Now the time arrives to bid adieu to the Windy city, post some wonderful time spent with the cherished company of family and friends. Age and having lived long in South has taken a toll on my cold tolerance. Thankfully, weather for this time of the year was quite cooperative - except couple of days, it stayed seasonal and comfortable.
As the day of departure approaches, the excitement dissipates and a classic role reversal takes place. The ecstatic feeling before making the trip gives rise to a morbid, remorse feeling. In the wee hours of the trip it's the endless cycle of meeting friends and relatives, run errands, packing, weighing, repacking and re-weighing of bags.
What's the similarities between a vacation, a consulting assignment and life ? All have a start date and a end date. Like all good things in life, a vacation has to end one day. A week or a month, however long you stay, it is never enough.
Reinforcing Einstein's Theory of Relativity, vacations get over quickly, time flies where a working day go slow, never ends. Before the Chicago trip I was rejuvenated and filled with energy. Towards the end of the trip I feel jaded,
somewhat depressed. There is always an inherently internal wish you had a few more days to spent.
My visit to the local Jagannath temple of the local Odia society reminded me of this incident from one of my prior trips. It depicts how we humans are basically elements of contradiction. It would be hypocrite not to admit that we have some semblance of hypocrisy embedded within us.
On that particular day in November, it felt very cold inside the temple as the heating system inside was not working. The Head Priest was already aware of this, but did not inform the Utility guys.
The reason being quite silly but not unusual, he felt that he was not properly approached by the members of the temple committee. The man, a 4 feet personna loaded with 4 tons of inflated ego, felt it was punctured.
I was patiently listening to the conversation between the priest and other members of the core temple management committee. Finally I concluded that it was nothing but the priest's BIG ego which put a spanner in the wheels.
In the meantime I noticed a few lines in Sanskrit scribbled on the temple wall AHAM BHAV ATMA KE LIYE KHARAB HAI.. meaning "Ego is bad for the soul". Earlier the same evening the Priest also mentioned the same during his 30 minutes long PRAVACHAN (sermon).
When it was time to leave, I asked the priest "PANDITJEE (Respected priest), can you please explain those lines written in Sanskrit on the wall to me ?" He duly obliged. I thanked him, did my NAMASTE (Indian tradition of greet and good bye).
As I started walking towards the exit door, I heard the Priest's voice from behind - "Dash Jee, I have a feeling you knew the meaning of those lines but still asked me". He shied and continued " I agree, we don't always practise what we preach. That's why we are mere humans needing guidance from God".
I chuckled back when a burst of howling chilly Chicago wind at my face gusting through the semi-open door reminded me to run towards the warm comforts of my car. Late that night I heard that to every one's delight the priest did a volte-face and agreed to call the maintenance folks to fix the heating, the first thing next morning.
As the day of departure approaches, the excitement dissipates and a classic role reversal takes place. The ecstatic feeling before making the trip gives rise to a morbid, remorse feeling. In the wee hours of the trip it's the endless cycle of meeting friends and relatives, run errands, packing, weighing, repacking and re-weighing of bags.
What's the similarities between a vacation, a consulting assignment and life ? All have a start date and a end date. Like all good things in life, a vacation has to end one day. A week or a month, however long you stay, it is never enough.
Reinforcing Einstein's Theory of Relativity, vacations get over quickly, time flies where a working day go slow, never ends. Before the Chicago trip I was rejuvenated and filled with energy. Towards the end of the trip I feel jaded,
somewhat depressed. There is always an inherently internal wish you had a few more days to spent.
My visit to the local Jagannath temple of the local Odia society reminded me of this incident from one of my prior trips. It depicts how we humans are basically elements of contradiction. It would be hypocrite not to admit that we have some semblance of hypocrisy embedded within us.
On that particular day in November, it felt very cold inside the temple as the heating system inside was not working. The Head Priest was already aware of this, but did not inform the Utility guys.
The reason being quite silly but not unusual, he felt that he was not properly approached by the members of the temple committee. The man, a 4 feet personna loaded with 4 tons of inflated ego, felt it was punctured.
I was patiently listening to the conversation between the priest and other members of the core temple management committee. Finally I concluded that it was nothing but the priest's BIG ego which put a spanner in the wheels.
In the meantime I noticed a few lines in Sanskrit scribbled on the temple wall AHAM BHAV ATMA KE LIYE KHARAB HAI.. meaning "Ego is bad for the soul". Earlier the same evening the Priest also mentioned the same during his 30 minutes long PRAVACHAN (sermon).
When it was time to leave, I asked the priest "PANDITJEE (Respected priest), can you please explain those lines written in Sanskrit on the wall to me ?" He duly obliged. I thanked him, did my NAMASTE (Indian tradition of greet and good bye).
As I started walking towards the exit door, I heard the Priest's voice from behind - "Dash Jee, I have a feeling you knew the meaning of those lines but still asked me". He shied and continued " I agree, we don't always practise what we preach. That's why we are mere humans needing guidance from God".
I chuckled back when a burst of howling chilly Chicago wind at my face gusting through the semi-open door reminded me to run towards the warm comforts of my car. Late that night I heard that to every one's delight the priest did a volte-face and agreed to call the maintenance folks to fix the heating, the first thing next morning.
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