How are you?

I am doing great! Very cool! Yeh, I am ok! Fundoo! I am happy! I am good! Enjoying my life! I am fine… blah blah blah. These all are some of the most common phrases we speak in response to the most common conversation starter. Many people might feel good that the other person is concerned about their wellbeing. However, I am generally not comfortable in answering this question because of many reasons [and even if there were none, my education has been so constructive that I can at least try to prove all my opinions as generally acceptable facts:)].

Firstly, how many of us answer this question correctly (remember ‘how are you’ seeks information about your present state of existence)? I guess very few, unless we are talking to someone very near & dear to us! Do you ever tell the other person that are you feeling uncomfortable about the body odor of the person sitting next to you? Do you tell the other person that you are feeling some strange movements in your stomach and that you don’t want to embarrass yourself by farting again!

Secondly, this question expects me to know how exactly I am feeling at a point of time. Am I supposed to be tracking each and every moment of my existence, my state of mind, or my mood, for anyone might ask “How am I”? Oh, so here is a business opportunity for those no-brainer TV Sky shop products – they should make one product that can help one answer this question accurately, at a point of time!

Lastly, I see this question as an attempt to know what is going on inside me. Hey Mr. Socrates, let us first finish up the stuff on table.

By the way, just imagine how different our conversations would be, if we started answering this question factually. No, the world would not be a different place; it would just be little surprising for those getting to know what is cooking inside other person’s mind. I am sure our state of mind at a point of time reflects both – our thoughts and our body; an answer to ‘how are you’ should rationally shed light on all. So the next time you ask me “How are you”, don’t feel surprised to know that I am feeling somewhat turned on for the girl sitting behind you.

The difference between 9 and 10

No… you can’t afford it. Simply because it’s expensive now… earlier it was 9 and now it’s 10. Sound stupid nah! Yes that’s how we sometimes behave. You might not decide in favor of buying nice sexy footwear simply because it has now become expensive, by only one rupee! If this weren’t true, then why did Bata Pricing come into being? Marketing studies indeed prove that we find ourselves comfortable in buying the stuff that’s priced at a digit ending in 9, since 9 ending stuff looks cheaper to us. Hold on… there could be more reasons.

Size makes a difference! Actually 10 is occupying double as much as space as 9. So are our eyes compelling our minds to think more diligently than otherwise? Well this could also be pure mathematics if you look at other figures like 999 and 1000. The former is still in hundreds and the later, in thousands! Nah, I am not interested in buying a T-shirt that costs me in thousands!!! Still not convinced? Let me reason…. ok, I give up then. So what could be the real reason?

Actually there is nothing real about it. It’s all perceptive; we human beings experience some kind of emotional trigger out of each major phenomenon. And that’s one of the reasons we either like or avoid the bigger phenomenon. We are usually very cautious about making bigger decisions, but not so about minor ones. In fact bigger decisions hardly affect you or me, since they are too visionary to be taken easily. But the matter of fact is that it is the small things that make the biggest impact on our lives. Every small decision that you would have once taken has changed your lives in the ways that you may have never thought of. The same also applies to every little initiative that you dared to take in yesteryears and one fine day you realize that you have created a big difference to who you are and what you want to be.

When our civilization got a wheel, we didn’t know that the same wheel will also make us fly one day. But we did, and so the saga has continued with every small step any of us has taken so far. The difference between 9 and 10 is big enough to be bridged easily in a day; but if you have come to 9 today then why not 10 tomorrow! In any case human being didn’t always want to travel in bullock cart! Nonetheless, I am now feeling bore to write all this… I need a punch… I got to buy a dark chocolate that is delicious as well as affordable, as long as I am not paying more than Rupees 9.99 for it!