Side-lines

Ball boys and Ball girls are aspiring sports-persons who do duty on the side-lines. They retrieve and pass on the balls to the players or officials in sports like football, tennis, cricket, basketball, etc. Their involvement helps to speed up play by reducing the inactive time.

It is pertinent to note that this role is a huge opportunity. They get a close-up view of the play and the players. They get to see and learn the intricacies. Successful sports-persons disclose the invaluable inspiration and instruction imbibed while doing duty on the side-lines.

Besides, fitness and stamina, applicants for ball-boys or ball-girls are required to possess abilities to concentrate and remain alert. Focus is linked to passion for the game. Conversely, the passion for the game leads to focus when on the side-lines.

Not all who learn from the side-lines get opportunity to grow and glow as players. But they will make good coaches, support staff, sports journalists, commentators, score-keepers, administrators or an enlightened audience … who learnt the lessons on the side-lines.

Aspiring sports-persons must do duty on the side-lines. Aspiring performers must do duty at the side-lines and backstage. Aspiring leaders must do duty at the side-lines. What may seem non-essential activity provides the best view of the action... from the side-lines!

For the greatest learning opportunity
The aspirants must do side-line duty!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis

Hand on Rail

 A few months ago, a training interface was organised for rural students at the Nestle plant by Rotary Club of Ponda. It was impressing to note the importance given to safety norms by Nestle’s. One such insistence was to hold the hand rail while moving on the stairs. 

It seems like a needless guideline but if we consider it closely, we find it to be a life-saver. A slight slip on the steps can turn fatal. However if our hand is on the rail, we would be in control and recover our balance.

A handrail provides stability and support and prevent injurious falls while ascending and descending on stairways and escalators. Nevertheless, the handrail would be useless if our hand is not on the rail.

The analogy is apt as a lesson for life, too. Our ethics should be the hand rail that we hold on to while ascending or descending in our life. We may slip or trip on the stairs but if we hold on to our ethics, we will be safe and in control of our response to the implications of our actions.

Hand on the rail will ensure a safe day…
Hold on to ethics while moving the way!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Approval

Zen Master, Kosen was exceptionally skilled in calligraphy. Once, he was asked to sketch onto paper the words ‘The First Principle’, to guide carpenters to carve a larger carving in wooden gate of the temple. However while he sketched he was wary of a bold apprentice who stood next to him, disapproving of Kosen first effort and his next and his next… 

Kosen kept writing one sheet after another till many had accumulated, still without the endorsement of the pupil. Then, when his student stepped outside for a few moments, Kosen saw his chance to escape his keen eye. He wrote hurriedly, with a mind free from distraction. The pupil returned to see his work and pronounce, ‘A masterpiece!’

Until, Kosen was engulfed by the weight of measuring up to his pupil’s approval, he could not actualise his own capability. The pressure weighed him down and distracted him from his own natural performance. The momentary exit of his student freed him of the tension and he was able to complete the task to his own approval as well as that of his pupil!

So often, we succumb to the stress and strain of approval and expectations of others, not only when surrounded by them, but also in their absence. Worrying about what others will think about what we did is the biggest distraction that side-tracks us off our path. To be better at doing anything, we need to liberate ourselves of the anxiety that comes out of worrying about appraisal by others.

A distraction and a deadly strain
The burden of approval is a pain!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Best?

Two years ago, the celebrity dance-choreographer, Terence Lewis shared an interesting learning from his inspirational life. As a child he would participate in every contest and would keep winning prizes, especially in dancing.

After winning yet another dancing competition, he proudly went on stage to receive his trophy at the hands of the Chief Guest and Main Jury. While handing over the Cup, the lady muttered, ‘You were the best among the worst!’ Terence was stunned.

Thinking that he had heard wrong, he approached the lady again. She insisted that he won only because the others in the competition were bad performers. The incident triggered a paradigm shift in Terence’s approach towards dancing. He was no longer interested in winning. He worked hard to get better and better to be what he is today!

Often, we involve in disproportionate celebration of a below par show in a below par competition. We delude ourselves that we have achieved great success when we may have not have scaled mediocrity. Such delusion defeats real growth in competency and capabilities.

On social media, we see such delusions in plenty. Self-declarations of average achievements and self-gratifications are further propped up by excessive appreciation that is contrary to actual reality. In such cases, we must correctly evaluate where we stand and do what needs to be done to be better!

Where mediocrity runs, the race is no test
Don’t delude yourself about being the best

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Excelsior!

Last Monday, the iconic comic book author Stan Lee passed away. In collaboration with others at Marvel, he co-created popular fictional characters: Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Ant-Man and others. On his death the term, ‘excelsior!’ was trending on twitter.

Stan Lee had used ‘Excelsior!’ as his signature sign-off line for decades, and it fundamentally infused the comic book industry's collective subconscious. ‘Excelsior!’ is also the name of Stan Lee's autobiography. Lee, when asked, would define the word as meaning ‘onward and upward to greater glory.’

‘Excelsior!’ is an inspirational thought. It is about not resting in erstwhile magnificence. It is about moving ahead to take on greater challenges. It is about progressing beyond the best of performances to greater glory. It is about living a life like Lee, constantly embarking on newer initiatives and creatives.

So often, so many of us allow the burden of previous performance to weigh us down into a comfort zone of relaxing and resting in the achievements in the past. True living is to stretch out of that complacence. Even after surmounting a peak, we must move on to scale newer peaks… onward and upward to greater glory… Excelsior!

On laurels do not halt to relax and rest
Excelsior! Move on to better your best!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

This earth is ours, the sky is too

(this poem written in May 2001 is based on the Mitwa song from the Hindi movie, Lagaan… an effective training tool used by me to underline ownership of passion, positivity and synergy… different lines have appeared as meaningful concepts in various blogs of Monday Muse since 2004… now it appears all together)

Every saint says so…
Every sage says so…
If you possess sincerity and daring
Eventually, you'll find yourself winning!

Don't mind the length of the road..
Don't tire out under the load
Listen to the essence of my words..
Don't disappoint these inviting roads

King of this world... that's you...
Believe this fact to be true
Take all troubles head-on....
Never sing a loser's song
Why does fear overpower you?
This earth is ours, the sky is too!

The thoughts in your mind...
Are mine too, you'll find
Your dreams are akin to my life mission…
Lamps of hope lit up our vision.
May these lamps never wane…
Come storm, thunder or rain!

The skies will sing, fun will gather...
Only if you and I call out together
The season of flowers shall bloom..
Bringing happiness and chasing the gloom
Together we can create a colourful way...
Why do you keep alone and away?

Why does fear overpower you?
This earth is ours, the sky is too!


~ Pravin K Sabnis

Diwali

Effigies of evil strut in the streets…
Loudspeakers blow, drums beat…
The blaring music, the rhythmic dance…
Carnaval is back with its mesmeric trance!

Is it a time to be happy and gay?
Or is it just revelry gone astray?
Questions stagger in the mind…
Why does the light seek to blind?

The youth celebrate the blinding blaze
And children watch in innocent daze
As the sky breaks into another dawn
Everyone is now beginning to yawn…

It is time to sleep, you know…
It is Diwali – the festival of lights!

(poem written in November 1991… In Goa, effigies of Narkasura are burnt early in the morning. Due to keeping up all night, most of us would feel sleepy on Diwali day)

- Pravin K Sabnis