Booting

Next week, ‘Unlearning Unlimited’ is conducting a three-day ‘Boot Camp’ for young students in Goa. Many people are intrigued by the word ‘Boot’. The explanation is simple: it is a camp primarily based on the principle of ‘Booting’ and in some ways inspired by the recruit training methodology.

Booting, in computer parlance, is the process that the system performs on itself when it is turned on. The set of operations begins when the computer is turned on for the first time or is re-energized after being turned off, and ends when the machine is ready to perform its normal activities.

Human beings, too, need various sets of booting to re-energize as well as to revive and refresh our own processes of purpose, attitude and approach. Booting is about planning, preparing and implementing all that helps us prepare. Every day, there are many occasions for booting: upon waking up, after a break, before the start of an intensive activity, upon a breakdown...

Booting has to be a regular act and more importantly, a complete process. For instance, when we get set for the day, we not only need some exercise, some cleaning and sprucing, some nourishment, some updating... but we also need to be better at the booting that involves planning, confirming schedules and looking positively forward to possibilities of opportunities and challenges.

Booting has to be done as well in the interim, when we are exhausted or we hit a roadblock... stretching, washing our face, re-nourishing and re-looking at the path and process will help revive and refresh. It must be a responsive habit of doing all that that to be done to be better in every situation. In fact, Boot Camps just acquaint the participant with the happy habit of booting... where the onus of preparedness and revival is on self!

To BE BETTER at all times, choose comprehensive booting...

Not only when forced to, but as an alert habit of fuller living!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

MIRROR

A puppy decided to visit the famous ‘House of 100 Mirrors’. He happily scaled the stairs and looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging furiously. 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 said to himself, ‘This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often.’

Hearing his experience, another little puppy, a perpetually unhappy one, went to visit the place. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked in. He saw many unfriendly looking canines staring back at him. When he barked at them, he saw the angry puppies growling back at him. As he left, he said to himself, ‘This is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.’

The story heard in childhood holds lessons for adults, too. 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. After all, mirrors, they say, don’t lie.

Faces, we come across; mirror our mood that they see...
For the world to BE BETTER, change must start with me!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Riyaaz

The ‘Pundita of percussion’, Anuradha Pal was in Goa, for an event organised by Samraat Club, Panaji. She also interacted in a workshop session with Tabla players. A student queried about tips for warm-up before the performance. The answer from the master was prompt, ‘Riyaaz is the warm-up!’

The Pundita insisted that the practice of Riyaaz was the only way to be fully fit for one’s skill. Riyaaz, she explained, was all about revisiting the basics, on a regular basis. She eloquently declared, ‘jo riyaaz karega... woh raaj karega’ (the one who practices the basics, will be the master of his trade)

It is pertinent to note that Anuradha Pal’s advice is applicable to all disciplines that strive for brilliance. She used an apt analogy to make her point... grammar basics needed to be revisited on a regular basis to build effectiveness in any language. Persons, who regularly return to their dictionaries and grammer texts, are better empowered to optimise their language skills.

So often, we pursue new knowledge and skills. But worthy pursuits are turned feeble if basics are ignored. To be better at building our skills we must return to the ‘riyaaz’... where we revert to the essentials of our own art, craft or trade. However, ‘riyaaz’ should not be an occasional exercise fuelled by a looming need. ‘Riyaaz’ should be a continuous and consistent commitment!

In every field, practice of the fundamentals is vital to the path to perfection. A sound foundation is imperative for building on the edifice of excellence. We must regularly go back to the nuts and bolts... to the ABC of our knowledge and skills. After all, the recurring ‘riyaaz’ is the warm-up that will ensure our fitness to scale the desirable journey to the summit of excellence.

‘Back to the basics’ is the way to the top...

Let’s BE BETTER at the ‘Riyaaz’ warm-up!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Fusion

Samraat Club, Panaji is organizing 'Taal Sangam' on International Women's Day. The event showcases 'Recharge' band led by India’s greatest lady percussionist, Anuradha Pal who mixes up Indian Tabla beats with Latin, African and other global musical instruments. Along with eight other musicians, she will be creating the most popular genres of music: fusion!

‘Fusion Music’ is a standard term usually used for combination of various genres of music. It has become a passion and life's work for many musicians. They find it artistically stimulating to create music by integrating ideas of more than one tradition. It brings together diverse styles and creates a ‘Sangam‘ (confluence) that is fresh and interesting for the listener.

The coming together of diverse parts into a new whole is a process that requires an open mind ready to experiment with possibilities. Like in music, in life too we need to be better at reinventing our performance by adopting the choice of fusion with competencies of others. Fusion is that level of team working where the combination is greater than the sum of its parts...

So often, so many of us are unable to fuse our individual competence with that of others. While personal proficiency has to be nurtured and developed, it is our ability to combine in fusion that will liberate us from living in a comfort zone. However it is pertinent to note that to create the apt fusion, we must have an open mind and a willingness to celebrate diversity.

We must open our mind to combined action

Let’s BE BETTER at creating the right fusion!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.