Letters-3:"Time of Value"

Reading Subroto Bagchi’s “Go, Kiss the World” (Reader’s Digest, December 2005) was a journey to an era when people saw their parents as models of human values. Calling maids, sweepers and other workers mausi, amma or kaka was not just a sign of respect, but also our first lessons in human relationships. One such lesson remains etched in my memory. In the early 1960s, the sweepers in our area used to collect one roti from each household every afternoon. Many people threw the rotis into the sweepers’ baskets from a distance. My parents felt this was a humiliating practice. They taught us to respectfully hold the roti in both hands and place it in the sweeper’s hand or basket.

I wonder if we can instill such values in the younger generation today in a world ruled by materialism, hypocrisy and snobbishness.

Letter to the Editor, Reader’s Digest from Veena Bashani, via e-mail - Letters from Readers, Reader’s Digest, February 2006