Saturday, October 18, 2014

Anjali - I am Grateful for the Hard Chapathi

Our cook makes hard chapathis. Some days they are harder than most days. Chapathis are definitely not one of her strong points as a cook. It is also not a feature that we are overly kicked about when it comes to her cooking.

Anjali surprised me yesterday when we were driving to school.
'Nana,' she said. 'I am so grateful for the hard chapathis I ate yesterday.'
She made a namasthe with her palms to show the extent of her gratitude. She was almost bent at the waist. Lots of gratitude it looked like. Wow!

I made a face.
'Thankful to hard chapathis? For what? To use as a weapon? A tool?'

'No nana,'s she explained. 'When I tried to bite into it yesterday I felt my front tooth move. Yeah, now my second tooth will fall off.'

Ah, that explains it. (I am not sure her granny will share the same enthusiasm if a similar thing happens to her tooth.)

Anyway I was thinking of what I would have thought if something like that happened to me. I would have thought perhaps that my eternal bad luck is continuing. That the cook was an ass. She can't make chapathis. That she heads the conspiracy to remove my teeth one by one. Basically, I'd have made it out like the whole world is against me. I'd never have thanked the hard chapathi nor seen the hidden gift it was giving me.

Only a child can see that I guess. Thanks Anjali. Soft or hard, there is always something good that's happening. That is the lesson I take from this. All I need to be is grateful that something is happening in my life and its for my good. Even if my front tooth is falling off I can bend over and be grateful.
Wow!

2 comments:

Rajendra said...

ah, to be 7!

Harimohan said...

Ahh.. is right Raja. What a dream!