Matters of the Heart

In our house, every decision is analysed in different ways. Let me make this clear. I think from the mind i.e Mind Thinker - analysing pros and cons, benefits and advantanges, consequences and outcomes. My husband - Prabhu thinks from the heart i.e Heart Thinker - feels, believes and goes by what his heart wants him to do overruling the mind.

I have always been a cautious person when it comes to financial aspects of my life. When it comes to decisions of the purse, I am a complete "mind thinker" rather than a "heart thinker". (shopping ofcourse is an exception!). And living with a complete "heart thinker" does not make things easy as well. So when something happened last week, it made me rethink on a lot of things that are argued between a heart thinker and a mind thinker.

Ganapathy is a handy-man from the village. He used to do the odd jobs and cleaning chores whenever we moved houses in the city. A reliable man with a small family - he used to call us whenever he comes to the city to check if he can do some odd jobs and thereby earn some money for his family.

Sometime last year, I got to know that Prabhu had given him Rs.10000 (which is a big sum if you are desparately trying to save money for a house) for some treatment. No doubt - we had a huge argument on with my contention being not on the gesture but on the high value. While both of us were aware that the chances (or rather the capacity) of Ganapathy returning the funds were slim, the issue sometimes kept cropping up while discussing other financial decisions. We infact were close to forgetting about it, when we got a call from Ganapathy asking if there were any odd jobs to be done at home as he is in Chennai and had come to return the money.

I was humbled. Here was a daily wage laborer for whom Rs.10000 was a princely sum and was probably an amount he would earn in 5 years time. We had never asked him about it over the last one year (as we had mentally written it off) and we were not expecting it at all. His image doubled in my mind when he told us that he only had Rs.5000 in his savings and had borrowed the additional Rs.5000 from the local bank. We told him that he can return the Rs.5000 whenever he can. He told us that it is easier for him to repay the bank in regular installments as it is a definite committment.

In the midst of affluent folks who borrow on circumstances and "forget" about it, here is a man who stands tall.

For once I concede defeat to thinking from the heart. And maybe I will not be cautious about people borrowing money. Maybe.