A Little Kindness

When someone around you is in an embarassing sort of spot - like he has just zipped his open fly (on the fly, as it were) or dropped a whole plate of lunch on the floor - then the kind thing to do is to pretend not to notice. Even kinder thing to do would be to divert junta's attention by starting some interesting conversation or pointing to a pretty girl. The worst would be to loudly offer help or sympathy.

In Khushwant Singh's 'Delhi' there is a small chapter on 'Farting'. Actually its not as corny as it sounds - the chapter I mean. There were a couple of urdu couplets, if I remember right. But the most interesting bit was this story about an old Kind-Hearted Gentleman talking to this old-lady. Suddenly this old lady farts. Not only does this old-gentleman pretend not to notice, he also decides to embellish his not-noticing by pretending to be hard of hearing. Not just that, the old-man continues to pretend to be hard of hearing for the rest of his life !

I remember an incident when a friend of mine was describing to me about how aother friend of mine had farted in public. The first friend found the whole thing extremely amusing and was laughing his head off. I was pretending to laugh, for what do you know, I myself was, at that very moment, feeling the urge. But laugh I did and the pressure was too much and a little 'poink' escaped me. The first friend ke amusement ka koi thikana nahi raha. I am sure he will tell the story to his grand-children.