26 July 2026

Musical bridge in generation gap

All of us come across different types of people every day. Day before yesterday as I was taking lunch at the common dining hall, I happened to see a pleasant looking man (who seemed to be in his forties) and his wife. He had a nicely tied hair in his head, and was clad in half trousers and a T shirt. He smiled at me and I reciprocated. 

On the next day when we met at the dining hall, he asked me whether I worked abroad. I replied, "Yes, for a few years." I asked him how he thought that I would have worked abroad. He replied that he thought so from observing my table manners and my behaviour after lunch. 

(I have the habit of using only the tips of fingers of my right hand whenever I ate some thing. When eating fruits such as banana, I used to cut them into small pieces and then eat, instead of cutting the fruit after keeping it in my mouth. Our Scriptures mention that once any food is taken into the mouth, it becomes impure like saliva and hence should not be brought out and ate again. When eating sandwiches, bonda, samosaa etc. I use a knife and fork. I learnt the art of using a fork for eating noodles from my Cambodian colleagues. I tried to use chopsticks a few times, but in vain. When drinking any liquid, I drink it without my lips touching the container. In other words, I don't sip the liquid. 

After eating, I push the chair to it's initial position. I clean the wash basin before and after I wash my mouth).

Yesterday when meeting the gentleman, we had a small conversation. When I was mentioning about my liking softrock music by groups such as The Beatles, he replied that he too liked their music and mentioned 'A Hard Day's Night' by the group. It was amazing that a person who is many years younger than me shared his liking songs by The Beatles. 

My conversation with the pleasant mannered gentleman and his wife was interesting and meaningful. 
 

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About Me

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Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
I am a retired K-12 Education Management Professional. I have worked at different levels in K-12 school systems, textbook publishing, elearning and Education NGOs. I have held memberships in The Association for Science Education (UK), American Association of Physics Teachers and The Malaysian Institute of Physics. I hold a 1st class B Sc Degree in Physics followed by B Ed [English and Physical Science] and M A [Childcare and Education] degrees. My published works include 59 articles in teacher development magazines in India and the US and a book entitled `Creative Classrooms and Child Friendly Schools' (listed in Amazon). This book is almost an anecdotal account of my professional experience in six countries (including Cambodia where I worked as Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Education, Youth And Sports). I served as mentor in the Certificate of Teaching Mastery Program offered by Teachers Without Borders.