Friday, September 26, 2008

How to be good in exactly twenty-one days

The usual flight delay and I promptly walked into a bookstore. Was browsing through the “best seller” section and this little book caught my attention…”To be good, think good”. Ya right! This is where I missed the trick; now all I have to do is to simply think good. I mean…what’s with these self-help books. Which moron reads them? Imagine a loser carrying this book to a party…“how to win friends easily”. So, there he is getting introduced to someone and he goes like…jus’ a min, let me refer to my friendship manual, he takes a peek…Chapter 3 “Establish rapport – maintain eye contact whilst reinforcing image of strength and warmth”.

I have seen the guys that buy these books…they all look so annoyed, frustrated and mighty pissed in life. There is very little effect that these books have on them. Or maybe, a book like “how to be cunning, manipulative and evil” might work! Ya, am gonna write this book and have the publisher get the lines imprinted “New York bestseller”. I don’t think it is so hard a task to be NY bestseller. Almost every book has this line! I think this will work. Being bad is lot easier than being “good”. I remember reading some where…all these good doers are really embarrassed about their deeds…that’s why you see Superman, Spiderman and Batman…all wearing masks. They don’t want people to know who they are. “Superman, yah thanks for saving my life, but did you have to come through my wall” I mean…the front door is open. They’ve got a security deposit. Now what am I supposed to do.

43 comments:

Neer said...

you know what? thank you! am way too in the valley right now! :)

and never laid a finger on self-help! guess people who write, write for themselves...which is fine by me! but why dish your formula to others?? doesnt work, get off it already! :)

p.s: whatcha doin on a weekend stuck in the web??

Trinaa said...

i agree i agree!!! thanku SO much 4 this post!!

Anonymous said...

hehehe! this is FUNNY...

well neither do i.. read self help books..

but i was really fooled by the TITLE... was about to goto the nxt post when i just glanced thru the first few lines...

:)

Anonymous said...

its kind of an oxymoron for me.. self-help book :)

creyzeee said...

"Superman, yah thanks for saving my life, but did you have to come through my wall” I mean…the front door is open
lol lol lol...really funny!

Suman Pant said...

haha... let me ask something... do you find something eeeks about the ppl who write self-help books or the ones who read them....

haha...

Kafo said...

this is kinda funny
esp. the superman bit

Krithika said...

for all you know tat might work..anyway, if it does dont forget to post the nutshell version here :P

seriously_frivolous said...

@ Neers...well I cant say the same. I have tried reading these books just for the it. Dint help. Didnt turn any good :(

seriously_frivolous said...

@ Trinaa...thank you...but why thanking me for the post. Are you gonna stop reading these books :)

seriously_frivolous said...

@ Veen...thanks Veens for stopping

seriously_frivolous said...

@ manuscrypt...absolutely! its like unconditional love..

seriously_frivolous said...

@creyzee...thanks for the pep up comment :)

seriously_frivolous said...

@eclipsed thoughts...hmmm actually it is only about those that read them. At least the one writing them is making some bucks...

seriously_frivolous said...

@kafo...thanks mate

seriously_frivolous said...

@Krithika...sure..when I do you that...you will be my first student

Anonymous said...

While I am not a big fan of self help books myself, I wouldnt completely shoot them down either. They cater to a section of the society which is not probably as intellectually strong as well-educated people like us might be.

Imagine a person who has been studying in rural schools all his life and is suddenly exposed to life in a metro, he gets into this inferiority complex, and a Dale Carnegie might actually help him out of it, maybe not in terms of telling him the things to do, but just in terms of giving him the confidence that he isnt that bad.. I personally know some friends of mine who have been inspired to take some positive actions to get their lives in order after reading a "Chicken Soup for the soul"..

So my take on it is simple - I would never read them.. but I can let them be !!

Krithika said...

classes on bein good?..i'm sooo on!!!

seriously_frivolous said...

@Krithika classes start tomorrow 9 am. Proxy not allowed... :)

Anonymous said...

you're right mostly

you're wrong on the part of superman, batman and spiderman

they're actually embarassed that they've worn their underwear over their pants

imagine what would happen if a guy wears that in public.......

NO wonder that they wear masks

crasiezt said...

I detest such books..sad they are, and sadder are people who read them..unless it's purely for fun.

I don't know of anyone who has really benefitted from these books...

Very nice write!

Anonymous said...

a good read... my general comment about your blog is that I like the fact that it is short and sweet. It makes the reading experience much easy and enjoyable..

speaking about you recent post, self-help books.
It's very obvious that for any individual, it's his/her instincts that always guides a situation. And some of these individuals are so pleased about their instincts that feel a need to write about them (well, for various reasons - to help others or for money or for whatever.. )
I feel whatever you had seen before or heard of, can to some extent have an influence on your instincts.. and it is instinct (again) to pick up what you want to see or hear or learn. And so when you go thr' (if at all) such books, there may be few thoughts which might interests you and few you feel very obvious or even stupid... all based on your instincts (i guess my instinct now is to stop using an other instinct in this passage :))
My point is, I wouldn't generalise that self-help books are not for "intelligent" or for "intelligent challenged" individuals or whether you benefit or not out of them.. It's just an other book; read it if you "want" to, you don't "have" to... :)

A..B..H..E..E..... !! said...

What if the self help book was titled “LEARN TO HATE ALL SELF HELP BOOKS”? Would you mind reading it? :P

- Abhee

The Happy Human Jellyfish said...

The worst one I have seen till date is-
"Who will cry when you die?"

I mean who the f&#k cares who cries!!?? Coz i'm dead anyway!

seriously_frivolous said...

@ Shruti....hmmm well..tend to agree with you...but let me accept, I cant let go of my habit to ridicule at every thing under the sun...and it might happen that some of what I mock at might not really be fair :)

seriously_frivolous said...

@ deluded...I guess thats the attire protocol for doing good...thanks for stopping by

seriously_frivolous said...

@ crasiezt...thanks for your words...

seriously_frivolous said...

hey ramya...nice to see you here...thanks so much. Ya I prefer to keep it short coz I really cant write more than a couple of paras. So it is more out of inability rather than design :)

seriously_frivolous said...

@ abhee...thats in my list of books to write dood :)

seriously_frivolous said...

@ divinediu...ya..I remember seeing that book some where and had the exact same reaction...one of these days I wanna meet the guys who write these..

The Happy Human Jellyfish said...

YEAH!!

And I bet they will turn out to be a bunch of smarty-pants who follow nothing what they write.

They will be lonely losers who trick other lonely losers to buy the stuff they wrote when they were lonely! :D

Arunima said...

hi, read many of your posts. you are quite humorous. I am sure I have been here before a couple of times. Bookmarked you this time.

seriously_frivolous said...

Hi Arunima,
nice to see you here..thanks so much. Ya, you have been here before...Infact there is one response from you to my post that I still remember...
my post titled "we" went like
We were so much in love
We made sacrifices
I sacrificed myself
and she sacrificed me

Your response to that was..
We were in love
Me with you
and you with you

Scribblers Inc said...

thought provoking....does this post mean I throw away all the self help books that I have gathered in qadrillion years? debunk all the ideas that I have formed? kill all those little brainstorms that happened!!?!

thou art mean!! :P
Scribblers Inc.

WritingsForLife said...

well... i am not sure if i believe in this self-help book idea.
May be I need to read one in order see if they actually work.

The Happy Human Jellyfish said...

Hey!!!!!
I've tagged you!
Check my blog for details.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.

seriously_frivolous said...

Hi Scribblers inc...no dood..dont throw them away...Give em to me. I love those books ;)

seriously_frivolous said...

Hi Raaji, they really work. I used to be sane till I read one of them...

seriously_frivolous said...

Hi Prachi, thanks for stopping by and for your comment

Mads said...

lol. nice title...funny post..i'v read couple of those 'why men dont listen and women cant read maps' type of books :P and hey,it helped me understand men a lot better!! :P

Mads said...

blogrolled u btw \:D/ :D

seriously_frivolous said...

@Mads...you really read books to understand men??? common we are around every where..jus come and speak to you...