Misconceptions
I wonder who brought about this word “misconceptions” into the English Dictionary! Probably, there were no misconceptions earlier. Or they might be, but the misconceptions were not highlighted earlier.
Whatever it might be, lemme think why there is a misconception? Does this mean that there was supposed to be a conception that was missed? If so, why was it missed? Ain’t this similar to a miscarriage? This means that the parties involved in the conception were healthy, but due to some unfortunate circumstance, it so happened that the conception got missed. WTH??
Wait a sec… How could I have a misconception about the term itself? Miscarriage might happen due to some medical reasons and if misconception happens, the carriage itself might not be there to have the misconception! And misconception would be due to the simple use of some protection, be it of data or be it of anything else.. Oh Jeez.. how much similar is the misconception that happens wrt the physical being to that of a communication. My thoughts are now going haywire.. Need to get them back to why I started this blogpost. Yes, Misconceptions!
Misconceptions are a dime a dozen in normal life, but in my life, it is a bit too obvious. Or may be, I tend to notice it and make it a bit too pronounced that there has been a misconception. There have been umpteen numbers of situations where there was a misconception and that has led to unwanted arguments which then, led into some situations ending up with me and the other person not being able to even face one another coz of Ego Issues. We would not like to apologize, the reason being that we would have the fear that if we apologize, it might so happen that it might be my mistake that I am apologizing for and it might also seem that I have made a mistake, which is normally not so.
Lemme start my rant by giving a small and insignificant example.
A friend who was really close stops being in contact suddenly. And it so happens that our last interaction was not our usual friendly interactions and, though none of us had made any mistake, there was a mutual assumption about the other person. So, this was a misconception. Now, where has it led to is the part that worries me the most. I have not sent an apology per se, but I have taken the first step to get back in touch by sending messages and mails. However, there is no response from my friend yet. Now, what does my friend expect? An apology? For no mistake of mine? And since I have already taken the first steps, should it not be human for my friend to respond? It might be so that my friend might be very busy or might feel that I am not a part of their life or might be ill or might be held up with something. But the misconception that I have in my mind is that I might have actually lost this friendship, which was once really nice.
The reason that I have always referred to this person as “my friend” is that it is not only one friend but this has actually happened five times with five different friends. So, this also makes me assume and think that I have made the mistake coz 5 different people might not be wrong about the same person (me). This also makes me think that it might be the circumstances that caused this and that they would definitely realize my (right) intentions and get back in touch with me.
I hope my friend reads this on my Twitterfeed / FB / Google Reader / Buzz and realizes that it shows the pain that I am undergoing due to the misconception / lack of communication and gets back in touch with me.
Another aspect in life where I have to strive hard that there is no misconception ever is my career / daily bread earning part. I am in a customer facing role which has a direct revenue impact to my employers. Since this is such an important role, I do not want any misconception creeping into the minds of anyone who is a stakeholder (be it my customer or be it my employers or be it my team or be it any third party). If there is any minor misconception, it would wreck havoc in my career and I don’t want myself to face what I had faced a couple of months back.
A third angle to this is also coz of my age. Damn! Now, everyone is looking at me to be of the age of marriage and this makes it a lot difficult to even interact with any friend of the other gender, no matter if she is unmarried or married or even has a kid. The thoughts that stray into their minds are highly unethical and cannot be posted on my blog. The everyone, whom I am referring to here, include friends, family members, distant relatives, colleagues, ex colleagues and whomever I have ever interacted with. At times, I wonder if it is really worth listening to them or even paying heed to their thoughts, but then, I realize that “Man is a social animal”. Though you do not need to live for the sake of the society, it is always advised that you live for yourself keeping the society in one corner of your mind. It is also always advised that “Live Life Kingsize”, but keep in mind that the King too, has a lot of stakeholders to please. But you know when it hurts the most? Coz when you were royally flirting and interested in all these mundane things like marriage and relationships and were willing to enter long term relationships, none of your stakeholders even bothered about you or your intentions. Now, you are in the spotlight and whatever you do, it is being looked at through a microscope. WTH?
I did some analysis of my persona w.r.t misconceptions and discovered that telephone conversations are the main reasons for whatever misconceptions that have happened in my life till date. At times, even if they are not the main reasons, they would add as a catalyst to the already bubbling concoction of misconceptions and would escalate matters out of control. Is this coz I might not be able to speak on telephone as convincingly as I would do in person? Or is it that the external noise that happens during the telephone conversation hampers and adds fuel to the fire of the misconception? Whatever it is, it does not make me feel comfortable to have a telephone conversation.
Thanks to my job, I have the good fortune of being able to meet 1000s of people and interact with them, something that I’ve always wanted to do. God has been fair so far… with me, and so has life. Just praying that it continues to be so green and fruitful and worthy of living it KINGSIZE!


