Return

A carpenter, who built timber houses, told his employer of his desire to retire. The contractor was sorry to see a good workman go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour.

The carpenter said yes, but it was obvious that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy work and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When he went to hand over the keys, his boss arranged for a send-off function. He spoke of the carpenters’ commitment to his craft and announced an appropriate farewell gift. ‘You built the finest of homes and you deserve one of the same,’ saying so he handed back the key of the latest house built by the carpenter.

Imagine his predicament! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the mediocre home that he himself had built so poorly.

We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to give lesser than our best effort to the task at hand. Then with a shock we look at the situation of our creation and find that we are now living in the house we have built.

If we had realized that our efforts were going to return back to us, we would have done it differently. Our life today is the result of our attitudes and choices in the past. Our life tomorrow will be the result of our attitudes and the choices we make today.

Don’t retire from giving your best
Things we do return back to rest!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

Liberation

Liberation refers to the process of freeing someone from another's control. Synonyms of the word ‘liberate’ are emancipate, free and release. While these words mean ‘to set loose from restraint or constraint’, ‘liberate’ stresses on the resulting state of liberty.

Liberty is freedom from limits on thought or behaviour. When we describe someone as liberated, we mean that they do not accept society's traditional values or restrictions on behaviour. It is about feeling free and being able to behave as you like.

Essentially it is about the shift in paradigm. In the first stage of Illusion, we believe that problems originate externally. By thinking thus, we empower what’s out there to control us. Putting the onus on others and external factors chains us to those very problems.

From victimhood, we must wake up to taking responsibility of our lives and the choices we make. The truth may be unpleasant but it is better than living a lie of illusion. We start seeing things logically and find ways to cope and be liberated.

We constantly evolve with new levels of liberation awaiting us. When we escape one box, we find ourselves in another one. The box eventually is in our mind conditioned by prejudices and fears. Stepping out of such consecutive boxes will lead to liberation.

Don’t get chained by constraints of the situation

The limiting box must be undone for liberation!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Career

The term ‘career’ has its roots in the Latin word – ‘carrera’ which literally means race. The pressure is increasing on our youth to make career choices without looking at dreams, aspirations and aptitude.

Unlike earlier, when career options were limited, today a plethora of potential professions are available. Yet, young students are being conditioned to attach value to few careers. Worse, they are being discouraged from pursuing childhood dreams.

Very few have the personal courage or the support to change tracks midway in their academic education. Too much pressure is generated by narrowing on select few career options. And most such career choices are at the cost of the real career – our life!

We must not distance ourselves from real living. Career is, after all, the progress of the course of life. Living is beyond so-called status and handsome remunerations. We need to examine whether our careers will permit us to have the time for the real needs of our life – family, community, the environment.

Don’t get careered by choice strife
Choose the priority career of ‘life’!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Flux

‘All is flux, nothing remains still!’ – Heraclitus, Greek philosopher

Change is the only constant. Stars form and collapse. Continents shift. Seasons change. Our body decays, the mind evolves and relationships change. But though we live in a world of constant flux, many fail to recognize it and distress is the result.

When we fail to accept flux, we cling to things. We cling to days gone by, to relationships and to possessions. Eventually, reality intervenes. When that, what we cling to, is taken from us, we face the reality of impermanence.

Remarkably, the pain arises even before the loss, in the form of fear. Though we know it is temporary, we live in fear of losing it. We can have a better life if we realize and accept the fact of flux.

We can learn to appreciate things we have but without staking our happiness on them. This helps to make better decisions. When we know that we will change and that other people will change, then we can identify the fresh approach that’s needed.

Admitting the flux may seem daunting, however it is actually liberating. In reality, we are just conceding something that we already know. When we bring it into the open, it is not so scary. We find that recognition of flux brings acceptance and bliss into our lives.

Clinging to things is a hurtful crux

Learn to accept the inevitable flux!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Astray

My mentor, Frederick Tucker’s favourite anecdote was of a traveller who had wandered off his route. He had no clue as to where he had reached and how to get back to his original road. After going around in circles, he a wise sage.

He told the sage, ‘I am lost. Please help me.’ The sage queried, ‘do you know where you have come from?’ On receiving a reply in the affirmative, the wise one prodded on, ‘Do you know where you want to go?’ The traveller nodded again.

The wise man calmly uttered a great truth, ‘if you know where you have come from and where you want to go, then you are not astray. You just need the connection to your way!’

Whenever astray, we can reconnect to our destination by recognizing the co-relation of the present location and the desired destination. We must discover potentials of a newer and different approach rather than just trying to get back to the old path.

If we cannot get back to the old path that we deviated from, we must find a newer way. And that is difficult, if we are mired in the belief that we are astray. The search for newer ways will get us back on track of our destination or lead us to a new terminus.

Whenever you feel lost and astray

Just find a newer and better way!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Appreciation

The tenth edition of Orchid Awards recognised excellence of Women Achievers in Goa. The founder and driving force, Asha Arondekar is constantly on the lookout for women, who like her, have taken a detour from the beaten path to carve their own niche.

 A self-made, first generation entrepreneur, she started working at the age of nineteen and over the years, she has been part of different ventures. She began in the pharmaceutical industry and later switched to wellness and started ‘Global to Local’ a store for rural and other women to stock their creations of eats and handcrafted stuff.

 She instituted the Awards in 2011 and focussed on recognising those whose efforts have gone unrecognised. Supported by husband Amol, daughter Niharika and a well-oiled team, she wants to pass on similar backing and inspiration to a larger audience.

 Achievers, seized by their passion and drive, often focus on only their personal dreams and aspirations. Along the way, they seek for appreciation and support. A few like Asha, appreciate others to acknowledge and encourage them. 

 Appreciation is a wonderful action for the receiver as well as the initiator. By appreciation we make excellence in others, our own property! Asha and her tribe use it to make the excellence of the achievers into the collective property of society.

 The symbolism in the title of the Awards is apt. Gathering orchids is a pleasant task but they have to be selected with diligence and presented appropriately for others to see and appreciate. That excellence of others will be of your ownership by appreciation.

Everyone craves appreciation, so do you,

Choose to recognise the good others do!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

childlike

A song by Jagjit Singh, ‘Kagaz ki kashti (paper boat) refers to the lament of a person who has earned wealth but craves for his child-like innocence. The first verse is a plea to ‘take away my riches, my fame, even my youth... but in return give me the monsoon from my childhood, the paper boat and the drops of rain.’

In childhood, the simplest of things are triggers for great happiness. We are happy with things around rather than the futile pursuit of happiness as a commodity. We crave for simple pleasures of childhood but choose to run the dash for complex materialism.

As children, we could play with an empty box or a stone or a paper boat... But as adults we tire easily and become dissatisfied with what we have. We are in hot pursuit of newer and further acquisitions.

The choice is simple. Stop lamenting and choose childhood attitudes... we must reclaim our childlike innocence and fascination for life’s simple pleasures found in contentment and connect with relationships and playfulness... we must step back to be childlike...

Make the paper boat, ride the dyke
Reclaim the attitude to be childlike!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Hope

During the Covid-19 pandemic, team Eco-Treks Goa was seized by the predicament of their trekkers who could not step out. To create a positive distraction, they asked members to send photographs and accounts of their experiences. The result is a well curated book: Hills to Himalayas.

It recounts the journey over 14 years and 148 wanderings. The Eco trekkers have stepped out of the comfort box to reclaim their responsibility to the world that they will leave behind for the next generation. Their narrative is of discovery, transformations and above all, Hope!

Hope is an individual emotion but when aligned with a collective, it creates greater positive change. The trekkers choose to be conscious and respectful to Nature and the communities they visit. They choose to adapt and adopt a sustainable lifestyle. They end up being grateful to lives and livelihoods of tribals and other rural communities.

Hope is about humility that comes from realisation that we take more from and give little to our planet. Hope is about the learning that comes from real knowledge on the ground. Hope is about changing our habits by taking ownership of our obligations to our environment. Hope is of desirable aspirations and aligned actions.

Trekkers discover this when they wander visiting interesting places and people. Some miss out as they focus on the pleasures of a day-out. But, those with deeper commitment and dedicated time will discover the treasure of Hope and a happier life beyond immediate pleasures… like Goa’s EcoTrekkers have!

Avoid the furious rush, linger on while you wander…

Pick up ‘hope’ on the way, move beyond the wonder!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Value

Pedro had a friend who would keep losing his pens. So Pedro gifted him an ordinary pen but told him that it had been used by a great personality. Months later, the pen remained with the owner who took all precautions to not lose it.

 The pen was ordinary but the owner believed it to be valuable because he had been told of its history. The value had increased in his perspective. Now, he was careful to transcend his earlier carelessness.

 This is something that happens to us in life. We are careful with the things we value most. Hence it is important to attach value to all things of priority. Then we will not be careless with them.

 If we value our health, we will be careful of what we eat. If we value friends, we will treat them with concern. If we value time, we will be careful the way we spend it. So on and so forth

 attach value and soon you will find

carefulness is now on your mind!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

Defeat

 Everyone knows the Disney Corporation as one of the most lucrative companies in existence, with high standards of quality and continuous innovations.

 Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job early in life because he ‘lacked imagination’. After a few failed businesses, his upbeat attitude kept him going forward. He would say, ‘a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you’.

 So often, so many of us are who are halted in our tracks by situational failures. But it is pertinent to note that the big achievers are the ones who are not deterred by defeat.

 Winners are motivated to move on even in defeat. They treat it is as a challenge and turn it into a resolve to put in better efforts. They are not discouraged by judgemental comments on their capabilities.

 Defeat is only when we give up. Every failure is just another learning experience, if we treat it as so. No drawback can hold you back, if you keep stepping ahead. One can even turn dispiriting comments into fuel for the fire in the belly. Like Disney did!

 Don’t let failure turn into defeat

Keep going forward to the feat!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Don't Delay

 One Sunday it was snowing heavily and no one turned up for the services at the church. Only a herder of cows reached in the freezing snow. The pastor waited for some more time and eventually said, ‘Let’s cancel as it is only two of us!’

 The herder said, ‘When I go to feed my cows, I whistle out for them to come. Most of the time, all the cows turn up. But sometimes, only one turns up and that time I will make sure that I don’t leave that cow hungry’.

 The pastor realized his mistake and started to deliver the services for close to two hours. He thanked the herder for teaching him a valuable lesson, ‘It’s our duty to finish it, no matter how big or small the need is... Hope you had a good two hours’.

 The herder replied, ‘Well when I go to feed my herd and if only one turns up for the food. I will make sure that I don’t force it to eat all the food I bought for the whole herd’. 

 Two lessons emerge from the story: don’t delay the start and don’t delay the end. The first is about rewarding the ones who come on time. The second is about not making it worse by being long winded and ignoring the needs and wants of those you deal with.

 Too often, so many of us delay the start, waiting for late comers. And instead of brevity, we choose to prolong the misery by force feeding. We must choose to be on time as well as be time conscious, especially about the time of the audience.

 Don’t delay the start, respect the early one

Don’t delay the end, so everyone has fun!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

Sore Loser

Sally loves to be first at everything! She is first in line at school. She is first out the door at recess. She is first at dinner finishing her mac 'n' cheese!

 Unfortunately, Sally dislikes losing and this can lead to hot tempers and hurt feelings. She even gets the nickname ‘Sally Sore Loser’ from her classmates at school.

 With the help of her teacher and her mother, Sally learns the rules for being a good winner and a good loser. She learns to say to herself, ‘I've won if I had fun!’

 The story about Winning and Losing by Frank J Sileo was written for children obsessed with winning. Such a child, melts down when it perceives to have lost at something. The message was that as long as you're having fun, everyone wins.

 Actually having fun means you won. However, one does not think one had fun if one perceives a loss, so therefore it is a loss. So while destinations are important, we must not forget the journey to that destination and the many joys it brings.

 So often, so many of us have fun doing something, yet we end up as sore losers. We must reclaim the joy of the journey. We must not sacrifice that happiness at the altar of self-centred competitiveness.

 Recall fun you had by being a mover

Don’t let joy go by being a sore loser!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

Credit

A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted as they could not see how it could be done. The amphibian suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and that he would hold on to it with his mouth.

So the threesome took off, flying south over the countryside. It was quite a sight. Crowds looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of innovative and effective teamwork.

 Someone shouted, ‘It's wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?’ Immediately, the frog opened his mouth and said, ‘It was I,’ and plummeted down to his death.

 So often, we find people clamouring for claiming credit in a team performance. There is no place for ‘I’ in a team. While the idea-creator is important, ideas that are not implemented are of no relevance.

 In team, there are different roles: someone suggests a plan, someone takes it forward and makes it a plan of action, there others who take actions to implement the plan and there yet others who support in lesser or greater ways.

 When ‘I’ takes sole credit, it is unfair to all others who contributed to the successful performance. True leaders share credit with the team. They acknowledge every effort in a fair manner. They use the word ‘We’ instead of ‘I’.

 Share credit, don’t seek sole claim

‘We’ is spot-on, ‘I’ is illusory fame!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

Listening

Upon her return from her play school, Pedro’s daughter had wonderful things to tell. One day, he was reading a book when she arrived home and began to chatter away. Though reading, Pedro was listening as well.

 But the child stopped speaking and started to make grumpy noises. Pedro looked up from his book to ask her, ‘what upset you?’ She promptly replied, ‘you are not listening to me!’

 Pedro immediately denied her charge and began to repeat what he had heard. But she was unrelenting. She asserted, in the way only a young child can, ‘You were not looking at me! How can you listen if you are not looking at me?’

 Listening is often confused with hearing. It requires us to move beyond hearing and proactively participate in the interpersonal skill! The speaker must believe that the other is listening. Paying obvious attention through right body language responses is crucial. It requires responsive feedback through apt questions, nodding, etc.

 When we look at the listener, we receive communication beyond hearing. We notice expressed emotions and understand beyond the sound of words. More importantly, the one speaking is convinced that we are indeed listening and this encouragement ensures continuity in the communication.

 Look, respond, participate… to aid listening

Let’s wilfully move beyond lifeless hearing!

       

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Sportsmanship

 When African-American athlete Jesse Owens arrived at 1936 Olympic Games, the atmosphere was tough and intimidating. The Games were part of Adolf Hiltler’s grand plan to prove Aryan superiority and African-American’s were not high on his priority list.

 He was called racial epithets and subjected to mistreatment but it was nothing worse than what he was already subjected to back home in America. He went on to script history, finishing with 4 Olympic gold medals in 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump respectively – a record that stood for 48 years.

 While Owens’ feat was unique, he might have lost a gold medals had it not been for the advice from an unlikely ally – German long jumper Luz Long.

 Owens was flustered to learn that what he had thought was a practice jump had been counted as his first attempt. Unsettled, he foot-faulted the second attempt. Before his last jump, Long suggested that he place a towel in front of the take-off board. Leaping from that point, he qualified for finals, beating Long for the gold.

 The German was the first to congratulate Owens and later walked around the stadium, arm-in-arm and posing for pictures together. It was a classy act of sportsmanship that stayed with Owens for the rest of his life.

 ‘It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment,’ he said.

 Sportsmanship is an understanding of and commitment to fair play, ethical behavior and integrity, and general goodwill toward an opponent. Simply put, sportsmanship is a choice. In a cut-throat competitive world, it is an evidence of humane character.

 In every significant and competitive race

Sportsmanship certifies humane grace!

 - Pravin K. Sabnis

RUDIMENTS

A king went on an extensive trip across his kingdom! When he returned back to the luxuries of his palace, he complained that his feet were aching. The road that he walked on was uneven. Yet, as he had enjoyed the travel, he wished to travel again.

The learned court consultant suggested that every road in the kingdom be covered with leather. All the courtiers complimented and applauded the plan.

The king noticed his court jester smirking. Upon being ordered to speak his mind, the jester said, ‘just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet… spend the money instead on making shoes for everybody who travels on the rough roads!’

Situations are transformed by empowering persons to tackle circumstances. The larger lesson is that for planning to be better, it must focus on the traveller rather than the road, on the driver rather than the vehicle, on the farmer rather than the food industry, on existent sustainability rather than vague magnificence.

The story also underlines a valuable lesson of life… of starting with the rudimentary. It is about transforming our own efforts and actions to achieve the desired results. Let us remember that instead of investing too much effort in altering the larger predicament, let’s be better at making rudimentary transformations.

The feet come first, the road comes later…

Start with rudiments, they do truly matter!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

ALTER

‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’ – Albert Einstein

 

If we keep on doing the same things, taking the same actions and thinking the same thoughts, guess what we are going to get? The same results that we been getting! Wherever we are right now in our life is the direct result of the actions and thoughts that we have been taking.

 

When we look around, what do we see? If we like what we see; if we see an organized, clean space; if we feel strong and confident; then we been taking positive actions and thinking positive, strong thoughts.

 

If on the other hand we are unhappy with the way we have shaped up or we feel low about the situation that surrounds us, then obviously we have to introspect on our approach and alter our actions.

 

We must take responsibility and own the fact that the results we see are because of the choices we made. We must not pose as a victim of outside circumstances. To alter the results, we must choose every desirable change in thinking and actions.

 

If what we think and do, makes us falter

New results need our approach to alter!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Dignity

 Yesterday, at the Samraat Vykhanmala lecture series, IAS officer, Daulat Hawaldar spoke on the value of money in human life. He used a quote by German philosopher, Immanuel Kant:

 ‘In the kingdom of ends, everything has a price or a dignity. What has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent; what on the other hand is raised above all price and therefore admits of no equivalent has a dignity.’

 

Money may seem to buy many things but it cannot buy dignity. On the other hand, dignity, even in poverty, can overcome hurdles. Money is the transient treasure but dignity is the consistent intrinsic value.

 

Kant went on to say ‘What is related to general human inclinations and needs has a market price; but that which constitutes the condition under which alone something can be an end in itself with an inner worth, is dignity.’

It is pertinent to note the true value of dignity is in its connection to joyfulness. While lack of money may bring situations of misery, these can be offset by the asset of dignity. Conversely, surplus of wealth does not guarantee escape from misery.

in the quest for joy, focus on dignity…

it is more vital than money as priority!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Rainbow

 The rainbow is my favourite analogy during Independence Day functions. A ray of sunlight passes through a raindrop and breaks into a spectrum of seven colours. A rainbow is formed as the seven diverse colours are in the alignment arc. If they were to branch off into various directions, the rainbow would not take shape.

This analogy has a deeper dimension as we celebrate our country’s Independence Day. We are a nation of diversity of variety. Languages, customs, attire, beliefs, cuisine, looks… everything is as wide-ranging as it can be. The dissimilarities are obvious and oft result into differences.

Never mind the differences, we must choose to align ourselves to the real spectrum of the diversity of India. To paraphrase Voltaire, we may disagree but not become disagreeable. We may argue but we must not allow the argument to widen the rift.

So often, so many of us mistakenly insist on uniformity for alignment. But diversity is stifled by uniformity as the rainbow would lose its essence if the seven colours were to turn into a single hue.

 

Acceptance and respect for different dimensions of ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, physical abilities, ideas, beliefs and ideologies will celebrate the diversity of our country… and create a colourful rainbow of citizens who relate to each other!

Seven colours align together for a rainbow to emerge
Would a rainbow ever form, if they chose to diverge?

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

MONDAY MUSE is now into the 19^th year, written since the first Monday of 2004, by Goa based Experiential Corporate Coach, Pravin K. Sabnis. Send your feedback to 8698672080 or 9422640141 or unlearning.unlimited@gmail.com

MondayMuse of 8 Aug 2022: Stranger

She and Vaman Sardesai were the Underground Voice that fought for Goa's Liberation. They started an underground radio to end press censorship in Portuguese colonised Goa.

During Goa’s liberation movement, they ran an underground radio service called 'Voz de Liberdade' in Portuguese, ‘Goenche Sadvonecho Awaz’ in Konkani and 'Voice of Freedom' in English. The broadcasts started in 1955 from the jungles of Amboli bordering Goa.

Post liberation, her initiatives led to the setting up of major Institutions like Women's Cooperative Bank, Home Science College and more. But despite Libia Lobo Sardessai's proactive presence she is a stranger to most of us.

This is all the more strange as her story is in school books, she features in news and articles. But like many other worthy personalities, she is a stranger for many people.

This is the tragedy of our Country. We lose sight of real heroes and worship idols of clay. We are influenced by fast changing screens of social media. Our connection is tangential and retention is momentary. Our lives are hurried and harried with no time to look, learn and understand.

We do not fail the great personalities like Libia who keep doing their work. We fail ourselves as we lose opportunity to be inspired by these personalities. They are not the strangers. It is we who are becoming strangers to our own realities of the past, present & future.

Look, listen & learn; let time truly unfurl

Don't become a stranger to the world

- Pravin K. Sabnis

MONDAY MUSE is now into the 19th year, written since the first Monday of 2004, by Goa based Experiential Corporate Coach, Pravin K. Sabnis. Send your feedback to 8698672080 or 9422640141 or unlearning.unlimited@gmail.com

Wait

A Chinese bamboo tree takes five years to grow. It has to be watered and fertilized in the ground where it has been planted every day. It doesn't break through the ground for five years. After five years, once it breaks through the ground, it will grow 80 feet tall in five weeks!

 

Now imagine a scenario where the person who plants the seed calls it quits before the fifth year. It is natural for frustration to creep in when no transformation is evident for four years. The agony is in direct proportion to the intensity of effort.

 

But it would be tragic to miss out on the deserving glory of the 80 feet shoot. So often we quit just when positive results to our proactive efforts are just round the corner. It is not enough to take initiative and follow up with sincere actions. We must learn to wait.

 

To be better at getting a deserving consequence we must inculcate the attitude of patience and perseverance. The outcome may be delayed but it is worth the wait when the end-result more than makes up for the delay.

learn to be patient in every waiting game
script of bamboo & success is the same!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

online

Today is birth anniversary of an online friend that I never met in person. He lived in Bangalore and me in Goa… and there was no further chance for us to meet as Mohan Pai passed away on 15 June in 2010.

 

But he was not just a virtual friend; we were virtually as good friends as two persons could be. We never met, yet we could and would connect with each other. We spoke regularly to each other on phone and through email & Facebook.

 

The initiative to keep in touch was largely his. We talked about our blogs, the environment, temple architecture and many things of common interest. On his recommendation, some of his fiends would drop in to see me during their trips to Goa.

So often, we insist that friendship is strained by distance. While physical proximity helps nurture a relationship, it may also becoming overbearing by constricting the space in between.

 

Relationships require only closeness of communication that comes from an interest to interact with each other... as seen in the case of Mohanbab who remains among my list of close friends, although our connection was only online over just three years.

My online friend built a real relationship

It is the connection that binds a kinship!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Onions

 

In a town, a dervish passed through one street into the other, and as he reached the second one, the people there noticed that his eyes were streaming with tears. Someone has died in the other street!’ one cried, and soon all the children in the neighborhood had taken up the cry.

 

What had really happened was that the dervish had been peeling onions. Within a short space of time the cry had reached the first street; and now both streets were distressed and fearful that they dared not make complete inquiries as to the cause of the furore.

 

In Idries Shah’s story, it was the onion that had caused the tears. But instead of finding the real reason, people of both streets chose to be swayed by unfounded speculation. Rumours were further propelled to spread like wildfire.

 

When some measure of order was restored, it was only enough for the two communities to decide to emigrate to save themselves. Centuries later, the town is still deserted; and not so far away are two villages.

 

Each village has its own tradition of how it began as a settlement from a doomed town, through a fortunate flight, in remote times, from a nameless evil. And the false rumour has turned into a fake account of what had happened.

 

We must use objective reasoning and a spirit to inquiry to know the reality obscured by surface impressions. The refusal to use simple logic is dangerous. We must seek answers to basic questions. Others we will create a distorted past and a fearful present.

 

Ask questions that will weed out fears

Remember the onion caused the tears!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

100%

Priol Pragati Manch, an NGO working in field of education, agriculture and human resource development, had organised its annual felicitation of meritorious students at Goa Board exams from constituency of MLA and Minister, Govind Gaude.

 

At the function, three schools were recognised for 100% result. The NGO has been helping all the schools in the area for infrastructure and other educational facilitation. But their success was commendable for another major reason.

 

In many top urban schools, 100% result is achieved by edging out weak students in the 8th class. But the Priol schools strived to pull in students from underserved communities and empower them to be better equipped to take on life’s challenges.  

 

It is no big deal to get success by dropping perceived failures. True success is to empower each young student in various ways. The success story of a school is in the students that it retains and helps connect to their potential.

 

It is an easy shortcut to push out, but it is unfair and unjust. Surely it is better to pull in, hold hands and move ahead. 100% should be the effort, not a manipulated result. 100% should be to benefit all, not show success of only the privileged few.

 

Do pay heed to ensure edged out is none

100% should include each and everyone!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Elephant

Last Saturday, Shailendra Mehta’s Konkani book ‘Mukt Chintan’ was released in Goa. Research scholar, Kaustubh Naik, in his speech, mentioned play ‘Elephant, the King of All Times’ written by Saadallah Wannous, acclaimed Syrian playwright.

 The play is about a king’s elephant who moves around freely, wreaking havoc, destroying people’s crops, trampling on their means of survival and crushing a little child to death. The citizens are tired of the tusker’s destruction and they are convinced by Zakarya to complain to the King.

 

Zakarya trains the people on how to approach the King respectfully. Yet, in the King’s presence, they struggle to speak. Zakarya’s training is in vain. After several attempts, Zakarya (to save his life) requests that the king find a female for the elephant!

 

Zakarya’s actions reflect the predicament of the intellectual in societies where silence has become an achievement. His people’s betrayal, at a critical moment, forces him to to give up his instigator role. He went from a leader, who tried to oppose power, into a servant of the elephant.

 

With fear, silence sets in and with such silence, confidence too dips. We will have a better future when we unbridle our tongues. When we set ourselves free from the slavery of silence, our grievances will be heard. Ignoring the elephant in the room will not make it disappear!

 

The unbridled mammoth’s havoc will create gloom

Worse is when we ignore the elephant in the room!

- Pravin K. Sabnis