Weddings are always thrilling for me, as I get the chance to meet new faces, hear lots of family news and of course,relish good food. This time, three women who I met at the wedding struck me as different and they influenced me in different ways. The first one was a highly successful, middle aged woman who has travelled a lot and is doing great in her career. But she put me off by talking only about herself and by not bothering to show some common courtesy. She was so full of herself that after a while, all of us started feeling suffocated and wanted to move away. No doubt, she is a very successful career women who has balanced her personal life equally well. But then, showing no interest in others or showing no regard for the experience of the elders in the family just made me feel strongly that being grounded, having humility and applying the saying "Katradhu kai mann alavu, kallathathu ulgalavu" would make us realize that education and money alone don't equate to experience and knowledge.
The second lady was again a successful career women, but she has no airs about it. She is so simple and down to earth that it is difficult to believe that she is such an achiever. She was very simple in her dressing, despite the established custom of wearing Kanjivarams and jewelery for the wedding. We came to know about her achievements only through others and I learnt the valuable lesson that your achievements would speak for themselves and that there is no need to blow your own trumpet.
On the way back, during the train journey, our co-passenger was an old lady in her 80's who had amazing energy and was enthusiastically playing cards with her grandchildren. Although she could not converse in Hindi or English, she managed to carry on a conversation with her grand-daughter-in-law (who spoke only Marathi) and it was a delight to see people of two different generations , conversing with no common language between them. This old woman was so affectionate, even to her co-passengers, that all the children in the compartment came running to her when she called them. She was a perfect, living example of how one can enjoy life and be happy even at that age and thus, prove the saying "Anbirrkkum undo adaikkum thazh?" right.
Definitely, lots to learn from these women..........
1 comment:
Hi Sharadha...this was an excellent read. U really are a writer I say!! I have also met such women who do not tire of talking of themselves. In fact I deal with one of them near my residence area everyday. While I do find it tiring, exhausted and little too small(for that is the effect that this monologue has on you!!), after some time I start looking at this individual without getting involved. Why does one talk so much about oneself?? Insecurity may be. But the lady in question is quite a confident lady who takes her own decisions. Why don't we play Freud...come out with some explanations for this incessent need to bore the listerner to death about one's own preoccupations. Sn
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