded in the surveillance cameras installed at several places
inside the departmental store.
If
there is even a bit of room to show such gullible gesture to any other fellow
creature, just go on…
I
will boomerang back to you, later…
Best,
Chris
