Lessons from life

We always look ahead...We have eyes in the front to see, ahead. The past transforms to memories and gets stacked inside our heads for reference. We refer them to interpret ourselves, others, our surroundings etc.We try to create meaning of unknown or new things by referring to these memories. Any new meaning we create becomes part of our memory. Its rare that people visit these memories just for the sake of it, the future overwhelms us and craves for all of our time. Nevertheless on a pleasant December evening, a couple of months after I completed my 34th year, I decided, I would make an errand into this database and see if I can get some information.

I came up with some insights, which is actually nothing new. Its all there, thread bare, in the books of management gurus, new age philosophies, motivational books, positive thinking books, newspaper articles, magazines and what not. I have no claims... . However of the so many things that has been said and written on these things, I endeavor to reflect on those things which has affected me profoundly, which has taken deep roots into my psyche, which has changed the way I think and perceive things. There are more to be learnt, as always, but these are what has become part of me.

1) Never compare ourselves with others:
Comparing ourselves with others makes us miserable to the end of our lives, probably beyond. No one is perfect. We are unique and have our own destiny to fulfill. The world would be a boring place had everyone been a photocopy of others. We are exactly where we ought to be and people are exactly where they ought to be. Rebellion is just questioning God's intelligence.

2) Accepting Change:
Life keeps changing, new things replace old ones. Without change there is no growth. Resisting change is like trying to stop the waves of the ocean. When we accept change, we flow with it, there is continuity in transition. If not, there will be periods of dismay and unrest which is totally uncalled for.

3) Never trade peace of mind for money (or for that matter, anything!!!)
There are times when the temptation for making more money blinds us to the present joys and peace of mind we enjoy. Its worthless, I swear. Focus on the quality of life rather than the quantity of life. Even the mos richest man on this planet can enjoy only as much as he can take, not an iota more.

4) Defining success:
If we can sleep peacefully without a care for tomorrow, get up in the morning and look at it fresh with the eyes of a child, we have succeeded. Success is relative, look at it from what we were yesterday to what we are today. And if we can make a change in a person's life for the better...am sure, we have super succeeded.

5) Value health :
The more said, the less. There is nothing more enigmatic than the way our body functions. It works 24X7 and tries every possible way to keep you fit. It is more loyal than anything else in the world. Only years of constant abuse makes it go down. Still if you show any signs of respect, it raises its head and keeps you going good.

These are not in the order of importance, these are just the way they came to my mind.

PAST LIFE REGRESSION

A few years back, on a saturday night, I was in one of Mumbai's pubs just freaking out with a few colleagues of mine. One of my colleagues, a charmer, chatted up with a PYT and the next thing we find is the two dancing their way to glory. "Naseeb hai yaar"... said one of my colleagues, a bit "J" though. "Pichle janam mein kuch ladki patane laayak kaam kiya hoga, jo aaj yu hi chutki mein ladki pata raha hai"..said another. The DJ was mixing all kinds of peppy bollywood tunes and God knows why, he did a mix of the KARZ song... "Ek hasina thi...Ek Deewana tha... "...and lo! we found ourselves discussing on past life...and how people can go to their past lives by being hypnotised... . None of us were experts on the topic and it ended up in some other aaltu faaltu topics. But the concept dint leave me.

Almost an year back I read an article on PAST LIFE REGRESSION (PLR) in a prominent Indian magazine. The article contained the past life account of a lady (indian) and then I found myself reading anything and everything related to PAST LIVES. I devoured all of Brian Weiss's books one after the other. Not satisfied I surfed the net. I found a lot of sites on the topic. My curiosity was growing day by day. I determined I needed a past life regression. Who knows I must have been the king of this land! (couldn't imagine anything less!).

Finally the opportunity presented itself before me in June 2008. I convinced one of my closest buddies to join me for a two day PLR camp. My friend was not very much into all these and kept pulling my leg saying what if I was a dog or a donkey in past life ? And the scariest thing of all, what if you get stuck in one of your past lives and cannot come back to the present? (it did sent a mild shiver through my spine though)...I pretended to be not disturbed and said, "If I am stuck in the past as a dog, first thing I would do is give you an extrahard bite and if a donkey a memorable kick on your groin".

Once inside the camp we found ourselves amidst another 25 past life seekers. Good!. And then it began. Theory of past life, Human consciousness, life in different dimensions. I couldnt concentrate, all I wanted was an experience. And then the practical sessions began. There was some kind of a trance music playing in the back ground and the hypnotist was using his hypno methods "you are going deeper and deeper and deeper" ...things like that...I was as wide awake as I could be and never went deeper and deeper :(
Day 2. Again the same experience. However many participants recalled their past lives (or that is what they said). Everyone was some king or queen or leader or rich. No one was a pauper or a criminal or a crook or an animal. I exchanged glances with my friend and we knew we were sailing on the same boat. There were a couple of others also who dint have a PLR.

I got enough curses from my friend to last a lifetime for screwing up his weekend. I was down and empty. On second thoughts... ( I tried convincing my friend also) I guess this is my first life time :).

(if anyone had any real PLR experiences I would really love to hear about it...Thank you)

MALGUDI DAYS

Was out for an after-lunch stroll when I found myself staring at Bips (Bipasha Basu) in one of the ad's placed in front of Planet M. Bips ka jaadu chal gaya and my legs took me inside the store ...he he he...

I was just looking around when I saw the MALGUDI DAYS (RK NARAYAN) episodes for sale. I took one of the CD's and gazed at the cover. It teleported me in space and time to about 17-18 years back to the place where I had spent my boyhood days. Nostagia... a pleasant and peaceful village in mid kerala towards tamilnadu. School days were all about strikes or teacher less classes (govt school) and full days of cricket or football in our school ground. But it was fun throughout. And yes I woke up everyday thinking I would meet "her" in my tuition class or in the bus or anywhere.Was too much worried about how I look...combing my hair was an event in itself . Deo's were not known and the only way to smell great was "soaping" and dabbing a lot of powder. Life was simple and innocent like those in RK LAXMAN's cartoon on the CD Cover. Temples , ponds, silly gossips ,rented cycles and no "fikar" about tomorrow...

" doob ja mere pyaar mein...doob jaa mere pyaar mein" Hard Kaur's voice blaring on the loudspeakers woke me up from my trance...


Back at home, I enjoyed watching "Mithaiwaala", one of the short stories from MALGUDI DAYS. No overacting, no hyper emotions...just simple people and their simple lives... It has a mild choking effect...simple and sensitive...watch it if you have not...its a time well spent...

LAW OF KARMA IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

Sitting before my PC on a rainy afternoon, why did I think I should write about of all the things …Customer Service! Well am not sure, but then, a recent experience with a major financial services provider had left a bad taste in my mouth. It then did strike me ---Who Am I to write on Customer Service? There are so many pundits who have written loads and loads on customer service, Corporate Heads, Ph.D’s and all the guys who have huddled up on the CRM bandwagon… What right or knowledge or experience did I have to comment on a topic like Customer Service? I stopped typing…looked out of my balcony into the gloomy weather …closed my eyes …and introspected…Enlightenment dawned… one need not be a Corporate Head, Ph.D or a subject matter expert to comment on customer service. The basic qualification that one needs is just to be a customer himself…Eureka!

Having passed the eligibility criteria, I was confident of my key strokes.

How can an organization be Customer oriented? Tough question? Well let’s see.

An organization can be customer oriented by realizing that they themselves too are customers. And in any transaction, if we look closely, the giver and the taker are both customers, how? The customer is “providing” an opportunity to the organization to serve him. Note the word providing. It means customer is the giver or provider of opportunity. The company reacts to that opportunity by servicing his needs and charging a fee for the same. This kind of an attitude is what is required when we talk about customer service. The latest developments in technology, with the ever increasing number of BPO’s, Call Centres, huge advertisement budgets etc, what are organizations trying to achieve? More opportunity…and “more” opportunity is provided by the customer.

INDIAN SCENARIO

In India, today, most of the so called service providers are taking people for granted. There are instances of such pathetic services that the Indian customer has resigned to his fate. The government has introduced consumer courts for such issues. But an average middle class working executive…does he have the time to pursue the case? He is already overwhelmed by the amount of time it takes in commuting to office and back and getting on with his daily chores. Now even if he manages to file a case there are smart lawyers which the organization can hire and hammer away the customer to invisibility. With the greed of making more and more profits some organizations keep the bare minimum of service professionals and most of the time these service professionals are so overburdened that it reflects in their attitude and behavior towards their customers. End of the day you pay for a service and get ill treated. It seems that the organization is doing a favor instead of an obliged service. Where does the customer go?

CORPORATES…WAKE UP

Corporates \ Service providers…Wake up! That car in which you are traveling would have been serviced by an engineer who would have availed of a service from your organization and might have been provided with a shoddy service. Isn’t it simple to understand that he might have serviced your car with such a disposition which in turn would adversely affect the way in which your car is serviced?. The law of karma does work and you get what you give. Tomorrow when you are busy making money if a voice of dissatisfaction is heard from a customer, stop counting your money and pay heed to what he has to say. You might be doing good to yourself.