When i was being trained for a massage,
my master told me politely,
"remember, your real learning will start
AFTER you go out to serve people"
i looked at him, a bit apprehensive about what he says.
Do i have to learn from my 'mistakes'?
And i asked him, in a hurt voice,
"Sir, do you mean i will be making mistakes? then please train me more... don't you have confidence in me?"
My master, a keralite doctor aged 53 then, smiled under his long grey moustache.
he said,
"You may not make mistakes, yet you learn.
Perfection in Massage depends on who takes it, too.
and you- as a giver, have no right to blame the taker if the massage is not perfect.
a giver must understand, must LEARN from the responses of the taker."

I remember these words well.
and now i think,
of many life situation,
where we have a role of a giver.
As a giver, i vow to serve the taker and learn from him.