I came across this picture – Sachin Tendulkar with Sundar Pichai. And suddenly feelings of respect filled my heart. 2 winners – one because of his academic and intellectual abilities and another because he didn’t pay attention to the same 🙂

Not really – you’ll say. And I couldn’t agree more…

The second guy chose to excel on the cricket ground. He is also a winner – but on a different playing ground. And winners always respect other winners – because they know that the other has paid a price, similar to themselves.

And, of course, I respect both of them – a lot.

But then a question came to my mind – do only winners deserve my respect? Does someone have to do something spectacular to be respect-worthy?

Well, if I look to take inputs from the social mirror, maybe so. But, wait – shouldn’t I go back to the basic life manual to get this answer? In short, to some holy book – maybe the Bible, maybe the Quran, maybe the Bhagwat Geeta?? What do they say? As far as I know they all say the same – respect every person. Oh, really? Do I know someone who does that? Matter of factly I do – my dad !!

I have always seen him respect others. I saw him giving the same respect to the rickshaw wala (we still have some of them in our hometown) as to his relatives. I saw him talking politely to the telephone guy, to the electrician, to the carpenter, to the government office clerk – in short, EVERYONE!! And when I asked him about it, he told me – there must be a reason why they came in our path that day. Maybe we will never see them again, but can we add a bit of joy and appreciation in their lives? Maybe by a friendly hello, maybe by asking their names, maybe by knowing about their native, maybe by merely giving a smile 🙂

Since I saw it modeled, I picked it up.

What about you – do you believe in adding that little value in the other human being’s life – no matter what stature he/she comes from???