~~~~~Forgive and Smile~~~~~~

Lemme start off with an incident ::

Scene :: Malaviya bahavan, BITS, Pilani
Time :: 3:00 PM
Situation :: Right side of the PI wing .... 80% of the inmates, enjoying their mid-afternoon nap

TRING..TRNG....TRING.....TRING....TRING.....TRING....TRING....TRING....

The alarm rings...n rings n rings...n rings...!!1 For about 2 minutes everybody simply waits for the alarm to "somehow stop"...But no....it doesn't!!! Another 2 minutes....n then ::

A (Room 253) : Hey, whose this....Switch off the alarm..."Neram kalam teriyama......"..@##$$%%....
A` (Room 249) : (The impact is a but too much here, gets up from the bed and steps out.....
To her dismay the source of origin is the very next room(250) and the room is LOCKED !!! She screams back.....) She's not there in the room junta.....there's nothing we can do..!!!

By now the entire wing has gathered in front of the room...After a 2 minute discussion they realize that there is no way they can contact the 'culprit...all they can do is wish for an auto alarm switch off... , and if the clock has no such mechanism, wait for the battery to drain.!!! Fortunately for them, the cacophony ended n 15-20 minutes and the whole wing decided to simply "broil" the inmate when she is back..!!!

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Scene : My flat in Hyderabad
Time : 7:00 AM on a Monday morning
Situation : Despite the continuous rains, our flat has water supply for 2 hours in the morning, and the considerate house owner had arranged a mechanism where in water is stored in two mini tanks placed in the loft!!! Every day one of us, turn on the water tap, let the tanks fill in, and moment the water level indicator (an overflow tap) alerts, turn the tap off !!!! The important point is, a 5 minute delay in turning off the tap would mean.......an overflow, and a pool of water that flows from the dining room to the bedrooms to the drawing room....(this can be an irreparable mess at 8:00AM..)!!!
I woke up, turned on the tap, considering the wake up time a bit too early, went back to bed to stretch myself with a morning newspaper in hand !! My roommate who usually wakes up early was also peacefully seeping!!!
All of a sudden I could hear water pouring down from the top, and that was the water tank overflowing.....Too much damage was done. My room mates and I popped up from bed, and the clean up procedure was something completely unwarranted on a fresh new Monday morning....So, much for waking up early !!!

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Scene : My 5th floor cubicleat office
Time : 6-7 PM , Friday
Situation :: After listening to all my adventures with the auto drivers, one of my friends 'S' magnanimously offered to drop me home most of the evenings, when ever we could leave office at the time. Since intense project phases haven't begun we coordinate and wrap up work with a +/- half hour lag!!!! As usual she called me at 6:30 n said, "Deeps, do we make a move ?", I had finished my days work and was about to wrap up things, I said, "Yup, in another 5 mins, I'll meet you close to the ground floor lift" !!! She works in the first floor and I, in the 5th floor, and the ground floor lift always served as a good meeting place, where a 5 to 10 minute delay wouldn't be too boring !!!
In about two minutes, one of my friends in the 5th floor called me over to his desk for some clarification. I went over thinking, I'd finish the conversation in 2 minutes, lock the computer and make a move....BUT, in 10 minutes time, we were 7 in the cube, and got into a controversial discussion and I completely lost track of time. Meanwhile, I had left my cell in my draw ( "ethical me" always ensures that the cell is in silent-vibration mode)..!!! 'S' calls me many times, tries to reach me at my extension and after a good 20 minute wait in the ground floor, comes up all the way to the fifth floor !!!!
The moment I see her, I suddenly descend back to the real world and check my watch......

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There are many more such instances, ........

During most of these instances, I would feel very guilty about what happened, tell a million "sorry"s and ensure that I make amends in more than one possible way !!! BUT what I am talking about is the response of the affected people..!!! In each of these situations I got a different response !!!!

The first one.... After all the initial firing when I finally said "Sorry !!!", with that innocent smile....They did say "pona poruthu Jo...with a smile"!!! Ofcourse, I actually got kick bumps that night and a promise, that someone like me who does not sleep in the afternoon should not set the alarm at the such an 'unearthly hour' !!!! Next time the alarm rings --> the first room to check would invariable be --> 250 !!!

The second one .....Phew !!! I spent about 20 minutes cleaning up the place!!! my roommates somehow very whole heartedly gave me a Smile n said "Its Okay"..!!! Here again, the next time I get up first, my room mate does remind me to keep awake n prevent "a pool"....before turning in her bed and taking a rare half hour extra nap !!! :)

The last one ....... 'S'...is a gem of a girl...She probably knows mistakes do happen and they are not intentional.....She gave me a sweet smile and said "Its okay...Do we go now?"..!!! It was so much of a relief seeing that pleasant smile on her face, that the next time 'leaving time'...I reach the spot a minute before her !!!

Its very easy to scream at the 'cuprit', and blame him/her for hours on end in such situation, when the mistake is obvious and there are no excuses..!!! But it takes a lot and leaves a lasting impression, when you simply forgive and smile..!! When the person concerned is already 'so guilty'...why add on to it?

Mind you what you control is a 'momentary irritation',but what you gain is 'a relationship for life'. ...............!!!! :)

"To err is human...to forgive is divine"