Friend in need is a friend indeed

We have all heard the adage "A frind in need is a friend indeed".

Day before yesterday, I visited a few old friends in a Senior Citizens Home in which I and my mother stayed for a few years until we moved to an apartment near where my brother stays. 

Among these people, there were Mr Sudhakar Rao and his wife Mrs Vijayalakshmi Sudhakar Rao, basically from Andhra Pradesh. They were an active Brahmin couple with a helping tendency. Mr Rao was an Administrator in a hospital and Mrs Rao, a high school Headmistress. 

Day before yesterday I was shocked to hear that Mr Rao died due to cardiac arrest a little more than a year back. I remember him as a smart gentleman who used to do daily walking round the campus after wearing a formal dress of nicely pressed trousers, shirt, socks and a well polished pair of shoes. His wife used to coordinate rituals in the temple housing Lord Shree Krishna and other deities. It also had a statue of Shirdi Sai Baba.

Before leaving Mrs Rao's house, she gave two banana fruits. It reminded me of Mrs Van Chan Khan (shown in the photograph below), my line manager during my stay in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

She was the Inspector General at the Inspectorate of Education at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Government of Cambodia.  In Cambodia there is a custom of offering fruits to participants in official meetings. Usually after official meetings, there would be some excess fruits. As my line manager and I used to share the same office room, beforeeaving for her home, she had the nice gesture of placing a few fruits in my bag and asking me to take them to my residence. Whenever I politely refused, she would say, "Guru, I know that you don't really enjoy cooking after hard day's work and that your Indian restaurants here in Cambodia may not have 100% vegetarian food items cooked by any Brahmin. Hence these fruits can be handy to you".

Thanks to these people.