Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Friday, September 20, 2024
Monday, June 17, 2024
Are you like a HurryRam?
Life of HurryRam
Once upon a time, in the bustling town of Khichdi Nagar, there lived a man named HurryRam.
Like many of us, he was constantly busy, always rushing, and forever lamenting the shortage of time. One morning, as he stumbled over yet another kitchen gadget, he finally asked:
"Why do I always run out of time?"
Determined to find the answer, he set off on a journey, one that didn’t require flights, visas, or even a backpack.
His first stop?
His own living room which resembled a Diwali bazaar. Inspired by Marie Kondo, he decided to check if his belongings sparked joy. The problem? Everything did!
The new dosa maker? Joy!
The automatic roti machine? Double joy!
By the end of the day, HurryRam was drowning in his joyful clutter. The very
things meant to simplify life were stealing his time and space.
Next, he examined his overflowing calendar.
Chai had evolved from a simple cup at the tea stall to an organic, single-origin, hand-rolled ritual at a rooftop café. Lunch wasn’t just lunch - it was a grand thali, followed by a Bollywood dance workshop and capped with meditation at an ashram.
Exhausting to think about, let alone live.
One evening, as HurryRam jotted down yet another exotic trip, he felt overwhelmed.
His bucket list had morphed into an impossible to-do list:
Trekking in the Himalayas
Wine tasting in Nashik
Scuba diving in the Andamans
Instead of excitement, he felt pressure - pressure to experience, achieve, and check off everything. His list wasn’t bringing joy; it was drowning him.
Then, there was FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out.
It made him double-book dinners.
It made him binge-watch two shows at once.
It made him endlessly scroll social media.
HurryRam was so afraid of missing out that he missed what he needed most - peace of mind.
The Turning Point
Then, one fateful Sunday, amidst his clutter, calendar, and bucket list, he had an insight:
"What if, instead of doing more, I did less?"
He started small. Cancelling plans, decluttering a drawer, reading a paper book.
Slowly, he found pockets of time. One afternoon, he did nothing but listen - the temple bells, the vendor’s calls, the laughter of children playing cricket.
It was radical, refreshing, and exactly what he needed.
HurryRam discovered that having more time wasn’t about better schedules - it was about simplifying life.
By cutting back on the endless pursuit of stuff and experiences, he found peace and quiet—the most joyful thing of all.
And so, in the bustling town of Khichdi Nagar, HurryRam finally stopped rushing. He lived happily, savoring moments, embracing stillness, and cherishing the simple pleasures that made life truly rich.
*****
Like to declutter your mind? DM me now!
#SuswasaSpace
Sunday, December 21, 2008
SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE - 4
[ This is a sequential story. So please read the story in the following order ; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and Suswasa and telephone-4]
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.
However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
THE LAST BREATH.
Suswasa got into his car and started driving towards Telepuram that morning too. He was desperate to bring the black telephone home. His thoughts were perched on the previous day’s happening when his attempt to hoodwink the telephone could not succeed. He was compelled to speak up as the story was very short and he could not reach home before the telephone completed the story.
Suddenly he got excited as a brilliant idea struck him. If it is possible to know what the story is and the length of the story then, Suswasa thought, he could drive back home within that time and avoid talking. So he pulled out his mobile and sent the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL, hoping to know about the story. Immediately his mobile beeped and the display showed – “message not sent try again later.”
Dejected Suswasa continued his drive. Soon he reached the junkyard of Telepuram, picked up the black telephone and started driving back home.
The usual loud “Tring, Tring, Tring” emanated from black telephone, but there was a perceptible change in its tone. So Suswasa took a glance at the telephone. The deep voice from telephone said “Suswasa, the messaging from your mobile to 7NL is possible only in my presence!”
Suswasa was surprised at the ability of telephone to detect all his moves. “Today also I will be failing to install the telephone at home.” Just as this thought was ringing in his mind, the deep voice from the telephone continued “Suswasa you are a man of common sense, yet why did you try to hoodwink me? So, I will change the rule of the game”…
At this juncture Suswasa felt that his last breath is going out. However he regained his balance and continued to listen to the deep voice.
“Instead of you listening to a story, today if you speak all that you know about breath, you take me home!”
Suswasa took a deep breath and it felt very refreshing. Now he was very confident of taking the telephone to home. Relaxed Suswasa started his monologue about the breath.
“The journey of life starts with the first breath drawn in and ends with the last breath going out. However, in order to sustain the life, there has to be series of breath-in and breath-outs between this first and the last breath. So a breath taken-in, though stays for a brief period, has to go out. Similarly the incidents that happen during the course of our life keep coming, stay for a while and then leave. This will repeat till the moment the last breath goes out. We label these incidents as happy, joyous, sorrowful, upsetting, exciting, irritating, dull, sad, unbearable, enjoyable, etc. Whatever be the label we assign them, the incidents keep coming, stay for a while and leave us, similar to breathing. Another thing to be noted here is – an incident has to leave us before any new incident is allowed in. Just like our breath. Is it possible to breath in before we breath out?
So the life has to be experienced in its totality without getting bogged down by the labels we assign to the incidents that happen. Further, breathing is the process of taking in the air, a mixture of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Pollutant particles and water vapour. However the body absorbs only the essential component Oxygen and breath out other components that are not needed.
Each incident will be a mixture of things and situations, out of which we like some, dislike some, we love some and hate some, associate with some and disassociate with some. The living in totality and holistically is the ability to keep the one required at that particular instant and let go. This is quite similar to the breathing, the life sustainer.
So being aware of breathing is the simplest way of unravelling the secrets of life. This is precisely what our ancient sages and new age Gurus exhort us to do during meditations.”
Suswasa after finishing his monologue changed the gear and stepped on the accelerator. There was absolute silence till he parked the car in front of his home. Then Suswasa slowly looked at the black telephone and it was lying there intact! He carried it inside home almost running. He straightaway headed to northeast portion of his home, placed the telephone on a table and sat down with his eyes closed. It took few moments to sink in the fact that now he is going to be rich and famous. Then he slowly opened his eyes and could not believe the sight.
The black telephone has morphed into a misty man. Stunned Suswasa kept gaping at it. The misty man started speaking – “ Suswasa, now there is no need for me to be here! You are truly a person of common sense. It is very clear by the way you answered the questions at the end of each story. You are aware of the thought patterns that arise in our mind. In fact every thing has its origin and end point in the thought. For example, if you want to eat a sweet, the thought of eating sweet arises first. After eating the sweet, the satisfaction of having done the desired thing is also a thought.
Your thought on utilising the precious resource TIME, balancing the odds and evens of life, understanding and enjoying the life till the last breath will guide you in choosing the path, on which you enjoy the journey.
In fact, whenever we pause in our journey called life, we will be standing at the crossroads. Since all the roads lead to destination, choosing the road we feel comfortable at that point and enjoying the journey is the key.
Finally I like to unravel the secret behind the number 7NL, which rhymes with ‘Heaven and Hell’. It represents the common number, connecting the call centres of both Heaven and Hell. Meaning we experience the Heaven and Hell, here and now during the course of journey called life. Just like the series of breath-in and breath-outs between that first and last breath.
Now, stop worrying about Vastu, Feng Shui and many many rituals that are in vogue. Just become aware of the nature, your very own nature. Then you will stop chasing name, fame and money. As you start becoming comfortable with your own nature, they all will be following you!”
Suddenly, the misty man turned into a mini whirlwind and rushed towards the Suswasa. Gaping Suswasa closed his eyes and tried to duck. As the swirling mist hit the face of Suswasa, big and cool droplets of water started dripping from his face.
When Suswasa opened his eyes wiping off the dripping water, he saw his wife and two children were standing around the bench on which he was sleeping and sprinkling the water on his face!
Wife: “Your mobile is ringing so loud, still you are sleeping?!”
Children : “Daddy, we finished playing the slide, sea-saw, swing and all other things in this park. We are hungry now. Come let’s go to a restaurant!
Suswasa had unusually long dream but never regretted for having slept the whole afternoon – for, he had woken up a lot wiser.
__________________________________________________________________________________
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.
However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
THE LAST BREATH.
Suswasa got into his car and started driving towards Telepuram that morning too. He was desperate to bring the black telephone home. His thoughts were perched on the previous day’s happening when his attempt to hoodwink the telephone could not succeed. He was compelled to speak up as the story was very short and he could not reach home before the telephone completed the story.
Suddenly he got excited as a brilliant idea struck him. If it is possible to know what the story is and the length of the story then, Suswasa thought, he could drive back home within that time and avoid talking. So he pulled out his mobile and sent the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL, hoping to know about the story. Immediately his mobile beeped and the display showed – “message not sent try again later.”
Dejected Suswasa continued his drive. Soon he reached the junkyard of Telepuram, picked up the black telephone and started driving back home.
The usual loud “Tring, Tring, Tring” emanated from black telephone, but there was a perceptible change in its tone. So Suswasa took a glance at the telephone. The deep voice from telephone said “Suswasa, the messaging from your mobile to 7NL is possible only in my presence!”
Suswasa was surprised at the ability of telephone to detect all his moves. “Today also I will be failing to install the telephone at home.” Just as this thought was ringing in his mind, the deep voice from the telephone continued “Suswasa you are a man of common sense, yet why did you try to hoodwink me? So, I will change the rule of the game”…
At this juncture Suswasa felt that his last breath is going out. However he regained his balance and continued to listen to the deep voice.
“Instead of you listening to a story, today if you speak all that you know about breath, you take me home!”
Suswasa took a deep breath and it felt very refreshing. Now he was very confident of taking the telephone to home. Relaxed Suswasa started his monologue about the breath.
“The journey of life starts with the first breath drawn in and ends with the last breath going out. However, in order to sustain the life, there has to be series of breath-in and breath-outs between this first and the last breath. So a breath taken-in, though stays for a brief period, has to go out. Similarly the incidents that happen during the course of our life keep coming, stay for a while and then leave. This will repeat till the moment the last breath goes out. We label these incidents as happy, joyous, sorrowful, upsetting, exciting, irritating, dull, sad, unbearable, enjoyable, etc. Whatever be the label we assign them, the incidents keep coming, stay for a while and leave us, similar to breathing. Another thing to be noted here is – an incident has to leave us before any new incident is allowed in. Just like our breath. Is it possible to breath in before we breath out?
So the life has to be experienced in its totality without getting bogged down by the labels we assign to the incidents that happen. Further, breathing is the process of taking in the air, a mixture of Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Pollutant particles and water vapour. However the body absorbs only the essential component Oxygen and breath out other components that are not needed.
Each incident will be a mixture of things and situations, out of which we like some, dislike some, we love some and hate some, associate with some and disassociate with some. The living in totality and holistically is the ability to keep the one required at that particular instant and let go. This is quite similar to the breathing, the life sustainer.
So being aware of breathing is the simplest way of unravelling the secrets of life. This is precisely what our ancient sages and new age Gurus exhort us to do during meditations.”
Suswasa after finishing his monologue changed the gear and stepped on the accelerator. There was absolute silence till he parked the car in front of his home. Then Suswasa slowly looked at the black telephone and it was lying there intact! He carried it inside home almost running. He straightaway headed to northeast portion of his home, placed the telephone on a table and sat down with his eyes closed. It took few moments to sink in the fact that now he is going to be rich and famous. Then he slowly opened his eyes and could not believe the sight.
The black telephone has morphed into a misty man. Stunned Suswasa kept gaping at it. The misty man started speaking – “ Suswasa, now there is no need for me to be here! You are truly a person of common sense. It is very clear by the way you answered the questions at the end of each story. You are aware of the thought patterns that arise in our mind. In fact every thing has its origin and end point in the thought. For example, if you want to eat a sweet, the thought of eating sweet arises first. After eating the sweet, the satisfaction of having done the desired thing is also a thought.
Your thought on utilising the precious resource TIME, balancing the odds and evens of life, understanding and enjoying the life till the last breath will guide you in choosing the path, on which you enjoy the journey.
In fact, whenever we pause in our journey called life, we will be standing at the crossroads. Since all the roads lead to destination, choosing the road we feel comfortable at that point and enjoying the journey is the key.
Finally I like to unravel the secret behind the number 7NL, which rhymes with ‘Heaven and Hell’. It represents the common number, connecting the call centres of both Heaven and Hell. Meaning we experience the Heaven and Hell, here and now during the course of journey called life. Just like the series of breath-in and breath-outs between that first and last breath.
Now, stop worrying about Vastu, Feng Shui and many many rituals that are in vogue. Just become aware of the nature, your very own nature. Then you will stop chasing name, fame and money. As you start becoming comfortable with your own nature, they all will be following you!”
Suddenly, the misty man turned into a mini whirlwind and rushed towards the Suswasa. Gaping Suswasa closed his eyes and tried to duck. As the swirling mist hit the face of Suswasa, big and cool droplets of water started dripping from his face.
When Suswasa opened his eyes wiping off the dripping water, he saw his wife and two children were standing around the bench on which he was sleeping and sprinkling the water on his face!
Wife: “Your mobile is ringing so loud, still you are sleeping?!”
Children : “Daddy, we finished playing the slide, sea-saw, swing and all other things in this park. We are hungry now. Come let’s go to a restaurant!
Suswasa had unusually long dream but never regretted for having slept the whole afternoon – for, he had woken up a lot wiser.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, November 16, 2008
SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE - 3
[This is a sequential story. So, please read the story in the following order; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suawasa and telephone-4]
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
DHONI’S INTERVIEW.
Suswasa got a brilliant idea to hoodwink the black telephone. Now he had known the pattern. So he decided to reach Telepuram early in the morning just before sunrise. So that he can pick up the black telephone soon after the sunrise and drive back home fast, as there will be no traffic. This way he can reach home before it finishes its story and Suswasa can avoid speaking!
Suswasa was waiting for the sunrise at Telepuram junkyard. The black telephone appeared as soon as the first rays of the sun touched the earth.
As planned, Suswasa grabbed the telephone immediately and started driving home fast.
Then as usual the black telephone started ringing…. And Suswasa dutifully followed the instructions and put on his blue tooth earphone. Suswasa was confident of reaching home before the end of the story, as the road was free of traffic. He was ready to listen to the story.
Taka and Naka couple were watching TV together on a Sunday morning. They wanted to enjoy the Sunday thoroughly and make it memorable, as it was their wedding anniversary day. So they had decided not to fight and argue on any issue, the whole day. So they did not touch the remote and were watching the channel being displayed, when they put on the TV.
Interview with Dhoni was being telecast.
Interviewer : “Sir, you have become the most popular figure among cricket loving fans. Your fans were sporting long hairs and even a head of the state admired your long hairs. Now that you cut your hairs, it has set a trend and your fans are all opting military cut. With such a close scrutiny and the pressures of leadership, how are you maintaining your cool?”
Dhoni: “Yeah, I was amazed at the adulations received on winning T20 world cup from the same fans that had drubbed us when we failed to qualify for the world cup matches held earlier in West Indies. So in order to understand the handling of ups and downs of life and to bring a semblance of balance in my life, I sought a counsel from my guru N-joy Baba. That was a wonderful experience. When I entered his room, I was surprised to see its transformation into a five star hotel suite from its dilapidated status earlier. N-joy Baba reading my mind, told me that this transformation was courtesy 'The all India association of hair dressing salons'. The office bearers were doubly happy because you had won the T20 world cup and more so because you had cut your hairs. But the fact is none of your fans turned out to be Dhoni, whether they had long hair or not. You remain as Dhoni only.
Then N-joy Baba blessed me touching my head and became silent. I felt a great surge of energy flowing through my body and there was a perfect understanding of myself.
At this point, the interviewer said “Dhoni’s understanding will be brought you in a few moments, till then stay tuned” and there was a commercial break.
Now Taka and Naka started surfing the channels. There were advertisements, serials, news, cricket match replays, cooking lessons and so on. After all these, they tuned back into the channel where Dhoni’s interview was being telecast.
The interviewer was shaking hands with Dhoni and the programme was over.
Taka and Naka were very much interested to know Dhoni’s experience but their surfing habit did not allow them to come back quickly to the original channel. The resolution of wedding anniversary broke down. They started blaming each other.
“What was the necessity to watch the highlights of the match, when you had seen whole match’s live telecast?”
“But you wasted more time by waiting for the new recipe’s ingredients”.
“No, you wasted the time to watch nauseating news”.
“But didn’t you stop at that serial showing 300th episode? Any way it will be repeated again”…..
After this there was a silence for a moment and suddenly there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. “Suswasa you can not hoodwink me. Now you tell me what was the Dhoni’s understanding?” Said the black telephone!
Suswasa got frightened. The story was very short unlike previous ones and he was still one and a half kilometre away from his home. So he had no other choice but to speak up.
“N-joy Baba gave a very good example of the people who flaunted long hair, today are rushing to salons to cut their hair. The intention is same – to look like Dhoni. The irony is, none of them became Dhoni in the past and none will be in future too. But their action surely affected some other people.
So Dhoni started following his own ways irrespective of what the media, fans and self-styled advisers were professing. However, he kept the interest of the team foremost, behind everything else.
He never thought of becoming like a swash buckling Kapildev or record breaking Sachin Tendulkar while batting and the great captains like Gavaskar or Steve Wagh while leading.
He is also aware that all our actions will affect others in some or the other way. And that is the way life has bundled the package deal. So instead of worrying about them, Dhoni simply kept choosing the actions which he thought was appropriate. So he was able to live each moment to its fullest potential.
This is the best way of balancing life against all odds and evens!
The N-joy Baba’s Zen type message had immense effect on Dhoni.”
Suswasa though in desperation, quickly came to term with fact that he needs to make another trip to Telepuram, the next morning.
***********************************************
Note: This is a work of fiction. The Cricketers name is used to give a proper context to the story.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
So far…: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.However, each time he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
DHONI’S INTERVIEW.
Suswasa got a brilliant idea to hoodwink the black telephone. Now he had known the pattern. So he decided to reach Telepuram early in the morning just before sunrise. So that he can pick up the black telephone soon after the sunrise and drive back home fast, as there will be no traffic. This way he can reach home before it finishes its story and Suswasa can avoid speaking!
Suswasa was waiting for the sunrise at Telepuram junkyard. The black telephone appeared as soon as the first rays of the sun touched the earth.
As planned, Suswasa grabbed the telephone immediately and started driving home fast.
Then as usual the black telephone started ringing…. And Suswasa dutifully followed the instructions and put on his blue tooth earphone. Suswasa was confident of reaching home before the end of the story, as the road was free of traffic. He was ready to listen to the story.
Taka and Naka couple were watching TV together on a Sunday morning. They wanted to enjoy the Sunday thoroughly and make it memorable, as it was their wedding anniversary day. So they had decided not to fight and argue on any issue, the whole day. So they did not touch the remote and were watching the channel being displayed, when they put on the TV.
Interview with Dhoni was being telecast.
Interviewer : “Sir, you have become the most popular figure among cricket loving fans. Your fans were sporting long hairs and even a head of the state admired your long hairs. Now that you cut your hairs, it has set a trend and your fans are all opting military cut. With such a close scrutiny and the pressures of leadership, how are you maintaining your cool?”
Dhoni: “Yeah, I was amazed at the adulations received on winning T20 world cup from the same fans that had drubbed us when we failed to qualify for the world cup matches held earlier in West Indies. So in order to understand the handling of ups and downs of life and to bring a semblance of balance in my life, I sought a counsel from my guru N-joy Baba. That was a wonderful experience. When I entered his room, I was surprised to see its transformation into a five star hotel suite from its dilapidated status earlier. N-joy Baba reading my mind, told me that this transformation was courtesy 'The all India association of hair dressing salons'. The office bearers were doubly happy because you had won the T20 world cup and more so because you had cut your hairs. But the fact is none of your fans turned out to be Dhoni, whether they had long hair or not. You remain as Dhoni only.
Then N-joy Baba blessed me touching my head and became silent. I felt a great surge of energy flowing through my body and there was a perfect understanding of myself.
At this point, the interviewer said “Dhoni’s understanding will be brought you in a few moments, till then stay tuned” and there was a commercial break.
Now Taka and Naka started surfing the channels. There were advertisements, serials, news, cricket match replays, cooking lessons and so on. After all these, they tuned back into the channel where Dhoni’s interview was being telecast.
The interviewer was shaking hands with Dhoni and the programme was over.
Taka and Naka were very much interested to know Dhoni’s experience but their surfing habit did not allow them to come back quickly to the original channel. The resolution of wedding anniversary broke down. They started blaming each other.
“What was the necessity to watch the highlights of the match, when you had seen whole match’s live telecast?”
“But you wasted more time by waiting for the new recipe’s ingredients”.
“No, you wasted the time to watch nauseating news”.
“But didn’t you stop at that serial showing 300th episode? Any way it will be repeated again”…..
After this there was a silence for a moment and suddenly there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. “Suswasa you can not hoodwink me. Now you tell me what was the Dhoni’s understanding?” Said the black telephone!
Suswasa got frightened. The story was very short unlike previous ones and he was still one and a half kilometre away from his home. So he had no other choice but to speak up.
“N-joy Baba gave a very good example of the people who flaunted long hair, today are rushing to salons to cut their hair. The intention is same – to look like Dhoni. The irony is, none of them became Dhoni in the past and none will be in future too. But their action surely affected some other people.
So Dhoni started following his own ways irrespective of what the media, fans and self-styled advisers were professing. However, he kept the interest of the team foremost, behind everything else.
He never thought of becoming like a swash buckling Kapildev or record breaking Sachin Tendulkar while batting and the great captains like Gavaskar or Steve Wagh while leading.
He is also aware that all our actions will affect others in some or the other way. And that is the way life has bundled the package deal. So instead of worrying about them, Dhoni simply kept choosing the actions which he thought was appropriate. So he was able to live each moment to its fullest potential.
This is the best way of balancing life against all odds and evens!
The N-joy Baba’s Zen type message had immense effect on Dhoni.”
Suswasa though in desperation, quickly came to term with fact that he needs to make another trip to Telepuram, the next morning.
***********************************************
Note: This is a work of fiction. The Cricketers name is used to give a proper context to the story.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, October 19, 2008
SUSWASA AND THE TELEPHONE – 2
[This is a sequential story. So, please read the story in the following order; suswasa and telephone, suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suswasa and telephone-4]
Background: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. However he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
MAGIC CASH CARD
Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.
So, next day morning Suswasa went back to the junkyard at Telepuram. Suswasa found the black telephone exactly at the same location from where he had picked it up earlier.
As Suswasa started driving back home, there was a loud ringing sound from the telephone. Suswasa picked up the receiver and listened to the deep voice.
“Suswasa thank you for coming back and picking me up. I hope you will succeed in installing me at your home this time. However you will have to fulfil the condition of sending the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL from your mobile and selecting the option 4 upon receiving the confirmation message. Then do not speak until you reach home” said the deep voice and continued “now you know that I will vanish and go back to junkyard, if you do not fulfil my condition, so be careful.”
Suswasa pulled out his mobile and composed the message ‘NATURE’ and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:
“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.
Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice of telephone said, “Good, now put on your blue tooth ear phone and enjoy the story.”
Suswasa started listening to the story.
B.A.B.A. is a multi billion company having interest in manufacturing, food, energy, finance, retail chains, consulting and so on. The CEO of the company is people centric and a firm believer in ethical practices. He was worried about the future of the company. He needed to build a pool of leaders who are capable of steering the ever-expanding business units in an efficient and productive way. And it has to happen fast, within next ten years. Recruiting candidates from top grade B-schools alone was not enough. The melt down of financial sector giants in the recent past, who had employed them in hundreds, was a clear reminder of that fact.
So he wanted to identify the future leaders during the entry-level recruitment stage itself. So that it helps grooming them to shoulder the enormous responsibility from the very beginning. The chairman wanted a new procedure to be developed for recruitment to identify proper set of traits.
When the CEO conveyed this to his Human Resources Director, the director said he is ready with a plan and will be implemented from the very next batch of selection process.
So, about 250 candidates selected after the initial written test, were called to attend the new selection process. All candidates were required to stay for 5 days at the world-class training centre of the company. The candidates were asked to report at the centre on Sunday morning.
There was a customary welcome session. All the members of the company management attended the session to drive home the point that the specially devised selection process is to pick the future leaders and not just the employees. It was also made clear that the selected candidates will be leading the various business units in 10 years time.
After the welcome session, the HR manager started briefing the candidates assembled at the convention hall of the training centre.
The training centre has all the facilities you can think of. It has variety of restaurants for food, Malls with all sorts of shops, beauty salons for both men and women, laundry services, cinema halls, sports centre, swimming pool, gym, book shops. The computer centre is specially set up for you. It has inter-active gaming stations. Upon login, you can learn a lot about the company - the vision of the company, the challenges ahead, opportunities and processes employed – through various games.
So you can enjoy the next five days over here. Each one of you will be given a cash card, which you need to preserve carefully. The cash card enables you to access and avail the facilities in this premise. The cash card will have Rs.2400.00 at the beginning of each day. You can use this amount for availing any facility. However, the balance amount if any will not be carried over. The cash card will be loaded with Rs.2400.00 again on first swipe the next day. In effect the maximum limit that you can spend each day is Rs.2400.00 only.
The cash card will become operational from tomorrow, i.e., Monday morning. For the purpose of familiarisation, all the facilities except shopping can be accessed/availed for free today. So go around the campus and swipe the card to avail any facility and to login into gaming station at computer centre. In case of difficulty approach the help centres.
We wish you a memorable stay over here and the selected candidates will be notified on Saturday evening.
All the candidates dispersed and checked in to their allotted rooms. Then they were all over the campus. They went to restaurants, swiped the cash card and enjoyed variety of food. They went to swimming pool. Swiping the cash card enabled them to use swimsuit, towels, locker and obviously the pool. Some of them even went to Malls and tried to shop but the cash card was not operational as instructed earlier and so instead they went to watch a cinema.
By the end of the day, the HR department was pleased with the performance of cash cards as all of them were working as designed and there were no complaints at any of the help centres except for one. That complaint was also resolved immediately by replacing the cash card. The faulty card had been twisted and so was not working.
Next five days were hectic for the HR department. They were keeping a tab on each candidate’s use of cash card using a specially designed database.
The candidates were overwhelmed by the royal treatment extended to them. It never occurred to them even one bit that they were undergoing a selection process. For five days, the candidates used their cash cards to shop at malls, grooming at salons, splashing in pools, gaming station and even laundry services. Some candidates were so indulgent that they emptied their cash card by noon itself. This was despite the fact that the display panel at each swiping point was flashing the balance amount left in the cash card and the amount deductible for the service requested. Fortunately there were some good Samaritans who spared the amount out of their cash cards for lunch and dinner of such candidates.
Those five days were like dream for the candidates. On Saturday morning all were wondering why the selection process is not initiated so far. As there were no interviews, Discussions, personality assessment tests.
Meanwhile CEO with other functional heads was in a meeting discussing the report on the short listed candidates.
The report indicated that each candidate had Rs.12,000.00 at his disposal over a period of five days. Candidates who have spent minimum of Rs.3600.00 for logging in gaming station and a minimum of Rs.1200.00 each for (1) food and laundry, (2) Gym, swimming pool and sporting facilities (3) buying books and (4) Malls, movies and salons. So the minimum amount spent during five-day period totalled up to Rs.8,400.00. The spending pattern of balance Rs.3,600.00 was not considered.
Based on the above criteria, 62 candidates were short-listed.
Then CEO asked to find out the candidates who have spent the balance Rs.3,600.00 for buying food and medicine for others, for helping others to log into gaming station. When query was run on the database, 23 candidates among the initial 62 were found to be satisfying the additional criteria.
CEO wound up the meeting declaring that these 23 candidates are to be notified about their selection.
That evening all the 250 candidates were eagerly waiting for the results at the conference hall, the venue of farewell meeting.
When the names of 23 selected candidates were announced, all the candidates were astonished and confused about the selection procedure.
After telling this story, the voice in the Suswasa’s earphone continued, “ Suswasa, I am also confused about the selection method. I know you are good in applying common sense to unravel the life truths. So tell me quickly the logic behind the selection process otherwise you will be blown up and reduced to ashes like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”
Suswasa with his application of common sense grasped the things immediately and started to speak out his mind.
“ The recent events in global financial sector suggest that they could not prevent the meltdown even with hordes of top grade B-school recruits. The educational qualification alone cannot make a person, a true leader. Moreover the highly qualified person will have the knowledge of methods used to analyse the overall personality during recruitments. So such person can work through the methods and present himself/herself as suitable candidate.
CEO and management of B.A.B.A. group of companies were aware of these facts and hence devised a novel method to find a true leader, which they were looking for.
A true leader is one who balances his/her professional interest and personal interest within the available resources and yet strives for progress. The true leaders also facilitate the progress and development of other people. They are always aware of troubles and have the ability to spot and to resolve them.
The philosophy of the test was simple. It analysed how each candidate utilises the most precious resource available to everyone – TIME. Every Rs.100.00 represented one hour and thus Rs.2400.00 being given to each candidate amounted to a day. Since time cannot be saved and carried over to the next day, the cash card was programmed to allow spending a maximum of Rs.2400.00 a day and did not allow to carry over any left over amount to next day.
The report presented by HR clearly indicates that the 62 candidates on the first list are those, who have spent minimum of 30% on using gaming station, and 10% each on food, sports facility, books and entertainment. That means these people will manage to put in about 30-40% of time for the work and another 30-40% time for their personal well being on a consistent basis. Further short listing was done by analysing whether the balance 20-30% is spent on food and medicine, gaming station and entertainment for others, specially who ran out of cash. This shows the person’s ability to spot the trouble and ready to help. The 23 candidates who passed these criteria were selected. Since these people have the traits of true leaders such as balancing the work and family life, taking time for self and care for the people around them.”
As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.
_______________________________________________________________________
Background: Suswasa is a lazy looking man but with lots of common sense. The misty man in his noontime dream shows a black telephone lying in a junkyard and tell Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa succeeds in finding the black telephone. The telephone informs Suswasa not to speak until he reaches home, in order to get the fortune. However he was tricked to speak out and the telephone vanishes, saying it can be found at the junkyard again but only after the next sunrise.
MAGIC CASH CARD
Spotting the black telephone seen in his noontime dream made Suswasa to firmly believe that the dream will turn real. He was determined to bring the black telephone and install at northeast portion of his living room so that he can enjoy the fortune that is going to follow.
So, next day morning Suswasa went back to the junkyard at Telepuram. Suswasa found the black telephone exactly at the same location from where he had picked it up earlier.
As Suswasa started driving back home, there was a loud ringing sound from the telephone. Suswasa picked up the receiver and listened to the deep voice.
“Suswasa thank you for coming back and picking me up. I hope you will succeed in installing me at your home this time. However you will have to fulfil the condition of sending the message ‘NATURE’ to 7NL from your mobile and selecting the option 4 upon receiving the confirmation message. Then do not speak until you reach home” said the deep voice and continued “now you know that I will vanish and go back to junkyard, if you do not fulfil my condition, so be careful.”
Suswasa pulled out his mobile and composed the message ‘NATURE’ and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:
“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.
Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice of telephone said, “Good, now put on your blue tooth ear phone and enjoy the story.”
Suswasa started listening to the story.
B.A.B.A. is a multi billion company having interest in manufacturing, food, energy, finance, retail chains, consulting and so on. The CEO of the company is people centric and a firm believer in ethical practices. He was worried about the future of the company. He needed to build a pool of leaders who are capable of steering the ever-expanding business units in an efficient and productive way. And it has to happen fast, within next ten years. Recruiting candidates from top grade B-schools alone was not enough. The melt down of financial sector giants in the recent past, who had employed them in hundreds, was a clear reminder of that fact.
So he wanted to identify the future leaders during the entry-level recruitment stage itself. So that it helps grooming them to shoulder the enormous responsibility from the very beginning. The chairman wanted a new procedure to be developed for recruitment to identify proper set of traits.
When the CEO conveyed this to his Human Resources Director, the director said he is ready with a plan and will be implemented from the very next batch of selection process.
So, about 250 candidates selected after the initial written test, were called to attend the new selection process. All candidates were required to stay for 5 days at the world-class training centre of the company. The candidates were asked to report at the centre on Sunday morning.
There was a customary welcome session. All the members of the company management attended the session to drive home the point that the specially devised selection process is to pick the future leaders and not just the employees. It was also made clear that the selected candidates will be leading the various business units in 10 years time.
After the welcome session, the HR manager started briefing the candidates assembled at the convention hall of the training centre.
The training centre has all the facilities you can think of. It has variety of restaurants for food, Malls with all sorts of shops, beauty salons for both men and women, laundry services, cinema halls, sports centre, swimming pool, gym, book shops. The computer centre is specially set up for you. It has inter-active gaming stations. Upon login, you can learn a lot about the company - the vision of the company, the challenges ahead, opportunities and processes employed – through various games.
So you can enjoy the next five days over here. Each one of you will be given a cash card, which you need to preserve carefully. The cash card enables you to access and avail the facilities in this premise. The cash card will have Rs.2400.00 at the beginning of each day. You can use this amount for availing any facility. However, the balance amount if any will not be carried over. The cash card will be loaded with Rs.2400.00 again on first swipe the next day. In effect the maximum limit that you can spend each day is Rs.2400.00 only.
The cash card will become operational from tomorrow, i.e., Monday morning. For the purpose of familiarisation, all the facilities except shopping can be accessed/availed for free today. So go around the campus and swipe the card to avail any facility and to login into gaming station at computer centre. In case of difficulty approach the help centres.
We wish you a memorable stay over here and the selected candidates will be notified on Saturday evening.
All the candidates dispersed and checked in to their allotted rooms. Then they were all over the campus. They went to restaurants, swiped the cash card and enjoyed variety of food. They went to swimming pool. Swiping the cash card enabled them to use swimsuit, towels, locker and obviously the pool. Some of them even went to Malls and tried to shop but the cash card was not operational as instructed earlier and so instead they went to watch a cinema.
By the end of the day, the HR department was pleased with the performance of cash cards as all of them were working as designed and there were no complaints at any of the help centres except for one. That complaint was also resolved immediately by replacing the cash card. The faulty card had been twisted and so was not working.
Next five days were hectic for the HR department. They were keeping a tab on each candidate’s use of cash card using a specially designed database.
The candidates were overwhelmed by the royal treatment extended to them. It never occurred to them even one bit that they were undergoing a selection process. For five days, the candidates used their cash cards to shop at malls, grooming at salons, splashing in pools, gaming station and even laundry services. Some candidates were so indulgent that they emptied their cash card by noon itself. This was despite the fact that the display panel at each swiping point was flashing the balance amount left in the cash card and the amount deductible for the service requested. Fortunately there were some good Samaritans who spared the amount out of their cash cards for lunch and dinner of such candidates.
Those five days were like dream for the candidates. On Saturday morning all were wondering why the selection process is not initiated so far. As there were no interviews, Discussions, personality assessment tests.
Meanwhile CEO with other functional heads was in a meeting discussing the report on the short listed candidates.
The report indicated that each candidate had Rs.12,000.00 at his disposal over a period of five days. Candidates who have spent minimum of Rs.3600.00 for logging in gaming station and a minimum of Rs.1200.00 each for (1) food and laundry, (2) Gym, swimming pool and sporting facilities (3) buying books and (4) Malls, movies and salons. So the minimum amount spent during five-day period totalled up to Rs.8,400.00. The spending pattern of balance Rs.3,600.00 was not considered.
Based on the above criteria, 62 candidates were short-listed.
Then CEO asked to find out the candidates who have spent the balance Rs.3,600.00 for buying food and medicine for others, for helping others to log into gaming station. When query was run on the database, 23 candidates among the initial 62 were found to be satisfying the additional criteria.
CEO wound up the meeting declaring that these 23 candidates are to be notified about their selection.
That evening all the 250 candidates were eagerly waiting for the results at the conference hall, the venue of farewell meeting.
When the names of 23 selected candidates were announced, all the candidates were astonished and confused about the selection procedure.
After telling this story, the voice in the Suswasa’s earphone continued, “ Suswasa, I am also confused about the selection method. I know you are good in applying common sense to unravel the life truths. So tell me quickly the logic behind the selection process otherwise you will be blown up and reduced to ashes like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”
Suswasa with his application of common sense grasped the things immediately and started to speak out his mind.
“ The recent events in global financial sector suggest that they could not prevent the meltdown even with hordes of top grade B-school recruits. The educational qualification alone cannot make a person, a true leader. Moreover the highly qualified person will have the knowledge of methods used to analyse the overall personality during recruitments. So such person can work through the methods and present himself/herself as suitable candidate.
CEO and management of B.A.B.A. group of companies were aware of these facts and hence devised a novel method to find a true leader, which they were looking for.
A true leader is one who balances his/her professional interest and personal interest within the available resources and yet strives for progress. The true leaders also facilitate the progress and development of other people. They are always aware of troubles and have the ability to spot and to resolve them.
The philosophy of the test was simple. It analysed how each candidate utilises the most precious resource available to everyone – TIME. Every Rs.100.00 represented one hour and thus Rs.2400.00 being given to each candidate amounted to a day. Since time cannot be saved and carried over to the next day, the cash card was programmed to allow spending a maximum of Rs.2400.00 a day and did not allow to carry over any left over amount to next day.
The report presented by HR clearly indicates that the 62 candidates on the first list are those, who have spent minimum of 30% on using gaming station, and 10% each on food, sports facility, books and entertainment. That means these people will manage to put in about 30-40% of time for the work and another 30-40% time for their personal well being on a consistent basis. Further short listing was done by analysing whether the balance 20-30% is spent on food and medicine, gaming station and entertainment for others, specially who ran out of cash. This shows the person’s ability to spot the trouble and ready to help. The 23 candidates who passed these criteria were selected. Since these people have the traits of true leaders such as balancing the work and family life, taking time for self and care for the people around them.”
As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.
_______________________________________________________________________
Thursday, September 11, 2008
SUSWASA & THE TELEPHONE
BANANA-EATING TEST.
Suswasa is a lazy looking person but with lots of common sense. He wanted to experience all the things that a life can offer, particularly the luxurious ones! One afternoon, Suswasa was sitting on a bench overlooking beautiful lake in a city park. Within a couple of minutes the cool breeze transported him to a distant dreamland. But a little while later, his mobile started to chime dragging Suswasa back on to this earth. His temper shot up on learning that the call was from a credit card company, offering loan. Amazingly he regained his composure immediately as he remembered an article read in the newspaper that morning. It was a research report presented at the ‘world psychologists meet’. The report said noontime dreams are more likely to turn real compared to early morning dreams. The report also referred to the survey in which 53% of the volunteers’ dreams at noontime turned out real compared to only 49% of early morning dreams.
Suswasa’s intuition told him to believe his noontime dream;
The mist rising from the lakebed took the shape of a human being and carried Suswasa to a big junkyard and showed an old black telephone made of Bakelite with a rotary dial. (See the picture above. These telephones were in vogue from the time they were invented by Graham Bell till about 20 years ago. But today they are hard to find antique pieces. ) The misty man told Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa knew where to find that telephone – Telepuram. It was on the outskirt of the city housing many industries. He looked at his watch. It was quarter to two. So he dropped the idea of venturing to that place. Since it was shift closing time and traffic jam was a certain thing. Suswasa dreaded the traffic jams so much that he was ready to forgo the fortune. He hated the endless wait at every road junction. So he decided to go to that place next morning.
Next day, early in the morning, Suswasa went to Telepuram. There was a factory manufacturing telecom related products. Once it was having a monopoly and lording over the market. But this company went into oblivion due to its inability to keep pace with the advancement in technology. The entire factory area resembled a big junkyard. Suswasa parked his car nearby a petty shop and straight away went into the ruined factory area looking for the telephone. He waded through rusted metal frames, broken pieces of electronic circuit boards, cables, cartons and spare parts of telephone instruments. But he could not find the telephone seen in his dream. It was already noon and Suswasa felt thirsty.
He came to the roadside petty shop and ordered limejuice. He was lost in deep thought with a blank look towards the junkyard. Mean while a customer bought a cigarette and turned toward the corner to light up. He had a problem in lighting up the cigarette and complained to the shop owner. The shop owner offered that customer a matchbox and started banging the black colour instrument and murmured to himself “I am fed up of answering hundreds of customers that this damn thing is not working for the past one week”. This made Suswasa to come out of his deep thought and look at the corner. It was the same telephone instrument the misty man had shown in his dream! The shop owner had modified it as a cigarette lighter with a small heating coil. Mean while the shop owner was ordering his assistant – “hey! Chotu, soon after serving the lime juice, throw this damn instrument in the junkyard”. He thought offering matchbox was a better option rather than answering every customer.
In a moment Suswasa gulped his juice, paid the money and followed Chotu. He waited in anxiety for Chotu to return to the shop. Then in one quick grab Suswasa scooped the telephone, went to his car and unloaded the telephone onto the front seat. Next moment Suswasa was driving on the main road, back home.
Suswasa turned on the FM radio. He was cruising on the road smoothly enjoying the music, as there was very little traffic on the road. Suddenly he heard a loud sound Tring, Tring, Tring, Tring. Suswasa could not remember setting that tone for any of his contacts. Yet he reached for his mobile. There was no call but the ringing sound was getting louder. Then Suswasa realised that the black telephone instrument was ringing!
He picked up the handset and a deep voice called out “Congratulations Suswasa for finding me. Before I proceed further, park your car on the side to avoid ticket from traffic police!”
Suswasa brought his car to a side and switched off FM to listen to the black phone.
The voice continued “Suswasa, now you will get all the health and wealth you desired but on one condition.”
“What condition?” interrupted Suswasa.
The deep voice said, “ Send a message NATURE to 7NL using your mobile...” Again Suswasa interrupted “to 7NL?”
Then the deep voice told him that if he speaks before it finished, the telephone would go back to junkyard and he would not be able to find it till next sunrise.
The deep voice continued “yes, the message has to be sent to 7NL and you will get confirmation message with four options. You need to select option 4 only and you should not speak anything till you reach home or else the telephone will vanish to the junkyard and will have to wait till next sunrise to find it there.
Suswasa composed the message – NATURE - and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:
“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.
Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice came back to life “Good! You did the right thing. Now put on your blue tooth earphone and continue your drive. Please remember, not to speak till you install me at the northeast portion of your living room”.
Suswasa started listening to the story.
A person working in a BPO for a year now, was fed up with the pressures of the job brought upon day in and day out. So he wanted to have a break during the coming long weekend because of festival holidays. Now a day, providing leisure has become a big business keeping in mind, the people working in a high pay high stress jobs. Leisure shops come in all types. Yoga retreats, spas, meditation camps, dance therapies, naturopathy, aromatherapy and so on. The BPO employee logged onto his computer and started surfing the net to choose a package. He became more stressed when the google search spewed hundreds of listings. He simply started scrolling the list and accidentally clicked a link. It was a video-clipping put up on you tube – titled “Banana eating test - the last session of the meditation camp”.
It took few moments to load the video. It was a big meditation hall and there were about four hundred participants. It was a last session of a weeklong programme and the master was addressing the gathering.
“Dear friends, now it is time for test! I like to know whether my methods have helped in understanding your own self. The test will help me to fine tune the methods. But of late I came to know that participants are clever enough to learn about these tests from the previous batch students and are well prepared. So I have decided to devise a new test at the end of each programme. Here we go. Now every one sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Keep your palms open and be aware of your breath. Allow the thoughts, any kind of thoughts to come and let go.”
After a few moments, the master signals the volunteers to put a banana each on the participants open palms. As the volunteers were proceeding to place the banana, the master says, “Keep your eyes shut and do not get disturbed by what is happening around you. Sit still and keep watching your breath, until further instruction.”
After few more moments, the master says, “Slowly open your eyes and look at the banana in your palms. You have to eat the banana in such a place where all the people over here can see! And you have only ten minutes for this.”
Every one starts peeling the banana and is trying to attract the attention of other participants while eating. While there was a jostling among participants to be seen eating, suddenly one participant rushes towards the master. This act makes all the other participants to wonder what is happening and look at the master. Seizing this moment the participant who rushed towards the master, hides behind the master and after a brief while comes out with the banana peel in his hand. Other participants thought that something is wrong with that person and resumed their eating banana ensuring that others are watching them. After ten minutes, the master asks all the participants to sit down calmly and share their experience.
A participant comes on to the dais and tells, “Master, I thought this test is easy, but I did not succeed in making even about twenty five people watch me.”
Second participant comes and speaks “ Master, I have counted at least 100 people watching me eat. So I am the winner of this contest.”
Now there was a long line of participants in front of the dais waiting to share their experience. The volunteers started to regulate the queue.
The master intervened and told, “We have time only for three more responses.”
The next participant says, “Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”
Another participant hopped on to the dais and said “ Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”
There was a roar of laughter all around.
The last one came and told, “ Master, as I counted the 81st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”
Again there was laughter among the audience.
The Master stood up and started talking, but at the same instance the audio failed but the video was running on the screen. The BPO employee was so engrossed that he continued watching the video though audio content was absent.
The picture showed the master calling some participants and in response to the master’s gesture, few participants in the audience were raising their hands. Then Master was standing with the person who had hid behind him. Then almost all participants raised their hands. Then the Master showed the banana pulp left behind him while continuing his speech. Then the video slowly faded out showing all participants standing and applauding.
Now the voice in the earphone of Suswasa continued, “ I am disappointed as terribly as the BPO employee due to failure of audio content in that video clipping exactly at the climax stage. Though I can guess who is the winner of the banana-eating test, I am desperate to know how the person was chosen.
Now, Suswasa if you do not speak in spite of knowing the answer and quench my curiosity, you will be blown up and reduced to ashes, like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”
Suswasa with his usual zeal to unravel the riddles of life and simple common sense was able to gather the likely scenario and started speaking:
The Master first calls the participant who had claimed that hundred people have seen him eating the banana. Then the Master asks the audience to raise their hands if they had seen that person, eating banana. Only about 10 to 15 people raise their hands. Surprisingly only 10 to 15 hands go up even for other participants irrespective of their claim of having seen by 25 and 81 people.
Then the Master calls the person who had hid behind him and asks the audience to raise their hands if they think that person ate banana. Almost all participants in the audience raise their hands. The Master smilingly announces that person as a winner and shares his thoughts.
The banana-eating test is devised to mirror the daily life situation of facing dilemmas, paradoxes in our life. This person not only understood that such dilemmas and paradoxes are inherent part of our life but also came up with a solution to handle it.
It is virtually impossible that all the four hundred people will remember a person eating a banana. Even though it seems every one is watching, each one will be busy counting other people watching him eat!
The winner knew this and so acted in such a way that though he did not eat the banana, every one perceived that he ate!
The Master shows the banana fruit without the skin left behind him and continuing his speech tell the audience that the winner conveyed it very clearly that he couldn’t eat the banana where every one sees him eating - by not eating the banana. At the same time he made all the participants to perceive that he ate the banana by the act of waving the peel and hiding the fruit behind the master.
There is a lesson to take home from this test. We should find out the purposes of our life and keep pursuing them without bothering about what others might think.
The Master thanked the five participants who shared their experiences since they brought out the very message, which the test was intended to bring.
We need to be aware of the usual thought patterns that cloud and blur our vision and stop us from reaching our goals.
The usual thought patterns that occur are –
The initial enthusiasm makes us to believe that everything is going to be easy but get stranded on encountering the hurdles.
(This was brought out by first participant’s response. He had thought that the test was easy but not succeeded to get the attention of even twenty-five people.)
Only difficulties are seen and stop going further.
This was brought out by fourth participant’s response.
(“Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”)
Always want to be seen as a winner.
Most of the times we do things just to draw the attention of spouse, children, parents, peers, neighbours and the society at large. This struggle to prove self-worthiness is futile.
The second participant’s response clearly pointed out this thought pattern.(He declared himself as a winner saying at least hundred people have watched him eating banana).
Complaining and fault- finding just to mask the failures of the self.
This pattern was demonstrated by third participant’s response.
(“Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”)
The resources at hand are always inadequate.
This thought pattern was brilliantly brought out when fifth participant shared his experience. - (“ Master, as I counted the 81st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”)
The winner proved that being aware of these thought patterns was the key to shake them off and starting a new train of thought. The new thought pattern so generated helped him realise that eating banana where every one sees is impossible and lead him to an action plan to win the test.
On hearing this explanation by the Master, the spell bound audience gave him a standing ovation.
As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.
[This is a four-part story. Please read other parts in the following sequence; suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suswasa and telephone-4]
Suswasa’s intuition told him to believe his noontime dream;
The mist rising from the lakebed took the shape of a human being and carried Suswasa to a big junkyard and showed an old black telephone made of Bakelite with a rotary dial. (See the picture above. These telephones were in vogue from the time they were invented by Graham Bell till about 20 years ago. But today they are hard to find antique pieces. ) The misty man told Suswasa that if he finds that telephone instrument and keeps it in the northeast portion of the living room, fortune would follow him like his own shadow.
Suswasa knew where to find that telephone – Telepuram. It was on the outskirt of the city housing many industries. He looked at his watch. It was quarter to two. So he dropped the idea of venturing to that place. Since it was shift closing time and traffic jam was a certain thing. Suswasa dreaded the traffic jams so much that he was ready to forgo the fortune. He hated the endless wait at every road junction. So he decided to go to that place next morning.
Next day, early in the morning, Suswasa went to Telepuram. There was a factory manufacturing telecom related products. Once it was having a monopoly and lording over the market. But this company went into oblivion due to its inability to keep pace with the advancement in technology. The entire factory area resembled a big junkyard. Suswasa parked his car nearby a petty shop and straight away went into the ruined factory area looking for the telephone. He waded through rusted metal frames, broken pieces of electronic circuit boards, cables, cartons and spare parts of telephone instruments. But he could not find the telephone seen in his dream. It was already noon and Suswasa felt thirsty.
He came to the roadside petty shop and ordered limejuice. He was lost in deep thought with a blank look towards the junkyard. Mean while a customer bought a cigarette and turned toward the corner to light up. He had a problem in lighting up the cigarette and complained to the shop owner. The shop owner offered that customer a matchbox and started banging the black colour instrument and murmured to himself “I am fed up of answering hundreds of customers that this damn thing is not working for the past one week”. This made Suswasa to come out of his deep thought and look at the corner. It was the same telephone instrument the misty man had shown in his dream! The shop owner had modified it as a cigarette lighter with a small heating coil. Mean while the shop owner was ordering his assistant – “hey! Chotu, soon after serving the lime juice, throw this damn instrument in the junkyard”. He thought offering matchbox was a better option rather than answering every customer.
In a moment Suswasa gulped his juice, paid the money and followed Chotu. He waited in anxiety for Chotu to return to the shop. Then in one quick grab Suswasa scooped the telephone, went to his car and unloaded the telephone onto the front seat. Next moment Suswasa was driving on the main road, back home.
Suswasa turned on the FM radio. He was cruising on the road smoothly enjoying the music, as there was very little traffic on the road. Suddenly he heard a loud sound Tring, Tring, Tring, Tring. Suswasa could not remember setting that tone for any of his contacts. Yet he reached for his mobile. There was no call but the ringing sound was getting louder. Then Suswasa realised that the black telephone instrument was ringing!
He picked up the handset and a deep voice called out “Congratulations Suswasa for finding me. Before I proceed further, park your car on the side to avoid ticket from traffic police!”
Suswasa brought his car to a side and switched off FM to listen to the black phone.
The voice continued “Suswasa, now you will get all the health and wealth you desired but on one condition.”
“What condition?” interrupted Suswasa.
The deep voice said, “ Send a message NATURE to 7NL using your mobile...” Again Suswasa interrupted “to 7NL?”
Then the deep voice told him that if he speaks before it finished, the telephone would go back to junkyard and he would not be able to find it till next sunrise.
The deep voice continued “yes, the message has to be sent to 7NL and you will get confirmation message with four options. You need to select option 4 only and you should not speak anything till you reach home or else the telephone will vanish to the junkyard and will have to wait till next sunrise to find it there.
Suswasa composed the message – NATURE - and sent it to 7NL. Immediately he got the following confirmation message:
“Thanks for registering with us. Now press 1 for dating services, 2 for astrology services, 3 for health tips and 4 for a story.
Suswasa pressed 4 without any further thought. The deep voice came back to life “Good! You did the right thing. Now put on your blue tooth earphone and continue your drive. Please remember, not to speak till you install me at the northeast portion of your living room”.
Suswasa started listening to the story.
A person working in a BPO for a year now, was fed up with the pressures of the job brought upon day in and day out. So he wanted to have a break during the coming long weekend because of festival holidays. Now a day, providing leisure has become a big business keeping in mind, the people working in a high pay high stress jobs. Leisure shops come in all types. Yoga retreats, spas, meditation camps, dance therapies, naturopathy, aromatherapy and so on. The BPO employee logged onto his computer and started surfing the net to choose a package. He became more stressed when the google search spewed hundreds of listings. He simply started scrolling the list and accidentally clicked a link. It was a video-clipping put up on you tube – titled “Banana eating test - the last session of the meditation camp”.
It took few moments to load the video. It was a big meditation hall and there were about four hundred participants. It was a last session of a weeklong programme and the master was addressing the gathering.
“Dear friends, now it is time for test! I like to know whether my methods have helped in understanding your own self. The test will help me to fine tune the methods. But of late I came to know that participants are clever enough to learn about these tests from the previous batch students and are well prepared. So I have decided to devise a new test at the end of each programme. Here we go. Now every one sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Keep your palms open and be aware of your breath. Allow the thoughts, any kind of thoughts to come and let go.”
After a few moments, the master signals the volunteers to put a banana each on the participants open palms. As the volunteers were proceeding to place the banana, the master says, “Keep your eyes shut and do not get disturbed by what is happening around you. Sit still and keep watching your breath, until further instruction.”
After few more moments, the master says, “Slowly open your eyes and look at the banana in your palms. You have to eat the banana in such a place where all the people over here can see! And you have only ten minutes for this.”
Every one starts peeling the banana and is trying to attract the attention of other participants while eating. While there was a jostling among participants to be seen eating, suddenly one participant rushes towards the master. This act makes all the other participants to wonder what is happening and look at the master. Seizing this moment the participant who rushed towards the master, hides behind the master and after a brief while comes out with the banana peel in his hand. Other participants thought that something is wrong with that person and resumed their eating banana ensuring that others are watching them. After ten minutes, the master asks all the participants to sit down calmly and share their experience.
A participant comes on to the dais and tells, “Master, I thought this test is easy, but I did not succeed in making even about twenty five people watch me.”
Second participant comes and speaks “ Master, I have counted at least 100 people watching me eat. So I am the winner of this contest.”
Now there was a long line of participants in front of the dais waiting to share their experience. The volunteers started to regulate the queue.
The master intervened and told, “We have time only for three more responses.”
The next participant says, “Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”
Another participant hopped on to the dais and said “ Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”
There was a roar of laughter all around.
The last one came and told, “ Master, as I counted the 81st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”
Again there was laughter among the audience.
The Master stood up and started talking, but at the same instance the audio failed but the video was running on the screen. The BPO employee was so engrossed that he continued watching the video though audio content was absent.
The picture showed the master calling some participants and in response to the master’s gesture, few participants in the audience were raising their hands. Then Master was standing with the person who had hid behind him. Then almost all participants raised their hands. Then the Master showed the banana pulp left behind him while continuing his speech. Then the video slowly faded out showing all participants standing and applauding.
Now the voice in the earphone of Suswasa continued, “ I am disappointed as terribly as the BPO employee due to failure of audio content in that video clipping exactly at the climax stage. Though I can guess who is the winner of the banana-eating test, I am desperate to know how the person was chosen.
Now, Suswasa if you do not speak in spite of knowing the answer and quench my curiosity, you will be blown up and reduced to ashes, like a ammunition laden terrorist car on a suicide mission!”
Suswasa with his usual zeal to unravel the riddles of life and simple common sense was able to gather the likely scenario and started speaking:
The Master first calls the participant who had claimed that hundred people have seen him eating the banana. Then the Master asks the audience to raise their hands if they had seen that person, eating banana. Only about 10 to 15 people raise their hands. Surprisingly only 10 to 15 hands go up even for other participants irrespective of their claim of having seen by 25 and 81 people.
Then the Master calls the person who had hid behind him and asks the audience to raise their hands if they think that person ate banana. Almost all participants in the audience raise their hands. The Master smilingly announces that person as a winner and shares his thoughts.
The banana-eating test is devised to mirror the daily life situation of facing dilemmas, paradoxes in our life. This person not only understood that such dilemmas and paradoxes are inherent part of our life but also came up with a solution to handle it.
It is virtually impossible that all the four hundred people will remember a person eating a banana. Even though it seems every one is watching, each one will be busy counting other people watching him eat!
The winner knew this and so acted in such a way that though he did not eat the banana, every one perceived that he ate!
The Master shows the banana fruit without the skin left behind him and continuing his speech tell the audience that the winner conveyed it very clearly that he couldn’t eat the banana where every one sees him eating - by not eating the banana. At the same time he made all the participants to perceive that he ate the banana by the act of waving the peel and hiding the fruit behind the master.
There is a lesson to take home from this test. We should find out the purposes of our life and keep pursuing them without bothering about what others might think.
The Master thanked the five participants who shared their experiences since they brought out the very message, which the test was intended to bring.
We need to be aware of the usual thought patterns that cloud and blur our vision and stop us from reaching our goals.
The usual thought patterns that occur are –
The initial enthusiasm makes us to believe that everything is going to be easy but get stranded on encountering the hurdles.
(This was brought out by first participant’s response. He had thought that the test was easy but not succeeded to get the attention of even twenty-five people.)
Only difficulties are seen and stop going further.
This was brought out by fourth participant’s response.
(“Master, I found it difficult to make others watch me since every one was busy counting the people who are watching them eat rather than they watching others eat!”)
Always want to be seen as a winner.
Most of the times we do things just to draw the attention of spouse, children, parents, peers, neighbours and the society at large. This struggle to prove self-worthiness is futile.
The second participant’s response clearly pointed out this thought pattern.(He declared himself as a winner saying at least hundred people have watched him eating banana).
Complaining and fault- finding just to mask the failures of the self.
This pattern was demonstrated by third participant’s response.
(“Master, it seems one person got your question wrong and ate the banana behind you, where others can not see him.”)
The resources at hand are always inadequate.
This thought pattern was brilliantly brought out when fifth participant shared his experience. - (“ Master, as I counted the 81st person watching me eat, I had finished my banana. Definitely I would have been the winner, if you had provided one more banana!”)
The winner proved that being aware of these thought patterns was the key to shake them off and starting a new train of thought. The new thought pattern so generated helped him realise that eating banana where every one sees is impossible and lead him to an action plan to win the test.
On hearing this explanation by the Master, the spell bound audience gave him a standing ovation.
As soon as Suswasa finished telling this, there was a loud laughter from the black telephone. The deep voice followed the laughter saying, “Suswasa, you spoke before reaching home and so I am off to junkyard. You can find me there only after the sun rise tomorrow” and vanished.
[This is a four-part story. Please read other parts in the following sequence; suswasa and telephone-2, suswasa and telephone-3 and suswasa and telephone-4]
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Friday, November 9, 2007
The Hare And The Tortoise
The Hare And The Tortoise – 1
During ‘Panchatantra era’ when animals were talking to each other, a hare and a tortoise decided to have a race.
One fine Monday morning they started the race. The hare darted like an arrow while the tortoise was crawling slowly. After a while, hare turned back to see where is his competitor. The tortoise was not visible and the hare thought – “Let me take a nap to get over the previous nights party hangover. Anyway it will take helluva lot of time for the tortoise to crawl all the distance.” So he dozed off. The tortoise crawled with his own rhythm and his thought firmly perched on the goal post.
As you all know the tortoise won the race.
Morale of the story : Slow and steady wins the race.
Dilemma of the story : If I am slow in real life situations I cannot win any race or competition, and cannot pass any exams. I will be near the bottom of the corporate ladder forever. This story is just for the kids.
* * * * *
The Hare And The Tortoise – 2
Now, the hare having become wiser called for another race. The tortoise brimming with confidence agreed. The race started. This time the hare did not stop anywhere. So you know who was the winner.
Morale of the story : Fast and steady also wins the race.
Dilemma of the story : Oo.. Oh! This is new thing. But many times being fast means encountering the accidents.
Slow or Fast – How to decide?
* * * * *
The Hare And The Tortoise – 3
After sometime, the hare wanted to have a race again. The tortoise also had become wiser now. So, it tells the hare “Let us have a race on a different route.” And suggests a route.
The race starts.
The hare knowing very well that ‘fast and steady wins the race’ shoots off like an arrow and keeps going. But soon it had to stop. There was a large lake in front of it! Nevertheless it kept running along the bank of the lake. Now the tortoise came to the bank of the lake and happily jumped into it and swam fast across.
Huffing and puffing hare was surprised to see the tortoise at the goal post.
Morale of the story : Winning on our own turf is easy.
Dilemma of the story : Where is my turf? Moreover, in real situations the turf always changes, like in the story itself.
If one has to win someone else has to lose?
* * * * *
The Hare And The Tortoise – 4
By now both the hare and the tortoise were wiser and appreciative of each other! They decide to have race once again on the route suggested by the tortoise. However this time the hare and the tortoise make an agreement.
On the land surface of the race the hare has to carry the tortoise on its back and the tortoise will carry the hare on its back while on water surface.
Now a strange thing happened. Both hare and the tortoise won the race. They reached the winning post together! In the earlier races one of them used to take many hours to reach the goal post. But today, within few minutes both reached the goal post.
Morale of the story : When we work as a team every one will win. Everyone will complement another – whether the person has strength or weakness. Also the ‘turf’ becomes inconsequential.
Dilemma of the story : Is it possible to find such a team?
* * * * *
The Hare And The Tortoise – 5
The dilemma in the previous story was “How to find a team that is cohesive?”
The hare in the above stories refers to our Mind and the tortoise – our Heart.
Now, ‘I’ am not single but a team made up of Body, Breath, Mind, Memory, Intellect, Ego and the Self.
If ‘I’ like to be happy, successful and winning always, all the team members are to be in harmony, so that all their strength as well as shortcomings will be complimenting each other.
So when ‘I’ become happy I have already found a successful team!
The persisting dilemma : How to harmonise and harness the team members of ‘I’?
The possible solution : Trying to find the answer to the above question is nothing but ‘knowing the self’, essence of ‘Veda’ and key to bliss or Aananda.
Be sure that help is at hand once we come to the above question.
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Dhoni and the Zen Master.
Dhoni as you all know is on a high after the T20 world cup and convincing victory over Australia in T20 match recently. He naturally deserved much needed rest after the hectic play schedule.
He reached is hometown Ranchi to a rousing reception. But there was some change visible. Yes, he had cut his hair, resembling military cut.
Dhoni went to meet a Zen master to get a calm mind and to find balance in life after all those dizzying adulations.
Dhoni was surprised to see the Zen master’s room. There was a lot of difference between now and the time he had visited last. Earlier it used to be a dilapidated room with bare minimum furniture. Now it was nothing less than a five star hotel suite.
Suppressing his wonderment he bowed to master and sat before him silently.
Zen master : So, you have come here to know about balancing your life with success, happiness and possible disappointments in the future. First let me quench your curiosity. The make over of this room is sponsored by the ‘All India association of hair cutting saloons’. They were very happy about your performance but more so because you changed your hairstyle. They are sure of roaring business ahead. (Until now they were all starving and on the verge of downing the shutters.)
Now coming back to your search for balanced life, please reflect upon the following fact;
The people who flaunted long hair to look like you, today rushing to saloons to cut their hair. The intention is same – to look like Dhoni. The irony is, none of them became Dhoni in the past and none will be in future too. But their action surely affected some other people.
So, my advise to you is – Just keep playing the way you like till you like playing. Do not ever worry about becoming great captains like Gavaskar, Ganguly, Tendulkar or even Ricky Ponting.
Also be aware that all your actions will affect others in some or the other way. But that is the way life offers the package deals. So do not bother about them. Just keep choosing the ones that you think appropriate at that point of time. And live the moment to its fullest potential.
So,the choice only the choice of your own will keep you in balance that you are looking for.
Dhoni having got the answer, bowed once again to the master and went back home in bliss.
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