one who hesitates is lost forever

this incident traces back to 2002 when i was in class 12, i was representing my school in inter-school debate, the topic was pretty onesided, in the sense that there were very few points for the motion, unfortunately i had to speak for the motion, on the competition day the host invited anybody from for the motion team to introduce the topic and speak, since none of us had much to speak all of us were reluctant to be the first speaker, finally it was decided that the youngest among us would have to begin. As expected we were literally thrashed by opponent team who was speaking against the motion. So it came as no surprise that they won hands down, but they also had a prize for the "best speaker for the motion" , and it went to the boy who was the first speaker, the reason given was he had new ideas, rest of us couldnt come up with something new points barring the ones he had said. So in hindsight taking the initaitive always gives us a headstart and then others(ur peers and compititors)have all the catching up to do....

never underestimate anybody!!

This incident takes me a long way back, all the way back to 1997, i was in class 7 then, we had gone for vacation in b'lore(now benagaluru), on our way back in the train a beggar came asking for alms, every thing was OK but the fact that his shirt was tucked in smartly(it was torn and tattered, but he had put it on properly), one fellow customer was for some reason very irritated he started shouting at the beggar telling him to get lost, to this the beggar shot back in English " hey Mr. it is just that fate has made me to do this, i lost my house in a fire, he then showed his burns all over his body. i am begging just because i have no other choice but i am far more educated than you, i have a b.ed degree, which got burnt, how educated are you ?" there was pin drop silence in the compartment, the passenger was mum , he took out a rs10/ note and handed it to the beggar.
through out the journey of about 40 hours (from Bangalore to kolkata) the passenger was quiet and visibly sorry for what he had done. he along with all of us present there had learnt our lesson, never underestimate or make fun of anybody, just because you are more privileged than him

Incomplete Instructions .........

This particular incident was an classic example of how giving or receiving incomplete instructions can be very counterproductive. Once again the setting is in Kolkata,Shibpur to be precise, usual evening hangout me and my friends were gorging on Momo from a street side vendor, midway through our plates a lady in the midst of her eating screamed with an absolutely priceless expression on her face, on looking around we were very surprised as well as amused when we saw a small kid washing his plate, she ran towards her son (i think it was her son.) with an embarrassed face scolding the innocent kid, the kid finally mustered up some courage and said " tumi toh bolecho " - it was you who instructed me to... ; one gentleman finally intervened and told that it was you who was very particular about our " shona" washing the plates after his meal, "but not here" the lady retorted,
to which the husband (again my guess they were husband and wife) said you told him to wash his plates after each meal, but never told him where not to do so.....
the lady quietly left the scene..... perhaps understanding that from next time complete instruction should be given because what is obvious for one might not be so obvious for others

While Working make sure you are only WORKING!!!

This is one of many lessons I have learnt during my stint as the Departmental Placement Cordinator here at IIT Kanpur.It was early November, and European Aeronautical Defense and Space visited our campus for recruitment, I got a chance to interact with the representatives from EADS,one of them was Stefan Jera, head human relations, EADS. It was nothing more than a casual chat he said it was his first trip to India, and how he was enjoying the country. "So have you been sight seeing, been to the Taj, its just 4 hours from here" i asked. His response to this question left quite an impression on me. Atul, he said this is one of the things I as a human believe in, when you have come for a business trip you shouldnt really be looking to do other leisure activities. While working, work he said should be your only focus. he then continued, "in the last month alone I have been to Paris 8 times, but i have seen the eiffel tower only during landing and takeoff of the plane that too only if the weather is good, I am yet to enter it".

The message was straight forward - While working make sure you are working and only working, it is quality not quantity that matters as far as time is considered.

how difficult is to be happy??

It was early spring back in 2006, I was in third year of my graduation. I was at the time very discontented with life and with proper reasons. I was frequently falling ill, my 5th semester had gone very bad, with me passing in fluid mechanics just by the skin of my teeth. I was also very keyed for GATE-2006, but due to my ill health and various other distractions, even at that front i was heading nowhere, so in such a backdrop i had to goto visit a doctor in Burdawan, which is about 70-80 kilometers from Kolkata, "why go to Burdawan when there are better doctors in Kolkata " , u might want to ask, fair enough but my brother's friend studied in a medical college there and we decided it would be best to consult her renowned professor. There was this thing with going to Burdawan to visit a Doctor, it meant one whole day wasted, with GATE just 3 weeks away it was something i wanted to avoid, and the train connecting Howrah and Burdawan was usually extremely crowded, and to make matters worse i had violently vomitted early in the morning that day. nevertheless i decided to go ahead with the short trip, i was feeling very upset almost indulging in self pity. All that for something which in hind sightseems very trivial, I mean who doesnot fall ill, and there was obviously GATE 2007 which i could appear since GATE is valid for 2 years.
After boarding the train, slowly as each halt approached the compartment started getting filled up, About a couple of stops later i saw a boy aged somewhere between 10-12 years sit just opposite to me, he was very quiet, there was a hint of expectancy in his face as though he was waiting for somebody,sure enough his friend came a stop later. What I saw next has changed my outlook towards life completely.

As is the case in general compartments several hawkers came selling anything between toothpicks to emergancy lamps, a hawker came trying to sell some simple sweets, then one of the boy put his hand in his pocket took out a two rupee coin, tapped the shoulder of his friend and handed him the coin, together they bought some sweet and shared it between them. The joy in the faces of both friends was unmistakeable, strange i thought. what followed was even more startling, a gentlemen sitting beside them tapped the shoulder of one of them and they started to unboard the train, as the train was moving i could see from the window;
" SCHOOL FOR DEAF AND BLIND". I was almost in a state of shock here i was cribbing and complaining,despite everything i had going for me,unhappy about small things and these two small boys despite all their handicaps were happy with a simple two rupee coin. It was then that it dawned upon me that " pain is only as large as your inability to see pain elsewhere". And that it is incredibly easy to remain happy. The smile in my face returned and when i was back, my aunty(who stays in howrah) claimed that i was looking a lot better the doctor she said had worked wonders just in a single sitting, it is not the doctor but two very special children i thought and smiled...:)

Introduction... What to Expect from my blogs?

This was a long time coming since as far as i remember i have always enjoyed writing,but for one reason or the other i have always suffered from procrastination regarding Blogging. I would expect my blog to be nothing but a series of life experiences which have taught me, sometimes the incident might be small but the lesson to be gained from it quite substantial. These small but significant incidents will be the central theme of my blog. The idea is not that I am preaching a school of thought that i have developed, but i would like to encourage you to gain insight from your everyday happenings and constantly evolve onto a better human being. The incidents wont be in any chronological order, nor in the order of significance, but just a random collage of events.