Bring up Baba by Birsa-2

The flavor of the season was very aggressive. It was nationalism wear at your sleeve time. India and Pakistan were on brink of war. first the Pulwama attack then India doing deep air strike. one up manship all around. Then that diamond of a fellow- wg comm Abhinandan. What a fine gentleman. I thought Birsa is not keeping upto breast and i tried to tell him the news snippet. oh gosh!!! he was fully aware of all the geo political situation. amazing me with critical analysis. though i am proud indian and deeply patriot- but his hatred for Pakistan somehow jarred me. He was awake till late night- to wellcome Abhinandan but slept off. and in morning- first thing after waking up- did those idiots respectfully returned our wing commander Abhinandan. I assured they did. He was humming some song till the bus stop.
Pride.. at one corner...
little bit of sadness-- how to make him love more.
it was all mixed emotions.
Only people who are worthy of our contempt and hatred is planet's corrupt politicians and bureaucracy ( and i think they spoil the whole world- regardless of country-- those obnoxious people who abuse the trust and power reposed on them). how to tell him that. to a 10 year old who knows why Assad is bad? why pakistan is bad ? why imran khan is no better than mussaraf???

The generation is coming up smart, exposed to many things easily.

Then we decided to  see URI. the movie.
He was so excited. and whispered into my ears-- when it was a critical moment of film--- i told ya-- these Pakistanis are all idiots. Tried telling him-- later- there are good people and bad people on both sides. and in entire world. we should cultivate good people and abhor the bad ones. Good people outnumber the bad people. But bad people do something which is irreplaceable. they kill love and peace.

Oh my despair- what world we are leaving behind for our next generation. full of fights, anger and violence. Reminds me of - where all the flowers have gone??

Stories from street side

I often get into detailed conversations with taxi drivers.. maybe because i take deep interest in all people around me. Yesterday when I was returning from mumbai palace to hiranandani- my ola driver was unique. His name was devid and he had 5 star rating. I noticed it and complimented him. He has been driving trucks and now ambulances in morning time and evening ola. typical story of a hardworking man. He started sharing about his family. Father a truck driver. how he entered the business. How his love marriage happened with girl who is mba. How he saved money and bought a flat ( slum development board). all honky dory story- the somewhere down the creek the story came out to be a family- where the younger brother is alcoholic, and wife being in combative mood when he returns. I asked him- if he wants to change his lot. does he desire to get maximum out of his life.He fell into my consultancy trap and said yes. 
I told him when he returns home at night- he has to ask his wife-- sincerely- how was her day? and find out 1 thing that she has done very nicely and praise like anything. Same way to his brother- find out what he did good and then tell him why he is the best brother and why he does not deserve to have alcohol.He realized he has never done this- and i helped him realize-- that we expect the world to have empathy on us and show extra dose of love but we fail to show empathy to others and also never love enough. The garrulous guy went silent. But when i got to my destination- i could feel the guy had taken my advice and he will be executing the plan.
then the miracle happened. ... Devid called me today evening after nearly 18 hours after he has done the normal business transaction. gave me a sincere thank you. he told me how he in years altogether saw what his wife does for him and appreciated her. after 3 years-- yesterday night was one night when she was not sounding irritated with him. she was surprised. He told' magic ho gaya' .
The second incident was about the driver who took me safely from Navi Mumbai to Pune and in record time 3 hours despite heavy traffic. He was telling me how 2 young ladies refused to pay Rs230 as toll just because someone told them it should be part of taxi- outstation ola bill. He was asking me- why the same ladies could spend more than 750 rs in macdonalds were so hell bent on not giving rs230. I had no answer for him-- why we practice so little of empathy.

would it not be a better place for us - for you , for me- if each of us strive to become little bit more pleasant. Is it necessary to be shrewd and cunning to win the game? specially when the game is game of life?

Did you practice empathy today?

Inertia of rest and motion

This blog idea was originally triggered by a chain of thought of my friend Arnab.  During one of his lecture of strategy his prof told this-"It is better to be toasted than be still and eaten alive by moth". He shared this with me and that set me thinking.. how profound.. how deep this thought is. Change is inevitable but still people try to stop it. How many times i hear that--- 'it has been like that way' as if that is final...nothing can change it. Then it reminds me the curious case of nokia ( that press conference where the teary eyed CEO- told- we did nothing wrong, but we sank), Intel missing mobile revolution, fed ex phoo phooing amazon- 10 years ago, or 'touch phone??'. History is replete with instances and stories. once you have stopped changing- you are dead. Yes, comfort factors are always there but challenging self and to go forward is something that we have to inoculate as organisation DNA.
Always movement is required. if you are not changing- forces beyond you will just move you around. So till the time you have energy- you got to move around.Keep the changes, study, learn, implement.The day you stop, you are dead.
That is the concept of inertia of rest and motion. A potential catastrophic situation. If you rest- others in motion will move forward and displace you. If you are on motion- but in same trajectory- you will be outsmarted soon.
so idea is- keep moving, keep innovating.

Leadership thoughts-Teamwork (Courtesy Arnab)

There are forwards and then there are some originals-- in whatsapp. Some thoughts and some threads take you to different plane of realization. One was from my childhood friend- Arnab... with his kind permission- quoting it below-
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Friends, recently on behalf of my ISB 2019 cohort, I had a chance to interact with commandant of Wagah/Atari outpost. I want to share a key learning from commandant’s experience that is equally applicable in our professional and personal life. My intent was to look for key leadership elements that the corporate world can apply.
So my question to him was - ‘ Amid all work pressures, continuous threat from enemy and a large team to manage, what keeps you going and motivated ?’.  Commandant’s response came very naturally - ‘ Sirjee, गोली किसी के लिए भी सेम होती है. कामंडैंट हो या जवान, गोली किसी को भी मार सकती है. So, all of us in defence forces have a common threat and hence we build our own identity. That identity is known by our unity and camaraderie. We live for each other and protect each other that keeps us always motivated.The feeling of togetherness is ahead of any other feelings.’

Very simple yet Profound! Its trust, care for each other and a common purpose that keeps all moving amid unfavourable situations and perilous tasks. Let’s think this through and apply in our respective areas. May be we can turn our professional and personal world a better place with commandants simple tips.  And by the way - Commandant is also a KV-ite!
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This touched a chord somewhere- I was so touched that i did the usual forward. First was to loved ones, then to teammates, then to all whom i thought will benefit from it. I told and retold this story during the frontline leadership courses. 
The message that specially attracted me was the camaraderie during the tough times. That reminded me that leader is as strong as his team. Leader in any sphere of life should always be giver and nurturer. He/she has to sacrifice more to keep the common thread going on. If he keeps the team together then at time of crisis the team will give back. TEAM is nothing but together each of us achieve more. Leader is nothing but who binds and keeps it together by keeping the morale high and spirits up. An ideal leader has to work basis of chetwood credo. more on Chetwood credo and how it can be applied to leadership. But yes togetehrness starts from leader and then to team- which is hall mark of leadership.