Big boys don’t cry.

I had an occasion where I was overwhelmed, choked and teared up. Was I ashamed of my behaviour? Maybe, yes! I felt that I shouldn’t have done that.
Was it that male machoism that made me think like that? I think so. 
We stereotype the behaviour and it is expected that “Big boys don’t cry”. A male is to “Act like a man”, “Be tough”, and as an antithesis “Don’t be a girl” (meaning that girls / Ladies can express themselves, but men aren’t supposed to).
This thought came to me when I saw many of the athletes in the recent olympics crying either due to a failure or crying overjoyed with success. Djokovic, the GOAT, broke down after his win at Olympics. 
That made me think of the occasions that I had cried out and let me start with the latest that triggered such an emotional outburst. 

Coimbatore visit

With Deepak Pohekar and the team at ZF Windpower

A sapling planted when I was COO at Hansen Transmissions.

Recently I had to make a quickly scheduled visit to Coimbatore on a personal work. 
While, I had no intentions of visiting the ZF plant there (I was a part of the team that set it up), since we had some time  on our hands, I reached out to the Executive Director, Deepak Pohekar and evinced my intention to visit, in case it was okay.  
He readily agreed and invited me over. I was perhaps visiting after about 9 years. The plant and offices were still in mint condition, the garden had grown nicely. I was proud of having been a part of this place. 
Deepak invited some of the senior members of his team and I had worked with almost every one of them in various capacities. 
We had a nice group photo and adjourned into the meeting room, where Deepak made a spontaneous offer  and asked me to occupy the head of that meeting table (which I used to do, twelve years back, when I was the Executive director there). 
This very gesture of Deepak touched me deeply and I was humbled. I choked up and requested him to occupy the head of that table and I was proud of what he has done and would be happy to see him seated there. I teared up.

There have been a few other occasions where I have felt very emotional and to the extent that I would unabashedly confess that I cried.
When my daughter was getting married and at the time of “Dhaare” (where we consent that our daughter will now be with an other person and join that family - sounds too archaic, but is true) was one such occasion and the other being, when my son was to be left behind at Purdue university campus and he was just eighteen and I felt that was too young an age to be separated from the family. 
While these are too personal and we feel deeply about it, there have been occasions when I have been moved so much, that some chords deep inside me have been pulled or tugged and made me feel so much, 

that I had to have some sort of an emotional outlet.

Some songs touch us in such a manner. Those which still haunts me with its melancholy are
ಎಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯಂಗಳದಿ ಬೆಳೆದೊಂದ ಕುಸುಮವನು … ವೀ ಸೀತಾರಾಮಯ್ಯ
Yemma maneyangaLadi beLadonda kusumavanu…written by V Seetharamaiah.

ನಾಡ ದೇವಿಯೆ ಕಂಡೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಮಡಿಲಲ್ಲಿ ಎಂತದೃಷ್ಯ - ನಿಸ್ಸಾರ್‌ ಅಹಮದ್‌
naaDa deviye kanDe ninna maDilalli yentha drushya…written by Dr. Nissar Ahmed. 

It is not just songs, but some places also makes that impact and some of them have been when I visited the Dachau concentration camp or Jallianwalla bagh.

The gate at Dachau

So, in essence, I would say that I have been  deeply moved at times and that I have cried. I don’t know whether I should be ashamed of it or say proudly that I am a human being first and exhibited my emotions (maybe publicly or privately).

In these days of wokism, I guess that it is perfectly okay and acceptable. 

What do you think?