Genuine

Eva gets a call from the same number for the umpteenth time, a number she cannot recognize. She picks it up wondering if it is an important call that shouldn't be missed. "Hello" a female voice responds. "How are you Eva? I had been trying to reach you for long to say thanks" the voice continues. Eva places the exotic accent. "Oh hello there Sana" She greets cheerfully. "Why do I need to be thanked?" she wonders aloud. "For my job recommendation" Sana replies.

Eva experiences a blanked out moment. She recollects recommending Sana to a trainee opening in a friend's work place months ago. It paid a meager stipend but Sana was looking to get back to work after a long hiatus. "I am so sorry" she manages. I never knew you got a placement there. It wasn't a big deal. I found about the trainee position and thought about you. Glad you fit right in" She sounds very happy for Sana.

"May I come by tomorrow to see you?" Sana asks. "I would like to say thanks in person" 

"I would love to see you, but hey, there's nothing much to thank here. I am sure they loved you enough to offer you a permanent position" 

"But I was there in the first place because you cared to recommend me" Sana insists. They have a chuckle about this blame game and decide to meet the next day.

Sana shows up with a vase of white buttercup roses, luscious and lively. "I know you are a nature lover, but I had to buy you something that didn't die the moment I turn my back on you. I want you to look at these silk flowers and remember me as often as you can" she quips. 

"Look at them...how natural they look" Eva offers genuine praise. Besides white is my favorite color. It fits so well into my shabby chic living space" 

They catch up on life. Eva remembers how Sana, in their last meeting months ago, comes to pay for some medicines she got her from a friend's apothecary, though Eva keeps telling her that it was a chicken feed of an amount and she shouldn't bother. Sana relates a Burmese fable to Eva about the Owl, crow and koel. When owl gets hurt, he seeks help from crow. Crow knows of koel that treats ailments and takes his friend owl to her. Koel suggests a remedy that cures the owl and asks for her payment. Owl promises to pay it later and crow vouches for the owl. Later when it is time to pay, the owl refuses to pay the koel. As a result, crow ends up repaying his friend's dues by tending to koel's eggs.

"I don't want to ever be like the owl" Sana adds, and make someone pay for my dues no matter how small. Eva smiles and accepts the money, won over by how Sana thinks through the minutest of things and puts a wonderful perspective to them. It is these little things that Sana does that makes Eva get a sense of the person Sana is....Honest, considerate, reliable and very thoughtful. Eva kind of senses why Sana is so readily welcomed into the work space. She feel certain that Sana does bigger things with as much love and care as she does the smaller ones.

After the ladies catch up on their lives, Sana takes leave, thanking her again and apologizing yet again for not bringing her real flowers. They both joke and laugh over the matter and part ways.

Eva places the flowers on her whitewashed coffee table. The sunlight filtering through the windows hit the petals and lend them a grace only light could lend. They look lit from within...She admires them, gently stroking on the lush lifelikeness of the buttercups. From where she sees it, a gesture of gratitude couldn't be any more heart touching than these beauties she's feasting her eyes upon.

"Blessed are the ones that give without remembering, Blessed are the ones that get without forgetting" Her dad's favorite quote rings in her ears as she spends a moment devouring the wee joys of life.