The Game is Up

How often we hear that when our friends confront us or in the movies, specially Bollywood movies. The hero in the last reel of the film tells the villain, ‘tumhara khel khatm ho chukka hai’.

But is the game really up? What about the game of life, which is up only when we die. I bet no one has ever said to a dead body, ‘your game is up’. Seriously, the game can change; life can throw us surprises, some good and some not so good but the game is ever evolving. Life goes on. When a crisis comes, we think this is the end and I won’t be able to survive this but we do survive and stand tall once again. And I am not talking about some drastic changes here. Mundane things can sometime change our perspective completely.

A few years back, newly married and without any experience of running a kitchen, I wanted to boil some potatoes. So I filled my pressure cooker with water and since I was in a hurry, put some potatoes. My maid who was doing the dishes saw this and said’ you didn’t wash the potatoes. What if one of these bursts and all the dirt goes inside? She was so right…. Never ever after that I have boiled potatoes without washing them first.

I bet all of us have had such experiences. What have you learned from those? How has an event changed your game?

Think about it and please share.

Think Before You Speak

How often our parents told us this. That we should be careful about words we use and what we should say.  Rightly so. It really matters what we speak but it also matters where we speak.

The other day I went to see my doctor as I had high fever. The moment I wet to the receptionist, she asked hi, how are you? I took a moment and said “excellent”!!! She, of course, missed the sarcasm. Now give me a break…. Anybody who goes to a doctor cannot be fine. They are sick and that is why they have come to the clinic. Now you can say that the receptionist is just being polite and well mannered and what is the harm if she asks this question.

Nothing except that instead of asking how are you, she can say what can I do for you. Her job, after all is to get you to the doctor. She is not there to socialize with patients.

It is the matter of where we speak what. How can I help you is more appropriate in this case. That is what I think. Similarly, One goes to a bank and faces the same question from the front desk. ‘How are ya’ has become a standard greeting in North America and nobody seems to find it inappropriate in certain situations. Social situations are different and this phrase is well accepted there.

Call me old fashioned but I think to be sensitive to situations and others’ needs is basic good manners.

Do you agree?

Think about it !!!!