Short, dark and handsome… has some resemblance, somewhere, to the great Charlie Chaplin or Kamal Haasan? Was his moustache or his height or his mannerisms…? He was definitely muscular:
- “Why don’t you learn this. It is good for health”.
- Then he pointed at my sign of prosperity and indicated ‘not acceptable’ in a subtle way!
- Then he said, ‘You will be muscular like me’, pointing to his own six-pack ab.
He had just climbed two coconut trees, dropped few coconuts and was in the process of removing the husk.
The Master had manifested even before the student was ready! While fitness and wellness was always part of my ToDo list, not a six-pack ab.
On the budget day, India’s Finance Minister was presenting the country’s annual budget, around same time. It included a new proposal for Medicare for the poor. This man had a better solution for fitness : six-pack ab, nothing less!
For more than 30 minutes, he has been climbing coconut trees, pulling down coconuts, both tender and not-so-tender. He would climb without any support, machine or old-fashioned coir, just a big knife. He climbed like a proficient artist. He was a master at it. He showed me how rough his forehand was. He has been at it for a long time.
He would have seen my silent admiration for the way he went about his work, as I went around collecting coconuts & checking damage to the newly painted compound wall. He was unaware of the xbanker in me looking at these facts!
He was all ‘left brain’ 🧠 while dropping the coconuts from the heights, but artistic while peeling them. That is when he expressed my waist-line was not up to his expectations. He was mindful of not only the health of coconuts and coconut trees 🌴 , but also the consumers.
I asked him if he had an insurance policy l. He proudly said, ‘yes, for my daughter…’ (life insurance). I meant medical insurance, I clarified. ‘No’, he said.
When would he receive the benefit of the budget proposals, or will the BFSI once again mount a cross-sell for their own benefit, not for the most needy? He had fallen from a coconut tree sometime back and was on bed. He had to bear the expenses himself.
I walked away with more questions to ponder… climbing a coconut tree was surely not one of them, nor removing the husk, anytime soon!
