tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141566902011-04-21T17:34:13.904-07:00Anandlokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01130931899621251928noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14156690.post-1158730659430280332006-09-19T22:30:00.000-07:002006-09-19T22:37:39.440-07:00My father-in-law was reading my palm the other day and he said that I have a tendency to be too trusting and hence am liable to be taken for a ride. This set me thinking. True. I do trust people. I trust the meter on the autorickshaw I ride to be accurate. I trust the electrician or plumber who comes home to do a good job and not fleece me. I trust my producers to pay me on time and not pull any underhanded tricks on me. I trust my wife, my friends, my neighbours. I look for the good in people...<br /><br />Is that so bad? Am I so wrong? Would you call me naive, or if you wished to be less complimentary - an abject idiot. I don't know. I look at the newspaper - read about bomb blast trials, land scams, corruption in high offices (and not just in India) and wonder if this is the state of the world - can one expect an average Joe to behave any differently? Maybe I am the idiot.<br /><br />I've started staring at the autorickshaw meter a little more closely. Funny thing is it doesn't make me feel any better, just a lot sadder...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14156690-115873065943028033?l=tellyouastory.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Anandlokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01130931899621251928noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14156690.post-1120400558867562442005-07-03T07:19:00.000-07:002005-07-03T07:22:38.870-07:00<span style="font-family:georgia;">So I'm riding this cab and as often happens with me, the cabbie starts chatting. Only this time what he had to say hasn't stopped haunting me...<br /><br />Gesturing to a newspaper on the side ofhis seat he said - Pata hai saab, 18 hazaar ka saabun bana hai. Truth be told, that staggered even me - a 18,ooo buck soap... I'm not frugal by any standards but 32 bucks is tops on any 'scrub the dirt off my legs' device. Nevertheless in this time of Rs. 1.5 lakh bicycles and what not, there are bound to be people who're quite turned on by the diea of scrubbing their back with the equivalent of an average Joe's yearly take home... So I shrugged and would have forgotten the whole thing except for his next remark...<br /><br />Translated - " Saab, there are people who go to bars and discos and blow up 3000 rupees in an hour... and there are people like me who after saving for 3 months have managed to send 3000 rupees to my village and that too only I know what it took to save that..<br /><br />Don't know why this disturbed me as much as it did. After all it's just the way things are. Some people earn more, some people less. The ones who can afford it spend 70 bucks on a cuppa, those who can't settle for a 2 rupee cutting. Maybe it's an accident of birth, maybe it's karmic. But after that morning my hand seems to tremble just a little bit when signing that credit card slip that says Rs 22oo for a night's revelry, or when pulling out a 500 rupee note to see Sarkar, a movie I know is going to be trashy...<br /><br />Not saying that I've stopped spending but my hand trembles all the same...<br /><br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14156690-112040055886756244?l=tellyouastory.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Anandlokihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01130931899621251928noreply@blogger.com8