Business to the Buddha

Tag: Ego

  • Back to the basics – 4 unforgettable lessons for life

    Back to the basics – 4 unforgettable lessons for life

    We’d just returned from our B-school. We were living in a small apartment. One of our roommates said, “there is an AdMad competition tomorrow, I have registered our team”. AdMad was a competition for creating an advertisement for a random brand such as Superman’s underwear or Bereavement services. This night I learnt 4 unforgettable lesssons for life.

    When it comes to ad creation, I am not that creative. I could at best play a second Fidel. After some discussion, somehow we – as a team – were ready for the competition.

    Organizers had very unique conditions. This is generally the case when you are competing in B-school competitions.

    The topics or brands were given late evening. We had to submit our entries by 5 AM the next day. Teams could not make corrections after submission etc. It was one hell of a challenge, not because of the terms and conditions – we were used to it by now. It was a tough task because such creative expression was new for us all engineers :). Additionally, the topics were beyond imagination.

    Where to start?

    Just-be

    When we got our brand, we started brainstorming. I was completely clueless about where to start. Then it stuck to us, let’s go to our lessons of “Integrated Marketing Communication” course notes. Mr. Sohan Shah taught us the course, he had taught us this course with a practical approach.

    Learning – Desperately search for options, explore all the possibilities, and ask for help if needed.

    In teams put ego aside

    We got a good approach to start our entry. However, life is not that easy. After some initial brainstorming, we were working on my laptop for the final entry. My laptop had a battery issue. So, after some work, I requested two of my teammates to join me in the room. I and one other teammate were working in my room.

    Ego lesson put your ego aside

    This small incident turned into an ego issue. One friend said “why can’t you come here?”

    I explained the problem. Call it our naivety or any of the other multiple reasons – the pressure of participation and our other studies, fear of failure, the anxiety of doing something for the first time, and of course ego. We argued on where to work?

    Forget about anything we did not have any creative concept on the board to have  “creative differences” :).

    We debated on sitting in one room or the other to start work. We stopped the project and tasks completely on a random non-issue. It was midnight. We were nowhere close to completing our submission.

    After a while, I gave up and said I didn’t give my name as a team member, I won’t go. Whoever registered the team it’s his responsibility. The other two held their ground. The most composed of our team members was trying to build the bridge. All in vain. We were all in our beds, kind of giving up on the competition.

    Some time passed, I came out and said if my name is on the list I will stand there on the podium even if I don’t have anything. I won’t run away. So, finally, two out of the four started working again.

    Learning – Keep aside ego when it comes to a group task. Find solutions instead of issues.

    Go back to the basics

    We started off from where we had left. Where are the notes? Lets check what we learnt in “Integrated Marketing Communication” course. We started working on the basics.

    Back to basics
    • Chapter 1, market research. What does customer research say about our brand? These are the finding.
    • Chapter 2 Segmentation, Targeting. Find who is the best fit segment or segments. How to address their needs
    • Chapter 3 Positioning. Let’s write a positioning statement. We followed the instructions to the tee as if someone is teaching us to write sentences. The statement was making sense.
    • Chapter 4 Ad insight. What is the insight and how do we want to communicate as per the insight.
    • Chapter 5 Execution – the storyboard.

    The two team members had given some creatives for the entry. The rest of the creatives we search including the iStock images. It was looking really shabby. But finally, something was shaping up as a coherent story.

    We concluded the entry by the wee hours. Reviewed our entry and sent it to the organizing committee and our other two teammates. They were still upset, nevertheless.

    Learning – Go back to the basics and build up from there.

    Do not be afraid, give it your 100%

    Finally, after completing our regular classroom schedule, we were in the hall. The competition started. I and my friend were in the hall looking for our other team members. They had decided not to join.

    One after the other teams presented their Ad or concepts. With each entry, I and my friend were literally sinking in our chairs. There were awesome videos, wonderful jingles, music, roleplays everything except a PowerPoint. We had a deck! On top of it, it was a bland deck.

    Our entry was after 70% of the teams. We’re scared to even stand on the dais. But as I had said, I won’t back out. I will stand even without an entry if my name is there.

    Our names came. Both of us went on the stage. The first thing was – only two out of a team of four were present. I started off “After this ad we’ve so many orders that the other two are working on backend supply chain and distribution channels :)” We could not discuss the issue we had on dias, isn’t it?

    I started off the presentation again Chapter by Chapter of Mr. Shah’s class “Integrated Marketing Communication”. It was too convincing I think. Initially, people tried hooting us, but slowly the seriousness seeped in, and everyone was listening. We concluded the deck. Since there was silence, we felt it was damn boring and people dosed off within 2 mins. It was completely against the other interesting concepts, from fun to seriousness.

    Once the last team had presented, it was jury time. We knew the result, we were the most frustrating, boring, and bland Ad. I and my teammate were sitting and listening to the results. First, and second prize was obvious. Ideally, it was the end of the competition. However, Professor Tomas Lopez (Sir I miss you) continued.

    Prof-Lopez-Pravin-shoe
    This is Professor Lopez virtually beating me with his shoe

    He said – It was a great competition. All of you put in a lot of effort and brought some wonderful concepts. There were funny ads, emotional ads, good role plays, use of AV, technology, music everything. However, there was one ad that could bring customers to the counter, sales for the business. I know the execution or presentation could have been better, but given time and opportunity, it could be done. This special second runner-up is for “our team”.

    We were astonished. But we were happy. It was a great surprise and the words of appreciation were more than the prize. It was our first such attempt – we all were engineers :).

    Learning – Do not be afraid, give it your 100%. When in doubt go back to the basics and give it your 100%

    Lessons

    The lessons from this incident go beyond B-school. The learning is for personal, professional, social, and spiritual all walks of life. The lessons are

    1. Search for options, explore all the possibilities, and ask for help if needed
    2. Ego should not come in our way when it comes to a group task.
    3. Go back to the basics and build up from there.
    4. Do not be afraid, give it your 100%. When in doubt back to the basics and give it your 100%
    5. Bonus – one must follow the plan and path carefully until that becomes second nature. They as it takes 10,000 hours to master something.
    6. Additional bonus – Find solutions instead of issues.

    We had challenges as a team. Our creative expressions were limited. We had unnecessary issues that we could avoid. For example – I could save work on my laptop. Put it to sleep go to the other room and start discussions. It was an easy solution that I didn’t apply.

    We did a few things correctly. Going back to the basics and giving our 100%. Whenever in doubt go back to the basics. I have heard that when a boxer loses and his confidence is low, he goes back to smaller level competitions besides practice.

    Since we were doing such creative work for the first time, the lesson is – one must follow the plan and path carefully until that becomes second nature. It is said that it takes about 10,000 hours to master a skill isn’t it?

    I can go on giving examples of the lessons from personal, professional, social or spiritual life however that is for some other day.

    Until then you can do your introspection on how these lessons could help you in your past incidents? It is likely that you did not apply and now you think I wish I had done that. It is likely that you did apply and now you think it made a positive difference. Do share your thoughts.

    Image source Ego –

    Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

    Back to basics – Photo by Mathieu Turle on Unsplash

  • Seeking recognition

    Disclaimer – Death of Sushant Singh Rajpoot (SSR) has moved me deeply. This blog post is dedicated to him. Neither this post nor I mean to insinuate anything related to the causes of death or anything related to the big personality in SSR. I request you to please look at the message at a larger perspective.

    Humans are social animals which eventually results in seeking recognition. We end up seeking recognition from our family, friends, peers, and society. This happened with me a few years back and recently. I realized that one must grow beyond this exercise itself. This social acceptance can take a toll on our physical and mental well-being. This can result in we taking an emotional decision rather than a logical one. Life is a miracle we must simply live it why bother to seek recognition?

    My story – Morality, logic and larger balanced perspective

    A few years back one of my friends was posting some international matter concerns particularly relating to a country East of India. So I replied or spoke with him – I forgot now if I replied or called – I said, this is a matter of concern however it is at Central Govt level to take any decision be it settling the affected in India. He was furious, he said something in rage and shared some disturbing photos on my Facebook messenger. I replied to that saying –

    1. we do not know the authenticity of these pictures and
    2. if we have concerns for the Eastern part of India we must have a balanced approach – western part of India and even the Mediterranean and southwestern Asia. We should have the same scale of measurement on any religious atrocities.
    3. if we concern ourselves with one kind of the oppressed people we must have our ears open for the other oppressed and consider all of them equal. Or the oppressed should consider living in a more socially acceptable country isn’t it?

    This was a question of morality for him for me it was a question of logic and balanced perspective. He was upset, unfriended me on Facebook. I came to know about that later. I felt I was more logical and balanced. When I came to know he unfriended me I wrote to him – “not being a friend on FB does not mean we are not friends, isn’t it?” We had been friends for decades and it was an abrupt end to communication. At times one must leave aside being correct and logical, however this is an afterthought :).

    Seeking recognition

    I had been considering a discussion, in our common friend group too. Unfortunately, there was no reciprocation. So, I tried analyzing. I was trying to seek recognition. Unknowingly, I was seeking recognition for my point of view and logical thought over the emotional opinion of my friend. Why am I ruminating about all these things?

    sushant-singh-rajput

    When I felt is it useless, suddenly, we heard the death of Sushant Singh Rajpoot. There are many theories whether it was murder or suicide. Though, the truth seems elusive until now. Some reports say he was undergoing depression, though it is tough to believe. It is said that he did not receive recognition from the film industry that he deserved. This incident has opened a pandora’s box on not only Bollywood but also in other fields where nepotism is at its peak – publishing brought forward by Author Ameesh and Sanjeev Sanyal. Being an insider, Sushant might have known the awards were for sale – India Today report of Rishi Kapoor.

    Sushant’s death let me ask a question – why would someone seek recognition? In fact I was doing the same off late.

    I felt two things. Assuming it was depression forcing him to take the extreme step, he was seeking recognition at the wrong place and two he could look at brighter side too. He had more than 2 million followers on twitter, 13.9 million followers on Instagram. Numerous (read millions), like me, have watched him on TV or cinema hall and praised his performance. he had a good success rate in movies. I still find it difficult to accept he committed suicide.

    Net-net, point I was ruminating was – at times in our emotional or local circle we try to seek recognition whereas it may be unnecessary to do that. At times, people are emotionally blinded or at times you need to look beyond the small local circle, you have many more who understand your logical reasoning and admire you.

    You do not need to prove anything to anyone. Do not seek recognition from others, especially from those who look down upon you.

  • Knowledge and spontaneity

    The ability to remember and to think a lot about our previous impressions, limits us. Is it a possibility that our intelligence is our stupidity? Our ability to remember a lot of things is probably something that hampers us to explore the unexplored? Or this knowledge hampers our ability to look at possibilities beyond the past experiences that we have. Some times some things happen around us that is beyond our ability to comprehend and beyond justification of our past experience / learnings.

    Is it possible that these abilities are making us limited or in some cases mad? Can we be more enlightened more aware, having attention in now? If we have an ease of forgetting things and probably a very limited attention span, is it likely that we will be more aware and be an observant. Higher the attention span it may make us intelligent compared to other animals. Is it a possibility that this boon of attention, remembering things is driving us away from the consciousness?

    You may also like

    Anand Utsave with sri sri brief experience of a course that I attended under sri sri.
    Buddha Purnima A guided meditation that you can try on full moon, guided by sri sri himself
    Why-Analysis – Karma A part of knowledge session on karma
    Adviti and genes of generations Another guided meditation by Guru ji

    How our mind thinks – we analyze, we compare, we try to create analogies and thus we tend to lose spontaneity. Our education system makes us remember things instead of being creative and spontaneous. I was thinking about all this a couple of weeks back and came across this wonderful knowledge sheet by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guru ji).

    alogies and thus we tend to lose spontaneity. Our education system makes us remember things instead of being creative and spontaneous. I was thinking about all this a couple of weeks back and came across this wonderful knowledge sheet by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Guru ji).

    Weekly Knowledge #217 Bangalore Ashram 19 Aug 1999 India
    KNOWLEDGE AS A BURDEN – Knowledge is a burden if it robs you of innocence.
    Knowledge is a burden if it is not integrated into life.
    Knowledge is a burden if it doesn’t bring joy.
    Knowledge is a burden if it gives you an idea that you are wise.
    Knowledge is a burden if it doesn’t set you free.
    Knowledge is a burden if it makes you feel you are special.
    Knowledge session Kanakdhara Mumbai
    Sri Sri Ravishankar, Art of living, Guruji
    Guruji

    The best thing about Guru ji is – he makes complex things simple and easy to understand. At times, this simplicity makes one wonder – why a spiritual master is not that esoteric in his teachings? The beauty of the best teacher is making the most complex subject easy to understand, Guru ji does that with perfection.

    Guru ji is visiting Mumbai on 28th and 29th Oct 2019. Do attend the sessions – and experience – music, meditation, knowledge and spontaneity.

  • Ego – “growth”

    Smiling-Baby

    Adviti – my daughter – is close to 1.5 years now. I have been witnessing her growth as any parent would. Earlier, she used to cry mostly when she was hungry then slowly the “needs” increased and “reasons” for crying too. When something she wants does not happen, she expresses it her own way. Slowly she has learnt another method of expressing herself – either making a sharp sound or fists to show her anger. In all these months, I see there is a kind of growth. The growth I am talking about starts sticking with us. It is about our ego, getting the things done our way.

    I was discussing a situation with a friend of mine. He is too talkative – yes more than me. During our call based on the situations and narratives, I was finding loopholes in his arguments and interrupting him. I told him that the situation in your case proves that you are egoist, reasons a, b and c. He gave alternative reasoning to my pointers to which I gave more alternative reasoning. The call concluded, it was futile to explain to him from an outsider’s perspective.

    My days with Adviti are turning more interactive, expressive and entertaining. I see, the recent phone call and Adviti’s activities in a lens that makes me feel that we grow in certain way and ego starts blending in our lifestyle sooner than probably we expect.

    Adviti is able to differentiate between herself and others. She is slowly understanding that we appreciate few things and do not few others. If she has to getaway with unacceptable actions she has started knowing her away out. My friend was trying the same – finding a way out with alternative arguments.

    I doubt if I should call it ego in case of Adviti she is barely 16+ months. Yet, when I see her at times looking for recognition, at times faking sobbing and showing bit of anger it shows she is growing, she is recognizing her liking and possibly her way of getting things done.

    When we start growing and our ego is in between it limits our possibilities of blossoming, be it personal life or professional. My friend is stuck, he still needs to learn it is his ego that is causing him the pain.

  • Why would people remember you?

    My previous post was kind of misunderstood. Some friends messaged me about purpose and having no goal in life. My answer to that is We are trying to create a correlation between goal and people remembering you. The point I think is somewhat missed – the question was why would people remember you? I believe a person’s goals in life should not be inspired by a wish that people should/must remember you. I concluded my previous blog – the inspiration and remembrance is choice of other person not necessarily goal of a-person.

    A singer sings, because he has a good voice. People listen and appreciate the singer for his/her voice, probably for the music or lyrics etc. Does it mean the singer sings only for getting those appreciations? If yes, the goal of singer is very low, of course goal is certainly the choice of the singer but it does not mean that every singer will sing for appreciations or money or being remembered for. There were, are and will be many such talented people who would perform their talent for their owns satisfaction. Some will be remembered and many others will be forgotten. Does that make the forgotten talents any lesser talented?

    Personally speaking I have run around with a lot of lofty goals in life, I still have many. My opinion is that my personal goals are my inspirations and “personal”. If someone feels inspired by them, it is their choice. It is their prerogative as well as their own wish. Occasionally, I ended up with the endless need for the next goal and then the next one and so on. Result – it had been a hedonic treadmill run, faster you run it gets faster without any end in sight. I have written on these goals, running around and what next a couple of times earlier. Everything ends up for me on a very famous shloka of Bhagvat Geeta –
    कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
    मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ २-४७
    Romans
    Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
    Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani
    Meaning –
    You’ve a right to perform your prescribed action, but you’re not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty.

    So effectively, one’s purpose of live or goal should be limited to the action. Others remembering you or validating “your purpose” is useless (as long as your purpose is not to kill others / infringe on other’s freedom). Further, when I connect these things to spirituality, even “wishing” something, somewhere gives at least a slightest hint of ego.

  • What will people remember you for?

    Almost every Sunday, I go for Art of living follow up. Here we do some yoga, pranayams and Sudarshan Kriya. Whenever someone asks me about Art of living and eventually Sudarshan Kriya, I say – “one must do Sudarshan Kriya at least once before dying”. It changes you from within. After the session, not just me but many people feel tranquility and peace of mind. Personally, I don’t even want to speak (even think) for some time at least. The experience is wonderful, being with one’s Self – with a capital S.

    So today too after the session I was in the same state. Our follow up teacher asked – “what would you want people to remember you for?” It was an interesting question. I had never given it a thought. Why would I want people to remember me? I gave an honest response – I never thought about it. Some responses were ‘I made people happy’, ‘for a peaceful life’ and ‘I did not bother people.’

    All these answers were good, but were not my answer. I thought a bit – should I be remembered for my thoughts, blog articles, being a successful professional / entrepreneur, a wonderful father etc. What would I want people to remember me for? No single option was resonating with me. At the same time, my mind was wandering in another direction too. Why would I want people to remember me? Does not it sound like having a bit of ego, if not very overt and prominent one?

    My answer was confusing; “I never gave it a thought”. As if I won’t die and people won’t get chance to remember me! But even if I die one day, why should anyone remember me?

    The teacher then said a wonderful line of the movie Kung Fu Panda – “Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that does not make you who you are, it is the rest of it- who you choose to be” The teacher concluded find purpose in your life.

    When the word purpose came on the fore, the only answer that resonated with me was – I want to be enlightened. The dilemma is – “I”, “want” and “remember” these things are kind of craving. Is not craving the thing that one has to drop? Even for that matter craving to be enlightened!

    At times such question seems futile. Though it doesn’t mean one has given up or there is no purpose in life. If life-journey of a-person’s life inspires / makes some other person remember that a-person, the inspiration and remembrance is choice of other person not necessarily goal of a-person.

  • Mumbai and ego







    Mumbai is a unique city. I was talking to a friend of mine and had a eureka moment. There is a relationship between Mumbai and ego. One can learn a lesson or two on spirituality from Mumbai.

    Ego puts itself at center and everything – including the world – around itself. Similar thing happens in Mumbai. Geographically Mumbai is in length, unlike many other cities. There is no way you can be in center of the city if you are in a corner.

    Map of Mumbai, Mumbai and egoMumbai has three railway lines – Central, Harbor and Western. Western line is of affluent people, Central line people feel they are in the center of city. Harbor line is of Navi Mumbai, one of the largest planned city in the world.

    Western line is very crowded, at times if you are stuck in traffic on western express highway you are immobile for an hour or so. When you talk to people of Western line, you will hear oh “western” is far better. It is centrally located, I get everything in my locality. Standard of living are simply incomparable with rest of Mumbai.

    Similar logic you get when you talk to people of central line. They will say trains run fastest on our line, eastern express highway is really a highway. We are centrally located and can reach anywhere easily. When you talk to people living on harbor line you will hear almost similar good reasons to be on harbor line. It is far more planned has a lot of space, wide roads and planned neighborhood unlike mainland Mumbai. Standard of living are far better than any other part of Mumbai – at least we have some space to live at home. These points are mostly by those who live in Navi Mumbai.

    Our ego also works in the same manner. We are centrally located, everything is centered around me. Ego tends to look at sunny side of self and possibly shortcomings of others.

    Whether you talk to a person living in Borivali (Western), Bhandoop (Central) or Chembur (harbor). Borivali is in north – similarly Bhandoop or Chembur. This is a unique learning you have from Mumbai. You consider yourself as the center and whole world is circling around you irrespective of whether it is so. It is like Shashi Throor hidden in all of us.

    Ego and Mumbai are one to one mapping, both of these show us how our mind manipulates us. We need to stop manipulation of self by the self.

  • Guru poornima







    I have had privilege of meeting at least three enlightened masters in my life (until now), mentors and coaches. Some of the mentors may be enlightened masters and I am not aware about those. However, rest three I am sure – Sai Kaka, Dada ji and Guruji. It is difficult to have very close day-to-day meeting with the enlightened masters. The mentors have a special place they guide, encourage, handhold, and challenge, I have been fortunate that I have a long list of mentors.

    I received a wonderful story on whatsapp “Importance of Guru” or mentor or coach in life.  Without much ado here is this wonderful story on Guru Poornima.

    ——————

    Once upon a time, a cow went out to graze in the jungle. Suddenly, she noticed a lion racing towards her. She turned and fled, fearing that at any moment the lion would sink his claws into her. The cow desperately looked for someplace to escape and at last, saw a shallow pond. Barely evading the lion’s reach, she jumped into the pond, and in the heat of the chase, the lion blindly leaped after her.

    Sai KakaTo the surprise of them both, the pond was extremely shallow yet filled with deep recesses of mud. After toppling over each other, the cow and the lion found themselves a short distance apart, stuck in the mud up to their necks. Both had their heads above water but were unable to free themselves no matter how much they writhDada Gavanded.

    The lion repeatedly snarled at the cow and roared, “I am going to enjoy the sound of crunching your bones between my teeth!”

    He thrashed about in fury but soon became fretful as he found no prospect of escape.

    The cow thoughtfully laughed as the lion struggled to free himself and asked him, “Do you have a master?”

    The lion disdainfully replied, “I am the king of the jungle. Why do you ask me if I have a master? I myself am the master!”

    The cow said, “You may be the king of the jungle, but here all your power has failed to save your life.”

    “And what about you?” Retorted the lion. “You are going to die here in this mud too!”’

    The cow smiled mildly and said, “No, I am not.”

    “If even I, the king of the jungle cannot free myself from this mud”, snapped the lion, “Then how can you, an ordinary cow?”

    The cow gently replied, “I cannot free myself from this mud, but my master can. When the sun sets and he finds me absent at home, he will come looking for me. Once he finds me, he will raise me up and escort me home sweet home.”

    The lion fell silent and coldly glared at the cow.

    Soon enough, the sunset and the cow’s master arrived. He immediately recognized the plight she was in and lifted her to safety. As they walked home, the cow and the master both felt renewed gratitude for one another and pitied the lion they both would have been happy to save if only the lion had allowed them.

    The cow represents a surrendered heart, the lion represents an egoistic mind, and the master represents the Guru. The mud represents the world, and the chase represents the struggle for existence therein.

    —————————————–

    Its good to be independent and not rely on anyone. But don’t take it to an extreme, you always need a partner/coach/mentor who will be always on the lookout for you.

    Having them does not mean you are weak, it’s just that you can be stronger with their help.

  • Focus







    It was a carefree weekend, I woke up as usual in early morning and was brushing my teeth. Chirping of birds, how did I miss it everyday? Today, I heard it clearly and with full attention. The thought came in mind again – I don’t even remember hearing this good morning call of birds; everyday.

    Is it a distraction from outside or there is some distraction inside? I left this thought as it is. It is difficult for ego to accept that something within can also be a distraction and cause botheration. It means – ego finds it difficult to accept the problem was/is itself / inside.

    These thoughts kept on lingering in mind. After two weeks of these thoughts, this Sunday I went for my regular group meditation practice. At the Art of living center, where we were doing our practice I got the answer. Renu di – the teacher – briefly discussed what is needed –

    Wherever your focus is, other things become distraction. If your focus is clear there may not be any distraction. On the contrary you may, once in a while, notice something and with awe observe it and move on to your focused activity. “Distractions are felt if you are not centered”

    [Tweet “Distractions are felt if you are not centered”]

    This Sunday during our session, a generator was switched-ON nearby, naturally it was noisy. However, we all could do our meditation easily. Renu di asked us – how was the session? Almost everyone had a good practice. She further asked – how many of you felt the loud noise was a distraction? It was not a distraction to any one. She added – whenever you are jittery go inside, when outside world distracts you, go inside. If there is anything bothering you observe yourself you will find botheration are when your focus changes.

    Life is easy, we complicate it by the concept of Monday blue and Friday fun. Even a Monday can be fun so can any other day. Just listen to the chirping of birds, give mind some rest, focus on what you are doing and life is fun.

    Image source – Pixabay – fxxu

  • Shashi Throor in us







    There is a Shashi Throor hidden in all of us. I did not mean the English one – “…farrago…” whose English is such that even native speakers (Brits) need to sit with dictionary. I meant Throor who feels besides him all others are “cattle class”. We all have that Shashi Throor hidden in us; if not all, many of us.

    Well, this feeling of “I am special” is too ingrained in the politicians and bureaucrats that many feel they are the god’s gift to the mankind – more precisely to India. If you have heard the statement – “You don’t know who my father is (you don’t know who am I)” in all likelihood you have confronted son or small time sidekick of some politician. Or “this will go upto the PMs office” you have lived in Delhi. The swagger is higher in politicians of higher level – like Shashi Throor. Also, this bullying happens by many other son’s of neta / small time netas to commoners like you and me.

    Throor’s cattle class comment is special. When he made this comment I believe he was to board a flight. A country where at least half of the population never traveled by a flight, calling the rest of 50% – who are rich enough to fly – a cattle class either makes one feel India has not progressed or there is some disorientation in the minds of few.

    At the same time, other mortals like you and me too have the feeling of being unique (watch a 1 minute video of Madagascar which will let you know – we are all unique – but still the same). We – most of us – have a feeling that I am one up over others and a (smaller than like of Throor) gift of god to the mankind. How it occurred to me that we all have a Shashi Throor in us (like Marty of Madagascar) was a brief chat with my sister.

    Once, my sister and her daughter was flying from Delhi by Indigo. They were in queue for check-in, a lady just cut through the line and went for check-in. Others in queue said – “we are all here in queue for check-in, Please get in the queue?” The lady said – “there is so much crowd.” My sister was second for check-in at that time, she told her – “Madam, everyone has a flight and is a passenger like you“. Some people when they realized the sarcasm, of crowd and passengers, told her – if you feel so special why dont you take Jet or Air India Business class why are you traveling Indigo? Isn’t it below your dignity to fly an economy flight if you are so special and not like others?

    The lady got the message – she is a part of crowd too, she is no different. But she didnt budge. After narrating this story to me my sister said you know we feel special for ourselves but feel other’s as “crowd”. We forget we are part of the same (in general and spiritual context too). The reason she told me this was – I was driving, picked her up from airport and was cribbing about traffic stating “driving is no fun here, it is a ordeal”. She told me we are all equal why are you cribbing?

    This cribbing was specially for those who drive Innova or other very long car – monster actually – alone to office or for those who cut lanes just to save their two-three minutes – end up messing whole road. She told me – accept this mess, you will be peaceful. Also, if you think the person cutting lane is crowd, you too are the same for him/her. Accept that traffic is going to be here – you are no special – in fact at times you are the traffic! We laughed, I learnt my lesson, though I still crib about traffic – bit less though. Knowledge will sink slowly.

    I wish Shashi Throor (and many others) too had a sister like my sister who can teach him/her – we are unique, yet same. We all are Marty of Madagascar – we need to identify that others are equally unique and like us. At times we’re the traffic. We’re the cattle / sheep – pun intended – following the one ahead of us – by wheedling someone (praising an incompetent).

     

    PS – The blog is to make a point – we are unique yet similar and are equal humans. There should not be any ego. “Cattle class” of Shashi Throor happened to be a pertinent example. The author does not intend to malign political personality or defame/demean anyone (including Shashi Throor).