WHEN A FOOL IRONED MY FROWNS

Firstly, I would like to apologize for my long absence from the blog world. I had a few concerned messages. A blog post about an accident is not a good way to leave things. With blogging comes responsibility, that I hadn’t thought about earlier. I am all good, just got caught up in work. And one more thought kept me busy. Let me tell you all about it…

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We were about to head for a meeting in a minute. “Copy these pages for me, please”, I said to the new trainee at work. “I don’t know how to use a copier” she replied. I sighed. One more addition in the list of things she “did not know”. I explained how to use the copier, just like the million things that I explain to her everyday.

The new trainee is famous in the office for all the wrong reasons. She was hired because of her ‘contacts’. She has no prior experience or skills. Nor the zeal to cultivate any. And she supplements her lack of skill and will with her incredible ability to answer any ten subsequent questions with “I don’t know”. These may ranged from questions about using a copier or Microsoft office to questions about visiting cards. From ignorance about latest international news, to lack of sound knowledge about her graduation subjects, it is like she has never let a speck of knowledge come close to her. She usually has nothing to add to a discussion, regarding work or otherwise. Constant texting during work, turning up late, long lunch breaks, frequent holidays and bland persona makes it all worse.

I started developing a huge dislike for her; partly because a colleague like her becomes more of a liability than any help and partly because I respect well informed individuals more. Or at least someone who can find the pictorial  instruction, the ‘Copy’ button on top of a copier and join the dots in their brain. 

I started watching my behavior with her. Dislike is impolite to reveal but difficult to mask. I tried to find some good in her, so the irking could be cured. Something worthy of respect, so I would not flinch every time I saw her at work. 

While I scrutinized her only to make my working hours easier, I came across one character trait of hers that got me thinking – constant bliss. The adage is right, ignorance is bliss. She would come to the office cheerful and never once have I seen a frown on her forehead. Hurricane Irene does not bother her, Lokpal Bill does not concern her. A bad client meeting was not something to fret about, a bad day just meant more lame jokes and/or more texting. 

The trainee and I were coordinating backstage at a dance show few days later, where things are always subject to Murphy’s law. A dancer fell on his head during a stunt causing an audience of 500 to hold their breath until he got up. He was quickly pulled off the stage. “Does your back hurt too?” I asked him while I instructed the helpers to arrange a place for him to lay down. One dressed his wounds, another got him some water, while another was calling up the doctor. “No, I am okay. Only my head hurts”, the still dazed and bleeding dancer said. “Wow! Champ, if you could take that a nasty head fall, you sure have a strong brain”, the trainee said. The dancer smiled after a long while.

Yup, she has bliss. While all were worried about what could have happened to the dancer, she was unmoved. Yes, I still have ‘not reading newspapers’ and ‘not figuring out a copier’ in my ‘roll-eyes’ list. But the trainee sure has given me a food for thought – rest your thought once in a while. And enjoy the bliss.