Excuse me please ! :)

So while it’s all fun and young to be rebellious and break rules and live life your own way, I follow rules. I like discipline. They give me a sense of security and comfort. I like what I have been taught in school eg. Walk on your left (seriously…you will avoid running into people), say thank you when someone does something nice for you, say excuse me when you sneeze in public or want to make way for yourself, etc. I like to keep things in their place, to prioritize and plan. How much does it take to keep a little bit of order in the way you go about living your life? Surely the definition of discipline may differ from person to person but sometimes people really tick me off with their behavior. Following are 2 incidents that have annoyed me at some point of time in the past and continue to do so when they repeat..

v  I was standing in line for a rickshaw. Since the line was on a busy road, a lady wanted to pass by cutting through the line. This wouldn’t have been an issue had she politely requested me to excuse her. Instead she went all Queen Victoria on me and ordered “EXCUSE”. I wanted to ask her “whom?” because she dint even say excuse me (it would have helped even with that angry tone). But since it was towards the end of the day and I dint have any energy for drama, I graciously stepped aside and let her pass. Agreed she must have had a rough day, but that is no free pass to get away with bad behavior.

v  Another incident which has happened quite a few times in the past and keeps happening every now and then is about holding doors. I appreciate when guys hold doors for me, even though I don’t expect them to (it’s a grey area between expecting chivalry and being an independent woman)  I hold doors for people too, when I am passing through and have people behind me who are about to do the same. The frustrating part comes when I hold the door open for me and the person standing on the other side of the door goes first. Do I look like the doorman to you? I have opened the door, let me pass first. I don’t care if you are a woman (because I am no less a woman than you) or a man (damn…where are your manners!?) (It would be different if you were an elder or a child, in which case I am not annoyed with you). It’s not like I opened the gates of Narnia for you and you have only 3 seconds to pass!

We were taught 5 golden words in school: Please, Thank you, Welcome, Sorry and Excuse Me. Simple words, easy to remember and do not cost you any money. Use them with a smile and watch how they make your day more beautiful.

This is an article I came across today 7 Modern Day Ways To Leave A Lasting Impression. It was a modest read and made sense. I already follow 4 of these and am planning to imbibe the remaining 3 too.

When my office help wishes me good morning, I wish her back with a smile and my morning does turn out good! J

This got me thinking today….

LinkedIn recommended this news to me today “There Are Only Four Jobs in the Whole World – Are You in the Right One?” – By Lou Adler. My first thoughts were.. what would be the categories? Perhaps Engineering, Medical, Law, Entertainment, etc. Is this article going to talk about the most interesting or maybe the well-paid jobs in the market today? Well this should be interesting! I was pleasantly surprised to learn something new and entirely different!

The four jobs that the article spoke about were:

·         Thinkers – people who give birth to new ideas

·         Builders – people who give shape to these ideas and convert them to reality

·         Improvers – people who make existing processes better

·         Producers – people who maintain the processes

Naturally, I tried to find my place in this theory. I believe I am at the grass root level of my organization. Being a techie, my primary role is to build what is required and to maintain what has already been built. So majorly, I belong to the producers club. Lately, I have also been interacting with my clients directly, to understand their ideas and figure out how to implement them. So I have been trickling into the Builders bunch too.

Moving further, I now have a new point of view to determine what I want to do in the future. So apart from deciding which industry or domain would interest me or what position do I want to rise to and how much money I want to mint, I am now also conscious of what nature of job do I want to indulge in.

As diverse as human nature gets, it wouldn’t be so that a person is only a thinker or a builder or an improver or a producer right? There is surely a little bit of all the four in all of us. But when it comes to your job, I believe thinking in this direction might just also help you figure out if you are doing what you love!

So who are you today and who do you want to become tomorrow? 

I got robbed last night !

 this is just so dumb ! They literally snatched the bag from my hand and zoomed away on their bike ! And I just cant come to terms with it -_-
Me and my sister went to see the late night show of Iron Man 3 and by the time the show got over, it was pretty close to midnight. But its Mumbai, late night doesn't bother you or maybe it should ? We caught a rick and were on our way home, when we suddenly saw another rick go topsy-turvy on the highway ! It was an accident ! Our rick guy parked at the side of the road and rushed to help while we watched. Luckily none was hurt. So our driver came back and we resumed our journey back home. While I was chatting with my sister suddenly 2 guys on a bike crept up from the right. The pillion rider snatched the bag from my hand, before I could even realize what the heck happened, they had sped up and whizzed past us ! When I realized the horror, I just exclaimed "Oh shit !" and I went blank , straight out panic attack ! I am not the one who screams for help, so I just froze and kept saying :Oh Shit !" "oh No !" (like that would help..duh ) The rest that followed is hazy ! My rickshaw driver tried to follow the bike, but of course the bike was faster and they went out of sight in no time. I dint even have the sense to take down the bike number ! Hell I couldn't even see their face properly ! :(
My sister immediately called up my dad, (my parents were out of town !) my dad called up a few other people and all the while I was just crying cause it seemed like I lost everything ! My friendly neighbors helped me get an FIR lodged and I spent most part of the night at the police station trying to get this sorted.
I know I am not getting any of my stolen stuff back, call me a pessimist but I am talking from experience. I also now have to spend more money on getting all my debit cards, credit cards, driving license, PAN card, Office Ids, etc reissued. I lost my beautiful Samsung Galaxy Note 800 which was less than 6 months old (Scribbles is what I had named it..even though I am not really into naming my stuff).
The policemen said they will find it. My friends say you are going to earn it all back, but it still doesn't soften the blow. Also what if it gets stolen again ? I buy something I like from my hard earned money only to get it taken away by some low life losers again ? I always thought I was a strong girl and now my confidence has taken such a beating because I couldn't do anything about it. How could it slip out of my hand so easily ? How alert can you really be ?
I have had extreme support from all my friends and family in dealing with this, but I guess I just need to finish mourning over this properly...I am gonna miss you Scribbles ! </3

the "fortoise"

I am walking down the street....

and I am in a hurry. The sun is shinning bright and the temperature seems to be rising by the minute. My goal is simple : to reach office on time. I do not doubt my speed, for if I were any faster I had leave a puff of smoke behind me like the roadrunner. I ignore the heat, the dust, the noise, the smoke, lewd remarks from strangers and so on, until I get slowed down by these new breed of street walkers who annoy the hell out of me. I had like to name them the "fortoise" (*fone-tortoise). I know it doesn't sound good, all the more reason to choose this name.
The "fortoise" try to think that they can multi-task by texting/chatting on their cellphones and walking on the streets at the same time. Sorry you can't. Not only does it slow your pace of walking terribly, it also takes away your attention from the street making you prone to accidents. I had selfishly like to highlight my primary concern ie. you slowing me down and blocking my way. But on a serious note, I have read of an incident (some newspaper clipping) wherein a girl was so engrossed in her cellphone while walking on the road, that she dint notice there was a drain in front of her and fell right into it. Luckily she escaped with no major injuries but I sincerely hope she has learnt her lesson.
So the fortoise are not mean villains but naive idiots, who need to wake up from their mobile induced slumber and realize that they need to walk on the streets more responsibly and try not walking into poles. If it is an important conversation, stand in the corner of the street, finish texting and carry on (my wayward son...oops got distracted !) . If not, then give yourself a break and walk down the street with some respect and your head held high !

Miles to go before I sleep...so keep calm and street-walking ! :)