Proof of the pudding!

Dear Sri Uncle,

I agree with your view. I belong to "value for money" category. I was also arguing with my hubby when he went in for Petrol car to replace his diesel car, about all aspects of the car. I was in the view if we are able to travel in the vehicle to the destination is fine. Didn't not give much importance to anything else. But by listening him and observing his analyses about cars injected me some knowledge about cars, like looking for ground clearance, torque etc. Then decided on a nice car and having it for last 4 years. Thank God! he bought that sturdy one (Carolla), it survived and saved my hubby from a very bad accident at the radial road. Both the front and back of the car was smashed, it was by God's Grace my hubby didn't have even a single scratch. Though my hubby was a good driver his car was hit at the back by a (lorry)driver who was in inebriated state, in the force the car hit the back of another lorry in front. Only after this I realized how important to analyse all aspects of the car.

Before this accident I learnt driving but settled for second hand Wagon R for its view-ability and its so convenient to maneuver in the city traffic. I thank my husband for this whenever I drive. But for his insistence I would not have learnt driving. He has fitted all necessary (that is what he feels) gadgets in his, whereas I won't even change the FM station when I am driving.

Regards
Manjukps

 

You post brought up a very good subject of perfection Vs performance. A good car could look excellent with all the gadgets possibly one could get and fit the family perfectly. But still people ask how much mileage we could get out of it, does it have ABS, how many crash bars are inside of it and how many airbags are located. Even in cricket, people pay money to see the performance of the cricketers. They pay money to see Sehwag and Tendulkar to be hitting sixes and fours and to see how they destroy the bowlers. They do not come to see the defending ability of Rahul Dravid (even though he is considered most technically sound batsman in the world).

Even in our day to day life, how much perfect we could be? When we think practically, if we need to live a normal life, we need performance as opposed to perfection. I am not suggesting perfection should be neglected or eliminated. But obsession to perfection sometimes causes considerable amount of pain to fellow family members. My father taught me to keep the places at the same place every time so that I need not have to search for it. I am 57 years old and I am still following it regularly. I never struggle to find my glasses, my wallet, my car keys, etc. when I have to leave some place quickly. At the same time, if for some emergency, I keep the key in a different place to attend to something else quickly, I struggle and the amount of disturbance in my mind is enormous until I find that back. I curse myself and talk so much about the need to be perfect. Whereas my son keeps things at different places each time and he is very cool about finding it. He appears to like challenges. He has a mental note of whatever he needs when he leaves for the University and find them systematically wherever they are located. He is never disturbed. It looks like we need to strike a balance between the two. It is a good idea to keep things in the same place every single time but if it is not found in that place, there is no point in sweating so much and increasing our blood pressure. Especially, if it is something we all use in the family (TV remote or cordless phone), I expect that to be found in a particular place and if it was not found, it would be a bad scene. After we find them, I used to feel bad for something as simple as that, does it make sense to lose our cool and disturb the harmony in our family? I have learned it is much more important to be nice to my wife and son rather than worrying about not finding the TV remote or cordless phone.

I am now convinced that I can compromise not to be a perfectionist to be in harmony with the family.

Viswa

 

My dear Anna

Since two days I am trying to post here but not getting the proper words to write. I dont know much about cars. I wanted to write about perfection. Like Viswa said that I can find things if they are neatly arranged. When I have to go somewhere if I have to take something along with me I keep it near by handbag so that I wont forget to take it. I try to keep everything in order but my dh will say since you tried to arrange it thats why I am not able to find it. My son also when he was young used to tell me not to arrange his things . I think youngsters are more confident that they will find their things easily. If I am going anywhere out of Bombay before 3 or 4 days only I keep everything ready but my son will do it int he last moment only. He does not worry about it also , he goes out more than me.

 

Sir,

Being a member of the two wheeler league, I cannot say much about cars ( except a small passing irritant as to why , if their product is all so superlative, do some car brands still rely on a skin show by females to sell them ).

While reading this, I somehow thought of Handbags , illogical though it may be. Just the other day, I was browsing through a glossy magazine and found out that some high fashion branded Handbags commanded prices in five digits ! I just couldnt figure out why a bag should cost so much ; more bemused was I seeing the photos of the pricey "beauties" . They looked like....well, bags ! ( You may not believe me, but a couple of them looked just like jute sacks. And an item called a "tote" was just a dressed up "manjal-nira-pai " that our small towners never leave home without.)
After making a thorough study of the details kindly presented by the mag, I understood that the price was for the sterling silver handles plated in gold, for the ziorcon studded charms appended to the zip and for the handstitched logo. "Performance" ? Those bags were of the same size and shape as my 200-rupee canvas and rexine bag, and shown holding pretty much the same things I carry .

Thudappa kattaikku pattu kunjalam vacchu ambalatthuleyum yetthi vidraanga , kondaaduravangalum kondaaduraanga . Namakkuthaan, onnumey puriyale ulagathuley !