The Musical Chair

It was a Sunday Afternoon and my friends were visiting us for Lunch. 

After a heavy lunch and light talks, the time was 5PM and I planned to do the Coffee Making, a skill I consider myself as expert. I was blending the ratio in the Kitchen where my Friends (Deepthi (Name changed) & Co) went to the Terrace as it was cloudy and the climate was pleasant. I carried the coffee and my wife carried the cookies and we went to serve the others.

Deepthi was talking about the job market, she said she had quit IBM and had recently joined Accenture. Though the work is not that great, she said has plans for sticking till appraisal and then search for another job. I asked her if there is something wrong with Accenture but she said things are fine, just that she needs a change now and then. I remember her working with CTS before IBM and Dell before CTS.

All of a sudden, we saw some kids playing the Musical Chair game in the opposite terrace. It was about to rain at any point of time, but the kids were determined to play and did not mind the heavy winds. Little did they know that they were helping me to create logic. A logic, I employed to make understand my friends about the importance of sticking to a job rather than jumping around.

I said to them to observe the game and they did. I pointed out to Deepthi – “Did you notice that when there were many chairs, there was competition and it was easy. But what happens when the chairs were pulled out one by one? The competition became tough. Either you like the chair or you hate the chair, you are forced to take a seat or to get out of the game. Similarly, when you are young, you have many opportunities presented to you. Life would look like a bed of roses when you have so much opportunities coming up your way. But as you get older/aged, your opportunities start to reduce. And at some point, you are forced to take an unpleasant career or to get perished. Why would you hop on at the present when you can settle down easily?”

She did not say anything. There was silence. With Silence came the rain which pushed us to go down to our home. Back at home, Deepthi was still silent and it isn’t normal for her to be silent. I knew she had listened. When they left home, my wife was impressed and asked me if she can use the logic to convey to her friends. I happily agreed. Never knew a small pep talk can create such an impact. I thanked the kids who were responsible for creating the theory :)