7/15/2023 0 Comments Day #6 - Accidental AccidentSome years ago, I was on a business trip in Bangalore, India. My colleague and I visited the ISKCON Hindu temple, a pilgrimage place for many Hindus. It is a very large glass and steel structure that reminded me of EPCOT Center at Disney World. The interior of the temple is quite extraordinary with exquisite paintings, statues, and garlands all related to the story of Krishna. There was a section, roped off, where a teaching was going on in Hindi. The priest / teacher was meeting with perhaps 50-100 people all sitting listening attentively. Our exit process took us to a food market located in the back of the temple. There were shops, booths and counters selling vegetables, fruits, and other daily necessities. There were also some booths selling delicious looking pastries. It was wonderful to see that the temple and the market were one thing – interconnected – the sacred and the secular. The pastries looked very tempting so we got in line. The woman before me, from India, bought a pastry and the man behind the counter, with kind eyes. asked her for 3 rupees – say $.50. That sounded like a very reasonable price indeed. I asked for the same thing she had purchased, and the soft-spoken man gave it to me and said “$10 please.” Fortunately, for me, I was non-reactive. I inquired, “She paid 3 rupees and you are asking me for $10, why is that?” He smiled “Because you can afford it.” Again, to my own delight and surprise, there was very little reactivity – I simply said “That’s true.” And I gave him the $10. He asked if we would like to see what they do with the money. We nodded and followed him to a door behind the counter. We entered a very large room with many people making boxes and packages of food. He explained that the temple has made a commitment to feed a lunch time meal to all the school children in Bangalore who need it. They deliver the food in every way they can depending on the volunteers who help – SUV’s, cars, auto rigshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, whatever it takes. It was startling and wonderful. The people who were putting all this together were quietly working at it. He then said, “Now, would you like to contribute more?” We did and I said “You are a very good salesman indeed.” Without missing a beat, he responded in an American business idiom, “I believe in the product!” We all laughed, wished each other the best.
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David FeldmanDog walker, Dog Mediator, Father, Husband, Categories |