Sounds of Silence

The last four days held many happy moments for the members of Rotary Club Panaji Riveira and others. They had organised a 4-day RYLA – Rotary Youth Leadership Award – a youth empowerment workshop designed and led by yours truly. For four consecutive years, it was organised for the visually challenged. This year it was organised for the hearing impaired from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

In keeping with its title ‘Milaap’ – the workshop became a meeting ground for the learners and diverse resource persons like Angad Singh’s team (hospitality skills), Prasad Joshi (adventure), Somu Rao (scientific temper), D’Satish (magic), Satish Nayak of AFA (astronomy), Vividh Pawaskar (teamworking), Augustine Fernandes (inspiration), Afsar Hussain (mime) and others. The participants did not seem really disadvantaged. However, we seemed handicapped by our glaring deficiencies in communication competencies.

They were assertive, positive and dynamic in their response. They were eager learners and proactive in their participation. They danced, played, worked and involved in all the trainings. They displayed high self esteem and were making the most of the workshop experience. Their awesome attitude was seen in their expressive gestures as well as in their actions aligned with discipline, dedication and togetherness.

We learnt from our participants to be like them: to be better at understanding by ensuring engaged scrutiny.  We learnt to be better at communicating with the sounds of silence. We learnt to be better at empathetic listening and critical observing. After all, it is only in silence that we truly become focussed and effective in our expression. Maybe that’s why silence is said to be golden!

The sounds of silence need empowering

to BE BETTER at simple communicating!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Enlightened

Mulla Nasruddin’s friend saw him walking with a large group of followers. Whatever Nasruddin did, his followers would do likewise. Every few steps he would shake his hands in the air, touch his feet and jump up yelling ‘Hu Hu Hu!’ His followers would ape him and do exactly the same thing.

The friend took Nasruddin aside and asked him, ‘What are you doing? Why are these people imitating you?’

‘I have become a Sufi saint’ replied Nasruddin. ‘These are spiritual seekers; I am helping them reach enlightenment!’

‘How do you know when they reach enlightenment?’

‘That’s the easy part... every morning I count them. The ones who have left... they have reached enlightenment!’

So often, we follow the irrational in quest of a sublime purpose. It is a human need to be part of a clan or cluster. But the worthiness of that clique must be confirmed. The noblest of intentions need to be empowered by the ability to constantly question whether we are on the right path and more importantly whether we are emulating the right actions.

It is all right to make a mistake while choosing the wrong person to follow. But it is not acceptable to keep following the wrong road. To be better at being enlightened, we must constantly review and clarify the choices we make and the actions we undertake. And more importantly we must have the courage to move away and move on the appropriate course that is illuminated by the radiant light of reasoning.

To BE BETTER at enlightened illumination...

We need to undergo constant clarification!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

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.

Rush Not

Today’s fast paced world creates many casualties, but surely the most prominent would be the willingness to wait. There are many prospects to practise patience in life: while downloading from the internet, while we wait for our colleague to finish speaking, while we wait for things to happen.

Most of us treat these moments as a hassle, a bother, a time to live through while we wait for something more interesting. We regret waiting; we wish computers were faster. We have this anxious attitude of being in a constant rush. Our quality of life suffers as a result. We do not enjoy life to its fullest.

A good example is when walking. There are two speeds at which we walk. The first is a purposeful stride, designed to get one to the destination as quickly as possible. The second is more of a casual stroll, with an opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the journey. Although it is slower, this speed can turn more efficient as one can cherish every minute to the fullest.

We must have this attitude with all of life. The fastest and impatient way is not always the most efficient. It is worth relaxing and slowing down if life gets more enjoyable as a result. Of course, it is possible to be in a rush and still feel relaxed, but this takes practice. But, it is only possible to do if there is a real reason for our rush, rather than just a broad sense of being highly-strung.

The paradox of the modern age is that it is easier to be efficient, and yet we are more stressed and rushed than ever before. The problem lies in our attitudes. We are so focused on getting things done that we have forgotten how to enjoy what we are doing. We must be better at forgetting the mad rush and letting things happen at their own pace.

Rush not... as if running a short race

Let’s BE BETTER at slowing the pace!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India