Who Moved My Fruit Hamper?

This blog is inspired by the famous book ”who moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson.

Essentially the book talks of lurking danger if we are not aware of the changes that are taking place around us, the disastrous effect of indecisiveness lack of preparation for eventualities and ending with a dictum “If you do not change you will become extinct.”Let me now turn my attention to the contemporary scene and the need to be alive to the changes that are taking place. This particularly applies to senior citizens and those who are not computer literate. There are also changes that are taking place in the home environment.

I retired in 1997.The first move I made was to enroll my wife in MS Office course in a prestigious institute. I did this purely for selfish reason-to fill the void by the absence of my secretary to handle my consultancy related correspondence. An exciting off shoot of this was that Mithila turned out to be a good blogger with a sizeable fan following.

Issuing cheques for credit card and depositing them in time turned to be a nervous exercise with banks charging penalty and reversing the entries on protest. Sending cheques by courier and anxiously waiting for the delivery is a thing of the past what with on line transfers ma king us breathe easy. Getting yearly print outs of bank accounts, interest paid and tax deducted statements have made tax returns less taxing. In a nutshell, computer literacy, on line banking transactions etc are a must and Ilites should make efforts to train those who are left out particularly seniors to make life easier for themselves. Of course nothing can be done in the case of recalcitrant ones-for example a friend of mine [84]still refuses to use debit cards and insists on recording the transactions in a passbook. He keeps a watch on the passbook like Midas after every transaction and believes that no smart guy can hoodwink him.

Let us turn to the home scenario. Pooja is our maid. Elegantly dressed ,carrying a smart phone in a purse, goggles and earphone from a MP3 player she walks into our house on the dot.All this paraphernalia is necessary as she walks alone on a lonely stretch, from workers shed two kms. away. She knows her job and does not brook backseat driving. My daughter heats up the food in Microwave and gives her and she is given haldi kumkum on every festival day. In fact my daughter handles her with kid gloves as she is indispensable to peace at home. Earlier one maid left us on being rebuked and within minutes she landed on a different job whereas it took us almost a week to get a replacement. Homes have become maid centric and nobody cares to clean the table or wash the plates, make the bed or do a little dusting in their rooms. There seems to be an unwritten compulsion that the lady of the house is solely responsible for keeping the house tidy. Children sitting before the TV and the man moving the curser with one hand and eating with the other hand are common. The day is not far off when such people come to grief if the maid ditches them.

Talking of children, they are under intense peer pressure. Added to this is pressure from parents and schools for publicity reasons] to excel in studies. The youthful exuberance and playfulness are missing. Many wear a preoccupied look with crease in their foreheads. The number of suicides is increasing on this account. Comparison and Competition for acquiring material things have induced even well placed children take to crime. A tenth standard student killing a classmate over a girl was unheard of in our days but is slowly raising its ugly head now. Sleeping out is a dangerous trend that is slowly creeping in. I am not including the adverse effects of internet pornography as thiscalls for a separate blog with disturbing case studies. When you control the use of the tab, they resort to throwing real or feigned tantrums. There is a saying that if you are unable to bear the children crying now, you will cry over them in their later years.

Lastly let me talk about the tyranny some girls let loose on the powerless male. With a skewed female male ratio, expectations and demands from girls in the marriage market are astonishingly imaginative. It is called 5-1 formula. Let me explain:

5 stands for a five figure salary

4 stands for a four wheeler

3 stands for a 3 BHK

2 stands for only husband and wife staying in the house

1 stands for only one child

Other demands include no immovable property or excess baggage in the shape of old parents, eating out on Sundays etc. Men deserve this, having treated girls as commodities and making excessive demands. If the Elephant had a day, law of nature says that even a tad pole will have its day. If you don’t give credence to my statement, please go through any matrimonial website and count the number of 35+men languishing and waiting for some angel to come and lead them to matrimonial bliss.

Let us therefore observe and anticipate changes that are taking place be proactive and safeguard the fruit hamper.

Let us therefore observe and anticipate changes that are taking place be proactive and safeguard the fruit hamper.

Port a new look.

 

Thanks.I have seen the video and it is really hilarious.Any thing in excess is condemnable whether in the case of male or female.I dread to imagine what else is going to happen.
Regards
SLN

 

I totally agree with you on the danger of losing money through phishing.Some one can sit with them and train.I learnt on line transactions and transfers at the age of 74.Now at 80 l really regret the time I have wasted earlier in wading through traffic to make my regular visits to the banks.Every one needs to be patient and this is in short supply.
SLN