Albert Einstein said: "Never stop asking questions".
Scene 1:
It was an early morning and I was getting my daughter ready for school. When I was brushing her teeth. She asked me to stop. She said, "mmmmmmm" I asked "What ?" After spitting the paste she said "Amma I have a question!" I thought, "Oh my God! Not right in the morning!" If I show my frustration she would start crying which will result in a further delay, so I wanted to keep my cool and proceed. I asked, "Yes honey! Tell me." She started, "Amma, where was I before my birthday?" "What??!!!" "I mean where was I before I was born?" I knew she was heading to a tough question and this was only a start. "Perhaps you were in my tummy. But if you dont brush and get ready your teacher will be mad at you. Let us quickly get ready now." "Wait ma, How long was I in your tummy?" "You were there for more than 9 months. In fact you refused to come out and they had to operate you out. Now that is not important. You will be late to school" "Okay, But before those 9 months where was I present?" There is always a point when I surrender to my daughter. I knew it was this. I said, "Even big philosophers don't have answer to this question. I am just a software engineer. How do you expect me to answer this. Do one thing. Why don't you find this secret when you grow up and give enlightenment to the human society?"
"No ma. I want to know it now. I can't wait until I grow up. Why don't you google and find out as always?" By that time I heard my husband shout from the bedroom, "Is this the time to talk about enlightenment of the society? I am not going to answer her teachers if she is going to be late today."
"See because of you I am getting scoldings! Open your mouth for God's sake" This time she was deep in thought "Ammaaaaaa " "Hey why do you shout near my ears!" "No ma! Now I have two more questions who is a philosopher? and what is enlightenment? Please ma only these two questions you answer me. I will ask no more questions until I reach my school." Phew!!! This is how my day starts with my little one.
Scene 2:
During the night time it is a routine for us to talk about the day's happenings. My daughter started, "Ma today my mam asked all of us what we do on Sundays. I said my parents go to Toastmaster's club on Sundays. She asked me, "What!!! They go to some club on Sundays??" Yes and sometimes they take me also to that club. After that my teacher was puzzled. She asked me to sit down and didn't talk to me for the whole day. Is it some thing bad ma? This toastmaster's stuff?." I immediately said, "No. No. There is nothing wrong with that. Probably she might have thought it is some pub or entertainment club. Next time when you say to some one you better say 'Toastmaster's meeting' instead of 'Toastmaster's club'. She was thoughtful for sometime and then asked, "Ma...What is a pub and an entertainment club ma? I have never heard of these terms!"
Surrendering point!!!!
Scene 3:
When I completed my CC1, my evaluator rightly pointed out that I was missing eye contact with the audience. I wanted to some how come out of it. When I did some research about this on the internet, they provided a suggestion to have puppets instead of people and try to practice the speech making eye contact with the puppets. For the first time I was happy that our house is filled with soft toys. So during a Saturday afternoon, I put my daughter to sleep in the bedroom, and took ten of her teddy bears and dollies and went to the study room to practice my CC2 speech. As I was practicing, making eye contact with each of the teddys, she entered all of a sudden and was dumbstruck to see me talking in front of her dollies. Crankily she started crying. When I asked her why, she said, "You never told me that you are going to 'pretense-play' with my dollies. I would have joined you. Too mean of you to do it when I was asleep." I felt myself like a thief bitten by a scorpion.
TMOD what would you have done when you were in my shoes?
Scene 1:
It was an early morning and I was getting my daughter ready for school. When I was brushing her teeth. She asked me to stop. She said, "mmmmmmm" I asked "What ?" After spitting the paste she said "Amma I have a question!" I thought, "Oh my God! Not right in the morning!" If I show my frustration she would start crying which will result in a further delay, so I wanted to keep my cool and proceed. I asked, "Yes honey! Tell me." She started, "Amma, where was I before my birthday?" "What??!!!" "I mean where was I before I was born?" I knew she was heading to a tough question and this was only a start. "Perhaps you were in my tummy. But if you dont brush and get ready your teacher will be mad at you. Let us quickly get ready now." "Wait ma, How long was I in your tummy?" "You were there for more than 9 months. In fact you refused to come out and they had to operate you out. Now that is not important. You will be late to school" "Okay, But before those 9 months where was I present?" There is always a point when I surrender to my daughter. I knew it was this. I said, "Even big philosophers don't have answer to this question. I am just a software engineer. How do you expect me to answer this. Do one thing. Why don't you find this secret when you grow up and give enlightenment to the human society?"
"No ma. I want to know it now. I can't wait until I grow up. Why don't you google and find out as always?" By that time I heard my husband shout from the bedroom, "Is this the time to talk about enlightenment of the society? I am not going to answer her teachers if she is going to be late today."
"See because of you I am getting scoldings! Open your mouth for God's sake" This time she was deep in thought "Ammaaaaaa " "Hey why do you shout near my ears!" "No ma! Now I have two more questions who is a philosopher? and what is enlightenment? Please ma only these two questions you answer me. I will ask no more questions until I reach my school." Phew!!! This is how my day starts with my little one.
Scene 2:
During the night time it is a routine for us to talk about the day's happenings. My daughter started, "Ma today my mam asked all of us what we do on Sundays. I said my parents go to Toastmaster's club on Sundays. She asked me, "What!!! They go to some club on Sundays??" Yes and sometimes they take me also to that club. After that my teacher was puzzled. She asked me to sit down and didn't talk to me for the whole day. Is it some thing bad ma? This toastmaster's stuff?." I immediately said, "No. No. There is nothing wrong with that. Probably she might have thought it is some pub or entertainment club. Next time when you say to some one you better say 'Toastmaster's meeting' instead of 'Toastmaster's club'. She was thoughtful for sometime and then asked, "Ma...What is a pub and an entertainment club ma? I have never heard of these terms!"
Surrendering point!!!!
Scene 3:
When I completed my CC1, my evaluator rightly pointed out that I was missing eye contact with the audience. I wanted to some how come out of it. When I did some research about this on the internet, they provided a suggestion to have puppets instead of people and try to practice the speech making eye contact with the puppets. For the first time I was happy that our house is filled with soft toys. So during a Saturday afternoon, I put my daughter to sleep in the bedroom, and took ten of her teddy bears and dollies and went to the study room to practice my CC2 speech. As I was practicing, making eye contact with each of the teddys, she entered all of a sudden and was dumbstruck to see me talking in front of her dollies. Crankily she started crying. When I asked her why, she said, "You never told me that you are going to 'pretense-play' with my dollies. I would have joined you. Too mean of you to do it when I was asleep." I felt myself like a thief bitten by a scorpion.
TMOD what would you have done when you were in my shoes?
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