Sentidokomon

By Joy B. Miranda

If there is one person I know who is extremely proud of his origin, it’s Vamsee. This morning he said, “In the history of Cyprus College, the first thing that they will know upon clicking on the Cyprus College website is that they will realize it is done by an Indian.” “Not just an Indian, but it is done by you!,” I quipped. “Done by me, by anybody else, as there are many others better than me out there, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is being done by an Indian like me,” he retorted in what could be a tone of pride in his voice.

I couldn’t blame him for that. Since I’ve known him for few years now , he is never ashamed of who he is. I joked at him one time by saying that he is so full of himself, which he didn’t take as a joke because “being full of himself” literally means self-centered and egoistic, and he was upset because he is not self-centered and egoistic. Of course. What I meant was that I also wanted to talk about Philippines and its history, my culture and traditions, my movies, my actors, my songs, etcetera. It just didn’t happen many times in our conversation because as always, topic is all about India. Fine. God bless India. Sure.

Anyways, he has been developing websites for a number of companies and even individuals in Cyprus. Being in a foreign land where discrimination is obviously displayed by some locals, Vamsee is one guy who expects and rather demands respect and it shows firmly in the way he talks to other people, to his clients, to his colleagues in the Research Department. Anyone he deals with can not fail but notice a gesture of “don’t -you- dare- look -down- on- me, or never- underestimate- me-look.” It’s just him, no less, in the manner and in every inch of professionalism, so to speak.

Some may find him snob, strict and choosy probably because of his serious-looking face. Well, he is a straight-forward yet dedicated person who knows what he wants in his life. He sticks to his principle whatever it is. He is snob and strict to those he knew would only be interested to mess up with him, so displaying an indifferent gesture is his way of signaling to them that there is no way they can mess up with him!

“Character is destiny” is his motto. Somehow, to understand it is also to understand him deeply. And understanding him in my case has changed a lot in me character-wise. Lesson? Here it is: Focus to what is really important in living. Money is supposed to be handled well, not money handling us, otherwise there is always chaos in life. Because money has no eyes, no heart, no senses. It just expends, and when it does, it doesnt care. Made sense? Hope so.

Well, I do not intend to write a whole book about him (as I know his humble, no show-off self wouldn’t agree to it either.) I only want to scribble some few lines about the person whom this website of mine has been created. He first felt my passion for writing, and he expressed his faith in my simple ability to write by way of making this website, as a birthday present to me last year…and I’ve never been so thankful! 

My lips will be left with insufficient words because I couldn’t really gather an appropriate adjective to support my heartfelt appreciation for all the good things he has done and still doing for me. He has been there for me through the good and bad times in Cyprus. He was the only person who showed up in the hospital when I had an accident. One day, and one day more, I will be going back to the Philippines. This site will be with me wherever and whenever I feel like writing something…and wherever and whenever, www.sentidokomon.com will always be indebted to him.

To Vamsee, thank you very much and many happy returns of the day!