At our learning centre, we recently held a discussion on- “What is important for success- knowledge, power or wealth?”
The participants in the discussions were entrepreneurs, corporate executives, bankers and others. Different views were presented by the speakers. Some considered knowledge as most important factor. They enumerated examples of successful people who had risen from being unknown to highly rated successful individual by consistently acquiring knowledge and gainfully using it. Knowledge in such cases did not necessarily mean any university degree or such other qualification. Knowledge, here, denotes application of mind of the practical knowledge received through any medium and using the same for earning name, fame and wealth. Steve Jobs is one such example. Our own Dhirubhai Ambani is another. Even Warren Buffet’s story is no different. It is rags to riches. While academic Knowledge has also helped lots of people to become successful and famous.
The role of power in success, too, cannot be undermined. Politicians achieve power and then use the same to achieve greater power. This is how power helps them to be successful. In the present scenario, a powerful politician can introduce his/her son or daughter to become a nominated leader and in the process achieve success in politics. Many politicians, today, are following this model of leadership succession. Likewise, a powerful bureaucrat can use his power to help his friend relative to achieve success.
Wealth can buy knowledge and power. So, one may say that if you have money, you can achieve any goal by hiring people, facilities to create any large project and achieve success. But without Knowledge achieved through experience it is very difficult to see the success of a large project. Political leaders can no doubt introduce their wards in leadership succession through the power they wield, but unless they ensure that the latter gain sufficient experience, the entrant may not be successful. Knowledge acquired through experience alone will bring success to them. Here too, Knowledge gained with experience becomes important. Power alone will not work.
So, the fact of the matter is that knowledge learnt through studies or gained through experience is indeed very important in any field.
But, it needs to be remembered that the meaning of success has to be defined by each and every individual in his/her own terms.
How should one do that? That will be a subject of another post.
Thank you.
'Sab Kuch Luta Ke Hosh Me Aaye To Kya Kiya'
This morning I was listening to a programme called ‘Bhule Bisre Geet’ at old at Vividh Bharati-All India Radio. The above song sung by Talat Mahmood from the movie Ek Saal- ‘sab kuchh Luta ke hosh me aaye toh kya kiya’, caught my attention. As we all know old Hindi songs not only had melodious music, but also great poetry. These gained timeless popularity because of their thoughtful poetic expression. A poet is a thinker who contemplates on any facet of human life.
In this song the poet is describing the plight of the person who lost everything ignorantly. It emphasizes the importance of self awareness and being alert. Should you remain in slumber, you are not only likely to lose opportunities but you may also lose all that you have. The poet laments the futility of waking up after all is lost. Another point that is explained is that often we engage ourselves in useless activities. If we are self aware and consider what we are doing at a given time, probably we will not carry out any such useless activity.
Sab kuchh Luta ke hosh me aaye toh kya kiya (2)
Din ne agar chiraag jalaye toh kya kiya
(Burning lamps during the daylight is undoubtedly futile)
Sab kuchh Luta ke hosh me aaye toh kya kiya
In the next four lines (1st. Antra) the poet describes how a person loses his/her love because of his/her own folly. But once lost, you can do nothing about it. It shows how important it is to carefully nurture important but delicate relationships. Should you make mistake casually the results can be totally out of proportions and shocking.
Hum badnasib pyar kee rusawayee ban Gaye
Khud hee laga ke aag tamashayee ban Gaye
Daaman se apane shole bujaye toh kya kiya
Sab kuchh Luta ke hosh me aaye toh kya kiya
(Unfortunate me! due to my own wrongdoing, I became a butt of laughter. Firefighting, now, is of no avail)
Now let’s look at the concluding four lines (2nd Antra)
Le le ke haar phulon ke, aayee toh thee bahar
Najaarien uthha ke ham ne hee, dekha Na Ek bar
Aankho se abb yeh parde hataye toh kya kiya
Sab kuchh Luta ke hosh me aaye toh kya kiya
(Literally, spring had come with garlands but I did not care to look at it. Removing the curtain of darkness now has no purpose)
In the above Antra we find that the person realizes that pleasant opportunities did come. But these were neither recognized nor used. Looking back at these lost opportunities is of no avail now.
The song literally teaches us the lessons taught by the great management Gurus in simple but sweet poetic language, besides being a pleasant soothing melody.
Men, Matters & Media
Men, Matters & Media
Whenever I go to bed early say at 10.30 pm or so, I get up between 3 to 4 am. Total peace prevails at that time. It is a wonderful time to brood or to write my Blog. After I finish writing, either I reach my computer or watch television – mostly The News. Last night, I watched the T.V. News which had been already telecasted during the day. The most important stories which were being repeated. But it suits me as I do not watch TV otherwise at all.
The fist channel I switched on was covering Sanjay Dutt’s journey from his house to the court to surrender. There was a huge caravan of cars led by the police van for security. I wasn’t really interested, so I switched to another channel. The same story was going on there as well, covered by a different cameraman. I then changed to another news channel. Same story there too. I wanted to skip this story. So, I kept switching different channels. But there was no way; I could escape from the Caravan. I switched off the TV and started to think about the situation.
During the day, I had known that the ongoing agitation of the traders against LBT (a proposed tax in lieu of Octroi) had turned awry. There was lathi charge by the police. Many men were hurt. The ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ is carried out by these traders. Due to the agitation lakhs of Mumbaikars are affected. But this news found no space. Such an important matter was considered as trivial when compared to the mighty Caravan proceeding to the court!
I was left asking myself – what is happening in our society? Where are we heading? What does the future hold for us?
Wani yoga lesson 15
An Interview
Today, I’ll talk to you about how Wani yoga ‘Abhyaas’ can help you in important and difficult situations. In fact, these can be handled quite effectively and faced with ease if we keep the important elements of ‘Wani Yoga’ in mind.
Wani starts with your mind. Its origin is in the brain. Once you have an idea and you want to express; it only then that the physical ‘Wani’ (actual speech) comes into being. So when you have an important interview which can change the course of your life. Your body and brain are not your normal self. There is a certain amount of anxiety. You definitely want to succeed in your mission. These heightened feelings also impact your physical self. You are either restless; or you experience that some strange extraneous factor has sapped you of your normal energy. So, how do you handle either of these uncomfortable situations?
We have seen in our earlier discussions that it is imperative to remain cool and composed when you want to face such situations. So the first step is to remind yourself of this simple principle. Next, you must start taking deep breaths but very smoothly. I mean you may breathe in to the count of 10. And likewise breathe out to the count of 10.
The third step is to deliberately recall some of your successes in the past. These may be miniscule in your perception. But nothing is unimportant. Small achievements only add up to bigger success.
As I repeatedly mention in my postings on Wani Yoga that the content is the king. Therefore there is no alternative to preparation. While you may have thoroughly prepared for your Interview, you must go through the salient points as many times as is convenient.
While doing this remain relaxed. This is only to fortify your preparation and boost your confidence. Then you have to remind yourself about the most important elements of speech. These are: articulation and modulation.
Next time you have an important meeting or an interview or a negotiation for which you are extremely concerned, please try these simple techniques. You will feel far more comfortable and confident.
Thank you.
Wani Yoga – Lesson 14
Speak to express not to impress
You must always speak to express yourself. Any effort to impress others while speaking does not bring about the necessary result. In fact, it may even alienate your listener/ listeners. People expect you to express an honest opinion; no-body wants to be influenced by artificial means.
When you try to impress others, your body language, your voice and the very language used, make it apparent to a discerning listener that you are cooking up a story. No one is the interested in that.
Whenever you try to feign a style just to show off; it puts people off. So the best thing is to be your natural self. Develop a style by all means. But it should be your own natural style.
Your speech must be preceded by your desire to express yourself.
In the circumstances, I consider, Wani Yoga is a discipline which can be best practiced in our old Gura-Shishya tradition. Guru is always his own real self. He is keen that his disciples receive the maximum advantage of his training. His happiness lies in his disciples; in helping them achieve their goals. Wani Yoga enables you to have total control of your mind, body, body language and the language used by you in communication. The trainer or the coach can monitor your progress only if he or she follows this Guru-Shishiya tradition in the true sense.
I am informed by a friend of mine that today happens to be birthday of Adi Shankaracharya who was one of the greatest gurus propagating Guru-Shishiya Parampara.
Wani Yoga – Lesson 13
In my last post (Lesson 12) I had described how resonance comprises a great quality in male voice. It is true for public speakers as well as singers.
So far as female voice is concern, somehow we do not have many world famous female public speakers. That is because traditionally not many ladies have been great political leaders or others who have motivated people with their Public Speaking Skills.
At the same time I would say that the possibility of ladies leading the society can be as much as that of man. The problem lies only in the opportunity. We did have great females leaders like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir all three of them were great leaders, but only Margaret Thatcher was a great Public Speaker. Indira Gandhi’s speeches were undoubtedly motivation she spoke with conviction. But as she generally spoke on higher pitch, whenever she wanted to put more emphases her voice became strained.
Margret Thatcher on the other hand spoke with great ease. She had spontaneity and conviction. Besides her voice was very resonant. It a pleasure to listen to her speeches some of which are available on the YouTube. Golda Meir of Israel was another great leader but an average speaker.
When we look at the present time I find Mrs. Michelle Obama is a remarkable Public Speaker her articulation is exquisite her modulation is commendable and her control over language is appreciable.
In our own country Sushma Swaraj the leader of the opposition in parliament is a public speaker of a caliber. She is articulate and her control over Voice too is reasonably good.
Since more and more ladies are becoming corporate trainer in develop countries and also in our country. We can hope to see a whole breed of excellent ladies’ Public Speakers. Here, I am not talking of great female leaders But female leaders But female Public Speakers.
The quality is which they need to develop our; one zone personal natural style, speaking Sentences and bring about Modulation during the Speech.
I may repeat here that modulation is one’s ability to bring variance in pace, pause, pitch, emphasis on the keyword and the tone.
The good thing is that more and more people including ladies we realizing the importance of clear speech, presentation Skills and Public Speaking.
Thank you………
Mother's Day
Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day was initiated in Philadelphia (USA) by Ms. Anna Jarvis is 1907. It is a great gesture to honour our Mothers. Many countries today celebrate Mother’s Day in their own ways. We must appreciate Ms. Anna Jarvis for her noble initiative.
In India, when we celebrate Mother’s day indeed we must pay respect to our Mothers and celebrate the occasion in whichever way we want. But more importantly, we must also remember and pay homage to the great mothers our country had been blessed with. I would like to mention three names from the many that can be chosen from the pages of history. These are:
Jijabai – mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
Maharani Lakshmibai – Jhansi ki Rani, and
Vidyavati – mother of Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Jijabai – also known as Rajmata Jijabai the great queen mother who instilled all the qualities in Chatrapati Shivaji. His exceptional courage, bravery and application of mind in direly fearful circumstances were all gifted to him by his mother. It is said that Jijabai had fervently prayed to Goddess Bhavani to bless her with a son that would liberate the divided and disheartened hindus from the tyrant rulers of the time who severely tortured and persecuted them. Shivaji’s mother instilled in him the patriotic values and the burning desire to liberate the people from tyranny. History is witness to all his brave encounters with the Mughals and the Deccan Sultans. His war strategies and the lightning fast tactics would amaze the best generals of his time. His agility, alertness and fast decision making power remains a lesson for all leaders of all times. This day let us pay our respects to his mother Rajmata Jijabai who was the force behind him.
Maharani Lakshmibai – At a very young age she married the Maharaja of Gaekwad and bore him a son. However the baby did not survive for long. The Maharaja then adopted a young boy as Prince and future heir to the throne. However the Maharaja did not survive after this adoption. Lakshmibai had to fight all odds to get her adopted son due and legitimate recognition by the British. The stories of her bravery are etched in the annals of india’s glorious history. Till the very end she fought for the honour of her state and for the rights of her only son – the heir to the throne of Jhansi.
Vidyavati – who can match the sacrifice of the great mother who decided not to go to bring the dead body of his young son because she did not want anyone to witness the tears in her eyes. The stories of her motivation towards her son comprise a great honour for our country. Let us remember the tremendous mother of Shahid Bhagat Singh.
I am urging my readers to share these views with friends.
'Akku & Gabbar'
Ever since I saw these cute Japanese Dogs, I felt that the names given to them were a grave injustice. Both these pretty Dogs live together in New Delhi. They belong to my niece who is also responsible for naming them.
Akku is prettier to look at. Gabbar’s face is totally black. Akku’s eyes are charming. But Gabbar’s eyes are visible only when he is angry. In the gone by era in Punjab elders would express a hot tempered person by saying
“Gussa te oudee nakk te baitta rahenda hai”
meaning :
anger always stays on the tip of his/her nose. But Gabbar’s nose is hardly visible. His anger emerges from his deep rooted negative instinct – jealousy. Gabbar is very jealous of his prettier brother Akku. He cannot tolerate if any attention is given to Akku by anyone much less by my niece.
And yet, both love each other. Throughout the day they like to stay together. There are two maid servants in the house. Both Akku and Gabbar are extremely fond of them. The maids feed the pets as their own children. Sometimes my sister or my niece also feed these pretty pets. These are special occasions for them. They show their happiness by rolling on the ground. They jump and they dance. Just to express their joy.
I find there is a lot to learn from these two little animals. Some of the points which come to my mind are as below:
- That it is human to be jealous, yet the competitive jealousy should not be carried too far. Like Gabbar, we should forget and move on with our playful life.
- They feel upset if no attention is paid to them but only for some time. The moment you look at them, and call they jump on you. So they don’t hold grudges or get mad at you.
- They like the maids but they enjoy the company of their owners better. So they observe the propriety.
Thanks for reading.
Smart Skills
Education is necessary, but skill is essential. Unfortunately, our education system per se is such that it hardly helps an individual develop skills. Much less the skills I think are most important for living life happily and successfully. I am talking about two skills in particular – skill with oneself, and skill with people.
A child is born with some tendencies which may have a lot to do with his/her parentage. What is his father’s attitude to life, what is that of his mother, and more importantly how their relationship with each other. While these factors continue to have their influence on the growth of the child, various other influences start playing an important role during the growing
years. The teacher, the class mates, friends, relatives, and neighbors – all influence the child. It is hard to say how much these help in developing either of the two skills which I have mentioned above – skill with oneself, and skill with other people.
So what should be done? Whatever best steps can be taken by all concerned for developing both these skills. The education system as it is today can hardly help. Teachers are bound by the curriculum and the parents may not be able to find the time from their busy schedule in the competitive life of today. But the ever growing media today can play a very important role provided a parent/parents are able to guide and regulate the exposure and use of the media by the child. The significance of Internet must be realized. All the knowledge required is available on the net. But one may say that a skill cannot be delivered by the information/knowledge on the net. Yes it is true to a large extent. Yet you tube presentations and other interactive programs make it possible to learn a lot from the net. In times to come, I am sure, the growth of the social media with websites focusing on special subjects will bring about a revolution in the concept of education and training. The need is that the parents, teachers and mentors motivate learners to be focused and stick to what they must and should not be distracted.
Developing skill with yourself, to me means listening and talking to your oneself. It means to understand your heart, identify what you really like and to concentrate your energies towards these.
Developing skill with people means to understand simple human psychology. You interaction with them should never ignore the following basic principles;
I) That each one is interested in more in himself/herself than you.
II) That I, me, mine puts people off.
III) That making people talk makes them feel important.
IV)That when you win an argument you lose a friend so never argue.
V) That listening attentively to others will make them feel important. They like you most when you to that.
VI) That you need to skillfully convince people. If you say something that is obviously to your advantage, people will be skeptical. So do it differently. Say how an important third person appreciated your products/efforts/service. This will help create confidence in the minds of people about you.
More on this in my next Post. Thanks for reading.
Aping the West
It is a common knowledge that we in India have started aping the west some of the more forward ones young as well as old take pride in dating. The concept of one night stand has also found its route and is moving forward in the West.
Elders bemoan that youngesters are forgetting our original values. I am reminded off what Mahatma Gandhi had said at the time of Independence. “Desh to apna ho gaya lakin log paraye ho gaye”. While we have become an Independent nation our people have become dependents – dependent on the ways. It may not have been true at that time but when we look around the environment today one feels that foolishly we are aping the West. We want to the kind of parties that have been happening for decades in the West youngsters like their clothes to be modeled on the latest Western fashion. We eat pizzas instead of poori aloo, young ones like pepsi more than lassi and so on….In Mumbai Bhel puri was known as a common mans delicacies, its popularity was among many other cities but now the Chinese foodies have cropped up and Chinese Bhel ‘is gaining ground’.
There is a lot to learn from every civilization, unfortunately what we don’t learn is the civic sense and cleanliness of the West, and doggite determination and hard work of the Chinese.
Its distressing to find that nouve rich while stopping and the signals open the door of the car and spit out, little realizing the the roads belong to the nation. The local trains are disfigured with various posters. The process of cleaning the compartments we are told has become very expensive in view of the highly effective glue, besides littering the tracks with wrappers banana peels etc…. creating a nuisance for the railway authorities. They have to spend a lot of money try to keep the tracks clean. We don’t stand in qu pushing even elderly. we have become totally insensitive out of sheer selfishness, honking is rampant even when not required. We don’t observe the lane driving. We have become a nation of only I Me and Mine….By and large we are never on time and blame the traffic when late for appointments. There is a lot more to be said and a lot more to be thought off.
Let NGOs take up civic sense and cleanliness as their prime project which will surely will be good for the new generation.
