Touch and go

"The soul of music lumbers in the shell,
Till wak'd and kindled by the master's spell,
And feeling hearts-- touch them but lightly--pour
A thousand melodies unheard before."
ROGERS, SAMUEL, 1763-1855: Human Life

Ever experienced this before? A teenie weenie act by someone, something like twanging a string instrument but sets off a thunderous chest-pounding rock song in your heart?

I have a few such "touched" gifts and acts. Of course, I store plenty of gifts a lot of my good friends have given me, I love and cherish each one of them. But there are a handful of them that, even though they are small, mean a lot and will always touch that chord that I spoke about earlier.

In my first ever job, rather when I put in my papers to resign, there used to be a girl, lets call her V, who was from a different company. But she was onsite in mine, rather like an assigned support person. I used to work with her a lot, learnt a lot from her too. And when I resigned, of course, my team mates and other coworkers gave me a decent send off. I was elated, I mean after all, it was my first send off party. But this girl V took the trouble to get me a pen stand with the laughing Buddha in it. A papier meche one which probably was the hit at that time, when Archies was a popular gift store. This was about 10 yrs ago. I still have it in my desk at home. That tells you how much I was touched by that simple gift of hers. The point is, she didnt have to...but she did. And that meant a lot to me! I have since lost touch with V, but everytime I look at the pen stand, all I have are fond memories of the good times with her.

I made an online friend, some years ago. You know at the time when bulletin boards and chat rooms were the in thing, the internet savvy thing to do. I have had my fair share of failures in this regard. Nothing much has come from it. But I have made a handful of great friends, that have surpassed the virtual world and established themselves in the real world we all live in. Now S is a very craftsy person. As in she made bead jewelry, painted, made greeting cards and so on and so forth. I loved the jewelry she made and used to sweep a lot of it whenever I visited her. She usually gave me a good deal on the price and I can proudly claim that I had my own personal custom costume jewelry maker. But what I treasure most is a small greeting card she made for me for my birthday, something special. She didnt have to. But she did. And again thats the one thing I will treasure the most. I still use the lovely jewelry she made for me, she no longer makes them now. She has moved on to other, greater things. I wish her all the luck and good wishes. S, you rock!

One girl A who I grew up with, her family and mine have lived next door for many years now. She is a few years older to me and put in some real effort to become a doctor. She and I have burnt the midnight oil, so to speak, on many nights. In windows across from each others' houses. When I visited her one Christmas, some years ago, I got a chance to play with her daughter, who was 4 then. And when I left, N, the daughter, gave me a handwritten card. It was the cutest thing I had seen. Personalised with my name, spelt right, neatly. I was touched...touched beyond words. I will always have the goodbye/thank you note that N wrote for me.

And now, when I joined this place I am at now. I met a lady who I worked with on my first project. Wonderful lady, of Japanese origin. We spent many hours bringing the project to fruition. Towards the end of last year, she went on maternity leave and in the latest round of layoffs I heard she had been let go. Very unfair, but such is life. I hear from her husband, who still works here, about her off and on. I heard she had gone to Japan for a long holiday. Just last week, her husband stopped by to tell me that A had asked him to give me this............a small souvenir from her trip. Its a trinket...one of those pretty, dainty things with a little bell inside. And I know where that came from. She used to have the same thing on her cell phone and I'd admire it a lot. To think she remembered it and got one for me! I repeat...she just DIDNT have to, but she did. How very very thoughtful.

And so I am touched. Touched, beyond words.