LISTENING PROPERLY

 A good speaker is very common but a good listener is a rare thing to find. The reasons for not being a good listener are manifold, such as lack of interest in the topic, a disliking for the one who’s speaking, keeping biased opinion about something, being in a hurry, being pre-occupied by something else and so on.But as a result of not listening properly, people land up with much difficulty and loss in most of the cases.

Looking back to the age of Mahabharat,we see………..

a)Subhadra, Arjuna’s wife was listening to her husband who was explaining the most difficult and tricky war-skill known as Chakra-vyuha,prevalent in those days.Their expecting son Abhimanyu was also listening to it and learning it from inside his mother’s womb (it was a special capacity common in those days). But as soon as the method of entering a Chakra-vyuha was over, Subhadra fell fast asleep ignoring the latter part of it where Arjuna described how to come out of a Chakra-vyuha.So Abhimanyu remained deprived of that knowledge as well and consequently when he actually had to enter a Chakra-vyuha in the battle of Kurukshetra, was killed brutally by the Kauravas.

b)The Pandavas wanted to misguide and distract Dronaachaarya by giving the death-news of an elephant which shared the same name Ashwatthaamaa with his son.Yudhisthira,the epitome of truth, was chosen for the job, who was coaxed to approach Drona to say,"Ashwatthaamaa hatah" (ashwatthaamaa is dead), in a loud voice, followed by "iti gajah" (the one who’s an elephant),in a whispering tone.Drona was so perturbed by the first part of Yudhisthira’s statement,  simply missed out the concluding part of it and leaving all the weapons,came to a stand-still to be killed by the Pandavas.

We can see its effects in present-day situation too.Here are just two examples………..

a)Mrs.T and all her colleagues used to take medical advice from Dr.K who was the husband of Mrs.S,working in the same institution.Mrs.D had been suffering from some sort of infection and consulted Dr.K.The very next day,on being asked by Mrs.S, she told excitedly,"Yes,I’m much better today….But Bhaisaahab ne ek goli aisi dee ki use(H) nigalne men(H) meri saanse rukne ko aayee….itti baree….maano erasor ki size ki thi (Dr. has given a pill as big as an erasor which almost choked me)! I swallowed it with much difficulty…" On returning home as Mrs.S narreted this to her husband,he almost became breathless in laughter saying that the pill was not for swallowing but for applying to the infected area……!

b)Mrs.T was about to leave the station for ten days and was awefully busy with the shut-down process of the household. The fridge was defrosted and her maid was instructed to take some cooked and uncooked curries and vegetables for her own use.But she missed out some part of the instruction and took away the delicious chicken-curry specially prepared for the journey,leaving the papaya-curry behind.When it was discovered on board while Mr.and Mrs.T sat for the dinner,Mr.T was in a real shock and in spite of Mrs.T’s earnest effort of making it up by buying an omlette from the vestibule-pantry-car,wore a long face for quite some time…..!

So…..my friends, do develop the habit of being all ears when someone is speaking…..!