Mountains are calling

Mountains are calling!!

I traveled to the mountain state of India, Himachal Pradesh to spend a week on vacation alone. Yes, alone on the mountains. I must say I was blown away by the scenic views of nature displayed everywhere starting from the airport  in Dharamsala. Majestic, elegant, and serene are the words whose combined meaning may come closer to what one would experience in person. I felt it was a calling. Silence of the mountains is indeed a calling in disguise.

My hotel was up on the hills in McLeod Ganj - a town that is home to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He was scheduled to give public teachings for three days on buddhist principles. As someone who is intrigued by the philosophies of buddhism, I naturally registered for the course. Little did I know that 7000 others from around the globe have also registered.

Upon landing at Kangra airport, I hired a prepaid taxi. It so happened that the taxi guy is well known among tourists - something I came to know later from his website. He was kind enough to offer me to show around Dharamsala and Kangra, which he did couple of days later.

I made preparations and booked everything only a week in advance. Those 7000 others really made a difference as it was not easy to get hotels. I was lucky enough to get myself a room in one of those state government run tourism hotels. Neat and tidy. Staff were courteous and mindful. I was asked to feel at home as I was booked for a longer duration. And every one of them, through their actions, meant that.

The day before the lecture, I went to the venue, the main temple. There were already people reserving their seats by placing a cushion with their names. I happened to overhear an American group and a couple of Indians talking to someone who seemed to be a member of the event organising committee. I tagged along with them to secure a seat for myself preferably from a place where I can watch His Holiness. And I did get one. I watched His Holiness delivering lectures all three days. Up close and personal - at least as far as I could get being there for the first time. When His Holiness walks up to the venue, one can hear and feel the positive vibrations and energy. There were hymns and chants. Everyone, even the monks, was trying to get a glimpse of Him. There were couple of things I witnessed that are worth mentioning. 

On the first day, when His Holiness was walking from the gates of his residence adjacent to the temple, He saw a bald man waiting in the crowd. It was a hot day. He signalled that man to come forward. When the man came forward, His Holiness signalled him by touching the man’s bald head to wear a cap to protect from sun. The crowd along with the man himself burst into laughter. 

There were foreign disciples who brought their physically challenged children to seek blessings. The kids were carried by their parents in arms and could not even stand on their own. Everyday His Holiness blessed them by bowing himself, clutching their hands and keeping them on his own head. He spent at least half-a-minute with each child. I am not sure what it could have done to those children. But certainly their parents would have felt something. Something that cannot be put in words. Better yet, something that need not be described. 

The place where I was seated was surrounded by Tibetan monks - young and old, men and women alike. An older monk who must be in his sixties was seated next to me. He spoke only Tibetan and I spoke only English. Nothing came in between during our interactions. Language is merely a tool. Attendees were served bread and tea during the lectures. Usually people wait for butter tea to be served before eating bread. Being a newbie and hungry, I started eating the bread. The bread was hard to eat without a warm cup of tea. The monk asked for my cup and poured some warm water. He signalled me to drink it along with bread. All three days I sat next to him. He would look at my Fitbit by taking my hand himself trying to read time. My notebook had a motorcycle picture. He would act as if he was riding a motorcycle to show me that he understood what it is. Childlike enthusiasm shown to even the simplest of things. On the last day, he bowed with folded hands to signal goodbye. No handshakes. No business cards. In fact, when I look back now, we never even introduced ourselves. Only two unknowns who are certain of recognising each other if we ever meet again.

All through this experience, two things stood out. Mindfulness and compassion. Two unmissable qualities among everyone I came across - from the taxi driver to hotel staff to Tibetan monks. And of course, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. However, I am yet to ascertain the cause and effect between mother nature and mindfulness. Surely one drives the other. Or perhaps they drive each other to create peace. 

At the airport, awaiting my return flight, I looked at the mountains again. Calm and unmoved, they are still listening. I will be back.

In case you are wondering, there were rude people too. Only outnumbered and overshadowed.

Currency Demonisation

Currency demonetisation has perhaps become demonisation in the last three days. Whilst many of us welcome this move to curb counterfeit bank notes, this would remain as an excellent example of a master plan that went awfully awry.. thanks to lack of mindfulness and ill conceived unclear thoughts in execution by the officials and government.

One fine evening, the PM declared demonetisation of two high value currency notes - five hundred and one thousand rupees - in a televised address stating that it would eradicate black money and counterfeit currencies that are sources of terrorism. Naturally, everyone was jubilant by the mention of black money. Moreover, this time it came from the messiah of growth. Little did any of them know what it means for an individual, let alone the meaning of black money. Leaving us in no surprise, the PM took the next available flight to Japan to enjoy a bullet train ride.

The consequences - people standing in queues for hours to get old notes exchanged, banks working day and night with less or no cash to payout, cash points running dry and getting bored to displaying 'I am out of service'. Any sane administrator, or even a politician for that matter, who declares demonetisation of two high value currency denominations, would have thought about pumping the equivalent value back in for circulation soon after declaring it. Failing which, having cash in bank accounts doesn't necessarily give us the right to use it today without a bead of sweat or, if unlucky, a heat stroke.

Unfortunately, after all these, black money will not even be out of the system as only a part of black money is in cash. Most part is in gold and land. Hard to zoom in due to chaotic Indian administrative system. A logical step towards growth is to demonetise thousand and legalise two-thousand. Reduces burden on crooks that carry cash in black in future. A very futuristic and visionary approach.

It is very easy for the government to ask citizens to bear the burden for the country overall progress. However, why can't they do the difficult job? Educate them on how black money is created and how each of us contribute to its generation. Many of us will undoubtedly be awestruck when we learn the simplest way of black money generation: we buy something with cash and without insisting on a legal receipt. So simple.. isn't it?

India and Division

India is new to neither division nor divisive politics. We have had and are still having our fair share. Culturally, as long as something didn't happen to us we don't involve ourselves. The meaning of 'us' shall vary depending on the context. It could range between 'self' and 'religious community'. This is true even for democracy. All we need is to get fooled by an elite in the name of either religion or development. Many a times they don't go together. 

USA elections bring the original Indianess out in the open. Many Indians are emotionally down, thanks to Trump's victory. Parents are scared to explain to their kids how Trump was elected. Almost all of them underlined and emphasised the fact that Trump is divisive. He spoke badly about immigrants who live in the United States. Well, he did rightly so about illegal immigrants. Let us not blind the facts with emotions.

What I fail to understand - as someone who lives in India - is that how these Indians do not have any problems supporting wholeheartedly, if not worship, a divisive figure as a leader in India. People lost lives fifteen years ago in the name of religion. Sadly, in many cases, the religion wasn't even theirs'. We conveniently do not speak about the past that did not involve us. Or we are madly in love with a maniac. Or we are utterly selfish. Perhaps the Indianess is hidden somewhere. 

Men of straw with emotionally selective amnesia is arguably the winning combination.

Lessons Learned!

This post is a long due from my side. It was worth a wait. The wait let me watch my daughter grow into an extremely active and tenacious twenty months old. It is indeed fascinating to witness how a tiny human brain evolves “near” ideally in less than two years.

From the day of first vaccination to the day we got her ears pierced - along every step - I was worried whether she would be able to bear those pains. All it took for her to bear them was hardly a couple of minutes. She was always back to normal as soon as we were driving back from doctor’s office. This taught me a valuable lesson. There is no point in weeping over the pain. Lessons experienced are always powerful than those simply read.

During her first six months, she was very quick in rolling over to dragging herself ahead by a couple of feet. Later on, she developed vitamin deficiencies that led to a temporary slowdown in developments - at least that is what I thought. Her first tooth showed up only when she turned fifteen months. And still she didn't walk then. As new parents, looking at other kids in same age group, we were worried. By then, google had proved to be a trustworthy medical advisor. We learnt that this is common around the globe. Babies tend to take their own time. Today, despite our desperate attempts, we can not stop her from running around the house. My second lesson: Everyone is different and everyone is every one. Give people their time and space. They will grow even without us.

Mastering the art of influencing doesn't look very difficult for toddlers. My daughter exactly knows how to accomplish this herculean task and get things done. Her approach is simple. Divide and rule. Ask mom for something when dad is not around. She has a good second chance to shoot for what she wants through dad even when mom denies it. Many a time I become the victim when I turned the television set on without knowing that it was denied few minutes ago. My third lesson: Keep it simple and focused towards the goal whilst being aware of enablers.

Aren’t these the qualities of modern leadership? It looks like the myth “leaders are born and not made” is true after all. 

patRIOTism

Patriotism - From what I see around me, it might as well be available on flipkart for a bottle of ink along with self respect at a discounted price. Anything for a discount is our economics.

As much as I could define patriotism, I am unable to realise it. Remotely accessible to my otherwise logical reasoning. Perhaps, merely boasting our strengths while doing nothing is not my cup of tea. With all due respect, I find more hints of pride and patriotism in those who live outside. If this is not irony, what is?

All we are capable of is throwing ink at one of our own in protest against someone foreign in a city where people from other states are not welcome. Clearly, we got the phonetic rule on the word patRIOTism wrong.

Be water and the change

I could not have picked a day that is more suited for this post. Not so long ago, I had two favourite quotes. While one is that of Mahatma Gandhi's 'Be the change', the other one is Bruce Lee's 'Be water, my friend'. It is not until recently that it dawned on me. The underlying messages in these quotes are no different. In fact, the same view expressed differently. Change is like a flowing river. Constant yet changing. Flexibility is a virtue. Bamboo, not banyan, is likely to survive a hurricane. Even the all powerful nature adapts.

Both legends brought about the change by simply being one. Just like what an incredible leader should have - rigid flexibility. How many such leaders do we have today? In my opinion, many are leaders in their respective official titles albeit lacking the mindset.

Whenever I think about leadership, these two quotes figure prominently. They bring me back to earth only to educate me on humility. Leadership is an attitude. An humble outlook on transformation. Of course, inside-out.

 

It's only about winning

Everything should be won. Winning is everything. It is always the end that matters. In fact, the end alone matters. To be honest, I am not an ardent fan of Indian cricket team. For that matter, of late, even the sport itself. I owe my dislike to our traditional Indian attitude. All are equal. But some are less equal.

We create heroes and worship individuals in a team sport. A cliche, perhaps. When heros fail in their quests, we blame their families and girlfriends. Not so long ago, we did end up blaming a player's girlfriend for his failure to perform. If we are that candid, how come we worship certain individuals who hardly helped the team win matches in the last ten years. Mind you, the team lost to an arguably inferior team during one such hero's World record of hundred centuries. Attitude does have relevance in a sport. Unfortunately many players go irrelevant due to lack of it.

Does means matter at all? Perhaps, not. Modern minds are invariably trained to look at where we want to be over how we reach there.

In corporate world too - where analogies can easily be derived from any team sport - worshipped heros are abundant irrespective of whether they deserve or not. Always not how but what has been accomplished. In the East, this is one of the reasons why people use the word 'team' a lot in their workplaces. Upon careful observation - although not generalising - I found something interesting. The word 'team' almost always is used under such circumstance by individuals who force fit him or herself into a successful team and become an integral part of success by projecting themselves as the kingmakers. This is purely human and I have nothing against it. I am free from those desires. However, this observation triggers a thought - When the team comes first and I am leading it, where would that leave me? Ahead of the team? Hard for me to imagine, let alone comprehend.

Hero worships in a team is a typical western 'transactional' approach. Carrots and sticks. Remotely transformational. I don't know if I'm the only one who feels so. Do you also feel this way?

Anything that is abused and taken for granted loses its value. Like 'nature' so 'team'.

Note: I plan to write a series of posts on leadership. I would be glad to hear your thoughts on this subject.