Be Unique! Be Yourself

The nerves tight, thoughts racing through, my mind was running full throttle.
The pressure was more than what was intended in the launch pad.
All of a sudden, without the customary countdown, ignition and in the blink of an eye, I was weightless.

Then as the fog cleared, I was flying over the scenic countryside.
The few moments of solitude came to an abrupt end.
I was staring at a queue.

I could see the sun rise from between the two hills.
I could clearly hear the water flowing in the river nearby. I heard the cattle by the well.
But I could not see the "Dream" House by ther river. The house with a door, a window and a chimney. Although I could see the smoke emitting out of it.
I realized, this dream was too overcrowded.

I changed the course and went in a different direction.
En-route, I saw a big crowd looking for something. Later, realized they were all searching for their "Dream-girl"
I thanked myself to be out of that phase of life.

As I wandered further in search of some peace and tranquillity, the crowd got thicker.

It started to sink in. My dreams are not unique anymore.
There are hordes of people dreaming the same thing.

Meanwhile, I could hear a cry from some corner. I changed the coordinates and set off in the direction of the noise.
As I got nearer, the noise got louder and I realized it's not singular.
I thought, maybe the world is in Danger. Aha, time to turn a hero.
Felt a wave of new energy within. I almost tore off my shirt expecting the cape to start flying (if not me).

But I felt a big punch on my face. I was standing in front of this crazy huge guy.
He asked, "Passport and visa please." Until then, I did not realize I was carrying it with me.
Then in a robotic tone, he asked, "What's the purpose of your visit Sir?"
I said, "Hey. You are mistaken. I'm not here to visit your country. I want to save the world"

He punched once again and said in a 'matter of fact' tone.
"You can only dream of coming here to the land of opportunities.
Only after you go through the grind and become a citizen, can you be authorized. It's the 'right to dream' of our citizens to save the world. Not yours"

In the background, the fuel indicator started to sound out the warning alarm. Maybe, it was time to return.

Then I woke up, dismissed the alarm. Got about my morning duties.
And within minutes, I was off to another grinding day at work.

Trying to save my job.

The Plight of Customer Delight!

The doorman opened the door with a smile doing the customary "namaste" albeit fake. As I stepped inside, a lady dressed in an elegant sari enquired about my well-being. After directing me towards the section where I would be "looked after", she went on to attend another customer. The minute I entered "the section", I was offered a drink. I felt like a prince alright.
Five minutes and three attendants later, I was seated in front of the executive who would attend to a "complaint" about my phone bill.
I'd stepped into a network provider's showroom and not a fancy Hotel.
Mind you, this is after obvious attempts at getting a resolution through their 1800 number call-centre.

We, the "customers" are to be blamed for this appalling situation.
Today, this provider is literally wasting money at creating services to supposedly delight us at activities that is not it's core.
Invariably, for these very delightful services, they will charge us in all direct/indirect ways.
The whole theory of "customer delight being the new customer expectation" is a marketing farce that should STOP and almost immediately.

I want a phone that functions well in all possible areas of the city.
I don't want a low/weak network patches during my commute where the call will most certainly drop.
In the mornings, when we go to a milk-booth or the street-side newspaper vendor, do we expect any sort of frills?
Then why do we fall prey for such gimmicks elsewhere?

What is the need for customer service? Why spend on infrastructure for a call centre?
Why can the companies not focus on giving us a product that does not ask for any customer service?
The same or less money can be "invested" in research and development instead of marketing and service.

I'm not against customer service centres or call centres. They are necessary in some sectors. But they should be limited to those sectors alone.

Remember the old bike ad from the 90s? Fill it; Shut it; Forget it!
I currently dream of a confident product where they say, "Come, Look, Buy and simply refer us to your friends". I'm sure, they don't want us to "Forget" them. :)

Illusion? Innovation?

Historically, we humans are fascinated when we are fooled, when someone sells us a dream.
We love illusions and love to hallucinate.

We can broadly segment homo-sapiens in two types.
1) Those that create the illusion
2) Those who believe the illusion

There are various ways in which these are sold; Mind you, "sold". We pay for it.
These days, the name of the game is innovation. In fact it's so in the face, yet we choose to look the other way.

There are training programs to teach such "packaging". We encourage our kith and kin to take up such lucrative career options.
Take a quick stock of 5 immediate things around you as you read this. Including the device on which you are reading this.
Please take ten minutes and list out the features they offer and how much do you really need & use?
Startled? Aren't you?

I met a couple with kids in a developed country. One of the spouses was apparently chasing a career to continue to stay in that country.
The other was working to make sure she can pay the baby-sitter to take care of her kids when she was away working. Duh?

In our career span of thirty-five odd years, instead of learning, enjoying and giving our best, we end up chasing a mirage called milestones.
Let's say our goal is to walk 10 miles. Instead of seeing two milestones at 5 miles each, we prefer seeing it every mile 10 times.
So, we feel like we've achieved 10 milestones whereas we've really walked the same 10 miles; Thereby creating an illusion of success.
But along with the illusion of success, we also create a false sense of urgency.

We must remember it's water that quenches thirst and not the glass.
The secret is to see through feeble illusion and focus on the true goal.
Instead of getting lost in glam and glitter along the path.

The antonym of Secret is Knowledge.
But the antonym of Knowledge is not secret, it's ignorance.

Questions?

Where did “questions” originate from? Who discovered or invented “questions”?
What would happen if we did not have “questions”?

For a question is the birth of curiosity. And before we get the answers, what happens in our minds is the birth of imagination.

The effects of questions are valuable and is called knowledge
One of the side effects of questions is imagination.

Somewhere between the ‘question’ and the ‘answer’ lies ‘imagination’.
Either imagination meets reality OR it feeds fiction.

Why? Where? When? What? How?
If one were to categorize or rank the questions, “Why” would be the mother of all questions.
Every other question has a definite answer. But “Why” never has a definite answer.
Go ahead, I encourage you to do this mental exercise before you read on.

My daughter asks this mother of all questions at least 100 times a day.
It sometimes teases our knowledge, invokes imagination and most of the times irritates us.
However, we still encourage her to keep asking this question. Every time we see her take the “Why” route, we can see all the dimensions being covered. Her eyes lights up if she finds an answer. If not, some days down, we realize that unanswered question is now a figment of her imagination.

Do we ask so many questions? Do we fear being judged based on the questions we ask?
The opposite or the other end of the spectrum of not asking questions is called presumption or assumption. Commonly known as making an “ass” out of “u” and “me”.
Now, think about it. Assumption is born out of imagination. It takes the reverse route. If it is not fed well by knowledge, it grows into incorrect answers being passed on. This is neither fiction nor reality. This is probably what is known as the “grey” area.

I'd like to let my life be colourful. I will continue to ask questions.
Will you?

PS: My last question has a definite answer.