Everything begins at Home

I stayed at the heart of Chennai – West Mambalam over the weekend with my parents. The weekend passed in a swish. We had gone to bed yesterday night as usual around 10:30PM after a warm chat. I was startled by the noise of my parents’ conversation. I looked up at the clock and it was close to 3AM!

Shocked, I requested my parents’ to get back to bed. Living in an apartment where there was a theft is difficult. It is even worse if someone had witnessed the same. Same had happened to my parents too. There was a theft at my place a month before and since then my parents had been having a bad time at the nights. I had to pacify my mom; comfort her and make her sense my warmth to get her back into the bed. After a struggle of 30min, she dozed off.

We welcomed the work week’s first morning with a power shutdown. Thank god, the water motor was already up and running when the power supply was cut. We tried managed most important morning chores without power supply. My dad placed a complaint with the TNEB for the supply as we identified that all the nearby apartments had power supply.

The EB person turned up in about 20min. The EB worker asked if my dad had placed the complaint. My dad answered affirmative. He walked off in a hurry. In a few minutes, the power was back. My dad said, ‘The EB worker will turn up to check if all is fine. If, he answers politely and doesn’t demand cash, give him this’ and lent me a 20 rupee note. I replied saying ‘Dad, bribing is wrong’. He replied saying, ‘We need to thank him for his politeness and on time action’. The EB worker got back and checked the power. When I offered him cash, he was a bit uneasy. I said ‘This is not a bribe. This is to appreciate your on-time support’. The worker took the cash and smiled heartily.

I bathed and got ready to leave to work. I noticed that, my mom was struggling with cooking and her other morning work. I helped her with some kitchen work so that she could catch up the initial time loss. When all the cooking was done, she sat down; took a deep breath and smiled at me.

There is a very well known proverb 'Charity begins at home'; a proverb that expresses the overriding demands of taking care of one's family, before caring for others. But, 'John Fletcher' used the phrase in the comedy 'Wit without Money' as, 'Charity and beating begins at home'.

I abide by the wordings of John Fletcher. All good and bad does begin at home. Our attitude towards the external world is manipulated by our internal world. How a child grows up to be a good / bad social being depends on the environment that he lives, which is his home. A person's tendency to help, to do things perfect, responsibility, attitude and emotional stability begins at his / her home.

So, maybe we should alter the old proverb as... "Everything begins at home!"