My Life : Perception

                                                                                                                                                                        Date: Mar'2014 

People Involved:

1. Ashwini Kumar Raj (Self) 

2. Ashmita Raj (My Daughter) 

3. Mamita Raj (My Wife)

My Life:

I have been observing the changed behavior of my five year old Daughter Ashmita- for the last few days. She would call me near her and whisper to ensure that no one could hear our (crucial) conversation. I found this new manner rather unusual as she is pretty smart and open. That the other day she acted the same when I was getting ready for office.

She said in an exceptionally soft tone, "Dad, please come near me. I want to tell you something."
I was already late for a scheduled meeting with one of my prospective clients. My supervisor Kamal Mansharamani was very particular about the timing and punctuality. I was irritated and reacted without listening to her.

I shouted, "What is this Sona? I don't like this at all. What is in this world stopping you to tell anything in front of your mom! I don't understand why you are behaving like this!? "
She kept her favorite toy aside and started crying. At this moment, my wife- Mamita- snapped,

"What happened? Why you are shouting at her? You can at least listen to what she has to say!!!"

I said "OK. Let me."

I went to my daughter and asked "What?".

She asked me to come close and I did so. She whispered again,
"Could you please come a little bit closer". When I got close enough, she simple kissed me and said,
"You are leaving for office. So, I wanted to kiss you and say, 'Please come home early; you are not well today'."

I was silent for a moment. I had realized my mistake. I hugged and kissed her and said,

"I am really sorry baby".

Learning:

We behave as per our own perception or assumption. While perception has to be there, it can be good or bad. It can be correct or incorrect.

Conventional business planning works on the expectation that managers can extrapolate future results from past experience, but for new businesses and projects this way of planning is often not possible. Experience may be lacking or extrapolating from past experience may be misleading.

I recall a story which received through whatsapp messages from a friend. I feel it is relevant here. 

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train's window shouted...
"Dad, look the trees are going behind!"
Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old's childish behavior with pity. Suddenly he again exclaimed... "Dad, look the clouds are running with us!"

The couple couldn't resist and said to the old man... "Why don't you take your son to a good doctor?"

The old man smiled and said...
"I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today."

Every single person on this planet has a story. Don't judge people with your perception and before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.

Guided by my wrong assumption, I behaved badly with my daughter and realized that I was wrong. While assumption would always be there based on skill, prior experiences, culture etc., we should not be dependent entirely on these factors and should act rationally. 

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