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Language of love

Once, I was reading an interesting article, which provided a global report on how 230 languages became extinct in the last 70 years alone. It is a heartbreaking moment for any language to die because with that, a culture also ends forever. But let us not entangle ourselves in the mess thinking which languages will survive in the future. I know a language which will remain eternal, and that is the language of love.

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It is said that a smile is the first alphabet of the language of friendship. Likewise, humanity is the first alphabet of the language of love. If your mind is filled with kindness, compassion and conscience, then you can achieve fluency in the language of love. I realised this when I suffered loneliness for five years during my prolonged illness. I was undergoing various medical tests, medications and therapies, but found everything meaningless. The prospect of an untimely and early death really scared me.

One day, I went for my routine check-up in a hospital in Mumbai. While waiting for some additional tests that my doctor had advised, I overheard a person requesting the billing desk assistant to perform an x-ray test on his young daughter on credit as he lacked sufficient money in his wallet. The billing assistant politely expressed his inability to do so. The person sat down beside me in despair. Since I had heard everything, I offered him help and paid the charges from my pocket. The person smiled and thanked me. He took my visiting card and left.

After a week, the same person came to my office and returned the money with praise and gratitude. I casually asked him what the problem was. He told me that he had recently lost his job and was going through a low point in life. I felt sympathy for him and offered him a job in my company. He stared at me and then accepted readily. Next day, he reported to duty and worked efficiently and honestly for more than a decade. I got a trustworthy friend by merely speaking the language of love.

Friends, the language of love is so powerful that it weaves a permanent thread of friendly relations among people. When I visited Bali with my family, the first local person we met outside the airport was a taxi driver. I befriended him and hired his taxi for a full tour. We treated him like our family member. On the last day of our tour, he drove us to his village and acquainted us with his family. They served us a feast of local cuisine and gifted local handicrafts. Such incidents leave a permanent mark in your mind.

I like a quote by author Imania Margria — “No matter where we come from, there is one language we can all speak and understand from birth, the language of the heart— love.”

Dr Dhananjay (Jay) Datar is the chairman and managing director of Al Adil Trading.