It was during your junior college days when this incident took place. An inter college dance competition was about to take place. A few of your classmates were taking part in it. Amongst them were Rinita and Nikita. Both of them very close friends. They rarely quarreled between themselves and were always friendly to everyone around them.
One day all the participants including Rinita and Nikita were rehearsing for the auditions that were going to be held later that day hoping that they would be selected for the final competition. Then the teachers in charge of the program came to see their performances. They had to select the best three among all the students from that college. Everyone did their best and in the end Rinita, and two other girls were selected. Rinita was very happy that she got selected but at the same time felt sorry for Nikita. Nikita too was very depressed and she sat at the corner wanting to be all by herself. At the end of the auditions, all the students were climbing down the stairs.
Then a very unexpected thing happens. Some students were racing down the stairs and they accidentally pushed Nikita and she, unknowingly, went and pushed Rinita. Rinita fell down the stairs and fractured her hand. She thought that Nikita purposely pushed her down the stairs, as she felt jealous that Rinita was selected. But she did not know what actually happened. As a result of her fracture, Rinita could not participate in the competition anymore. Nikita tried explaining to her many times that she did not do it on purpose and that someone actually pushed her from behind but Rinita just would not listen to her. She really wanted to participate in the competition and felt that Nikita was responsible for whatever happened. Since that incident, Rinita was not talking with Nikita.
What should be done to solve this situation?
After reading through the post, I realize that even though Nikita has tried explaining the accident to Rinita, her attempts are futile and are rejected by Rinita. Therefore, I feel that a face-to-face meeting will bear no fruits. As a result, I have decided to employ the method of asking a close and neutral friend of both Rinita and Nikita, and assigning the person to be a mediator. I choose this approach because I believe that by including a mediator, Rinita would be more likely to be receptive to hear out Nikita’s explanation because the mediator can help to put in good words for Nikita. Hopefully, this enables the misunderstanding between Nikita and Rinita to be cleared.
ReplyDeleteHi Manjula,
Your post seems to be a little lengthy and I believe that it would be great if you can shorten it, so that it will be within the word limit.
Jonathan
Hi Manjula,
ReplyDeleteThe situation is that Rinita was not talking with Nikita. However, for this type of misunderstandings, I believe a face to face meeting is still a must. Therefore a possible solution is for Nikita to wait for a few days after this incident has taken place before trying to explain to her what has really happened. This extra time allows both parties to cool down so that their views would also be less biased.
Besides this, I think that probably since both of them are so close to each other hence there should not be any long lasting grudge between close friends. It could be possible for their other close friends to help to explain on Nikita’s behalf the real situation since them what they saw or heard may not be as one-sided as what Rinita saw from her point of view.
Regards,
Zhi hong
Hi Manjula
ReplyDeleteReading your post regarding the misunderstanding between two good friends has made me realize the importance of effective interpersonal communication. It is very disheartening to encounter situations when miscommunication leads to frail relationships. As in the case of Rinita and Nikita, I feel that some friendly gestures and a heart-to-heart talk with each other would solve the problem. Since Rinita had fractured her leg and was under the impression that Nikita did it, perhaps Nikita could try to ease the tension between them by caring for Rinita while she was injured. This may convey to Rinita that Nikita does care for Rinita and would not leave her alone in a bad state even when Rinita had a negative impression of her at that time. In addition, after Rinita gets better, Nikita can slowly try explaining what really happened to Rinita. Since they were very good friends, it is very probable that they can understand each other’s situation and get back into good terms.
Regards
Iswarya