“Today is your birthday. Make yourself presentable to Dadi (grandmom) and other elders. Seek their blessings for your bright future,” my mother would advise me about sixty years ago, handing a set of new clothes. Very obediently, I would go to my grand mother, uncle and all elders in the family, and bow for their blessings.
Mid night Sun at Nord Cape 25 July 1983
July 1983. My wife and I were on our first of the three trips so far to the Northern most regions of the earth. We were on our way to watch the midnight Sun. We were travelling by train from Copenhagen, Denmark to Oslo, Norway.
Mid night Sun at Nord Cape 25 July 1983
Other than us, there was one more passenger in our train cabin. He must’ve been around 70 and was from Holland. He was on a vacation. He left home by a vanity van, which had all the luxuries one expects in an apartment. He parked his van at Copenhagen before boarding the train for visiting the various islands in Norway for a 45-day trip. In the Second World War, he was injured and one of his legs had to be amputated. He was living with his wife on a decent pension.
In a couple of hours, we became friendly and I asked why his wife was not accompanying him on the vacation. He said: “Yes. That’s how it was planned initially. But on the day we were to leave, my wife fell ill and I left by myself. “
Look at this unimaginable situation. Just because his wife fell ill, he left her alone. Instead of staying back to help his ailing wife, he preferred to go ahead with his long vacation without her. He could have easily waited for her to recover as it would not have made too much of a difference. He was traveling by road and had his accommodation in his own van.
Though this action was normally acceptable in their society, I am wondering whether we would have done the same thing in our part of the world!