The first influence I want to write about is Grandma, my mother’s mom in Sri Lanka. When I was 16 my family left for Canada and I never saw her after that, but she had already made a profound impact on my young mind about devotion and compassion. She was a devout follower of the Hindu religion, while my parents had converted to Christianity, and I was born into the Christian faith. But Grandma set aside most of the complexities of religion and reduced it to much simpler terms: live each day with what was provided, give daily devotion to God, help someone every day, and always practise compassion.
My grandmother persisted through poverty. Grandpa relied on “daily jobs”: every morning he would go to the marketplace and wait with other men to be hired for a daily wage. He would load and unload trucks, build fences, farm, or do other odd jobs. However, after collecting his wages, he would promptly drink most of them away. Only after he came home drunk could Grandma collect the last of the money, go to the market, buy groceries and cook the family meal. There were nine girls and one boy to feed.
Grandma never neglected her spiritual life. Every morning she would get a bowl of water from the well and spend about 20 minutes praying to the Sun God. Then on the way to the market in the evening, she would stop at the temple, pray again and place an offering in the collection box before buying whatever she needed to feed the family. When she cooked she would also make some extra for a neighbour. She would say, “I am more blessed than they are.”
I learned from my grandmother that even poor people can make good choices: to remember God, care for the neighbours and live contentedly with gratitude for whatever you have each day.
Eric Rajah 