....the Peaky Blinders music played

....the Peaky Blinders music played... so I looked at my phone (Peaky Blinders is the latest show am watching and l took fancy to the title music and hence set it as my ringtone.. just like the 20 year old me used to do.. silly things..maybe..)

The call was from a guy who I hadn't spoken to since 2017... and probably spoken just a couple of times in the last decade...

Having driven about a hundred kms just a few hours back and tired.. I told my wife..."hmm this guy hasn't called me in ages.. how come he is calling today?.. kuch toh kaam hoga saale ko" (excuse the use of slang.. friends do have the right to call each other that if not more colorful terms) ... I wondered why he was calling me... lately a lot of old friends and connections have been reaching out mainly to enquire about job openings... but this was a guy who I respected a lot as a friend..someone who I had always looked up to when I was working at my first job.. so I picked up at the end of 2 rings...

"Hey!! Long time!!" He said... "Yeah!!!" I said... waiting to hear the reason he called after so many years ... "I just called to say Hi!... been so many years we spoke.. so I thought let me catch up.." ... and at that moment I knew my mind over-thought as usual and I was elated that I got the call... next few mins we chatted about how things have changed since we last spoke and relived some moments from old times... He and I studied at the same engineering college and 4 of us from the college were lucky enough to land up a campus placement job at Infosys that I believe was the best stepping stone to start a career back then in 2005...I still credit Infosys (then headed by N. R. Narayana Murthy ) for the skills and values it taught me...

I was happy to just continue with the job then when this guy and another room-mate of mine (at Pune) were preparing for an MBA and egged me to give the MBA entrance a shot.. it eventually worked out and I did my MBA and when we spoke that day I told him how grateful I was to the two of them who pushed me to prepare for further studies... the other guy I mention here is my "Best Friend" (..might be a cliched term but works for me...) and will talk about him some other day... but this guy I spoke about is Amit Churiwal ..

Thanks for the call Amit and thanks for being an inspiration.. while there are so many inspirational stories to be told about our time together, I will reserve those for some other day and conclude by saying... pick up that call... return that call...or even better, make that call... to that friend who had a high impact on your life... unless you tell them, they won't know.. and you won't know the joy of letting them know how they helped you unknowingly..

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"Haha! I beat your hi-score!!"

"...haha! I beat your high score...!!" I exclaimed at her, with loud expressions but a muffled voice as I did not want the professor to hear my ecstatic proclamation.

[This is a repost of one of my stories, published in June '21.]

This incident occurred during my MBA days. Like many of my peers, I opted for typing notes on my laptop, given my handwriting resembled a doctor's prescription (no offense to doctors with neat handwriting). This habit persists today; I still rely on my laptop or phone for note-taking. The event I recall dates back to 2008, during a Labour Laws class.

While our professors were undoubtedly excellent, as students, a bit of mischief was almost expected, right? Anyone who has studied HR would agree that Labour Laws isn't the most captivating topic in college. The subject itself was dry, compounded by a particularly stern professor. So, from time to time, I would sneak into a game on my laptop under the pretense of taking notes. However, I wasn't alone. Many used the laptop for activities far from taking notes, including this girl, let's call her SM. Like me, she was also hooked onto the same game. It was some game about marbles, where one had to shoot at marbles on the screen to form patterns and score. SM was really good at it and always scored high. That day, however, I played well and had actually achieved a new high score which wasn't just my high score but was higher than SM's high score!

The rush of accomplishment & excitement overwhelmed me, so I ended up informing SM right then, as she was seated close by. I was expecting an "oh damn!!" kind of dejected expression from her, but I was taken aback by her reaction. SM showed me a thumbs up and was grinning ear to ear, almost as ecstatic as me! After class, I reiterated my triumph, exclaiming, "SM, I beat your high score!" she smiled and said "That is really awesome!" I was stumped, so I asked, "Why are you so happy? I just beat you!" What she said next got etched in my mind forever. She said, "but we aren't competing, we are partners playing the same game!"

I was speechless, as I realized how silly I was for looking at this in a competitive way whereas this girl had a completely different perspective on it. I saw a competitor in her, and she saw a partner ("collaboration" wasn't in my vocab back then) in me. This incident stayed with me and to this date reminds me how sometimes we get carried away in competing, at times against the very same people who support us or are trying to work alongside us. Being competitive perhaps is good at times, but one must ponder if we lose out on good friends/colleagues/allies who want to join us in the journey and not necessarily see it as a competition.

Thank you, once again, SM, for imparting this profound wisdom in the most simplest of ways.

"Jimish, I lost my job"

 ... said Tony when we spoke recently... Tony is a great guy. An ideal guy. Very dedicated (in his personal and professional life)... very genuine... the guy who is loved by everyone for the person he is... hard working... joyful... Great sense of humor... Great understanding of life... (and am sure a good performer at work)

But... Tony lost his job. Reason? The company was in the midst of restructuring and his role was identified as redundant... his colleagues loved him... his boss loved him... but...he lost his job..

Who is to be blamed? Tony? His company? His boss? His leadership? Probably none of these.... sometimes there is no one to be blamed for a decision that an organization takes which affects an individual but what it does do is makes you think about it... to draw an analogy, we often hear about passing of a person who has never smoked or consumed alcohol..who was a fitness enthusiast.. did everything right in his/her life but suddenly passed due to unexplained reasons... no one is to be blamed ... such instances only remind us that no matter how good u are at what you do or who you are... life is too uncertain.. be it a job.. matters of health or life itself... take nothing for granted...

I have no friend named Tony... but this is a real incident and I used a fictitious name to narrate the true story...

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The Clock

 Viana (6yo) : Papa, what's the time?

Me: Must be around 9.45pm.



V : But the car clock says 9.55pm !

Me : Ya, but the car clock is some 12-13 mins ahead so actually the time is lesser than that.



V : But you always say the same thing when I ask the time when we are in the car... why is the car clock 12-13 mins ahead?

Me: Because when I am going somewhere it gives me a sense of urgency when I look at the clock and it often helps me reach ahead of time...



V : So when you know it's ahead and subtract it in your mind by that much to know the exact time everytime you look at it, how does it still help?

Me : Well...



Since time unknown the clock in my room is 5mins ahead and the clock in our living room in 7mins ahead... every time I change the batteries I ensure it stays that way... a habit that developed when I was a kid.. probably passed on from my parents or elder siblings...and it continues... not sure if it helps in anyways.. I somehow think that it does.. but I wonder how many people still use this approach as since the advent of mobile phones, everyone's phone now syncs the clock with the internet and is always accurate... I know of one friend who has kept his house clock ahead by 30mins for last 2 decades..

Do you do this? Does this help? It's a small thing but I wonder if it's a wide practice in households...

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