By
Siddhartha Rastogi
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” These are famous words of Mike Tyson.
You keep hatching plans for the future, compromising your present, sacrificing your today, showing your style, thinking about the future and suddenly something untoward happens, a punch in the face and you blackout, with a loud noise ringing in your head.
It’s true today and was true during the ancient age of Mahabharata. (The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic where the main story revolves around two branches of a family – the five Pandavas and 100 Kauravas – who, in the Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of Hastinapura).
Post Lakshagrah event, where all five Pandavas along with their mother were plotted to be burnt alive by Kauravas, made a narrow escape and went into hiding in a village. As destiny would have it, Arjuna, the ace archer amongst Pandavas and other brothers, landed in Draupadi’s Swayamvara (where the lady chooses her husband). No other king or prince could fulfill the condition set by Draupadi and Arjuna could only manage to put the arrow in the eye of the moving fish. All Pandavas were happy for Arjuna and they brought Draupadi home, but Kunti (Pandavas mother) without even seeing what Pandavas had brought, told all of them to share whatever they had brought equally.
This was neither planned nor envisaged by any of the Pandavas in their wildest dreams, it happened and there was no recourse. Pandavas had learnt to control their Indriyan (Senses) and mind, thus they accepted their mother’s words and lived happily and peacefully with one wife among five brothers.
As mythology suggests, the words from Draupadi (Wife of 5 Pandavas) “Blind son of a blind father” enraged Duryodhana (eldest brother in Kauravas) and the entire plot of the Dice game was set by Duryodhan’s uncle Shakuni which in turn led to the War of Mahabharata. Pandavas didn’t plan nor ever think that they had to fight their own Great Grand Father, the mighty Bheeshma or their Guru Dronacharya. However from childhood, their mother only built capability and that’s what came in useful, when there was a need.
In the game of boxing, the person who keeps standing until the last is the winner. The one, who can take the blows relentlessly, falls down again and then again, but doesn’t give up and gets up again to hit back, is the one who wins.
So is life, You don’t know what can happen next. You plan scenarios, you plan tomorrows, you plan the future, and an unintended outcome hits you.
(Popularly known as The COBRA effect – Your directed actions, planned for desired result leads to an exact opposite outcome).
What protects you then is Capability. Your inner strength to bear the situation, hold the ground and rise again.
Hence Siddhartha Rastogi says, “Don’t create Possessions, Create Potential, Create Capability.“
Siddhartha Rastogi
Siddhartha was born to a learned middle class educated family in Semi Urban India. His father was an extremely honest man who because of his honesty had to pay the price in corporate world. Mother is a determined woman who ensured that children are being well taken care off. After a few years of birth, doctors called Siddhartha, a slow child having flat foot. He would fall more than he could walk. Determined mother ensured all therapies for her son to come out strong to fight the world. Siddhartha joined swimming when he was in 6th standard. Seeing other children of his class, he jumped in 10 feet deep pool and learnt swimming on his own, the very same day.
From that day there was no looking back. He topped his city in 12th and went to score highest in his B school exams. During his profession as banker, he became youngest branch manager of a MNC bank managing their biggest wealth branch in the country. There he found love of his life and got married. His love of his life emerged in the form of his daughter who completely changed him for good.
Siddhartha Rastogi is Director for a boutique Investment bank in India.
Siddhartha is a forward looking thinker & writer who has written a book on decision making. 8 Simple steps to effective decision making.
He writes on various social and current issues via his blog and can also be found on twitter.
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