Takers can't Sleep

"There are two kinds of people in the world:  givers and takers.

Takers might eat well, but givers sleep better at night."    Aha!

……Psalm 813 T.Ravi 

I had a tough time sleeping lately.  I thought it might have something to do with the happiness of keeping pace with an almost bursting-at- the-seems, workload.  Or, the joy of going out along with the family. Or the thrill of somehow trying to earn a few Rupees to keep my ever-so- friendly and oh-so-understanding Bank manager from gleefully filling registered letters all over my mail box with polite reminders of legal action. 

Or the excitement of renovating the old ties with fellow saikorians.

Now I came to understand that my lack of sleep is from TAKING too much and not giving enough.  So I had decided to GIVE  as much as I could. And not take anything.

Other day, I was invited to the AGM of Vizag chapter. It is a once in a year opportunity that I really look forward to. We get to meet the same saikorians we meet regularly, but the whole affair is very official. The saikorians from the navy make it look even more formal. We meet, crack jokes, and say “Aye” to every proposal and a double “Aye” to anyone ready to take up any post. The balance sheet with a turn over of around Rs.8000/- is passed. 

But, because I wanted to sleep better, I decided to start by giving advice. I started with Col. Satyam (521), secretary of our Association.

"Mr. Secretary, you did a neat job this year. This is the first and the last meeting we got to attend this year"

"What?" Satyam barked.” You never commented or bothered to know  what I was doing whole of this year, at least not voluntarily."

I realized that he was wild, so I tried to explain.

"It's my new sleeping therapy," I explained with excitement.

"GIVERS sleep better than TAKERS, so I just wanted to give you some advice." 

"Well, while you're at it, is there anything else you want to comment on?" He yelled. 

I saw my chance to give more, a compliment. 

"Overall, you did a wonderful job; you closed down our saikorian office and saved on monthly rents." 

"Why, thank you."

I was on a roll.  I was really giving. This was my chance to give him more, my opinion.  

"Why don’t you step down and let somebody, who can perform, be the secretary this year?” 

"What?!   You take that back! And if you feel that way, YOU take my post this year” 

"No, I can't," I protested. "That would make me a taker and I won't be able to sleep." 

"Then you can just take your silly opinions and get out of here." 

Mind you, this was an official meeting. So, some of my fellow well built saikorians made threatening moves towards me.

"No, I can't do that. I can't take ..." 
My sentence was cut short by the hard realization that my nose and a door could not occupy the same space at the same time. 

I was not satisfied, I wanted to give more and not take anything so as to sleep well that night.

I decided to call D.S. Kumar (794) who was the treasurer of our association and was in that meeting. 

"Hi DS,   I thought I would give you a quick call. Why did you throw me out of the meeting?"

"How sweet of you. You took this opportunity to prick holes in our Association."  

"No. No. I didn't take anything," I protested. 

"Oh yes you did.  Thankfully, you even took my advice to leave.  And you took away the sprit of this meeting.  And you took ... Hello? Hello?” 

I just could not take any more.  I scrambled out into the open. 

I had to take off.  No, that would just keep me from sleeping.  Just then I saw U.Sekhar (547) walking in to attend the meeting.  Surely I could give him a piece of my mind. 

“What are you doing here? He asked 

"Sorry.  Today I'm just relaxing."  He studied the stress etched upon my face.  

"You look like you should take a break, too." 

"No, I can't take a break.  Takers don't sleep well at night." 

"Well, at least you're taking a stand on something."  

"I am NOT taking a stand," I protested.  I was beginning to feel like a career protester. 

"Take it easy, man" 

Yikes!  My fellow saikorians were making me into a champion taker. I darted back toward my home. 

"Take care," Sekhar called after me.

"Noooooooooo" I screamed with my hands over my ears.

 Crouched in the safety of my favorite closet, I tallied up the day. 

I gave advice, a compliment and my opinion.  

I took it back, my silly opinions, took the opportunity to prick holes, took away the spirit of the meeting, took the advice to scoot out of the meeting, took away my fellow saikorians’ happiness, took a break, took a stand,  took it easy and  took care. 

I gave three times and took nine times.

No wonder I wasn't sleeping well at night. I was truly a taker. There was nothing left to do but to take a sleeping pill. That should give me at least five hours of sleep, give or take a few. 

TAKE one last advice from me:

“We have taken a lot from our school, if you want to sleep better, give back more than what you took”

(This article was penned way back in 2004)