LIFE|WISDOM|LIFE LESSONS
We Become Wise After The Event
Response to prompt on Wisdom Column
There was a big conference in Stockholm,(Sweden) as far back as 2002. Research papers of 7 people were selected from those living in Delhi. There were 4 academicians, 1 journalist, and 2 NGO members.
I was excited as it was my first visit to Sweden.
The conference was on the development of women in developed and developing economies. The conference was international and interdisciplinary.
We were chatting and having fun together discussing our papers. We were having frequent discussions and I laughingly said “What are we going to discuss at the conference? Let us have some fun. We have enough time to discuss issues and challenges in doing research and presenting papers.
On the airplane, I was a little careless with my handbag but became careful when we reached our destination. I had promised myself to keep things safe due to so many thefts going on at the airports.
We were happy that 7 people were traveling from one city and we had contacted each other to travel comfortably together as the destination was the same.
At the airport we had our papers cleared and stamped. It was my first visit to Sweden. Stockholm hardly had any people compared to my country. I found this interesting.
The air was clean and the environment was beautiful. The buildings had wonderful architecture and people were very courteous. I was curious to know why there were such few people on the roads.
The population figures were going down. The birth rate has been low for many years in Sweden. Therefore, the rate of population growth is near zero. In some European countries, birth rates have fallen even lower than death rates.
One Swedish person laughingly told me that no one marries in Sweden and if they do they don’t have kids because they do not want to be tied down. Their government was trying to promote people by encouraging them but people did not want to take the responsibility of marriage and kids.
We arrived at the airport and the organization sent a yellow small bus to pick us up. They had made arrangements for our stay at different places but all of us were in the same place.
There were hardly any mobile phones so we set up a time to meet in the morning for breakfast and also the place.
We were expected to be ready on time for us to take the local train to reach the venue. The organization took great care of us by giving us a one-week ticket for travel on the train, all the meals, and a place to stay. What more could we ask for?
We went to the conference and we were given a banquet lunch. The first day and the last day were sit-down meals. A real feast. It was a 4-course meal ending with a dessert and liqueur to raise a toast with.
The first time when I had cold soup. In India, no one had heard of soup to be cold. It is always supposed to be warm to keep the cold away.
The rest of the days we were to get buffets in restaurants.
The first day was beautiful. There was sunshine for a change. We all had our breakfast on time and we caught the train. The introduction was done.
The conference chair read out the purpose of the conference and the keynote speaker spoke about different narratives of women from socio, physiological, cultural, and economic development as well as technological insights and several imprints in their minds.
On the third day of the conference, I discussed my paper on “Globalization and its Impact on Women Entrepreneurs in India.”
It was lunchtime. We huddled together as it was cold and windy on that day. We had to keep together or we would get lost and we did not know how we would connect not knowing the city at all.
We reached a wonderful restaurant where we were hosted an excellent lunch. All of us took several helpings.
I had the bad habit of keeping my bag with me. This was because I was used to traveling alone and many times I would carelessly leave things behind.
So I developed this habit of carrying it to the table even when I went to pick up the food. as I was scared that I would leave it behind and lose it. Some of my friends said that I had a stupid phobia. I should always remember to pick up stuff when I leave a place.
Anyway, we went to pick up a second helping and when we came back, I told one of our group members to take a photo of the group together as she was carrying her valuable camera.
Those days we would carry cameras too while traveling as we did not have mobile phones.
She sat on her seat and looked for her bag. She looked here and there. There was no bag around there.
Her bag was stuffed with dollars, Swedish krona (SEK), and pounds. It also contained her passport, visa, ticket, her paper for discussion, and her slides for presentation. Those days we had the OHP projector to show the main points.
Everything was lost. She had no money, no ticket and no papers now.
She started crying. We reported the matter to the police. We could not believe that someone in Sweden could have picked the bag. The bag was stolen.
The organizers were helpful and arranged everything for her that was necessary to return to India but she had to pay for the ticket and services later.
She not only had a great financial loss but also a loss of peace and was stressed throughout the trip. We were equally stressed with the loss.
To wrap up
We learned a good Life lesson after this big loss.
1️⃣We became wise after the event that we should never leave our possessions and go and pick up even food. There are sharks everywhere.
2️⃣In whichever country you go there is a risk of loss and you have to be careful for yourself.
3️⃣Developed countries where there is less poverty also have both good and bad people housed around and keep looking at opportunities for cheating people and stealing goods.
So my friends, be wise before the event. Do not wait to learn lessons after the event. Be careful so you do not have to cry later.
This is life and we learn many lessons that make us wise.
I would like to recommend some beautiful posts that I have read lately.
Please see the prompt
©Dr. Preeti Singh, 2023.
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