Borrow an egg!

Dear NRIGirl! Cheers! Hope all is well.

A while ago I listened to a radio program where someone recommended the best way to make friends is to borrow an egg. Funny as it may sound, when I look back that's exactly how our parents and grand parents and many generations before them made their friends - by borrowing an egg or a cup of sugar or two onions or some curry leaves or some coins or a hairpin or a cooking pan or a ladder or a bicycle pump or you name it!

Only recently I could put this in to practice here in the United States of America. In a recent get together with friends, as the kids sat around the kitchen table for a cookie baking session, we suddenly realized we had run out of the all-purpose-flour, the main ingredient needed for the cookie dough. It was Christmas day and so all shops were closed. As I was contemplating how not to disappoint the kids, all of a sudden I remembered the radio advice to 'borrow-an-egg'.

Once I made up my mind to do just that, the next step was to identify whom to run to. There are few NRI families in our neighborhood one or two were off on vacation and others weren't all that close. However I decided to go knocking at a good neighbor's house few blocks away, borrowing some 'all-purpose-flour'. She was extremely delighted that I thought of her and came to her. As she measured and gave me a cup or two of the flour, the level of our friendship surely went up by a measure or two...

I had taken a little gift for her children as it was Christmas day - which was a special surprise for them. I got to know her husband had just had some surgery - so it cheered her up that someone showed up unexpectedly at the door - even if to borrow something ... I was glad too that I could bring in some unexpected holiday cheer to a dear family and that the little kids around my kitchen table could now proceed with their cookie baking session as planned.

The simple act of "borrowing" brought such widespread cheer in so many of us that night. It sure made our holiday very special.

When was the last time you borrowed something or made a new friend? If it has been a while or never, I encourage you to act on it. It doesn't come easily. It takes some courage and of course some humility. Try borrowing an egg or a cup of sugar or two onions or some curry leaves or some coins or a hairpin or a cooking pan or a ladder or a bicycle pump or you name it!

You will be amazed at how many new gems you can collect for your very own crown of friends by doing this simple act. As you try, please feel free to add your experience to the comments section below, I would love to hear. Happy borrowing! And of course (it goes without saying), Happy lending too...!

Until next time,
~ NRIGirl