Chopsticks vs Spoon

I never thought I would have to use Chopsticks in my life. It didn't happen in the first couple months of my stay in Hong Kong. Then came the team lunch on a Saturday, when we decided to have at a vegetarian Cantonese restaurant. Ahmad and Simon gave me few tips how to hold and use them. I had to give a try for chopsticks against Turnip cake.

Frankly speaking, I never got a hold of them. I struggled, finally gave up using them and switched to spoons.

Today morning, I was having my breakfast Corn flakes with milk. My daughter insisted on corn flakes and I put a few flakes in a small plastic container and gave it to her. She is fond of spoons, not for eating purpose but to play with them. She saw me using a spoon and grabbed one from the kitchen. Chinni started imitating me and gathered a couple of flakes into the spoon but failed to get the flakes till the mouth. The flakes just dropped on the floor.

She again tried and gather couple more flakes and dropped them on floor. I calmly told her "Chinni you can't do it, eat it with hands". Chinni was least bothered. The spoon went down in the container again, gathered lot more flakes. This time a flake made it to her mouth and she ate it with pride. She looked at me with a smile and I was delighted (with my jaws hanging). Then on there was nothing stopping her. She finished all the remaining flakes using spoon and asked for more flakes. I wondered if she liked flakes or she liked eating them with spoon.

I remembered how I struggled using chopsticks and gave up. The situation was so similar. Chopsticks were new to me and the Spoon was new to Chinni. But she tried and tried and never gave up.

Chinni taught me a lesson today. I knew this lesson and have been reading it since my school days. Alas, I never implemented it. Chinni implemented it without even learning it!!!