Happiness and Dreams

Hi Everyone --

I trust you, family and friends are doing OK. 

In this blog, I am going to share little about my casual conversations with the workers in farm, while they were working very hard. 

What is it about: Happiness and Dreams.

Please see below picture.  Workers (Contractors) are actively peeling coconut shell in my farm.

 

We harvest coconut once in 50 days. Once plucked from tree, they are all brought to a common place and then we invite contractors to take out the shell and then give the coconut to traders by per kg basis.

Old days, harvesting used to happen by climbing. i.e. Persons used to climb the tree, and pluck from there. Now a days, everything happens from ground itself. i.e. In a long stick, sharp knife is attached and from ground itself they pluck coconuts.

OK, coming to the discussions... When I entered my farm, they were busy peeling. I was watching for few minutes without asking any questions. I was just simply watching, noticing the focus of those folks, perfections and thoroughness. It was a hard work, and it was very obvious. Have you ever tried peeling one coconut from the shell?. If so, you know how tough it is.

Here is the conversation:

Prabakar - This is a tough job. You are all sweat and hard working. It's been a while, I did sweat like this.

Shell breaking Team - All smiled and said, no sir. This is very easy for us. We peel around 5000 per day i.e. 4 of them are working together.

Prabakar - 5000+ coconuts per day?.  i.e. almost every 15-20 seconds, you peel one. Are you sure?.

Team - Yes, we do.  We have been doing this for few years.

Prabakar - How much you get paid per coconut?

Team:  It is around 75 paise. (ie. less than one rupee)

Prabakar - OK. Are you happy with this hard work and money?. Is it correct amount paid?

Team - Yes, very much. We are very happy with this.

Prabakar - So, you are all leading a very happy life.  What do you do in the evening?. How much you give to TASMAC? :)

Team - They smiled and said, dont be jealous of us. :)

Prabakar - OK, I am not jealous. Today, you are all healthy. Can you do similar work after 2-5 years?

Team - That is god's grace and fate Sir.. Like Corona, nothing is in our control.

 

OK, let us pause for a min here:

Yes, happiness is important, in whatever job we do. If you are happy with your work/job, you will see perfections, quality and thoroughness. Numbers don't matter. If you enjoy what you do, and have the willingness to do, then numbers do follow. For others, it may be a big number, but for you, it is just a number and your day is made with happiness.

OK, here are my next set of questions to the same team:  

Prabakar: Is life guaranteed to be happy every day?.

Team: It is God's grace and fate sir.

Prabakar:  Why machines are not used to peel coconuts?. . Can't they peel more numbers and work anytime?

Team:  Many people tried but it failed. Because every coconut has a different shape.

Prabakar: OK. You make approx 1000 INR per day. Don't you want to make more INR per day?

Team: We can't peel more than this in a day. We are happy with whatever we are making and doing.

OK. Then I changed the conversation into a different topic so that it ends smooth.

 

Job Satisfaction is important. However, if that settles down and if we are consistently happy, what is next?. 

Either we spread happiness in our society or go to next level :) 

Please note that, this is how many folks (i.e. daily labors) do live. They are daily labors and they just live their one day. Obviously they are happy. we just need to guide them to next levels or help them to spread happiness in our society.

So, what I am going to say next: Dreams and Goals

Is life guaranteed to be happy every day?  - Can we predict that? - The answer is NO.

Dreams are important in life. Have "positive" dreams, and try to action towards that dreams via simple goals. Here is the famous quote from APJ Kalam:

"Dream, Dream, Dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action". When dreams come true, we get happiness. Also, get the next dream to move on. :)

One more quote:

"A man is not poor, without a single rupee, however a man is really poor without dreams and ambitions"

Summary:

Have Goals in life, they give direction, purpose, happiness and meaning to life.

Happiness is important in life. Once you get consistent happiness, take the next step to dream positively and help others to be happy. Have goals to reach dreams. Life is short and let us make that meaningful.

If you are happy, your family will be happy. Happy family leads to happy society. Happy society leads to happy country.  :)