The Q and A

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.