Words Of Wisdom

Only after the semester comes to an end, I have excess time to spare for my personal hobbies. Just like now. Making use of this excess time, I wrote down a story, based on an old adage, of course with some modification. Hope, readers enjoy reading it and learn from it too.

Long ago, in a village, a man was walking past his friend, who was climbing up a cocoanut tree. When he asked his friend about the reason for him to climb up the cocoanut tree, his friend said, “My cat has high fever and hence I’m climbing up the cocoanut tree to pluck some special grass, which will cure my cat”. Though each word from his friend appeared to be a lie, the man just gave an acknowledging smile and moved away.

Few days later, again while he was going past the same area, he again saw the same friend climbing up the cocoanut tree. Again he asked for the reason and got the same answer from his friend. This time he got furious and said, “Do you think, I’m a fool to take such words. I know the only reason you were climbing up the cocoanut tree was to steal some tender cocoanuts. Please don’t do it. It will harm you. You are stealing as well as lying. Shame on you!” To this his friend started making an illogical argument and started an emotional drama. Controlling his anger, the man left the place, with a smile.

Months later, again the same situation occurred. On enquiry this time around, his friend replied, “This time, it’s my goat which is suffering from high fever. I am climbing up to pluck the special grass which will cure my goat” Without uttering a word, the man left the place.

The friend was surprised by this action and went to a sage and asked him for an explanation for the man’s behavior on all three instances. The sage replied, “First time when you lied, your friend realized you were lying but ignored it, thinking there might be some reason behind your lies. When you lied to him for the second time, he felt you were mistaking his kindness with stupidity and he made it clear that he understood your lies. This time, he expected a lie from you and just ignored your words, and concluded you as a worthless person. When life gives you a chance to improve, use it wisely. But if you repeat your mistakes, you will lose your value. There is no way that your friend is ever going to trust you. Make sure you don’t repeat this kind of behavior with others.”

The moral of this story is obvious. I hope each one of follows the sage’s words in our lives, if we are not following them, before reading this story!

Being Alone & Being Lonely!

This is quite a random thought, felt like posting it on my blog.

What's the difference in between being alone and being lonely?

Here is my simple explanation;

When I am away from people, I read a book, listen to my favorite music and of course study hard, I consider being alone!

When I am away from people, I feel like talking to someone close and start scrolling the address book of my phone, only to conclude, I have no one to talk to, I consider being lonely!

Changing America!

For most of us, an American, in general is a spend-thrift who hardly believes in saving money. It is quite true, and if you have lived here for a while, you will realize that. But this American mindset is fast changing. Probably the phase from when I landed in this country till date has been the second worst time this country has seen (after the GREAT DEPRESSION), and hence I, like many others have been able to see this shift in attitude.

Today, in my campus, I got a note from a bunch of volunteers who want students to be more responsible than their previous generation. That note looked something like this…

HOLIDAYS ARE HERE AND WE HAVE SOME NOTES FOR YOU. CHECK THIS LIST TWICE BEFORE ENJOYING YOUR CHRISTMAS BREAK!

• Budget your holiday spending: Don’t buy what you can’t afford. Plan your budget and stick to it.

• Shop Wisely: Come up with ideas before you go shopping. Check out online for good deals and check if others are also interested in buying the same thing, so that you can get some bulk discount. Remember, a sale is good, only if you need a particular thing. Otherwise it can be a tempting trap.

• Pay by cash: With cash you can track your expenses better. Avoid credit cards which are the root cause for the rising debt-rate.

• Track your expenses: Track your expenses and items you want to buy. Neither buy excess number of items, nor exceed your overall budget.

For people who have been raised in India, these guidelines were rooted in them. Indians don’t require a special emphasis on being frugal. But with our country’s economy doing better than the most, I suspect if there is some need for distributing such guidelines. “We are doing well and so why should we be frugal in our approach”, best describes the attitude of our current generation. For those, here is some food for thought. If the USA, land of opportunities, with great economy, an open society and tremendously blessed with natural resources can burn its fingers by showing reckless attitude towards its expenditure, wouldn’t India take a bigger hit, if we imitate the reckless attitude in spending?

It is said that the wise learn from other’s mistakes while fools are inspired by other’s mistakes, to repeat it. Now it is up to us to prove ourselves, wise or otherwise!