Innocent soul
It was one fine evening, 6 people
surrounded me. Everyone started to shoot questions at me. One said, “Don’t you
know this basic thing”. Another one said “What Hadi I never expected this from
you” another one said, “How can you ask this kind of question?”. I was
surprised, embarrassed, felt a bit sorry at that moment.
Good afternoon fellow toastmasters
and guests. I am here to share an incident in my life that taught me some good
lessons. It was my second year of my career right from college. On a Sunday
morning our project team of 11 members headed our journey in a tempo traveler
to Pondicherry. To attend our friend’s marriage. In our gang there were people
who never turn to any of the functions or marriages. They came to this friend’s
marriage. You ask me the reason, I will not tell. We reached the marriage hall,
attended the marriage, had a good biriyani. He was a Muslim friend.
Story starts here. We departed from
the marriage hall heading towards Chennai. On the way one of my friend who was
my team member. He went and said something to the driver. In few mins the
driver stopped the vehicle. My friend went with an empty backpack and came with
a fully loaded bag. I think you can guess what it was.
On our way back, we went to a place
called Mudaliarkuppam It is 60Km from Pondicherry. It is famous for boat house.
We parked our van there, took a boat and they took us to the beach. The party
started there. Four of my friends took one bottle each from the backpack and
quenched their thirst. I hope you are not so innocent to understand what I am
talking about. Party was over, and we headed back in the boat to the Van.
That incident took place. In our
life sometimes, we regret for the words we speak. It was that day I regretted.
I asked to my team mate, “Hey you had a full bottle of alcohol that too without
mixing water. I see you are steady without any impact. How do you manage this?”
He gave a strange look and asked me “What are you asking?”. He also called
other people and said, “See what this guy is telling?” He is asking me “why I
haven’t mixed water with beer?”. 6 people surrounded me. Everyone started to
shoot questions at me. One said, “Don’t you know this basic thing”. Another one
said “What Hadi I never expected this from you” another one said, “How can you
ask this kind of question? but no one said the reason why they don’t mix water
with beer. They were laughing at me. I was surprised, embarrassed, felt a bit
sorry at that moment as I was not able to be part of their happiness. I asked
to myself “did I ask anything wrong?” No was the answer. At last we started
from there and reached to our respective homes.
The story did not end there. The
humiliation continues. One of my friend he raised this issue again in my team.
He said to my team lead who was a girl “You know what happened yesterday? Hadi
asked that why we don’t mix water with Beer?”. My team lead started laughing
and she said “What Hadi this simple thing also you don’t know?” I felt very bad
then yesterday on hearing this. I was curious and asked her. How come you know
that we don’t mix water with beer. She replied “How many films we see this?
They won’t mix water with beer.” I told her “I also watch some movies, but I
was not aware of this fact. Can you tell me the movie name where you noticed
this?” She told there are lot of movies, but she can’t recall a name. Not
stopping here, my good friend spread this across the bay and on that day,
everyone started laughing at me. Good feeling right.
From that day I decided to “Look
before I leap” “Think twice before I speak” and at last “Know your audience”
Now-a-days I thank google for helping me with all my silly queries without
making fun of me but making money out of me. Fellow toastmasters and guests I know
some innocent souls like me sitting in the crowd.
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