A Pep Talk

Driving the car to the office. It is a pleasant morning, on March 12th, 2019.

The car has to stop in front of a signal. There are two cars in front of my car

and before the signal. As like other cities in India, the lane to take right turn

is supposed to have space for two cars, We all worked hard to magically fit

three cars on breadth wise and two motorcycles, both of them from Honda.

As I started getting aware of the environment, Saw a beggar who is aged around

55 years. He started from the first car, knocking the doors and asking for money.

He did not get any. He approached to the biker on my left hand side. Asked him

to donate the money. He took his wallet out, donated few coins, I do not have a

direct view on how much he donated. I am impressed by his attitude, who has time

while waiting on the traffic signal, yet donated money out of his wallet.

He knocked my door. It is time to check myself on how I do good with charity. Keeping

this question aside, I realised that I do not carry any change, hence cannot donate few

rupee coins. I realised that I do carry chocolates in the car, Perhaps, I can choose to

donate him. I donated four chocolates. The beggar did not like it, but took the chocolates

and put them in his pocket. As soon as I am done, I saw a small kid on my right hand side

of the car, who is knocking the door asking for money. I gave him four chocolates. He is

very happy to receive chocolates, opened one and put it in his mouth. He walked towards

the signal, Immediately shared a chocolate to his sister, an impressive action on it’s own,

aged around 13 - 16 years old, sitting on the divider of the road. She also opened the

chocolate wrapper and started eating.

A lady aged around 40 years came asking for money. Gave two more chocolates to her.

She moved towards the signal, reached out to the two kids. She shouted on the younger

one and said, “Why are you waiting here? Go and earn”. The kid ran 20 steps forward,

made sure that he is not caught by his mother and started listening to her.

The lady continued aloud, “Son, You should not waste time. When signal

gets red, it is the time to earn money. I should not see you eating chocolates during this time.

Go and start your work."

She looked at the daughter, I am guessing their relationship based on similarities,

and said, “You should go and ask for money. At this age, sitting idle is of no use. It is time

to earn when signal is red. Stop eating chocolates, Move”. The girl after listening still did

not move. The mother got angry and she started talking at a speed I could not

follow. This continued for almost one and half a minute.

Then, I had this question, How are we different from the lady asking children to go and

earn. Is that a kind of pep talk? Is it what leaders are supposed to do? Is it what parents

have to do with their children? Are all pep talks funded on the principle of acquisition?

Does a pep talk means one has to commit their life for faster acquisition of wealth?

Is acquisition rooted on having more sensual pleasure and comforts?

Why cannot one be lazy? Be content with what they have? Why not inventing area

of rectangle is not innovation for the first time by oneself? Why not one realise that

learning, by ignoring the past and finding out something new either by oneself or listening is

not creation? Why does one need pep talk? Why does a software engineer need a pep talk?

So, It is hard to say, but worth saying, All pep talks are similar in nature :-)