During my recent travel to Vietnam and Cambodia, I happen to meet some really amazing souls.
I call them as special people.
Special, since some of them were suffering from ailments, special, as some were going through bad marriages, special, as they had so much energy that all through the day they were more excited than all of us combined. Special, since they were proud of the heritage and the culture that these two developing nations withstood.
We react very first, as Indians, as people. Our Vietnamese tour manager, during his introduction shared that he had 4 daughters and 2 wives. Just by this one statement, many of us adjudicated thinking and bench-marking that this may be so wrong. Back in India, we only marry once, ideally. Many of us started speaking, mocking on the very character of this tour manager.
However, he was used to.
And as he had predicted, we also went the same way like others. His second statement is what made all of us thinking hard.
He shared, his first wife died due to carcinoma and his family pushed him to marry the sister of his late wife, which he was against. He already had 2 daughters from this first wife. Due to the culture in Vietnam, as per him, he had no options but to marry the sister, now his second wife. What's more !? If a lady, after 2 years of marriage doesn't bear a child, she is considered as evil or satanic. Hence, 2 twin daughters.
While, he works really hard in making ends meet, it got all of us thinking that why do we judge so fast. Why is it that we use our thinking the wrong way and don't even try to consider someone else state of mind or being. Character assassination, seems to be the new normal. Yet, we all consider ourselves to be highly educated, evolved human beings.
Every year, since last so many years, I have been trying to follow this very fabric of our culture. Not to react. Not to immediately jump to conclusions. Avoiding making assumptions. Leaving people, the way they are, and unless, not asked, not to give your two cents.
Believe me, its been a hard journey and while I am much more refined as a person now, still a lot of the ground needs to be covered.
I hope, we all, try to be empathetic people to start with. This small step, will make you re-look at the world and its' people, a lot differently.
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