I am sure many of us go through a phase in life when the only thing one has to do is sit idle. Looking from outside this seems like a very peaceful exercise, or shall I say a state longed by many and achieved by very few after years of hard work. In corporate slums, as the old warhorses say that this is the closest thing to utopia. One is paid to sit and not do anything; the only expectation is to make least noise while one is sleeping. Well for good or bad, deserving or not, I happen to be in this phase just after two year in these slums.
Whenever someone asks me what is it like? I say what was told to me, that this is the best thing that can happen to one. However deep with in I fear I am hiding this feeling of disappointment, quite like reaching atop of a steep hill after treacherous trek and finding that the view is as good as it was from the start of the track.
When I share this with myself the question that pops up in my head is “Could it be possible that all we are programmed to do is to look for reasons to be unsatisfied”. It is like a big strategy by some twisted mind to take the society forward at the cost on very individual it consists of.
One a personal scale if I dwell on it long enough I feel that this is the classic struggle between ambition and peace. On one hand, we are expected to aim for more and more, on the other it is about finding a place of yours in this complicated task of living a life. Both directions holds a strong argument, I believe the question that remains is “when”. Is it more like following a certain path (aiming for more) till a point‘t’ and then switching your regime to another.
So what define success or failure then, is it just choice or there is no true measure of this commodity. I tend to agree with the later argument, for one this holds true for almost everything in life and for other it gives me a way to escape from answering the former. This also gives one a freedom to look for reason to proclaim our self successful against what we are programmed to do. More than enough for me!!
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
I am getting bored...
How many this thought crosses my mind in a day/week/month is one of those NP complete problem to me. Every other moment I am looking out for option and escapes to get out of this mundane life and get involved in some “Good Work”. I wonder if this is the state of mind of every other individual sitting next to me and for that matter everyone involved in a similar work setting or not.
I will use the term DTC (acronym for Destined To Crib) to refer to people in the above state. Majority of us belongs to the intersection set of corporate slaves and alumnus's from elite campuses. So all of us belonging to DTC wants to do “Good Work”, this encompasses the traditional characteristics like Cutting Ege, Tangible, Important, Itriguing, Challenging and my personal favourite Value Oriented. So in pursuit of this heavenly goal, we sweat hard during life time of training at those elite campuses, which in fact is the point where we switch our regime of ‘normal life’ to one with monotonously increasing pain.
So rigorous is the training here that we are more than prepared to trade “Good Money” to get a distant shot at “Good Work”, well this is our first step towards the real hidden goal we set out to to achieve, i.e. life time of cribbing. These institutes, I must admit, does a really commendable job in brain washing the amature innocent minds to reach this point. Sometime I wonder if such structure/ setting should be used in those extremist training groups across the border aimed at more tangible goals.
Coming back to “I am getting bored..”, once the members from DTC land up in place with “Bad Money” (remember we traded “Good Money” for a distant shot at “Good Work”), it takes some where around 12-18 months to realize the how “Good” the “Work” really is. With a added benefit of “Bad Money” we move one step closer to our real goal, lets be polite and call this state “Misery”.
With time we learn how misery is an increasing function of time and people resolve to various strategies, which include switching this work with “Good Work” in some other setting, adjusting one’s senses so that the real effect of increasing time and hence the misery is some what reduced. The later is supported seriously by huge conglomerate of tobacco and breweries, so actually an easier and more effective choice. But for those who chose the first option its back to paragraph one after a lag of somewhere around 6-9 months.
So one can argue that using the more socially accepted option one gets a respite of somewhere around 6-9 months, and hence it’s a better option. To all those who belong to this school of thought, I must remind you that in hope of switching work at hand with “Good Work” you have to chose “Bad Money” yet again. And the extent of “Bad” is relative to your current level…..
So after 6-9 month you are stuck with similar (if you are lucky) or worse quality of work with “Bad – Bad Money”. And once you are here, the only resort is writing a testimony of it in hope that others might learn and get out our beloved Destined to Crib club….
I will use the term DTC (acronym for Destined To Crib) to refer to people in the above state. Majority of us belongs to the intersection set of corporate slaves and alumnus's from elite campuses. So all of us belonging to DTC wants to do “Good Work”, this encompasses the traditional characteristics like Cutting Ege, Tangible, Important, Itriguing, Challenging and my personal favourite Value Oriented. So in pursuit of this heavenly goal, we sweat hard during life time of training at those elite campuses, which in fact is the point where we switch our regime of ‘normal life’ to one with monotonously increasing pain.
So rigorous is the training here that we are more than prepared to trade “Good Money” to get a distant shot at “Good Work”, well this is our first step towards the real hidden goal we set out to to achieve, i.e. life time of cribbing. These institutes, I must admit, does a really commendable job in brain washing the amature innocent minds to reach this point. Sometime I wonder if such structure/ setting should be used in those extremist training groups across the border aimed at more tangible goals.
Coming back to “I am getting bored..”, once the members from DTC land up in place with “Bad Money” (remember we traded “Good Money” for a distant shot at “Good Work”), it takes some where around 12-18 months to realize the how “Good” the “Work” really is. With a added benefit of “Bad Money” we move one step closer to our real goal, lets be polite and call this state “Misery”.
With time we learn how misery is an increasing function of time and people resolve to various strategies, which include switching this work with “Good Work” in some other setting, adjusting one’s senses so that the real effect of increasing time and hence the misery is some what reduced. The later is supported seriously by huge conglomerate of tobacco and breweries, so actually an easier and more effective choice. But for those who chose the first option its back to paragraph one after a lag of somewhere around 6-9 months.
So one can argue that using the more socially accepted option one gets a respite of somewhere around 6-9 months, and hence it’s a better option. To all those who belong to this school of thought, I must remind you that in hope of switching work at hand with “Good Work” you have to chose “Bad Money” yet again. And the extent of “Bad” is relative to your current level…..
So after 6-9 month you are stuck with similar (if you are lucky) or worse quality of work with “Bad – Bad Money”. And once you are here, the only resort is writing a testimony of it in hope that others might learn and get out our beloved Destined to Crib club….
Friday, 11 September 2009
A Penny or a Pence...
S0 what is this with people and short term reward for which one is willing to trade with wildest dreams of theirs. To me its the innate sense of humans to discount future rewards with factors beyond any rationale. All we need is to be rewarded today, and by today I mean right now, and it doesn't really matter if the reward is a penny or pence as long as no one else is getting it.
Many a times we know well enough that it(leaving this penny) is just a cost we have to pay to get what we really want, but in the end what we are stuck with is the dilemma of choosing between penny and a pence. The bottom line remains that we need rewards Now and Now ONLY.
Well someway I tend to reason this behaviour with the way one is brought up specially in developing or may I say poor countries. Here we or our elders have seen/heard how important it is to get that last piece of bread so as one can fight for another one tomorrow. The rationale can again be drawn from our evolution, we were hunters and thus living by the day is what we were focused at as a species. But both the stories are our past, we ought to do better than that...
At the same time seizing the opportunity and not waiting for the perfection also offers a strong argument. One can't wait for that perfact girl to a stage where drug is more important than protection. In short it melts down to atleast having some measurable short term goals (i.e. if one fails to arrive at longer versions, for that again is more of an art than science.) What is important or as they say 'need of the hour' is to look beyond that penny and pence, and fight/wait that extra mile for the reward we really want/deserve.
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