Chapter 3 - Black is Fair

This ‘thought thread’ started in my mind around 3 years ago, when sitting for an interview, the interviewer asked me:

He: ‘So you like debating?’

Me: ’I wouldn’t debate that statement’

He: ‘Alright…here is a pen (and he took out a black pen from his pocket and kept it on the table), lets debate about it’

Me (absolutely dumbstuck…but maintaining posture):’ummmm….’

He: ‘What happened…lets debate about this pen…do you like the pen or not…you chose your side…I’ll take the other…and lets debate!’

Me (alright…now I get it…actly I still don’t…I mean…what are we debating about!! But anyways…must not let it show):’Ummm…no no…it’ll be too easy if I choose…you chose…and I’ll go against that motion (atleast I’ll understand then what the motion is!!)’

He:’Ok…I say I don’t like this pen….let’s debate and see whether it’s a good or a bad pen…go…build your case’

Me(alrightt…now I really get it…this guy is mad…anyways):’ See…since I haven’t used the pen…haven’t even touched it…the only criteria I can base my like/dislike on is the color…and as I am supposed to like the pen…so yes…I like it because I like the color black’ (wow…absolute genious)

He (there couldn’t have been an easier shot…I could see that ‘Gotcha’ glint in his eye): ‘So you like it because it’s black…but black is the colour of mourning…of death…of fear…or negativity…of the hair I used to have…of my neighbours undies…and on n on……..and hence you are a negative fella…coz you like black’ (hah…K.O.)

Me: Black is Fair

And that’s where the thread started…everything that we look at with a negative mental connotation is actually the most fair. Black doesn’t discriminate…it absorbs everything. Light discriminates between white and coloured…darkness doesn’t. Life discriminates between young and old, poor and rich, smart and dumb, salesman and CEO, girl and boy, 1000 bucks and 10000000 bucks....death doesn’t.

The same thread matured into a keen study of randomness and patterns…and guess what…the rule holds! Chaos and randomness are most fair….it is the occurrence of patterns that introduces biases and hence unfairness in the system. Now now…don’t jump to the conclusion that I am building a case for anarchy here…my closest friends would tell you what a sucker I am for order…but the point is…while systems and patterns increase the predictability of events (the way most of us like it)… they always end up being more fair to some than to others. Why we still vouch for them…is because rather than it being a world which is equally bad for all…we want a world that’s better…albeit for a select few (whether that is right or wrong is a whole new thread that we shouldn’t embark on right now)

So, coming back to the point…HOW THE HELL is all this connected to the BLT blog…

Well, before I started on this job, I sat down to think about what I expected from it. I realised that a sales/field job was inherently a more random and chaotic job than a cushy office job. Let me explain. The degree of randomness of any activity can be measured by the number of ‘uncontrollable external variables’ that the activity introduces in your life. A sales job, where in you travel all day long, in the city, in the market, inter city…meet hundreds of people…pass by gutters and over flyovers and under tin roofs….inherently has a lot lot more of these uncontrollable variables (rash drivers bumping into you, the roof falling over, slipping into the gutter ;)) than an office job where in you get-up – take the same route to office – sit in office – comeback.

So, I figured that since my job is more random, then by my own logic…it must be more fair! But how do you decide it if it’s fair? Well, I thought that we work to be happy, so if I am exposing myself to more randomness, it’ll only be fair if I get more happiness in return! I know…strange are the ways a BLT whose screwed up in the head can think….but this is what I thought…

Armed with this hypothesis and a few more corollaries, I entered the Big Bad BLT (alliteration baby..) world…and almost 2 months into the job…I am happy to report that the hypothesis holds true!!

Wow…so you think that you have ‘more happiness’…and we are supposed to belive you. Excuse me, but MORE happiness than what…what’s your benchmark??

Good question…initially I thought that my 2 months stint at HSBC as an intern would be my benchmark, but I soon realised that talking to the pot while I pee makes me happier. And I couldn’t come up with any other measure…so I left it to life…I said that I’ll jump right in and give life a chance to prove me right…and it did!! (haven’t I done this whole I am right with 3 exclamations marks thing before…hmm). 2 months into the job, and I feel that my capacity to be happy itself has increased. By introducing me to experiences that I never imagined I’d have, life here has taught me how to appreciate and enjoy a much wider spectrum of situations, interactions, conversations and observations. Another person viewing/ experiencing the same thing wouldn’t derive as much happiness from it. In a nutshell, I no longer need to view happiness as water in a mug and compare it to the water level in another…my mug’s size has increased…I can now hold more water!!

With this post as a background (and reason), I now introduce to you a New Thread on this blog…a thread called Experiences (am sure you never would’ve guessed). This thread will break the monotony of the Book/ Chapter system that this blog follows. From now on, anytime I have a ‘mug expanding’ experience, I shall post it somewhere between these chapters…so that a few years down the line…when I look at my waistline and shout…’Holy hell…when did this mug turn into a bucket’…I can come back to the blog and revisit the culprits…

Watch out for Experiences….

PS: I am writing this post on a bus ride from Ajmer to Jodhpur…3 hours ago I got a call from my tutor asking me to come to jodhpur…and I packed a pair of clothes into my lappy bag…caught a bus and was on my way. Chaotic.. did you say!! Well lets see what extra dose of happiness awaits me at the other end of this trip J