I was told in Japan people were not happy with the taste
of dead fish which were caught and brought from sea. So they used a freezer to freeze the dead fish after catching. But still they were
not happy with the taste of frozen fish. So they decided to keep it alive
immediately after catching by using fish tank. But the once the fish were
brought into the tank, he fish started behaving differently and remained still for unknown reasons, it became very dull and that the Japanese still did not like it. So they
decided to keep a small shark in the tank and this idea kept the fish moving
all the time due to fear. Here the technique applied was to keep the
threat on all the time and that made the
fish to on its toes all the time. Is this applicable to human beings ?. When I heard this,
An incident in my life came to my memory. 'I remember,
I was planning what to speak during the occasion of my sent off. I started to
ruminate my Ups and downs of my tenure in that post. I thought of speaking about my achievements and
accomplishments'. Then I said to myself, 'No, that would amount to flattery and So I dropped that idea'. Then I thought I must speak about each individual who touched me
with their support during my tenure. But again I thought, it may not be a good
idea as I may not able to speak the truth about all and probably people would ultimately discredit me for not being honest.'
...So
after pondering over this issue some time, I decided finally to speak about one
person who's picture will not fade from
my mind. Though I do not remember the exact
words I spoke, I cannot forget that
picture. The picture of a person who was different from others and taught me
many lessons very clearly but silently. I rate him very high though his position is very low in the
hierarchy. A simple, poor, modest , sincere man with 101% commitment to the organisation.
He joins among those wonderful people
whom I respect for teaching me some of the greatest lessons which are not
taught in schools.
Unparalleled
on punctuality standards; he comes to office on time every time whether it is
raining, flooding or bandh. He leaves office only after his boss instructs him to go. Once I have seen the
tension in his boss who forgot to tell
him to leave the office at 8 o'clock in the evening .The boss has forgotten
about him in the midst of discussions. Like others , he too have his family,
children and usual house hold problems. But never he brought any of his
personal problems to office or he has
never told any of his problems to anyone for sympathy. The speed at which he works is so remarkable
that, another senior officer remarked to me that, I have to think twice
before I put any paper in my out tray, because it disappears instantly. He
clears the papers instantly for despatching to
its destination.
He does not speak ill of anyone even
though everything happens in front of his own eyes. He has no grudge nor envy
against anybody. He can be trusted to
the core. Another evidence to this is
that another senior officer trusted only
him to send confidential couriers. His luxury is his bicycle. He would promptly despatch by going personally all the
way by cycling. He is an embodiment of
ultimate honesty and trustworthiness which i s a very very rare commodity today.
I feel sad for one thing. We have enough rules to punish a an erring employee. But
there are no sufficient rules equal to
the above to point out when a deserving
reward was not bestowed to an employee who is truly outstanding. Today though
he has not been given the deserving recognition, he continues to perform with same
zeal. He does not require any shark nor
any bate to be like that. Definitely for me, it was an experience which cannot be
forgotten. Achievement, position, wealth, qualification and fame takes a
backseat in front of this lifetime
commitment of this good man. Yes he
is one of the greatest benchmarks
of personal quality.