Smart Explanation

The Mughal emperor Akbar once asked his courtiers who was more powerful of the two: God or Akbar. The ministers were in a fix because clearly the answer was God but to say anyone was greater than the king might mean getting your next haircut with a guillotine. And giving the wrong answer, which would be perceived as blatant flattery, might still result in the same fate. One by one though, deciding to speak the truth, everyone said that God was more potent than their emperor. Everyone but one person.

The wisest man in the royal court, Birbal, proclaimed that Akbar was indeed more powerful than God. The courtiers secretly rejoiced seeing Birbal in the soup. Finally, it was out in the open that he was messing up with the king, they thought.

“Obviously, you just want to impress me, Birbal,” the king spoke sternly, shaking his head. “I’m disgusted at your blasphemous reply. How can I be more powerful than God?”

“His Excellency,” Birbal replied, “Indeed, our emperor is more powerful than God. God is beyond discrimination and favoritism. He is bound by dharma, every act of God is in line with the meticulous working of the infinite Universe. But, your highness is not bound by any law. You can punish anyone even if he is innocent. God can’t do that.” Praising Birbal, Akbar rewarded him amply. 

Later in the evening, when Birbal’s wife heard what had transpired in the court, she confronted him gently, asking him not to give such risky answers in the future, and why would he even do that? “Because,” Birbal replied calmly, “it was an ignorant question.”

Moral:- Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.

The Most Unforgettable Character I Met

“Sales is a numbers game!” Initially it was just a statement for me but as I progressed into my career I came to know the meaning of it. It is said that never underestimate the market, and never ever underestimate the marketer. This lesson I learned hard way. It’s been more than two years in this company, and lot of things happened since I joined the company, I joined this company, when West region was doing better, at number one position at PAN India level. In west region Pune was the territory which was pulling west to its peak. It was the time when Mumbai’s contribution was very less, as compare to Pune. So in short I was a part of winning team. We won All India team excellence trophy, which included India, Nepal and ShriLanka. I witnessed of all the glory and gilts. Our team bagged almost all the awards, and in that also, one person was there who bagged six awards, and he was Saurabh Deshpande. I have never seen a person like him. He was ingenious, smart, and was having all the good qualities which an ideal salesman should have.

When I first joined the company I was introduced to market by him. He knew how press buttons and how to generate sales. I was looking up to him as my role model in this field and want to be more like him. The way he interacts with customer, the way he carry himself, the way he notice small things about the customers and most importantly the way he generate the sales was absolutely mind-blowing. Was I making a mistake by following him? or it’s just the desire of being number was luring me in?  Whatever it is, but I was fortunate enough to be his colleague.   

Every good thing has its ending; otherwise it no longer remains good. And so does our good days. In corporate everyone is in search of good opportunity and Saurabh was not an exception to it three months ago he left the company, and joined other company with better salary and better post. After Saurabh left the company some shocking facts came to our notice, our company gives 10% free stock to purchaser on purchase of bulk quantity. Saurabh took advantage of this policy. This is how it happened, suppose if a client purchase 100 products then as per policy he will get 10% extra means 10 more products. If these products get expired dealer will replace the expire goods with the new ones. This is the policy. Now if say, client used 50 products out of 110, and 60 are of near expiry, these 60 products were returned to stockiest and issued new 60 products to client as a replacement. Instead of just replacing the 60 products, Saurabh showed sale of 60 products and on that 10% extra means 6 more products. Whatever expiry goods are returned to dealer is going get minus from entire team’s sale. Which means expiry of 60 products will get equally distributed to six of us. So on paper Saurabh is having sale of 176 products minus 10 return products but in reality he sold only 116 units.

I knew him since last one year we were very close to each other, but I had never thought of him doing such bad thing just for the sake of achieving the numbers and to get the highest incentives. I have never seen such strange and money obsessed side of him. He was the only person from our region who was earning highest incentives. But still he wanted more. As rightly said by M. Gandhi there is enough for everyone’s need but not for enough for everyone’s greed. But this was just one dark side of him. The darker side was yet to come.

He resigned on 2^nd March. Every year we get our increment in the month of March. Company gives funds to our regional head to distribute among the employees Saurabh being a top performer of the west region he supposed to get highest raise, so as per the valuation and increment criteria the given funds were distributed in every team. All this happens on last day of February. Saurabh knew this process, and left company on 2^nd March. So whatever the distribution has happened on 29^th February was locked and Saurabh’s amount was returned to company. If he would have left the company on 29^th February then the increment amount would have divided into total minus one employee of entire Pune region and we would have got higher raise but he didn’t want that either.

After showing all the inflated figures and getting all the incentives, we as a team left with huge stock with dealer but on paper there is very little amount of stock available with the dealer. That day I realized why people say sales is all numbers game. Today we are again on top of everyone all across India. I don’t want to go in details of what happened and how we got situation under control that’s not the topic of discussion here, what I came to know from this incidence is the most unforgettable character I met.

I still wonder when I see this side of Saurabh. How money change one’s thinking, how thinking turns into action and action into behavior. Today also if you asked me who is the best sales person in your company I would say there is none, the best has already left the company and qualities what made him best also no longer there in him, because he used them for short term monetary gains. Market enjoyed his good service qualities and other sales qualitybut in return spit him back on the floor making him all helpless.

He might have did this just to prove his supremacy and wanted to show us down but nobody is superior than time. Ultimately we also got onto top, without his help. That proved our efficiency, we worked more as compare to our salary/incentives which we were getting to meet the numbers, but we finally achieved our target. And that’s what I love about this field its number’s game; you just need to know the application of numbers. And I am loving this game!

Is money everything in life?If yes then what about your values, your faith and last but not the least a good night sleep at the end of the day? And an inner satisfaction of doing some honest thing? Today’s youth is all becoming money oriented, they are ready to compromise on their values, faith, and integrity just for the sake of money. And we are forgetting the most unforgettable character traits which our elders, teachers and education system taught us. Respect you profession and profession will take care of you.

George Orwell and Six Cardinal Rules of Writing.

Eric Arthur Blair Born 25 June 1903 in Motihari, Bengal Presidency, who used the pen name George Orwell was a renowned  English novelist, essayist, and critic most famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949).

George Orwell created some of the quality satirical fiction of the 20th century Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four were few of them. He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism.

The son of a British civil servant, George Orwell spent his first days in British India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited. Because of this the pair never formed a strong bond. He found his father to be dull and conservative.

He was a sick child, often battling bronchitis and the flu. Orwell started writing at an early age, reportedly composing his first poem around the age of four. He later wrote, "I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued." One of his first literary successes came at the age of 11 when he had a poem published in the local newspaper.

Like many other boys in England, Orwell was sent to boarding school. In 1911 he went to St. Cyprian's in the coastal town of Eastbourne, where he got his first taste of England's class system. On a partial scholarship, Orwell noticed that the school treated the richer students better than the poorer ones. He wasn't popular with his peers, and in books he found comfort from his difficult situation. He read works by Rudyard Kipling and H. G. Wells, among others. What he lacked in personality, he made up for in smarts. Orwell won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College to continue his studies.

After completing his schooling at Eton, Orwell found himself at a dead end. His family did not have the money to pay for a university education. Instead he joined the India Imperial Police Force in 1922. After five years in Burma, Orwell resigned his post and returned to England. He was intent on making it as a writer. He gave six most important rules which today also guide many of young and inspirational writers.

1.     Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you often see in print media.

2.     Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3.     If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4.     Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5.     Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6.     Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.

Selfie!

I was in a lobby of a five star hotel waiting for my friend. It was a beautiful hotel. The color combination was eye catching, simple yet attractive. A big statue of lord Buddha, chandelier hanging in the middle of the lobby, lit with hundreds of tiny bulbs making it more attractive. With exotic rose fragrance the place made me relax. I pushed back and acquired every inch of the leather couch I can. While I was enjoying my couch, I heard the sound of stilettos approaching towards me. As I noticed, it was a beautiful girl, walking in a straight line like all the models do on the ramp. She went to reception desk, after exchange of few words with the receptionist, she too sat on the couch. It seemed like she was waiting for someone to pick her up for some event. As I was watching her through corner of my eye, she took her mobile, stood beside the statue of Lord Buddha, and took a selfie. 

This selfie made me think what is in this selfie that is driving everyone so crazy now days? May be it is the struggle of finding one’s own reflection. May be it is the desperate attempt to see how we look from other people’s eye. Or maybe it is the feeling of consciousness of how we are reflecting to others. Or is it the symbol of self-obsessed narcissism.  

If you are thinking it is the struggle of finding one’s own reflection. It may be because everybody is so busy in rat race, that nobody is bothering what the person is doing next to him, and to create this identity in this busy world selfie appeared to be a useful tool to create one’s own reflection and make people aware of it. If you apply the maslow theory here, then you will see it stands somewhere between safety and self-actualization viz belongingness, recognition. Belongingness, yes now days, taking selfies with your friends or loved ones is the way of expressing belongingness, or showing your love towards that person. Recognition, it is the step after belongingness in maslow’s pyramid, where person craves for his/her identity in the society.    

Sometimes this selfie becomes the innocent desperate attempt to see how we are presenting ourselves to the world. And it act as wonderful medium for too. it is for those who are extra conscious about their looks and their image in public.

And last but not the least it is a wonderful tool for all the narcissist to showcase their self-obsession. Which is scientifically proven by the psychologists in their research, where they have categorized such people based on number of selfie uploads they have made on social media. 

So, Selfie! it is a tool for recognition, to show belongingness to some, while it is mirror for some self-conscious people. And it is a symbol of narcissism. While I was thinking about this my friend came in, it was almost three years since we met. He took his mobile took our belongingnesswali selfie!       

Love and Prejudice

Once upon a time there was a small town. A happy town! People were happy with whatever they have with them. Everything was going on smoothly except with one house, where everything was not going smoothly. A forty years old man was very sick. His family tried different types of treatments to cure his illness but in vain. Not a single treatment was effective. Old man was getting weaker and weaker.

On one unfortunate day he passed away. His fourteen years old son was wretched, he felt alone because his main support was no longer in this world. He was his one and only son. He loved his father very much. Death of his beloved father made his condition miserable.

When he was small kid, he heard from someone that far from the town, in a village there lives a divine saint, he has magical powers, and he can make anything possible. The son thought to pay a visit to this saint. So he went to the saint who was living very far from the town. He went there and explained his tragic loss and how he feels now without his father. He then expressed his wish to bring back his father to life. The saint explains him how this is not possible. But the stubborn lad was not in a mood to listen. Saint tried to console him, but it was in vain. Saint then asks him to do one thing if he succeeds in doing that then he will bring his father back to life. The lad agrees to him. Saint asks him to pluck a leaf from the tree. After listening to such a simple task the lad goes plucks the leaf and comes back to saint. Saint then says ‘now go back, and plant that leaf to exact place on a tree from where you plucked the leaf and make sure it comes to life again.’ The lad gets confused and asks how it is possible. The leaf is already plucked now how can I plant it to tree again.

The saint then explains him ‘if you cannot put a simple leaf back to his life how you expect me to bring your father back to life.it is not possible.’ The lad agrees to him. But again since he was a good, loving and caring son he asks the saint, ‘it is said person goes to heaven after his death, or in hell, I don’t want my father to go in hell. I want him to be happy; I want him to rest in heaven. Since you are a divine saint, you know everything, I have heard you make impossible things possible please fulfill my wish. As I loved my father, I don’t want him to suffer in hell.’    

Looking at the lad and his good intentions to keep his father away from the suffering, Saint feels empathetic for him, and thinks how to console him this time, after lot thinking he comes with a solution. He smiles at him and says ‘it is possible but the remedy is very difficult. It is not your cup of tea. The Son said I love my father, howsoever the difficult is the remedy I will complete it.’ Looking at his determination saint became happy. He then asked him to bring pure and clean water, some sugar and some salt.

After bringing them, he asked the son to mix one table spoon sugar into the jar full of water. And asks him to taste the water. The son says water is somewhat sweet. Then he asks to mix one table spoon of salt in it and asks to taste it. It has become salty the lad replies. He then asks him to add one more table spoon of salt. And again asks to taste it. This time water has become too much salty.

The saint then says ‘our life is just like the pure and clear water. Whatever good deeds we do it makes our life sweet and valuable, and whatever bad deeds we do it makes our life salty and useless. Nobody likes the salty water not even you then how do you expect the heaven would like the person with bad deeds. If your father has done enough good deeds then he will eventually be liked and welcomed in the heaven. Otherwise not.’

The Lad gets the point, and says thank you to the saint for enlightening him and leaves the place with satisfaction.

We also sometimes act like the Lad, in the story, don’t we? Asking lord to give us what is practically impossible to happen, and when it doesn’t happen as per the wish we start cursing ourselves or the society.