SMS

Ganesh Chaturthi is a major festival in Goa. It is occasion for the extended family to get together. Friends from all communities go visiting those who observe the harvest celebration. Warm wishes, traditional delicacies and humble rituals mark the event. But, over the years, the amount of wishes by SMS has increased while the quantity of visits has decreased.

So often, so many of us reject the option of meeting or speaking. So easily, we convey our wishes through the ‘SMS’ method. Sure, technology makes it easier, convenient and economical to communicate. But, when we use only the ‘SMS’ way, even for close relationships, then we confirm that the easy, trouble-free and cheap option is of greater importance than the worth of our relationships.

Indeed it is a happy experience to have others share our happy moments. It is great to hear Cipriano calling from London. But the neighbours, across the street, may not return the visit, even though I go over regularly. Not even a call, they will use the mechanical SMS. Relationship is a two way traffic that depends on personal touch. The overuse of the SMS can short change it.

It is pertinent to note that those who receive the maximum visitors are those who build their relationships on direct contact. In fact, the ones, who have little money, tend to be better at investing time and effort in visiting the awaiting ones. When occasions call for connecting, we must remember that SMS is a wonderful invention to be used only when real visits and direct calls are not possible or not warranted. Eventually messaging is second to real connecting.

may SMS be the last choice while messaging…

let’s BE BETTER at personal acts of connecting!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Null Set

In algebra, a Null set refers to an empty set. A teacher mentioned the Indian woman astronaut as an example for a null set as until then no Indian woman had become an astronaut. One girl instantly exclaimed, 'Madam, one day this null set will not exist!' The same girl, Kalpana Chawla went on to fill the set!

Like the name she herself chose, Kalpana was a highly imaginative child. Stars captivated her so much that she and her classmates built a physical geography map of India covering the floor of an entire classroom in her school, Tagore Bal Niketan, and covered its ceiling completely with stars -- sparkling dots marked on blackened newspapers! In her drawing class, she would draw airplanes flying in the sky. She loved making models of airplanes during craft classes.

In college, Kalpana was the only girl to opt for the aeronautical engineering course. During admission when asked to state her second option, she replied that she had none! During counseling, teachers tried to dissuade her as aeronautic engineering had limited job opportunities in the country. Most girls had opted for electrical engineering. But, Kalpana stuck to her passion. This was the first step to much greater achievements of India’s first woman astronaut.

Imagination is important, but it is not enough. To be better, it needs to be transformed into a clear vision and backed by a motivated mission to achieve it. Null sets get filled when dreams are empowered by steadfast belief and committed actions. Indeed, it took courage of conviction for a small town girl to become the first Indian woman to straddle outer space. She died abroad the shuttle Colombia on 1 February, 2003 but her inspiration remains immortal.

let’s BE BETTER at achieving every desirable vision

null sets get filled only through committed mission

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Kurien's Solution

In the 70’s, an aluminum card identified the number of milk bottles that one was entitled for. Yet, due to shortage of milk, only one bottle would be given at a time and one had to rejoin the queue for the next bottle. Since the early ones improved their chances of getting more bottles, some would queue up at the booth, as early as 4 am. They would ‘mark’ their position with stones and move on to do other chores. Those who came in later would throw way the stones and ‘usurp’ a better position in the queue.

During those days of early morning fights, at the milk booth, over missing stones; nobody would have believed that it was possible to have as much milk as one required. But, today India is a world leader in the production, distribution and consumption of milk. Today, milk is available in abundance and more importantly at any time of the day, anytime of the year. All this transformation was possible due to the vision of V J Kurien.

Kurien was able to identify that the shortage of milk was not in dearth of collection. The rightful returns to the farmers were denied by middlemen who exploited the marketing and distribution system. Kurien envisioned the need to do away with the middlemen and form milk co-operatives where the farmers turned sellers. Since the success story of the White Revolution in India; neighbours still fight, but not over milk!

Kurien leaves behind a legacy of problem solving: nothing is impossible if we are ready to explore the hidden solution in what seems to be an unsolvable problem. The larger picture of possibilities involves the scrutiny of crucial little details. We need to be better at unscrambling the solution by understanding the real reasons behind the knots in the maze.

let’s BE BETTER by using the Kurien solution

of identifying the real knots in the situation!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Full-on

Last weekend, I was in Chikmaglur for a workshop for young businessmen from Zone 14 of JCI-India. During the inaugural ceremony, the chief guest, B R Sachidananda made an important observation about types of applause. He pointed out that while some do it half-heartedly, there are others whose hands come together, but do not really connect. He put up the pertinent poser, ‘if we choose to do something, why don’t we do it whole heartedly?’

So often, so many of us hold back the fullness of response… the applause is weak… the handshake is feeble… the greeting is mechanical… the smile is a superficial curl… the laugh is a put-on… In the midst of many situations, our response can oft be a careless ritual or a lackadaisical reaction. We so easily hold back, when we must be full-on!

Such apathy leads to a compromised confidence. Being full-on, in every situation, is the way to be better at an uncompromised confidence that can bolster not only self esteem, but also unveil the immense possibilities of our own potential. Doing things in a lax manner has a demoralizing effect and we can catch the bad habit of a put-on response.

Around us, we will find that truly dynamic people are consistently full-on, be it applause or appreciation, smile or mirth, greeting or any other response…  When Sachidananda convinced my participants to clap full-on, the biggest beneficiaries were they themselves. The body language was positive, the eyes were mirroring the enthusiasm and happiness was self imposed. Being full-on proved liberating!

We must ensure that our reaction is never a put-on…

Let’s BE BETTER at responding unequivocally full-on!

- Pravin K. Sabnis