Burden free

Yesterday at the Museum of Goa, Suraj Morajkar unravelled his remarkable journey in an interaction with artist Subodh Kerkar. There was a common strand in his responses… he chose to be burden free at different pressure situations in his expedition from first generation entrepreneur to establishing himself a brand!

The first burden was about being eligible in terms of experience, qualification or backing… he had none but it did not weigh him down. As he grew, there was the burden of competition… to outdo others… but he chose to focus on his own aspiration.

There were many pressures: to magnify ambition… to speed up… to stretch out… to match up… to change values and lifestyle… to be swayed by connections… to play safe and sell out… Suraj chose to avoid all such pressures and remain grounded to his roots and his principles. And this attitude stood him in good stead.

 

Too often, too many of us are unsteadied by external encumbrances. We allow the burden of expectation, conformity, haste & reckless ambition to weigh us down. We can choose to be free from these loads by maintaining the connection with our values and the core vision of what we set out to do.

We must choose to avoid unrelated burdens that stifle our free will and free movement towards the destination we are heading. We must be driven by intrinsic motivation without being deviated by extrinsic distractions. We must choose to be burden free.

Focus on the dream while walking the road

Be burden free from all diversionary loads!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Do Something

An elderly lady would go to a lake & clean the shells of turtles there. When a passer-by asked her the reason, she said that the algae or scum that builds up on a turtle’s shell reduces its ability to absorb heat and slows down their swimming. It can also corrode their shell and weaken it over time.

But the man pointed out that most turtles live their entire lives with algae on their shells. The woman agreed that was true. He asked, ‘are you really making a difference if most turtles don’t have people around to clean their shells?’ The woman laughed and said, ‘I making a difference to these ones!’

Dr Seuss said it so well that ‘To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.’ Even if we cannot change the world or help everyone, we can still make a huge difference in one person’s life by offering them the help that we can.

So often, so many of us prefer to not do anything because we can’t do everything. We must do something for someone, rather than wait to do everything for everyone. Our world is empowered by little acts that make a difference, even if it is limited to a few

Do not wait to do everything for everyone

It is better to do something for someone!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Choose to Challenge

 The theme of International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’. Those who choose to challenge are choosing to be alert, aware and active. They are ready to stand up and stand out from the crowd. History is witness to many such women who have risen up to the challenge.

 However, it is also true that there has been great opposition to the courageous ones. Savitribai Phule & Fatima Sheikh had dung and stones hurled at them. Rosa Parks was arrested for seating on a ‘reserved’ seat in a bus. There are many who have been attacked, brutalised and murdered for rising up.

 Today on social media, we see Freudian slips by many in the way they troll the women that speak up. The abuse includes threats to rape. And such regressive trolls are followed and supported by others who themselves may not have a courage of unmasking their real attitude towards women.

 Prejudice is born of discriminatory conditioning. The challengers could do without abuse and bigoted judgements. May be the rest of us have to choose to challenge our own chauvinism & prejudice. We must call out gender bias. We must choose to be sensitive, responsive and responsible to help create an inclusive world.  

 those who choose to challenge, every day

need a non-judgemental, abuse-free way!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Take the Joke

Politician, Shashi Tharoor is known for use of complex words while speaking English. Words like sesquipedalian, perspecacity, defenestrate make you run to refer the lexicon. Memes on his English trigger laughter as well as help learn a new word.  Last week, a hilarious tutorial video was posted by a Pakistan comedian, Akbar Chaudry.

In it, he comes up with ways to speak the kind of English Tharoor does and ace it. The ways include taking the dictionary and crush it as a smoothie or inject it like a drip or turn it to powder and snort it. Immediately, he starts to speak Tharoorian words. Actually Chaudry is lip-synching to Tharoor’s speeches playing in the background.

The hilarious clip has gone viral with over 3 lakh views in just 3 days. It has been shared by thousands including Tharoor who ‘reshared’ the video. He asked for a similar video on the Pak PM, Imran Khan as well. We don’t how that one will be received but we all know that Tharoor can take a joke.

 

If you can take a joke, you are able to laugh when someone makes a joke about you or does something to trick you. Everyone loves a good joke but when the joke's on you, it's hard to know how to react, respond, and continue having a good time.

So often, so many of us are easily offended. We question the intention and react with rage and accusations. Being offended is a choice. You can choose not to let a joke get to you. We must stop taking things too seriously. We are human and our traits and actions can seem funny to others. 

A light-hearted kidding is good to help lighten perspectives. If you are having a hard time finding the humour in a joke about you, try taking the perspective of an outsider. Retell the joke in your head but about somebody else, perhaps somebody you don't even know. This will definitely help reduce your defensiveness.

Do not overreact to every barb & poke

Take it easy & sportingly take the joke!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

As we are

‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are’

Anais Nin used this statement in her 1961 work ‘Seduction of the Minotaur’. She presented two illustrations of distinctive perceptions in passages that occur shortly before the adage appears in her writing. When Nin wrote the adage she did not take credit for the notion. Instead, she pointed to a talmudic text.

 We see only so much of the world as we have perceptive organs for seeing. We see the world not as it is, but as moulded by the individual peculiarities of our minds. Every man looks through the eyes of his prejudices, of his preconceived notions. Hence, it is difficult to broaden a man so that he will realize truth as other men see it.

 As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. As a man sees in his heart, so he sees. Through unclean windows, lenses, senses, we see things not as they are but as we are. Each of us tends to think we see things as they are, that we are objective. But this is not the case. We are conditioned to see it.

 When we open our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe ourselves, our perceptions, our paradigms. We must examine our prejudices and the conditioning that created it. Only then, we will realise that as we are, we are likely to see things in the same light. And that is the reality that deludes us into believing we are objective.

 It is the tragic truth of ‘as we are’

from true objectivity, we stray far!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Heart on Sleeve

Creative entrepreneur and a big name in event set-ups in Goa, Vinayak Dessai made a shockingly early exit on last Friday morning.  Sadness set on the minds of those who knew him. The major memories shared were of his trait of wearing his heart on his sleeve. He would easily share his emotions without holding back.

To openly display or make known one's emotions is not easy. It requires the innocence that we find often in a child and rarely in an adult. Vinayak was one such transparent person. He had nothing to hide as he wronged none. Even the ones who bore the brunt of his angry outbursts were recipients to love and concern in greater magnitude.

The expression is found in Shakespeare’s Othello where the villainous Iago tells Rodrigo: ‘For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In complement extern, 'tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.’

Iago conveys his belief that if his heart is openly revealed, he will become vulnerable to attack. So often, so many of us are reluctant to express emotional honesty and openness. We want to play safe by hiding our true sentiments. We try to draw advantage from concealing our thoughts from others.

Personalities like Vinayak Dessai who wear their heart on their sleeve, build strong bonds of love and trust. He had nothing to hide as he had the courage to be what he was: a giving, empathic nature, despite being betrayed by some. Such trustworthy hearts leave forever… in the hearts that enjoyed the openness.  

No pretence… as they have nothing to hide

with ‘heart on sleeve’ in hearts they reside!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Process

Satish Bhatia had composed the music of a TV serial. The singer, who was to record the title song, flew in from Mumbai and reached the recording studio in Delhi at 11 in the morning. The track was ready. He needed to learn the melody and record. It would not have taken much time for a professional like him.

But he had not done his daily riyaaz because of the early morning flight. So he sat – inside the studio with the studio harmonium – and for three hours he practised, eyes closed, completely focused. Riyaaz was over by 2:30 in the afternoon. “Lunch?” he was asked. “After the recording,” he said.

He listened to the tune, read the lyrics and began practising. He was ready by 3:30 pm to record. By 5 pm, the title song in different variants was ready. The producer was ecstatic, the composer was highly satisfied, and the singer was happy with the final product. "Let us have that lunch now," he declared.

Bhatia’s nephew, Ajay Mankotia was witness to the dedication of Jagjit Singh, an established artiste who refused to own up the arrogance that comes from the burden of past performance. In fact his competency and skill were empowered by his attitude of following the process that was needed for him to give his best.

So often, so many of us get complacent as we get competent. We allow the previous result to make us careless in our present efforts. We forget that it is the process that created the performance. Successful persons like Jagjit Singh escape the lull that makes us think that the process was not important.

It is not just you but the process too

that makes you rise above the blue!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis