BREATHE IN WHAT IS GOOD... BREATHE OUT WHAT IS BAD

Pic.: Chetna Shetty

And, this morning Kannan had some new stories to tell. Yes, before our Tai Chi class would begin.

The first story…

Kannan wanted an auto rickshaw to come to the Tai Chi class. He saw at the corner of the road an auto. The place was almost deserted… and, it seemed that the autowala was there waiting for a passenger to come for some time… He looked anxious, lost. Kannan was fast moving to the direction of this auto…

Just then, another autowala came from nowhere… Learning that Kannan needed to get into an auto, this autowala honked to draw Kannan’s attention…slowed down, drove close to Kannan, almost inviting him to get in…

The first auto was a few yards away… still without a passenger… The autowala was yet to notice Kannan…

And, Kannan had to make a spur-of-the-moment decision: Should he get into the one which has come inviting him, there right next to him… all waiting? Or, should he walk some more distance and get into the one which has been waiting there for long time?

Kannan told us that he chose to walk the distance and get into the one which had been waiting for long. I was intrigued by the rationale behind this choice as Kannan put forward… The second autowala had paid attention to Kannan… he was inviting Kannan. Kannan was made to feel important by this autowala… His ego has been massaged… The focus light was on Kannan… For Kannan, getting into this auto meant operating from self-importance…

On the other hand, walking for some distance, towards the autowala, who hadn’t noticed Kannan, but needed a passenger badly… yes, for Kannan it meant shifting the focus light from self to ‘the other’… It meant operating from empathy and compassion…

Well, Kannan was a great story teller. But, listening to this story, one would think aloud, “Boss, this is Mumbai… a fast and furious life. Who has time to think so deeply? Jo auto mila, baito, nikal jaavo. Dhimak gharam kyun karneka… Kya?”

But, then, Kannan was on his way to the Tai Chi class. Awareness was not confined to the class alone, you see… The class had already begun, for him!

Before, the auto story had settled in our hearts, Kannan came out with three more stories – all involving JRD Tata. Though all three were interesting, I wish to recount here one of them…

One day, the great JRD was walking along a street. He noticed a cobbler needing a customer badly. Sensitive soul that JRD was, he could feel the plight of the cobbler from a distance. His heart overwhelmed with compassion. Giving money to the cobbler was not the theory JRD would believe in… So, quietly, he tore off one of his shoes… and went to the cobbler to get it fixed!

Again, the mind would react, “Kuch bhi! They cook any stories about JRD and Ratan Tatas.”    

   

I was smiling…  Breathing in the good… Breathing out the bad…

The class had already started, sir. The ‘Chi’ – the life energy – was all around us, available all free… We just had to ‘tune’ in!

GERLAD D’CUNHA