Prickly Perks!

Perquisites haunt us in one form or other. High profile jobs abound them. But even those who feel ‘deprived’ of any such perquisite are feeling so, only in relative terms!

I do not intend to ‘dwell’ upon perks. Nor do I propose to evaluate them. But I was curious to look at how they affect our psyche!

I found myself to be a very bad example in dealing ‘appropriately’ with such perks right from childhood. Oh yes! At times, we do get that sumptuous offer even as a kid, when somebody offers chocolates, sweets etc with “Have as much as you like”. While most kids eat mouthfuls, and then fill up all the available pocket pouches, I was content with the normal quota of just one or two. Somehow, it stayed that way, throughout! Not that it did not occur to me, to make ‘full use”, of the rare chances available. And, I did not even find anything wrong when people utilized it fully. I did not find any need or scope to probe further. (In fact, I tried out that exercise of ‘maximum’ utilization of freebies, when I stood on the banks of Ganges, where the precious sacred water flowed in abundance. How much can I drink, and how much can I store! When I visited some grand hill station the fresh air filled my lungs, the landscape filled my eyes. Again, I found my limitations not even worthy of mention!). But, as I grew, I was bemused when people lament, having lost some ‘sick leave’ being unable to avail it prior to their retirement. It is called as ‘preparatory-leave’ though employers have named just three types of leave, casual, privilege & sick leave. This preparatory-leave is just to exploit the left-over of all the three types. And then, there are medical facilities, free food, beverages at work place, flights, etc. We have that ‘justification’ (not mere consolation) that free food during flight is ‘included’ in the air-fare. But, I had a rare chance to witness a well amplified contrast, when I happened to attend the Annual General Meeting of a prominent company and a private marriage reception on the same day. I chanced to see a few common faces at both the places. Refreshments were offered at the AGM as a routine feature, and the shareholders knew it well. As a ritual, people rushed to ‘occupy’ a seat in the dining hall adjacent to the conference hall, to ensure that they got the ‘quota’ of all the varieties of dishes provided. If they delay, the second or third round of serving may consist of just the bare essential dishes. The company had to keep the doors firmly closed, at least till the formal chairman’s report was declared as ‘deemed to be read’ and the dividends formally approved by show of sufficient number of raised hands! The contrast was when I saw a few of the very same faces at the marriage reception in the evening; they patiently awaited the ritual of being invited to partake the dinner offered to guests! I still hold on to the view that, I find nothing wrong in either of the mannerisms.

What baffles me is that people innocently forego another great perquisite that is ever available for them to ‘exploit’ to their ‘heart’s’ content. Literally! And it is very healthy for the heart too! The joy of smiling, the joy of sharing pleasantries, humour etc! It costs nothing to put forth a view in a graceful appealing manner. It costs nothing to mention an heartfelt gratitude for a kind act even from a close person. This perquisite of extra togetherness available at such close proximity (thanks to overcrowded cities) often goes un-noticed. We drift into our own worlds in no time, and then feel that loneliness too often. One has to just stand still for a few minutes at the pavement of a busy road to observe the faces of the people who pass by (either on foot or vehicles). Right from early mornings, the faces are a bit ‘long’, worry stricken. Only that towards the evening, the long faces also appears tired. That smile, that cheer is totally absent. Even the costly make-ups that women wear, failed to light up the faces. Now they have an additional worry, to retain the make-up till they reach home (the inmates at home never seem to have deserved the ‘beautified’ face! Women seem to insist upon maximum contrast when at home, as regards dress, hair-do and make-up when at home, with rare exceptions of course). Children, on the contrary, always retain that bright cheerful face! They are the ones who really enjoy this perquisite of inner joy to the fullest extent. When a train is late by say 4 hours, the adults painfully suffer the entire length of 4 hours, tied to their luggage on the platform, where as their children literally dance around (the whole length of the platform) while the 4 hours just fly past and the train seems to arrive so soon, when they had just begun to have fun! It is not just about the far sight of consequences of train’ delay, etc. It is about acceptance of inevitable, and then a conscious choice to make use of that ‘perquisite’ of extra spare time that we can seldom afford by choice! I don’t know whether it is always a coincidence that a cheerful person finds much easily than a worried and hurried person, while searching for some object. Wearing that worried look simply engages the alertness of the mind. The relaxed face affords better alertness. Cumulatively, this perquisite does and should matter a lot, even in logical sense, in terms of benefits of all kinds, rate of return, dexterity, productivity, mental and physical health etc! I am really not very sure, if there is a disadvantage too! A person could find losing that ‘grip’ over the inclination to look for small material freebies over a period of time. The inner joy might cloud the ‘logical’ mind, unless a situation warrants making use of some ‘freebie’. Obviously, we do not spit into all of the spittoons provided at the railway platform just to make full use of the ‘free’ provision, and despite the words being inadvertently, and too briefly mentioned, displaying “spit here”!

I do find it a privilege that I wish to ‘exploit’, in extending a warm invitation to your responses, feedbacks, brickbats etc!

Psn(13th Jan, 2009)