Smile, smile always’, people propagate. But, should we ?
I have a friend, who used to smile at women who come across, on the street, whether he knows them or not.
Many ladies smile back considering his age but one woman did not respond kindly and asked, ‘who are you? Why are you smiling at me?’
My friend replied that it had become a habit with him as saw the image of Goddess Durga in every woman.
‘No, Sir, that is not a good practice’, advised the kind lady. ‘You should change your habit, as some women could be Durga in the fearsome form and harm you. Come home tomorrow and I will help you to get rid of this habit’ . He gave the old man her house address.
My friend, like me, is a honest man and his smile has no bad motive. But all women do not appreciate.
He went to her house. She welcomed him and said, ‘ I’m in the form of Durga today and would like to have my prasadam cooked by your hands. Here is our kitchen and here are the vegetables. I like onion sambar and potato curry. Avial and Olan you can make but if you are not good in those preparations, you may skip. But pappadam is a must’
My friend, like me, enjoys cooking and he made several preparations and the woman was very happy. She thanked him profusely and asked him whether he would smile at unknown women the next day onwards. My friend replied, ‘never in my life. I have learned my lesson’
Next day, when he narrated the above incident and cursed that woman, I asked him, ‘you enjoyed cooking, why curse her?’
He replied: ‘that demon of the woman, while I took leave, handed over a dabba and said, ‘take this sambar for your wife and bring back the dabba, without fail, tomorrow”
Anyway, then on,he stopped seeing the image of goddess in all women and stopped smiling. In fact he bent his head down to about meeting them face to face.
I think twice now, before smiling at women. One kitchen duty is more than enough.