Life And Personal Management Lessons You Can Learn From Chasing A Purse Snatcher

About two days ago, my wife and I were returning from a late night dinner. The time was around 11:30 pm and the location somewhere between Oshiwara and Bandra (West). We were in an auto rickshaw (also called a Tuk Tuk in Thailand). The rickshaw was traveling at a fair pace. Suddenly, a shadowy figure moved from the opposite direction and tried to snatch my wife's handbag. Reflexively, she resisted and held on real hard. Now, the rickshaw was still moving and the would be purse snatcher was moving in the opposite direction. I tried to grab him and he let go of the bag and ran. I don't remember the next few moments but our driver must have stopped. I don't remember when I jumped out of the rickshaw and started running after the unsuccessful chain snatcher.

Now, I was angry. Even twenty four hours later, my blood boils when I think of the incident. I started running after the guy. He was young (maybe, around 20), slender, and fast! I ran after him, shouting the most vile abuse in my mother tongue. No hint of English language that I speak almost half the day at work. The guy ran into a maze of apartment complexes and managed to elude me.

Twenty four hours later, though I am still fuming, i can somewhat objectively analyze the incident and draw some parallels with every day life.

1: Bottom Line Matters: It does not matter how hard you tried, the benchmark is the end result. The purse snatcher could not snatch the bag away but what if he had? Had I not been able to catch him (as it really happened), I would have cursed myself for the rest of my life. It would not have mattered that I'd been chasing a guy half my age or that he had been prepared while I'd had to rouse myself from momentary shock.

If you are preparing for college exams or some sort of entrance tests, the end result will speak more than what you had put in. Don't be satisfied with only effort, expect results and push yourself  to achieve the desired results. Your admission into your dream college, and a dream job, will depend on result, not just effort.


2: Bottom Line DOES NOT MATTER IF You Learn From Your Mistakes: I learnt from the incident that I should have insisted that my wife sit on the inside, where the only way someone could have tried to snatch her bag was by moving with the traffic, not against it. Also, I learned that she should have kept her bag between us, not on the outside, where it was an easy target. The message is burnt in my brain as if with a branding iron. I will always remember this lesson.

If you are a college student or an aspirant for/ a student of a B School, or a Law School, or an Engineering College or a Medical College , it is possible that you will experience failure. You might fail to get into your dream college or you might not be able to keep up with the academic rigour (too busy socialising/ enjoying new found freedom). What is more important than failure is how you handle failure. If you fail, and you take it as a blow to your self esteem, you are likely to grow. If you just let it slide, your attitude will soon bring you down.

3: Strategy Is Of Paramount Importance: Upon introspecting, I realise that had I been shouting "Thief, Thief" while chasing the failed bag snatcher, many more people would have reacted. By hurling abuse, I gave out the impression of it being a personal vendetta, which it was not. Even if I'd just kept my mouth shut and ran after the guy, I'd have saved my breath! I would have been able to run faster, and maybe, catch the guy.

As a student, while preparing for an exam or a test, and even while taking it, your skill will take you only so far. What will differentiate between a good and a great test taker will be the presence of mind, the resourcefulness and the winning strategy. Even as you prepare for exams, focus on the strategy as well. Talk to seniors, people who have been there, done that, AND, don't have an axe to grind with you. Talk to teachers. Be a sponge- Be Receptive- Learn.

4 (i): There Are Only A Few Factors Under Your Control: While I was running after the guy, the only factor under my control was how fast I could run. Everything else on my part was instinctive. A major factor out of my control was in play: How fast could the guy I was chasing could run? Would any cops show up? Would passersby understand my anger or misinterpret it?

In the end, all that matters is, "Did you attempt to outweigh the cons of a situation with the pros you could muster? You will always come up against people who are naturally more gifted, people who have connections, and thus, an unfair advantage, people who are better looking, and hence, ace interviews even with the intellect of a cockroach. Make the best of what YOU have and leave everything to God/ Universe, whatever, or whoever, you believe in.

4 (ii) Trust Your Instinct: As I mentioned earlier, I don't recollect the moment I jumped out of the rickshaw and started running after the bag snatcher. All I remember is being on the road, running after him. He could have turned around and stabbed me. He could have had friends waiting in an alley. He could have stumbled and fallen. I could have stumbled and fallen. I could have died at his hands or his friends' hands, he could have been killed at my hands. Had I sat and thought. I might have thought that since he had been unsuccessful, there was no need to chase him.  Had I done that, I'd have been ashamed of myself now, in hindsight. There are almost innumerable could haves. You cannot take every possibility into account and frequently, you will not have the time to. Just go with the flow. More often than not, you will be plagued by the things you wanted to do but did not (that does not include criminal behavior of any kind please ~S~). Learn to trust your gut feeling. There are very few instances when it might really become a life or death matter. BUT, even if it does, you will die a hero. Better a dead hero than a self-flagellating coward.

Live on your terms, and maybe, you will die on your terms too.

5: Learn To Let Go: I am smarting from my failure to catch the guy, even a day later. I could not fall asleep till after 4 am this morning. Even now, I have felt an adrenaline rush many times as I wrote this post. This anger is counterproductive. The purse snatcher might be still trembling in fear after yesternight's aggressive response by the intended victims (at least, i like to think so), but I am also burning myself up. It is useless!!!

You will fail, and smart from failure. If you allow it to control you, you will not grow unless you channelize the anger well. Resent failure BUT, accept it, learn from it, and move on.

In the meantime, I will try to  move on too!!!