The 'Little One' around….

• A child faces the world next through his / her own appearance and expression.... These are original to each child and he / she never modifies the same easily for surroundings except for self protection.... 

• The child is all inquisitive to learn the maximum when he / she thus faces the world.... The opinions / beliefs are the least mostly for existence and he / she is all open to learn from the surroundings through questioning, questioning and only questioning…. Nature is invariably the Right Teacher in this Scenario.... 

• The child never forms opinions about good and bad.... He / she knows only to smile at all around him / her and that smile is a natural outcome of the feeling of Oneness in Nature.... A thief who came to the house to rob, having finished the job by keeping the inmates under threat and was leaving the place, when happened to glance at the child among the inmates, the little one in no time extended a broad smile at him.... 

• The child is amidst various forces around which may be protective or a threat, but moves freely without an iota of knowledge of these beyond except for the immediate need and safety requirements.... 

• The child is the Future Promise to the Nation and would be a Ruler tomorrow at one of the various Levels in the Society around.... And that Future Ruler does the job in front with dedication and love only when he / she as child receives the same from the Caretaker and others at large.... 

So, the next time.... Whatever may be the problems with me / the turmoil in me, however busy I may be and wherever I may be, whenever I come across a child with an explicit innate curiosity, let me spend a moment in reciprocating that through a smile and a wish in my heart for the betterment of the little one in his / her future life and truly speaking out, it costs nothing for me!

What is my 'True Contribution' here?

To a comment that being a Great Personality He was having a small addiction, the Great Saint said, “Let it be there in this life…. Else what is the interest for this body to continue living on this earth?”

That was the 'Simplicity' of the Master who accepted the deficiency in Him ‘AS IS’ never speaking of Himself as great….

The Contemporary Philosopher was approached by his disciples for His acceptance to form an Association of them with He, as the Head but the Great Saint refused permission for the same saying instead of good, evil may prevail around such Associations…. Subsequently, when the disciples had gone ahead with their proposal as their own Right of Expression and formed the Association, He instantly proclaimed, “As the Official Head, I hereby dissolve the Association!”

That was the 'Openness' and 'No Ownership' feeling of the Great Man as he preached the same….

Another Great Personality said…. "If all living beings of the Universe stand in a queue in the descending order as per their skills and strengths, I would like to stand behind the smallest and the weakest….”

That was the 'Humility of Expression' with the Great Man….

When I thus hear about the simple Proclamations and Assertions of the Great People, let it be.... either in accepting their own short comings, showing their 'No Possessive Attitude' or 'Worldly Interest' etc all of them ultimately leading to the Unique Way of expressing the 'Selfless Attitude', let me too contribute 'My Bit' in this direction without an exception and further be ready to do more if possible and thus be 'Blessed' in this life!

The Missing Link in all Welfare Activities....

A king thought thus…

“There is no point in saying that my people in my Kingdom should prosper when I do not allocate money for their welfare and development in sufficient amounts.... There is always a tendency on behalf of Rulers to allocate meager amounts for the welfare and development and expect people to grow and prosper.... This can happen only when the King truly allots a big chunk of budget for these activities.…

But where big amounts are involved, invariably there will be corruption and misuse and these amounts are likely to be diverted into personal pockets unless proper checks are kept on spending and the corrupt Officials are booked in time and punished mercilessly….

The picture thus being crstal clear, I will allocate sizable amounts towards these programs in this year and follow up the spending simultaneously proclaiming stringent punishments for those who try to pocket these funds so that the monies go into the right hands!”

The king discussed the matter with the Minister who cautioned him on the likely failure of the ambitious plan in some quarters even if followed up with all vigor..... The King felt bad for the Minister's pessimistic approach but paying no heed to the advice, simply had gone ahead with his proposal....

Some time had passed....

Slowly, the King noticed that at the back of the whole process, certain groups of people were quite relaxing with the funds released where as certain other groups were starving without any development at their end…. And he could not understand why it happened….

The Minister made some quick enquiries and presented the details to the King.... He said, “Your Highness! All the time, Your Majesty had strictly ensured that huge sums are allocated and no one can pocket the funds; that's all! Here, the funds were available for the Programs and the Officials could not touch them for their personal use as they were strictly monitored for any misuse of these amounts....  In the process, they became dull and took no interest in proper distribution of the funds.... So when the year end approached and they have to tally the accounts through spending, they simply dumped the funds in easy areas close to them on excess welfare and development…. Meaning…. The people in these areas were given everything plenty and thus they started relaxing with the excess.... The groups with meager release of funds were suffering with the shortages as usual…. Your Highness had for gotten to ensure the proper distribution among all which surely needs taking certain definite pains by the Officials and doing the related activities beyond their own self interests and that devotion was missing!”

A Comedy of Errors....

###  A serious class was being conducted for the Commerce Students on Stock Markets.... The topic of discussion for the day was IPOs....The Instructor initiated the lecture and just casually asked the class, “Any one knows when a Company goes for an IPO?”

“When the Company funds are mis-used and spent away by the unscrupulous Management beyond a limit, to get the required Working Capital for running the minimum day to day business of the Company in the Financial Year, the Promoters go in for an IPO and raise funds from the public” was the instantaneous answer….

###  The members of a Management Office had a novel idea of improving their image.... Accordingly, a ‘Complaint Box’ was set up in front of their Office with a Caption, 'You are requested to give your Complaints without any hesitation.... We wish to genuinely attend to all of them and give you a trouble free Service!'

In a few days the box was full.... The Committee Members when glanced through the complaints made, soon found that they really had no idea of resolving the different issues brought out for a solution.... To circumvent this deficiency, they had another great idea, “Why not take suggestions from them to correct all these and capture the ideas?”; indeed a clever motive!

Accordingly a 'Suggestion Box' was set up by the side with a Caption, 'Your Valuable Suggestions for improvement are needed!' Next day itself the box was full…. When the Committee Members happily opened the Box, all the suggestions had one common message, 'We suggest change of the present Management!'

###  An Orator was invited to speak on the promotion of a Standard Sanitary Product which essentially was a replica of purity as the Manufacturers' claimed….He was given a paper just to read out as he might not know the subject in detail.... The man kept the same in his pocket, relaxed for a while and approached the dais....

As usual he made his beginning…. “…….Your good health forever is our primary concern.... For the same reason, our Product is made totally in a pure uncontaminated environment where we pay the highest attention for the basic hygiene…. In our ultra clean Laboratories where you do not find a speck of dust, we diligently….” and took out the chit given to him from his pocket and started reading.…"collect the dirty garbage from all the corners, segregate the same into the dry and the wet garbages, keep the dry one in a corner to dispose off at the end of the week, take the wet and further segregate all the green smelly portions…..”

At this point of time, the Manager ran to the dais, pulled the Speaker from there and saved the situation.... On enquiry, it was found that the Speaker carried a similar chit in his pocket to be given to his servant boy in his house before leaving which he forgot to do....

The 'Help' around....

A young man had a tough problem in life.... As he was trying his best to resolve the issue, his elder brother happened to visit him and helped him in that process.... The young man was highly relieved.... Subsequently, he encountered another conflicting issue.... That too had got his brother’s help in time!  Life went on that way and a few years passed by....

Suddenly the young man had the toughest problem with him and he thought that he was gone forever.... But strangely, the brother did not turn up but only made a verbal enquiry in respect of the difficulty the young man encountered.... The young man was really sad and felt that his brother did not really care for him.... He could somehow resolve the issue himself and was recovering from the damage.... After a few weeks, his brother visited him and made a personal enquiry regarding the problem....

The young man was really annoyed.... He straight away shot at him,  “You helped me so nicely on two occasions, what prevented you from coming to my rescue on this occasion which every one around felt as the toughest problem of my life?”

The brother smiled and told him thus, “Dear! You are totally mistaken.... We are only doing our jobs independently all the time and have to continue doing that way only.... Meaning, I never came to you to help you in a special way.... I was continuously doing my duty.... On two occasions, I happened to be with you, on the third; somewhere else....  And when I was with you, I did what was required at that moment; that's all.... Neither less nor more! 

If you truly understand, life is like a journey going on continuously.... Imagine, we are on an urgent errand and are traveling by train.... Suppose on the way, a co-passenger falls sick and the train is to be detained there for some time....   We still whole heartedly extend all our help required in that direction and never think of reaching our destination in time by neglecting the sick passenger!  But at the same time, none of the passengers will get off specially at an intermediate station to help out some one in need on the platform....  In a similar way I was doing my actions all these days and continue to do even now....” 

The young man was taken aback by the openness and clarity of thoughts of his brother!

The Hidden 'Truth'....

In an Office, two Managers were functioning in parallel….

An Assistant who in the past had given enough headaches to few Bosses in respect of the discharge of his Official Duties, strangely was found to be quite listening to one of those two Managers where as for the other as usual, was a 'hard nut to crack!'….

On a particular day during their Coffee Break, the two Managers were discussing causally the Office Matters and in the process the discussions turned to the problematic Assistant….

“Dear!  I found you somehow pull on with this Assistant in our Group without much problem…. How are you able to do this?  I find it really tough to handle this man....” commented the one who was almost a failure in that aspect….

The other Manger smiled and said, “Dear! You know…. In respect of those who work with us, there are some responsibilities attached to them along with their own rights at work….

I sincerely follow a Code of Conduct here…. Never question on their rights but meticulously follow up with the discharge of their responsibilities….

After doing this in the right way, whatever cushion is with me which our Top Mangement had provided to manage the day to day issues, I use that judiciously so that when they listen I give out but when refuse to listen, I ration this giving…. That’s one of the reasons of my control on this Assistant too…. Further....."

The other Manger interrupted him there and said, “What you are saying, I too follow and there is nothing great unknown here…. But still this man gives me the never ending problems…. I think he favors you and not me; that’s all!”

The first one said, “Yes! that’s right…. The reason for this is………”

The other one abruptly interrupted him and said, “It’s nothing…. Again I am telling you.... This man likes to take Orders from you and not from me; that’s it…. You are just lucky.... Else, you are not doing any thing extra special here which I don't do or am not ready to do….”

Just then, the Office Boy came in and said, “Sir! Mr……… (The Assistant) seems to have a problem in his work…. He wants to talk to you…. Shall I send him in?”

The first Manager instantly said, “Hey! Wait….Tell him  that I am busy…. I’ll see him later…..” and as the Office Boy left, he turned towards his friend Manager and said “I don’t want this headache in these morning hrs…. Let me avoid him now…. He surely spoils my day and I can't afford it now as I have planned an Outing today evening with my family …..”

The other smiled and said to his friend, "If you agree, I'll try to look into his problem...."and immediately called the Office Boy and said, “Let him come to me in another half hr…. I’ll look into his problem….”  After the Office Boy left, he prepared himself to move to his Chamber for the day’s task….

Later, One of Staff Members in the Office was seen speaking to another Colleague in a soft tone…. “Our that.……. Manager Saab appears to be too much afraid…. He quickly gets away from many Office problems and takes shelter with a comfortable position….. But Our other Sir,…..... No, never like that!…. He is totally a different man at work…. Always ready to take up any issue whether he is able to give a solution or not…. He is the Manager who is never afraid of facing any issue in our Office however complex it may be…. Actually, he is the right Boss for us…. The other man…. I don’t know why our Management gave him promotion and brought him here....”

The Strange 'Back Up' Services'....

###  When it is a question of making use of a Door Delivery Service, the same may be sometimes a little uncomfortable in respect of the receipt of duplicate Keys for front door....

### I was trying to make an important call on my mobile phone…. As I selected the Contact, instantly a Voice message came up, “You are not allowed to make a call on this number… Please make a note!” I was shocked and could never understand the meaning behind the message as the number was that of a known man only and I correctly selected the name what was saved to my Contacts…. Perplexed, as I opened the details saved under the name to my surprise, I noticed a single digit saved as the Contact No…. Don't know how but the tone of the Voice message haunts me even today….

### The prospective Customer was in rage due to the total failure on the behalf of Vendor in respect of his Supplies in time.... He picked up his mobile phone and made call to the Vendor's number to blast him saying as a Supplier he had to bend down before the tough Customers like him….A Voice message came on the phone instantly saying, “The Customer you are trying to call is presently busy on another call.... If you want to speak to him, please wait.... He can be contacted only when he finishes the other call….”  The man quickly rang up to the Phone Company and shouted, “This is not my Customer; he is my Supplier.... Please correct yourself first!”

###  Overheard a joke…. Long back when Telephone Services were in the primitive stage, limited in number and getting  connected to the required number was not an easy job at important places, a man used to help out dialing for the Customers waiting in long queues so that those not familiar with the Systems and Instruments did not make mistakes in ringing up to the wrong numbers…..

Once a Customer asked for a number to be dialed and it came up as the wrong one…. The gentleman manning the Counter before disconnecting the line shouted aloud, "The number 'XXXXX' is connected…. Does any one in the queue want this number?”