30 Rupees Learning

My uncle is an artist, a Limca book of World record holder. He painted nails on his left hand depicting the Mahabharata story. He did float painting on water. He made life-size Mahavira plaster of Paris statue, it did not look like Mahavira, but that’s OK. This is not about him anyway… It is about my uncle’s torturous task assigned to me and my cousin a few years back.

My uncle stayed in the Jog Falls Project site back then, a very scenic and peaceful place in the Western Ghats of Karnataka for an eccentric artist like him. But not a great place for artists to buy what they want for their artwork. He mostly relied on the city of Bangalore; either he bought himself travelling down or we (the cousins) were the victims of his artistic eccentricity.

He made a list of things he wanted, Paint Brush, Paints, Canvas, Easel, Palette, Solvent, Palette, Knife and few General Supplies. He called us to read out and we obediently wrote down, including the spellings. They were not the WhatsApp times, so we relied on what we had understood over the call and prepared ourselves to go to the stores.

And guess where we headed to? Avenue Road in Bangalore central is the exact opposite of Jog Falls. This confirmed to me that ‘opposites attract. Evenings were abuzz with buyers, traders and suppliers. People seemed to have fixated on time optimisation chips to them, everyone worked so efficiently.

As we walked through the small lanes full of people, we found the store that my uncle had told, gave him the list to only wait for few minutes and ta-da! The items were cleanly packed and put in 3 boxes and placed outside the store already. We were mesmerised. Settled the money and asked him how can we reach the Mysore bank circle to catch an auto-rickshaw. He hurriedly asks, how will you carry the boxes. The 23-year-old we-built, ex-NCC cadet in me egoistically exclaimed, “Sir, I am strong enough to carry this for kilometres”. All the while the store owner was busy managing things, now, he paused for a second. Looked into my eyes and said “it’s not about whether you can or not, it’s about whether you should or not. Take the help of a porter, he might charge you 30 rupees. For you, it is just 30 rupees, but for him, it’s a one-time meal or more”. I was shaken, it was discerning to listen to such powerful and profound words in one of the busiest and nosiest places in the world.

I almost automatically agreed to hire a porter. He lifted the boxes and negotiated his way through the busy small lanes. As we walked along with him, my mind was full of discerning thoughts. What did I learn today? Is he, my teacher? Is he some kind of motivational trainer? Who is he? I then realised best teachers teach from the heart not from the book. He spoke using his heart. A heart that beats for people around us, a heart that cares for the needy, a heart that is loving and compassionate.

Today I stand in front of you as a proud student of that anonymous teacher, who gave one of the best learning of my life?

Even today I hire people for small jobs that I can do myself. I pay them well, not to make them rich, but to make them happy.

You too can set out anonymous exploration wherever you go to learn from everywhere and everyone. Because, when the student in you is ready, the teacher will appear!

www.prakashrao.in