Thank You!

It was a coincidence that I was watching an episode of "FRIENDS" (the one where all of them make a New Year resolution) just as 2008 is fast approaching. I started thinking what my resolution should be. Thus this piece:

There are people who have made a difference in my life...
But, have I ever expressed my gratitude (to the extent that I feel) - NO.

Sometime back, I remembered one such person - my favorite teacher from High School -Mrs. Prabhamani. It´s been 11 years since I left Carmel. Though I have visited school now and then, the conversations were confined to: How are you? What have you been doing and so on. I never got a chance to express how grateful I am to her. So I decided that it´s high time I did it. I sent her a"Thank You" card along with letter. It made me feel good. This feeling enhanced after I read Teacher Prabhamani´s reply.

Recalling this, I decided that this year I should thank all the people who I have not thanked enough. And from now on I will express my gratitude to the extent that I am wholly satisfied, so that in future I need not make a resolution to go back and thank these wonderful people.

Why?

I landed in Stuttgart, Germany 1.7 years ago and that´s precisely when I started full-fledged cooking. Being a strict vegetarian, not to forget extremely fussy when it comes to food and the fact that Shash ( my husband) could not prepare anything but Pulav, forced me to expand my knowledge about cooking -"Necessity is the mother of invention" :)

Its only human that I crave to eat out sometimes. Unlike Bangalore it was difficult to find a restaurant here as per my taste. In pursuit of such a place, Shash and I have tried a whole lot of Italian, Mexican, German, Chinese, Thai, Kenyan and of course Indian restaurants. When you step into a place, the first thing you notice is the treatment. We were treated very well in all the restaurants, but the treatment in the Indian restaurants vexed me. Either we weren´t greeted or showed to the table or the candle would not be lit only on our table or the menu cards were given late or there would be no one to take our order or the food was served late. The worst experience of all was on Deepavali this year when we went to an Indian restaurant with a bunch of our friends. Later, we learnt that they too had similar experiences earlier.

I can confidently say that there are only one or two Indian restaurants here in Stuttgart that treats you well.

It is ironic that our own countrymen don´t treat us well. The question to which I am still seeking an answer is WHY?

My Little Friends

About 4 months ago a family moved to the apartment below ours. The kids Aditya (9) and Ashwin (6) happen to be the most hyper-active children that I have come across. If I can´t hear their voices, it´s only because they are either not at home or they are asleep.

Aditya is very mature for his age and is very innovative and creative. He knows quite a lot about computers. His school is pretty far, and within a week Aditya mastered the route, train/bus numbers and transfers. Aditya and Ashwin´s responses are quicker than lighting. I once took their mother grocery shopping and Ashwin came along. From the moment we started till we got back, Ashwin spoke continuously. What caught my attention was his vocabulary - it was too good for a 6 year old. It was surprising that Ashwin couldn´t even read, but that didn´t hinder him from using fancy words (on asking, I learnt that he knew the meanings of those words!). How children grasp is indeed unexplained. Now, after such a short time in Germany, Ashwin understands and speaks German quite well.

The best part about Ashwin is his hilarious and unpredictable answers. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said "nothing". I said "Come on, don´t you want to be a famous person?" Pat came the reply "What´s the use? No matter what I do or who I become ultimately I will be a father." :) An entire day wouldn´t be enough to relate such incidents about my lil friend Ashwin.

Whenever I am bored or stressed, I look forward to having a chat with Aditya and Ashwin. You never know in who you can find a FRIEND.