Microstory 154 – Tee Up
It was after a long time I was standing in a line in a public place with around 250 people ahead of me. I always get fascinated by people who wear T-Shirts with quotes. So I saw a lady wearing a nice black T-Shirt and in that it was imprinted ” I am a rebel ” and subtext was ” That is positive thinking”. I took a moment to read it again. The question I asked myself was “does she really mean that?” After some time I realized that she did what she said to the world. She jumped ahead of the queue as I noticed that some people were murmuring about the incident. That took me back to the day I noticed two people wearing interesting T-Shirts with quotes. One person’s T-Shirt said “Bored” and I could understand that from the way he walked and another lady who was full of life displayed ” Never easy”. The question I pondered was ” Does what you wear outside show who you are inside?” While I am typing this draft, I look at my T-shirt and it is showing “Blue Soul.” Now I need to figure that out now, let me go for a walk and find that out next time. I am ready to Tee up to see what that means.
Microstory 155 – Food for thought
I am labeled as a finicky eater by people who know me well. In fact, last week as I had my meal with my car chauffer he was amazed that I ate less and he was asking me in the local dialect, ” If you eat so less how can you work more. I told him less food is more energy for me. I was sure he couldn’t quite comprehend my philosophy of eating. Several times I had faced these comments with my hotel chefs when they wanted to impress me with some exotic menus and I used to tone down their excitement a couple of times in the evening by asking for “boiled vegetables with Olive oil.” Being such a food jerk I landed one afternoon in a very famous South Indian vegetarian joint. I was hungry yet was not ready to accept that I can have a full meal. So I ordered a full meal and asked the waiter to get me the meals without rice. He couldn’t quite believe what he heard as he showed his embarrassment by pulling down his mask. I reiterated once again my request and that threw him in a tizzy. A minor sense of commotion ensued as that person who had to go and punch the machine had to bill the meal without rice and there was no option to subtract in his machine. He came back and tried to convince me to have rice. In the process, he negotiated an option to reduce the rice to one-fourth of the quantity and bring it along with the meal order. I knew I was complicating the time-tested meal. As I was scanning around the place, a teenage guy walked in through the glass door with his T-Shirt displaying “Uncomplicate.”
Luckily for me, the same chauffeur whom I have embarrassed several times was not with me on that table as later he told me that he started bringing tiffin every time when he knows that I am his customer or have a heavy breakfast in the morning. Such is the impact I made in one person that whenever he sees my name as the customer he will have never have food for thought but will have the real thing and attend the duty.
Microstory 156 – Dress Rehearsel
It was in one of those trips I was on the bus and saw this message stuck on the wall, “Please give this seat to someone who needs it more than you do”. I read it and had an instant connection. I generally had offered in the past and it was a nice oxytocin rush when you do it. I stepped out of the bus and was walking towards the rear end of the plane. We suddenly see a congregation of people. I do have a proclivity in these times to stay at a distance. But that was from the front. I sensed a nagging push from behind which I initially dismissed as a mistake. The push started happening intermittently and then I turned halfway around and told the person to keep a distance and I stepped into the ramp. That walk in the ramp was an uphill task as I noticed my mistake. I had succumbed to the rush of the hour and didn’t recognize that the person behind was physically challenged and there was another person behind him who was helping him walk with the mask and face shield. I wanted to rectify my mistake and so at the front of the rear door, I stepped aside and ensured that they enter first before me. After settling down in my seat I noticed one thing. There are times in life when you will inadvertently make mistakes but you can always make amends. Life offers you real situations to test how true you are to yourself.
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