She was probably my age, maybe younger. She held an infant about a year old. She wore a bright pink and green saree that was wrapped around the baby like a sling. She had a large gold nosering. It started out like every other encounter. She whined and used the few words in English she knew. She gestured to her child like he was prop in a play. I ignored her like I always do, groaning inside and wondering when the light would turn green so the auto could move on. Then something extrodinarily ordinary happened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the infant reach for his mom's face and started playing with her mouth and nose. Whether he was bored, or just trying to get attention, I don't know, but I cracked a smile at the normalcy of it. She must have seen because she took the child's hand and reached it to me. I ignored it for a while, now praying for a green light. Then I looked at his eyes. He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back, unable to help myself. He put his hand in mine and I squeezed it. In an instant, with this interchange between her infant and a stranger, her roll changed from beggar to mother. She smiled from her infant to me, coaxing him to be friendly and say hi. What struck me was the way it was done without all the whining and manipulation that is usually present in these situations. She was simply meeting a stranger, and facilitating a meeting between her child and me. I lost myself. Somewhere in all of that I realized that the change that I dug out of my purse was the equivalent of less than 20 cents. And yet, when the light finally changed to green and the auto started up it's engine, the mother and I looked each other in the eye, she said thanks, and the auto pulled away.
Today, when I got into the elevator in my apartment building and pushed the "2" button, for the first time I didn't worry about whether I'd done the right thing or not. I think sometimes we tell ourselves "they don't need the money" "they are exploiting you" "they are exploiting their children" just to make ourselves feel better about not giving. But honestly, who are we to judge whether they need it or not. All we are asked is to give with a cheerful heart. And for the first time today, when the auto pulled away from that corner, I felt I had helped someone, rather than feeling regret at missing a possible opportunity.

What's in my fridge..

I thought I would give you an interesting look into my life through my refridgerator. So here is a list of things you would find:

A couple of leftover chippatis
A can of Zwan mini chicken sausages
A doggie bag of chicken steak from the Rain Forest restaurant down the street
Eggs
One container of Raita (yogurt salad-reduces the spice in food)
Leftover casserole I made last week
A box of Kiri Laughing Cow cream cheese spread
A small container of brown sugar that I ground down into finer pieces in my Mixie
Excess sugar from the bag that wouldn't fit in the canister in my pantry
Cereal (kept in the fridge, like most food to avoid ants)
Bread (again, kept in the fridge because of ants)
Arabic sweets (candied dates! yum! and arabic chocolates!)
a 2 Liter of Coke (made with pure cane sugar.. no fructose corn syrup here)
Leftover spaghetti sauce
Butter
A veggie drawer full of veggies: capsicum (green pepper), onion, mushrooms
2 boxes of milk (which, by the way, in the store is bought off the shelf, not refridgerated)
3 boxes of juice
Syrup
Italian salad dressing

Hope you enjoyed!