WORK-LIFE BALANCE
ADULT EDUCATION
An Apocryphal Teaching Story
Fiction
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Here is an apocryphal story I conjured up
long back and used to narrate to my trainees in order to emphasize the
importance of self education. Do tell me if you like it. I will look forward to
your comments and feedback.
ADULT EDUCATION - an apocryphal teaching story
A passionate HR Trainer once conducted an
Adult Education Programme for semi-literate workers in his industrial
organization.
The programme was conducted in the
evenings after working hours.
In order to ensure success of this adult
education programme, both the trainees and the trainer were motivated by giving
them generous amounts of financial incentives like Overtime for
participation.
This incentive of extra money ensured
maximum attendance from the workers and they also a gave a handsome amount to
the trainer who in addition to overtime was paid an additional bonus per worker
attending his classes.
All workers enthisuastically attended the
Adult Education classes, except one – his name was Ram Bharose. He was the only
person who never attended Adult Education Classes despite the huge
incentives.
Ram Bharose would rush home after work the
moment the siren rang.
Ram Bharose was almost illiterate but he
was not at all interested in learning.
The Trainer was very disappointed with Ram
Bharose and decided to motivate him to join his Adult Education Programme.
One day the Trainer called Ram Bharose to
his office and asked him, “Why don’t you attend the Adult Education classes?”
“What is the use ?” asked Ram Bharose.
“You will gain more knowledge,” said the
wise trainer.
“I am not interested in gaining more
knowledge,” said Ram Bharose, “I am quite happy with what I know.”
Observing that the man in front of him was
not interested in intellectual enhancement, the trainer tried to lure him with
financial motivation, “Money. Yes, you will earn a lot of money. You earn while
you learn. You will get plenty of overtime payment plus a generous attendance
bonus. You will make a lot of extra money if you attend these adult education
classes.”
“I am not interested in making more money.
I am quite happy and content with what I get,” Ram Bharose said.
The exasperated trainer then resorted to a
last tactic to get him to attend the adult education classes.
He decided to humiliate Ram Bharose in front
of his co-workers, to shame him – yes, shame is a great motivator, so the
trainer was sure this would hurt Ram Bharose’s ego and the public humiliation
would surely motivate him to attend the adult education programme.
So he indicated to everyone else to keep
silent and in the presence of all the “educated” co-workers the trainer asked
Ram Bharose: “Who was Issac Newton?”
“I don’t know,” Ram Bharose said.
“See. Everyone knows this and you don’t
know. Just see how ignorant you are,” the trainer ridiculed Ram Bharose while
all the co-workers shook their heads in agreement and mocked at the ignorance
of the hapless Ram Bharose.
“Who was Albert Einstein?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who was CV Raman?”
“I don’t know.”
Everyone laughed and jeered at Ram Bharose’s
ignorance and made fun of him but the trainer was unrelenting and kept on
asking a hapless Ram Bharose question after question: “Who was Galileo…
Faraday… Edison … Bhabha…”
The barrage of questions and torment went
on and on till Ram Bharose got fed up and decided not to take the humiliation
any more.
Ram Bharose suddenly stood up and asked
the trainer, “Who is Chotte Lal?”
“Chotte Lal? Never heard of him,” snapped
the trainer angrily, “Who is Chotte Lal?”
“I know who he is,” Ram Bharose said to
the trainer with an air of superiority, “Chotte Lal is the one who makes
love to your wife every evening in your bedroom while you are busy out here
taking these Adult Education Classes. It is you who requires Adult Education,
not me.”
MORAL OF THE STORY
1. Educate yourself first before you embark on trying to
educate others
2. Distant Vision sometimes obscures Near Vision - if you
are a “visionary” and your always tend to look too
far, sometimes you cannot see what is going on under your own nose
3. Physician, heal thyself
4. Have your priorities right and make sure you pay attention
to your work-life balance.
Yes, WORK LIFE BALANCE
means getting a full value from life by ensuring a balance between achievement and enjoyment in each of the four
quadrants of your life:
WORK, FAMILY, FRIENDS and SELF
On a daily basis, every morning, you must tell yourself:
“I want to
achieve something today and I want to enjoy something today. If I can manage to do both these things today, for
me, it is going to be a good day. And if, though work life balance, I
can manage to do both of these things each day of my life - if I can achieve something and enjoy something
in all four aspects (work, family,
friends, self) each and every day for
the rest of my life, then I am going
to have a good life - a happy and
satisfying life, well lived”
Dear
Reader: Do you agree? Please comment. I look forward to your views and
feedback.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Did you like this story?
I am sure you will like the 27 fiction short stories from my recently published anthology of Short Fiction COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
http://www.flipkart.com/cocktail-vikram-karve-short-stories-book-81910
http://www.indiaplaza.in/cocktail-vikram-karve/books/9788191091847.htm
http://www.apkpublishers.com/books/short-stories/cocktail-by-vikram-ka
COCKTAIL ebook
If you prefer reading ebooks on Kindle or your ebook reader, please order Cocktail E-book by clicking the links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MGERZ6
SMASHWORDS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87925
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll
If your are a Foodie you will like my book of Food Adventures APPETITE FOR A STROLL. Do order a copy from FLIPKART:
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9
About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Vikram Karve Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vikramkarve
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog: http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Did you like this story?
I am sure you will like the 27 fiction short stories from my recently published anthology of Short Fiction COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
http://www.flipkart.com/cocktail-vikram-karve-short-stories-book-81910
http://www.indiaplaza.in/cocktail-vikram-karve/books/9788191091847.htm
http://www.apkpublishers.com/books/short-stories/cocktail-by-vikram-ka
COCKTAIL ebook
If you prefer reading ebooks on Kindle or your ebook reader, please order Cocktail E-book by clicking the links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MGERZ6
SMASHWORDS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87925
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll
If your are a Foodie you will like my book of Food Adventures APPETITE FOR A STROLL. Do order a copy from FLIPKART:
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9
About Vikram Karve
A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.
Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Vikram Karve Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/vikramkarve
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog: http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
2 comments:
Vikramji A person who has otherwise closed all his doors must have a solid reason to do so. Instead of hurting and luring him it is better to become a friend first which is also very much uphill task.
You have a point, Pradip
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