Recently a few things happened in my life and that is why they have made me sit down and introspect as to where I have gone wrong in life and it is time for me to learn from my mistakes… and I thought that it would be good if you all can learn a few things from what I have learnt in my life… btw, after reading this blog, you might start judging me. But it is ok for me, as long as you learn something from this blog… btw, this blog is about what I have learnt from my mistakes and others’ too!...
1) Respect your parents: Day before yesterday, I was standing at a bus-stop and there was a poor woman who was lying on the bench of the bus-stop on the other side of the road. She was shivering. Her son, around 5 yrs old, was not able to figure out what needed to be done. A middle-class person standing nearby took pity on that poor woman and gave a 20-rupee note to that small kid and told him to get some tea and biscuit for his mother. That small kid ran to the nearest kirana-store to get some biscuit. While returning, he got some tea too. The tea was packed in a small plastic and he had 2 empty glasses in hand. Being so small, he wasn’t able to pour the tea from plastic into those 2 tea-cups. He tried once to pour that hot tea into tea-cups. But, his little fingers got scathed and then his mother got up with great difficulty and poured tea and then they ate a few biscuits. After eating one biscuit, that small boy started massaging her mother’s forehead. The poor woman, after eating a few biscuits, slept for a while. That small kid made sure that his mother’s body was properly covered with her dupatta.
I was so moved by that episode that it has changed me for good. Being the creators of our lives, parents deserve respect and love from us. I guess, when we become parents someday, we would realize this ourselves…
2) Never break your friend’s trust: A month ago I did something I repented for a month long! I broke my friend’s trust. I will not go into the details of what happened and all, rather I would jot down what I learnt from that mistake of mine.
a) Every friendship demands a level of trust and make sure that you never do anything that would make the trust go down below that level.
b) Treat the other person how she/he wants to be treated and not the way you want to treat them.
c) Friendship is like a piece of cloth. Once it tears apart, it is very difficult to get it into its original form. Only in the rarest of rare cases can the friendship come into its original form. (I am happy that in my case, the things are as normal as it were earlier; in fact better than earlier because I know that I am not going to make the same mistake again!)
d) Don’t try to test the elasticity of your friendship. Every friendship has a set of untold barriers and rules. Respect them. As they say, there is no use crying over spilt milk! Watch while the milk is boiling so that it doesn’t spill over!
3) Know when to ‘give up’: In one of my earlier blogs, I had written about the importance of never giving up. I would like to mention that the “never give up” principle doesn’t work in everything in life. Know where to give up and where not to give up! Chasing mirages never helps!
4) Be free from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorders): Many people in this world suffer from OCDs. OCDs can be related to your anger, kindness, etc. I have an OCD of helping people. I am not trying to blow my own trumpet, but I feel an obsessive compulsion to help people. Like for example, if some GRE-aspirant asks for little guidance regarding GRE, I go to the extent of sharing my phone number and charting out a GRE-Preparation plan for that person. At times, I even call up that GRE-aspirant and ask about the status of his/her preparation! I mean, this is height! I don’t know why I should care for some stranger! I am working on this OCD of helping people. The problem with this OCD is that many people start devaluing you for this kind attitude. People start feeling “isko to kuch kaam dhandha hi nahi…pagal hai ye jo kisi stranger ke liye itna fight maar raha hai”…I now help only 2 out 10 people who approach me for help! If you have such OCD, pls rethink about it! It might land you in some trouble, someday!
