Meet the man who constantly made mistakes and enjoyed repeating them

By K.R. Nayar

Anyone who met him may have regretted ever meeting him. He stunned people by telling them that if they believe he has committed a mistake then they are mistaken. It seemed like he believed that mistakes were waiting to be tried out and it was his duty to test them!!

I never believed there would be a man who dabbled in making mistakes. He is someone who has gained a lot despite committing mistakes and could be considered a master in making mistakes. Despite the fact that some of his mistakes were very alarming, never did he consider that it was a mistake!.

I happened to meet this person one day and soon realized it was my big mistake. Actually, we met by accident as he mistook me for someone else. After that, strangely we kept meeting often. And since he was still working for someone and rising up the ladder despite his reputation, he believed that was the way to go to succeed in life. He often forwarded me messages that were not meant for me. And then that message would soon be followed by another message saying that it was a mistake. So when I met the next time, I decided to address him as Mr. Mistake. Unfortunately, I missed that opportunity since he had mistakenly given me the wrong location to meet up. 

The interesting quality in him is that he did not believe in the popular saying “never make a mistake twice.” He committed mistakes after mistakes as if he was bent upon proving that all new mistakes were there waiting for him to be tried out. In fact, he'd started considering himself to be a genius For those who are in the habit of committing mistakes frequently, he can be an inspiration.

I often thought that he would finally face the consequences of his mistakes.  But I now realise that luck seemed to also have committed the mistake of backing him. Many who've had to face the consequences of his mistakes used to say that he was actually reaping the benefits of all the good things done by his forefathers.

Finally, it reached a stage that when he made a mistake and was questioned, he would respond saying it was his style. He happened to stun a few people telling them that if they believed he had committed a mistake, then they were mistaken!

Sometimes I have wondered whether he was a campaigner of mistakes. He often laughed at his mistakes and that made people wonder whether they have actually lost their sanity.  He had the least appreciation for people who did things correctly, and if pushed to the wall, he would blame others for his mistakes. 

Once when I candidly asked him as to how he continued to make so many mistakes in spite of others pointing out to him, his response was: “To make a mistake is human and not make a mistake is inhuman.”  This reply completely shocked me, and I realised it was a big mistake asking him. It took me a few days to recover from that shock.

On one occasion when I tried to coach him and asked him whether he had looked back and made a list of his mistakes so that he could avoid them in the future, he said he has a list and he thinks they were all brilliant. His response got me wondering whether he said those were not mistakes or they were all brilliant mistakes.

When all of this started getting me confused, I chanced upon Albert Einstein’s words that said:  “A man who has never made a  mistake has never learned anything new.” I convinced myself that had I not made the mistake of meeting this man, I would not have realised the existence of such people too on this planet!!.