Perfection

SCENE 1

A client reviews a newly designed poster, made by the designer according to the client's instructions.

Client: Its not quite what it should be.. I feel.. no, I am almost sure there is something missing
Designer: I will try adding better pictures, ones with more colours
Client: Hmm
.
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Client: Um hm, We are getting there, but not there yet. (After a long contemplating pause) Come on Reg, give me your all. We need the perfectly designed poster. Tell me, what are you going to do about this?
Designer: The tagline? I will work on that
Client: Yes, that too..but we need more. It needs to pack more punch. You know what I mean?
Designer: (nods)
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Client: There is only one thing I can tell you Reg. Its not perfect yet. I need perfection. got that?
Designer: hm (uncertainly) which part of the poster you want changed?
Client: Am I to tell you that? Is that not your work? Give me the result, dont ask me for details. Why else am I paying you?
.
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Client: This is your best? I cant believe this.. After four weeks of work, this is what I get??
No No! this cant go on.
----------------------- END OF SCENE 1 ----------------------
SCENE 2

He had been searching for a simple pair of jeans. You might think it is easy to get, but no, he just could not find the right one. He tried at all the major stores in the city. The one that came closest to his liking was a Levi's pair, but that still needed alterations which the store offered to do, but he refused. He just did not see any sense in paying Rs.3000 for a pair of jeans that needed alterations! An altered one is never the original one.

After months of searching, he chances upon one hanging in a dingy shop in spencers plaza. He tries it on, and in that instance, he knew, he just knew that it is perfect. He finds it hard to believe that he had to look for months, MONTHS, to find this!

He is furious! He demands an explanation! Why the hell doesnt the other stores just stock up the perfect jeans??

Why you ask? Well, let me explain. He knows, very well that it was THE perfect jeans. So, it should be available everywhere. He doesnt understand why these other stores keep all those other ill fitting jeans. Its quite simple, no rocket science. all they need to do is get rid of all the other stock and keep on the shelves only the prefect jeans! Now isnt that only logical?

------------- END OF SCENE 2. CURTAINS DOWN--------------

The most over rated entity in all walks of life and work. "Perfection"

My salute to all professionals whose work is based on other people's definition of perfection. Rarely will there be a perfect unison of the expected deliverable and the actual output.

Is it really necessary that I agree with you on the exact definition of perfection? You have your own definition, I respect that, but I have mine. and if that fits with yours perfectly, there is a good chance that you are looking back at me from a mirror.

It’s a lazy afternoon, I am sitting huddled with my fluffy pillows in the depths of the couch. Its drizzling outside. The breeze is cool.

I get up lazily and walk to the windows, I release the curtains and they drift up lightly in the breeze. I feel the cool rain drops on my palm as I stretch my hands out of the windows.

I step out on the balcony, the drops spray on my face, I cant help a smile..

I step back in and make some hot chocolate. Music plays and mingles with the rain’s rhythm. I am back at the couch with a hot cup of chocolate. The book I am reading is hilarious. By the time I finish half of my drink, and two pages of the book, I laugh out aloud at a well written joke.

I finish my drink and 3 more pages, I sink deeper in the pillows and doze off…things are good, things couldn’t be better. Or, can they be?? May be, I cant make up my mind.

Well, it would be better if things were even better..i am losing my head…then BANG! I open my eyes and stare at my 15’’ monitor, turn and see the pile of papers at the desk. The time is 2 pm on a hot Tuesday. I am far from my tasks targets and farther from weekend.

The last time I looked at the clock, it was 1.59 pm! I have to make few difficult phone calls. I have been putting it off for later since morning.

Should i do it now, or should i finish the mailing first. I need to do a report, should i do that instead..I cant make up my mind.. I close my eyes and try to wake up in a different world. It doesnt happen :(

This is not fair

Her pets, her life

Few images linger in your mind long after you see them. Few moisten your eyes atleast for a moment.
 

This is one such photo, published in 'The Hindu' on 25 January 2008. The picture shows a woman hugging her pets for the last time, just before she hands them over to the health workers, who would eventually kill them.

The killing or 'culling' as they call it is going on across the country wherever there has been signs of the bird flu.

the photo was taken by Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury. it brought tears to my eyes, just thought i would share it with you.

To Believe

Whats the most difficult thing you have ever done in life?? Few answers i got from my friends: To think, to forgive etc., 'To believe' tops my list. To believe and have faith in things that do not have statistical backing and reasonable explanations.

Imagine a situation where a majority of the populace believes and has faith in a particular something, but when you try to make sense out of it, you never find any.. The mind always looks for sense, atleast mine does. When I am told something, or read something and am required to believe in it, I try to explain things to my brain using science, using the evidence available. its simple- how difficult is it to believe something when it can be proved?

Unfortunately in some cases, the issues that are widely believed in, are never explained by science. For example, intuition. I never believed in it, in the sense that it has to be believed. I was happy to rename it as coincidence. The only reason i believed in coincidence was because I could explain it. its not complicated. but intuition? well..

Of late, i have been reading many books that has strong thoughts and as a result, it set the brain thinking. While I was at it, my unbendable brain, which never accepted anything that was not explained by science started thinking about few issues that science could not explain. Intuition and Faith.

I am not saying my thinking system is totally freaked out, I am just saying that now, instead of living just by the facts and by the rules, I have started taking the minute and minor risks that science or statistics cannot explain. yes, iam surprised by the results, yes i will continue to be surprised till i believe more.

yesterday, at 7 pm, i took the guindy kathipara route to the mount road instead of my regular 8 kilometer muddy and narrow short cut and reached home in just about half an hour and its only 6.5 kilometers. It was a regular weekday and usually the Kathipara route means 1.5 hours on the road in incredibly heavy traffic, not to mention that 7 pm is just the height of peak traffic. anyday my muddy road takes me home in forty minutes, so all these days i used that except yesterday. Yesterday, i just had this totally confident gut feeling that its better to take the kathipara route, i never doubted it. all the same, i was surprised to find the traffic considerably less.

See, I know i am not making too much sense here, and thats exactly the point. sometimes, you just believe and act. Yes, of course its difficult! now you know why i said believing is the most difficult thing?

Love Deeply

Love deeply, Love passionately. You may get hurt, but that’s the only way to live life completely. A beautiful quote from one of those innumerable forwards via email. True to the last word.

While I read it, I couldn’t help but think about how we usually treat love and relationships in general. People who have gone through a failed relationship usually grow an emotional barrier around themselves. This is just a reaction to the pain that they have gone through because of the heartbreak. Once(or twice) hurt, they ‘learn’ from the experience and slowly retract within themselves.
Never opening up, rarely expressing feelings and never getting affected by others’ feelings towards them. They are scared that they will have to go through the pain again. It is sad, because mostly these overtly cautious people are branded as insensitive.

It is not that you never want to love whole-heartedly, its just that it takes a particular someone who loves you deep enough to break down this wall around the heart and pull you out..

Another quote that i read the same day: The deepest love and the greatest achievements are the ones bearing the most risk.
Though, do we ever want to achieve anything less than the greatest? So why wouldn't we love deeply again...