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That’s Life

My reminiscence of my grandfather was a confined one since he passed away when I was very young.The one thing I could remember of him,who was a great story teller,was this story which he used to tell us.Though I wasn’t fond of this story in my younger days,the meaning of it became more and more relevant to me as years passed on.
It goes like this-
God created the donkey
and said to him.
“You will be a donkey. You will work un-tiringly from sunrise to sunset
carrying burdens on your back. You will eat grass,
you will have no intelligence and you will live 50 years.”
The donkey answered:
“I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is much. Give me only 25 years”
God granted his wish.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God created the dog
And said to him:
“You will guard the house of man. You will be his best Friend.
You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 30 years.
You will be a dog. ”
The dog answered:
“Sir, to live 30 years is too much,give me only 15 years.
” God granted his wish.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God created the monkey
and said to him:
“You will be a monkey. You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks.
You will be amusing and you will live
20 years. ” The monkey answered:
“To live 20 years is too much, give me only 10 years.”
God granted his wish.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally God created man
…
And said to him:
“You will be man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth.
You will use your intelligence to become master over all the animals.
You will dominate the world and you will live 25 years.”
Man responded:
“Sir, I will be a man but to live only
25 years is very little,
give me the 25 years that the donkey refused,
the 15 years that the dog did not want and
the 10 years the monkey refused.
” God granted man’s wish
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And since then, man lives
25 years as a man ,
Then gets married and lives 25 years like a donkey,shouldering all burdens of his family,
Then when his children are grown,
he lives 15 years like a dog taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him,
so that when he is old,
he can retire and live 10 years like a monkey,
going from house to house and from one son or
daughter to another doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.
………………And isn’t it true that the life cycle of a common human being is so????

” We will work….even for peanuts”

“Greater the height,stronger the fall”
As I was going through old magazines,I came to notice an article in a magazine,in July 2007.Actually the topic was a survey report on ‘Salary trends in 2007′ which was headlined “We wont work for peanuts”.The article further viewed -’Have talent,get money-that’s the simple formula in an India buoyed by economic growth and globalisation.’
The point in reviewing this old report here is to compare the shining past of the country with the uncertain present.Just an overview of the drastic changes happened to our economy in recession time.(As per Govt.sources,India is a country which is only affected by the after effects of recession,and is not in pure recession).
I would like to extract a few quotings from the article and compare it with the present scenario which has happened within a span of 6 months….
• The article viewed “The Banking and financial Services
and is the hottest today.Salaries are rising with hikes upto 60 percent”
-And now,in February 2009, some Banks were even on the verge of breakdown and others had to face huge losses due to US Subprime Crisis and undervalued CDOs.All banks
became reluctant to give loans and their entire workforce in the Retail banking sector are in no man’s land.Many Banks already started acting either by cutting the jobs or by cutting the wages.
• In that article, an IT industry expert’s then true opinion was”Now the guys don’t look below Rs 2-3 lakh a year”
-And now,in February 2009,Many IT and BPO firms had job cuts and salary
cuts.As many lost their jobs,the work force supply increased and more skilled professional are available at lower salaries ranges and adding more to the issue,freshers are not placed as there are many experienced hands already available,overall leading to unemployment.
• The most astonishing part in the article,if read now,is that of the Aviation sector,which is entirely reciprocated now.At that time-”Airline companies are offering a retention bonus,apart from salary,ie a chunk of salary is paid at the end of the year to ensure the loyalty for that year at least.”
-And viewing now,this is one industry which was hit by recession much earlier.To add more,the country witnessed the huge protest against the large jobs cuts made by an airline company.This sector also faced severe wage cuts and the latest news in this regard was a Rs 80k cut from the salary of pilots of an Airline company.
The fact is that every sector which boomed in the last few years is hit severely.And if this is the scene in a country which is only affected by the indirect effects of recession,what would be the situation in a recession hit country????
Now the situation is that what everyone needs,above a salary hike,is a security in the present job.No company is hiring further,and even trying to curtail their work force …
So in all respects, time has come to re change the earlier heading as-” We will work….even for peanuts”.

Tiny frogs competition!!! (Motivational)

Once, a bunch of tiny frogs arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants.But no one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
The race began…….Some said:”Oh, way too difficult!! They will never make it to the top.”some others said: “Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!”
The tiny frogs began collapsing,one by one. Only those who were in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher.The crowd continued to yell”It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!”. More tiny frogs got tired and gave up. But one continued higher and higher and higher… It was not giving it up!
At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower except one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top! Then all the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?
It turned out… That the winner was a deaf!!!!
Morale: Never listen to other people’s tendencies to be negative or pessimistic. Everything you hear and read will affect your actions.

Knowledge!

Knowledge is of two kinds.One is through a medium or means of communication.Another is without medium or means of communication.One leads to worldly knowledge and the other to spiritual knowledge.

The first kind of knowledge is transient or transitory,that changes depending on eternal conditions and illusory experiences.

One man was walking along a road.He spotted a creature sitting on a tree.He came back and told his friends that he saw a red creature.One of his friends became curious.He went to see that.He saw that the creature was green.A third person happened to see it and it was yellow.The people who listened to all of these became confused.They thought they could go and find out who was telling the truth.

When they went, what they saw sitting on the tree was a ‘chameleon’!!!

This is exactly akin to the worldly knowledge and experience that changes and is not constant or eternal.It depends on the means and it changes accordingly.

They are no more ’slumdogs’…

One major aspects of the 8 Oscar swept Danny Boyle film-”Slumdog Millionaire”-is the lifelike performance of its child actors. Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, and Rubina Ali who did the youngest age of the three central characters,have won a huge applause from all over the world.But the deplorable part behind this was two of these young stars were actually living in slums,in their real life.Rubina lives in a tiny slum near railway tracks in Mumbai, while Azharuddin’s house was demolished by the authorities a few days back and his family now lives under a polythene sheet-covered roof in the same slum.Also the reports such as slum kids were exploited and underpaid by the producers, overshadowed the glory of the success to a small extend.

But the ‘Oscars’ had really changed their lives.The Indian authorities have given both of them new apartments in Mumbai.The film’s producers Fox searchlight also have come to the rescue of them.And now they are enrolled in school for the first time and Fox searchlight had set up a fund to pay for their education, medical emergencies and basic living costs.

Though not as to the extend in the rags-to-riches story depicted in the celluloid,but still the film and its success had changed the lives of these slum kids to great extend,the important being they are no more ’slumdogs’ now.