Last night I had a dream. I was standing somewhere in the Himalayas and doing some sort of a penance. When Lord Shiva (I think!) appeared before me satisfied with my performance, sorry penance (appraisal terms are hard to forget) and asked me for a boon, my happiness knew no bounds. The winds blew violently, the birds sang happily, the temple bells rang loudly to celebrate my happiness. Without missing a beat I said,

‘Thank you Lord Shiva! As for my boon, please make people respond to my mails.’

Lord Shiva was puzzled at something which he thought was too simple to be worthy of a boon. He repeated what I said and asked if I was sure about what I wanted. I reaffirmed and briefed him about my experiences.

Some people consider themselves way too important to respond to a mail immediately. It is considered good manners to respond to an email at the earliest possible. So naturally not many respond. It would take about 4 to 5 carefully timed reminders, luck and some black magic to get them to respond. And if they don’t provide adequate updates, we need to mail them again and start praying.

Some people delay responding citing 2 reasons. Either they don’t have the required information or they aren’t the right point of contact. My point is what’s wrong in letting the other person know that instead of making them wait. Some people have been courteous enough to let me know that they would need some time to get back to me. I appreciate that. At least I know what’s going on. The worst of all is when you keep following up for something and after a week the recipients say that they aren’t the actual point of contact.

 I realized Lord Shiva was getting impatient and spared him the story of those who do not respond even after a hundred follow-ups. After listening to all this Lord Shiva smiled to himself. I was wondering what could be funny about this. He apologized and said, ‘You human beings seem to rely more on luck than your skills.’

I smiled and said. I’m sure the manufacturer wanted the humans designed that way, lest we forget the creator. 🙂

He smiled, granted me the boon and disappeared. I woke up with a start and went over what happened in the dream. I felt different. I felt happy. Something told me that the boon was not a dream. Something about that felt real. I couldn’t wait to test my new power. If only this boon helped me to get quicker responses. Only time will tell!