Contentment is bad

Contentment is bad unless you are Buddha or Mahavir. You would not even realize when this contentment transforms into complacency and thence your (asked for) failure.

The world is full of examples that claim this fact. You remember Romesh Powar, the red-goggled Mumbai spinner. He might be talented as he got into the national team, and then out of contentment, he started to take it for granted; never tried to improve his fitness, his fielding and above all bowling, as a result he is out forever. Ask a guy who practices cricket 8 hours a day, sweats out in the gym, pool and race tracks for the remaining day, just to get into the Ranaji team or the university team. And here we have a guy who got such an immense opportunity, a chance to represent the nation and he wasted it like anything.

Have you visited any of the 'More' stores by the Aditya Birla Group? They have huge establishments, so many employees, so much space, money and experience to experiment with and become a leader in FMCG sales. But where do they stand right now? Nowhere.

This is because of the very basic reason - they don't even understand that the force that drives the middle class is money; if you don't give discounts, if you are not healthy on the pockets of the consumers, why would the customer prefer you over the local kirana store or any other local grocery store.

Have you visited any of the huge book stores namely 'Odyssey' or 'Crossword', i am not sure if they generate profits or not. But one thing is for sure, if they deploy a few very obvious strategic techniques, they would be heavily profitable.

People actually love reading, they want to purchase original books, but the books are so heavily charged. A piece of fiction which is not more than a few hours read for a voracious reader is worth 500 bucks. I can not even imagine buying that book; hence i go to the road side vendor and purchase the duplicate copy for 70-200 rupees. Yes, i feel guilty in doing so but i can't help, i can not purchase a book at an asking price of Rs.500.

Firstly if that book had been priced 250 or so i would have gone for the original one, secondly if those grandiose stores offer schemes like discounts on future purchases or gift coupons or for that matter anything which make me feel that i get worth of MY money whenever i go to so and so store, why would i go for the duplicate cheap purchases (Recently i purchased the duplicate titles of - 'Go kiss the world' and 'The White Tiger' for the very same reason).

Contentment certainly leads to happiness but it kills the urge to get ahead. In a race, you are contended that there are five cars behind you, but that would never make you win, what would make you win is i have to speed up, there are still 8 cars ahead of me.

Just after college, we get into the job without thinking or giving a second thought to WHAT IF i go for this or that? I seek contentment in - Hey! At least i have a job. Also, in the job we don't put in our 100% because we don't find it necessary. But in order to succeed we have to get ahead, think of new frontiers, think of new horizons and without fail head start in that direction.

If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.
--Norman Vincent Peale

Bombay - a transposer

While talking to a friend on phone yesterday, who has just shifted to Bombay, i tried to comprehend how the life in Bombay can be characterized for the middle class. Also, let me tell you that - you are just another middle class guy here in Bombay, irrespective of what you or your native city thinks of you.

Bombay had always been a dream city for me; i have always admired the beauty, the mojo, the excitement and the quality of life here. But the charm is available only for less than 0.001% of the people (Don't ask me how i reached this figure, just wanted to state an enormously small quantity, hence 0.001). For everyone else, the life is killing out here in Bombay.

Once, i met a couple of well-to-do bank guys in their early forties at around 10:30pm in the local. They were returning from the job, so out of curiosity i asked them If it was the usual time to return. Of course they said yes, and told me they won't reach home before 11, just to leave the other day at 5:30 am. I was severely surprised to find out that it had been their routine ever since. Now tell me- What kind of life is that?

They can surely be considered amongst the well paid middle class, but what for - Raising just a modest living even after so much pain.

Bombay is a city full of luxuries both necessary and unnecessary. Yes, here in Bombay you get to learn that luxuries can also be necessities, you can't live without certain luxuries that could have sounded utterly unnecessary earlier, but no more in Bombay.

My father says - 'Bombay is a city to enjoy for those who don't actually require to personally go and do business. The business creates money for them and they get to spend this automatically earned money.' These people actually enjoy the life in Bombay; all the others, however hefty pay packs or revenues they generate, have to lead a laborious life.

I feel whenever a new guy comes to this city, he gets transposed to the bigness of Bombay from his native place in three stages as mentioned underneath:

Excitement -- So many people around; so much to see; so many trains, buses, expensive cars, malls, hence the guy is so much excited; he travels in the local and shares the experiences with friends; experience a fight or an accident and narrates it with minute details to his relatives and so on and on. Hence, everything excites him like anything.

Boredom -- After a while, the same crowd that had created a sense of excitement, now is a source of constant trouble; the endless queues at the ticket window; daily pouts of fights both verbal and physical; uncaring attitude of passersby, and all the robotic attributes now appear mundane and boring.

Habit -- Now the time comes when the guy is completely acquainted with the vicissitudes of Bombay, he has experienced enough to start the mundane life without the minutest thought of excitement. For boredom, there is no time at all. In a way he got bored of getting bored and is no more bored in anything for that matter.

• He is no more astonished looking at the queues longer than the great wall.
• He no more fears at the look of heavily crowded buses and trains.
• He doesn't care to say a sorry to the passerby whom he has overstepped.
• He doesn't believe in creating relationships with the shop wallahs.
• He goes to the job, comes back, to go back the next day.

So, this is how life changes for a guy from a small town (barring a couple of cities on this planet, all towns and cities are smaller when compared to Bombay). He becomes acquainted too quickly and rarely wishes to move out of this habit. No pain, no excitement, no feelings, just plain robotics.

He doesn't want to get out of this mechanical trail just like the train that knows nothing but to move on the same parallel tracks over and over again. He doesn't even think of moving back to his home town. A personality trainer in a workshop once said for Bombay

You can checkout anytime you like
But you can never leave...

(picking it from the famous song 'Hotel California' by The Eagles).

But one thing is for sure, this city hates slow movers. Bombayites might not respect anything else but they definitely respect time. You have to be quick-moving, 7:32 local arrives precisely on time and you can not afford to even think of missing it.

Bombay creates quick movers, fast learners, pompous-flashy-socialites and laborers (yes not at all i've mistaken here). It can and will teach you high class management lessons but at a cost which might not be acceptable to you; but do you really think you have a choice against BOMBAY....No you don't have...Here

Bombay decide and we quietly reside..