A MULTI TASKING LIFE

It is 2012. Survival of the fittest theory has been replaced by survival of the multi-tasker. You live if you can two different things, besides living. For individuals it is called muti-tasking and businesses call it diversification. Therefore in 2012, you will find cigarette makers like ITC also producing protein rich biscuits, alcohol makers like United Breweries flying King Fisher Airlines , world’s largest software maker Microsoft going for hardware like tablets and social service being a career. And at individual level there are cricket players also good at betting and fixing, politicians being master minds in crimes, IMF chiefs being good in the matters of the bed and cine artists becoming leaders of people.

How can my neighborhood be far behind?

Our next door car workshop owner decided to open a preschool for tiny tots- the improvised version of the crèche where children are kept for 3-4 hours. Only thing was that he tried to impart basics of automotive skills to little kids also.

Here are a few snippets on what happened of this multi tasking, when the kindergarten school was run by a person with an automobile back ground……
A B C was taught and “ A” was for accelerator, “B “for brake and “C” for Clutch. A B C is basic and it is very important that it is learnt or done by heart. If not then ‘D’ is “death” and “E” is “Engine overhaul”. However if ABC is known, “F” is for “Formula One”. And beyond “F’ there is nothing. If there is, it is taught in senior schools.

Toys are needed so that children can pass their time and enjoy. What better than nuts, bolts, jack, tyre tube, silencer, radiator and other engine parts. And the children who were most well-behaved were given broken steering of an old car to play with. Children love to splash with water. So tubes of the tyre were used to be dipped in a water pool and also to know where there is a puncture. School owner had a point when he used to say that besides playing, children were also learning basics of mechanical engineering.

And it is true that what a person would become in life can be identified in young age itself. That girl Aishwaraya who loves to play with rear view mirror will become a model one day. That boy Bappi who fiddles with car audio system seems to have an ear for music. Cute little Sikh boy Manmohan Singh fears sitting on front seat and likes back seat. And the one, who always wear a cap, is very quiet, has frequent bouts of not eating anything for prolonged periods, and not even tells his name is called by staff by name of Anna.

Different pre-schools have different ways to manage children who cry and wail a lot. Some have swings, some have mini theatres and some give toffee and chocolates. This school had a toy car with a hydraulic lift platform. The children, who used to create issue, were put in the toy car, with the lift pushing the car up and down, and down would come children, laughing and enjoying this joy ride.
Potty training and honking are related to each other. Physics is same in both the case. There is a development of a sharp urge, movement of bowels or hands, application of pressure and resulting in a discharge of matter or sound. More deep the urge more prolonged are the movements. So children here were conditioned to use pressure horns as an indication of toilet needs.

So net net children were having fun. Parents were happy that their wards are shaping up well. The school has started gaining name and recognition for itself and last we heard owner of Shamrock play school is looking at business model of car workshops.
Now that is for later.

WHY DIWALI….?? CRACKERS ARE THERE ALL AROUND THE YEAR

Regardless of the fact that whether you are on Twitter or use red coloured post boxes- for sending Diwali cards (really ?), believe that cow gives milk or votes, are actually young , pretend to be young or young at heart only, have Aaadhar card or not, come Diwali day and everyone seem to behave in a similar fashion- enjoying bursting crackers.. Big or small, Chinese or Indian..!!!

One sometimes feels that what is the point of enjoying with crackers, on Diwali day only, when one is having them, other 364 days of the year too... Traditionally 5 kind of crackers are manufactured, sold and used, bought ,borrowed or stolen --- Anars (flower pots- which shower coloured sparkles), Charkhas (Ground Spinners they spin at their base and emit sparkles) Phuljhari (Sparkles- hand held stick which emits sparks) Rockets (think description not required….easily understandable unless you live on Mars) and bombs (crackers which create a sound with a bang).

Trust everyone who is reading this, waits earnestly for ICICI bank SMS post 25th of the month, isn’t there is a similarity between anars and monthly pay outs. They start with a bang, look so sparkling when they are burning, you never know when they would stop and you feel an eerie loss of gravity, when it just stops in between and seem to have been “exhausted”?. 60 ml repeats , single malts or desi , Pune made or Scotland, give the Anar cracker kind of visuals in the eyes and mind of the beholder. So good, so nice, so bright , sparkles everywhere and when it stops or the morning after hang over, when one has to go to office, feelings are same.

People who use more than 10% of their brain say that “This world is round”…. “It starts where it ends”….“You get back what you give.” Come On.. !!You can also call it charkhas or the ground spinners. Or it can be your married life (excluding first six months), friendship with gender of the opposite kind (excluding first three months), your job (excluding first month)…. and so on.

They can also be management problems. Your product is not selling because the quality of the product is not good. The quality of the product is not good because you don’t have the quantity and quality of required people. You don’t have people because you are not able to retain them. You are not able to retain them because you are not compensating them enough. And this is happening because your product is not selling.

Career counsellors love to say that you career and rockets are same. If they are set right, start right, are directed right, they go in the right direction.. dazzle with their sparkles and sound and lit up the sky. And on another hand, if they are not set right neither the rocket nor God knows where it would end or go ..what it would do.. what benefit or damage it will cause…why it is there in the first place. Or may be rocket crackers are like your mobile data usage. Just like rocket they travel (get exhausted ) at such a fast rate.. even when you are not doing anything what the Airtel 4G wali ladki does.
Our anxieties, our fears and nightmares ( the what if kind.. What if my wife runs away with my neighbour….what if I loose my job…. What if ICICI bank fails and as per deposit and credit guarantee insurance rules, I would get only nominal amount…What if earthquake strikes right just below your neighbourhood park etc.,) are just like phuljharis.. they emit just harmless sparks, scare your eyes and mind and in reality is nothing.

Bombs are an interesting cracker. You light them, then run away from it to hear a sound which you want to block by putting fingers on your ear. If the sound scares you, why light them up in the first place.

To all the lovers of Nicotiana tabacum, sometimes wonder, why one keeps on smoking knowing well, that it is not good. Why to light up when actually wants to run away from it…. And they do create a deafening sound.. in your lungs.

Net net 140 characters for all above is that when there are so many crackers in and around daily lives why should we have fun one day only.. Happy Diwali