Power of One!

I was having a discussion with George, a colleague who was quite active with the chapter of Toast Masters Club in our company. He was telling me how good it was to be a part of the club and how it helped him as well as many others. The Art of Public Speaking is definitely an essential skill which I truly believe will help all of us and will always be associated to good leadership. Toast Masters Club I believe is a good medium to achieve this.

While the discussions were on I couldn’t help but be reminded of an incident that happened many years back. My memories took me to the compartment of a running train in the sweet 1990s. I vaguely recollect that as a return journey home to Changanacherry from somewhere in the North of Kerala. I would’ve never imagined at that time about a conversation I’ll have almost 25 years later about Toast Masters Club. If not for anything else, one word from the name of the Club was quite applicable at that moment in the compartment. I was indeed toasting my dad, mom and brother truly living up to the term motormouth!

Looking at the scene that happened three decades back I could really empathize with my folks. It must have been nothing less than a torture for them to keep listening to the endless rambling in the confinement of a compartment. The train kept moving, stations after stations passed, only the discourse never stopped. Poor beings, they must have felt imprisoned in a locomotive in motion with no way out but accept the destiny with the only hope of reaching the final destination which was another three hours away.

Dad was one in the family who was known for finding the way out even in the adverse of situations. He did find one in this case as well! He tried all possible ways of tempting me to keep my mouth shut. Offers of many kinds poured in including an additional plate of the deliciously cold Vada that you only get in Indian Railway. Nothing seemed to have worked.

He was losing out on all possible options to entice a 9 year old with an offer that he couldn’t refuse. But finally he did come up with one which apparently worked like magic. History was written in gold that the final deal for which I succumbed made me completely seal my mouth all the way from Thrissur to Changanacherry, a formidable distance of 160 Kilometres which took more than three hours! I heard that part of the train experienced Nirvana during those precious moments.

The offer ladies and gentlemen was a fresh currency note of One Indian Rupee!

That’s not fair!

Here’s a story of how a recent trip to Kerala redefined the meaning of being fair. We were on our way to my wife’s place and stopped at a corner store to get some fruits. I decided to get a few apples and oranges. A basket was kept right in front of the store with red apples neatly arranged. The shop owner asked me to get a few so that he can weigh it for me. As usual I picked up some that appeared without any dents and handed it over to him.

The apples weighed only about a kilogram. Since I wanted 1.5 Kgs, the shop keeper asked me to get a few more. I went back to the basket of apples and picked up some more just the way I selected the initial ones. The moment I placed the additional set on the tray I saw his face changing. Soon enough came the comment that redefined the phrase ‘being fair’ for me.

He said, “Oh! You have selected all good ones again! If you keep doing this I’ll end up not selling the remaining ones. Select something from the rest as well”.

Speechless would’ve been an understatement for my state of mind. For a moment I was not even sure if he really meant what he said. So I reconfirmed with him that he indeed want me to be fair to him and choose a few apples that are not the best.

Apparently, in this part of the world, customer is indeed the king, but at the mercy of the seller!

Tail End: I walked out of the store with 1 Kg of apples.