Promises are NOT meant to be broken

Today I broke a promise. I thought it wasn't a big deal because how can one person's presence/absence make a difference, especially if that person is me. Apparently it does, and I don't like it. I feel sorry for what I've not done, i.e., keeping my promise but the sad part is that this isn't the first time.

Early on in my life I had realized that I am not good at keeping promises so I didn't make any promise. The only time I made promises was when the only way to get out of that situation was to say 'yes' to a promise, especially with my mother and father. Most of the times things resolved themselves, and parents can be very forgiving so they'd have got used to this nature of mine.

Every once in a while I feel like making a promise to my friend who considers calling me for a movie even after my "no" on everytime he invites me for a movie. And as expected, the promise is broken most of the times. This bad habit has plagued me during my masters where I failed to get research publications and in my job as well, where I couldn't meet deadlines.

And now a days it happens everyday. I start my day with some plan, by the end of the day most of those things remain unchecked in my list. Instead I end up doing few new things.

So I had promised to my friend that I'd attend Orations '13 to listen to her speech. My bad habit prevailed and I overslept. By the time I woke up, the contest was already over. It seems my absence may have affected her performance. If that indeed is true, then I must do something about my callous attitude towards life and people because now its affecting others as well and I hate it when that happens.

Unemployed

I don't know exactly who started it, but I've seen people post this as their status on Facebook: "Unemployed".
Intriguing, I know. Once you see the number of likes, you surely would want to know more. Read the comments you'll know. "Congrats", "You deserve it buddy", "Well done", "I wish I could be unemployed this way" etc.
Now why would anyone get accolades for being unemployed !! Did he/she quit because of their mean manager, or because the work wasn't fit for that person's profile? Was it because he/she was underworked or underpaid or because he/she didn't like the work very much? Was it an act of bravery to quit such that he/she would prefer to stay unemployed rather than work at your former company?
The truth, is far more stranger than what one might expect. The person has in fact secured admission into one of the good colleges for MBA or MS !! Surprise Surprise !! So instead of posting, "Got admission into so and so college", they choose to post, "Unemployed" !! Perhaps he/she has not tasted the desperation/frustration during unemployment!
Now I am at a loss of words at this stupid, ridiculous act! I am not sure if I should admire this person for his hard work and focus to get admission into a reputed institute for a degree program of his/her choice, or lament his/her ludicrous choice of words!

The Thorn Within

If you want to get a person out of depression/anger, encouragement may look like a good idea but its not. At best it could be a band-aid solution and at worse it may push the person further into the abyss of gloom.
A depressed/angry person is a person with a thorn stuck in his/her feet. He/she is constantly in pain. They can be given pain killers which will have relief for sometime but that will soon wear off, they can be distracted by engaging them in something that will keep their mind off the pain. They could even be asked not to walk but they would have to walk, of course, for some basic tasks that must be done.
Take the thorn out and the pain will soon be gone. So, treat the disease, not attenuate the symptoms.
We all carry thorns in our feet as we walk through life. Some chose to take it out and throw it away, i.e., they choose to move on with life, leaving behind their grieving self and hurtful past. While some others think that if they keep walking they may get used to the pain, instead of taking that extra effort to bend down and pull the thorn out once and for all.
Never be in the second category because you may not get used to the pain, and when the realization finally catches up with you, it hurts really bad and life becomes hell. The thorn must be removed. It could be you, it could be someone else who's helping you out, who removes it. In fact while the thorn is being pulled out, it hurts slightly more, but you'll know its worth it once you start living a painless life again.
Chances are, you already know the thorn and you belong to second category. You don't have to walk with the thorn in your feet, you can pull it out.

The Cobbler

There's this cobbler who sits at the end of the street at White Fields, besides Fresh supermarket. While visiting my friend who stays at White Fields or while going to office, I visit him when I have a shoe problem. He does his work very well and seems like a nice person. Moreover I think he spends more time at his workplace (streetside) than I do at my desk in office because once I saw him at work in the morning, at around 10 am, then again saw him sitting at his spot at 6 pm. When I asked him how long will he be there, he replied, 7 pm.
He is one of those who rely on daily wages. What is appalling to me is the low rates he charges. I'm sure its the rate people generally pay to the cobbler but I feel its not decided properly. Their earnings depend on how much work they have put in, rather than how critical the work is. Critical work can demand higher pay but I think he is oblivious of this fact.
Last weekend I went to him to get my shoe stitched which had torn off from the front. It was almost ruined but I decided to go to a professional, i.e., the cobbler, in case there's still something that could be done to save it.
I took off my shoe and showed it to him and asked him to stitch it up. Very carefully he ran the thread through it and in 5 minutes, he stitched it so well that it was as good as new !! I picked up the shoe and examined it, trying to tear it off at the same place but it was solid work, the shoe didn't budge. I started looking into my wallet to search for change for Rs. 30/40 because I assumed that would be his pay. I asked him, "Bhaiya, kitna hua?" (How much should I pay?)
Rs. 10, he said. I asked him to repeat, again he said, Rs. 10.
Standing there at 1:30 PM under the blaring sun and its sweltering heat, I felt he had asked for more because I would be more than happy to pay more. Perhaps he quoted his price based on the amount of thread he used and the time it took, but he had no idea how important it was for me, that he had given me at least a month or two more with these shoes, thereby delaying me the expense of Rs. 1000 on a new pair of shoes. I could have offered him more, but I figured that it would have been odd, or would it have been?

Next Episode

I'm the best

Feels so good saying it out loud and actually believing it!
Actually one can be best, it depends on how we're looking at it. If the universe of reference is narrowed down, one can be best easily. Say you're a doctor and all of a sudden at a gathering, a doctor is needed and you're the only doctor there, what then? Of course, you're the best person to help! Ok if no doctor is there, what then? What if you've done a basic course on first aid, you're the best person to help. Even if you know nothing about medicine or helping a patient, if you even take an initiative like making the person feel comfortable, calling an ambulance, you're the best person at that time because you have taken that initiative to improve the situation and help someone.
You don't have to be the best in the world to be the best, you get opportunity everyday to be the best, to make someone's life better, to make this world a better place.