Delving deep into an MBA's Sensitivity Quotient

There is too much ado on a basic personality question “How sensitive are you?” What does sensitivity mean to you? What is your sensitivity quotient? How important is it in your professional/personal life?

“Sensitivity” literarily means change in moods in response to an external impact caused by our surrounding environment, the degree of mood swing translates to the measurement of sensitivity quotient. So how do we deal with this quotient? Do we suppress it or let it flow down freely? What is the general trend? What should be the correct response?

Let’s try to analyze this in terms of people’s mental plane. We play numerous roles in our present life, sometimes as a son/daughter, lover, friend, follower, counselor, life partner, subordinate, boss etc. And to a large extent our sensitivity quotient is influenced by the role we are playing at that time. Being a lover, sensitivity towards beloved would be definitely different compared to being the boss towards a subordinate. Also to a large extent it is afflicted by gender bias even if we do or don’t want to agree on it.

A quick observation into the prevailing trend reveals that the much more qualified a person is the less sensitive he is actually or he should be when it calls for sensitivity. An ordinary graduate is expected to be more amicable / gullible (translating to higher sensitivity quotient) than a person who holds a higher professional degree such as MBA, PhD etc (translating to lower sensitivity quotient). Professionals with client facing roles are expected to have a fine balance in this quotient i.e. more sensitive toward client’s needs/ moods and less sensitive to own quotient, feelings. And being holding higher positions in corporate hierarchy, they should manage the show efficiently no matter what happens. Why is this irrational expectation from professionals holding higher degrees? Don’t they have a heart, don’t they crave for basic human need of affection, and don’t they feel the pain when something adverse happens with them? Yet it is expected that being an incumbent qualified professional, you must overcome this strong feeling and appear normal even if there is an emotional turbulence within. That’s what we call professional maturity.

One thing to point out here is, in this process of attaining professional maturity & claiming accolades for professional mannerisms in every professional conduct, it gradually brings up a least needed change to a person’s psychology, to its sensitivity, present situation demands so much from a MBA person that he forgets the basic values of life which holds souls together in a harmonious balance. If you try to draw parallel to the subject in question with the concept of the movie ‘Rock On’ [where a team of very close friends during their college days became so busy in their professional lives later that they tended to ignore their passion of playing Guitar & making a grand event. They were so busy in their professional lives, that it was almost impossible for them for a reunion to rediscover their true passions] , you would be able to fathom what I am trying to point out here.

Many a times, there is a big question mark of leading a harmonious marital life, when two MBA graduates finally decide to tie the knot. The uncertainty that hovers is “Will the couple be able to live up to their own career aspirations?” Will each one be able to complement the other when there is a need of ‘emotional security’? Won’t they be engrossed in their professional lives (given the demanding nature of the job an MBA professional has) so much that they will hardly have any time to spend with the partner & understanding them & their softer needs expected from their partners? When I think of this, a fusillade of questions pounce on me so forcefully that it becomes a challenge for me in my personal life, amidst uncertainty and i have to take a decision, the problem appears even bigger enough that may seem insurmountable.

Indeed an emotional draining experience……

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet ………

Taking a break from my busy life, I was on a 5 day trip to Ponmudi in God’s own country. When I landed on the serene landscape of that much sought after place of visit, it appeared to me as if I have left behind every cruel reality of past & currently entering to a mystical wonderland. It appeared as if the wind whispering melody, the sky humming along with it, and the entire nature welcomes me to the much awaited elixir of life; an antidote to the city busy life.
I was stationed on a tree house aimed at getting a feel of staying amidst nature & experiencing nature at its best. It was a rainy evening that day that was conveying a feeling of coziness……suddenly my eyes found two love birds in this sensual rain, both being completely drenched, a place where two lovers feel the distance between them being erased. I could clearly fathom the mystifying power of love through the action of these two loving pairs & could witness love surging through the tone of the speechless souls. The boy was trying to appreciate the transformed beauty of the girl when rain drops falling off her wet lips. The very moment brought back the old memories & every moment was filled with full of passionate love & sweet feelings. A love that is a desire for beauty - a value that transcends the particularities of the physical body, such love was transcendentally motivated by a deep respect for the lady.
It appeared to me as if the heart of the boy was singing this tune:“Jo bhi jitne pal jeeyun Unhe tere sang jeeyun Jo bhi kal ho ab mera Usse tere sang jeeyun
Jo bhi saansein main bharoon Unhe tere sang bahroon Chaahe jo ho raasta Usse tere sang chaloon”The entire nature was celebrating this moment – the extrasensory psychic communication of the two supreme souls.
The unabated rain was constantly pouring in creating a rift between two love birds & after a while separation seemed insurmountable. Even the unflinching magnetic attraction between the two souls was not able to temporarily halt the pouring drops & keep them united – at least for a possibility of the carnival of a momentary reunion. But the fortune has already made its choice………….however left behind a testimony of true love, that was pure, chaste, undemanding and immortal.
I was stuck contemplating, "kitna mazboor hai unka pyaar"; which compelled them to submit to this rain & they had to separate. However my mind was constantly occupied with one thought – “the intensity of pain upon separation” & I was deeply engrossed in that perplexing thought :- A love that is divine, a love that is whole-hearted, a love that is completely consuming, a love that grows with separation & deepens with sacrifice.

Eternal Love & its Questionable Existence

Love….an eternal word which knows no bounds, which does not care who you are, which does not differentiate between two souls, which does not demand anything in reciprocation; rather conveys one & the only one message…. “I am eternal & my true followers (who understand me from their heart) transcend above all the societal vertical limits that have been erected to create barrier between two souls”. Love feels the pain due to various equations that are being played with it, but yet it does not expect anything in return. It only believes that true love is something which can’t be demanded back in reciprocation; rather it can only be showered upon its counterpart. That time communication between two souls does not require any medium, it does not understand any dialect; but only the psychic communication between two souls becomes the only means to understand each other. True love is attained when silence between two souls appears comfortable.
The most difficult phase of life is not when no one understands you; it’s when you don’t understand yourself. Why is this longing for someone whom you have never known, never seen, never met in person? Why the turbulent waves disturb your heart, mind & soul ? Why Why Why ? There is no answer to these questions. Because these questions themselves have chosen to remain unanswered in perpetuity.
In reality, some things in life never change, Sometimes in life I don’t find reasons, some moments in life aren’t forgotten, sometimes I lose hope… When time rolls by I try to forget what holds me on… some people in life are a part of me, And when I let them go, I never lose them because I find them living in me. That is the best gift love can give back to its true followers.
Sometimes i feel upset about the superficial attitude of human being towards love which is devoid of any depth of feelings. Many ups & downs in human relationships witnessed by me have made me believe that true love does not exist in reality. As they say “Yeah pyar kitabon mein hoti hai, shayari mein hoti hai, sacchai mein nahi”. I question that, I object that. Why is this so? Why can’t we imbibe these eternal selfless feeling of love within ourselves? Are we incapable of it? Yes, probably yes. We fear of being cheated, we fear of being overwhelmed by this that may seem insurmountable. So we run away from it; try to show case that this is not true in life. And most of the time this works out, not because we want it that way, but because we choose it to be that way.
Still I caress this eternal feeling of love & sacrifice forever in my life with the hope that someday someone will step into my life & make me feel that this is one of the most valued treasure (which can not be priced anyway) that is in possession with me which is highly valued by her.

Indeed owing to the present circumstantial evidence of today's modern lifestyle & superficial human feelings, i still feel Eternal Love to be nothing other than A Questionable Existence.

Amidst the Misty Rain… Drenched Moments In The Night, Filled With Magic

It was a rosy evening in Interlaken Switzerland; I was standing in front of my cottage situated in a hilly area. The cloudy sky was conveying a feeling of coziness in anticipation of my girl I met recently few days back.

Suddenly I heard the clarion call of the wind chimes – instrument of the nature and I was perturbed by the sound of that chimes, it appeared as I was not able to decipher the underlying meanings within. Thunder stroke suddenly and the cloudy cozy evening turned into drizzling evening. I was still trying to fathom this mystifying signal of the nature & its underlying implications; I saw a beautiful lady appeared on the roadway waiting to be completely drenched.

It appeared as if she started talking to the rain drops. The tiny rainy drops fell in her palm – a quest for desire for the truth – “What Is The Secret? In What Sorrow Are The Clouds Lowering Like This?” She gets a reply saying that those are tears pouring in – symbolic to the desire for someone, being intoxicated the clouds are showering the raindrops down. She tells to the clouds “I do have a similar story like you, I am mad for someone too.” In her reply, she smells the fragrance of wet earth showing the perfume this earth has released in honor of the feeling of the girl towards her tender affection. It appeared love had overflowed from the clouds & on this restless earth; it had showered upon her too. It had made her fragrant as if someone has spilled the odor of love on her. It appeared to me as if a carnival of her divine communication to the clouds was clearly portrayed in front of me. The entire nature was celebrating this moment – the extrasensory psychic communication of the two supreme souls.

I was stuck contemplating “Is this the effect of my desire towards her ...Is she feeling the same beat as I am feeling right now?” The questions chose to remain unanswered but left with a few perplexing thoughts...

It was a cold winter night. I was trapped.....

It was a cold winter night. I was trapped with the figment of my imagination which precluded all kind of earthly feelings and elevated me to a state of eternal bliss and anguish.

Tracing back to the sunset point on a cold winter twilight zone, when I was standing in front of my cottage at Toronto, there was a soothing winter breeze that was constantly conveying a message of profound feeling that prevailed throughout that winter night. The feeling was all about an imagination of love in a hilly area and the description of sunset in the wait for the lover and the love that existed was sacred, eternal.

It appeared as an illusion as if she was still standing on that bridge. The tale of the past seemed quite fresh in my memory; as if the sound had not died down yet and it was echoing back and forth. Taking a look at the watch, I saw the clock hand ticking very fast, but there was no sign of her coming back to this place. The night seemed to have paused for quite long and refusing to move ahead. It was already past mid night.

“There was a similar midnight when I was in a moving restaurant in Toronto in a hillside area. We were two together; off late when I moved my eyes towards my watch to check the time, she blocked my watch with her hand. It was such a huge palm which blocked my further imagination altogether. She was looking at me with her crimson eyes and I could hear the voice of her eyes. Her eyes seemed the whole world to me and I was deeply immersed in her eyes leaving apart the reality of life.”

That night, the fortune had chosen to take a twist. Every moment seemed like a timeless story of endless wait for love and my passions almost consumed my whole will to the brink of inner turmoil; desperate wait for love. A place surrounded by mountains, shrouded in mist and enveloped in beauty, it was mythical enough to bring out the poetic wisdom in me and I wrote the first love poem of my life. It was an expression of my personal feeling towards philosophical love; it was such an intensive feeling which pulled me into a whirlwind of desire, madness and romance. In my anguish and a test of faith, is revealed the power of unconditional love through several layers of turbulent emotions.

In that piece of paper, the fountain pen in my hand wrote automatically..... “You came like a winter breeze and I didn’t realize what it was …..”

It was a cold winter night and I was trapped with a profound imagination tinged with a sense of reality.