On Vishu I received a message of greetings from a friend, who is well-known in Kerala, on WhatsApp. I promptly reciprocated the sentiment with these words: Happy Vishu to you and family. May God bless you all. I immediately got a reply:Thanks. I guessed God died long ago. I did not write to hurt you. Best. The message was punctuated by two smileys. For a moment, I was taken aback by his response. As I gathered my wits, I remembered a similar incident. A world-famous person and I were coming out of the lift at Taj Bengal in Kolkata when a kurta-clad elderly person greeted him with Ram, Ram, a common way of greeting in North India. Instead of reciprocating the greeting, he admonished the man by telling him, I dont like this kind of greeting as I dont believe in God!. I was shocked by the response. A few seconds later, I gently told him, Sir, what was the need to admonish the poor man? You could have just accepted the greetings and moved on.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 13:33:43 +0000