“Why so serious?” He
sticks the blade in my mouth… “Let’s put a smile on that face!” And…
-
The Joker in the movie “The Dark Knight” (2008)
If we have to narrate a modern
day fairy tale, it would run on these lines: He studied hard, scored good
marks, gained some experience, got himself a beautiful wife, earned himself a
job in his dream company – one of the top corporate magnates. And he lived
happily ever after.
Reality check: We see these
corporate bees buzzing everywhere – in airports, restaurants, swarming through
city traffic, Coffee shops… We can see them pouring over their laptops, talking
frantically into their phones, jotting stuff into their notepads, drowned in a
serious debate with their colleagues… Now give them a second look: what’s
common among all of them? There’s one thing missing in almost all the faces.
The look of content. The smile of satisfaction. They are all looking tensed –
as if they are walking through this like in bonded labour, like this is not the
situation they would love to dwell in given a choice, like they are just caught
in this black hole & have nowhere to go but to get sucked. In short there
is no bliss visible in any of their faces – well, atleast most of them; these
days they are used to wearing their plastic smiles the moment they get out of
bed.
What does that lead us to
believe? That corporate world is a maze of tension? That you got in there and
you’ve lost your peace of mind? That you’ve forgotten how to flash a genuine
smile?
Is this the example we want to
set to the outsiders on how the corporate world works?
Is it a pre-requisite of the
corporate world to wear such serious looks and stay under tremendous tension? Have
we lost the way somewhere along?
Why are we tensed in the first
place? The work on hand is not getting completed. The market is not favourable.
The competition is getting stronger. Our colleague did not deliver upon the
promise he made us. Our colleague is enjoying more than we are. We are losing
out in the rat race. We are getting scolded on behalf of the firm you are
working for. The customers have become more demanding & we have no option
but to bend to their whims & fancies. The salary hikes are not happening
the way we expected. The inflation curve is soaring much higher than the
increment curve. We are not getting the much desired 30 hrs work day. We are
unable to strike a work-life balance. We are unable to pursue our passions.
Now how many of these get
resolved by our getting tensed? How many of these are totally under our
control? Can we really do something about it? Are we trying to prove to some
imaginary onlooker that we really care for what’s happening and giving a false
assurance that we can take charge of something we have absolutely no control
on?
Let’s face it. We, as humanity,
are a tiny spec in this vast expanse of Milky Way, which in itself is a tiny
spec among millions of other galaxies of its kind that constitute the universe.
Now you and I are just one among the 6.5 billion other human beings within the
tiny spec called earth. If we get this perspective right, we should be able to
start accepting that the amount of control we can exert on our surroundings is
infinitesimally small. In this arrangement of things, every human being feeling
that he is a big creature striving to take charge of all the happenings around
him… the path to chaos is laid.
We agree to take up
responsibilities which are humanely impossible to accomplish, just for the sake
of looking good before others. We wear masks that hide our true emotions, lest
others feel that we are incapable. We say things that others want to hear, as
we feel truth is a bitter pill which is not good to offer. We do things to gain
temporary admiration & happiness, deliberately ignoring the repercussions. And
when things start slipping out of our hands, we frantically look around for
reasons to justify that this was bound to happen in spite of our herculean
efforts. When we don’t find a fair justification, we try and throw the blame on
others.
Anything that goes against the
natural flow of things ends up in a mess. No wonder we end up entangled in a
maze of confusion, stress, restlessness… No wonder our family gets the brunt of
our office garbage… No wonder involuntarily the body responds with hormonal
changes leading us to impulsive eating, compulsive smoking, habitual drinking…
No wonder we end up with pot bellies, erratic blood pressures, hypertension and
sugar problems… No wonder we get used to carrying pouch full of pills &
powders… And only then we realize it’s time to slow down. Pause. Introspect.
And resort to healthy eating, workouts and meditation. Sometimes the
realization come a tad too late. Sometimes it fails to come.
It’s best to one preaching of the
corporate world today: Gone are the days
when you got a chance to make a mistake and learn from it. These days, you got
to learn from others mistakes.
