Advice; we come across this word in a number of scenarios.
When we actually need someone to guide us and to tell us what to do, based on his experience, we are seeking advice.
When we guide someone or inform someone regarding certain scenarios based on our experience we are giving advice.
But sometimes, I find that most people overdo it.
There are some ladies and gentlemen who can advise (I am shifting to the verb now) on anything under the Sun. Career, relationships, studies, transportation, general knowledge, you name it.
They keep scouting for people to give advice to, and if you are caught by them, you can assume you are atoning for your sins for the next hour.
Some people give advice and act as if they are enlightened people while doing so. They will put in sentences pertaining to non-material things like the meaning of it all, the consequences of karma etc etc repeatedly between paragraphs, and they wont realize that they must have started off with advising you on which train to take in the morning to go to college and might very well end up advising you to change your stream of engineering. All throughout the conversation, they will have some sort of an aura on their faces and after they have finished giving you a earful, will heave a sigh of relief that they have done their bit by trying to reform an irate youngster.
Another set of people will start off by talking about their list of achievements and how they struggled to achieve what they had to, and how our generation does not have any respect for elders. It doesn't matter that you asked them about their favorite song, they don't care. They will go on listing the number of degrees acquired by them and how they cracked this examination and that examination to the last detail, even including the bargain they struck to purchase some books 30 years ago from some shop which might very well not exist anymore. They will end by telling you to try to become like them, although they doubt you will and will tell you to come to them anytime you need some 'advice'. You can assure yourself that you would have forgotten your favorite song, by the time this discussion concluded.
The next set of people are not from the older or previous generation, they are from your own generation or from a generation before you (one engineering batch might be assumed to be equal to one generation). These people are start and stop adviser's . They accomplish something then go around publicizing that accomplishment under the garb of advising others. Once they get bored talking about the same thing (of course, after they have bored thousands of others) they sit down and start working on another achievement. Once they have achieved something, the cycle of accomplishing and advising starts again. I appreciate these people because they work the hardest to update themselves and to provide new avenues of advisory services to us, the younger generation, notwithstanding the fact that we are just a couple of months younger.
Another set consists of caustic people, who will find fault with the way you hold your spoon when you have dinner and will extrapolate it to conclude that you will never be a good manager or boss in your life and will start enumerating the list of qualities you need to imbibe to become that manager or boss; and yes they will start by showing you how to hold the spoon all the way to how you should dress, talk, polish your shoes etc etc. These are the most dangerous and you need to do your best to avoid them, because they are capable of making you believe that you are useless and good for nothing which is a super power that they possess.
The last set of people are those who have traveled and who will advise you on how to talk to people, decipher directions, and order food when you visit another country. The course will start from the moment they step into the airplane, which if not an airline based in India will add a couple of hours to the discussion since all aspects of the journey, replete with the choice of entertainment channels offered on the airlines' inflight entertainment system will be described to you in detail.
This is simply to tell you that they have been abroad and you haven't and you can only prolong the seminar with your "Oh I see" ," Really?" "Wow, amazing, awesome" laced sentences.
I actually try to avoid advice givers or advisor's (I call them the former, they call themselves the latter) simply because they tend to waste my time. If someone wants to gloat about his or her achievements, I am not averse to listening to them, but not under the pretext of advising me. If someone has been abroad, good for him or her but I really do not find any sense when they share their experience under the pretext of advising me.
These advice givers in my opinion, are simply looking for validation and acknowledgement from you for their status or perch in society, profession or academia, which they should understand cannot be given by you and I, who are just normal people, living normal lives and wanting to talk normal things and not being advised all the time.
There are very few wonderful people who actually empathize with you and try to make you think about finding solutions to your problems by delving into their file of experiences and trying to help you relate to them. These people are few and far apart, and most of the time will advise you only when you go to them seeking it. I respect these wonderful people who actually know the real meaning of the word advice and add value to my life and your life.
Advice is good, advice is required, but for the right issues and from the right people, when it actually projects from experiences, wisdom and the core basic intention of helping others;
Otherwise its nothing but a vice...
