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The grand gesture
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A violinist in the US held a concert for the cab driver to thank him for returning his violin. Shailaja Tripathi Taneja finds out how people say thank you here
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Photo: A. Roy Chowdhury
Ever grateful Some people choose unusual ways to express gratitude
Thank you… we use this phrase often to express gratitude. But some of us walk that extra mile to say it in a special, unusual and extravagant manner. On April 20, violinist Philippe Quint left his $ 4 million Stradivarius violin in the back sea
t of a cab that he took from the airport to Manhattan. Quint had just returned after giving a performance in Dallas. The cab driver, Mohammed Khalil, returned it to Quint, safe and sound. Quint gave him a $ 100 tip. The grammy-nominated artiste could have left it at giving the tip but he wanted to do more. Quint expressed gratitude towards the cabbie by holding a mini-concert at the taxi holding area in Newark International Airport.
Sometimes words, gifts and thank-you cards are not enough to thank the person who helped you. Filmmaker Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar once got a chance to thank someone in a special manner. In 1994, Chandrashekhar with his production unit was en route to Mysore to shoot for his film, “Kotreshi Kanasu”.
The unit stopped to have tea at a small kiosk. “We forgot Rs.1 lakh in a bag there. After reaching Mysore we realised that we had forgotten the bag. The next day we returned to the shop.
The small boy who worked at the kiosk came running towards us and returned it. The boy had hidden the bag from the owner because had the owner seen it he would have taken the money,” recalls Chandrashekhar. The filmmaker gave him money and also a screen credit when the film released. “His name was Ramu. I wanted to give him a job so again I went to the same place looking for him but there was no Ramu and no tea shop,” adds Chandrashekhar.
In times like these when human values like honesty, kindness and gratitude are eroding fast, psychologist Dr. Sulata Shenoy is happy to know that such incidents take place. “And they should be highlighted to send positive signals in the society,” she says.
Fashion guru Prasad Bidapa also has an incident to share. Bidapa had done a show for a blind school in which the specially-abled children walked the ramp. “They were excited to dress up, have their hair done up and walk the ramp. After a few days, I received a painting from the children. Though they were visually impaired and partially sighted they still painted for me,” remembers Bidapa. The abstract art work is still with withBidapa.
A doctor’s profession is considered noble which also makes it vulnerable. They easily become the target of people’s ire if something goes wrong. But Dr. Sankaran Sundar, a Nephrologist narrates a moving incident. “Once I performed a kidney transplant on a 15 year-old girl, Elsy. She didn’t do well after the transplant and died a few weeks later,” says Dr. Sundar. The parents were moved by Dr. Sundar’s efforts to save her and to date they refer patients to him. “They lost their child but they still feel grateful that I did my best to save their daughter. I still keep getting cards on every occasion. If Elsy hadn’t died, I would have considered it natural but what they are doing despite having lost their daughter is beyond words,” he says.
Like Quint, a similar incident happened with Prithvi, founder of Rock Around the Clock dance company but with an autorickshaw driver in Chennai. Prithvi was invited to perform by an organisation in Chennai. After giving the performance the dance crew was on its way back to the hotel. “Some of us were in cars and some were in an auto. One of the crew member forgot my 400 audio CDs in the auto. I had no back-up of those CDs. The next morning, the autorickshaw driver was back in the hotel with the CDs,” says Prithvi. To express his gratitude, the dancer had breakfast with the autowallah. “We have become good friends. We meet whenever I go to Chennai and we call each other regularly,” says Prithvi.
Expressing gratitude, saying thank you to someone in a special manner has a significance, feels psychologist Dr. Shenoy. “Expressing gratitude is a feeling which unfortunately doesn’t come spontaneously these days. More than value system, an act of saying thank you and that too in such a way, arises out of the need to share the joy and happiness with the person who has given him the reason to be happy.” So next time someone helps you, be generous in saying a heart felt thank you.
Many ways of thanking
The act of expressing gratitude arises from the need to share happiness and joy with the person who has given it
A heartfelt act is more than doling out money
One of the most popular ways of thanking is giving thank-you cards
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