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Think over my views. Tomorrow it’s a holiday, we’ll meet
again.
Mr Shouri couldn’t sleep much. He was worried about
his daughter. The boy on the cycle tinkled to announce the
arrival of the newspaper. Mr Shouri realized that the night
had gone.
To his surprise his wife was up and the aroma of green
tea leaves filled his nostrils. Mr Shouri picked up the newspaper and unknowingly headed for the edit
page. The Speaking Tree, a regular column caught his eye. It questioned him, “Are you a carrot, an
egg or a coffee bean?” He read on and smiled towards his wife. Then he asked her; “Do we have a
carrot, an egg and coffee beans? She looked at him with worry and said, “What is wrong with you? Why
are you talking like that? Are you fine? Did Sunaina hurt you with her words”?
“No, Sunaina cannot hurt anyone but herself right now. She is going through a bad phase but I
have a solution. My dear, do you mind chopping a carrot…and listen, boil some water in three
containers. I’ll wake up Sunaina.”
Within a second Sunaina was in the kitchen looking nice and comfortable. Mr Shouri said, “I am
not a chef but I want to share something with you. See the carrots are hard, the egg is delicate and the
coffee beans don’t have much to say for themselves…they appear just brown.
“Let’s put them to the boiling water to see what happens. The carrots are soft, eggs have
become stiff and hard and the coffee beans are showing true colour and taste better. I just wanted to
see how all three would react at 100 degree temperature. So the problem for all three was hot water
at 100 degree centigrade but all of them behaved differently. The carrots looked so weak and shaky,
the egg had hardened itself and the coffee tasted strong. It was enriched on boiling.
“What are you my child?
A carrot that could not tolerate the hardship.
Or the egg that became hard inside
or the coffee bean that despite the hardships gave away its true flavor and tasted better
and better.
Sunaina smiled and answered, “Dad I am a coffee bean. I’ll face the problems. I’ll enrich myself
when faced with a problem to grow up wiser and smarter.”
Mrs Shouri smiled and said, “No dear, such situations will give you roots and wings too. When
you agree to learn you become rooted in values and when you dare to differ from peers you get strong
wings to help you fly. Both are equally important.”
65
Geeta Yadav
W/o Comdt DP Yadav
CGDHQ-4, Kochi