Courtesy

Recent years have rained a bounty of riches on us .. the great Indian middle class! We have been able to make the best use of educational opportunities, the employment opportunities, technology, and generally it has been good times. Being post-liberalisation generation has had its advantage. But if somebody ask me what i miss most these days, i did answer in a second without blinking my eyes.. its courtesy... The simple courtesy of the old world has become too scarce a commodity these days.... I m no exception.. i have lot all the courteous gestures that were part of my upbringing...I get really irritated in traffic jam.. i shout, i hoot and i curse the man who rushed on to my road from absolutely no where, I hate that man who runs across to cross the road. I curse the young mother who's toddler infant ran towards me on the road and made me stop my vehicle. I hate everything that hinders my movement on the road.
I hate the queue at the coffee shop, i hate it when there is a huge crowd at the dhabha...the cheap teas stall.. I hate every one who is part it. In the hostel i hate girls who fail to close the taps when the taps are running dry, I almost scream at people who try to steal water from my bucket! I say 'steal' not 'use'. I consider it offensive.. I get cranky in the morning if i see other girls in our common bathroom complex! And man i remember my senior in the hostel.. the Miss.Snob... or even great who had asked me to close the tap in the sink i was using because her tap was running slow. She probably will be the nicest example for today's topic. There was one more snob in the hostel (thank god both of them have left the hostel.. and it is a much better place to live) Who had this message on the threshold of her room "keep your feet off". My god so intimidating.
We all do it.. don't we. We don't have the courtesy to get up and give our seat when there is a senior citizen around. Let alone that, we don't even wish people whom we meet in the morning.. Worse of all we don't even smile at people walking past us.What will we loose? after all.. it will not cost us anything.

When we talk.. there is absolutely no courtesy! In fact there is no such thing called courtesy even between husband and wife. It all about gathering brownie points and proving who is better.. The husband is at it and so is the wife... Obviously in this race called life we can as well do with out courtesy... right. We can do without many more things too... But would it not be nice for the husband to hold the door open for his lady? Would it not be good to be courteous when you talk? Would it not be? Would it not be a nice idea to be nice to people around? It makes such a big difference when we smile at our neighbours, have a word or two as we open lock of our house? Would it not be nice to not kill people just because you are disoriented in the chaotic traffic? Would it not be nice to let go a people who crawls into the space between our vehicles with a smile rather than a curse? I m sure all these are heart healthy too.. There will be more Blood Pressure tablets to be swallowed.. A little more patience and a little more good will.. should make the difference. We can have a better life.. not by having bigger roads, and bigger houses, but bigger hearts and frequent smiles.
I wish i could make a difference..I wish we could make a difference. I know it is going to hard even for me to smile at strangers..people might think i m crazy.. but then it did make me a better person.. I wish i had a little more of courtesy.I wish there were more people who knew the meaning of courtesy