The Pencil Sharpener and Lessons from My Temptations
Our company launched a campaign in collaboration with an NGO called Goonj which works in the social sector. The idea was to collect some old discarded household items and then gift these to the economically poor in the tribal areas. I also tried to participate. I searched for some old clothes that had remained with me, and I also motivated some other personal friends to donate. I carried these items with me to my office. I had to deposit these anonymously in a collection box. I had a feeling that I was not doing enough, and hence I decided to buy something else to donate. I decided that pencils for children would be the best. If I donated some other new items, those may be sold / stolen; and the fact that mainly children use pencils made me feel good about it. I went to a shop to buy some packets of pencils on my way. There was a surprise for me there. It seemed the funny guy from TV who used to hit a sixer at the last ball in Nataraj Pencil Ad shouted from somewhere: “Nataraj Pencil ke har pack ke saath ab ek pencil sharpner aur ek eraser bilkul muft!” Now since I got many pencil sharpeners and erasers for free, I though I would keep one pencil sharpener with me and would gift remaining in the collection box. While I left the shop with that lone pencil sharpener in my pocket and remaining in the poly-bag, something chanced upon me all of a sudden…
“Why was that I wanted to keep that one pencil sharpener with me?” Gifting something for the cause was not compulsory as such, and many colleagues were not contributing. So it was not about being selfish. I already had a pencil sharpener with me personally – it meant I didn’t require another one as such. Then I realised I was not happy with my old pencil sharpener. Why? Because it was old! This new one was such a shining one and a red one and a bigger one! Ok, so it was attraction! Was this attraction justified? I thought if I didn’t keep that pencil sharpener with me, then it would definitely go to some tribal area and some very poor kid would use it some time. Also, I don’t use pencils very often and I don’t remember the last time I had to use a sharpener! I now wondered if my decision to keep that one piece with me was shameful… Taking a decision, I took that lone shining, red and big pencil sharpener out of my pocket and kept it along with other items in the bag…
I then tried to understand why I was so attracted towards that pencil sharpener. If I tell this event to anyone else, s/he would laugh at me and would call it childish! Yes, it was definitely childish - because whenever I remember a pencil sharpener, the first image that comes to my mind is my instrument box (pencil box) from my school days. Secondly – I sharpening my pencil, and some times the graphite point of the pencil would break. Some sharpeners would be misaligned and they would keep breaking the pencil points. Some times I would also use an old shaving-blade to sharpen the pencil. I would always keep a pencil sharpener in my pencil box – that would make me feel a proud and prepared student. When I would go to exams others would always forget theirs and would ask it from me. Now that so many images start coming in my mind, I got to understand that it must be some unfulfilled desire from my childhood – to have many shining, red, and big pencil sharpeners with me – and that would have made me get attracted to the pencil sharpener even now. I recalled that my childhood was not spent in scarcity by any standards and the wish to have ‘many’ and ‘more’ stationary items with me is actually the wish of every child. When I realised all this, I thought it was only fair if I allow another child from some remote tribal area to share the same pleasure that I cherish – of keeping a nice pencil sharpener with me…
Very often, some selfish, wrong, weird, or even shameful thoughts come to us. Those thoughts don’t prove that we are bad or corrupt. Having a strict control over our thoughts is not easy – but we can very well control our actions. This is what I did – discarding my thoughts of childish cravings for having that pencil sharpener, I allowed some other child to enjoy the same…
(Rahul)
Our company launched a campaign in collaboration with an NGO called Goonj which works in the social sector. The idea was to collect some old discarded household items and then gift these to the economically poor in the tribal areas. I also tried to participate. I searched for some old clothes that had remained with me, and I also motivated some other personal friends to donate. I carried these items with me to my office. I had to deposit these anonymously in a collection box. I had a feeling that I was not doing enough, and hence I decided to buy something else to donate. I decided that pencils for children would be the best. If I donated some other new items, those may be sold / stolen; and the fact that mainly children use pencils made me feel good about it. I went to a shop to buy some packets of pencils on my way. There was a surprise for me there. It seemed the funny guy from TV who used to hit a sixer at the last ball in Nataraj Pencil Ad shouted from somewhere: “Nataraj Pencil ke har pack ke saath ab ek pencil sharpner aur ek eraser bilkul muft!” Now since I got many pencil sharpeners and erasers for free, I though I would keep one pencil sharpener with me and would gift remaining in the collection box. While I left the shop with that lone pencil sharpener in my pocket and remaining in the poly-bag, something chanced upon me all of a sudden…
“Why was that I wanted to keep that one pencil sharpener with me?” Gifting something for the cause was not compulsory as such, and many colleagues were not contributing. So it was not about being selfish. I already had a pencil sharpener with me personally – it meant I didn’t require another one as such. Then I realised I was not happy with my old pencil sharpener. Why? Because it was old! This new one was such a shining one and a red one and a bigger one! Ok, so it was attraction! Was this attraction justified? I thought if I didn’t keep that pencil sharpener with me, then it would definitely go to some tribal area and some very poor kid would use it some time. Also, I don’t use pencils very often and I don’t remember the last time I had to use a sharpener! I now wondered if my decision to keep that one piece with me was shameful… Taking a decision, I took that lone shining, red and big pencil sharpener out of my pocket and kept it along with other items in the bag…
I then tried to understand why I was so attracted towards that pencil sharpener. If I tell this event to anyone else, s/he would laugh at me and would call it childish! Yes, it was definitely childish - because whenever I remember a pencil sharpener, the first image that comes to my mind is my instrument box (pencil box) from my school days. Secondly – I sharpening my pencil, and some times the graphite point of the pencil would break. Some sharpeners would be misaligned and they would keep breaking the pencil points. Some times I would also use an old shaving-blade to sharpen the pencil. I would always keep a pencil sharpener in my pencil box – that would make me feel a proud and prepared student. When I would go to exams others would always forget theirs and would ask it from me. Now that so many images start coming in my mind, I got to understand that it must be some unfulfilled desire from my childhood – to have many shining, red, and big pencil sharpeners with me – and that would have made me get attracted to the pencil sharpener even now. I recalled that my childhood was not spent in scarcity by any standards and the wish to have ‘many’ and ‘more’ stationary items with me is actually the wish of every child. When I realised all this, I thought it was only fair if I allow another child from some remote tribal area to share the same pleasure that I cherish – of keeping a nice pencil sharpener with me…
Very often, some selfish, wrong, weird, or even shameful thoughts come to us. Those thoughts don’t prove that we are bad or corrupt. Having a strict control over our thoughts is not easy – but we can very well control our actions. This is what I did – discarding my thoughts of childish cravings for having that pencil sharpener, I allowed some other child to enjoy the same…
(Rahul)
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