After long hours of working on Friday, my wife and I set out for a leisurely drive along with the kids. During the drive, we came near my office. I work for an IT company in Pune and I head HR for this company. We have one of the best campuses in the Industry. It is always a pride to show the campus to the family. Kids just love it. It was close to 9.00 pm in the night as I reached the gate. I told my family that we will just take a round of the campus in our vehicle but not get down as it was quite late.
As I drove past the gate, I was stopped by the security personnel deployed at the gate. As I rolled down the glass, he politely asked me for my I-Card. I realized the faux pa – I realized that though most of the security men recognized me, I have never entered the campus without my i-card. I will be hypocrite if I deny that I was put off by the security person stopping me at the gate!! As a member of Senior Management team I expected to breeze past the gate…. The man politely told me that I cannot go in without the I-card. Just as I was contemplating to call our Admin Head, my conscience spoke from the back-seat, as if reading my mind “Yogesh, just turn back”. I intuitively trust my wife in such situations and turned back. For me it was a big fiasco in front of my family – especially my teenage daughter – as I never miss even half-a-chance to impress her!!
When we came out, my daughter asked me, “How could he do that to you? What will you do it him now?” I quickly realized the wisdom of my wife’s suggestion to turn back. I could clearly see that my daughter felt that I was insulted! “I will give him a reward when I go to office on Monday” ….. “A reward?? And why is that???” …. “It is simple – he just reminded me of the basic discipline that I shouldn’t have missed in the first place. He just did his job and he was so polite.” ….. she was quiet during rest of journey.
My disappointment quickly turned into satisfaction as I saw a beautiful opportunity. We always keep debating about some of the school rules , which do not make sense according to her (and must say I agree a few times!). Some rules are made to run scalable establishments and can’t really be debated every day. Of course there are ways and forums to register your views and bring in changes. Our views do not give us rights to break the rules. Neither does your position in the establishment give you any rights to break the rules.
I think what I attempted doing (driving past the gate without an I-card at 9 o’clock in the night) was sheer arrogance. Though my ego was hurt initially when I was made to go back, it was a great lesson in discipline for my daughter. God bless that fellow on the duty to help me with a lesson in discipline for my daughter and of course me also!!
The reward I wanted to pay him was just the consulting fee for a great lesson!!!!!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Childish by choice
I was getting ready to take the delivery of my new vehicle and was quite excited since morning. This excitement is something which has stayed with me over the years – the reasons have changed. Early in the childhood, when there was only one channel called Doordarshan and watching a movie was an event itself, I used to be excited for a couple of days whenever movie tickets were booked! Whenever I buy a vehicle today, I feel the same excitement – the world suddenly looks like a better place and I relish every moment of the build-up! I end up calling dozen of friends and do a count-down!
Sometimes my friends have criticized me for being little childish and have advised me to grow up. But I refuse to grow up ….. If I see any new car, I hover around it, peep inside and if the driver is close-by, I conduct a short interview. By the way it need not be a new vehicle for me to get excited - sometimes while traveling by the road, weather is beautiful and I just feel like driving ….. this has occasionally led me to request the cab driver to allow me to drive on Mumbai-Pune expressway!
I grew up in a simple middle class background and the kids of my generation were brought up in the overall environment of scarcity and lack of choices. This also taught us to enjoy each new event / acquisition in our life. I admit that I am a bit crazy about the cars but I guess it is an event worth celebrating. In our family, my brother and I make it a point that the delivery of every new vehicle is taken by our parents. It is great to see the pride and joy they feel and the whole event becomes a sort of a festival. It is the moment that all of us relish exactly the way we did when we bought our first car in the family.
It is not only about cars by the way …… cause of celebration could be favorite cuisine, child’s success in class test, the first bud on new sapling, a good movie …. We as a family almost celebrate anything ….. we are always on search for that little achievement that can get lost in the daily grind of life and create some event out of it!
I sincerely feel that people let the precious moments pass by. The moments are precious not because of the value of what you buy or magnitude of your achievement. But the moments are precious in terms of what those moments mean to your parents, to your family ….. Do we let go these moments just to underline a point that we have taken the success easily in our stride and to prove that it is no big deal …. Or do we really stop feeling happiness with intensity that we felt during the childhood? The latter is scarier as far as I am concerned. There is only one risk in celebrating every small event in life – you can be tagged as childish. To me it is the risk worth taking as celebrations rejuvenate the otherwise mundane life. There is a choice I have consciously made long back – To stay childish by choice!!!.....
Sometimes my friends have criticized me for being little childish and have advised me to grow up. But I refuse to grow up ….. If I see any new car, I hover around it, peep inside and if the driver is close-by, I conduct a short interview. By the way it need not be a new vehicle for me to get excited - sometimes while traveling by the road, weather is beautiful and I just feel like driving ….. this has occasionally led me to request the cab driver to allow me to drive on Mumbai-Pune expressway!
I grew up in a simple middle class background and the kids of my generation were brought up in the overall environment of scarcity and lack of choices. This also taught us to enjoy each new event / acquisition in our life. I admit that I am a bit crazy about the cars but I guess it is an event worth celebrating. In our family, my brother and I make it a point that the delivery of every new vehicle is taken by our parents. It is great to see the pride and joy they feel and the whole event becomes a sort of a festival. It is the moment that all of us relish exactly the way we did when we bought our first car in the family.
It is not only about cars by the way …… cause of celebration could be favorite cuisine, child’s success in class test, the first bud on new sapling, a good movie …. We as a family almost celebrate anything ….. we are always on search for that little achievement that can get lost in the daily grind of life and create some event out of it!
I sincerely feel that people let the precious moments pass by. The moments are precious not because of the value of what you buy or magnitude of your achievement. But the moments are precious in terms of what those moments mean to your parents, to your family ….. Do we let go these moments just to underline a point that we have taken the success easily in our stride and to prove that it is no big deal …. Or do we really stop feeling happiness with intensity that we felt during the childhood? The latter is scarier as far as I am concerned. There is only one risk in celebrating every small event in life – you can be tagged as childish. To me it is the risk worth taking as celebrations rejuvenate the otherwise mundane life. There is a choice I have consciously made long back – To stay childish by choice!!!.....
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