A Smile Can Do It

We are all blessed with our own very traits that help form our own identity. It becomes synonymous with a group or even a country. It is as unique as our finger prints. But thankfully they can be learnt and you won't be sued for plagarism!
It was 1994 that we went to Indonesia, not knowing much about the place or its people. Like any newcomer we took tiny steps and moved into our new home in Jakarta. It became our home for the next four years.
It was fun learning a new language. Our children proved better learners than my husband and me. At the end of everyday we would "cat walk" our new found vocabulary over dinner and it usually would end up in uncontollable laughter!
In the morning as day light was creeping in, we would be woken up by a pleasant warm voice calling out "Susu", which meant milk. It was the milkman. In all the four years he never repeated the same tone but always succeeded to bring in a lot of warmth in his voice as he said "Susu". Sometimes it would be a sing-song tone, othertimes it would be a whistling tone. Children loved it so did we. We grew to wait for our morning wake up call!
Indonesia taught me to smile. The people were ever smiling and polite. To hurry up was not their way of life. Yes at times I would get a bit exasperated but I slowly realised that it is their way of doing things and I learnt to respect it. At shopping malls we would be greeted by staff smilingly and with a greeting on their lips.
Smile can do wonders. As a patient once at the dentist, I was being readied for an X-ray of my entire dental set. With a lot of care they finally got my angle of the head right! Then "click"! Almost in rhythm the nurse and doctor ran into the room bursting with laughter, "Lupa yeah". They forgot to put in the X-Ray plate!! Again the tilt, again the readiness and then the "click". In all this I had forgotten my pain and I was laughing along with them much like school children.
Usually the nurse or the assistant would be hauled up and the patient would complain of in- efficiency but all of this got wiped out with the innocent laughter of the nurse and doctor.
Numerous such anecdotes crowd my mind. Each one still brings a smile to my eyes.
It was pouring all night and by early morning we could see that it was flooded all around. My son was v. depressed, it was to be his first inter-school football match. The match was a washout we consoled him. Sharp at 6.30 in the morning the door bell rang and I couldn't believe what I saw! Madani, our driver had come all the way wading through waist high water from his home to take our son for his first football match. He was drenched to the core but he was smiling. He knew how important it was for the little boy and so he did not want to disappoint. He would be termed "silly" by the smarter lot but that day he brought sunshine pushing the clouds away. He took our son downstairs to play in the portico and soon the broad smile on his face was back!
I have witnessed cars trying to pass in the opposite direction but both stop asking the other to go first and whoever moved first would always salute the other in a thanking gesture. Minor grazes would mean both drivers getting off and smilingly running their nursing hands over the bruises of the other car. Both smiling and both saying it was his fault and then they would shake hands and ask for "maaf", forgiveness.
Try it, it works. In the most adverse situation if only we could bring out that smile, it just washes away every bit of bitterness and feeling of goodness prevails. Next time I catch someone smiling even if I have offended, I'll know that you read my blog!