Some neighbours are not needed but some have hearts of gold.

The world is getting smaller, As a result, everywhere we turn, there are neighbours. Who are these people? What kind of neighbours are we going to get? That is a very big, important question as neighbours will be around for a fairly long time.

Take a look at one of my friends, Hor. One day while he was outside the house unobtrusive behind one of his trees but looking in the direction of the neighbour's compound, he found himself watching one of members of the neighbouring house taking out letters from the letter-box. Then, to his astonishment, he saw the neighbour throw one letter onto the road and walked back into the house with the rest of the letters.

When he felt it safe to move to the gate to find out if the neighbour had really thrown away one of the letters, he found his observation to be right. As nobody was in the doorway of the neighbours' house, he quietly unlatched the gate and went to have a closer look at the letter on the road. It was addressed to someone with a Chinese name but his neighbours were Indians.

You would have thought that Mr. Hor is someone who does not like Indians to have told about this. As if to rmove such a thought he next told me that not all Indian are like that. For there was once another Indian living a few lanes away who came to his house with a letter addressed to him. The person asked whether he was the one the letter was addressed to. Upon confirming that, the letter was handed to Hor who found a cheque for money returned from the income tax department.

Of course, Hor was glad to receive that and they chatted for some time. The post man had been apparently careless and had slotted Hor's letter into the other person's letter box. And this, according to the person, was not the first time it happened.

So, there are the good guys and the bad guys. Well, this world comprises of both types and that is why we have to be careful,vigilant and understand both types well. And when it comes to neighbours, good or bad, we have to accept that everything depends upon either luck or fate.

To dilute his sadness over his fate of having such a neighbour, I told him it is the same everywhere. I told him of a guy at the end of my row of terrace houses. Look at his house, its beautifully kept exterior and even the patch of land out side the house with it well-looked after grass and plants. You would have thought such a person would want the surrounding areas, if not the whole world, to be just as beautiful. So I directed him to look across diagonally to the other side of the person's house. Beside the house opposite this guy's house was a heap of weeds and rubbish, all removed from his garden and front portion to be deposited there.

What kind of selfish attitude would cause a guy to look good at the expense of another? And the worse part is the fact that just beside his own house are two dustbins. Why not put all the rubbish into those bins which are so near? Or did the guy study psychology of some sort where the study of contrast could have been one of the topics. Thus, with the rubbish exposed at the side of another house, the mess could be a contrast of his neat patch of ground. As they say, we appreciate light because there is darkness, and we should appreciate his cleanliness and tidiness even more because of the mess nearby.

Whatever it is, there are all sorts of people we encounter in life. And some of them are truly exasperating. Uggh! But then, that's life and it is through such contrast that we love the good ones even more. They would smell like the breeze of fresh air when luck or fate brings them to us.