Today it finally bugged me enough to write about it. We live in an apartment complex with 12 other families in Bangalore. The parking is along the wall on the ground floor and another set of parking in the basement.
On the ground floor parking, people just don’t park within their allocated space and there is not much of space left for you to drive past and go to the basement parking … That is a minor problem compared to something that is done by one of the owners in the basement. They are out of the country for a year or more and they have got iron rods “planted” and a chain to guard their parking slot …. Really? What goes on in these people’s heads ? We live in a civilised world and no one can really take their parking slot, someone can just park their car there. All one had to do was either rent out the parking space or just let anyone park and do some social service – but what’s the logic of putting chains around it ?
But that’s the exact mindset we bring to everything – hoard money…much much more than what you can spend in your lifetime, hoard knowledge, as though it will deplete when shared, hoard skills… As they might help the other succeed. We just don’t see the examples from nature or from God – there is abundance everywhere. There are so many types of flowers, trees, fruits, animals, marine life…. Imagine if the cows hoarded their milk.. The skies hoarded rain and the fruits are hoarded by the trees.
We are poor learners – the first lesson we are given at birth is “all you need shall come to you, just ask for it” – we live in misery, in penury, mentally and otherwise – think abundance and there is abundance everywhere !! And you can’t anyway take anything with you – the money, house, parking slot are all to be used and enjoyed and left behind when our time is up. God has given so many things free .. And we hesitate to share an unused parking slot, even for a fee ??
Hear you, Bindu. It is a pity that it is a common behavior than exception. I am so fed up by those who run the association of an apartment complex I own an apartment in that I am actually selling the apartment. They have worse rules – maids are treated with a sense of ‘them and us’, and ‘how they need to be put in their place’ to protect their superior status in life. Of course they don’t like me much because I call for fairness and equality.
I know 🙁 the lady who cleans up our place was shocked when we paid her a full month’s wages even though we were not here for a month. Apparently 100 bucks get deducted if she doesn’t come for a day 🙁 by “ladies” who probably spend a 1000 bucks just getting their eyebrows shaped.
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There you go! We can share our experiences, limitlessly and still find ourselves on the shocking side of aunties’ opinion. Both my maids tell me that they don’t get chai anywhere else but here! Which time warp we we live I can’t figure out!
On the other hand I get the ‘look’, disapproving, when aunties are waiting outside to see their wards off to school, coming back from a run in my shorts, and dripping wet :)) None of them on my floor smile when they see me at the elevator. Not too pleased I suppose :))