1. Have an Interesting Snippet to Share : Click Here
    Dismiss Notice

A tight spot a day keeps boredom at bay!

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, Nov 23, 2007.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    The joy of living dangerously!

    I believe firmly in the axiom that getting into a tight spot or, if you prefer, a tight corner from time to time brings out the best in us. Compare a man who has never got into a tight spot in his whole life with someone who is never out of it. You will find the former invariably a docile, dull-witted person looking as though he has just had a ten-course lunch besides having missed his sleep for forty eight hours. The latter will have that perpetual lean and hungry look and will be as sharp as the edge of a razor and thoroughly proactive. Looking at him, you will get the impression that he loves getting into a spot more than out of it. The former always plays the game strictly according to the rule book and hence highly predictable. You will find it thoroughly boring to be in his company since you know what his actions are going to be next minute, hour, day, week, month, year and even a decade! His presence is hardly ever stimulating.


    I have a friend by name Rajoo, who I have known for the over seven decades. Even as a five year old boy, that was when I met him first, Rajoo had shown exceptional flair for getting into inescapable muddles. As years rolled by, the soups that he got himself into became deeper and deeper. These days they are virtually bottomless pits but, take it from me, he always comes out of them unscathed. If you ask him about it, he’ll say, “If I wake up in the morning, I must have a problem to solve. If I ever run out of problems, I’d rather not wake up at all than die of ennui!”

    Rajoo has some good reasons for allowing things to get out of hand every time. According to him, crisis managers are the most sought after in the world today. Red Adair, the world famous fire-fighter who specialises in fighting huge fires in oil wells, is his role model. According to Rajoo, Red Adair would just be another Fire Fighter in the street corner waiting for a phone call to put out some inconsequential cracker fire if the company had not encountered bigger avenues of fire-fighting. According to him, if a good Manager ensures that the work gets done without encountering any problem, he hardly gets noticed but if some problem reaches a critical stage, the chap who manages it well at that point gets applauded! Rajoo, therefore, never attends to anything until it reaches a crisis level. He doesn’t even wait for others to make it reach a critical stage! I tend to agree with Rajoo. Who would have known Jeeves but for his solving the endless jams that Bertie Wooster and his friends were in the habit of getting into?!

    The people that Rajoo hates most are those who book their train tickets 60 days in advance and arrive at the Station two hours before the ETA of the train! He believes in holding hectic parleys with the traveling ticket examiners for securing a berth and his gift of the gab invariably gets him through. He says that the sense of achievement after securing a berth is unparalleled and he enjoys the envious look of the fellow RAC passengers!

    If you are a follower of cricket, particularly of the Indian variety, you would have observed that the batsmen who do not play by the copy book are a treat to watch. For example, if the top order batsmen who have a sound technique make a heavy weather of opposition bowling and fall like the proverbial nine pins, the ‘living dangerously’ tail enders, who care a damn for the technique, come on to the field and make a mincemeat of the dreaded opposition bowling. It is their way of responding to the muddle created by their top order batsmen. They lift the game to such ethereal levels that you really end up thanking the top order batsmen for having put the tail-enders in a jam. Nothing is more demonstrative of the stimulating effects of jams on certain people than Indian cricket.

    Rajoo is a tail-ender kind of a person. He hits his way out every time and makes everyone around him happy and excited. He does it with a missionary zeal. If you see him once, you’ll understand what it is to live dangerously. These days I get a feeling that he loves getting into a jam more to please his friends and to protect his reputation. He has become so synonymous with jams that no one will ever recognise him if he is out of it. Like a young girl without a mobile phone!
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2020
    Loading...

  2. Anandchitra

    Anandchitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,617
    Likes Received:
    2,620
    Trophy Points:
    345
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Cheeniya Sir:
    Firstly thanks for reminding me of P.G.W.Really no one writes like that now. I would just go on and on laughing at Jeeves and Bertie. By the way you descibe Rajoo he seems to live his life on the edge. Like Rajoo says if a work gets done without encountering any problem he hardly gets noticed. So he justifies in order to get noticed a problem should reach a critical stage and then solve to be applauded. This probably descirbes 2 sects of personalities. One where caution is of the essence and another where caution and maybe wisdom is thrown to the wind. Maybe everyone might make this choice in their day to day encounters ,their lives, their professions. But what would the more experienced person choose and do? Here experience will be the decider. If someone were to live life as Rajoo he might be alone and not have the resposbilities of a house holder and so could dare to live life that way. Rajoo was able to accomplish his aim of not being bored by living on the edge but is that the way? The cricket example is also great. All your supporting causes for Rajoo makes sense. But does it apply to all. I wonder why we go and see all the actions movies is it because we all want to live in the edge and do so watching the action on the screen? Or maybe we just want to pass our time for a period and then go about our usual lives. Maybe not all of us dont need a tight spot to keep the boredom at bay. Or do we???
     
  3. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear AC
    Havent we seen people doing bungy jumping and rock climbing? Dont we have people sealing themselves in wooden barrels and pushed down the Niagara? Adventure sports have always kept human beings enthralled! Living dangerously is one way of squeezing out some excitement out of otherwise a dull and mechanical life. Responsibilities have nothing to do with the spirit of adventure.
    We have all heard of the Crocodile Man of Australia Steve Irvin whose death in the jaws of a crocodile was actually filmed! He was married and his kid is growing up to take his father's place and who is grooming him up? His own mother!
    We all watch adventure on screen because it feeds our latent desire to emulate such action! It provides an antidote to our mundane life sans all excitement,all adventure and all interest! Just imagine that we are descended of forefathers who had faced dinosaurs and such other wild creatures during their morning walks! And we run for life at the sight of a stray dog!
    Sri
     
  4. Chitvish

    Chitvish Moderator IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    33,566
    Likes Received:
    3,756
    Trophy Points:
    490
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Sri,
    I will review in steps.

    I loved the phrase
    exceptional flair for getting into inescapable muddles.
    You have the exceptional knack of putting your words in enjoyable phrases, which cannot help, a pause from the reader and a pat on your back (ofcourse, virtually !)..

    Though your friend is called Raju, he is a typical example of your first category - absolutely predictable. So, life with him goes placid, well, to say dull, missing thrill etc, are not going to be appreciated by you for obvious reasons.
    So, I create my own tight spots(manageable, without asking for his help), occasionally, much to his tension and enjoy the fun, rather to amuse myself if I can face the challenge. Now, I hope you won't blame me for his hypertension.!

    But I think, crisis management is an art by itself and one has to enjoy, the state on pins and needles all the time - far from easy.

    Needless to say, your last sentence is the essence of humour ! Young married girls, almost run a "kudithanam" on mobile, looks like !

    Love,
    Chithra.
     
  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Chithra
    You sound more like Mr.Bean who gets into an endless series of muddles only to become a source of fun for others with this difference that you get into muddle to make your Mr.tense!
    Crisis is the typical masala . It can not become a staple food by itself but when added to a 'symbiotic' dish makes it really yummy!
    If Nokia can come out with a Mobile phone that is small enough to be worn as an ear stud, they can double their market overnight! Mobile phones have become as integral a part of modern girls as Kundalas of Karna!
    Sri
     
  6. Vysan

    Vysan Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,378
    Likes Received:
    103
    Trophy Points:
    103
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Sri,

    Has our wave length connected or what...???.. How do you know that I am in a tight spot and you come out with an article like this.... relating to the situation... I really enjoyed it...

    Though I not Rajjoo... to invite tight spots... most often tight spots are pushed towards me... May be I am the stupid to get in to the spot at the most inappropriate of times... Also, I get into problemse because of others inefficiency or indecisiveness... But my sense of responsibility does not allow me the shirk and pass on the buck... I unnecessarily take the tension and try to solve the problems... Shan used to say, this is not your problem... so why are you getting tensed (and in the process torture me...bonkbonk...unsaid words!!!!)... I try my level best... But I couldnt... But I put my 200% and have comeout succesfully... May be because of this I am being pushed from all corners and forced to take decisions which my seniors are to do... Sometimes I also take things for granted and my lazyness kicks me to tight spot....

    Today, I was just so tensed, thought I have to relax and logged in IL.... There I see ur thread... Great...

    Yes, when we get into tight spots, we put our 100%+... We learn in the process a lot of info... which otherwise we wouldnt... I like challenges in job... But too much of that will spoil your health.... I am talking only about my experiences... In my whole career other than 2 years all have been tensionous jobs, with day to day landing with some problem or the other...

    May GOD bless me to come out of this one.... If I come out of this unscathed we will have a gala party.......:party...... like this one......

    Bye for now....
     
  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Veda
    In any game, the lead player is usually 'marked' by the opposition. We have heard of it in football where players like Pele, Maradonna and Zidane getting 'marked' If they are prevented from playing to their full potential by putting up stiff resistence to them including some rough play, the chances of the opposition getting through brighten!
    But in all our corporate games, it is the other way round. There is no opposition here but the lead players or trouble shooters get marked by the Management to tackle all emergencies. Willing workers get loaded more and more while the shirkers are allowed to go scot free!
    When I was the Chief of a large Branch of SBI which had about 250 employees, I could identify about 60 as the ones who really ran the show! I always made full use of them to ensure proper running of the Branch. I knew I was being unfair to the 60 by loading twice as much as they could handle because they never complained! Looks like you too have been 'marked' in your organisation!
    Sri
     
  8. Vysan

    Vysan Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,378
    Likes Received:
    103
    Trophy Points:
    103
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Sri,

    I can understand what you are saying..... At this point of time, I could only laugh.... Only that is going to help me out of the churning stomach.... Hahahahahaha. May be I am marked.... I dont know....

    But Pray for me... hahahahahahaha... For the time being.............. bye.... loved ur reply....
     
  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    12,626
    Likes Received:
    16,902
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    Dear Veda
    This is not just a management technique. Even God is reported to mark only very ardent devotees for 'special' treatment to test how strong their devotion is! My grandma often used to say that 'Bagawan bakthargalathan romba sodhippar!' It is her way of justifying the problems that she had to go through!
    Sri
     
  10. Anandchitra

    Anandchitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,617
    Likes Received:
    2,620
    Trophy Points:
    345
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Cheeniya
    Sir
    Even more interesting replies have come around and your reply to me can be as always termed exemplary as is always your replies to the comments. I would like to point out justa couple of things. My comment on responsibility and such was only respect to Rajoo. Also Steve Irwin did not die because of a crocodile but because of a stingbarb from a sting ray. It is true many people love action adventure sports and some even have it as part of their life. Will continue to keep reading all the wonderful comments and your replies.
     

Share This Page