The email popped up on my screen at 6:45 a.m. on 24 December last year. I’d already been awake for hours, working to a deadline. It was from someone I know quite well: the minister of my Unitarian church. “I need a favour from you,” it read. “Email me as soon as you get my message.”
“Ahoy, Ron,” I replied.
A friend was in the hospital battling cancer, he said, and he’d just learnt she was scheduled for surgery that night. Could I possibly pick up some iTunes gift cards?
“She needs the cards to download her favorite music and videos to boost her confidence on her next phase of surgery.” He’d do it himself, but he was tied up, he explained. “I will surely reimburse you as soon as I can.”
“OK,” I emailed back.
“Thank you so much, Bruce,” my correspondent replied. Then he got down to business. I was to buy $300 (around ₹22,000) of iTunes credit. (That’s quite a lot of music, I thought.) “I need you to scratch the silver lining at the back of each card to reveal the redemption code, then take a snapshot and send them directly to Sharon’s email.” He gave the address. “God bless.”
God bless? We’re Unitarians. Optimistic agnostics at best. The G-word doesn’t come up much. Totally weird sign-off there. I assumed Ron’s mind was still on the dire circumstances of his friend Sharon.
“I can pick up the cards around noon and engineer this by tonight,” I replied.
ãã®èšäºã¯ Reader's Digest India ã® September 2020 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã9,000 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã ?  ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ãã®èšäºã¯ Reader's Digest India ã® September 2020 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã9,000 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã? ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ME & MY SHELF
Chitra Divakaruni is the author of 23 books including The Forest of Enchantment, Mistress of Spices and Palace of Illusions. Her latest book is An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayan Murthy.
RD RECOMMENDS-BOOKS
Hanuman Chalisa and More
Who's Getting Colon Cancer
With rates rising among younger people, testing should start sooner
25 Lessons That Last A Lifetime
Suggestions about life are a little like lottery tickets: You may collect a lot of them, but they rarely pay off. Yet if you are truly lucky, you receive a few words of wisdom that inspire you forever. That's called hitting the jackpot
A Symphony Of Irritation
In the 2022 film Tár, Cate Blanchett played a conductor who was affected by misophoniaâan acute sensitivity to certain sounds. For Lydia Tár, Blanchettâs character, the clicking of a pen or the beat of a metronome was enough to drive her to distraction.
Is Poverty Alleviation Truly Possible?
We ask economist and Nobel laureate Esther Duflo
The Alpha Dog
To rescue lost animals, she climbs into places most of us avoid
Let's Say Yes!
What started out as a way to get my son to try new foods opened up a world of adventure for my family
Hey Dad, Can You Help Me Return the Picasso I Stole?
A painting went missing in 1969, then turned up at a museums doorstep. No one knew how or whyâuntil now
Band of Survivors
Armed with his drum kit, a Holocaust survivor fights anti-Semitism one musical note at a time