Learning to Give

One of the many simple lessons my mother taught us was about sharing (food, our home, friends, fortune with others -- whether less or more fortunate than us). As a child, I would not always understand why I had to give something or share anything that was given to me with someone else.

Amma (what a wonderful sound it is) would tell us that if we gave up something we liked (even if it was only sharing a part), we would receive something from another source. And God would make it happen, and it would happen when we least expected it. It was a prediction I learned to believe in. It made it easier for me to give up my favorite Murukku¹ to the unexpected visitor and to wait for a gift that could be even better than what I had given up. As a teen and young adult, I became more analytical, I would do it with a little rebellion. Many questions would come up in my mind.

Still, my mother's teaching and her own constant practice of sharing and giving, made this a habit for me. Today, I realize, Amma was teaching me a deeper lesson - to just give, to just share. I realize, that as a child, I needed the promise of the "gift from an unexpected source" to keep me on the path.

Footnote
1 Murukku is a crunchy savoury from South India, made of rice flour, twisted by hand to look like coiled ropes, and deep fried, Not very easy to make, but my mother learned to make them for us. More on murukkus in a later post!