Thinking is crime!

A few weeks ago, a member of the middle level management in our company called us, three new recruits, to his cabin. We expected to hear some encouraging words. ‘You are Management Trainees’, he said, ‘So which are you, Managers or Trainees?’ I found the question a little stupid. ‘So you guys aspire to be in the CXO league someday?’ he asked. We answered in the affirmative. ‘How many years do you think you will take to reach there?’, he asked. The answers were 10, 20 and 25 years. He began laughing aloud. ‘If you become CXOs in 10 years, where will I be?’, he asked, ‘I still have over 12 years of service left.’ I felt my positivity draining. He then said, ‘I have worked for 22 years in this industry. Yet I am 5 levels below the CEO. When I entered the industry 22 years back, all 37 in my batch aspired to reach the CXO league. None of them have managed to do that till now’ The three of us remained silent. I thought he was trying to motivate us in some way. ‘S...

There was a family in our neighbourhood. Whenever they brought us any delicacy, my sister would sigh because sweets were always followed by requests for favours, rather demands. They have an impeccable track record. They believe that it is courtesy to gift something before asking the person a favour. They think it makes the receiver of the gift, obliged to oblige. They also think the other person would be flattered. Worst of all, they think the other person expects something in return for the favour. My colleague, a jolly fellow, is new to this city. He is put up about twelve kilometres away from our workplace and unfortunately, doesn’t own a vehicle. He asked a few colleagues if they were headed in the direction of his place. They answered in the negative. While waiting outside the office premises, we noticed another colleague struggling to take his motorcycle out of the parking lot. The steering of his motorcycle got entangled with that of another and he seemed to lose b...

In a bank, while waiting for our turn to meet the manager, I noticed my father watching something keenly. I followed his gaze and saw a toddler sitting on the floor. The kid looked around for a while and then began to crawl under the chairs in the waiting area. She bumped her head on some chairs but she kept going. She stopped and smiled when she neared a piece of shiny paper. She sat, picked the paper and began exploring. She looked around momentarily; probably searching for her parents, then went back to exploring her new-found treasure. Nobody disturbed her. She often smiled to herself. Suddenly, the mother appeared, lifted the kid from under the chair and carried her to one of the counters in the bank. The kid fiddled with the paper she had picked. The mother noticed the paper, gently took it from the kid and dropped it on the floor. The kid looked at the mother for a moment with a confused expression and then began to wail. The mother was embarrassed as she got the...