When I walked 2 km for ATM at midnight

      September 2005, Chennai.

    I have joined my first job where my dream of working in an air-conditioned office in front of a computer(!) came true. Before that I was in couple of odd short jobs which I couldn't sustain. I have joined in the last week of August.

    On the second day of joining we were asked to provide our personal details for opening a bank account. This itself gave me an excitement thinking I can also withdraw money from ATM. Months before I was fascinated when I saw a man from our village withdrew a wad of banknotes from an ATM from a nearby small town.

     Therefore when the yellow "ATM card" arrived after a couple of weeks my name inscribed on it I felt as if I have conquered the world, even though I knew I would wait another three weeks for the salary to be credited in my account.

      As I was new to this ATM culture and I was curious, I made my enquiries with my close friend who has been living in this city for few years then. As per his knowledge, for those who get their salary on 1st of month, it is credited on previous night at 12 a.m. by automated bank credit. 

     A small interlude before continuing further. 

     During this period I was living in a Chennai suburb interior locality, sharing a tiled house with 2 more friends (the rain in November 2005 is another unforgettable one). End of months used to be our worst experience with few bucks or no money in our pocket. There used to be nights without food. September end was one of those hard month end. 

    

    Back to the ATM day...

    It was Friday the 30th September 2005. I had finished my dinner with the cheapest roadside cart idly shop, which we fondly call kaiendhi bhavan, while my friends came after 11 o'clock exhausted with long day's work and empty stomach. Knowing from my enquiry that salary will be credited at midnight, I have decided to feed my friends. 

    Collecting the coins and note left in bag, which amounted to Rs.15/- (you read it right, fifteen rupees) I have started with one of them as the other one was too tired to go out that odd hour. to access the nearest ATM, we had to go to grand southern trunk road which was 2 km away. No buses. We started walking. After walking a few hundred meters we saw an ambassador coming from behind us and we tried our luck to hitch a hike. The car stopped and the driver was sympathetic enough to give us the ride. 

     We had arrived the GST and before getting down my friend suggested me giving the fifteen rupees to the car driver as a token of our gratitude. Our self esteem was too high not to take free ride. So we thanked the driver and gave him the money which he accepted. 

     It was 12.05 a.m. With all my enthusiasm, curiosity and hope I entered the ATM for my first ever withdrawal. In the previous weeks I have done the pin change balance check etc. Now I have inserted my card and entered the PIN then the amount I wanted to withdraw. There came the blow. Some error. I tried several times with full concentration. No moeny was dispensed, only a printed slip with some error report on it. We came to the conclusion that that particular ATM had no cash to dispense. We tried another ATM and another. The time had crossed well after 12.30. By this time we had realised the reality. There was no money credited in my account! 

    We walked back the 2 km with hunger and disappointment. Later in the evening the salary was credited and I had learned the prcoess much later. When seeing the queues after governments demonetisation, it all came afresh. The cool night, the walk, the hunger and the disappointment. But it's an experience!

     

The P/PC Balance

     It had been really long time since I have opened my own blog to see even. Well, I am back. This time I would like to write topics or books I read. More or less like a personal journal which I wish to make useful for other as well.

     Let's move on.

     I have been reading "The 7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen R. Covey.

Then I came to the concept of "P/PC balance"  i.e. Product/Production capability balance. 

     Product here is anything that is produced e.g. a result achieved, a degree, materials bought, a learning, a work done, a pleasure, anything. Product capability is the ability of a person, a device or any other means to produce the product. 

     The beauty of  this concept is it can be applied universally for everything.

     Whatever stage of in our life we are, whatever we do, this concept can be applied everywhere. The main point is we should keep a balance between these two. If we concentrate on the product more ignoring the production capability, we shorten the production capability. If we concentrate on production capability without getting the product we are wasting our efforts. In either way it is not good. A balance is mandatory.

     A simple example is a car. The product is the ride. The ability of the car to give us rides is its production capability. How long we can keep it running without maintenance? It will lead to large scale expenses if we ignore the regular small scale maintenance expenses. On the other hand if we don't use it but spend continuously on the maintenance, what is the use of that? So we need to use it for its product while maintaining it to retain its production capability.

     Another example is our home. A place where we be ourselves. Unless we maintain it, will we really have our that kind of freedom? Will it be live-able? Absolutely no. I know people who cannot stay home on weekend just because  they who live the other five days in that same house made it close to a dump yard. Buying and storing all the possible products is their passion. But they don't enjoy what they buy since they don't really live in their home except for eating and sleeping. 

     Relationships. We all like to get affection from our loved ones and most of us take their love for granted. The affection is the product. But what do we all do to maintain the production capability? How many of us do things proactively to make them happy and maintain our relationships? Do we even thank them for all what we get?  

     From nature? We considered nature will give us forever. Now lack of water, global warming, unprecedented weather changes, all thanks to our ignorance to maintain the production capability of our Mother Nature. 

     There is a saying in Tamil,  suvar irundhalthan sithiram ("சுவர் இருந்தால்தான் சித்திரம்") i.e. You need walls (natural or man-made) to make murals.  Health and happy life, finance, job, business, there is no place where this P/PC Balance is not applicable. I have started my P/PC balance in things around me.

     As Stephen Covey recommended in his book, I have shared here this one concept I have learnt and started applying. If it is useful for a reader and applied in his/her life or at least in small things around, then I would be happy for the time I have spent to share this.