A Lady In A Restaurent.

Recently while I was sitting in a posh restaurant sipping coffee, suddenly a cockroach flew from somewhere and sat on the dupatta of a lady standing a little away from me. She started screaming out of fear. With panic stricken face and trembling hand and voice, she jumped, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group got irritable to what was happening. The lady finally managed to shoo away the cockroach which flew away and sat on the sari of the  other lady in the group. The other lady screamed and breaks danced in such a way for few seconds that would make even Michael Jackson wonder. Immediately the waiter rushed forward to rescue the lady. In the relay of throwing the cockroach, it fell upon the shirt of the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, calm and composed, and observed the behavior of the cockroach. When he was confident enough that the cockroach would not make any move, he grabbed it and carried away to dispose it off in best possible manner.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, my mind picked up few thoughts and started wondering:

·         Was the cockroach responsible for the ladies hysterical behavior?

·         If so, then why was waiter not disturbed? He was calm and handled it to near perfection, without any chaos.

·         So it was not the cockroach but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach.

In the process, I realized that it is not the scolding of my father or shouting of my boss that disturbs me but my own inability to handle the disturbance caused by their scolding and shouting. It is not the traffic jam on the road which irritates me but my inability to keep calm and composed, which aggravates the situation caused by traffic jam.

 More than the problem, it is my reaction to the problem which turns me into a cantankerous person.

The Take-Away: The women reacted but the waiter responded. We must not react in irritating situations, but should always respond . Reactions are instinctive, responses are intellectual.