AN INCOMPLETE EMAIL
A friend of mine, who is a consultant in one
of the organizations in Mumbai, narrated to me this interesting episode…
Some
days ago, we got the notification in our office complex (A twenty-one storey
office complex), that the server would be down for an hour. The employees, so dependent
on their computers, suddenly felt clueless as to what was to be done when they
could not use their computers for an hour! They were waiting for instructions
from me. Meanwhile, a young employee came over to me and said, ‘Sir, we would
like to listen to some motivational things from you.’ A couple of her
associates seconded their friend’s proposal.
I
spontaneously proposed to them something different… ‘We are on the eleventh
floor here,’ I said, ‘Any of you has come up here or go down from here using
the staircase?’
There
was none. So, I suggested, that we walked down the stairs and discover what was
there on each floor… They loved the idea. By the time we all landed on the
ground floor lobby, a lot of discovery had been already done. Now was the time
to climb up… That was tough. They were expecting it (an ‘order’) from me. So,
they were pleasantly surprised when I asked them, ‘Has any of you gone on the
terrace above the 21st floor?’
No
one had. So, we all took the lift and landed on the terrace. Once, we landed
there, I sensed a sudden burst of new energy… It was like discovering a new
continent… Or, like landing on the peak of Mount Everest! They did not know,
for almost two years, that they could behold such a breath-taking view from
the building they had been working, every day, for over two years… That, they
could see the magnificent sea, scores of ships, the glory of the rising and
setting Sun, tens and thousands of small and tall buildings… Above all, they
had no idea how breeze felt while it played over their shoulders… They were
happy and playful - a moment their selfies beautifully captured!
A
couple of them came out with this suggestion, ‘Sir, we should come here
regularly… It’s an amazing experience!’
I
smiled. ‘Let’s walk down the staircase to 11th floor,” I said, “We
will discuss about it once we are in our office.’
Once
we were inside our office, I said, ‘What happened, today, was all spontaneous…
not planned. The experience that you all relished was fresh, first-hand… Now,
the moment you try to recreate this event and relive this experience, you are
going to spoil the experience. Someone had said, ‘I may be going nowhere, but
what a ride!’
By
now, the server had started functioning… and, my boys and girls were back to
the grind!
Spontaneity is like our tears… As Marty Rubin
said, tears are easier to shed, than explain! Spontaneity, too, is easier to
experience than explain… Our desire to recreate the events that give us great
joy and relive those experiences, are, definite sources of our disappointments and
unhappiness.
Many of us have experienced it in the
context of ‘Reunions’. The thought of getting reunited with our schoolmates
after a span of twenty/thirty/forty years can be really exhilarating. So, the
very first reunion brings in us that ‘all-time high! Then comes that desire in
us to recreate similar events at regular intervals – say every month, three months, six months or year and so on –
and relive the experience - the ‘High’!
What comes out from this, usually, is a big disappointment…
It’s human disaster!
My consultant-friend had two more episodes to
share. One involved the wedding of one of his associates, who was a H.R. executive.
She had sent a wedding invite through WhatsApp to my friend a day before her
wedding with the words, ‘Please come’.
‘Thanks,” was my friends reply.
“You did not come,” was the newly-married
woman’s complaint.
“Sorry. It was a ‘remote presence’… Maybe,
you did not realize… Busy, no?” was my friend’s response.
“Wanted your ‘physical presence’ as well,”
was her contention.
“Not getting ‘what you want’ inevitably
brings you ‘what you need’… Universe takes care,” was my friend’s piece of
advice.
“What about relationship, then?” was the
young bride’s question.
“It ends in conditions and selfishness… No?”
The conversations, too, had ended with it…
But, incomplete?
The other episode involved the birthday of
one of his very close relatives, who looked up to my friend for advice and
inspiration. A week ago, was the birthday of this young man, and my friend,
while wishing him said, over the phone, “You have been in my mind for many days…
Today, I am just wishing you. In fact, I had written a mail to you, but I couldn’t
complete it… Hence, it got left, unsent.”
“Why didn’t you send me the incomplete mail?”
was the sincere response from the young man to my friend, “I would have loved
it, anyway!”
In Life, everything need not be ‘perfect’ or ‘complete’.
Everything need not be as per our plan and preparation. Yes, Life is always
what happens to us while we are busy making our ‘other’ plans…
Joy doesn’t, always, come from the main door,
you see… Very often, it comes from the back door and the windows!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Sandeep Malhotra
Comments