Thursday, March 14, 2019

Errors of the Past are the Wisdom of the Future

Lessons I Learnt in Life

MISTAKES ARE PORTALS OF DISCOVERY
Errors of the Past are the Wisdom of the Future
Musings of a Veteran
By
VIKRAM KARVE

This happened more than 27 years ago – in the early 1990 when we lived in the beautiful verdant campus of the erstwhile IAT (now called DIAT Deemed University) in the hills of Girinagar  overlooking the serene cool blue waters of Khadakwasla Lake – near Pune  with the mighty Sinhagad Fort towering above  as a sentinel .

We lived in a typical Military (MES) Accommodation – ground plus one storey with garages in between, four houses in a block.

Each house had a separate overhead water tank on top of the building and separate servant quarters behind the block .

We lived on the ground floor  and our neighbours who lived on the top floor above us were a young couple with a small kid.

Once there was a long weekend – 4 days off – 2 days Diwali holidays – followed by Saturday and Sunday.

Our neighbours  who lived above us – they decided to spend the long weekend in Mumbai with their relatives.

In contrast  a huge number of relatives had decided to visit us at IAT Girinagar – to celebrate Diwali – and spend the weekend in the picturesque surroundings on Girinagar – and do some sightseeing and trekking  climb up the Sinhagad Fort – and picnic at the Panshet and Varasgaon Dams – and stroll on the “beach” on the Khadakwasla lakeside.

The whole gang of relatives arrived early in the morning on the first day of Diwali.

We were enjoying ourselves  the children were bursting crackers outside  and my wife got down to making preparations for a festival feast for all of us – and we were looking forward to a delicious sumptuous lunch.

Suddenly  my wife came out – and she told me that the taps had run dry  and she said that water was not coming anywhere in the house.

This was surprising  since there was an abundance of water in Girinagar – and we had never faced any water problem.

I rang up the pump house – who confirmed that they had duly pumped water for 3 hours in the morning as per schedule – and there was no reason for a water shortage. 

The pump house” supervisor suggested that I have a look at my water tank on the roof – and if there was any plumbing or piping problem – they would send someone to rectify the fault.

I climbed up on the roof – and – I was aghast to see that my water tank was bone dry. 

The lid of the water tank had been taken off – and the walls of the water tank had been freshly painted.

My neighbour’s water tank was full of water.

I came down – and I started enquiring – when my servant told me that she had seen our neighbour’s servant on the roof early in the morning.

I called the neighbour’s servant.

He said that before leaving for Mumbai  my neighbour had given him instructions to shut the inlet valve  drain the water tank  clean it up  dry it  and then apply a coat of paint  let the water tank dry for two days  and then – open the valve  so that the water tank would be full by the time they came back from their holiday.

He was contrite – and – he admitted that  by mistake  he had emptied and painted my water tank – instead of my neighbour’s water tank.

He had mistakenly assumed that my water tank was my neighbour’s water tank. 

That is why he had drained out all the water  closed the inlet valve  dried the water tank  and then cleaned and painted it.

My neighbour’s servant profusely apologised – and he said he was very sorry for the mistake 

But – I was furious – since – because of this man’s stupidity – we were going to have a water problem – and that too – when there were so many guests in the house.

I lost my temper – and  I started shouting angrily at the man.

As I started giving him a severe tongue-lashing  the man shivered in fright.

Suddenly  I noticed the man’s small son watching the proceedings.

The young boy trembled with fear  and  he had an expression of dread written all over his innocent face  as he watched his father being publicly scolded and humiliated.

I could not bear to see this heart-rending expression on the young boy’s face. 

I felt terrible that I had scolded the man in front of his son.

So  I stopped my invective tirade.

I told the man to go away.

Then – I went into my room to cool off. 

That day – I made a decision.

I resolved that I would never admonish anyone in front of their children or family.

Parents are heroes to their children.

So – the worst thing you can do is to humiliate parents in front of their children.

Similarly  it can be very demoralizing for an Officer – a Manager  or for any Employee  to be reprimanded by the Boss – in front of his juniors and subordinates.

I was in a profession where being “goody-goody” and “soft spoken” did not work in all cases.

So  occasionally – you had to shout at people and reprimand them  in order to get the desired results.

But  I ensured that whenever I gave a tongue-lashing to someone  I did so in private  by calling him aside separately to give him a dressing down.

Also  I tried my best to criticize the action and to ensure that I did not insult the person by making derogatory personal remarks about him.

I scrupulously tried my best to follow the dictum: 

Praise in Public – but – Admonish in Private 

I did lose my temper and yell at people in public sometimes  but I immediately made amends by apologising on the spot – or at the earliest opportunity.

We all make mistakes.

But  the trick lies in realizing your mistake when you commit one  learn from your mistake  take corrective action – and make sure you do not repeat the same mistake again.

Experience enables you to recognize a mistake.

As Cicero said: 

Any man can make a mistake  but only a fool will continue in repeating it

Mistakes are your best teachers.

Mistakes are lessons of wisdom.

And – as James Joyce said: 

Mistakes are the Portals of Discovery

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life.

I have tried my best to learn from my mistakes – and – I have endeavoured to ensure that I do not repeat my mistakes.

In some cases I have succeeded – and  in some cases – it is still an ongoing process.

As Tryon Edwards put it: 

Some of Best Lessons we ever Learn  we Learn from our Mistakes and Failures. 

The Error of the Past is the Wisdom and Success of the Future...

I will end with a quote by Wang Yang-Ming:

The sages do not consider that making no mistake is a blessing. 

They believe rather that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and to continually make a new man of himself...

VIKRAM KARVE
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All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the stories are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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