It was 4 in the afternoon, time to play
cricket. I asked dad some money to buy a Tennis ball (for cricket of
course). He asked me why do you want a tennis Ball, why not a rubber
ball. I was about 8 years of age and the only answer to this question
he just popped me was rubber ball 7 Rs, Tennis Ball 15 Rs, tennis
ball ought to be good. I knew that answer could convince me, but not
my father. At the end of conversation, I ended up saying “Ok, Give
me money for rubber ball, it's fine”. He would give me that. After
playing cricket when I came home that day, I saw a box of Tennis
balls lying in my cupboard.
Why this incident still persists in
some part of my memory is not because of some stupid reasoning I
gave. I will remember this for the important message I got from my
father, that was asking the right questions before making a decision.
Sometimes, you may not be able to give a satisfactory answer to
justify the decision you are making, but atleast you have thought it
through and would have less of a reason to regret the choices you
make.
I once went to an auction where they
were selling vintage coins. There was a high school kid sitting next
to me. He was bidding for an ancient Egyptian coin. He had to raise
his bid 4-5 times and every time he did that, someone else would put
in a higher bid. It so happened that the bidding stopped with the kid
next to me winning it. I can never forget the look on his face. You
think he would be jumping with joy, but he was a bit pale. He said to
me after he got his coin , 'I should have not bid so much money on
it, but everything was happening so fast, I did not get a chance to
think it through'.
A few months ago when the new Nexus 7
rolled out, I was just a final click away from buying it. Had filled
in my address details, credit card information and everything, last
thing was to click the confirm button. I don't know at that moment I
thought to myself, what am I going to use it for? Good question,
probably should have come in a lot earlier. I did not hit the confirm
button that day.
Last year at around this time of the
year, I had planned my vacation to San Francisco with a friend of
mine. I got a very important interview call just before the trip. My
tickets were fully refundable tickets and I could have very well
dropped the trip plan and studied for the interview. Then I asked to
myself, what am I going to do in the next five days that is going to
summarize what I did in the last few years.
Did I taken the right decision back
then? I don't know. It could have very well worked against me. But
again, I had a question at hand and I had made up my mind. No answers
are perfect, you have to live with them.
My current job is a result of that
interview.
