MERAKI

It’s another day of the scorching sun, you’re walking, drops of perspiration trickle down your eyebrows, and you swipe them off. All you can think of is about going home and playing the console you tricked your dad into buying for you even after scoring a nominal grade in your exams. The only condition he put was you had to attend this seminar by some Jack guy. It was alright, you thought then, but it seems like an unfair deal now that you swipe sweat across your cheeks. You locate the entrance to the hall you’re supposed to be in. Damn it, no air conditioning. So much for the PlayStation, you wonder.

 For a billionaire, Jack seemed down to earth. For a speech scheduled for 3:00 pm, he seems humble to do a mike check himself at 2:55 pm. For a session supposed to instill you with inspiration, the crowd appears dead. You join in the sea of the deceased. If the IIT coaching has taught you one great trait, it’s to sleep with your eyes open. You prepare yourself to use your skills for the next two hours.

 “When I was born, my mother had to push hard to get my shoulders out and twice as hard to get my face out. The nurse spanked me harder than other new-borns because she didn’t like my face. When I was four days old, my parents said something about working extra hard to get over my horror. But here I am, puberty hit me alright, don’t you think?” The audience was dead silent. This was supposed to be funny, you thought, but you went along with the herd and did not give out a laugh. Shadowing the pack is why you’re aiming to get into the ‘Prestigious IITs’ anyway. You’re about to doze off, but you’re intrigued by Jack because, “I’m a billionaire, I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded. I’ve failed things that were cakewalk to my colleagues. I’ve failed preliminary exams, not once, but twice.” This guy sounds like me, and you think as you zone out into the time you failed geography in fifth grade. You were welcomed home to a series of unique Indian sandals on your face. All of the sixth grade was a toil because your mom sat through every study session of yours. A minute silence for all the amazing Shinchan content you lost that year. But then, when you managed to get a merit award for the year, you believed you could do things that seemed impossible. Moms aren’t cruel after all, you learned.

“So after being rejected for the office clerk job after the 29 other jobs, I felt I hit rock bottom. I got out of the building, I looked up at the tower abutting the clouds, and I wondered, a normal person would see the edge and feel like letting go, to have a blissful flight of a few seconds before ‘THUD!’ he hits the ground. But Jack, I said to myself, you’re not them, you dig around you to find a jetpack and take a joyride up above the tower. Work harder.” You feel a chill. A damn good cold! Down the spine, and it’s gone. Where though? “I remember when KFC came to China, it called in twenty-four people for interviews. I was one of them. Twenty-three people were hired. I wasn’t one of them. Rock bottom had a basement.”

“Jobs weren’t meant for me, I was sure. So I switched to entrepreneurship. Failed! This was too much failure and too little success. I decided to work harder; this time, it was different. I put myself off the world, cut off ties, thought, thought more, and finally executed. There was a problem; no one was ready to invest in my plan. Why would they? I had to beg some of my close friends and relatives to trust me on this plan. I put my soul into it. I did. It paid off, handsomely, 25 billion dollars, to be exact. I’m Jack Ma, and this is how Alibaba came into existence.”

You get up, clap. Louder now. The man, three rows back, stops snoring. You see around; everyone is giving you weird looks. You continue clapping. Jack smiles. He knows what he has done. He’s separated a man from his herd. He has made you realize what you could be.

What could I be? You get out of the hall. Oh! The PlayStation has you excited. You can’t stop thinking of the fantastic things you could do. You get home, can’t stop ringing the bell, mom knows what you’re all raged about. She’s already switched on your console. She opens the door (to endless possibilities of tricks on FIFA?) You get in, switch off the console, get in your room, and pick up the kinematics book. Potential energy turns to kinetic energy.

Meraki is everywhere; the fruit vendor you see every day had to put in months of effort to afford that stall, that rickshaw driver that just passed you had to toil for three years to clear the overhead loan on his livelihood. Inspiration is everywhere you look. Do you see it in the mirror? Has Meraki hit you yet?