ANGER explosion

Crackers during Diwali are an integral part of celebrations. The deafening sound of sutli bomb is because of explosion and in contrast the spinners (haat chakra or zamin chakra) offer a pleasant site to watch. Whether bomb or a spinner both contain same gun powder (Barud) that gives different results when ignited. Both these crackers are packed with energy but the way energy is released makes the difference. Same principle holds true for ANGER. The energy that is generated due to ANGER needs to be released appropriately else it might explode and cause damage. Let the energy be slowly released as in sparklers or spinners and not like a bomb.

In childhood many of us might have experienced scolding from our parents. It’s normal, it is a part of our growing up and, care and concern of our parents for us. I know a child who made some mistake that angered the parents. The parents exploded and the poor child was shocked. The child failed to react, stood still and was lost, looking blank. All this because of the ANGER explosion. It took a while for the child to return to normalcy. Days passed by and the parents also realized their mistake. As luck would have it, the child committed similar mistake again. This time the parents because of the previous experience did not explode but appropriately released their ANGER. The child sensed the emotions and took immediate corrective steps. There was no psychological trauma for the child. Parents and the child both were comfortable.

We come across similar situations at our work place also. We need to react appropriately. Goal is to accomplish the objective. Explosion will not help as it might damage the relationship and the persons may nurse the grudge. Slow and appropriate release of the ANGER can do a better a job. Think about it, you might agree.

Explosions do not work. I learnt this in my childhood on my farm. I have seen mighty bulls drawing the cart just refusing to move forward after being beaten by cartman. Urgency to return home forces the cartman to thrash the bulls that are also stressed by day’s hard work. The thrashing is like explosion of ANGER and a stage comes when the bull squats and doesn’t stand up. Only after a while with a friendly pat to express apology, the bull will stand up and will run back home. If animals are so sensitive to explosion, humans are sure to be. So take care and be gentle.

ANGER and Motivation

Motivation is an established path for success. Every living creature needs motivation. A dolphin will not perform in the show if there is no motivation. Every time dolphin completes the act, it gets a mouthful fish. Getting fish is the desire for the dolphin for which it performs. Likewise every human being has some desires. These desires vary from individual to individual and can be simple or complex, rational or irrational. The corrupt peon at land revenue office in Teeen (Bachchan starer) has a simple desire of owning a scooter, while old Kapoor (played by Rishi Kapoor) in Kapoor & Sons had a desire for a naked stroll with girls in Hawaii. So the desires can be of any type. What helps an individual to achieve their desires is motivation, intrinsic as well as extrinsic.

ANGER can stimulate the motivation. Generally a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic works well to trigger the race for achievement. Success of most of Vijay’s (roles played by Bachchan) was because of ANGER. Had there been no ANGER, there would have been no motivation and no success. Two generations of India has grown with ANGER and Vijay.

In 1969 in second test against Australia at Kanpur, which ended in draw, Gundappa Vishwanath scored duck in the first innings and scored 137 with the help of 25 fours in the second innings. Gundappa must have been angry with self for scoring a duck and that might have motivated him to score century in the second innings. That was his success over the frustration.

There are many instances in professional career that triggers self motivation. Be it unreasonable targets and deadlines, irritating boss, low salary and many. These all can trigger ANGER and this emotion needs to be cashed in to achieve. Those who do this are the winners and those who don’t are the laggards. Get motivated for achievements and not for the revenge.

Anyone can get angry when there is refusal for something that one really needs. This can motivate an individual or an organization to work hard, think out of the box and fulfill the desire, the need. Had USA not denied supercomputer to India or Russia not backed out to supply cryogenic fuel to India, ISRO would not have been what they are today. The refusal to supply technology angered many and was an opportunity to develop own technology and be world class. ANGER to motivation and motivation to success is the path. Be on this path, get angry, get motivated, be successful and be happy. So get angry and be happy.

ANGER - External or Internal

One might get angry because something has happened outside one’s body that has triggered anger. This is external irritant. It can be anything, government increasing service tax, or traffic signal not functioning or an irritating email from your boss or a unsolicited marketing call. These all are external factors that might cause anger. One may ignore it or decided not to react or accept it with pinch of salt like the increased tax. Not reacting or ignoring individuals might cause anger in those individuals but that’s fine. External sources are easier to handle, just by ignoring. But internal source is most difficult being within.  

One of my friends’s good looking; fair complexion daughter got married to a dark complexion, kind of ugly looking Sri Lankan in USA. My friend got angry sitting back home in Mumbai while the source was situated in USA. Very often when India loses a cricket match, being played in some part of the world but watched on TV back home, the anger flares up at home, thousands of miles away. But these situations can be handled. My friend went to his favourite Baba (Spiritual Guru) for spiritual solace and the one who was upset with India’s loss went to a nearby pub. Spirit was involved in both the cases but of different kind.

Someone busted crackers in Srinagar after India lost the T20 match to West Indies in 2016 WCC. The crackers exploded and the outbursts were at far off places. The source delivered what it had to. It was intentional and damage was contented at the source but not elsewhere. This was because the source was external. If the source is internal then the situation is catastrophic. 

Imagine a gas cylinder exploding. Source and outburst are at one place. Leakage of gas causing damage is different than the explosion at the source. If one gets angry with self then the damage is of high order. Anger can damage the individual, destroy the individual. The individual may harm himself/herself if unable to harm others. And this depends upon the individual. A bully can vent anger on others and cause damage to others and including self damage. A weak hearted person may harm self but not surrounding or others. He/she may try to inflict injuries on self, may try to commit suicide which is meek response to self anger. Anger on self should give a new direction to life and should be taken as a difficult lesson. Mistakes happen, nothing wrong in that. Everyone errs. All decisions cannot be right. Cool down, it's not the end of the world. Be a phoenix and start once again with more zeal and enthusiasm. Shade the guilt and be happy.

ANGER is ENERGY

Anger is a form of energy. There are two major forms of energy, Potential and Kinetic. Potential energy is stored within whereas kinetic energy is produced. Heat is a form of kinetic energy, that can turn into fire. Heat is produced by friction. In primeval days logs of wood were rubbed against each other to generate heat and start the fire. So any friction can give rise to heat that can turn into fire. And once the fire is produced it can cook the food or burn the farm. In view of this the fire is to be used for beneficial activities. So you take the call for using the fire. This energy can help you or destroy you. To sum up friction leads to heat and heat to the fire. This is a kinetic energy. While talking we use the phrases like don’t rub him on wrong side or he is on fire. Thus the origin of fire is friction that holds true even for humans.

We often hear the cricket commentator saying that so and so is on fire and sixes were raining all over. It did happen so on Kingsmead in inaugural T20 of 2007. The match was between India and England. Yuvraj Singh was being provoked by Andrew Flintoff after he was hit for two boundaries in that over. Flintoff used some foul language and said I will cut your throat off. Yuvraj told Flintoff “you see this bat in my hand. You know where I am gonna hit you with this bat?"

Flintoff was lucky that he didn’t bowl next over and poor Stuart Broad faced the outburst of Yuvraj’s energy with six sixes in the over. Yuvraj was on fire. The verbal friction between Flintoff and Yuvraj resulted in the heat that ignited fire in Yuvraj. Flintoff wasted his energy in stupid comment about cutting throat while Yuvraj chose to use the energy to create a record. Yuvraj has stored potential energy coupled with the kinetic energy that got produced took him to a different height in his cricketing career. 

Anger certainly creates energy and one has to use it for beneficial effect. Yuvraj got angry and was happy. So get angry and be happy.

Don't blame ANGER

Anger unfortunately many times gets blamed for the final outcome if it is adverse. No one blames the anger or credits the anger if the final outcome is favourable. Anger is intangible but it can give tangible results, either good or bad. And this depends on how one has channelized the anger. It is strange but true and very much in line with human nature. Anger is an essential emotion. It has to be there in normal human being. Among Marathi saints there was one Sant Namdeo. There are many stories about his quality of not getting angry. But he was a saint after all. We are not; anger is very common emotion for us. Not getting angry is possible for those who are at the stage of self-actualization, we are still away from that stage.

In cricket sledging is very common. The purpose is to induce anger. In many cases the sledging will deliver the result the way it is handled. If it is initiated by the bowler then his next delivery may go for a six or get him a wicket. It depends on how the batsman has mentally reacted. Indian test squad had a fast bowler from Mumbai. His name was Ramakant Desai. He was called Tiny because of his height. He was just 5’6”, but a deadly fast bowler. He held the record of youngest Indian pacer to get five wicket haul in Test. He turned twenty just few days after the record. In one of his overseas tour during the dinner hosted by the host board a senior official was introduced to Ramakant Desai as India’s fast bowler. The senior board official scanned Ramakant from head to toe and toe to head and sarcastically said, “did I hear Chinaman”? Ramakant was offended but decided not to react verbally and transformed the anger in action on the field and reduced the opposition to pulp the very next day. The anger made him do a better job. Many batsman “talk with bat” when criticized. So anger helps you to progress, do better if handled correctly.

Do you remember how ANGER helped Inspector Vijay Khanna to progress in life? He got a good friend like Sher Khan and wife Mala. Thanks to the anger. His response to anger had to be different because of his profession. We can’t do that. Being an inspector of Police, his reactions were aggressive, more volatile. However the anger changed the life of the movie character Vijay Khanna and the real life hero Amitabh Bachhan. The movie Zanzeer gave him title of “Angry Young Man” and changed his career path and also got him Jaya Bhaduri.

There are many stories about response to anger resulting in progress. It’s possible but one has to get angry to achieve high goals and then be happy. 

Channelize ANGER

Anger is an emotion and all living beings have this. Someone gets angry fast while some take long time. A cat or a dog gets angry much faster than an elephant. Everyone has a different level of endurance to the irritants responsible for anger. Same is applicable to humans; some get angry easily while some are labelled as cool. However the emotion is natural.

Anger comes out, it gets expressed. Someone may tighten the fists, some may have red face and red eyes, some may stop talking, some may shout. It’s the expression. This expression has to show. Modifications can be made, don’t shout but stop talking. Tighten the fists but punch the punching bag. Let emotions come out. Take care that the outburst of emotions should not cause further damage to you or others. So there has to be channelization of emotional response. You get angry, if needed let others know it but your anger should not be a catalyst for damaging reactions. Anger is like fire, if someone is cold the fire may have to be nearer to that person to warm up and certainly not to burn down. If someone feels the heat to be unbearable then keep distance. Both know the fire is there but it’s for you to keep the safe distance and maintain a comfort zone. If this fire remains within then there is bound to be internal damage. Don’t suppress anger, divert it, channelize it. Your reactions will depend on this and therefore the outcome, the results.

I remember two stories from Panchatantra. Lion is main character in these two stories. In one story the rabbit reaches late the lion’s den and cooks up a story for the lion. He tells lion that there is another lion in the jungle that prevented him and thus the delay. Lion is angry because of the delayed arrival of the rabbit. The possible presence of another lion in his area furthered his anger. We all know that the rabbit takes lion to the well, where he sees his own reflection and thinks it’s another lion, jumps in the well to fight and dies.

In another story a tiny mouse disturbs a sleeping lion by jumping over him. Lion gets angry and catches the mouse. Lion threatens to kill the mouse that pleads mercy and tells lion that he will be of help in future. The angry lion thinks for a moment, ridicules the mouse and releases. Sometime in future the lion gets trapped in the nets of the hunter and as we all know, the mouse cuts the net with his sharp teeth and lion gets released.

In both the stories lion gets angry, both express their anger but one channelizes to end his life while other one channelizes to get fresh lease of life. Anger was the common factor.

It’s natural to get angry, do get angry but work out in such way that you emerge winner and be happy. 

Disclaimer: Every individual is different therefore the way one handles anger will be different. The author’s thought are of his own and are not being forced on anyone. The reader can totally disregard/disagree and author respects his/her views.

Get Angry Be Happy

I understand the title and subject. Anger is very delicate yet volatile subject. It’s controversial. It’s very obvious question that how one can be happy by getting angry. But one certainly can. One can get angry and yet feel happy. It’s not sadistic pleasure. Read with unbiased mind, you will understand my viewpoint. All that I am going to express is about your anger to some irritant and not your anger in response to other person’s anger directed towards you. These two are different. First one is your own expression, while for the other one, you might be the cause for expression. To make second one simple, you make a mistake and someone gets angry and you get angry because someone is angry. These two are therefore handled differently.

Anger is a normal reaction of every living creature to any irritant, be it physical or mental. It’s the emotion and that is perfectly normal. Human beings are the one who can control this emotion. But is it normal to control natural emotions? And to what extent? Ayurveda talks of Avarodh. It’s the cause of Vata, Pitta, Kaph imbalance in the body that gives rise to many diseased conditions. Holding back anger is a kind of Avarodh, that can be termed in English as to resist or to subdue or to control. Any of this is unnatural. What needs to vent out must go out. Even flatulence can mimic heart problems and cause alarm. Therefore anything that’s not allowed to go out or vent out, is going to cause some internal damage. And that is more detrimental for individual.

There are large number of books that talk about Anger Management and many of them advocate to do deep breathing or count upto ten or even hundred before reacting. I feel this very funny. Imagine someone did a mistake and you are getting angry. And then you start counting? I am aware about Pranayam, meditation but I am also aware about Avaradh and the damage it can cause to individual. So practice timed/slow release of anger. Take time to decide type of reaction and time to react. Therefore I never count ten to divert my attention, I rather try to understand the anger, analyze the anger and decide course of action. There are different ways to vent out and I will mention about it later.

Consider driving home after a hectic day, you are caught in a traffic jam or slow moving traffic. The congestion is the irritant. You might get angry. You can’t change anything but you can at least tighten your fists and curse. Roll up the window glass, if not already done, and scream. Let the anger be out. Abuse the system, the indisciplined drivers and anything that you feel is responsible for the mess. You are not instigating anyone. Express and cool down. Let the matter end there. After venting out your anger, you are going to feel better, you are going to feel happy and by chance the traffic starts moving after your shouting, you are going to feel much better. And that’s why, Get Angry and Be Happy. Someone may keep cool; keep driving, unknowingly built up the anger and reach home. What next? A simple delay to answer the doorbell will make him/her explode at spouse or anyone else who opens the door. The anger was within and was not allowed to get out at appropriate time and thus the delayed reaction at wrong place. Treat anger as footwear and keep it out. 

We are angry when things don’t work out the way we want. We are unhappy when we are restrained to do certain things. We are happy if there are no restrains. Don’t restrain your anger, vent it out then you are happy. So get angry and be happy. We will see how to do this effectively and with no harm to self and others as we proceed further. Till then practice your old art of counting ten…..and keep counting.

Disclaimer: Every individual is different therefore the way one handles anger will be different. The author’s thought are of his own and are not being forced on anyone. The reader can totally disregard/disagree and author respects his/her views.

TIME never returns

As TIME is not reversible, it can’t be reversed. Moments gone by cannot return. I am always reminded of Hindi song, Zindagi ke Safar Main Gujar Jate Hai Jo Makam, Phir Nahi Aate……(ज़िंदगी के सफर में गुजर जाते हैं जो मक़ाम फ़िर नहीं आते......), it’s so true. The precious moments lost are lost forever. One may earn back the money lost, one may regain lost confidence, lost prestige or any other material loss, but one cannot get back the TIME. Another thing that cannot return is departed souls and biological ageing. One can’t be young again, even Viagra has limitations for males and parlors for females.

The only way one can do well with the TIME is with its optimization. This is different than what the IT guys talk about LTO, GCC etc. For me it’s simple multitasking. Get into multitasking. Do few things together in a given time frame. Remember you can combine things that go well together. Many persons read newspapers in toilets, I hate it, but it’s multitasking. The other day I saw a funny combination, watch with lighter. I wonder what can be the applications of this combination, unless one wants to use timer to burn someone’s xxx. Climbing stairs rather than waiting for lift takes you to desired floor and gives much needed exercise so save on cardio time. Much of the multitasking will depend upon type of job you carry out and areas where you can save time by combining activities. I have seen a medical representative preparing for competitive exams while waiting in doctor’s chamber for his call. Good utilization of time while waiting for doctor rather than observing gloomy faces of sick people or watching a good looking nurse or receptionist. In this era your smart phones are a great source of information that can be used while traveling. Get useful information or mail your reports, rather than sending WhatsApp messages or forwarding useless jokes and other forwards. Talking on mobile phone while driving is also multitasking but that can end all your worries about tasks, just not multitasking. Combine right things to do together, it has its advantages but the big disadvantage of multitasking is you can do couple of things wrong at one time. Remember the moments lost are gone forever, so whatever is remaining use them for your enrichment, betterment. After all you have limited time.

TIME is unidirectional

TIME is unidirectional. We either think of past or worry of future that is the only direction we know of TIME. We are also aware that time cannot be reversed. We all have memories of the past but there are no memories of future. Past cannot be changed but that can influence our future. Time-reversal is invariant, it can be said that like other physical quantities (such as velocity, acceleration), time cannot change or reverse its direction because one cannot travel back to the moments of his past life. Paranormal may claim but I really don’t know.

Every morning we see sunrise in the East and Sun sets in the West in evening. This just can’t change and because of this we always consider only one direction of TIME. Why Sun cannot rise in North and set in South? Science can explain this and also has to admit it’s limitations that no change is possible in this mechanism. There is no way one can change or reverse the direction of TIME.

If at all some day TIME is reversed, then it will create more complications than any benefits. There may not be any customized reversal. If any reversal takes place it will be universal and then everyone be on same level play field once again. One may not retain the advances, technological and other and then go back in TIME. Perhaps one cannot carry the cell phone with self while travelling in the past. And if that’s going to be that way then what’s use in going back. Frankly I would like to have today’s salary and travel back fifty years to enjoy the 50’s cost of living. May be my female friends can buy gold by tons as against by grams as it is today. And one can buy acres of land rather than brooding for few hundred sq. ft. land that’s available today. So just going back in time frame is no answer. One will commit same mistakes and will repent in future and this will continue. So TIME reversal has no meaning if it’s going to be in totality. I wish technology develops for customized time reversal so that I can enjoy best of both the worlds. Till then continue the way it is…….

TIME is Money

Whatever quantum of TIME allotted by the Almighty is fixed for the individual. One can spend the TIME the way one desires but no one can buy the TIME. One may utilize the TIME to generate wealth and be the the riched person on the planet but there is no way the money generated can be recycled to generate TIME. And that’s the reason TIME is very precious, no one can generate TIME and that’s impossible. Therefore make best use of your TIME, if one desires to generate wealth, go ahead, generate as much as one can, but that will be left behind when TIME is up. That money cannot generate TIME.

I am reminded of a story when Man demands more TIME from the Almighty when the TIME allocation was going on. Man was given the intelligence and short span of life but the intelligence didn’t work and greed took over. The additional allotment that was granted by the Almighty didn’t help anyway for value creation. And Man made a fool of himself.

The story is…..

When God created the donkey, he said:"You’ll work day and night, and you’ll carry in your back heavy baggage. You’ll eat grass and you’ll have low IQ. You’ll be living for 50 years." Donkey realized the problem and was intelligent enough to ask for reduction in life span by 20 years.

Then, God created the dog:"As a dog, you’ll guard man’s property and you’ll be his staunch/loyal friend. You’ll eat their leftovers and you’ll be living for 25 years." The faithful creature was clever enough to realize life with leftovers and asked for just 10 years.

Then, God created the monkey:" You’ll jump around, tree to tree, and you’ll act like a fool so people can be entertained by you. You life will last 20 years."  Monkey could imagine what could be the lifr for such long span and desired to live for only 10 years.

God granted what these creatures desired. Last, God created the Man:"You’re a Man. You’re the only sensible being on the planet earth. You’ll use your intelligence to dominance the other creatures. You’ll be in charge. You’ll life will last 20 years." The greed took over this intelligent creature and he he demanded the residual life span of donkey’s 20 years, dog’s 15 years and monkeys 10 years.

The demand was met. Since then Man lives for 20 years as a Man. Then, he gets married and works as a donkey for 20 years by carrying heavy baggage night and day. With his children and lives as a dog, guarding the house and his property, eating family leftovers. And when he grows old, he lives like a monkey. He’s his grandchildren’s entertainer by acting fool.

Be happy with the TIME that you have because no amount of money can generate TIME and with the borrowed TIME one can be anything except Man.

TIME, your family and more

I haven’t come across anyone asking me, what did you buy with your TIME today? We always come across a very common question how did you spent your TIME today. We have always considered TIME for spending and not for buying. No one ever told me that he spent one hour in the temple and bought peace of mind. There was no buying of fatigue and headache by spending one hour in traffic jam. We keep spending TIME without much consideration. Ever since we are born we have been spending TIME and that’s because TIME is for one-way trading. We only spend TIME, we can’t buy TIME. We are not sure how much TIME we have yet we keep spending. For mortals TIME is not eternal, there are limitations yet we spend TIME as if it’s limitless. We spend TIME on eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, working, on our hobbies, on our vices. It’s just spend, spend and spend. If TIME is limited then we must spend it wisely. I have a story that explains this.

The story goes like this…….

A professor walks in the classroom with an empty jar of may be one liter capacity. He places few golf balls in the jar till the top and ask the students if the jar is full. Yes is the reply from the class. The professor then pours few pebbles in the jar till the pebbles occupy the empty spaces between the golf balls. Shakes the jar little to see if more pebbles can be accommodated? He again questions the class ‘is the jar full’. Yes, the class roars loudly. The professor then picks up some sand and pours in jar, occasionally tapping the jar to get sand settled in all available space. The jar is now almost full.

Professor explains that this jar is like your life. The golf balls are the important things, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions. And if everything else is lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. And the sand is everything else, insignificant small stuff.

In your life you need to manage golf balls. Fill the jar with golf balls. If you fill the jar with pebbles and sand, then there will be no space for the golf balls. You have to spend time on golf balls – your family, your spouse, your children, your parent, your grandparents, your friends, your passion and your health. You have to wisely spend your TIME. If you spend TIME on sand and pebbles then you will never have room for golf balls that are important to you.

Set your priorities and spend TIME wisely.

TIME flies?

We all are used to an age old saying “TIME flies”. In fact time has a constant speed and it just can’t fly or drag. What makes us feel that the TIME is flying? It’s basically our own frame of mind. If your mind is occupied with positive thoughts, for some creative pursuit, for some constructive work then obviously you will feel that TIME is flying. When you brood, have nothing to do, your mind is full of negativity then no wonder you will feel TIME is dragging, it’s slow. And for some it has just stopped but for a different reason. The song from 1942 Love Story is testimony of this that says Kuchha No Kaho, Kuchhabhi Na Kaho, Mujhko Pata Hai, Tumko Pata Hai, Samay Ka Ye Pal, Thamsa Gaya Hai, Aur Is Pal Mein Koi Nahin Hai, Bas Ek Main Hoon, Bas Ek Tum Ho. (कुछ ना, कहो कुछ भी ना कहो, मुझको पता है, तुमको पता है, समय का ये पल, थम सा गया है, और इस पल में कोई नहीं है, बस एक मैं हूँ, बस एक तुम हो.)

So it’s all your own frame of mind. Once Sherpa Tensing was asked by his wife to get some stuff from market. Shopping is never a hobby for most of the males. Sherpa was no exception. He was not too keen for shopping so he told his wife that it takes long to go to the market, going up and down several times in the hilly region. He was quipped by his wife that this too long is just a fraction of time that you take to climb Mt. Everest. Obviously going for shopping was far more time consuming for Sherpa than climbing mountains due to frame of his mind. Exploring new peaks was far more interesting for Sherpa than going up and down the hills couple of times to buy vegetables. For him time would fly in the Himalayan range and would drag on the streets of Darjeeling. So if you want TIME to fly, then do something that interests you.

Very often a couple (essentially before the marriage) misses each other badly when separated. And Majanu (मजनू) tell his Laila (लैला) that he feels each second is as long as a year in her absence. The TIME drags as seen in many movies. The famous song from Meri Surat Teri Ankhen मेरी सूरत तेरी आँखे - Ek Pal Jaise Ek Jug Bita (इक पल जैसे इक जुग बिता …… ) Or for someone with insomnia, not essentially for medical reason, the night is too long, Karavate Badalate Rahe Saari Raat Hum….(करवटे बदलते रहे सारी रात हम .. ). And some lose track of time as in a classical number from Marathi movie Aai Shappat (आई शप्पथ) Sudh Bisaraye Mero, Kajarare Nain, Nahi Padat Tum Bin Chain….(सुध बिसराये मेरो, कजरारे नैन, नाहि पडत तुम बिन चैन....... )  endorses dragging of TIME.

So it’s the frame of mind and it’s universal. The song Tere Ishq Main Sudh Budh Khoi, Haal Na Jaane Koi… (तेरे इश्क़मे सुध बुध खोई, हाल ना जाने कोई। .... ) from a popular Pakistani TV serial, echoes similar sentiments. 108, an American hardcore punk band is founded in 1991. In their album Songs of Separation, in the song Govinda-Virahena, the TIME is dragging, the lyrics are,

Moments Drag On For Ages,

Eyes Shower Storms Of Tears,

The Whole World Is An Empty Void,

Without You Govinda

This kind of urge to be with the Almighty can also drag time for the devotees. While for some others the TIME will just fly in their Bhakti.

In Steve Wilson’s album The Incident TIME flies, it says,

Into a suburb of heaven

Yeah, it should've been forever,

It all seems to make so much sense,

But after a while

You realize time flies

And the best thing that you can do

Is take whatever comes to you

'Cause time flies

But in reality TIME never drags or flies. Have positivity, you will enjoy every moment and you may endorse “TIME flies”.

Repeat the good TIME

Good time is the period when your efforts give you the desired results. Things work your way because of your attitude, right decisions and resultant actions. At times this success or the desired result in the “good time” affects the attitude and then things change; your decisions may go wrong as your perceptions are different because of your attitude. The actions fail to deliver and then one blames the TIME. At this stage one needs to mentally go back to same period that was “good time”. The attitude needs to be realigned for the decisions that might prove right and good times may return. The circumstances that are adverse may not be under our control but what needs to be done in such conditions is certainly in our control. So one needs to rewind, audit good times and take actions.

I admire performance of West Indies in 2016 T20 Cricket World Cup. The team was written off, people were wondering whether they will play the World Cup. Abandoning India tour was disastrous. There were many issues. The team was disrespected by their board, Mark Nicholas described our team as a team with no brains. They lacked the resources. But the team was determined. Darren Sammy wanted to create the history.

Darren Sammy led the team in 2012 when others had deserted. In 2012 he contributed big to the win. When Samuels got out, West Indies were still 108 in the 18th over. They needed a strong finish to keep fighting. And fight Sammy did. He swung and ran like hell, turning three ones into twos in the last over, hitting two fours around those scrambles. He had that attitude; he took the right decisions and actions. West Indies emerged as winners.

In 2016 same Darren Sammy had to go full circle. He had to rewind and get into repeat mode again. In his emotional speech after the victory at Eden’s Garden he said “I got to give credit to the entire team here, it was us in our own little circle”. He also mentioned about the ability to just put all those adversities aside and to come out and play this type of cricket in front of such passionate fans. Had Sammy given up, not got back the same attitude that he had when he won the final against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, the 2016 win would not have been possible. The “good time” for Sammy and his team was because of going back to attitude that they had in “good days” and rework. Results were evident.

TIME and Decisions

One must get the credit for a good job done. Someone who wants to undermine another individual would invariably give credit to TIME. The expression may be “TIME was good, so there were positive results”. I wonder why this attitude? If someone has taken right decisions in a given time frame that gave the desired results, then why credit the TIME? Giving credit to individuals is always good. Let’s not snatch away what is due to the individual. One often blames the individual for bad job but credits TIME for a good work. This is unfair. Individuals evaluate time to take decisions. Time doesn’t evaluate individuals. So give credit to individuals.

I like a story of Three Fishes from Panchatantra. It goes like this…..

In a lake there lived three fishes. Their names were Anagatavidhata, Pratyutpannamati and Yadbhavishya. One day Anagatavidhata heard plans of few fishermen who decided to go for the catch where these fishes lived. Anagatavidhata got scared as next day could be the last for him and his friends. He shared this information with Pratyutpannamati and Yadbhavishya.  Pratyutpannamati realized the gravity of situation and felt concerned. Yadbhavishya had different views, he said all these years no one came to this lake for fishing therefore it is unlikely that someone will come here. Moreover, he said, they have been living in the lake for generations, therefore it’s their right to stay here. Anagatavidhata, (meaning forecaster) and Pratyutpannamati (meaning Ready minded, quick witted) decided to shift their base to another safe location. Yadbhavishya (meaning careless about future) ridiculed his friends and opposed the move. That night Anagatavidhata, and Pratyutpannamati alongwith their other folks moved out to safer location, whereas Yadbhavishya and his folks continued their stay. Next morning at dawn the fishermen came with their nets and caught Yadbhavishya and his  folks.

Anagatavidhata evaluated the TIME, Pratyutpannamati took the decision. Obviously the credit should go to these two wise fishes and not the TIME. While gasping for breath in the basket of fisherman Yadbhavishya might have cursed the TIME. But that was too late….

TIME is not bad

Cursing time is no solution to the problem. Problems are part of life. At times these problems do not easily get solved or remain unsolved and one tends to blame the TIME. It’s a natural escape route. When the efforts to overcome the obstacles cease, the blame game starts and easiest one to be blamed is TIME aka LUCK (as explained in last post). Humans are very peculiar; they do not like to accept the blame. Blame is to be passed on and finally it stops at TIME. Is it the TIME that’s responsible for someone’s failure? Can we really say TIME is bad?

To clear or cross any obstacle one needs to take efforts coupled with ability. The combination of efforts and ability are good enough to clear the obstacles. If this combination is not in place then it is bad. Obstacles can come anytime, in any form, any shape, any size and needs to be cleared. One has just not to face the obstacles but overcome the obstacles. 

A story for the day. We all have been told, narrated, and read this story in our childhood. It’s a story of Thirsty Crow. The thirsty crow in the story realizes that water is available in the pot. It understands that the pot has narrow long neck and its beak is not long enough to draw the water from the pot. So there are two obstacles one is the neck of the pot and another one is short beak of the crow. Obviously it cannot do anything to elongate the beak, therefore there is just one obstacle and that’s the long narrow neck of the pot. Some efforts were already made to identify the obstacle. Now some more efforts and the ability to overcome the obstacle. The crow has to fly around and pick up the right size of the pebbles that would raise the water level. Just imagine a large size pebble that the crow would have dropped in the neck of the pot would have changed the entire story. So ability to identify right size of pebbles was critical and so was the distance between the source of the pebbles and the pot. Had the distance been large the thirsty crow would have been dead doing the trips to the pot. The thirsty crow over a period of time could drop enough pebbles to quench its thirst. Had the crow not put the efforts and had no ability the story would have been different.

Then everyone would have said TIME was bad……

TIME and Luck

Very often we confuse between TIME and LUCK. People say someone had a bad time or good time. Time is a period. It can be measured, from milliseconds to light years. This can be quantified, but what was good or  bad in a given phase cannot be quantified. Anything that happens in a given time interval can happen due to various factors and one cannot hold time responsible for that. Time has objectivity and luck is subjective.  I have seen many times people mentioning, had they waited for another six months, they would have got a better spouse. Six months is quantified where as better spouse is very subjective.

A good or bad phase in one’s life for a specific number of days or years is generally expressed as good time or bad time and that’s where the confusion arises. If luck is good or bad in a given time frame, one tends to call it good time or bad time. Time is time, it’s same for all. It’s the luck that is different. Someone might be benefited in a given period whereas someone else may suffer. The time frame is same but events and results are subjective, and are relative, however these get tied to time. And this leads to confusion between time and luck. The line differentiating these two is very thin. Next time when you want to thank for something good that has happened, then thank your luck and if it’s something bad that you experienced, curse your luck.  Do not thank or curse the time.

Let me share a story with you. I call it a story because identity of the person involved in the story is not established. However the story drives home the point. Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 is still a mystery. Some passenger with Twitter account named as Kaiden IV claimed that he and his companion Rory were booked on ill-fated flight. Due to personal reasons they were separately held up and couldn’t board the flight. He was angry and cursed the bad time for having missed the time, but his anger turned to relief upon learning he’d avoided what has become one of the biggest aviation mysteries in history. Kaiden made desperate attempts to contact his partner via Twitter, assuring her he was safe, and, most importantly, alive. What Kaiden thought was a bad time turned out to be a good time.

TIME is never good or bad, it’s your deeds, your luck that forces you to call the TIME good or bad.

Manage TIME

It’s universal that a day has 24 hours and each hour is of 60 minutes and 60 seconds make a minute. It’s same for all from east to west, north to south, rich to poor and with no racial discrimination.

I often come across large number of people who complain that they don’t have TIME. If everyone has same 24 hours a day then why do some complain about lack of TIME? There can be many reasons. For a workaholic, it may be the urge to complete the work in a given time frame. But the question that comes to my mind is about the time frame, who decides? Is it realistic? Are the priorities correct?  Are we trying to chew more than we can bite? Or are we racing against the time rather than going with the time?

THINK. I understand it’s a competitive world and one has to keep running and aspire to be the FIRST. And that’s perfectly fine, but understand the limitations, set right priorities. You will find it easier. Your ability to manage TIME is the critical factor, and that depends on your prioritization. Once clarity emerges your TIME allocation improves and then you will have enough TIME. And you may not again blame the TIME.

And finally………

I get reminded of a story, “How much land does a man require?” by Leo Tolstoy written in 1886. A farmer named Pahom is given offer to take all the land he can walk from sunrise to sunset, provided he returns to the starting point before sunset. The hardworking Pahom starts walking at the sunrise for this great opportunity. He travels mile and miles during the day to cover maximum possible land for himself. Unfortunately the poor guy fails to realize when to turn back, and doesn’t make it to the starting point before the sunset and loses the opportunity. Inability of Pahom to manage his time is to be blamed and not the TIME.

So let’s develop ability to manage the TIME.