Love Break

Oh! It does sound like some “commercial” break (for those TV ads!)…

The break in relationship is what is meant.

During those black and white movie days, I do remember the audience voice a deep appreciation in almost a chorus, when that hero or the heroine stage-manages a love-break, feigning some treachery, just to save the other from abrupt, premature widowhood/widower hood, as also to holdback the information about being stricken by some fatal disease (usually it is cancer, in those days, since this was the only sure-death disease that common folk were aware of!).

But that is not the only kind of love that would break us apart.

What if a sprinter loses a leg? A percussion artist or a painter loses a finger? A football player finds the kneecap injury incurable? A vocalist loses the vocal chords?

And in most marriages the better half tastes like a bitter half after the initial glamour! Getting along for the ‘rest’ of the life is not an easy thing, when this love breaks!

It is excellent, if the youngsters seek and find clarity by themselves for themselves, since the whole concept is purely “experiential”, and somebody can give only some kind of indicative reference by way of inspiration/motivation.

It is indeed worth the effort, because, if the work, the duty, becomes like a love-affair, then the rest of the life seems restful, though hectic !

Psn(27^th April, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110425031831AAwIa0V

The question:

What does if love break?

When friendship/ relationship breaks, enemity arise?
What does if love break?

My answer:

When love breaks, only two possibilities.
First, the usual possibility, a dejection, a seeking afresh, a search 'all over again' , etc. (It is the dejection, the depression, the unfulfilled desire that may give rise to a negative emotion, an emotion which is opposite of love--the positive emotion. The vulnerability due to this dejection is far more, and seldom gives the needed 'space' for a person to restart, to begin afresh!).
..
Second, the unusual, the uncommon, the rare, the lucky/fortunate possibility. Clarity about the nature of relationship. Even death 'breaks' the narrow love of the proximity, and clarity elevates a person to NOW EXPERIENCE the bodiless being as a part of oneself. So nothing prevents from holding the person within us, in our heart, even though at gross levels that 'other' person refuses to allow us to see his/her face even!
..
(A wonderful question, indeed! A person who is keen to look deeper, for that person a wonderful possibility opens up!) Thanks for that!

Cursorily a curse, eventually a blessing.

It is an oddity that I happened to notice, which made me delve a little deeper into the significance of the usage, of a couple of words. While the ‘rest of the country’ sought for asheervad (blessing), people belonging to God’s own country just asked for Anugraha (benediction)!.

And now somebody is keen to know whether we are cursed or blessed?

The intent is laudable. Somebody is very keen to get his exact bearings! To begin a journey the very first thing we need to know is where we are right now! Without knowing that, no sense of direction can ‘work’ accurately. It is wonderful to see the youth waking up very early, while they still have the age, energy, the strong will, and still more importantly, the strong sense of discretion. Once the clarity occurs, everything HAS to work their way, and everything around HAS to work like a blessing!

That is what motivates me to ‘hang on’…… for a while longer at least…….. The keenness of the youth to know the basics, the fundamentals, AFRESH! Just as they wanted to know the subtle difference between ‘need’ and ‘greed’, now it is the still more vital thing, the curse, and the blessing! I used to ask the ‘elders’ who are invited to “grand” occasions, for seeking their ‘Blessings”, as to how and what actually they do, when they stretch out their palms down turned and ‘shown’ facing, or at best, placed on the head of the youngster making the physical obeisance (namaskar) to receive the blessing! A diplomatic smile is all they manage to ‘squeeze’ out of their faces!

To me, personally, the very question, the seeking for the answer, the inquisitiveness, the sincerity, seems to invoke the blessings of the blessed ones! May it happen to them!

Yours Clandestinely,

Psn(26^th April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110419101647AA6xPZf

How do we know that we are cursed or blessed?

How do we know that we are cursed or blessed while living, ones eternal destiny is known only after his death. Your view please?

My Answer:

As long as our acceptance does not deepen enough, even blessings looks like a curse!
We need to know the basic difference between a curse and a blessing, besides the commonly accepted difference that they are opposites of each other!
It is actually, a benediction versus curse.
Blessing never comes in the way of a curse, ever!
Blessings are always in disguise. We 'feel' blessed. We do not 'see' that we are blessed. The confusion is just because blessings are used to mean material possessions, comforts, benefits, etc.
Only a few people use the words 'benediction' and 'blessing' with amazing clarity. I came across a wedding invitation, which requested the invitee to make their 'presence' available at the sacred occasion of the wedding of their daughter, bless the young couple, and THEREBY, Benedict the parent host who extends the invitation!

Transformation of Need into Greed

It is not at all a new thing for any of us, this transition/transformation, from need to greed.

There was even a joke! A villager on his visit to a metro town for the first time, was warned by a experienced ‘senior’ to bargain for half the quoted price, when buying anything….. “Be careful, it is written all over your face that you are from a village…”

Now this villager took this advice too carefully, and went to buy an umbrella. He asked for 50 when the price quoted was 100. Being the very first customer of the day, the poor shopkeeper felt sentimentally not good to return the customer empty handed. So he conceded. But at once the villager now asked for 25 since 50 was thee new ‘quoted price’! The haggling went on, and out of sheer frustration and suppressed anger the shopkeeper shouted “Please take it for free and get lost”…. But our villager friend would not give up, and asked for two umbrellas as free! (The quoted offer is one for free!). The greed crept into the need, somewhere, and now we have a hearty laugh.

In fact, there are political parties that have a slogan of ‘From each according to ability, to each according to need’. And, in practice, it changes to “from each beyond his capacity to each according to greed”! The taxes throttle the common man, and greed of corrupt people in power grows and grows.

It is not that only very few are greedy. It is obvious because of the magnitude. For most of us, this greed camouflages and presents itself in totally different colour. It is very relevant to know how to fix the need. Because, need keeps changing according to situation. The size of the operation or surgery decides the need of additional blood. Doctors prescribe needless quantity of tablets, medicines and drugs which end up a pile of junk, beyond the expiry date. At least these wastages would have saved many poor lives! We do need to do something very strongly about this wastage that follows the immediate footsteps of the greed. It is the greed for a ‘name’ that makes a person throw a lavish party, where another set of greedy people respond by wasting precious enriched food to the extent of 80 % for sheer ‘fashion’ sake. Corruption has reached dizzy heights due to this greed.

The fight against corruption has sprung out of need to curb the greed! It would be nice if the people who are ‘convicted’ for corruption, should not be allowed to even respect the NATIONAL FLAG! They should never be invited to flag-hoisting functions, etc. They should be kept away from national flag. May be, this step would deter their greed from growing beyond the tolerance capacity of common man’s pocket!

This urge or upsurge to fight against corruption which is the result of greed , would have naturally led to a logical question, as to why/when the need becomes a greed! No point in pointing fingers against others, when the seed of greed is about to germinate inside the ‘need’! So, the question is genuine, and should be respected with a genuine attempt to answer it and logically too. There are several aspects to the reply. I just make a humble beginning by way of inspirational effort.

Psn(25^th April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110419013430AApza3f

Why/ when does need transform to greed?

SL
how does we know that we are in need or greed?

My reply:

When the needs turns too personal, way beyond the need of the 'situation'.
Our body is "ours", and "we " are not the body itself. So, when body needs something it is 'situational' need. When we look out for tasty junk food, it is not the body's need but our greed's need!
Please look at other living beings. There is no scope to point fingers at their greed! When the deer loiters within the reach of a huge lion, we can be certain of two things... the deer has good perception that it can sense the difference between a hungry lion, and a well fed lion. Second, the lion is incapable of greed (the greed to eat inclusive).
Animals cannot sacrifice too. We can do both.. we can be greedy, we can choose to forgo as an act of sacrifice.

Merciful Killing

I felt amused to find a question that seemed to suggest that few of us are just one step 'beyond' from, the (now-a-days) “almost acceptable” mercy-killing called euthanasia.

Whether we are tired of living by ourselves, or we are sympathetic looking at the others, applying brakes on an ‘as is where is’ condition is the first ‘idea’ that strikes to an innocent mind. Please see, even a kid, all of a sudden, at half-way on a walk-journey towards a market, theatre or so, suddenly exclaims ‘I want to go home.. NOW”. The kid simply refuses to go even one step further. Parents/elders learn thus, what patience really is! (The same kids, having tasted the comforts of gadgets, automation, ‘ready-to-eat’ /use stuffs, now apply the same brakes when at a job (increasing attrition rate!), or when into a marital obligation(increasing ‘divorce’ rates).

The question was direct, to the point, and ‘all inclusive’ (meaning, once and for all, solve all problems!).

Psn(24^th April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110423175728AAYnj2Z

If death is liberation, then does it make moral sense to kill as many beings as possible in your lifetime?

Why is death wrong? Why do we assume life is better, have you ever thought about it? Sometimes life is hell on earth. Breaking one free from life could be the greatest gift you could give to another living soul, particularly if you believe in God, because after they die they would be reunited with God.

My answer:

After a continuous and long bus journey, , almost everybody gets down, stretches out the limb in all possible directions, lets out some freak sounds of great relief and "freedom" / "liberation" (except the driver, who is already damn fresh!).
Now, a kid observes that "stopping of bus means a lot of liberation" to all the poor passengers, and so pushes out the driver on the way, and dashes the bus off the mountain into a gorge, or against another bus or a tree, or a train (All that is needed is to abruptly STOP the bus!). The passengers who manage a bit of survival have to undergo a 'painful journey' to the nearest hospital, That is how people who die suddenly reach the nearest womb, and come out with a few deformities even!
..
(Any time, it feels wonderful to gently bring the vehicle to a slow halt, apply brakes, engage handbrakes, majestically open the door, dramatically walk out of the Car, wave hand cheerfully at others... all this "AT WILL", consciously, in full awareness, THAT is liberation. Even the seemingly 'normal' death that we think so, is not really 'at will'. The body is unfit to sustain life ... maybe age, dis-ease, deformity,, or what ever. Just leave the body, when healthy, is what is 'liberation from body'. Once this is possible, the next liberation can even be thought of, now. "The liberation of the "being",,,,," )}

Conscious Compassionate Creativity!

For too long a time, I was just ‘average’ in about most of the things that ordinary people do in life (mercifully, not about life). I had no reason to suspect the presence of any sort of creativity within me. As a school-going kid, my only experience with ‘creativity’ trying to surge inside me was when I visited sea shore, where we are allowed to ‘freely’ access ‘any’ amount of wet sand to play with, but only till sunset. I did not have to try for too long. All I could manage was a huge ‘mountain’ (anything which was about my own kid-size was of course, ‘huge’!). Or I managed a zig-zag-tunnel in sand restricted in its length and depth to the extent of my tiny arm. At best it was a combination of both, a tunnel half way up that mound, where an other kid manages to have a through-and-through visibility.

That was my creativity at its best during childhood! At home, there was nothing ‘creative’ to try with. And when visiting ‘other’s’ home, everything was non-touchable! So, there was a conflict of interests between ‘well-disciplined’ and ‘creative’ abilities.

Any way, there was yet one field which no one could ever restrict in any way. The thought process! The only good thing that occurred to me at that tiny pint-sized age was to try to equip myself with best tools to proceed with that thought-process-creativity. I wonder if it was that which eventually pushed me into a spiritual quest!

Anyway, with all giants of ‘creativity-teaching-skills’ all around (business schools, etc), I too tried to look at creativity, and two other basics (3-in-one, in fact!), in my own humble way, in all modesty, since I knew I had never ever demonstrated a ‘sizable’ creativity at any time, when somebody asked it on the ‘Yahoo!Answers’ forum.

(Now, I wonder if it quenches the thirst of average people like me, or something akin to ‘creativity for dummies’… .. etc!).

PSN(23^rd April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110416220727AAQXQyA

True or false --consciousness, compassion & creativity are the basis of life--osho?

How we can develop all three at a time

My answer:

When we start experiencing more and more people and things around us as a part of ourselves, all these three 'have to' develop!
(A mother who is in dire need, and driven to a very extreme situation, brings forth all these three in an amazingly unbelievable manner! The steady growth of a deep sense of social responsibility, expansion of inclusiveness, in a person, etc... all these are portrayed too well in an old Hindi Movie, "Mother India" . I even wonder, if the title is not a mere matter of chance! The heroine simply grows, evolves, right through the movie. She would almost 'sell' herself to save her kids, and later, she did not hesitate to shoot down one of her kids, due to a deep sense of social responsibility! She 'created' a awareness in a whole village of innocent people!)

Being self

“Paradoxical” is the word that describes the feeling that I had to go through when I could bring myself to write something about ‘being self’.

The experience is rich, but when it comes to conveying the experience, there is a lot of hesitation. The hesitation is about the apprehension that the reader might be easily led to misconstrue what is being sought to be said.

The simple experience is that at least till the time I could complete about 5 to 7 years of schooling, I never knew any other way to be than myself! And honestly, it never occurred to me that others would feel any differently than this. The earliest memory of being required to be something else than being myself, was when a new teacher suddenly looked up at me and announced in the class “You will be the monitor”. There was a gush of strange experiences surging within me. It was almost like suddenly finding our image when looked at into a mirror resembles a strange monster! I knew almost all the trouble makers in the class, who would easily find a place in the list to be created by a class-monitor. The reason was simple. All of them were my very close friends! This was the only unenviable part of the task to be performed by a monitor. Other than that, it was mostly running errands for the teacher. Fortunately for me, this new assignment did not last more than a couple of days, and nobody really felt me as a ‘monitor’, and the whole thing was forgotten too soon. Even I would have forgotten it, but for that strange and new experience of being something other than myself! The experience kept haunting me, and used to ‘trap’ me, at the most inconvenient times, into a deep thought process!

Later, I just happened to fit into any role given to me, so that ‘being’ something else really never troubled me.

Much later, as spiritual quest began deepening, more surprises awaited me. The ‘role’ at times seemed more original than the ‘self’ that I was so well accustomed with! And it is these roles that usually irked people around me quite often. It is not that I could not contain myself, to remain peaceful with others. But I could not hold back, what I could do when I saw the potential within the others around. This struggle, this effort, this persistence helped me to understand, what not-being-self can do to others, or anyone.

It is in this backdrop that I did attempt to answer a question that had some fragrance of a genuine ‘seeking’. The details that followed the question impressed me a lot. Especially, the mention of a ‘mask’ that covers the ‘self’!

PSN(18^th April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiIML1KwXzg1bsu_T4GVKuaRHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20110331032637AAw1cP4

Can I be myself again? (A psychological question too)?

For those who have read my previous 2 questions , you would be more aware of my problem.Wearing a mask character made me lose my own personality (as I think).Pretending to be someone else for the comfortability of others have destroyed myself,what I was.Now I am filled with a horrible emotionlessness state.My high passions are gone, my thirst to study is also gone.Can I ever regain what I was , can I ever get that fiery spirit of passion and desires of my education and job.I want them as at present my mind is very blank.I have no desire to improve in anything.My academic brilliance is falling.I studied very well in previous , lowerclasses.But when the need for study is at the highest point in my academic life(Next Year Board Exam) I am not feeling any urge to study.I am a mere teenager with the whole of future infront of me.I know perfectly well that if I don't put on my best efforts in my education my previously cherished dreams , hopes all will be no more.But still even being aware of these facts I don't feel a thing.I have at least 10 years of education waiting infront of me.I don't know if I am feeling like this from this early age,what would my attitude be at the most hard work demanding(academicaly) times of my life.I am about to face my ClassX board exam around this time next year.If I am not preparing I will lose,by cheating not only myself but also my loving parents wh have set the expectations high in me.If I do so,then I don't see any point in living anymore.I just want my previous self back again.I want my passion or the ardent desire to concentrate on my goal.I had dreamt a lot about my brilliant perfomance in the coming class and in the XII too.But at present ,do you think I can make it?Now only I realise that having no stress and tension can ruin a man's life.I just want my spirit of passion back.Once my friend told me not to have much expectations.So I stopped expecting and you know without hoping or expecting,a man can never do his best.This too happened to meI know it is a lot boring to read till this end and I am sorry about it.But please help me as this is a most disturbing time for me.I would be very grateful if you tell me some effective study tips too.

My answer:

Very relevant, to mention that this is a psychological question too.
Those who are having that subtle ability to 'choose', for them, it is a philosophical question.
Those who are driven by the crazy state of mind, for them it is a psychological question, since their mind is just available with an open window through which somebody else can open, with lots of restrictions.
.
Now, please see, the very fact that the mind is asking about it, is enough proof that there is the ability to decide, the ability of choice, to choose. Which simply means, we have the 'discerning' power. This is available only to those who are in this 'human frame' ! If an open mind can understand the value, the significance, worth and time-limitation of this 'discerning ability' (the precious human lifetime!), only then something worthwhile "becomes" (happens-to-be) the choice of such a person. For all others, it is just 'yet-another-life'!
..
It is to be considered very fortunate that there is a thought process which has discovered that 'wearing a mask character made me lose my own personality....'
..
To make a humble beginning, please try out a very simple, but quite ancient and time tested device. Breath-watching. Elaborating the benefits, would raise the expectation so high, that now, the expectations itself would become a stumbling block for the benefits to accrue. (One thing can be said, to inspire, motivate, or even to reassure , that, when this breath awareness deepens, the thought process would become cohesive, smooth, and positive. Once the positive takes over, things would fit in at its proper place, and then you would be more towards your own very self!).
Best wishes.

Implication

These legal terms are at times much more honest, outspoken than most people around! Perhaps, that is why, the ‘conditions (that) apply’ are in very fine print!

What about the converse implications? In our day-to-day life, we often tend to overlook the impact, the consequences of these types of implications. Whenever we are too emphatic about our preferences, choices, etc, we are incurring the wrath of ‘excluding’ someone/something else that deserves perhaps, even a better attention! Even the ‘match-fixing’ (whether it is cricket, or a marriage alliance), works entirely on implied parts of ‘innocent looking’ pleasantries!

This ‘implying’ aspect plays a very significant role in interpersonal skills, and its evolvement. For instance, after years of keen observation, I had been suggesting to the superiors under whom I worked, to try to appreciate the person who is reasonably punctual, for a change, instead of lamenting at those who are punctually late for work! But the effect is very slow, and almost imperceptible, though very much a certainty, and may be therefore, that I really never got to see my suggestions imple-mented! Possibly, the bosses themselves were inadvertent victims of the phenomenon of ‘implication’!

All this calls for a discrete sense of discerning ability, and coupled with sharp alertness, and keen awareness of the witnessing aspect within the self, so as not to become entangled during the process of implication!

I found a question, seeking clarification about something that generally ‘implies’ a very laudable aspect! “I am proud to be an Indian” is the prescription. And here the question seeks clarification about the ‘latent’ violence in it! Both are valid, but only to a person who is able to comprehend the ‘implications’ which are not really ‘declared’ assets (personal assertions).

(I was even reminded of a joke by a famous journalist, a bit controversial one too, who brought out the funny aspect of the implication, when we try to overdo the repetition of calling somebody “Father of the nation”…. Then, what are other ordinary people?)

psn(16^th April, 2011)

The question:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110413195850AA2WtbO

Why jiddu krishnamurti said -When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European,?
When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent

My reply:

It is just because of the 'implication' that we are so attached to, when we call ourselves as so-and-so.
It usually implies that we are a bit rigid about it. And rigidity offers resistance, which is violent. Definitely, J K did not imply any "active" violence. Please see the context. There is a potential violence that could turn active under severe provocation. It is the subtle vulnerability that is hinted at.
(We all enjoyed the movie "Independence Day"... maybe, that is because, we call ourselves 'earthlings'! And it was violence all over. Spirituality seeks to differentiate such 'qualified' violence/conditioned violence!)

Acceptability of Medicines

Sometimes, a poor background presents a few presents, which act as a kind of blessing in disguise. One such benefit is the focus on food during meals! There was nothing else to distract while eating, when I was a kid! As simple as that! And added to that was the lack of electricity to light up that humble bulb (the only source of light then), for the two months of summer holidays, when we paid our annual visit to native place. So the night meals (dinner) was soon after the music was played at a nearby temple, to announce the closure of the sanctum sanctorum, for that day (no wall clock, to decide the dinner time!). My grandmother would ‘allow’ food to be served to the children first at the dim lights of a small lamp, and then others would eat soon after. When this kind of focus happens due to compulsions of situation, the ‘nature of focus’ that we are required to perform with, turns into a pattern, which our very system, our very anatomy gets tuned to, as a sort of second nature, or habit. Something like an embedded program, a default functionality of a gadget. That is exactly the point I wished to state as my experience. Well, this, incidentally does impact a few other traits, in a very subtle manner.

We often hear that the ‘body rejects the medicine’ in the case of a ‘sinking’ patient. I used to wonder, how the body would ‘reject’ something. I could understand that the body is unable to accept something (may be in the “present-form” like some of those draft-enactments that the opposition members of parliament, reject, for sheer sake of diplomacy!). Yes, some un-chewed items of food stuff manages to escape all the check-posts of our digestive system, during its journey through it, and we may find it ‘in-tact’ the next day. That is the idea of ‘present-form’ (presented form too!).

Doctors keep changing the brand names of drugs during frequent visit, just to make sure that some ‘presented-form’ of that drug gets accepted by the patient’s body. This pattern is common with people of ‘rigid’ attitude. (Maybe, to some extent, the doctor ‘obliges’ the recent-most visitor-medical-representative of that brand, also).

What is surprising, is that children seem to accept a few types of tastes like bitter, sour (the two variations of sour), when the ‘presenting’ hands change! So, I felt there is something about that negative-positive attitude too!

I felt tempted to give out some additional inputs, just to inspire a focus on the aspect of ‘focus’ on food, when a question came up about negative attitude, and its lesser positive action of medicines on such people.

Psn(7^th April, 2011)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110404202555AAJ49Sm

Do you think medicines never act positively on the people who have negative attitude for life?

Additional details:

This question is asked for those who have lost interest in life and medication is not working on them at all......EVery .doctor says only positive attitude for life can create miracle with medicine.....now whom to blame doctor ,medicine or patient .

My answer:

Yes. To a significant extent.
The exception is when medicines are administered under anesthetic. Even then, the attitude causes some negativity at the cellular level, and it makes the medicine less acceptable, than the ideal condition where a normal dose brings a desirable level of result.
..
Even when eating food, it does matter, if we are paying attention to the food that we eat. When the brain or mind is inattentive, the stomach barely 'manages' to digest to some extent, and throws out many nutrients as waste due to mistaken identity. The taste buds send signal to the brain which in turn tells the stomach to excrete the correct fluids to digest that particular food. We notice this in a very 'pronounced' manner when we watch children eating 'tasty' or 'delicious' food very eagerly. Another example is, the food that helps to 'pick' up the tools/raw-materials, to form eyes, etc for a child in the womb, the brain tells the tongue to 'seek' sour type of food. Please see, when a large slice of a sour mango is bitten suddenly, the eyes squeeze and close, naturally! A pregnant lady requests for that sour dishes during the early months of pregnancy. Traditionally, there is a practice to give a large variety of sour dishes to that lady. The stomach picks up varieties of 'ingredients'/raw materials, to help the formation of healthy pair of eyes, and /or other organs, and does the necessary task. The cells of blood, etc are having very good cellular-level-intelligence to do its job, without our interference, or our own deep knowledge about anatomy. But we have to do some minimum contribution of ''participation' in the food/medicine/whatever. Now, in ancient India, they made this into a tradition/ritual, to treat food as sacred, to pray before meals, etc. , so that people would automatically pay the required attention to taste buds, obey basic laws of eating only when hungry, chewing properly, never wasting precious food etc. So we had fewer dis-ease cases then. Now it is Fast-food, junk-food, chemical-medicines, commercial-doctors, needless-checklists(scan, lab-tests, specialists who charge 'extra'.... and what not!). All this contributes to the 'aam aadmi' becoming unwilling to retain a positive attitude towards medicines/medical expenses/etc.
..
It is a matter of choice, now , whom to blame (except ourselves, of course). Fortunately, there is no law as yet, to just 'blame'. The problem will come only when we try to en-cash that blame (seeking compensation for inadequate medical care!).
..
Awareness is the only solution. Awareness may deepen perception. Deeper perception would improve clarity. Better clarity would pave way to positive action, instead of futile indulgence in 'blame-game'.
(Hope this lengthy answer would find a way to seek some tolerance with the readers!)

Smile Courtesy

We have enough ‘material’ about benefits of smiling, service with a smile, smile as a cost effective customer service etc.
But seldom have we found ‘genuineness’ in a smile.
That is why the question tempted me.
..
In fact, when I took my maiden flight about an year ago, I felt aghast at the plastic smile by the lady who was going through the motions of explaining the actions needed to be done in an emergency situation, with that air-filled safety balloon gadget placed below the seats. The talk was done by a pre-recorded noise, and all she had to do was synchronize the explanatory animation gestures! The struggle to retain the cheeks elongated sideways to simulate a purported smile was visibly quite painful for that entire duration of few minutes of playback of pre-recorded ‘talk’. I was under the illusion that, being well paid, they might be dedicated at least ‘during’ the smile, though not during the entire flight.
..
And I re-experienced afresh, a tremendous contrast, when I got into a local ordinary bus, soon after coming out of the airplane/airport. It so happened that an old lady was day-dreaming and delayed to get down at her stop, and the bus conductor, poorly paid, shabbily dressed, was visibly annoyed, and shouted at her, to become more alert and try not to miss her alighting stop. Fortunately, the bus was less crowded, and getting emptied when I was to get down at the last stop, and I managed a humble thanks to that conductor for his “genuine” concern for the passenger, and her safety and convenience, and fully endorsed his rough/crude tone, since that was the only way we could get the proper attention of a lady of that age, background, and poor literacy, especially, when the conductor was choice-less about the very brief time available, lack of proper ambience to think of niceties, decorum etc.
..
I was quite unexpectedly rewarded, when he acknowledged my appreciation with a gentle genuine smile, and in utter humility, and gratitude that “there are people who do notice their sense of social responsibility, passenger-concerns, amidst several job-constraints”. Now I took time to tell him the contrast I noticed when I was up in mid sky about half an hour ago, when the smile was plastic (despite the ‘elite-class’ high-literate passengers, and a high paid job, etc!).
..
I feel fortunate that my answer found a favourable appeal.
Psn

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110331231131AAixtm3
The question:
A genuine smile is rare....right ?
Additional Details: ...rare to find.