<p>"How much difference would a selfie and a bunch of fruits make to her life?" I wondered on our way back from a visit to a nonagenarian in the hospice. My son Deepak's comment that "the feeling that we care for her would certainly gladden her heart" set me thinking. </p>.<p>"I double-check and ensure that my morning messages reach my friend, a cancer survivor, because I know how much they mean to her," confided my neighbour; "and the return messages or even emojis convey the state of affairs at the receiver's end," I added.</p>.<p>A dish calls for a pinch of salt, a dash of spices, and perhaps a spoonful of sugar to complete it. While all of them are needed to make it palatable, none of them are equal in quality, quantity, or cost.</p>.<p>Here is where the magic concept of coordination, pooling, and combined effort comes alive.</p>.<p>The genuine needs of a deserving person are never the same. If it is financial help for one, it is guidance for another, and it is moral support for the third. So are the capability and affordability of the contributor. Nevertheless, every little contribution counts, with bits adding up to complete the circle.</p>.<p>It was a mango kernel brought in by a puny squirrel that sealed the bridge meant to carry Lord Rama's army to Lanka in their struggle to save Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana, according to a legend in Ramayana. It was the guidance and counsel from Lord Krishna that encouraged Arjuna, who overcome by the love for his kin, had backed out of the Mahabharata war, to win the war of good over evil.</p>.<p>A quote I came across recently—"help when you can, be there when you can, and encourage when you can"—is quite relevant here.</p>.<p>Making a blind co-traveller comfortable by finding a seat, being with the one grieving a loss—all these are small gestures, yet, they support the feeling that though humans are bogged down by problems, the glow of humanity still shines.</p>.<p>None of us can play God by mitigating suffering, but as his representatives, we can certainly ease it. We have shown that we can do it during the pandemic, and all that is left is to ingrain it into our daily lives.</p>
<p>"How much difference would a selfie and a bunch of fruits make to her life?" I wondered on our way back from a visit to a nonagenarian in the hospice. My son Deepak's comment that "the feeling that we care for her would certainly gladden her heart" set me thinking. </p>.<p>"I double-check and ensure that my morning messages reach my friend, a cancer survivor, because I know how much they mean to her," confided my neighbour; "and the return messages or even emojis convey the state of affairs at the receiver's end," I added.</p>.<p>A dish calls for a pinch of salt, a dash of spices, and perhaps a spoonful of sugar to complete it. While all of them are needed to make it palatable, none of them are equal in quality, quantity, or cost.</p>.<p>Here is where the magic concept of coordination, pooling, and combined effort comes alive.</p>.<p>The genuine needs of a deserving person are never the same. If it is financial help for one, it is guidance for another, and it is moral support for the third. So are the capability and affordability of the contributor. Nevertheless, every little contribution counts, with bits adding up to complete the circle.</p>.<p>It was a mango kernel brought in by a puny squirrel that sealed the bridge meant to carry Lord Rama's army to Lanka in their struggle to save Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana, according to a legend in Ramayana. It was the guidance and counsel from Lord Krishna that encouraged Arjuna, who overcome by the love for his kin, had backed out of the Mahabharata war, to win the war of good over evil.</p>.<p>A quote I came across recently—"help when you can, be there when you can, and encourage when you can"—is quite relevant here.</p>.<p>Making a blind co-traveller comfortable by finding a seat, being with the one grieving a loss—all these are small gestures, yet, they support the feeling that though humans are bogged down by problems, the glow of humanity still shines.</p>.<p>None of us can play God by mitigating suffering, but as his representatives, we can certainly ease it. We have shown that we can do it during the pandemic, and all that is left is to ingrain it into our daily lives.</p>