A little Drama...a Twist....a Smile...

Picking up from Pankaj Ghanshani’s blog: Don’t just Solve, Solve Beautifully…

I’ve enjoyed traveling in Indigo – not only for Indigo’s ontime performance and clean seats - but also for the surprises I may get. Here’s a picture of a snack I asked for…

It could have well been the boxy snack box with airlines name written on it…but more than the food …the box became the delight.

And here’s another example, from a new age ‘Darshini’ (South Indian fast food) place near my home (called Vasudev Adiga) . A rather unwilling trip to get breakfast gave me something to smile about when I found this hanging on the wall:

A little humor, some creativity, an attempt to go that extra mile to bring a smile to the audience…a little LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS…

…goes a long way in creating a positive experience.

Whatever be the task, some humor…a nice surprise…a smile… makes it better…

Apparently there’s some science to it as well (see There’s magic in your smile )

Creativity is a good thing…and I think it’s natural to us humans (am making an assumption here J ) …but perhaps we think of it as something to be done for a special event.

However, we badly need more creativity in our “usual tasks” – stuff that needs to be done in our daily routine. The Mundane!

Ever noticed how little kids walk…?

It’s rarely in a straight line.  There’s a hop, a skip and touching the flower bed on the side (or the dusty metal railing)…there’s always something that adds some drama…

Can getting a drunken driving test (Sobriety check) from policemen be less painful?

Well, the Bangalore Police tried something…

It’s the Yamaraj (God of Death) making a point…

See When Motorists had a tryst with Yamaraj

So, look around you…do you see anything that needs a little drama?

…………………………Go for it!

Inertia & Forces of Comfort

The concept of Inertia, as we know, is fundamental in physics. Newton described it as:

The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

I think, Newton got it right when he said “everybody”. 

For mortals, I’d like to introduce the concept of ‘forces of comfort’ – which are the unknown forces that act on your body and mind, to bring it to a known state of comfort.

I’ll start with myself and this blog. The last post (How to kill a good idea) before this was written on 1st  March 2011.  It was a good post and I got a fair amount of online and offline comments appreciating the writing. 

At first I enjoyed the appreciation and then I got busy, i tried to beat my previous best and so on!  A few months passed by and Inertia set in!! After that, every passing week and month, Inertia was bigger and harder to fight. I tried several times, over long weekends and 16 hr flights – but the thoughts just wouldn’t flow. There was always something else that I found comfort in.

The forces of comfort prevent us from creating a change and show up in different forms. Here are some I could think of, this morning:

• Comfort of familiarity: I know this place/people/routine, I’m comfortable
• Comfort of knowledge: I understand it, i'm comfortable. 


• Comfort of Inaction: If I don’t do anything, It probably stays largely comfortable.
• Comfort of minimal satisfaction: It’s not really great but I’m comfortable because i'm OK.
• Comfort of busy-ness: I’m so busy, i don’t have time to bring a change in what I do. 

Today, I’m trying to break the Inertia for myself. Let’s see if I can fight the forces of comfort and continue writing and create a new inertia, where i feel uncomfortable if i don't write. 

Wish me luck!  and please share forces of comfort that you experience.