A very good friend is leaving town, and I am not exaggerating when I say that life at this place will loose some of its color. The decibel levels in corridors at work seem to have gone down. You don’t hear Japanese, albeit pseudo, conversations anymore, or hear of any broken fingers as a result of exchanging punches against each other’s fists, or the sound of dislocated shoulder bones because of the very unique shoulder high fives that were common. No one walks with exaggerated skips anymore, or matches the pink shirt I wear sometimes. Certain pundits on the ways of bedding women have lost their keen (to the unobservant eye) audience. No one swears 30 times in a minute at the lunch time anymore, and hence the atmosphere there is almost as bland as the food.
Let the rant in the previous paragraph not be misconstrued as “senti” crap. At the end of the day, I realize that humans have to constantly seek greener pastures, and if you add the human ambition quotient to the equation, it just justifies something very clichéd – the only thing permanent is change, thus explaining the human tendency towards Brownian or random motion. Ergo, humans, some more than others, are governed by random, or impulsive actions. So, for the most part, humans are impulsive. So, wait, Chief’s decision to go to business school is impulsive? How can a process, that is at least 6-8 months in the least, be impulsive?
Another reason, besides ambition, can be the boredom of doing the same thing over and over again day after day. Here I admire government servants who hold the same post for the best part of a quarter of a century or more, or even a school teacher. So, why is it that they don’t get bored? Is it a lack of exposure to the many other options they have? This raises a very serious question as to whether a lack of exposure results in occupational satisfaction.
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2 comments:
Maybe it has something to do with economics. A government clerk can't afford to get bored. There is no lack of exposure in this day and age. They know the wide spectrum of colours the world has to offer, but where is the stability then? When, under their hectic life, will they find the time to let boredom creep in?
We fit in somehow with our environment. When A goes, we find other pleasures to replace them in B. School teachers, bus conductors, drivers, software engineers, brick-layers, investment bankers...wonder how they don't get bored? I think they've figured out a way to find their sparks in those odds..or they've just fallen in love with the mundane. We'll figure it out for ourselves in a few years from now, though i hope we never do..
I am really amazed to see the maturity you have gained in writing skills in your recently posted articles in your web site. I am particularly referring to the first para and the post on snow. The words used by you were very very rich and soothing to the eye for reading and at the same time very very intelligent. I liked your Mustang article as the best one. Make it abstract.
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