THE PLANK-WALKING
Pic.; Aparna Khanolkar Sheth W hile Kannan was paying, yesterday, his monthly fees to our Tai Chi teacher, I couldn’t resist from asking our teacher a question, which I have been wanting to ask him for a long time: “Sir, how do you remember who has paid you and who hasn’t?” Our teacher never ever bothered to remind us about the fees… We paid on any date we liked… and, he accepted it, gracefully, without noting down anywhere… Our teacher only smiled… and, that, I knew, was the answer! But, then, I had one more question, which I had been holding back for quite some time. “Sir, how come the ‘number’ doesn’t affect you?” “The number?” the teacher wanted to know what I meant by it. “Sir, I have watched you conduct the class with equal poise, focus and commitment whether, on a particular Sunday, we are four or forty in number… I have never heard you complain about it… Many of them, who you help with such attention, do not turn up after a session or...