Water’s the matter
When the heat is on, the clear thirst-quenching liquid becomes more precious than cold cash, apparently. This diarist witnessed a beggar at a railway station go up to a man, who gave him a couple of coins. But what the beggar was asking for was not money but a sip of water from the bottle the man was carrying. It is said that giving water to the thirsty is an act that invites blessings — perhaps this particular man had not heard of this, or did not take it seriously, because he refused to part with his bottle and the beggar had to move on. We don’t know about blood but might we say that the milk of human kindness is thicker than water!

Status update – in transit
IN THE bustling city of Mumbai, even neighbours go for days without seeing each other, so it is not surprising that friends who live in different suburbs don’t see each other for indefinite periods of time. But that is in real life, of course. With the advent of social media, however, physical distance has practically ceased to matter. Recently a colleague ran into someone he knew quite well, at Churchgate station. The two had not met for almost three years.