The Favor Bank

Photo courtesy:Howies

I read about this the first time in Paulo Coelho's 'The Zahir' (in fact I liked this much more than the completely hyped Alchemist) and I thought it was neat.
It works like this...you do a favor to someone without hope that it will ever get repayed. However it does get deposited into this Favor Bank and you could be making deposits for a long time..but there will come a time when you need to make a withdrawal and for sure, you will find someone to make that deposit...

While today the world has become a much more cynical place and the fact that 'nice guys' are probably still making those deposits only, I still believe there is hope and think that there is quite a lot of goodness in the world, that which clearly comes out in times of crisis (think Mumbai for its multiple crises). Yet we have become so cynical that we do not think anyone deserves a deposit because we believe that there is no one there to help us make a withdrawal when needed.

Now that I think of it, I can relate this concept to what Kamalahassan had so beautifully portrayed in a movie that was not a commercial success 'Anbe Sivam'. In the movie, the simple point that he makes is that there is a 'God' in everyone...(not from a religion point of view) but the fact that most people are by nature mostly good and they would have made a deposit at some point or other into the favor bank. When they make that deposit, they become God for the recipient...and of course he does not do it expect a return favor...

It is indeed sad that this cynicism pervades everything in life today....