RICH (36) Tales

Microstory # 36  Speechless

My friend had managed to get me an aisle seat on the 12-hour flight. I saw the man approaching me, I was in no mood to relent, and I was pretty much sure that for 2019 I had given my aisle seats pretty much more than 5 times. So when I noticed that a lady with a child was occupying the nearby seat I was sure her husband will be making his pitch of sympathy.  I told him, “Look that gentleman who is sitting two rows away managed and negotiated to get this seat for me and also this is a long flight and this time I will not be able to give my aisle seat.” He left the scene only to return after 1 hour and said ” hello” to me. I was speechless and that was just the time the song ” speechless” was playing in his video screen. 

Microstory # 37  –  Civilization

During my US trip to San Francisco, this time I had the opportunity to spend a good time in the car. It was on one of those drives to Napa Valley that I got the best comment from my nephew. It was post noon and we wanted to stop for a coffee break. We searched starbucks on google and we couldn’t find one. Hearing this he said, ” when are we getting back to civilization?” That comment broke me into peels of laughter. We later found one and I was wondering what Starbucks represents for the kids of this generation in the US.

Microstory #38   Two Memes

In a world where we are bombarded with memes and texts, there comes a couple of memes that knock you down instantaneously. These are the ones that made a RICH impact and made me look at things differently. One made me admire the life and appreciate the “cycle of life” and the other made me realize,” how we frame things seeing thorough a frame”. We are proved wrong once we know how we admire the perspective we get in another frame. The “frame” of reference shifts and we have to keep checking it every time in this memes world.

Microstory #39 –  Practice 

On the day of the race, she said I am not feeling good for the race. She was participating in the 4X100 relay. Being an inspirational dad,  I told her to go and enjoy the race. My daughter did her best and her team clocked silver. After we had our snacks she told me, ” It didn’t feel like a race, it turned out to be another day of practice”. I liked her comment and was enjoying and walking as I overheard a dad and son conversation. Dad said , ” Don’t worry participation was everything”. Son responded, ” Winning is the only thing”. I looked back to see if he also had a silver medal and I was right. I thanked my daughter as I recollected these words of Tom Bilyeu. “There is no such thing as performance. There is only practice”. 

Microstory # 40 – Optimism

My wife asked me how my trip to the US was. I said I liked the order of things but after some time I was in search of the disorder. A week later one of my colleagues from US was here and I overheard him mentioning to his wife about India as it was his first visit. He said, ” Cows get spooked but they don’t care and nobody cares.  People drive around the traffic lights, but there is a certain flow pattern and a system that works at scale. He later told me he found this disorder was fascinating (in a good way), and he added: “Diversity is your strength”. 

Microstory #41 – Friends 

The evening when my younger daughter came home, she showed her silver medal to her friends . During some discussions, she felt bad that she did not win the gold medal. As they say, you are the average of the five friends you hang around with. In this case, one of her friends shared some dialogues from the latest movie WAR which had Hrithik in the lead role alongside Tiger Shroff:

“Try your best to win before the match ends … run, sprint, play, fight, do everything … but once the match is over, then don’t think whether you won or lost … instead, ask yourself a question, did I give it my very best or not … and if your answer is yes … then you’re a winner.”

She was very happy and fully charged up after the conversation. When my wife narrated this discussion to me I had a good laugh and I too decided to watch the movie. After all, you can always get inspired to prepare for the next race.

Microstory #42 –  Principle for 2020

The T  junction was approaching. I told her that I will take the right turn. She said, ‘No’ you should take the left turn as the earlier point of entry for a shortcut was closed. I was still not sure about her information at that instance. I took the left turn and as I was driving my wife asked me, “why did you take the left turn, normally you go with your decision?”  I told her one of my resolutions is to practice this principle in life which I heard from Ray Dalio this year, “You can have an opinion but don’t think that is right“. I had to calm my ego and then had to switch in that instant between ” Do I need to be right ” or “what’s right”. Turned out that the “left” turn was “right”.