Author: murali

when is work not work, but play ?

when is work not work, but play ? obviously, when you enjoy your work. when does it happen? when you work at your own pace, on your own volition, with no expectation of reward or fear of punishment/ failure. (of course there are exceptions for example, when someone is cooking for his daughter, he doesn’t … Continue reading “when is work not work, but play ?”

when is work not work, but play ?

obviously, when you enjoy your work.

when does it happen?

when you work at your own pace, on your own volition, with no expectation of reward or fear of punishment/ failure.

(of course there are exceptions for example, when someone is cooking for his daughter, he doesn’t mind being rushed …)

you can set your own pace if you or are the top man in your organization.

top man doesn’t mean NO 1 in a huge organizaton … it can also mean at the bottom of the heap in an one man army.

well as for the reward, you can afford not to expect if you have enough self esteem, and of course, enough means for day to day living.

so,

under such conditions work will become truly enjoyable, and such work will also be very productive.

So, barring a lucky few, work for most people should start after retirement from ‘regular work’.

PALACE ON WHEELS

No, It is not about the famous train to Jaipur, it is about the life in the Army. Atleast for the families, life is nothing but ‘palace on wheels’ and for the army personnel themselves, the word army may sometimes be substituted by ‘jungle’. Palace or jungle, the real operative word is ‘wheels’. Life in … Continue reading “PALACE ON WHEELS”

No, It is not about the famous train to Jaipur, it is about the life in the Army. Atleast for the families, life is nothing but ‘palace on wheels’ and for the army personnel themselves, the word army may sometimes be substituted by ‘jungle’.

Palace or jungle, the real operative word is ‘wheels’. Life in the army is like being always on the move. Like a traveller, you can experience the weather change ,look at a city through its railway station, but never be part of the town.

There is a time in life, when you want to get away from the train and get on with real life in the town, among real people. But then you are too scared to to leave the security of the train and venture into the big bad world of town people.

Even the families opt to stay in the railway stations (Read ‘Cantonments’) at times when the ‘palace’ turns into ‘jungle’ (Read ‘Field Station’). A few daring ones stay in the town but come back to the cosy comfort of the train after two years.

As always there are pros and cons to everything, including life on wheels. The advantages first; there is security and for the officers and families there is a tremendous sense of a privileged existence, since they travel ‘Deluxe class”. Though people keep moving in and out of the train, you do get good company. You get to see a lot of places and meet a lot of people though under controlled settings.

The disadvantages include the inability to settle down anywhere. There are no long lasting friends and no relatives, unless they are co passengers. Staying 24 x 7 with the same people, there is an artificial existence. The worst damage is the kind of belief that the world is just the train and the railway stations. The feeling of animosity comes out through the not infrequent reference to ‘The B—– town people (Read ‘civilians’)’

The divide between the train and the towns is really widening. Particularly for the officers and families, ‘deluxe class’ existence is unaffordable outside the train, due to the currency variation. The classic case is the kind of people who are born in a train, live the entire life in trains and settle down in a railway station, when too old to keep moving.

may you live a hundred years

may you live a hundred years ! is it a curse or a blessing ? quote from an life insurance agent “a policy caters for two tragedies in life dying too early (covered by insurance component) and living too long (covered by the savings component)” the first case really doesn’t affect you , it affect … Continue reading “may you live a hundred years”

may you live a hundred years ! is it a curse or a blessing ?

quote from an life insurance agent

“a policy caters for two tragedies in life

dying too early (covered by insurance component)
and
living too long (covered by the savings component)”

the first case really doesn’t affect you , it affect only your Dependents
the second case affects you the most

so what do you do ?

as long as you continue to enjoy the fruits from trees planted by your predecessors, it is only fair that you cater for the insurance component for your dependents

any financial planning requires an important input ; how long will you live ?

without this input either you will run out of your savings

or

will be left looking fondly at the unspent savings when you are in no position to really spend

so, what do you do ?

well, if you have run out of your savings, it only means you have lived your life to the full , so why regret ?
if you are left with assets you wish you had spent in your younger days, then be happy you are leaving something for your successors or for charity.
what if the beneficiaries are not worth the largess ? a tree providing shade or fruits doesn’t judge the beneficiaries …..so be it…

wedding anniversary

wedding anniversary of late ‘celebration of wedding anniversary’ has become very important. why do we celebrate it ? is it to show everyone that you are happily married ? is it to spoil yourselves with good time (as a compensation for 364 days of misery) ? is it to exchange expensive gifts ? is it … Continue reading “wedding anniversary”

wedding anniversary

of late ‘celebration of wedding anniversary’ has become very important.

why do we celebrate it ?

is it to show everyone that you are happily married ?

is it to spoil yourselves with good time (as a compensation for 364 days of misery) ?

is it to exchange expensive gifts ?

is it just to thank God that marriage is still alive ?

Then there is an absurd notion among wives, especially to the north of Vindhyas, that it is the day when the wives should be pampered by the husbands. (you would find the wives literally driving the husbands to do various chores like hanging a flower pot, doing up the drawing room etc)
may be because of the huge dowry they bring.

I don’t think it should be any of the above.

marriage is difficult. one needs to work at it to make it work , and keep working at it to keep it working.

anniversary is a good opportunity (mainly because it comes every year !!regularly) to take stock of the work done and mid-course corrections.

it is a day when you could be kind to your spouse, extend him/her the basic courtesy that you would readily extend to a total stranger or for that matter even to your ex-spouse or old flame. can’t resist cut/pasting a joke 😉

A SHORT COOL STORY

A man and a woman, who had never met before but who were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a trans-continental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a coupe, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper berth and she in the lower.

Sometime past midnight, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying,….. ….. ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I’m awfully cold.’

‘I have a better idea,’ she replied ‘Just for tonight,…. .. let’s pretend that we’re married.’

‘Wow!……. That’s a great idea!’, he exclaimed.

‘Good,’ she replied. …………. .’Then get down and get your own bloody blanket from the closet.’

The End

it is a day to reaffirm your commitment to each other, to your children, to spiritual development of each other, and so on.

but most of the time exactly the opposite happens. it is a day when people do a balance sheet check to see who has lost more or gained more from the union. a wife demands gifts/outing and a husband demands ‘peace’ ?!

Stacation

The sudden spike in oil prices has made the Americans coin a new word “stacation”meaning staying at home instead of going out on vacationwell, Indians have been doing it all the time.

The sudden spike in oil prices has made the Americans coin a new word “stacation”
meaning staying at home instead of going out on vacation
well, Indians have been doing it all the time.

A few good men ….and women

As per Newspaper reports, our new home minister P Chidambaram has direct control over the fifth largest armed forces in the world. the CPO and paramilitary forces together add up to over 8 lakhs which is more than the strength of pak army ….but when it comes to fighting terrorism all he has is two … Continue reading “A few good men ….and women”

As per Newspaper reports, our new home minister P Chidambaram has direct control over the fifth largest armed forces in the world. the CPO and paramilitary forces together add up to over 8 lakhs which is more than the strength of pak army ….but when it comes to fighting terrorism all he has is two bns of SAG which is fully manned by army personnel on deputation.

all we require is a few good men and women…are young persons listening ?