Traffic Rules - Part 2 - Root Cause

The last sharing I posted was the one written from the heart. I was very upset because a few close ones had suffered the consequences of either themselves or someone else breaking a simple traffic rule.

This one’s going to be from the mind because I have had some time to do the thinking...

Enough firing, scolding, shouting, fining, bribing has been done for traffic rules and yet we don’t seem to change…

I took some time and tried to look at the root cause for people breaking traffic rules. Interestingly it boils down to 3 very simple things. So here we go…

Laziness:

How Laziness?

Because, you postpone things to the last minute, leave late, leave in a hurry and then jump signals and weave through lanes to save a couple of minutes.

You know that the drive to your office or a meeting takes 25 minutes, but you will still leave 20 minutes before the deadline and then rush. Why can’t you leave half an hour early and reach relaxed?

Petty Thinking:

Trust me, I’m from a community which is considered to be the stingiest on this planet… and I feel ashamed to see how people are willing to risk their lives and those of others just to save 100 metres worth of petrol.

As I step down from my office, the main road is less than 100 metres from the office gates to the right, but is a one way. If I follow the rules and go left, I end up taking atleast 1.25 kilometres extra round on my bike. Still I take that round every single day and follow the traffic rules.

How long do you think it will take for me to push the bike through the one way and save the petrol, in turn saving closed to 30 kms worth of petrol per month? (that’s less than 60 Rupees per month). Is it worth it?

Most of the people who enter a no entry from the wrong end do so to save those petty pennies. What they don't understand is that it causes confusion to the person coming from the other end and that in turn causes accidents...

Have you ever seen a person pushing his BMW bike, or a Hayabusa down that road?

Because they have risen above the petty thinking.

You keep thinking of saving pennies in petrol, and then you will end up saving only pennies for the rest of your life…

Cheap Thrills:

I have a friend who owns a 250 cc bike, he likes to “rip” it on the road.

If you do it once in a while, maybe on a Highway, its understandable. But he does it every single day.

Once I asked him, why do you do it??? He replied “Gulshan, it gives me a kick to get ahead of people. I’m able to do the same thing in other areas such as workplace etc.”

Some lessons are better learnt the hard way… I didn’t say anything to him at that time. But this is only yet another way to get cheap thrills. If you really have so much fire under your seat, why don’t you pay enough money and get a membership on a professional race track. Atleast you can beat someone with some skills.

You don't wear a helmet or pop a wheelie to impress your girlfriend...

You go zip zap zoom right past other drivers and then suddenly slow down without realising that one of them may not have good condition brakes...

Ripping for fun, not wearing helmet because you think you will look cool, doing wheelies… these are all cheap thrills and will never serve any purpose.

Please grow up...

Traffic Rules - Part 1

Everytime I share an experience, I know that a few more lives will possibly change after reading it… I hope I have succeeded so far…

This is the first time I’m sharing a post without any hope… without any expectations…

I know that you will not like what is going to follow… I don’t expect you to…

Everyline you read, you will have a question… “Gulshan… preaching is easy, are you following it yourself?”

I have been taught that I have the authority to speak only if I have practiced myself… So here we go…

I own a Bajaj Pulsar Dtsi 150 cc bike which is considered as a pretty powerful bike in India.

You will never see me jumping a red light.

You will not see me driving without a helmet, even if I have to go just a 100 metres.

You will never see me using my vehicle beyond its rated capacity (simple English --- No triples on bike)

You will never see me crossing the speed limit (50 kmph in my city).

Even at midnight, if I’m on a traffic signal, I will stop at Red.

You will not see me weaving in and out of lanes without signaling.

You will not see me entering a one way street from the wrong end.

Not even pushing the turned off bike down a one way street (which is quite common in India)

You will not see me speaking on a phone while driving.

Till a few weeks back, I used to listen to music in one ear while driving. I have already stopped it and you will not find me listening to music and driving.

All the critical components in my bike – brakes, tail lights, brake lights, headlights etc are perfectly working.

I have a complete set of documents including Insurance and Pollution check documents.

Hoping that I now look like a decent commuter... lets move on with the sharing...

My house is about 7 kilometres from my office. Yesterday alone, while going home I saw about 15 motorcycle riders riding without helmets. Most of them had their helmets hanging on the bike or on their elbows. (Yes, I actually counted because I was upset with something. Very very upset. I will share that when the time is right)

Another 15-20 motorcycles / scooters where the rider was wearing a helmet but had not strapped it on.

A whole lot of people driving Triples.

One Idiot was driving with his spouse and 2 children on a 100cc bike… without a helmet.

You make a wrong turning while driving at 40 kmph… and after getting trashed up… you have the nerve to say that I was turning at 40 ONLY???

There is a clear “NO ENTRY” board on the road and you still enter because everybody else is entering??? And then you have the nerve to tell that “There is a NO ENTRY board but actually its not so because everybody goes”… who told you that???

Lets come back to helmets…

I’m not a scientist but I know a few things for sure…

A helmet is something worn on the head to “PROTECT” the head in case of an accident. If you think Helmet is worn to follow the law, you are dead wrong. Law or no law should not be a reason for wearing helmet.

A completely closed helmet with a mono-shell design provides the best protection to the head and face.

Front open helmets, removable front helmets, helmets with only a visor are only designs. In an accident, they may protect the head, but the rider still has a risk of serious facial injuries.

Bowl shaped, Cap shaped helmets are not helmets. They do not protect the rider’s temples, lower back of the skull, ears and surrounding areas. These are sensitive areas in an accident and any injury here can be fatal.

Hard Hats (the yellow coloured ones which are worn in factories) are definitely not helmets. They are made for a different purpose.

Cheap helmets purchased from roadside are not good enough.

And after so much of rambling, I know that some of you will still not wear one because it is not mandatory in your city.

Or perhaps you think you are too good a rider to ever need a helmet.

Or maybe the creator has created you with a head made of solid rock...

(To be continued…)

Are you Listening?

Dondu is entering his friend's brother's wedding.
Dondu's friend is receiving guests at the entrance.
Friend: "Welcome Dondu, what happened, you are late..."
Dondu: "I'm sorry, the bank loot took longer than planned"
Friend: "Never mind... Please come in. Don't leave without eating"


Dondu is at a restaurant:
Waiter: "Would you like to have bottled water or regular water?"
Dondu: "Is regular water safe?"
Waiter: "Sure Sir"
Dondu: "Will I get stomach ache?"
Waiter: "Yes Sir"


Dondu had just helped someone:
Someone: "Thanks a lot Dondu"
Dondu: "You are almost welcome"


In all the above examples and many more, the other person never even noticed that Dondu had subtly but deliberately made a mistake.

In case you didn't notice the mistakes, go back and read once again!!!

Why would Dondu do something like that?

First, its fun... definitely a mischievous kind of fun.

Secondly, and more importantly... It teaches us something very very important which is almost always true in today's time.

Nobody has time to listen.

Everyone is so occupied that at times a clearly articulated communication also misses its target by a wide pass.

I'm not just speaking of others, this covers you and me too.

How to fix it:

1. Never speak to someone when he / she is in a hurry. You need to have the person's attention before you speak. Get the attention, it will cost just 2 seconds, but its worth it, because whatever you communicate thereafter will be meaningfully received.
2. Never speak to a busy person - I never speak to a person who is on phone, or on mail, or in middle of anything else. Whenever, someone speaking on phone or computer tries to multitask with me, I always prefer to wait. I value my time, If I think you are important enough to spend time with, you should also feel the same and give me undivided attention. And this holds true for colleagues, friends, family, children everyone.
3. Speak clearly - repetition is fine. This is especially important in work place. I always speak in complete sentences and make sure I have repeated the point to be communicated atleast a couple of times. In the end, I always get a confirmation from the other person as to what he / she understood. This has to be done without questioning the other person's intelligence. The question is not on his / her understanding, its on our communication.
4. Keypoint first... then the story... : Always give the end result first, if the other person is interested in details, then go for it. A person's attention span is only half a minute... If you beat around the bush for first few minutes and then come to the point, you have already lost the audience.

This fixes the communication part, but we also need to fix the receiving part... simply apply the above rules to yourself...

1. Relax and listen
2. No multitasking while speaking / listening
3. Understand the point. Its okay and sometimes even good to repeat what you have understood. Keeps the communication clear.
4. Listen for keypoints.
5. At the end of a communication, you should walk away with action points and tasks.

The purpose of this post is not just for us to be better communicators but to be better listeners too.

We all know how we have made some mistakes in the past where we missed something someone had said. Lets move towards becoming better listeners.

Plus one for Honesty

There was this classroom full of ultra competitive students. All fighting for quarter and half marks on each subject because every half mark mattered in deciding their ranks.
Today the Sanskrit teacher was distributing the results of Sanskrit Test held last week.

Dondu was one of the students there and like everytime he had aced it this time also. One question of the test involved the use of word Ball. Correct usage of the word was "Kanduken", but Dondu had wrongly written it as "Genden" which is obviously wrong.

Somehow, the teacher had not noticed the mistake and had given 1 mark for the answer. There was a crowd of about 7-8 students huddled around the teacher's table bargaining for any marks they could squeeze by proving they were right.

Anybody who has been to school can imagine that scene.

Dondu walked to the teacher's table, through the crowd and then this is how the conversation happened...

Dondu - Ma'am, this answer is wrong

Ma'am (while talking to 3 other students simultaneously) - Yeah... It must be wrong...

Dondu - But, you have marked it right.

Ma'am - So?

Dondu - Ma'am... I've given a wrong answer and you have given me a mark for it. I need you to change it.

The 3 others went silent, the teacher looked at Dondu from Top to bottom... confused...

Ma'am - Whats the problem? You are getting an extra mark only...

Dondu - But I don't want that mark...

Teacher was fed up by now. She took the paper and did a "-1" from the total marks.

And then, the most beautiful thing happened... The Teacher gave a proud smile and gave a "+1"...

She said - "This is for your honesty, now go back to your seat"

That day, Dondu learnt the value of his Honesty.

15 Years later...

A couple of months ago, Dondu jumped a Red light (purely by mistake, the traffic light was obscured by a standing bus)

And there round the corner a Traffic Cop was standing. This is how the conversation went:

Cop - You jumped a Red light

Dondu - Sorry, I didn't realise it was red

Cop - All you youngsters drive recklessly and then make excuses @#@@#$@%... (censored)

Dondu - I really did not realise it was Red. If I have made a mistake, I am willing to pay whatever the fine.

Cop - That will be Rs. 100

Dondu paid Rs. 100

Cop turned to walk away.

Dondu - Sir... Can I have the challan for it

Cop - Are you new to the city? This 100 was for leaving you with the warning. If you want a challan, you will have to pay the full fine amount of Rs. 300

Dondu - Fine, I'll pay 300, but I need a challan. If I've to pay, I'll as well pay the proper fine and walk away proudly.

Cop Looked at Dondu from top to bottom, went to his bike, picked up a challan book and wrote a challan for Rs. 100

Dondu - This challan is only for Rs. 100, you said it was Rs. 300 with Challan.

Cop - I'll take only Rs. 100, the Rs. 200 pardon is for your honesty.

Again... after 15 years... Dondu was reminded of the value of his Honesty.

Who is Dondu does not matter... The purpose of this sharing is not to teach you the value of Honesty, it is to share the value of Your Honesty.

I don't say Honesty is the best policy... I strongly believe that My Honesty is My best policy.

But, I also understand that I will be honest only with the person who will not hold my honesty against me.

Rules of being God

Was watching Bruce Almighty yesterday. It is the story of a guy who keeps cursing God for everything wrong in his life. One day, God gets fed up and decides to meet Bruce. God gives him all his powers and wants to see him run the world for some time.

However, there are 2 rules to being God:

1. You can’t tell anyone you are God
2. You can’t mess with free will

I know that this is only a movie and doesn’t have anything to do with reality.

And these are really tough rules even for even God to follow.

But, I’m beginning to think that maybe just maybe, God really has to follow these rules.

Just imagine if you were in God’s place, would you tell anyone that you are God?

I guess not.

Just imagine hundreds and thousands and millions of people all coming to you to get their problems solved. Just imagine what your condition would be even if you were God.

The second rule is equally tough… you can’t control anyone’s free will.

If you were God… and you had to see your own creations destroying each other and destroying the world… wouldn’t you just want to control their minds and stop them right there…

Just imagine how it must be if someone thought of stealing something from you, zzzaaaappp… one signal came and the person decided not to steal.

Or someone is trying to kill another person… zzzaaappp… mind changed… he’s not killing anymore…

Now, imagine, you are going to say the 3 most important words to that girl… zzzaaappp… you are not going to say anything now… (because you were not meant to be)

Or… there is this amazing girl walking in an “amazing” dress next to you on the road… zzzaaappp…. You are not looking at her any more…

Your are alone at home in the evening… unlimited internet supply… and you decide to open some of those “interesting” websites… zzzaaappp… now you are looking at a religious website…

Not much fun… is it?? We would be no more than remote controlled puppets then…

I guess, we are supposed to have our own free will after all… and there is a reason we have it…

What I do with my free will is entirely upto me… and it is also my part to bear the consequences… good and bad…

I should respect the fact that this freedom to think and decide my actions… this free will… is something I have which even God doesn’t and it is my responsibility to use it well…

You are Wrong…

I can confidently tell that just by reading the heading of this post, you would have thought twice before clicking and reading further…

That’s exactly the essence of today’s learning.

I used to have a colleague and we worked together on quite a few projects. Whenever we used to have any argument on the process or results in our work, he always used to start the sentence with “Gulshan, you are wrong”… for whatever I’m saying.

What would your response be if someone said that to you…

Wait…

Before you say “I will try to understand” or anything like that… look back at your own past…

Everytime when someone says you are wrong… There are only 2 possible results…

1. You will disconnect yourself from the conversation irrespective of whether you are right or wrong…
2. Or… you will tell that person to prove that you are wrong… in the process you will make sure that you prove that person wrong… (that’s our ego at work…)

Its human behavior that nobody wants to listen to his mistakes.

I’m from an audit profession and we are trained to find mistakes for 5-7 years… that is our mental programming… but today, I’m thankful to that friend because he trained me at something more important…

I have learnt to respect another person’s intelligence…

You will never see me speaking the words – “You are wrong”…

How do I handle when someone tells me that I’m wrong?

When I’m in an argument and someone says I’m wrong… I will give that person all the time required to explain where I’m wrong… only 3 outcomes are possible here –

1. I will get clarified and corrected.
2. The person will realize that actually he is not correct
3. The person will not have the patience to explain and will allow me do things my way

In either case, I don’t have to argue at all…

On the other hand, how to tell someone that he / she is wrong…

Trust me… out of my own bitter experiences… whenever you start a sentence by telling the person that he / she is wrong… rest of you sentence is a waste because nothing will reach that person.

If I see someone is wrong… I ask the person why he / she is doing things that way…

The person will try to clarify and explain…

I ask enough questions… wherever you think the person is wrong… ask that as a question… “how will you handle this…” “what if this happens…” etc…

Through a series of questions, the person will realize that he / she is wrong…

Now, once the person realizes his / her mistakes, correction will follow automatically, and all without spoiling any moods.

Plus, that person will grow in respect for you…

Do this long enough and the person will come to you looking for corrections…

Nobody wants problems pointed out… everyone wants solutions…

You are in a dark room… you keep shouting “its dark… its dark”… what’s the point?

If you have to shout… atleast shout “We need light… we need light…”... maybe you will get an idea to get some light... (if nothing else... you might get that idea bulb which they show in cartoons and that might give you the needed light)

All I'm saying is instead of pointing out a mistakes, point out what is missing… and you will see ways to fill it…

It does not matter how many Questions I ask…

It does not matter how many questions I ask… what matters is what I do with the answers I find…

The last few days have gone into a lot of thinking...

I have always been told that it is good to ask questions, but I have realized in the last few weeks that how I use the answers is more important.

We have been in this journey called “Seeking my Answers” well over 1 year now. In this time, I have shared my questions, my answers, realizations, very close and personal experiences… anything from which I learnt something, I have shared it here…

The question I need to ask myself now is “What have I done with the answers that I found?”

What have you done with the answers I have shared?

For the last few days, I have been going through each and every topic I have posted…

At the end of each topic, I ask myself – this came through me, but am I making the best use of the answer or realization that I found?

These posts come to the blog only after I am practicing them in real life… still at times, I tend to deviate from my learnings… what matters is how soon do I correct myself and come back on track…

I do get angry, I do get egoistic, I do get indecisive…  (I’m a human after all) what matters is that I realize it quickly enough and correct myself…

I receive a lot of comments / mails saying “wow… awesome post…” “well written”… etc…

But, I’m still waiting for a single mail saying “Gulshan… I learnt this from your post and this is how it has added value to me or this is how I have implemented it…”

The internet is flooded with content which is much better worded, better rhyming, much fancier and much more meaningful that what you will find on this blog…

You have not spoken to that friend for so many years... now you find an amazing quote about friendship which someone shared on facebook, you also copy it and share it on your wall without thinking twice...

You share Anna Hazare's quotes on facebook when working in office... jump the traffic signal on the way home... get caught and walk away after paying 100 bucks to the traffic cop...

Are we becoming merely carriers of knowledge???

This is not about reading a good article, feeling good about it, maybe forwarding the link and then forgetting all about it to go back and live the ordinary life style…

This is about reading someone's experience that could change your life forever... no matter how small the change is...

I know some of the regular readers who have read each and every post on this blog… this is a request to those readers… please go back and read those postings again… all the links are available in monthly archives on the right side... ask yourself if you have done justice to the learning shared in that post…

Nothing happens without a reason… If I have written this today, it was meant to be written… If you are reading it right now… you were meant to…

What are you going to do after you have finished reading this is what matters…

It does not matter how many questions I ask… what matters is what I do with the answers I find...