“What makes a kite fly high?” a young boy queried of his father. He was flying a kite on the beach and expected his father to appreciate his personal ability and skill. However his father replied, “The string makes the kite fly high.” The boy was aghast, “the string is holding the kite down… it’s the wind that makes it fly high… and of course the way I can use the wind to make my kite fly higher…”
The father wisely replied, “If you think the string is holding the kite down, then go ahead and break it. Set the kite free… let it go higher… let it soar.” All those who have flown kites will tell you that when the string is cut, the kite comes down… in a lifeless and listless manner. The young lad had learnt a valuable lesson. So, can we…
There are things that we believe are holding us down and preventing us from soaring higher in life. However, if we look closely, they may be the ones that can help us grow and glow in life… they may be like the string that makes the kite soar high…. This string is called discipline. But, discipline is considered a dampener. It is found to be irritating and infuriating. Human beings, by instinct, abhor rules. We hate to mould our lives to somebody else’s set of rules.
However, surely we can have our own set of rules… our own self-discipline. We need to create our self-discipline because we wish to soar high, like the kite in the sky. Look around and we notice that winners and achievers stand out in a crowd because of their ability to ensure the highest levels of self-discipline. It is said so well, “If it is going to be… it’s up to me!”
- Pravin-da
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
SPEED
Yesterday recorded two years since the passing away of Goa’s most doted poets, Dr Manoharrai L Sardessai. He was a gifted communicator, not just as a writer, but as a speaker as well. In oratory as well as in everyday speech, his words would conjure up the finest of poetry, prose or philosophy. It would not be an exaggeration to say that his quotes over a month could fill up a decent quotation book.
Dr Manoharrai’s family, friends and colleagues were fortunate to be the recipients of such fine gifts of wisdom on a daily basis. One such privileged person is Mukesh Thaly who worked with him on the compilation of the Konkani Encyclopedia. He has many interesting inspirations to recall. One such incident was mentioned by him at a program, held on 2 July 2006, to pay homage to the great poet.
The Himalayan task of putting together the entries for the Konkani Encyclopedia was always running against time. The dedicated team was giving it its all. Everyone was in full gear. The urgency was turning the working environment into a pressure cooker. All that changed with a subtle quote by Dr Manoharrai, “Do not sacrifice accuracy at the altar of speed!” The paradigms changed with the clarification of the vision that the assignment demanded nothing less than accuracy.
In a highly competitive world where things move at furious speed, it is necessary to ensure that efficiency is not a victim to the test of deadlines. Too often in the urgency to finish the task at hand, we ignore the fine details and end up with a below par result. Surely it is not enough to do tasks in time; we need to be better at doing them well as well.
Hey, don’t rush such that efficiency goes for a toss…
Pace yourself to BE BETTER and deny eventual loss!
- Pravin-da
Dr Manoharrai’s family, friends and colleagues were fortunate to be the recipients of such fine gifts of wisdom on a daily basis. One such privileged person is Mukesh Thaly who worked with him on the compilation of the Konkani Encyclopedia. He has many interesting inspirations to recall. One such incident was mentioned by him at a program, held on 2 July 2006, to pay homage to the great poet.
The Himalayan task of putting together the entries for the Konkani Encyclopedia was always running against time. The dedicated team was giving it its all. Everyone was in full gear. The urgency was turning the working environment into a pressure cooker. All that changed with a subtle quote by Dr Manoharrai, “Do not sacrifice accuracy at the altar of speed!” The paradigms changed with the clarification of the vision that the assignment demanded nothing less than accuracy.
In a highly competitive world where things move at furious speed, it is necessary to ensure that efficiency is not a victim to the test of deadlines. Too often in the urgency to finish the task at hand, we ignore the fine details and end up with a below par result. Surely it is not enough to do tasks in time; we need to be better at doing them well as well.
Hey, don’t rush such that efficiency goes for a toss…
Pace yourself to BE BETTER and deny eventual loss!
- Pravin-da
Monday, June 16, 2008
SCRAP ART
When Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, was built up in the early 1950s there was a lot of waste material left over as a result of the building activity. A road inspector had a dream of creating a beautiful fantasy out of bits and pieces, which otherwise would have been a problem to dump around the beautiful city. He created a fantasy, which he called the Rock Garden.
Passages of rock and concrete open out into spaces with human figures studded with tiles and marble. Walls are studded with broken tiles, bathroom fixtures, old crockery and switchgear. Discarded water pots form trellises. Whimsy birds fashioned of concrete sit on the roof of a little hut. A waterfall cascades over an open-air theatre paved with broken slate. Turquoise bangles are used to fashion peacocks. An upturned enamel basin serves as a soldier’s hat!
The Rock Garden illustrates that what is one man’s garbage is another man’s dream. The creator Nek Chand has been honoured by many cities around the world including Washington, New York and Baltimore. While the Indian government conferred the prestigious Padma Shri on Nek Chand, the French awarded him the Grande Medaille de Vermeil. All these achievements seem more spectacular when one is told that he had no formal training in art of sculpture.
It is said so well that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. However, it is a greater to be able to draw out this beauty from what seems to be useless and allow others to see it as well. Thousands flock to see Nek Chand’s fantasy that teaches us that nothing is really scrap… and more importantly that everything can be turned into a piece of art… only if we back our a positive vision with proactive action.
Look again at what seems scrap to BE BETTER at art,
The world of possibilities awaits your proactive start.
- Pravin-da
Passages of rock and concrete open out into spaces with human figures studded with tiles and marble. Walls are studded with broken tiles, bathroom fixtures, old crockery and switchgear. Discarded water pots form trellises. Whimsy birds fashioned of concrete sit on the roof of a little hut. A waterfall cascades over an open-air theatre paved with broken slate. Turquoise bangles are used to fashion peacocks. An upturned enamel basin serves as a soldier’s hat!
The Rock Garden illustrates that what is one man’s garbage is another man’s dream. The creator Nek Chand has been honoured by many cities around the world including Washington, New York and Baltimore. While the Indian government conferred the prestigious Padma Shri on Nek Chand, the French awarded him the Grande Medaille de Vermeil. All these achievements seem more spectacular when one is told that he had no formal training in art of sculpture.
It is said so well that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. However, it is a greater to be able to draw out this beauty from what seems to be useless and allow others to see it as well. Thousands flock to see Nek Chand’s fantasy that teaches us that nothing is really scrap… and more importantly that everything can be turned into a piece of art… only if we back our a positive vision with proactive action.
Look again at what seems scrap to BE BETTER at art,
The world of possibilities awaits your proactive start.
- Pravin-da
Monday, June 9, 2008
TWO PEBBLES
A farmer owed a huge sum of money to a village moneylender. The ageing moneylender, who fancied the farmer's daughter offered to forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. However, the cunning money-lender made it look like a fair deal. He told them that he would put a black and a white pebble into an empty money bag. If the girl picked the black pebble, she would have to marry him and if she picked the white pebble she need not marry him.
The moneylender picked up two pebbles from the pebble strewn path. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. It seemed like an impossible situation for the young girl.
The girl intentionally fumbled while drawing out a pebble from the moneybag and let it fall and be lost on the pebble-strewn path. "Sorry," she said. "But never mind, if you look at the one left in the bag, you will know which pebble I picked." Since the remaining pebble is black, it had to be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
This story seeks to make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma could not have been solved with traditional logical thinking. Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't attempt to think. To be better at handling difficult situations, we need to think out of the box.
The limited choices we see may not all that be
to BE BETTER at solutions, set your thinking free
- Pravin-da
The moneylender picked up two pebbles from the pebble strewn path. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. It seemed like an impossible situation for the young girl.
The girl intentionally fumbled while drawing out a pebble from the moneybag and let it fall and be lost on the pebble-strewn path. "Sorry," she said. "But never mind, if you look at the one left in the bag, you will know which pebble I picked." Since the remaining pebble is black, it had to be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
This story seeks to make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking. The girl's dilemma could not have been solved with traditional logical thinking. Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't attempt to think. To be better at handling difficult situations, we need to think out of the box.
The limited choices we see may not all that be
to BE BETTER at solutions, set your thinking free
- Pravin-da
Monday, June 2, 2008
MIRROR
Some stories we hear in school make greater sense if we connect to them. One such story was about the House of 100 Mirrors.
A puppy learned of this place and decided to visit. He happily scaled the stairs and looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. He found himself staring at many other happy little puppies with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled and was answered with many great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."
In this same village, another little puppy, who was perpetually unhappy, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw many unfriendly looking canines staring back at him, he barked at them and was horrified to see all the angry puppies growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."
In the real world, all the faces we encounter are mirrors. And more often than not, the immediate reflection we see on their faces is our own. We choose the kind of reflections we see on the faces of the people we meet. And hence we must choose to be better at the mood we allow ourselves to be in.
After all, hope and despair, cheer and frown are all very infectious. It is our approach and our actions that trigger an aligned response. So if we want to be surrounded by happy, positive faces, we must begin with making the right changes in our own mental makeup and behaviour. Mirrors, they say, don’t lie.
The people around mirror our own selves you see
For the world to BE BETTER, I must start with me
- Pravin-da
A puppy learned of this place and decided to visit. He happily scaled the stairs and looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. He found himself staring at many other happy little puppies with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled and was answered with many great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."
In this same village, another little puppy, who was perpetually unhappy, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw many unfriendly looking canines staring back at him, he barked at them and was horrified to see all the angry puppies growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."
In the real world, all the faces we encounter are mirrors. And more often than not, the immediate reflection we see on their faces is our own. We choose the kind of reflections we see on the faces of the people we meet. And hence we must choose to be better at the mood we allow ourselves to be in.
After all, hope and despair, cheer and frown are all very infectious. It is our approach and our actions that trigger an aligned response. So if we want to be surrounded by happy, positive faces, we must begin with making the right changes in our own mental makeup and behaviour. Mirrors, they say, don’t lie.
The people around mirror our own selves you see
For the world to BE BETTER, I must start with me
- Pravin-da
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