Pages

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Respect!


As a youngest member of our family I have to follow all the instructions and also obey the orders passed by my parents:-). One of those is to be their chauffer. Since we moved to Bangalore from our hometown, which is 200 kms away from here, my parents never miss or never want to miss any of their relative’s weddings. It is their chance to mingle with their buddies and relatives who live far away.

Recently I accompanied my father to one of his best friend’s son’s wedding. It was very hard and perhaps an embarrassing moment for me since I barely knew any one at that wedding. The only person familiar to me was my father, of-course.

My father was very delighted to meet his good old friends from his hometown. The conversation started with a very obvious and curious question Hegide saar bengloor lifu? (How is Bangalore life, sir?). Without any hesitation my father replied nammoor maatu ee ooralli illa saar (This city is never better than our hometown). He loves his hometown and given a chance he would prefer to go back.

After finishing my dinner in less than four and a half minutes, which is very unusual of me, I walked out of the wedding hall to be comfortably seated on my bike. While I was waiting for my father to come back, I saw a person smoking cigarette. He was in his early forties. All of a sudden he went and hid behind a car. I was confused to see what he was trying to do.

All the while he was also watching me watch him. A couple of minutes later he came out smiling and even though I did not start any conversation with him, he went on to explain what he was doing. He said my elder brother was passing by; I went aside to hide so that he should not see me smoking. Out of curiosity I asked whether his brother knew about this habit of his or not? Laughingly he said his brother knows it very well but it is the respect which stops from smoking in front of him. It brought a pleasant smile on my rather grim face.

Not long ago, I read an article which mentioned about some foreign countries where the traffic comes to a halt or slows down when an elderly citizen is crossing the road. The author was trying to highlight the differences in culture. I would say we Indians are not far behind.

27 comments:

  1. :-) Interesting experience, well written Mak.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some thing Different ... :-)
    --Shriraj

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shriraj, Welcome here Chetta :-)
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very Good writing and its nice to know Respectful ppl living around us...Beautiful heading Indeed!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. yeah we indians are not far behind but we use to far ahead , we are going backwards thats what the problem is ..

    Here in uk I have a few cousins who have come and they are all younger then me , we eat and drink together a lot of times But I am proud to say that they have never EVER spoken in front of me, veerji they call me, I might have sometimes shouted at them but they have just listened ..

    and the smoking incident I know one of them smokes but he never does in front of me, If he has to he will get up and go outside ...

    Bikram's

    ReplyDelete
  6. Interesting story! it's also humorous how the man hid from his brother lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sujana - Welcome here. Thanks for reading.

    Yes, it was a little humorous :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bikram, we show utmost regards to our elders which we must be proud of.

    Thank you for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Really its true...My elder bro.(Col. in Army) is now 45yrs old but he never smoke or drink in front of my father

    ReplyDelete
  10. Seema - Yeah, It is respecting our elders.

    ReplyDelete
  11. very true. even Sathya never smokes when his parents or some other elders are around even though idee oorge gottu he smokes anta :D
    good post

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks Sujatha. Thanks for visiting & comment maadidakke.

    ReplyDelete
  13. very interesting thoughts behind the experience... has triggered an idea for a write-up.. will share with you once it's done :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Abu.
      Nice to hear that. Awaiting your post. Your posts are very interesting. Keep them coming.

      Delete
    2. Here you go Maksood.. http://finallyimblogging.blogspot.in/2012/04/respect-free-will-culture.html :)

      Delete
  14. Nice read..Would like to add something:
    Respect is quite transitory in nature, yet man can die for it..ironical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot Rohit Singh Jain. You are welcome here.

      Yeah, very true.

      Delete
  15. Interesting post...enjoyed it! You have managed to capture the true essence of simple lives in the village...

    ReplyDelete
  16. I was just thinking about a similar kind of person in our office, a common friend of ours, who prefers not to smoke in front of his brother. I have witnessed him doing this quite a number of times.
    When I read through your blogs, I often feel the story line is based on the introductory part but the real catchy element comes at the end of it.... Keep writing Mak... Appreciate it....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a million tons Nideesh. I am overwhelmed at your appreciation. It is these kind of words, which i am not sure if i deserve or not, which keeps me motivated to write more. Thanks again buddy. Wish to see you often here.
      It is the respect we give to our elders which earns us respect. Yeah i know whom you are referring :)

      Delete