SEP 28, 11 .. LITTLE VOICES
I am now running scenarios in my mind based on categorical topics.. ZEN AND THE ART OF.. SPIRITUAL TRUTHS OF THE UNIVERSE..
How about.. LITTLE VOICES..
LITTLE VOICES.. those LITTLE VOICES I HEAR COMING FROM the inanimate objects surrounding me.. for instance..
I have a ‘picnic knife’ (one of my many Bobbseys) that has been with me on ALL NINE (9) of my India Trips.. it has two knife blades.. one is serrated and one is smooth.. and I use his serrated blade as a sort of ‘saw’ to cut plastic bottles in half and I use him for other ‘saw’ uses.. ‘picnic knife’.. like most of my Bobbseys.. gets a lot of work..
When I eat here in India I ALWAYS TRY TO USE ONLY MY OWN UTENSILS.. (Isn’t Spell Check a kick.. I have trouble figuring out what to change.. eventually I get there).. Gosh Howard Hughes in later life could NOT have dealt with India and the germs.. anyway using ONLY MY OWN UTENSILS avoids all of the risks associated with THEIR utensils.. each and every single meal becomes a germ risk when you use their utensils and their plates (I always eat-from-the-dish THAT the meal came in and NEVER transfer my food from one bowl or serving platter to another one thus avoiding.. statistically speaking.. additional risks of germs) ..
At breakfast I take my MY OWN fork and ‘picnic knife’.. at dinner I take MY OWN spoon and MY OWN chopsticks.. at breakfast I use the fork to do what forks do and I use ‘picnic knife’ to do what knives do.. SUDDENLY the other morning.. from my ‘picnic knife’ came its tiny little quiet shy voice.. it has NEVER spoken to me before.. it said.. “dad.. i have a fork too.. you never use my fork.. dad ..” and pushed its lip out in a pout..
Well TECHNICALLY the ‘picnic knife’ does have a fork.. it measures about an inch and seven eights long and has two prongs.. I think its fork is intended to stab pickles in pickle jars NOT to be used as a real fork.. the fork tines are as wide apart as the width of the knife blades..
And now.. at breakfast.. I will use ‘picnic knifes’ tiny little fork once or twice as I find a legitimate use.. my full sized fork just shrugs and rolls his eyes and sort of groans..
LITTLE VOICES.. I bought a package of twelve (12) Thank You Cards to write several friends here in India a Thank You for special favors.. Ivan Philemon the Manager at the New Delhi YMCA and Anil Dhingra who is a manager for the Government of India’s Mobile Communication Bureau.. each did big favors for me.. Ivan wrote the cell phone company a letter on the YMCA official stationery confirming me as a guest at the YMCA and Anil advised me to go with Vodafone as my cell phone carrier AND drove me and my bags to the train on Saturday the 10th of September as I left New Delhi to come to Calcutta..
I bought the package of twelve (12) Thank You Cards from long time merchant friend Joseph who has a shop about thirty feet from the alleyway leading into Mother Teresa’s Mother House.. I also purchase ALL OF MY BOTTLED WATER from Joseph who sells it to me at a discount because of our long time friendship and the quantities of bottled water that I purchase..
So I got back to my hotel and I opened up the package of twelve (12) Thank You Cards and proceeded to put one card into one envelope.. and when I had placed eleven (11) cards into their eleven (11) envelopes I had ONE CARD WITH NO ENVELOPE..
OH MY.. YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THAT ONE-SMALL-THANK-YOU-CARD CRYING.. “OH DAD.. I HAVE NO ENVELOPE.. OH DAD.. WHAT WILL I DO.. OH DAD WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME.. OH DAD I AM SO SAD. OH DAD I WAS AFRAID THIS WOULD HAPPEN..
Undaunted (I was NOT in the mood for this dialogue with.. of all things.. give me a break.. a Thank You Card..).
so a bit impatiently I said to the little card.. “I DO envelopes and I will MAKE YOU YOUR OWN VERY SPECIAL ENVELOPE JUST FOR YOU.. so don’t worry and stop your fretting..” Well.. she is still fretting but she will get over it..
THEN IT HIT ME.. HERE IS THE SOLUTION..
Little Card.. you are a ‘special child’ .. and as a special child you have a very special mission Little Card.. BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO BE SENT ALL THE WAY TO THE UNITED STATES.. BECAUSE YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE ONE SPECIAL CARD THAT I AM GOING TO SEND TO Patti 99501.. to Thank Patti for all of her support.. YOU LITTLE CARD.. MUST HAVE YOUR OWN VERY SPECIAL ENVELOPE.. ONE I HAVE PLANNED FOR YEARS TO MAKE JUST FOR YOU LITTLE CARD..
SIGH.. Little Card sort of ‘welled up, got a little teary’.. and said “Oh Dad.. Thank You (she is a Thank You Card so that is apropos!).. I will look forward to my mission..”
I did NOT tell Little Card that the problem we face.. Little Card and myself.. envelope mail has a dismal prospect of getting out of India because of postal employee theft of mail to overseas countries.. this country is so rotten and corrupt it makes me furious.. the law enforcement arm included.. IT MAKES OTHERS furious too.. one is a Prime Minister of one of the India States.. Prime Minister Modi who went on a recent ‘protest hunger fast’ to protest the rampant corruption in India..
Prime Minister Modi’s voice IS NOT A LITTLE VOICE LET ME TELL YOU..
With MUCH LOVE.. and GRATITUDE.. Cap..