Respect

It was rainy season in Kanyakumari. I was there with my family on a short Tamil Nadu trip.

My father was under the weather and preferred to take rest so I planned for a half day Heritage trip around nearby temples. I got into a local bus which was almost full. There were two seats available at the back. A local middle aged man was at the window looking outside. I picked the seat next to him. Few seconds later he turned and I realized my mistake. With the wind I caught a whiff of strong local liquor.  He was completely drunk. The bumpy ride, the smell and my misplaced civility of not changing seat was taking toll on me. But inside I wasn’t having civil thoughts about him.

Few minutes later, at next stop, a middle aged lady got inside. She came near to us and requested the man for the window seat. I took this as an opportunity and moved to a seat on my left. Unexpectedly the man, in place of sliding left, stood up and came near to me. He brought his face too close to my comfort and whispered in broken Hindi –“I know my mouth is smelling bad and I don’t want to sit near the lady so can you please move to your right and let me sit here”.

Respect!! That was the only word that resonated with me. It’s been 10 years of the incident and I still can’t forget it. Being Judgmental is the easiest thing we can do but having patience and maturity to provide an opportunity for others to explain themselves is the hardest trait to follow.

I remembered this as recently my seniors were forcing me to Respect few people because they are intelligent and high achievers. My humble reply is that Intelligence and Achievement warrant Appreciation but Respect is a different ball game. 

To earn Respect you just need to be Human Inside.