Skip to main content

Why smile?




I usually put on a smile.  It’s easy for me because the people whom I meet usually are young students who return my smile with compound interest.  Young people love smiling faces and they are sure to reciprocate with more charming smiles.  When I come across adults, I have to make an extra effort to smile but I usually succeed.

At least I’ve been assuming that I normally carry a smiling face.  That’s why I was surprised when a student of mine asked me the other day why I was so serious outside the school.  The world outside the school does not matter to me except when I have some business to do with it like buying vegetables or negotiating the traffic at some crowded junction.  I guess I don’t smile at the vegetable seller or the stranger at the traffic crossing.  I also guess that my student didn’t mean that.  Probably he noticed a drastic contrast between my face in school and the one outside.  Probably he thinks that my smile in the school is a put-on. 

I earnestly hope that my students don’t take my smile in school as a put-on.  Because it is not.  The smile is genuine.  Young students extract that smile from me and I am grateful to them for doing it.  They do make that difference to my life.

I wish the world did the same to all of us: extract smiles.  Well, the world is never so good to anyone, I think. 

When I meet people who are acquainted with me in some way I do make an effort to smile.  The effort is genuine even if the smile may not be.  I know a smile is much better than any other expression.  A smile disarms people.  Most importantly, a smile makes people think you are a happy person.  People generally leave happy creatures alone.  They are more interested in sad people because sad people carry stories within them.  People are interested in stories, sad stories, sad stories of other people.  So it’s better to smile at least to reassure the other people that you don’t have any interesting stories to narrate.  They’d rather leave you alone.

Comments

  1. Pranju chakrapaniJuly 4, 2017 at 9:38 PM

    I confess that during my earlier days in your blog I used to hesitate a lot before for making constant comments on your posts fearing the negative impact it would have on other readers.
    But how can I genuinely leave your posts without stating my love for reading such posts of yours. I have learned a lot from you. Being genuine at least in efforts may actually lead us to happiness:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 4, 2017 at 10:01 PM

      The ruthless frankness in my writing makes readers think of me as a disgruntled if not negative person. But those who live with me in reality know a different me. In fact, I have extremely cordial relationships with my students which would be impossible if I were a negative person. I'm glad you understood me rightly.

      Delete
  2. CifarJuly 7, 2017 at 11:53 AM

    smiles are always wall breakers in any situation

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 21, 2017 at 10:04 PM

    After reading this post, it felt nice. Thank you sir, for writing this blog.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My cat Plato and a question of Do I Belong?

Kingini (middle) and Plato Kingini, my demure and pretty cat, was going to give birth. So she started pampering me very uncharacteristically. She would never let me pamper her. She wouldn’t even come near me except for food. So, when she started rubbing her golden fur against my shin, I knew it was time for me to arrange her labour room. For my earlier queens, I used cardboard cartons in which Amazon delivered stuff. But now Amazon is using some cheap plastic-like material for delivering items. So I brought a plastic basket, the largest I could find in the shop I know, and made a bed of newspapers and a piece of a bedsheet. Kingini approved of it. In a few days’ time, on 7 Feb 2025 to be precise, Kingini gave birth to two cute kittens that looked exactly like my Plato, my beloved male cat who is the first son of Kingini. X Plato was named after the philosopher on a sheer whim of mine. I had had a drink when I christened him. That’s how it usually works: a bit of brandy or whisky ...
6 comments
Read more

A grammatical contemplation

Illustration by Google Gemini “Being alone has this negative connotation, like it’s a punishment, but you’re learning to be friends with yourself,” says a Time article quoting a young college graduate who had just migrated to a new city where she had no friends or relatives. She became her own best friend, she says, instead of going in search of other friends. She went on solo hikes, to concerts, museums, movies, and dinners. Solitude is very useful, the article goes on to argue. It can be a means of self-care and self-exploration. The article also suggests some solo activities like low-skates outing and cultivating a hobby. I’m leaving my teaching profession at the end of this month. Maggie asked me what I’d do with all the free time. Wouldn’t I feel lonely sitting at home? She knows very well that I love to read a lot, write occasionally, and travel whenever I feel like. So I’m not going to have any problem with how to spend all the time that would lie at my disposal from Mar...
12 comments
Read more

The Second Crucifixion

  ‘The Second Crucifixion’ is the title of the last chapter of Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’s magnum opus Freedom at Midnight . The sub-heading is: ‘New Delhi, 30 January 1948’. Seventy-three years ago, on that day, a great soul was shot dead by a man who was driven by the darkness of hatred. Gandhi has just completed his usual prayer session. He had recited a prayer from the Gita:                         For certain is death for the born                         and certain is birth for the dead;                         Therefore over the inevitable             ...
8 comments
Read more

Pearls and ... bullies

  Fiction Mollusc (mollusk, in American English) Little Johnny went as usual to his grandma when he was bored of everything else.  Grandma would tell him interesting stories.  Johnny was carrying his mother’s latest pearl necklace that came free with the saris she had ordered online.  “Pearls,” said grandmother fondling the necklace.  “Shall I tell you the story of pearls today? Johnny was excited.  Do pearls have a story too? Yes, they do, said grandma.  A great story.  Do you want to hear it? Of course, Johnny was all ears.  Pearls are found inside the body of creatures living in the oceans, started grandma.   Shell fish.  Molluscs.  They are extremely tender creatures.  Like the soft boys and girls you may see at school.  Do you see such boys and girls? Yes, there are some.  Johnny agreed.  What happens to them?  Asked grandma. Boys bully them. Exact...
26 comments
Read more

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl
44 comments
Read more