3 Lessons On A Sunday

Lesson No. 1 -  Instructions  Are Meant To Be Followed

I cooked one of my specialty dish - Savoury Rice.  This time I decided on a new recipe.  The fruit and nut rice which I normally cook is getting too predictable.  I have cooked from this recipe book before.  Blindly following the recipe from this cookbook always yield results - authentic Indian food which you can only get in good fine Indian restaurants.

Chicken Biryani.  The recipe requires the rice to be soaked for 20 minutes.  Normally Basmati rice should washed and then drained, not soaked.  So I did not follow the instruction.  Two twigs of fresh coriander and a teaspoon of mint leaves.  I bought so much.  A little extra should do no harm.  The instruction was again defied.

The rice goes through three different cooking methods.  The grains are first stir fried until translucent, then boiled in water and lastly cooked in the oven

The result: The rice was not cook evenly.  There were some grainy rice mixed with cooked rice.
The repair job:  The oven cooking time had to be extended.
The damage:  Rice was a tad too soft and the grains were broken.  It looked greenish due to the extra coriander and mint leaves.

The Lesson:

Instructions are meant to be followed right to the last dot.  A good leader starts by being a good follower.  A humbling and timely reminder indeed.

*****

Lesson No. 2 - Get Your Facts Right Before You Strike
Wuff wuff has been acting up lately.  I have been at my wits.  Cleaning up his pee all over the place has become an almost daily chore.  People tell me that it is because I have not been giving him the tender loving care, which he needs.  I admit that I have been neglecting him.  I spend more time outside than at home.

I came back and I saw another patch at the kitchen near the sink area.  I caught hold of him, brought him to the sink area and gave him a whack.  Only this time it was a real few whacks too many.  He must have got a shock of his life. 

I cleaned up the patch.  That was when I realized.  That is no pee.  It is water leaking from the pipe.  The damage was already inflicted.  I really felt bad.  Reminds me of people accusing me of things I never did.  This time I am the one doing it.  Yes.  An apology was extended to Wuff wuff.  But the pain in the heart was real.

The Lesson:

Check and investigate first.  Never assume.  It is not necessarily  always the same every time.  Do not let your emotional state of mind affect your thoughts and cloud your decisions.

*****

Lesson No. 3 - What Goes Around Comes Around
I checked the leak at the sink area.  While rummaging through the flexible hoses under the sink, one of the joint suddenly broke.  Water was gushing out.  Imagine the water pressure.  There was no stop cork and the only way was to switch off the mains.  Imagine the amount of water in the kitchen.  The clean up began.

 How is this damage going to be fixed on a Sunday evening at 10.30pm?  This is probably payback from heaven for what I have done?  I called the plumber.  No answer.  Another plumber was called.  Telephone number not in service.  

Last resort.  I called the Management Office Principal where I am a involved.  The chances of getting the situation restored is going to be slim.  How on earth at this hour would anyone have the flexible hose or PVC pipes?  The Principal sent a handyman over.  The pipe was fixed with some modification.  I literally had to pushed RM20 into the Bangladeshi's hands.   My lucky stars must really be shining brightly.

The Lesson:

Be firm but be fair.  No need to throw your weight around.  Do what is right.  People will respect you for it.  What goes around comes around.