NOVAK DJOKOVIC

 

Novak Djokovic is not just a champion. He's a role model. His presence elevates the game itself

When the crowd chanted Roger, he said he had heard Novak as he was playing Roger Federer. 

He had convinced himself it was like that.

When quizzed what made him so unyielding, when facing match points,  Novak replied:

"It's like being on the edge of a cliff. There is no going back. This is it. I accept the situation and try to make the most out of it. 

It's a matter of life or death at that point. At that point the feeling is all or nothing."

ASTRONAUT JOSE HERNANDEZ

 

 

ASTRONAUT JOSE HERNANDEZ

“Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.”

                       (Langston Hughes)

 

In August 2009, a few weeks after turning 47, Jose Hernandez stepped into the space shuttle. He sat down, buckled in, and braced himself for takeoff. Just before midnight, he heard the countdown and watched the engines light up. Eight and a half minutes after blasting into the sky the engines were shut off. Jose couldn’t believe his eyes. To convince himself it was real, he tossed a piece of equipment up. Watching it hover, he marveled, “I guess we are in space!!” Over the course of two weeks in space, he flew over five million miles. It was a short hop compared to the distance he had travelled for the chance to wear a spacesuit.

 Jose had gone from picking strawberries in fields to floating among stars.

 Jose Hernandez had been raised in poverty by undocumented immigrants. To make ends meet, the entire family took a long road trip from central Mexico to Northern California each winter. They stopped at farms along the way to pick everything from Strawberries and Grapes to Tomatoes and cucumbers. Come fall, they headed back down to Mexico for a few months. The journey forced Jose to miss several months of School and scrape by during the rest of the year in three different districts. After José started his second grade, his father began cobbling together day jobs so that they could stay in one place. But José still had to work weekends in the fields to help and support his family. That left him with limited time for homework and he couldn’t rely on his parents for assistance. They had third grade education only.

 Many kids go through an astronaut phase. Jose was no exception. On a historic evening in 1972, ten year old Jose Hernandez was mesmerized by the moon walk of the last Apollo astronauts. He watched them, on the TV, bounding across the surface of the moon. Jose hoped that one day, he would etch his own footsteps on the moon. He, however, was committed to making his dream a reality.

As his strongest subjects were math and science, he felt engineering would be his ride to space. Over the two subsequent decades, he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering. The qualification landed him a job as an engineer at a federal research facility.

 

No one was aware what Jose had been through. As mentioned earlier, he was raised in a family of migrant workers. When he started kindergarten in California, he didn’t speak English. He finally became fluent in English only at the age of twelve. When he applied for jobs after his master’s degree in engineering, the application forms did not ask for unconventional skills like picking grapes. It didn’t signal that gaining command over  English language would qualify as an honor. The awards section wasn’t a place to mention passing Physics while working in the fields.

 The system wasn’t designed to identify and weigh the adversity, the candidates had overcoe in life.

Jose’s academic performance had been lackluster. In College he had Cs in Chemistry, calculus and programming in the first semester No one would ever know why his grades had suffered or why they had improved as time progressed.

 To afford tuition, Jose had worked the graveyard shift at a fruit and vegetable cannery arriving at 10.00pm and finishing at 6.00am.It was a strain to stay alert in the class, let alone master the topics.

 When the fruit season ended, he worked nights and weekends as a restaurant busboy. He completed his first semester with a C average, between demanding classes and a grueling schedule.

Things started improving as Jose found work with more reasonable hours. He could organize a more sustainable routine. It helped him take the initiative to seek tutoring to fill gaps in his sphere of knowledge. The outcome was, he earned many ‘A’s that had helped him graduate with cum laude honors. The excellent performance won him a full scholarship to a master’s programme in engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Jose accepted with glee the offer of a job at the federal research facility, on successful completion of his master’s degree in electrical engineering.

 In 1989, he submitted the astronaut application. NASA rejected it. But he didn’t give up hope. He applied again and again, revising his resume, highlighting his strengths and updating his references. However, he met with rejection after rejection.

 The last rejection in 1996 broke his spirit. He had the sinking feeling he would never be enough for NASA. He was on the verge of quitting. But his wife Adela, encouraged him to go on. She told him he should not throw away his dream.

 “Let NASA be the one to disqualify you,” she urged, “Don’t disqualify yourself.”

 

In 1998, when Jose was 36, he submitted another astronaut application. Prior to that, he had taken a year to earn his pilot’s licence. In addition to that, he spent another year to acquire basic, advanced and master certifications in scuba diving. In between all these efforts, he had learned to speak Russian.

 

NASA, at last had responded to his application, inviting him to attend an interview. When the interviewer gave him an hour to talk about his background, Jose for once had opened up. He revealed he had started out as a migrant farmer. He narrated how he had come up.

 The observation of the interviewer was, “If Jose could accomplish all that by coming from someplace like he did, to overcome all that and get to the same place other people reached, then he had a lot of desire and capability.”

 Jose was partially successful with the astronaut application in 1998. NASA had offered him a job as an engineer, not as an astronaut. He was happy he could be part of the mission to send humans to space, though he might not be going up.

After a number of years working as a NASA engineer, in 2004, his phone rang. He was asked whether he was replaceable. He replied he would be happy to train someone to take his place.

 “Good,” the caller said, “How would you like to come and work for the astronaut’s office?”

 After 15 years of applying, Jose was selected to go to space.

 “The second I heard the good news,” he recalls, “My whole body went numb.”

 He raced to his house to break the news to his wife, children and parents who celebrated by hugging and dancing.

 “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one had reached in life

As by the obstacles ……..overcome while trying to succeed.                                                                                        (Booker T Washington)

 In August 2009, a few weeks after turning 47, Jose Hernandez stepped into the space shuttle. He sat down, buckled in, and braced himself for takeoff. Just before midnight, he heard the countdown and watched the engines light up. Eight and half minutes after blasting into the sky the engines were shut off. Jose couldn’t believe his eyes. To convince himself it was real, he tossed a piece of equipment up. Watching it hover, he marveled, “I guess we are in space!!” Over the course of two weeks in space, he flew over five million miles. It was a short hop compared to the distance he had travelled for the chance to wear a spacesuit.

 Jose had gone from picking strawberries in fields to floating among stars.

 

Hidden Potential

Adam Grant

 

 

 

 .

 

 

CALL YACHOL

 

CALL YACHOL

CALL YACHOL is a call center in Israel. It was launched by Gil Winch who had been a therapist in training. However he became frustrated with psychology. He felt it was not enough to help one client at a time. He wished to solve problems on a larger scale. He discovered that worldwide, people with disabilities were struggling to find employment and acceptance. People with impairments in their hearing, vision, movement, memory, learning and communication shared a common experience. Whether they had a physical disability or a psychological disorder, they knew from a lifetime of stigma and rejection that they were likely to be underestimated or overlooked.

Gil wanted to showcase the ability of people with disabilities. He established CALL YACHOL, which is Hebrew for ‘able to do anything,’ the call center staffed entirely by people with disabilities.

For selection of candidates for hiring, Gil overhauled the interview process. In his system, the interviewers are hosts, not interrogators. They treat you like a guest in their home. It relaxes you. It frees you from anxiety, awkwardness and stress. In the bargain they are able to see you light up on what you love. Instead of bombarding you with intimidating riddles and unfamiliar problems, they challenge you, providing the opportunity to exhibit your skills in familiar or conducive situations. They encourage you to exhibit your abilities, leading you through real time work samples. And if you fail, they give you a second chance to succeed.

At the end of the interview, they ask you to rate your interview experience. They ask you what they can do differently to get to know you better.

The process enables the highlighting of each candidate’s skills. Here skills are gauged by what people can do, not what they say or what they have done. It doesn’t try to trip people up. It gives them the chance to put their best foot forward.

Industry insiders were skeptical that Gil’s hiring model would work. They didn’t expect that people with disabilities would thrive in a fast paced, high pressure environment. But they did.

In one case he had a manager who was legally blind supervising an employee with hearing loss. Though it didn’t sound like a recipe for success, Gil was confident it would work. Having seen their strengths up close, he knew the distance the team was capable of travelling. They didn’t just meet expectations. They shattered them.

Harvey is another example of the virtuosity of Gil’s model.

Harvey who was on the autism spectrum, was struggling to concentrate when he showed up for his second interview. The interviewer called for a break and gave him an hour to reset. He aced the redo and got the job. But it was a difficult assignment. It was a cold-calling job, where rudeness and rejection were the norm. People never last in this kind of a job. But Harvey was a paragon of grit and resilience. He’s now been a star for eight years, consistently reaching his monthly goals and receiving an award in front of whole team as the employee of the quarter.

It’s explicit that an interview model like Call Yachol’s is not just a compelling way to open the door to underdogs. It’s a way to recognize the potential in everyone. It brings each candidate’s skills to the forefront.

It is evident, if the normal is selection by elimination, brilliance has little scope to go places.

Hidden Potential

Adam Grant

 

 

OBSTACLES

 

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life

as by the obstacles,,,,,,,overcome while trying to succeed 

Booker T Washington

It's a mistake to judge people solely by the heights they've reached. By favouring applicants who have already excelled, selection systems underestimate and overlook candidates who are capable of greater things. When we confuse past performance with future potential, we miss out on people,  whose achievements have involved overcoming major obstacles. We need to consider how steep their slope was, how far they have climbed and how they've have grown along the way. 

The test of a diamond in the rough is not whether it shines from the start, but how it responds to heat and pressure.

STRESS

 

Stress is a part of life. But you need to learn to manage it.

You have to learn to let go of what's not in your control.

Though wisdom comes with time, it is important to listen when someone shares their learnings with you.

Please do not wait for your own crisis to teach you the same thing the hard way.

Your body repays the care you give it.

Life can be uncertain.

Listen to your body's signals.

Even if you have none of the risk factors, smoking, drinking, diabetes or hypertension, you could be at risk.

The best diet won't help if your meal timings are erratic.

Your priorities need to change. Your family becomes your number one priority. 

Take care of yourself to ensure they get quality time with you.

LADDER // LATTICE

 

LADDER // LATTICE

In most workplaces opportunity exists on a ladder, not on a lattice. While the ladder, in the corporate structure, shows you the path to the leader at the top, the lattice is a crisscrossing structure like checker board that offers multiple paths to the top.

The lattice system rejects two unwritten rules that dominate ladder hierarchies – don’t go behind your boss’s back or above your boss’s head. These implicit rules often stop many people from speaking up and being heard. It removes the threat of punishment for going around and above the boss.

In the Ladder system a single ‘no’ is enough to kill an idea or even a career.

Managers often say no because your idea might be a threat to their ego – if it’s good -- or their image if it’s bad. The tide is invariably turned against the one who comes up with a creative suggestion.

It happens like that because unproven ideas carry too much risk and uncertainty.

Managers know that if they bet on a bad idea, it might be a career limiting move, but if they ignore a good idea, it’s unlikely anyone will ever find out.

And even if managers are supportive of an idea, if they perceive leaders above them would not like it, they tend to see it as a losing proposition.

All it takes is just one gatekeeper to shut out a new frontier

‘Hidden Potential’

Adam Grant

SHE

 

SHE

She is the incredible co-founder of everything that matters in my life.

I am fortunate to be cast as her companion.

She has always surprised me.

Ever since we became one, we have always been going around together.

She had been conscientious at her job till she superannuated

However, family  was and is her prime concern.

She had always pursued whatever she liked most.

Though her own people discouraged her, she went ahead to learn driving and had become an expert driver.

Retirement did not halt her.

She had sought out a school where they taught embroidery and stitching.

She went on to stitch her own dresses and was happily doing embroidery work on saris.

She was quite good in stitching her granddaughter’s dresses

She is an expert cook, with experimentation her forte.

She now takes the initiative to do things that she loves, finding happiness over whatever she does.

She is an excellent example, no matter the age; you can find your own happiness.

She knows very well improvisation is an important constituent of life.

Improvisation comes with experience, exposure, practice and the tasks you accomplish employing your skill.

To improvise her system is fully charged with what she has read and assimilated and they come together at the most appropriate time.

Dynamic all along, she never has a rigid frame of mind.

She is with you.

 

 

CHARACTER

 

CHARACTER

Character matters more than talent.

Character skills propel you to higher peaks.

They predict and produce success in life.

Character and personality are not the same.

Personality is your predisposition – your instincts for how to think, feel and act.

Character is your capacity to prioritize your values over your instincts.

Knowing your principles doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to practice them, particularly under stress or pressure.

The true test of character is whether you manage to stand by the values when the deck is stacked against you.

If personality is how you respond on a typical day, character is how you show up on a hard day.

Personality is your tendency.

Character skills enable you to transcend it and remain true to your principles

PIVOTAL

 

Understanding of self and mastering of self are pivotal in life

Opportunity would never come knocking.

You have to build your own doors.

RATING CHILDREN

 

RATING CHILDREN

Rate children on the following parameters

PROACTIVE

Do they take the initiative to ask questions, volunteer answers, seek information from books and engage the teacher to learn outside the class/

PROSOCIAL

Do they get along well and collaborate with their peers?

DISCIPLINE

Do they effectively pay attention and resist the impulse to disrupt the class?

DETERMINATION

Do they consistently take on challenging problems, do more than the assigned work and persist in the face of obstacles?

These capabilities, once they are imbibed by the children stay with them forever.

DISCOVER THE SMARTS

 

If we listen only to the smartest person in the room, we miss out on discovering the smarts that the rest of the room has to offer. 

Our greatest potential isn't always hidden inside us - sometimes it sparks between us, and sometimes it comes from outside our team altogether.

WEAK LEADERS

 

Weak leaders silence voice and shoot the messenger.

Strong leaders welcome voice and thank the messenger

Great leaders build systems to amplify voice and elevate the messenger. 

FINLAND // POWERHOUSE IN EDUCATION

 

FINLAND //  POWERHOUSE IN EDUCATION

Helsinki Olympics was held in 1952.- July 19 to August 3. It was the XV Olympiad. It marked the first Summer Games after World War II where the Soviet Union participated for the first time and competed with USA for the top medal spot. These games followed the cancelled 1940 Olympics slated for Helsinki.

Helsinki is the capital of Finland, a country of 5.6 million people.

The highlight of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics was the unique triple Gold won the Czech runner, Emil Zatopek, in the 5000m, 10000m, and marathon.

The Helsinki Olympics marked India’s first ever individual Olympic medal after independence. KDJadhav had won a bronze in men’s freestyle wrestling (Bantamweight) that was a landmark. India’s Hockey team had won the Gold medal in Field hockey in this Olympics.

Even as a very young boy who was growing up with scanty orientation, I had come across a few magazines – print was the only media available to me at that time, where they extolled the Helsinki Olympics. Those images are still vivid in my memory.

I didn’t know much geography. For me, both Finland and Poland seemed alike.

The late Malayalam Cine actor, Sreenivasan, in an outburst in one of his popular films was seen shouting at his adversaries, “Never speak a word about Poland.”

I had often wondered why educationists from Kerala were making a beeline for Finland. I felt it was only a small country with a population less than that of Kerala.

As I was reading ‘Hidden Potential’ by Adam Grant, I came across the greatness of Finland in the field of education among the nations of the world. Though a generation earlier, Finland had been known as education backwater, the nation had suddenly burst into the top on educational excellence in the world.

Principals, policymakers and journalists had quickly flocked to Finland to discover the secret sauce that could turn their schools around. But it was not an easily exportable commodity. Some of the essential ingredients for the transformation were local. Finland had an affluent homogenous population of just 5.6 million people. Though these ingredients might have played a role in Finland’s meteoric rise, extensive research had made it evident that Finland did not possess any magic ingredients that had triggered the quantum leap.

It was figured that much of their success stemmed from the culture they had created. The culture is rooted in a belief in the potential of all students. Instead of singling out the best and the brightest, Finnish schools are designed to give every student the opportunity to grow. Here the achievement gaps between schools and between students were the smallest in the world.    

Being disadvantaged was less of a disadvantage in Finland than anywhere else. Along with the high performers, they had the lowest rate of low performers.

In Finnish schools, the popular mantra is,”We can’t afford to waste a brain.” This ethos makes their educational culture distinct. They know that the key to nurturing hidden potential is not to invest in students who show early signs of high ability. It is to invest in every student regardless of apparent ability.

The quote from Marva Collins is very much relevant here:

“Just as Michelangelo thought there was an angel locked inside every piece of marble,  

I think there is a brilliant child locked inside every student.”

 Unfortunately the educational scenario in Kerala has never been anywhere close to Finland. We don’t have to search much for the causes of absolute decay and devastation in the system prevalent here.

Adam Grant in ‘Hidden Potential’ has made the following observations on the education system in Finland.

1.       Finland’s education system has created a culture of opportunity for all.

2.    Around the world children go ahead or fall behind due to the cultures created in schools and classrooms.

3.    Finland believes that each child has the intelligence and has the potential to excel.

4.    Success isn’t reserved for the gifted and the talented alone.

5.    The focus is on developing the individual interests of each student.

6.    They have professionalized education.

7.    The requirement is that all teachers have master’s degree from the best institutions.

8.    The teachers are paid well.

9.    There is individualized support for each student.

1     If they are weak anywhere, they are given more attention.

11  They believe the cultivation of the desire to read nourishes individual interests.

1   Reading is the basic skill for all subjects. If you don’t have the motivation to read, you can’t study any subject.

1    Reading is the gateway to opportunities.

1    If you want your children to read you have to let them see that you are doing exactly that..

1   The classroom ratio is, one teacher per 20 students.

1    Finland does not put performance above well being.

1   They do well due to a combination of high quality teaching, intrinsic motivation fuelling deeper learning, lower stress, lower test anxiety, improving focus and early development of character skills.

1   Finland is the best in the world at helping students progress without monopolizing their time, wreaking havoc on their lives or making them hate school.

1   An education system is truly successful only when all children irrespective of background and resources have the opportunity to reach their potential.

2   It succeeds when it fosters a culture that allows all students to grow intellectually and thrive emotionally. Finland has it all.

21  The more children read for fun, the better they get and the more they like it.

2    Instead of forcing children to read what you like or prefer, give them the opportunity to choose books that pique their interest and kindle excitement in them. At the end it crystallizes their love of reading.

2   A culture of opportunity succeeds only when students are motivated to take advantage of those opportunities.

2    In Finland, children are taught learning is fun.

2  Kindergartners sit at their desks for spelling, writing and math only one day a week. Each lesson is a maximum of 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of recess. Short activity breaks improve children’s attention and learning process.

2   Every school has a support system consisting of the classroom teacher, a psychologist, a social worker, a nurse, a special education teacher and the school principal.

2   The school Principal never stays aloof.

2   Elementary schoolers have the same teacher up to six straight years in a row. The practice is called looping. Instead of specializing in their subjects, teachers get to specialize in their students. The teachers know each student personally. They gain a deeper grasp of their strengths and challenges. It enables them to help students progress towards their goals and navigate social and emotional challenges.

2    In Finland the policy is not ‘winner takes it all.’ Instead every child is assisted to get ahead.

3    The focus is on developing the individual interests of each student and not just promoting their success.

No wonder, Finland is the powerhouse in education among nations of the whole world.

 

 

 

 

 

GROUP ACTIVITY

 

Group activity succeeds only when the outcome is more than the sum of their parts.

Success eludes the group when the achievement is less than the sum of their parts.

It may also be borne in mind, the smartest teams are not composed of the smartest individuals.

It is not collective intelligence that matters. It is the prosocial skills of the members of the team that wins the race. It means you need to have people who excel at collaborating with others. It helps the team members to bring out the best in one another. 

Here, they recognise one another's strengths, develop strategies for leveraging them. They motivate one another to align their efforts in pursuit of a common aim.

Having the best pieces that are at loggerheads, is nothing but self centredness or narcissm. It gets you nowhere.

When you employ the best glue, everything falls into place.

BEST TEAMS

 

The best teams aren't the ones with the best thinkers. They're the teams that unearth and use the best thinking from everyone.

It requires leadership practices, team processes and systems that harness the capabilities and contributions of all the members of the team

Maximizing group intelligence is much more than enlisting individual experts. It is much more than bringing people together to solve a problem.

PERFECT SAUCE

 

CHANNELISE FRUSTRATION INTO PERFORMANCE

The perfect sauce to reach your goal, to attain success and to banish innumerable failures to dust.

YOUNG WORLD

                                             

                                                       YOUNG WORLD FROM THE HINDU

                                   

One day Evana came to me. She requested me to subscribe to YOUNG WORLD from The Hindu. I said I would do that if she would read that.She was firm. She said she woxuld read. 

I asked her how she came to know of YOUNG WORLD. She replied she had seen  that in the hands of Sreya while  travelling in the school bus.

I rang up Suresh, the Advocate cum our newspaper Agent. It happened last Tuesday. Suresh said Hindu supplies as per prior orders only. He said it comes on Fridays @ 20 Rupees per copy. I replied it was ok. But he said he would try to deliver that from the succeeding Friday itself. I conveyed it to Evana. She was thrilled. But when Friday dawned she came to me and complained YOUNG WORLD hadn't arrived. I replied it might come from next Friday onwards

The surprise was YOUNG WORLD of 16th Jan26 arrived with the newspaper of 19thMonday

I can see Evana happily delving into what she really wanted after she woke up in the morning.

Yes, in these days of social media and TV it's very difficult to wean children away from them.

Just as letting them have a go at them, it'll be good if we could put them on to reading as well.

What they gain from reading will have no parallels

BOUNCING BACK

 

Resilience is a form of growth.

Progress is not only reflected in the peaks you reach - it's also visible in the valleys you cross.

Making progress isn't always about moving forward. 

Sometimes it's about bouncing back

Adam Grant

Hidden Potential

The interesting part about this is, I had found out this much earlier through my life. My failures taught me this. I can honestly say I was self taught. Not something I learned from classrooms or pulpits or discourses.

I have often wondered why these things never originated from such exalted forums.

GRAB

In jest.

How do you grab?

Medical College Hospital in the late 70s and early 80s.

Cardiology, Medicine,Surgery, ENT or Ortho -  OPs

There is a large crowd of patients around each OPs.

You somehow have to consult the doctor. No way. You'll be pushing and nudging. No progress. It takes two to three hours to finally  grab a prescription 

KSRTC buses. The moment it stops, a large disorderly crowd mills around struggling to board and grab standing room. The lucky gets in just as the conductor gives the double bell. The bus gathers speed and throws a few down.

Bombay suburban trains. An unbelievable sight. The train enters the station. The crowd pushes in to grab a place to stand just as the unfortunate are heckled as they disembark. Some are pickpocketed.

Sanghumugham beach. The fishing boat returns with the catch. See how people push to grab the fish 

Now think of places where people assemble. They are exhorted to grab whatever is on offer.

Look at everyone crowding up to grab. Imagine the elders  or those not in perfect health doing that.

Malayali knows only one thing.

Push people around, move up, stretch a hand and scoop up or grab what he wants before anyone else gets a hand to it

BINU SAMUEL THOMAS

 

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me". 2 Corinthians 12:9. Also love this quote from the late great Bruce Lee: 'Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.'

Binu Samuel Thomas

NO PROTOCOL

INJURY TO UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEE

It happened many many years ago.

The Kerala University campus in Trivandrum was blockaded by the leftist student activists Nobody could enter the campus. The left were not in power in Kerala at that time. 

The reason for the blockade could have ranged across umpteen reasons. It could be Vilanilam. It could be the Pre-degree board. It could be the irregularities in the examinations. When the left is not in power, the students would rise in revolt. Violence would be the corollary.. The Police  swings into action. Teargas shells explode. Water cannon hits the protestors. Then it is the lathicharge. The Police would aim at the heads of the unruly mob. 

The University Syndicate was in session. The protestors wanted to disrupt it. Some of them broke the Police Cordon and ran up the steps to the first floor. The Police were running after them. There were flower pots in the first floor. The student leader - a big time politician now - began throwing the flower pots at the Police. Unfortunately, one flower pot had hit a University employee, a woman on her head. It caused laceration and profuse bleeding. The lady was working  at her seat at that time. The flower pot was  poorly aimed and it flew through the open window into the office where the lady sat.

There was utter confusion and pandemonium in the office.The wounded employee was at once moved to the General hospital. She needed a couple of stiches. She was kept in the ICU for two days and was later moved to the Pay ward where she had to spend a week.

Since the Vice Chancellor(VC) had been on tour, the Pro Vice Chancellor(PVC)had been officiating as the Vice Chamcellor at that time. 

Someone suggested to the PVC that he must visit the employee who had been admitted to the hospital.

The PVC had replied, "As per protocol, the VC or the PVC are not expected to visit the employee  who has been grievously injured while she is on duty at the University office."

He didn’t bother though it was an employee who had been working under him and who had been grievously injured while she was on her job.

The PVC at that time had been very much vocal on Gandhian ideals.

Look how cleverly he evaded from his professed ideals and duty.

Even today, he highlights Gandhian principles.

Please travel back in history when terroists had wrought havoc at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai.

Ratan Tata had stood guard outside the ravaged Taj Hotel for days together.

It was the call of duty for him.

But our great PVC never felt it was his duty to look after the wounded employee of his own office.

See the call of duty !!!

KNOWLEDGEABLE COLLEAGUES

 

Studying with knowledgeable colleagues is good for growth.

We can then see the colleagues are teaching  and coaching one another.

You learn as much when you are taught by peers as by the faculty.

Teaching is a surprisingly powerful method of learning.

American visitors at KUTS

 American visitors at KUTS

The KUT Seminary Campus at Kannammoola, Trivandrum excels in nature's splendour. It is lush green with century old trees lining the path. There are ancient buildings here that date back to the early 20th century.

The surprise is, the institution is located at one of the busiest areas in the City. 

The authorities here are adamant they would not do anything that mar the blessing they have been bestowed upon by nature.

Many of the  visitors to Trivandrum step into the campus to savour the pristine beauty on offer. 

Recently a group of tourists from USA had visited the place. They walked around mesmerised. The Library astounded them. According to them the buildings displayed a seamless merger of the ancient and the modern.

The  Seminary had organised few cultural events by its students to showcase the heritage of Kerala and  India. It was a beautiful presentation.

In honour of the visitors from abroad  the Seminary had hosted lunch  before they left.   To keep them company, the entire staff contingent of the KUT Seminary had joined in.

Though there was free interaction as everyone waited to partake in the lunch,  five of us formed a separate group to have our lunch away from the visitors. Perhaps inhibition might have induced us to do that. Perhaps  the fear of English of the phenomenal malayali must have made us form that unitary group.  However there was one vacant seat in the middle at that six seater table. We knew from our experience, another of our clan would soon take that seat.

To our surprise one of the vistors, a lady had chosen to take that seat disregarding that it was a male only preserve. The presence of an alien made the rest remain silent and munch the food with relish and of course without looking up. Adding fuel to the intrusion, she began engaging all of us in a conversation that ranged between a variety of topics. The lady must have come across people like us before. She had opened up  smartly. 

Pushed to an inextricable corner,  we had no other option but join her and respond to her queries. Civility demanded it. The table became lively. 

The beauty was she had made us shed our inhibitions  and converse freely in the only language she knew, English  - though the usual malayali normal is that they invariably shy off from speaking the universal language. 

Invigorated by the conversation we parted after enjoying the sumptuous food on our plates.

It was a great time for all of us.

Lunch over, the group left for their ensuing destination, leaving behind precious memories of some wonderful moments in our lives

LEARNING PROCESS

 

LEARNING PROCESS

When you have a task to tackle

When you find the task on hand is beyond you

When you are certain failure  looms ahead

Go after it

Try and find ways 

To come up with game plans

To turn the table

That'll be the stuff 

A lot of people don't see

The work you put in

Away from the shiny lights

It'll always be nice 

When you get the rewards

From your hard toil

JUBILEE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

 

OPERATIONS AT THE PHARMACY NEED A RELOOK. IT IS STATIC.   EMPLOY DYNAMISM

 We are senior citizens. We are pensioners.

When we become unwell, like everyone else we are forced to proceed to a Hospital, consult a doctor and subject ourselves to the treatment the good doctor suggests. The treatment cures us and we go on with our life.

On Saturday, 10^th Jan 26 I was suffering from fever, severe head ache, and a running nose that gave me no let up. I just couldn’t put up with it anymore. My mind told me I must consult a doctor at once. Finding me unwell, Lila said she’d accompany me. I was in no position to drive our vehicle. She had stopped driving after she had retired from her job.

We took the Uber autoriksha route. It took some time. At the Hospital, the receptionist provided us with token no.32. It was 12 noon. The Doctor had a number of patients waiting for consultation. We could meet the doctor at 1.15 pm. She was very considerate. Examination over, she prescribed the medicines and told me to consult her again if I had any further discomfort.

Medicines are supplied at the Pharmacy. Prescriptions from all the consultants end up at the pharmacy. The Jubilee Memorial Hospital, thronging with patients was having a very busy day. At the Pharmacy you have to have another token. There will be a heavy backlog. You wait there patiently for another 30 to 45 minutes for your number to be called. At the counter you are asked to pay up through cash, g pay or card. Then you have to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes for collecting your medicine.

We went through that process and reached home at round 3 pm. The medicine did act. The incessant flow from the nose had stopped. But by Monday violent bouts of cough started and I had no respite. I went on till Tuesday, the 13^th hoping the cough would go away. No way. It was worsening. We knew another visit to the hospital was essential.

We reached the hospital at 12 noon. This time we were lucky. We could meet the doctor fast. She wrote the prescription after careful evaluation. But we were unlucky at the Pharmacy. We were behind 40 patients. It took almost 40 minutes for our turn. Lila went to the counter at the Pharmacy. No invoice was handed over. The young girl took her card and swiped it. Money was transferred. No counterfoil was given either.

Another 10 minutes, the medicines were delivered. Instead of placing the medicines in the cover, the young lady had delivered the medicines and the cover separately. Lila had a difficult time to put them all into the cover as she was holding her shoulder bag with one hand. Fortunately a young man, who observed her predicament, did the good Samaritan act. He took the cover from Lila and placed all the medicines and the prescription in the cover.

We didn’t bother to verify anything at all. We somehow had wanted to reach home fast and take some rest.

At 6.30 pm a young lady from the hospital called me on my phone. She said against an invoice of Rs.609.10 I had paid Rs.6.09 only. She wanted me to G Pay the unpaid balance. I asked how it could be, for the amount was keyed in by the staff at the Pharmacy and we had no bill with us at that point. When I asked for it she forwarded the copy of the payment voucher. I said by the time the medicine was delivered at the Pharmacy the patient and the bystander would never be in their normal frame of mind after such a long wait. They would be thinking only of  reaching their home somehow without any further delay. I added they had to streamline the operations at the Pharmacy. I told her no one wants to visit a hospital as a patient. They do that out of sheer necessity. And they should not expect that the patients or the people with them would be coherent.

I told her I would send the amount that was short and did as I had agreed to.

I have no complaints about anyone at the hospital over our discomfiture

But as I said the operations at the Pharmacy of the Hospital need a critical review or audit by the people who are managing it.

 

WHEN JESUS ENTERS YOUR LIFE

 

You are strengthened by the daily experience of Jesus' power and goodness.

Your faith grows in his presence.

You are sustained by Jesus' presence, power and teaching in your life.

COMPASS/GUIDE

 

The drawback of a compass is that it only gives you direction -- not directions.

It can help you back away from the wrong path and point you toward a better one.

But to navigate that path effectively, you need a guide.

When we are unsure, we seek directions from an expert guide.

It's the familiar mantra: 

If you want to be great, learn from the best.

But the principle has its own limitations.

Students learned less from experts. For the best experts were the worst guides. It is known as the curse of knowledge -- the more you know, the harder it is for you to understand what it's like not to know.

It is explained by cognitive scientist SianBeilock

 "As you get better and better at what you do, your ability to communicate your understanding or to help others learn that skill often gets worse and worse."

PROGRESS

 

Progress rarely occurs in a straight line. Not linear, it unfolds in loops.

A rut is not a sign you have tanked. A plateau is not a cue you've peaked. They are signals it's time to turn around and locate a new route. It might be unfamiliar, winding and bumpy. But you make progress.

One of the most frustrating parts of honing a skill is getting stuck. You won't improve. You stagnate.   It marks the end of growth, You decline. You reach the end of your mental or physical capabilities.

However, you gain momentum when you navigate your way down a different path.

Progress dawns

CHURCH OF SOUTH INDIA CSI SOUTH KERALA DIOCESE

 

It's time for election of a new Bishop for the South Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. CSI.

Some aspirants are pushing themselves up for the prized post. 

But there is a right person who could have done wonders if he were selected. 

However vested interests are trying their best to keep him out somehow. 

And the saintly person is not inclined to join the materialistic race 

I wrote to him

...............................

I was reading the sports page of the Sunday Times of India

What Shubhman Gill said struck me.

Thought it is the message to you by the almighty.

Quoting it:

"My belief is that in my life, I am right where I have to be. Whatever things are written in my destiny, no one can take those things from me"

"Being a sportsperson, it's all about being in the present. The more in the present you are, the more you are not thinking about what's going to happen or what happened in the previous moment."

Gill admits it had been frustrating when he was forced to miss out.

His comment on that:

"There are so many things that you want to do and it's definitely very frustrating."

.........

From me:

Ardent faith alone moves the rock, the stumbling block on your path.

SOURCE OF DAILY JOY

 

 When practice is transformed into play, the monotonous daily grind becomes a source of daily joy.

Pushing ourselves through dull and dragging practice sessions  cannot develop our skills to the utmost.

The former accomplishes it seamlessly.

With passion around, persistence translates into performance.

OBSESSIVE SLOG

 

OBSESSIVE SLOG

It is true, it takes deliberate practice to achieve greater things. However, when we drill hard  we often turn it to an obsessive slog that drives   the joy out of the activity.

BURNOUT/ BOREOUT

 

BURNOUT/ BOREOUT

Burnout is the emotional exhaustion that accumulates when you are overloaded.

Bore out is the emotional deadening you feel when you're under-stimulated.

ADVANTAGE OF BREAKS

 

Advantage of Breaks

1. Time away helps to sustain harmonious passion. Reduces fatigue and raises the level of energy.

2. Unlocks fresh ideas.  Boosts creativity. Your interest keeps the problem active in the back of  your mind. It incubates unexpected ways of resolution.

3. Deepens learning. Breaks help you recall what you learned faster. Rest is a supply of fuel.

WHO IS IT YOU WANT?

 

WHO IS IT YOU WANT?

IF IT IS JESUS, WHAT KIND OF A JESUS YOU WANT?

Do you want a Jesus who acts within the context of your expectations? Are you trying to provoke Jesus into a decisive moment to light the spark of your own glorification? Are you longing for change and liberation from the yoke of oppression? Are you testing Jesus hoping to compel him to act with force to garner a worldly fortune?

Jesus’ mission was fundamentally at variance from these questions and expectations. He embodies a profound calm and grace. Jesus does not run away from issues. He does not intend to fulfill expectations of a violent uprising or upheaval that mankind wants him to lead from the front.. He did not come to the world to establish a kingdom through brute force. We can never provoke him into a decisive moment to light the spark of a revolution. Jesus is not a revolutionary messiah whom we can manipulate to achieve our own desires. He radiates radical love and redemption for those who betray him.  Jesus resides in us when we recognize the complexities and betrayals of our own hearts.  He transforms our misunderstandings into opportunities for deeper faith.

A simple question, I have.

Where is the Church now? Does the Church have Jesus with them?

When spirituality has given way to accumulation of wealth, appropriation of power, corruption and rampant misappropriation, can we ever perceive Jesus is with the Church at the current juncture?

Events that unfurl in quick succession reveal that Jesus apparently has no place in the Church.

Who does the Church want?

It is Jesus and no one else.

Even if you forget Jesus, he does not forget you. Just as we think Jesus is not backing us up, he is always there behind the curtains, shielding us. Trust him even as you think he has forsaken or abandoned the Church.

He can transform the Church. He will transform the Church.

BOXING AND THE EXTRA VITAL STEP IN LIFE

 

In Boxing, there is no such thing as flawless performance.

You are going to be hit.

If you want to win, you cannot get stuck in the weeds, hide from your weaknesses or avoid challenges.

There is no need to beat yourself up. Your opponents would do plenty of beating.

If you wish to protect your face and head, you have to leave your body exposed and take some punches.

In boxing, you must risk moving into danger in order to fully take advantage of your skills and eventually win the match.

New projects or ventures require similar mentality. Taking that extra step forward into the unknown is vital.

PERFECTIONISM

 

PERFECTIONISM

When you are a perfectionist, you have to be fastidious about getting every point right. If not, your decision could end up flawed. Yet, to be uncompromising, you have to make compromises. Here, prioritization of objectives comes into sharp focus. You learn, you have to tolerate flaws. It’s part of becoming an expert in your venture. You gradually gain mastery in the job on hand. As you grow, you understand which flaws are acceptable over your own urge to attain perfectionism.

Perfectionism is the desire to be impeccable. The goal is zero defects, no flaws, no failures.

In an increasingly competitive world, kids face growing pressure from parents to be perfect and harsh criticism when they fall short. They learn to judge their worth by the absence of inadequacies. Every flaw is a blow to their self esteem.

Perfectionists excel at solving problems that are straightforward and familiar. They are happy to regurgitate facts they have committed to memory, though they may have no idea about what they actually mean.

When it comes to mastering their tasks, perfectionists are no better than their peers. The average correlation between perfectionism and performance at work had been found to be zero on an analysis and at times the former had been worse off.

It is observed:

1.       The skills and inclinations that drive people to the top of their high school or college class may not serve them so well after their graduation.

2.       The people who go on to become masters in their own fields often start out with imperfect transcripts in school.

However, perfectionists generally tend to get three things wrong in their quest for flawless results:

1.       They obsess about details, that don’t really matter. They are so busy finding the right solution to tiny problems whereas they lack the discipline to find the right problems to solve.

2.       They avoid unfamiliar situations and difficult tasks that might lead to failure. It leaves them refining a narrow set of existing skills rather than working to develop new ones.

3.       They berate themselves for making mistakes, which makes it harder for them to learn from the mistakes. They fail to realize that the purpose of reviewing your mistakes isn’t to shame your past self. It’s to educate your future self.

Perfectionism traps us in a spiral of tunnel vision and error avoidance. It prevents us from seeing larger problems as they are. Further, it restricts us from developing our own skills.

 If perfectionism were a medication,   the label that would alert us to common side effects could be stated as, “Warning –may cause stunted growth.”

A perfectionist, on matters or projects important to him may keep revisiting and refining until it’s exactly right. But he can succeed only when he recognizes that perfection is a mirage and that in order to go farther, he has to learn to tolerate the right imperfections. You win when you strive not for perfection but for what could be the perfectly acceptable.

You become a master, when you find beauty in imperfection.

Adam Grant
Hidden Potential