Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Beauty of diversity

I was walking along when my Tamil-speaking friend Salimbhai called me to his photo studio. When I entered, his Egyptian neighbour dropped in with his beautiful kids. An Ethiopian employee at the studio joined the discussion. A Sri Lankan gardener Nizam wished us Ramadan Kareem from outside the road-facing studio.
Just a couple of minutes ago, I was greeting a smiling UAE National employee at a famous mall and had purchased a Pakistani shoe from a Filipina salesgirl.
Suddenly I realized Sharjah’s vibrant unity in diversity.
People with closed mindset miss out a lot. Interaction is an ideal recipe for a wisdom-seeking mind. After all, we are all human beings first and have the same emotions. Like a film dialogue goes: There is no man who does not bleed when pricked nor laugh when tickled.
Heard this story: A man with a blocked mindset went to a Sufi saint. The spiritual leader prepared tea, kept pouring it until the cup overflowed. “The cup is full. It can’t take more,” shouted the visitor. “So is your mind, full of ideas without scope for new ones,” came the reply.

21 comments:

  1. Thats beautiful. We are human beings first..Liked it a lot. And Man is social; our mind does not know what caste, creed, religion, nationality and all that is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good one. Always fun to read you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you,sharjah is the place where u can find many nationalities.But i have not seen much friendship between the different nationalities.

    We indians try to be friendly with indian and in that we try to select people from our state/same language.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, as a human being we are one!! Welcoming thought of you Ramesh:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree Ramesh, interacting with 'different' people can teach us a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love others as you love yourself. good post friend.:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That was good!
    Gives a warm feeling

    ReplyDelete
  8. The world would be a much happier place with more diversity - the unknown breeds intolerance and fear. A great post, and oh so true.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brilliant last words...perfect! Wish everyone felt this way!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Superb anecdote!!!
    I am sure that guy...closed minded one, would'nt have got the message even after that!
    Brilliant...!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Unity in diversity" is the key factor of life in then Gulf. Its amazing how we indulge in it even without realizing it. But people do tend to group up state wise..someties even caste wise...its crazy but it happens...still...

    ReplyDelete
  12. thatz the best thing i love about UAE...so so so many nationalities all around us....itz jus so diverse and vibrant....everyone are so different but still the same.... beauty...

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow..wish we actually get to see people with open hearts ,big enough to embrace everybody irrespective of caste and creed!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kudos! Great post!
    "There is no man who does not bleed when pricked nor laugh when tickled" & the philosophical story!

    ReplyDelete
  15. so true.. a closed mind doesnt lead anywhere, and its so boring to be going nowhere!!

    ReplyDelete