Sunday, June 18, 2006

Make someone happy - 1

My dad forwarded to me a list of '101 ways to bring happiness'. I don't know how many of you have received it through mail. Some really nice ways - many of them, i am sure, you have tried and seen results for yourself.

But i also found some 'ways' artificial. Or some which in the Indian tradition is a given - though fast disappearing - eg. 'Call your parents'. Hey! We live with our parents all our lives - and we like it! or they call us always - we don't need to call :)

I'll post a few a day with my comments (bloggers love that ready-to-post stuff :). Some of these are my additions.

The Good ones:
1. Wave to a child in the car next to you.
Nice one...i've tried this - maybe it's me but most of the time i've got only stunned reactions like these: Pics taken from my mobile - one from India and one from Japan. The Japan one was taken in an elevator.




























In the US i smiled and waved to a kid. Maybe my hand actions were not ok...the kid thought i was coming to spank it and just started YELLING...this time i was stunned...ran out of the place before the kid's dad came and spanked me.

2. Hold a door open for a stranger.

I've always seen this being done in the US. But then i've only been in Ann Arbor (leaving aside a short visit 3 years ago to Hollywood - a place i despised), which apart from a very cultured disposition also gives you the impression that you have time on your hands. Maybe if i went to New York it won't happen. Sometimes, people stop being nice in the rush.

I have never seen this being done in India. Don't know why. Are we self-centered? Or is life there so much about day-to-day survival that it's become a 'take-care-of-yourself-first' thing?of course, the survival part is purely because of lack of governance (rarely a problem in the West - in the major towns at least) - just stresses everyone out so much...no roads, no water, no damn anything apart from corruption, general malaise, falling moral standards, populism, etc. etc.

3. As to see a store's manager and comment on the great service.

I've seen LV, my boss doing this in hotels. And coming from the CEO of a company, it just completely makes the manager's day apart from being a great motivator for the person who actually served you. It's fun to watch the manager coming in all perked up wondering what the complaint is. And the poor waiter/housekeeping person is all 'what did i do wrong?'. Just watching their expressions change after being handed the complement is real fun.

The only down part is that they start giving you extra attention the next time you come. So there's this added pressure on you to again complement them.

7 comments:

Sandeep Bhasin said...

On 1: I do it sometimes. I guess I learnt it from you (our long Juhu walks on weekends)

On 2: I do it… but you know Indians. They don’t appreciate it. I guess they feel it’s their right to get that kind of ‘service’. I wonder most of them must be thinking I am a ‘durbaan’ :-)

On 3: unlike your Boss, I don’t visit 5 Star hotels. Can’t afford. :-)
I visit only Udupis [and in udupis they give lots of respect to the food they serve (remember ‘Vadee’?)]. And now-a-days, we don’t get ‘accha admi’ quite often. :-)

Crizzie Criz! said...

hey sharan, mind forwarding that mail to me? the address is thecrizfiles@gmail.com . Sounds Interesting, and yeah, keep them coming.

One little doubt, three of them a day, a total of 101 ways to make a person smile,er...when you planning to finish it off??? hehe

Sharan Sharma said...

@sandeep
> I don’t visit 5 Star hotels. Can’t afford. :-)
....this coming from a person who only writes with Mont Blanc pens...whay can i say...by the way, had i told you that i am started to write a piece on 'Accha Aadmi'?

@CC
Sure, CC...will forward this to you.
:) on the 101/3 thing...what i'm gonna do is just club a lot of them together at times...the list anyway has redundant stuff and repetition.

Sandeep Bhasin said...

He deserves a space on the web world. And i am sure, this piece of yours would also be interesting.

CassAmino said...

How about bringing it a new dimension in the context of India. Try being so nice to the 'opposite sex', applies for both sexes. Good Lord! Do I have to say what the after-effects will be?
Good post Sharan!

Crizzie Criz! said...

Thanks Sharan, acknowledge reciept in this space!

Sharan Sharma said...

@CassAmino,
Thanks! Shudder to think what would happen if i did something like that to the OS!

@CC,
Welcome! Anytime...