Arvind relishes his mother Anandhi’s cooking as her dishes are always mouth-watering. He likes her ‘sambar’ very much and would take it separately in a cup. Anandhi, as an affectionate mother, would keep some ‘sambar’ separately for Arvind, which he would take in the night too. Though Arvind wouldn’t express his appreciation openly through words, Anandhi would understand his wishes and expectations by herself and would do the needful. But Arvind has the bad temper of showing off his irritation on occasions when any of the dishes lacks in taste due to excess salt or something like that. He would show his anger by pushing the plate aside with force. But, Anandhi, being his mother would always put up with his tempers and prevent the situation from becoming worse.

But, after marriage, Arvind’s temper posed a serious problem. Anandhi belonged to the old generation, she didn’t expect any words of appreciation from her husband and she would adjust with her son as well as her husband to the best of her ability. But, Arvind’s wife Anusha, belonging to the present generation expected Arvind to utter few words of appreciation for the Italy dish she prepared, for the new dress she wore, for the talents and skills she possessed, etc., etc. She even openly told Arvind that he couldn’t expect her to remain like his mother with no expectation. And, heated arguments and altercations followed whenever Arvind pointed out her mistakes without fail.

The human nature is that we fail to appreciate things when everything is okay. It could be said that we take things for granted. But when we don’t approve of certain things, we express our dissatisfaction immediately without hesitation. Whether it is appreciation or criticism, there’s a way of expressing it. Some people are very frank, they appreciate a lot wholeheartedly. At the same time, they point out the mistakes also without hesitation. But all their words of appreciation are forgotten easily by us when they point out our mistake in harsh words on a later occasion. This extreme behavior can never be justified. It is an art to express appreciation genuinely over good things without any artificiality. Every one should learn and develop this art.