The Downsizing Drama

Agreed that companies can neither be empathetic or sympathetic towards their employees. But can't they at least try? Just laying off people one fine morning is almost like meeting with an accident. You leave your home in the morning happy, with a lot of dreams just to find out that the dreams are on the verge of being shattered.

A lot of people were laid off at my company, without warning. May be that's how it works. But why? I'm sure the management doesn't figure out overnight that the business or a process is not doing well. Isn't there a stage of gradual decline? Of course, there is. Then why do employees have to bear the brunt? Isn't it too easy to say that "they should have seen it coming"?

To add insult to injury, the severance pay is mostly a joke. What about their households, their dependents, and everything else that depends on their monthly income, the full income? And what if the job market is not so welcoming? What happens then?

Those of us who still have our jobs can only feel bad when the news about the layoff breaks. And pray that the human beings who are the decision makers of companies get closer to being human and learn a thing or two about humanity.

Dear Happiness, You Show Up in Silly Ways!

I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I came out of the mall happier than I was when I went in. You might think I'm crazy! Well, let me give it a better perspective. It was not the process that made me happy, but something happened that made me think how little things can add to our happiness quotient, with little to no effort whatsoever.

Let's go back a few years and forget grocery for some time. When I was in school, a PT period or a free period would make me happy. In college it was mostly lab and practicals; I hated theory classes. In work life, it's safe to say that good work and some free time in between jobs adds to the happiness that's otherwise dulled by the usual corporate politics, etc.

Now let's come back to the present. Bring the groceries back as well. What made me happy? After a long time, I finally found fresh, green and leafy spinach. Yeah, spinach, my favorite vegetable (oh, how I have a craving now)! But the keywords are fresh, green, and leafy. How often does that happen? I had grown tired of the wilted, dead leaves. Now you get it? So when I picked up a bunch, I smiled, and soon realized how crazy I would have looked standing in the middle of a mall smiling at spinach.

The spinach episode is just a little example of how the silliest of things in life make us happy. And how the definition of happiness changes as we grow older (read wiser). I used to get angry as a kid when mom would ask "what do I make for lunch tomorrow?" Now I totally empathize with her. I'm happy when I know what I can make the next day rather than being clueless and scratch my confused head standing in front of my open refrigerator. I'm happy when my rotis are perfectly round and turn out as phulkas rather than burnt maps of Sri Lanka or Australia, like they used to be. I'm happy with so many things that don't have anything to do with me.

Happiness has funny ways of showing up! Can you relate to this? Feel free to comment about the silly things that make you happy!

The Seatbelt Syndrome

A silly disease! Why I call it a syndrome is because it's a disease of the intelligent brain. It's really funny how some people, educated people (mind it), can be so silly when it comes to something that's in the best interest of their safety. I call this common silliness the seatbelt syndrome.

However, there's effective treatment available. It can be treated with the right doses of common sense and then some love for your precious. No, not the ring of the Lord of the Rings fame, but your precious dear life.

By the way, there's another treatment. You know what it is. It's the fear of being caught by a traffic cop and having to pay a Rs.100 as fine. Isn't it funny how we need a fear of a petty fine for our own safety.

Let's not forget those who quickly wear their seatbelt when they see the white and khaki at a distance! I've seen and heard it umpteen number of times from my near and dear ones. "Is there a fine for not wearing seatbelt?" Well, there will soon be a fine for sure for not using those dormant gray cells! Do you know anyone suffering from the seatbelt system?

'So Who's Poor, Him or Me?'

This is not a first-hand experience but one shared by my mother-in-law. But it's something that made me think about how we, the middle-class folks, may be the new 'poor.'

It happened outside a temple. When she came out of the temple she saw some 'poor' people waiting for alms. So, out of goodwill, she gave 10 bucks to one of them, a man in ragged clothes. Little was she prepared for what happened next. The man threw the money back at her and said, "You're giving me 10 bucks? I'll give you 100!" She was, not-surprisingly, shocked and hurt.

After she narrated this incident, she innocently asked, "So who's poor, him or me?" That's something to think about.

Baby, Say Hello!

Well, I might be touching upon a very sensitive topic, especially for those of you who're parents. I'm not one, yet, so I must say I find it most amusing when parents make their little ones, yeah really tiny, little ones, to do things to show off how talented the little one is at say 8.5 months!

Only recently I came across such a situation. The mom asked her 11-month-old baby, a very cute kid, to "say hello" and "bye-bye." What she really meant was for him to wave, may be. The kid kept clapping and smiling all the while when his mother kept on asking him to "say" goodbye. I thought it was quite funny at how hard she was trying, only to be disappointed.

In hindsight, this is not the first time I've witnessed such an act. It's happened before, but I never really thought about it so much as to share my thoughts on a blog post. But considering how common this is, why not!

Do babies really understand what we adults say in our grown-up language? They sure respond with their goos and gaas, so you may think they do. But there's no way of knowing the science behind it. This is one fascinating, thought-provoking communication, isn't it? Well it does leave you thinking "what did that baby say?" Are you a parent who's been there, done that?