Sky and Water from speeding train

28.11.2010 5:45 PM

I am in the Ernakulam-Bangalore Superfast Expres travelling towards Coimbatore. It is always an enjoyable experience to sit at the window of a speeding train gazing out at the passing scenery and landscape. As the train hurtles past the huts and houses every scene is a brief vignette of a long story in someone’s life, here this moment gone the next, leaving us to wonder what happens after that.

After we streamed out of Ernakulam Town and headed north beyond Idapally, the scenic beauty of coastal Kerala could be viewed again. Backwaters and inlets; green fields; yellow flowers; and of course swaying coconut trees fringing the banks of the water ways.

As we crossed Aluva station and crossed the Periyar Bridge, I glimpsed the enchanting vision of a bend in the Periyar river. Twilight is a great time when nature uses the setting sun and the clouds to paint infinite colors and hues on the canvas of the sky. When we add the reflective capability of a large body of water such as the broad Periyar river as it flows past Aluva, we have a great montage of sky, water and not incongruously for Kerala the twinkling lights of a high rise buildings in the back ground.

Walk on Marine Drive--Ernakulam

It has always been my desire to take a long walk on Marine Drive in Ernakulam. My usual visits to this town are invariably pass throughs on the way to a training program or Sabhari Mala. This time, with a whole evening at my disposal, I decided to do it.

My walk on Marine Drive was indeed a pleasure. I went into the Subhash Bose Park and walked along the wall abutting the sea. In the distance, I could see the ferry boats carrying passengers to Bolgatti and Vypin Islands. In the dimming twilight of dusk, the scene presented a calming sight. I sat on the wall with huge expanse of the Arabian Sea behind me. I sat communing with my inner self with the dense vegetation of the park before me and beyond that the speeding traffic on Marine Drive.

The park is mostly in a state of extreme disrepair. Some of the art noveau sculptures lining the walkway are deformed or rusted. Those parts that are not in extreme disrepair are under repair! Pits have been dug up everywhere, tiles stacked on the lawns and pipes strewn all around. The park is divine and calm. It is worth better maintenance, upkeep and care.

I, then, moved on to the boat jetty. There, from a raised platform nearby, I got a magnificent view of the ships and the sea. I walked back to my Hotel with sense of fulfillment and felt at peace with myself.

Kochi--Nature and Pollution

27.11.2010

I am here at Kochi to attend the Southern India Regional Conference of the ICAI. I am staying at Bharat Hotel one of the most popular, if not the best, travel destination in Ernakulam. I asked for and got a sea facing room. The view, such as it is, is of a wide expanse of water with cranes and jetties visible. In the extreme horizon I could see a few ships.

Most towns in Kerala have a village look with moss covered tile-roofed buildings rubbing shoulders with ultra-modern high-rises. Ernakulam is no exception. Eventhough it is the commercial capital of the state, it used to maintain its sylvan atmosphere till very recently. Kochi is paying the price for progress. Many BPO and Tech Towers have come up. While the greenery is almost intact in the outskirts, the mid-city area especially near the railway track is congested and devoid of any green vegetation. The pollution and ambient temperature levels are quite high. But as we leave the snarl of the main city and its congested lanes and go into the outskirts, nature reclaims her right to God’s own country and the surroundings become again verdant and picturesque.

The weather at Kochi is balmy and cool. It looks like rain, but there were no major downpours. Much of Ernakulam town is tree-covered, esp., Marine Drive the long road on the sea shore near Bharat Hotel. Marine Drive is lined on either side by old trees with overhanging branches that form a veritable tunnel of green.

Six Steps to Success

I delivered a speeech on "The Six Steps to Success" at the Sindhi Chamber of Commerce on 24th November 2010. This is a gist of the speech.

These thoughts are based on more than a decade of practice of and contemplation on the Seven Habits of highly Effective people. As I started implementing the 7 Habits in my life, things fell in place. My definition of success underwent subtle yet vital changes. Further contemplation and discussions with other eminent trainers, thinkers and corporate leaders has led me to formulate this action plan. As you will agree there are lot of theories and “instructions” on how to succeed. Most of these “self-help” books are written by arm-chair consultants who have not tested strength of their own theories on the anvil of experience and practice. Moreover, exhortations to think positive are invariably useless because after building up the positive energy, the direction is not there and the energy simply disappears. So, these six steps are a “how-to-do-manual” rather than a “what-is-it?” theory.

Share the Same Picture

Most of the time employers and employees are not on the same page. They are referring to different paradigms or perceptions. It is therefore necessary to listen and understand and thereafter clearly state what we expect from the other person so that he or she is crystal clear on her task.

Choose the Right Response

There are many ways in which we react to a situation. But, there is only one Right Response. The Right Response is that which helps you and the other person to achieve your goals in a sustainable way. It is not necessarily the obvious response. It may not be the easy response. But it is that single response that will build long term relationships while at the same time achieving short term needs-based goals. To choose the Right Response, we should not allow our emotional brain to take over. We should rather be slow to react, think and then choose those words or actions that are the most meaningful and productive in the circumstances.

Have a Bias for Action

All said and done, more is said than done! This step is the ultimate clarion call to action. The very same thoyght is expressed in Bhagwan Sree Krishna’s words in the Baghavad Gita: “Tasmath Yudyasva Bharatha!” –“Therefore, fight O son of Bharat!”. We are so busy weighing the pros and cons of an opportunity or crisis. In the mean time the opportunity is lost or the crisis becomes uncontrollable. So doing something is far better than sitting idle! We can always learn from our mistakes and ensure that the next time we get it right.

Make Every Minute Count

God has given us a great gift: Time! Everything happens in time. Time is indestructible, unending and irretrievable if lost. Money lost can be earned again. Every possession is replaceable or will bew seen ultimately as worthless. But we are doing now this moment is priceless. It is our only tangible possession! Thus, if we concentrate on the minutes the hours will take care of themselves. Successful people constantly review time usage and waste. What we are doing at any given point in time should either benefit our individual growth and development; or it should benefit our family; or it should benefit our organization; or it should be beneficial to society at large. Otherwise, why are we doing it! This is the simple approach to time management that goes beyond diaries and planners!

Inspire by Example

I was conducting a Mentoring program at a large corporation recently. During the sessions one thing that emerged from both Mentors and Mentees was that the Mentees look upon the Mentors as Role Models. The Mentors too accept that their true influence was when they demonstrated ideal behaviour. Advice was a waste. Anyone can give advice. Only leaders have the guts to follow their own advice! This is summed up by Mahatma Gandhi in his words: “My Life is my Message.” What message will our life communicate?

Embrace Change

From the late eighties onwards one word that dominated industry and commerce was “quality”. But the next two decades of the new millennium will give more emphasize on the word “innovation”. This does not mean quality will take a back seat. No way! But, quality is a given. The constantly increasing rate of change would mean that corporations and individuklas would need to constantly keep redefining themselves to succeed in a changing world. Otherwise we may be left stranded in the side lines of progress. So the right response here is to “embrace change” willingly and voluntarily rather than resist it or follow suit when others change. Those people who are at the cutting edge of change would definitely reap the rewards.

In conclusion, we can say that these six steps are cyclical. After reaching a certain level of success, we should embrace change and create a new vision. This vision should be shared with our teams and again we will start the journey to the next height! Let me conclude with the immortal words of Rabindranath Tagore and pray that in our country, “tireless striving will stretch its arms towards perfection!’

Mentoring: The Art of Developing People

Mentoring: The Art of Developing People

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a process in which a more skilled or more experienced person, serving as a role model, teaches, sponsors, encourages, counsels and befriends a less skilled or less experienced person for the purpose of promoting the latter’s professional and / or personal development. Mentoring functions are carried out within the context of an ongoing, supportive relationship between the mentor and mentee.

Why should a person be a Mentor?

I am sure you will agree that giving is a great source of peace and inner happiness. This is recognized and accepted by persons from every walk of life and every kind of social environment.

Usually giving is associated with charity or giving away money. While this is laudable and praiseworthy, when we give money we give something that anyone can give. Thus giving money, after sometime, may become mechanical. Some people adopting the attitude of a Karma Yogi donate their valuable time and energy in physically serving the afflicted, especially during times of calamity and distress. This too is a great act of altruism. But it can provide only temporary relief to the affected person.

Great indeed are they who possess knowledge and experience in a field and who are willing and able to share this knowledge and wisdom with another to nurture and help that person to grow in that field. The sharing of their wisdom acts as a seed or acorn that grows into the mighty oak tree.

These are the people who act as beacon lights in a storm for the confused youngsters and novices by sharing their wisdom and experience. They are called Mentors and this process of nurturing is called Mentoring.

You have probably been mentored already!

Many people can remember being helped by someone who took an interest in their welfare, shared their experience and knowledge with them, and enabled them to develop.

Often they remember these relationships as playing a crucial part in their personal and professional development.

Pause for a moment to reflect.

Who was your role model? Who was your Mentor? What was his contribution to your growth? What feelings do you have about him? Would you like to play a similar role in the life of another person?

When this mentoring relationship comes to an end, you will want to move on. There will be other people who come along in your life who will become your mentees.

What are you waiting for? Start Mentoring!

Become a Mentor for a budding youngster and help him / her realize their fullest potential.

Cyclone Jal at Puducherry

I was in puducherry when the cyclone Jal hit TN. The wind speeds were quite high and the lake enroute to Pondy on the ECr was brimming with water. The wind whipped at us and swirled all around.

We stayed at the Mother Sea View Guest house just behind Ajanta Hotel on the Beach Road. So we got a magnificent view of the besch and the high rollers as they crashed down on trhe black rocks. We simply sat in the balcony watching the waves and enjoying a ring side view of the force of nature!

Investment Planning after 21.12.2012!

20.10.2010

I conducted a one hour session on Retirement planning for the retirees of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., (BPCL). After listening to my ideas on long term financial planning for security with growth, one of the participants asked this question;

'Sir, you are asking us to plan for the long term. But, they are saying the world will come to an end in 2012. So how to plan now?'

I looked incredulously at him honestly believing that he was joking. When assured by him that he was serious, I replied,' sir if the world ends on 21.12.2012, it's better to go short November 2012. If the world is destroyed, it doesn't matter anyway. But if due to the panic-mongering markets drop drastically, you stand to make a killing!'

The teacher enters the class room. The group is ready and willing to learn. The teacher looks around smiles at everyone and greets them.

Then he asks them, “Friends, who am I?’ He assures them that it is not a question born out of an existential identity crisis.

The group throws up numerous options;

Teacher, Guru, Lecturer, Trainer, Facilitator, Coach, Mentor….

He patiently allows them to exhaust the list while firmly refusing to accept any of these words as describing his role fully. Finally, they give up and ask him, “Go on…tell us…who are you?’

He smiles at them again and says, “I am your co-student!”

They are surprised. A Co-student? Then, who will teach them?

He walks around and asks another question. “Well then, who are you all?”

This time, they wait for an answer. For they sense that to describe themselves as students is somehow not apt.

He announces, “You are all co-faculty!” The group starts applauding. They’ve understood now what he is trying to tell them. He has broken the barrier. There is no teacher. No taught. They need to actively engage in the learning process. Participate through questions and sharing of opinions and thoughts.

Learning can happen at any time! Any casual comment can spark a connection for any one of them and help them to learn.

The constant churning of thoughts and opinions is the essence of the knowledge transfer and acquisition process. Anything else is mechanical.

Thoughts on Writing a play

Writing a play and having it enacted on stage is a complex form of communication. An author or a painter can get his message across through a comparatively direct or “easy” route. This is because an author or artist can relate directly to the reader or viewer. It is this directness that makes reading and viewing art an extremely personal exercise. The joy is in the slow realization of the message as the story unfolds or the intricate details of the picture become clearer.

A play is more complicated. The playwright needs a good director. A good director needs actors who understand the script and interpret it honestly and as the playwright intended. So, when a play is interesting and entertaining the credit goes to a whole team of people who made it happen for the audience.

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

The story moves forward like a sluggish river. The author (Henry) shifts from Canada to a “big city”. The vagueness of the city’s actual identity is part of the surreal nature of this novel.

Henry is approached by a reader of his book, a Taxidermist, who consults Henry on how to write a play. The main characters are “Beatrice” a Donkey and “Virgil” a howler monkey. The play is encated on a shirt; a striped shirt. The play is simply a series of conversations between Beatrice and Virgil.

Henry journeys between the “real” world of his life with his wife and his work at the Chocolate Road, amateur theatricals and learning music and the unnatural setting of Okapi Taxidermy where he meets the Taxidermist. Everybody from Henry’s “real” world recognize the Taxidermist for what he is.. A creature devoid of emotion or comprehension of the sufferings of fellow creatures.

The novels takes an old theme of the Nazi atrocities against the Jews during the Holocaust and gives it a totally new and disturbing twist.

Beatrice and Virgil explores the attempts by Holocaust victims to articulate their experiences. Words are not enough. So they decide to use gestures, games, facial expressions etc., The entire list is called “A Horrors Sewing List.”

Reading Beatrice and Virgil is like taking a peaceful and drowsy boat-ride on a placid lake when all of a sudden everything becomes horrible and macabre; the boat capsizes. I am sucked into a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. Finally as I read the “Games for Gustav” section, I am sobbing and weeping. In a way I have lived through the horrors. I was there. I am a witness too….

Lessons from a Tree

Yann Martel’s Beatrice and Virgil is a deceptive piece of creative writing. It begins with the rejection of an author’s new work on the holocaust by his publishers. He revels in his misery and becomes angry with the publishers for their inability to understand his work. He finally learns how to come to terms with his failure. The description that follows traces the mental journey he takes from desolation to anger and finally a draining out of all emotions. The last line is a great motivational thought.

The London park was not like that. It was an expanse of the loveliest grass, a symphony of green. There were some trees, buy they stood very tall with high branches, as if they were mindful of not getting in the way of the unbridled grass. A round pond gleamed in the centre of the park. The weather was warm and sunny and people were not in great numbers. As he wandered about the park, Henry awoke to what had just happened to him. Five years of work had been consigned to oblivion. His mind, stunned into silence, sputtered to life. I should have said this…. I should have said that …. Who the fuck was he …? How dare she …?-so the shouting match in his head went, a full-blown anger fantasy.

A moment came when the tense muscles twitching in Henry’s body and the emotions seething inside him came together and spoke in unison: with his fists clenched in the air, he lifted a foot and stamped the ground with all his from his throat. He hadn’t consciously decided to act out like this. It just happened, a snap expression of hurt, fury and frustration. He was near a tree, the soil-stamping was and bare, and the impact of his foot-stamping was thunderous. It was a giant tree, a galleon with its sails in full rig, an art museum with its entire collection on display, a mosque with a thousand worshippers praising God. He gazed at it for several minutes. A tree had never before been so soothing to him. As he admired it, he could feel the anger and distress draining from him.

After an hour or so, he made his way to the edge of the park. A sign informed him he was in Hyde Park. The irony struck him. He had entered the park like Mr.Hyde of Stevenson’s tale, deformed by anger, willfulness and resentment, but he was leaving it more like the good Dr.Jekyll.

A stroll in a London park and an encounter with a beautiful tree at least taught him that useful lesson: if you are pitched into misery, remember that your days on this earth are counted and you might as well make the best of those you have left.

As easy God to make...and break...

One of the features I liked in the De Vriksha play on Vikramadhtiya was the depiction of the God Ganesh. One of the screen-bearers was made to sit on a stool. His head was covered with a red towel placed vertically. The end of the towel was rolled up and held in the actors left hand like the trunk of the elephant-headed God. The towel was held in place by a head band. The right hand was raised in abhaya Mudra. All this happened right in front of the audience! Suddenly, the God was there!

This is the essence of rural art forms like koothu. No elaborate make up or costumes are needed. In a matter of minutes, a well known villager becomes a divine being Vinayaka!

As the Kattiyakkaran elaborates, Ganesha is such an easy God to make…and break! This scene also had a social comment about how the very same idols of the God Ganesh which are worshipped one day are rudely and irreverently broken and thrown in the sea the next. The symbolism of Avahan and yatasthan prathishtam are violated so crassly by our over-zealous brethren!

Vikramathithan Kathai by De Vriksha

On 10^th October I had the opportunity to witness a performance of “Vikramathitthan Kathai” by De Vriksha. Ms. G Sreedevi, a disciple of Na Muthuswami had directed it. The cast was a group of youngsters (all male) who were first-time on-stage actors with a passion for theatre.

The play was highly interactive with the Kattiyakkaran connecting the audience to the actors. This role was portrayed with élan and grace by the actor who played it. We could see the amount of practice which had gone into the miming, movements, acrobatics and gestures.

Koothu-P-Pattarai plays are very subtle and use different vehicles to get the message across to the audience. I could see very little of it here. For example, the Kattiyakkaran was dressed in jeans, T-shirt and hat. This could have been further explored. Why not Vikaramadhityan and Patti also be in modern dress. After all the characters were liberal in using twentieth century devices like cell phones.

The artist who played Vikram was stiff. The role could have been done with more friendliness and humor, especially when Vikram refuses to cut his own head as a sacrifice to Kali.

The play was entertaining and absorbing. The acting by and large was above average. But it lacked social comment which is a hall mark of Koothu-p-pattarai. But the goal was to show case talent. In this they had succeded!

I was asked to speak after the play. I praised the artists and also quoted a poem from Mahakavi Bharathiyar. This drew an instantaneous and spontaneous applause. Tamil audiences are dialogue-bound and respond well to the spoken word.

Rotary Pre-PETS at Vellore

10.10.10

A pleasant drive to Vellore and back in the morning. I am taking over as the President of the Rotary Club of Madras Southwest next July. Rotary requires Presidents-elect like me to attend a President Elects Training Seminar (PETS). This was a Pre-PETS or Arimugam for introducing the new Presidents-elects to each other.

I travelled with my Lodge brother Vinoth Kumar in his Ford Ikon. He is taking over as Presidehnt of the Rotary Club of Madras North East. The venue was a large air-conditioned hall called Kumaran Mahal in Sathuvachary, very much on the main highway. We could see, in the distance, the hills that surround Vellore.

On the whole an excellent Pre-PETS with great entertainment. Bro. Vinoth and I chatted a lot on the way. He shared a lot of information about his life and his brief sojourn in Australia.

The photograph shows us with the Dist. Governor-elect, his wife, our Asst. Governor REtn. Vaidy and the Presidents under him.

Sunflowers

A field of sunflowers on the route from Pandharipur to Pune on our return.

Gajanan Maharaj Ashram

The Gajanan Maharaj Ashram and Guest House. The Best Place to stay in Pandharipur. It is very near the Temple.

Vitobha Temple--Pandharipur

The rear entrance of the Vitoba Temple, Pandharipur. A rear view of the shikara.

Ganapathi Baba

Tonga

Motorised vehicles are not allowed beyond a certain point on the way to the temple. So devotees prefer these tongas.

The Colors of India

The Colors of India

On the way to the Vittal Hari Temple, we can see many shops with colourful vermilion mounds like these.

Go Matha

Gow and calf. Outside the Krishna Temple in Pandharpur. This temple is located right in the middle of the way to the main temple. I found the finish, workmanship and detailing exquisite.

Donkey Love

If love can make Donkeys of men, what happens to a Donkey in love?

Rainbow--Photographed on the way to Pandharipur

Shivaji Maharaj

Every town and village in Maharshtra has a statue of Chatrapathi Shivaji in a centrally located market place or chowk. The great leader is invariably depicted mounted on a horse with drawn sword, as if in readiness for imminent battle. These photos were taken early in the morning at Pandharpur.

These statues are as ubiquitous in Maharashtra as our own Arignyar Anna in Tamilnadu. But I do wish we had chosen a more picturesque person of whom to make an icon.

A View of the Chandrabhaga River in Pandharpur