dumblittleman - website to bookmark

It was up on linked in, one of the articles published on www.dumblittleman.com about Benjamin Franklin


14 Lessons From Benjamin Franklin About Getting What You Want In Life



I feel it is perfect!!! Read it 

Then he appears..........

It was a late night ice cream eating craving that took my wife and me to BDA complex in Banashakari 2^nd stage, in Bangalore. It is a beautiful place and normally houses good crowd as the eateries are good and the place makes you feel like a true Bangalorean. It is 10 in the night and we parked our bike in the stand and headed to the Baskin Robbins and spent good 45 minutes there and headed back home by 10.45 ish… I sat on the bike and my wife behind me, we started; however I felt something was not right. The bike was all wobbly and I stopped after confirming that something has gone wrong. It was 11 in the night and the tyre of the bike is punctured. Where would anyone get a mechanic to fix it at that hour of the day? When we were discussing our bad luck, he appears, a man with all the things needed to fix our bike. He was on his bike and he saw our bike in the front and said in Kannada, “Sir, I see the tyre is punctured and I think, we need to fix it”. We expressed our grief and how fixed we are at that time of the day. He says, he has everything to fix our bike and we were thrilled with the fact that he was there to help. We were cheering and just couldn’t believe our luck. We were even thinking that our good deeds of the past resulted in such a miracle. We thanked him more than required, paid him more than what he asked for, for all his help and kindness towards us. We came home on a high as we were so happy that someone helped us at almost midnight.

We narrated the story to my parents and they were happy, while my wife was speaking to them, it flashed to me that the guy might have actually punctured the bike tyre and played all innocent and helpful. We sat back and understood the events that happened and it clearly showed that we were taken for ride. Felt bad about it and was humiliated by the thought of not judging the situation.

Poem

Check this poem

Author is my 8 year old nephew, Hrishikesh. Isnt it super cool?

S'he' - Part 1

She has a ‘he’ in her and he is part of ‘she’

 

Sometime, mid April 2011, when 'he' has been contemplating on his life and where is it heading, he made a few firm decisions.

He calls up The Man and says “Sir, I want to talk to you something very important”

The Man “Anything serious? Hope everything is fine”

He, “Nothing serious, but something very important. I can come down now, if you are free. It would take 20 minutes, is it okay?”

The Man “Um… yes, please come down. I will wait for you in my office”

He, “Great!! Will see you in 10 minutes” ….. 

He was little nervous and his heart was pounding a little, not sure of the response to his talks, he was uncertain of his approach. He was wondering, what if The Man gets angry and annoyed and yell at him.. not sure of anything, he still decided to go on and see what can happen….

10 minutes later……………..

The Man, “welcome sir, how are you?” extended his hand for a handshake

He, “Thanks Sir, I am good, you?” shook hands with The Man, little not so sure of how the conversation will shape up

The Man … “Please come, we shall sit in the office” and walked firm.. ‘He’ obediently followed him and sat on a chair while The Man took his chair and a big table between us….The Man said….”yes sir, how can I help you?” and smiled…….

He….. little not so sure on how to start, drank water from his bottle and sat up firm, he tried to have the best demeanour, to not give away his tension out to The Man in front of him.. with little firm voice.. “so.. how are  things? How are  you and your son? What is he upto? I understand from ‘she’ that he is better now and wants to rejoin my company. How is he now; is he better and has no issues?”

The Man …”Oh yeah! He is good, I really should thank you for your advice”, not sure if The Man really was thankful, ‘he’ sat on the chair, trying to listen intently .. The Man continued “he is a lot better now, I feel, he getting back to normal”

He.. smiled and said “glad sir, hope, everything is fine….” And got to the point..”Sir.. I have another very important thing to discuss with you. I am not sure, if you are prepared for this, but I want to say what I think…..What do you think of ‘she’ and me together. I know ‘she’ from the time she has joined my company and I think, I have started to like her. I wanted your opinion of what you think of me… “ 

The Man was neither shocked nor surprised, his expressions were a mix of a lot of things, mostly trying to hide his true emotions ………..

‘He’ continued “Sir… in my life, I have liked very few things and ‘she’ is one of them. I feel, her upbringing is fine and suits my idea of a typical girl, who I want to marry. I am not from a rich class, I am from a middle class family who has got what I always wanted, because I have worked for it”……pause…and he continues “I would like to marry ‘she’ and I wanted to inform you first before I talk to her. I know, there would be issues, but I am okay to fight it out. I am not sure of how much you know about me……..” and started to explain his upbringing and what all he has done in the life so far

The Man listened to ‘he’ patiently with his inputs of what he has done in his life and how things have been with him in life, particularly about his son and ‘she’.  The Man, explained that he was happy that ‘he’ was talking about ‘she’ to him first and not to ‘she’ directly. The conversation went on for about half hour that evening between The Man and ‘he’, both trying to understand how things can be worked out. It was a pleasant conversation, but ‘he’ had a lot of questions about the result

‘He’ was however proud of his decision of talking to The Man and said “I wanted to talk to you first and take your opinion, before I speak to ‘she’. I want you to be aware of it and be okay with it”, for which The Man smiled and thanked ‘he’ and said “let me talk to my wife on this and will let you know soon”….

 

‘he’ said…..”Sir, I want to think about it thoroughly and let me know, because I do not want to play around in such matters and get disappointed”… not sure of why he said that. He did not have a negative thought in his mind for the entire conversation and some amazing confidence that things will work out positively for him, made him to speak more and more about his family and how things can be worked out. 

The Man in the end said, “sure sir, give me some time, I shall discuss it with my wife and get back to you” and he asked, “do you have your horoscope?” for which ‘he’ was not ready and said, “yes I do, only a soft copy as I don’t carry hard copies J “. ‘he’ then showed the softcopy of the horoscope to The Man and he noted it on some paper and made some calculations saying “I know how to read horoscopes and I am no master in it, but still excel on basics” and the conversation went on how the matches are done for a while… The Man in the end came out and handed over she’s horoscope to ‘he’ and said, “you can also show it to your people and then get back”

The conversation ended after 2 hours and The Man left to his home. ‘he’ was elated with the conversation he has had with The Man. He was all smiling and happy about it and went home, only thinking of what had just happened……….

The Man, ‘he’ was talking to all the time was his ‘would be father-in-law’ :) :) :) :)

Status Quo

Life = Bliss

Traffic Violation

I am not sure if this is what I call traffic violation. Imagine this

4 bikes at a cross junction, all willing to cross the junction first. The state was

- one bike had three college kids with no helmets
- the second one had a mobile between his chin and shoulder and riding his bike
- third one is middle aged couple with no helmet on the main rider
- fourth is the person with permissible limits of beer but with a helmet on

Now, think, who could be the fourth person in this junction of traffic violation

Re-lived old days

I am very happy today as I re-lived my Sundays of the UK. Cleaned up every corner of the house till lunch, cooked food for myself, watched TV or spent time on net doing things other than work (no wine or beer though), slept and finally closing it with a blog.

I had to spend time by myself for two days as parents and sister's family were out. In the UK, a day all by myself would end up welcoming friends for a binge night out and all the crazy stuff. Here, I waited to welcome my parents to taste the food I prepared :)

Cross Roads

He was there, at the cross roads, yet again, this time more unsure of what to do. He stands still and thinks, about moral obligations to keep people happy, personal happiness, proving one's point, winning an argument. Very indecisive, he is 'still' and thinking

Welcome back

It has been a while since I have written something on in here. Welcome 'me' again.

I have been missing to capture a few things of my life, the 'he' stories and a lot more trying to focus on things which are 'trivial'

Children

Children these days are just amazing. Just read this.

A new feeling

A new feeling or emotion was introduced to me off late, by one of the employees at work. It is strange, the way it had come out. One of our employees got me to talk to her about her work and there was some hot exchange of words and she eventually helped me to talk to her in high pitch and express my anger. The talk, the reason and the situation is not new to me. Normally, in such situations, the anger is replaced by disgust or anguish; however this instance, my response to the situation was anger. I could feel my nerves being pulled tight, hands trembling as my body was not used to react to these new type of brain messages.

Strange it was, but I am happy that, that employee got something out of me. She introduced me to anger. I thank her for that.

Thought - Short Story

He was lying on the bed, looking at the ceiling fan and was both happy and sad. He turned around, and saw on his bed, his laptop next to him, three books, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud and The Living Universe by Sir Francis Younghusband. Looked at the name of the author, younghusband, thought what would he be called if he is old and living with his wife for many years.

It had struck to him after he returned meeting his friends who all had partners. He was still happy that he was doing all that he wanted and was sad, that it might not last all that long as well.

Peace-full Dream

It has been a while since I dreamt. It is very unusual of me that I sleep with all my senses put to rest at the same time. I have something always running, which will eventually keep me away from a good deep sleep. Result - no deep sleep, no dreams, no remembering of it (even if I do dream)

Strange as it sounds, this afternoon's sleep was amazing. No response to the phone calls, door bells, nothing... It was a deep peaceful sleep where I dreamt and after that I woke up to remember bit of it. I remember a girl running and whole lot of people all scattered across and crying for help. Someone came flying from the sky and started to pick the people up. Well, a lot more things happened after that, but I remember only this.

I presume, I was trying to keep the peace even in my dreams. Trying to fight the odds and I would like to assume that the man flying was me, not heroic, but the scene was a desperate attempt to get something done... I wish I remember more.

That's why I say. It was a dream to bring in the peace in full

'He' again

He feels elated, he feels nice seeing the people around him and thinking how better he is than them.

At the same time, he seeps into thinking the use of it, him being better. All in vain. No efforts to recognise it nor any recognition. Feels sad....

He drinks two cups of coffee back to back and get on with work. He is not sure if it was the coffee or it is just him.... he continues being sure that it is not the former one....

Karma eh?

Am not sure, if this exists in the real life. Off late, I have been coming across this word fairly a lot, or may be it is that I have been reading a lot of books which speak about Karma.

They say, it is carried on for lives you take up in your lifetimes. Again, controversial. I have no opinion on it.

Anyways, a recent incident makes me think, it exists

My colleague was late to work and when he came in, I asked him about it and I was surprised to hear what had happened to him. He lives in one of most affluent localities in Bangalore, India, where the roads are wide, clean and with not many pot holes. People are educated and do think of other people and not just them.

He said,he left his home very early and, may be 6.30 and he was on his bike, to reach office by 7.00. He lives a few kilometers away from the office. He said, it was a pleasant start, nice weather, beautiful morning and he saw a man who was walking his dog. He said, it was nice start and was enjoying his ride and he looked around to notice that there was no one else in the road apart from the man, the dog and him. He said, he met with an accident and I looked at him puzzled. He said, the dog ran away from his master to come under the wheels of his bike. He fell over and on the road and the dog ran away. Is this what you call Karma?

Punctured - Hope Lives on

Monday Morning.. packed up with hectic work schedule starts like this

- Getting ready for a client meet, wearing all the business formals including a suit

- I leave home on my bike to drop my nephew to my cousin's

- The bike wheel punctured on the way to work after dropping my nephew, I think.... bad start

- I park my bike on some street and take an auto rickshaw to reach office

- Just two kilometers on, the auto gave away. The back tyre got punctured !!!

- I take another auto and just a kilometer away, it gave away.... another puncture.... I could not believe it

- I just gave up and decided to walk, though it was almost 11.00 am and I had a client meet at 11.30 am, the office in Electronic City, which was 25 Kms away

but hope lived on I guess... I was walking, pretty much not thinking how the day has started; but thinking how to plan for the rest of the day, with my jacket, helmet, water bottle, my bag in my hand and sweating...

then another auto guy, saw my state and said ' Yellige sir, Banni bidtheeni' (where do you want to go, I shall drop you). I was close to my office and I said, 'elle road end, parvagilla hogtheeni bidi, thanks' (No problem, I have to reach the end of the road, I shall go, Thanks). He said, 'Parvagilla banni, naan yenu charge madalla' (No problem, come in, I wont charge you).

I hopped on to auto and 2 minutes, my office was there. It was good experience, even after such a 'punctured' start of the day, the hope lived on. The client meet was fantastic and we bagged an order as well. May be, it is the luck of another person who had accompanied me.

And all these things happened on the way to office, which is just 4 kilometres away from my home.

Capitalist - is it?

My friend says this little write up and this is all capitalistic by nature. Not sure, if he is true. I always feel, a genuine few words and expressions are worth a million.

A few good words

He was at work, when a client called up, called up for an immediate meeting in her office, 10 miles away. He had to agree as he had no option, reached there on time. Felt good, the client rep was a very pleasing woman. Her smile was genuine, her words were real and this made him more comfortable. She had to discuss an escalation that was not handled well by him, but it was so well put, he felt that he had done a great job and not handling the escalation well, was one off incident. Though the outcome of the meeting was not great, he felt, he had done a great job. Well done ‘he’

Little Pleasures

He was thinking of small things in his life which would give him little pleasures. He had even discussed this with one of his friends as well, who agreed to what he had said, but did not add any value to it. Your beloved coming out of the home to wish you good bye everyday when you leave to work, nice bright happy faces at office, a genuine smile, reading a good friends blog and understand where he/she is coming from, identifying the questions children might ask before they do and surprise them by telling them their next question and seeing their expression on face. Beautiful, he thinks and thinks he is wasting time, trying to identify things that don’t add any value to his daily work. His phone rings and starts the fake conversation..... “We value you as a customer........ and looking for long term relationship with your company.... a fake demeanour..... a fake smile”....................

The 'he' stories

The 'he' stories - I have been thinking of him for a while, well, my beloved blog readers, meet 'Mr.He', a simple human being, trying to tie all of loose ends of his life and exploring himself, in his journey. He is fictional, he is real, well he is like that ....... confused...read on his stories... all blurbs.

Deserve

I always get what I deserve....including the mouthfuls :)

Noticed - Releif (Short Story)

He was there yet again not knowing the ‘What’. He picks up the phone after it started to play that horrible ring tone which he had chosen after a lot of deliberation few months ago. ‘Haan... were the only words he started off with... he removed his specs...wiped his eyes...scratched his head... drank some water...said...”give me sometime... I guess I need more time”

He wore his specs, smiled with confidence and shame, and continued his work. He was happy, the unnoticed was noticed. Relieved!

On the roads – the psychology

Um........ I don’t know how many of the people have had the experience of driving/riding cars/bikes on Indian roads. I am sure most of my blog readers do have. I have been riding my bike for years now and have started again after I have returned to India. It has been great, great experience being there, in the midst of chaos. All of them complain no traffic sense, no rules being followed, bad roads, blah blah ....and I don’t deny any of that. All of it is true and you would know if you are a part of it every day. It is easy to notice it; however it is fairly not so common when someone says, the traffic on roads in India has a charm of its own. An innate thing which is rarely seen in any part of the world, at least not while driving on roads. Imagine this picture

You are on your bike; there is an auto rickshaw (a three wheeled car with a canopy on the top, which can go anywhereJ. This is how one of my acquaintances in the UK had described an auto after his visit to India) in front of you. You are approximately 200 feet away from it and the rickshaw has reached the end of the road and he has to take a turn (either right or left). Something in you, will tell you the direction he would take. He wouldn’t have given you any indication what so ever, but you will still know the direction he would take. Some signals are being sent, may be your intuition or may be your imagination. I guess there is something more here. May be there is an underlying philosophy of psychology. Some vibes are being sent and these vibes are decoded and understood, if not there would be uncountable number of accidents on roads.

I have noticed this many times, another biker on the road, kind of turns his handle to the right or left, hinting he would make a turn now, the message is being recorded by you or any other biker behind the first one. You don’t yell at him for not showing any signal, you just carry on with your ride. I guess it defies the rules of the roads and assure that we Indians are not restless people on roads; we are a group of well understood people travelling at the same time, on the same road and still getting things done with some struggle and finally living in harmony.

A paradox!

Silence - Now and Then

It was silence between us even then, it is silence even now, but I like the silence now. It has something special in it, a warmth, a satisfaction, words, emotions and a lot more. I would want more of this silence, it speaks a lot. Nothing has changed between us except this silence and I love it.

Words of Wisdom

"One's not half two.It's two are halves of one"
- John Powell

Birlliant, it is........

League

How interesting will it be to be an ordinary man in the league of extraordinary men?

On Road

Strange is the word which I have to use today. A bike ride of some 20 kilometeres with not a lot of pre occupied mind, can make one feel realize the petite pleasures.

A small family on a motor bike and their little daughter in the front was enjoying the dusty ride and was not happy when her father stopped at traffic lights. The father started to say why he stopped at red lights. The child was happy to learn a new thing and was quiet for a few seconds and then she smiled at her father. I guess she must be imagining what would have happened if her father would have jumped the signal.

An elderly couple on the TVS 50, the once life line of commute among the urban middle class Bangaloreans, was so happy. I cant think of a reason for them be to be sad. There was something strikingly different in them. They were so full of life and smile and were genuinely happy.

A baby, toothless, was all smiling at all the people in the traffic lights. It caught the attention of four more bike riders other than me around the baby and that smile was transferred to all. All of us exchanged the smiles. All random strangers on road.

Strange I feel! I wonder, if most of us (includes me) have lost the art of finding pleasures in trivial things like these.

Hail!!!

Hail Kingfisher!

Hail Mallya!!

Hail Music!!!

Questions .............. answerless eh?

Why-should-I-listen-to-you attitude? Who should give up and why should one give up? Why should we always be good to others? Why cant I get what I want by the way I am? Why should not people listen to me? Who wins in a relationship? Why don’t I get to do what I really would love to do? What don’t I know what I really want to do? Why do people always advice and especially to me? Why don’t I like what most of the people speak? Why don’t people hesitate to open up to me? Why am I scared to tell what I want to tell? (Also a book by John Powell)

These are few of the questions which each of one will have in mind. A small collation of these by stories (another very interesting hobby to pursue) I have heard from people.

The law applies to human nature, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The more forceful you are, the more forceful the other ego retaliates. Most of us know the solutions, but why we don’t still don’t follow it? Is it the EGO? Yours or ego of other person?

What is EGO?

Q&A

Q---How can a humble, sweet, liked-by-all person turn out to be a rude, loud and villian to most of them?

A---Leave the person to manage a few people at work.