Celebrating Knowledge - The Music of the River

Today everything would be closed in the state. The streets would wear a deserted look. Schools, shops, offices and even Government offices would be closed.

Why? Are people protesting or rising in revolt like the Middle East and elsewhere?

No, not exactly. It is a day of celebration and happiness.  Today is a Public Holiday. India as a nation celebrates this day as a "Day of Knowledge".

This is more popularly known as Saraswati Puja (Puja means offering of love and deep respect). Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge representing speech and creative expression of science and arts. Most things in India are symbolic and the image of Goddess Saraswati is not exception to this fact. The image is therefore a metaphor or representation of what knowledge is all about.

Want to know the story of how it all came about?

Well, as most things in India, the story goes back thousands of years to the era of the Vedas, which most historians agree was around 5000 years ago.

A group of wise sages were travelling all night. Just as the day was about to break they reached a river. The river was gently and rhythmically making its way down the snow clad Himalayas. The water was pure and sparkling. As it gushed over the numerous pebbles it encountered in its way, a sweet tinkling noise emanated. They could see the bottom of the river clearly and were fascinated by the numerous ripples that danced around merrily occasionally catching the glitter of the sun rays as the sun peeped over the distant hills.

They were mesmerized by the whole experience! It suddenly struck them that knowledge had the exact characteristics of what they just experienced. How was that?

They realized that knowledge is dynamic and always changing and flowing like the river. One can't capture it. It can't be imprisoned. If held it soon loses its freshness and flow

They understood that knowledge is a product of numerous ongoing interactions that produced music. The music is only produced by the flow going against the resistance offered by the pebbles. More the obstacles (pebbles) more subtle and more varied is the music. The deep experience provided them the insight that knowledge develops through repeated movements of passing over the numerous pebbles and emerges in a chaotic fashion in the form of waves.

It was also clear to them that the primary source of knowledge was through transparent observable (through all our senses) work that flows -- an understanding gleaned from the transparent flowing waters. Everything was observable but transient.

They likened the occasional glitter of the sunrays ricocheting off the waves to the sudden flashes of insights that create new knowledge. 

Such a splendid metaphor remained with them for years before they decided to give some physical form to it so that people recognize the importance of knowledge in their lives and live with a vision or mental image to go for it and develop it for themselves. With this in mind they came up with the splendid image of the Saraswati.

The image of the beautiful lady represents the creative nature of knowledge, the force behind all human activities. .

The swan reminds us of the river and also the sharp discriminating characteristic of knowledge. This is because a swan has a strange ability. If offered a drink of milk with water a swan drinks the milk without taking in a drop of water. It can separate the two. In other words knowledge helps us to discriminate between the real and the unreal.

The musical instrument called the vina (a much older form of the present day sitar) reminds us of the music of knowledge as it flows over pebbles and obstacles.

The symbol of the white lotus is significant. While the whiteness of the lotus stands for stainless purity of knowledge the lotus informs us that knowledge is rooted to reality which might be full of dirt, muck and darkness from which the purity emerges. It depicts the journey called knowledge from the unconscious or unseen or unknown to the consciousness of reality or the known.

It is also interesting to note that the image tells us how knowledge is created. This is shown by the four hands of Saraswati. Her two hands are engaged in playing the vina (Playing and Hearing). It means that the fundamental way knowledge is created is through transparent observable work that flows (remember how the sages could clearly see even the bottom of the river and sense everything around them). The image of the rosary that she holds in one of her hands depicts the need for deep mental reflection and repetition to gain real knowledge. The fourth hand shows a slim volume of documents representing that only a small part of the knowledge can be really documented and read.

The scattering and reflection of the golden sunrays on the waves representing intuitive insights are shown in the form of the golden crown that adorns her head meaning that all intuitive insights come from the mind. And the halo behind her head represents the energy and brightness that emanates from ever increasing wisdom.

So, to summarize:

1. Knowledge is rooted in reality. It then moves from the physical reality to the energy field of playing, listening and engaging in our chosen domain from where it moves to the mental plane which then makes its way to the planes wisdom and enlightenment.

2. Like the flowing river, knowledge can't be captured (it is not an object but waves and a field) since it an on-going phenomenon of the numerous interactions, always changing course and fleeting in nature. Such movement of knowledge is only possible through facing resistance and overcoming obstacles encountered in its path generating the necessary music.

3. A very small part of knowledge can be really documented. That represents the explicit part of knowledge.

4. Major part of knowledge is implicit in nature that is created by constantly playing in a chosen domain, improvisations, repeated practice, deep reflections and sudden insights.

5. True knowledge in any field can be obtained through discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the meaningful and the worthless. 

6. Knowledge leads to enlightenment and is the creative force behind all that we do.

7. And above all knowledge must be free and shared to maintain its flow that benefits all. This is the only thing in the world, other than love, that keeps growing and developing in strength and character when shared. It is unending and beautiful but can't be precisely defined or described. The more we try the more incomplete it seems.

Today we usher the coming of spring signifying the blooming of the hidden, the latent and the unknown into conscious reality just like the first baby leaves that spring to life after winter. Isn't that what we understand by knowledge?

It is therefore not surprizing for Indians to believe River Saraswati to be an underground river hidden from view only to meet the great rivers Ganga and Yamuna at Kumbh. Another great symbolic abstraction underlying the fact that Knowledge plays between our actions and emotions to elevate us to our true human potential. Those who use it rise to meet their potential. Those who don't are unfortunate.

So do we listen to the music of the spheres and celebrate the joy that is knowledge?

 

Notes:

1. The video is there to highten the visual experience of this rather deep and 5000 years old philosophy on knowledge.

2. India is probably the only country in the world to celebrate a special day in honor of Knowledge. What a country!

 

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The Chrysalis

The sight of the Himalayan mountain range from his bedroom window had never been so dull and frightening for the twenty one year old Akash Gupta. The family was mourning. Akash’s father lost his job. He was working in a garment manufacturing company in Bhadarpur, Nepal----a small sleepy bordering town in the India-Nepal border.  The great recession had its toll on one of the outsourced American garment manufacturing company at a small town in Nepal.

Akash’s father was given some money and send off home. The amount he got was not much to take care of his family for even a month. The family asked each member ---“Now what”? Akash’s father decided to open up an eatery in front of the Bhadarpur College. At least this would somehow steady the rocking financial boat.

A month after, Akash graduated in commerce and got the desired certificate. He wanted to pursue his career by joining a management course. But that meant a lot of money. Akash restricted all his expenditure. He stopped going to the local gymnasium. He even restricted buying clothes. All the austerity measures could not bring the financial happiness in the family. In her spare time Akash’s mother started making woolen garments in her knitting machine so as to supplement their family income. Akash started applying for different jobs but couldn’t succeed.

“Why don’t you join our type of work, you would be paid quite handsomely, for every trip you undertake”. Akash was offered the job of a “carrier” by the local smuggling cartels operating in the India- Nepal borders. Akash readily agreed. After all he has to just carry those cheap Chinese electronic goods from Nepal and cross the Mechi River which separates Nepal from India and deliver it to the Indian smugglers. These Chinese goods are in great demand in the major cities of India, especially Kolkata, Delhi and “B” grade cities. He informed his parents of his “new job” assignment in an “export-import” company. His parents were happy.

Akash father was overjoyed and blessed his son when he handed him twenty thousand rupees as his first “pay”. This would make us live a little bit comfortably.

Akash’s trip to India continued. He was successful in evading the eyes of the Indian border guards. Akash graduated from smuggling cheap Chinese toys to animal skins. Akash’s smuggling employers were very happy with his work. What a success rate? No arrest and no loss of goods in Akash hundred and ten trips to India so far.  

Avinash Mathur an inspector in the Customs department in India had been following Akash’s activities for quite some time. He waited for an opportune moment to strike Akash. The day arrived when he caught Akash with a large consignment of contraband goods. Avinash made a deal with Akash. Either you work for us as a “source” or be ready to spend the rest of your life at jail. Akash thought it’s wise to listen to Avinash.

Akash’s many tips to Avinash had been useful. Avinash made large seizures. His name was recommended for a promotion. But poor Akash, he had no place to hide. His smuggling bosses were after his blood.  A sudden fear gripped him. He could be killed any day. He pleaded with Avinash to find him a respectable job. He wanted to leave this dirty job. Avinash didn’t want to loose his golden goose. He made false promises to Akash so that he continues with his supply of information. Akash thought he is being used like a condom only to be thrown away when the purpose is over.

Akash went to Siliguri to find a respectable job. He found none. Not knowing what to do he sits at a tea stall. He ordered for a tea. A group of youths were discussing some recruitment in the Indian army. He approached them to know what type of recruitment was going on. It was the “Short Service Commission” officers’ examinations. 

Akash Gupta is now days known as Captain Akash Gupta.

 

Sitendu De is the author of this post

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From Post Offices to Social Media #SM

Let us examine how Nature's Model as presented a week back, is applicable for understanding changes happening in any social phenonemon and its transformation. For the sake of discussion let us take the most common social phenomenon 'communication' (the complex phenomenon that distinguishes human beings from other animals) and let us trace its development and transformation from the system of Post Office to the current status of Social Media. The central question in this quest would be: how did it all come about? Did it come about by some external forces or by some extremely clever and futuristic thinking of some bright individuals or did it come into being on its own "self-movements" and the gradual development of the enveloping field that motivated the 'self movement' the eventual collapse to take place. Once we trace the development through the model we would then try to draw an outline, however faint, of the next possible phase that would inevitably replace the present phase of Social Media.

To reiterate, the essential features of the Nature's Model are the following:

1. Any phenomenon takes place under the interaction of a pair of opposites. "Self-Movement" occurs when two opposites interact. For movement to take place it does not need any external force.

2. At the inital phase of development we innovate to give the new development a push.

3. During the development state we improvize to sustain the process till it reaches the highest possible potential. The quantity of improvizations changes the quality of the transformation.

4. There is always a field or flux enveloping the development process.

5. Soon the development reaches its maximum potential limited by the field and remains steady for a while.

6. This steady state is quickly transformed into a rapidly 'collapsing phase' where the field triggers the collapse. 

7. The system collapses quickly and tends to come back to the intial phase of its development but one level higher that is inherently more complex than the previous phase giving birth to a new system. 

 

With these features in mind we set out to examine the transformation that has taken place in 'communication' starting with our ubiquitous Post Offices.

System 1: Post Offices

Purpose: How two people communicate in details with each other in a written format?

The pair of opposites for 'self movement' to take place: Service Provider and the Consumers (one service provider vs millions of consumers).

Innovation during the Initial state of development: Set up of costly infrastructure by the Service Provider.Only a few service providers could afford to set up the infrastructure and therefore ruled the market through monopoly.

Improvizations: differential trariffs, telegrams, book posts, air-mail, postcards, inland letters, speed post.

Field Strength: The growing strength of the enveloping field that leads to collapse: Time delays in communication, Costs controlled by service provider and Growing Cost of operation of the service provider trigger the collapse of State 1 to State 2, which is one level higher and more complex.

 

State 2: Land phones (a level higher than State 1 and more complex)

Purpose: How two people communicate quickly over long distances in the spoken format?

Interaction of the Pair of opposites leading to self-movement: Service Providers (usually one) vs millions of Consumers. 

Innovation during the initial state of development: Set up of costly infra-structure, signal processing, cabling, routing, etc. Only a few service providers could afford to set up the infrastructure and therefore ruled the market with their monopoly.

Improvizations during development phase (change in quantity leading to qualitative differences in service and utilization): Differential tariffs for local and long distance calls. type of signal processing, interconnectivity, etc.

Growing Field Strength to dislodge a stable system into a quick collapse: Cost to the consumers, unreliability, inability to communicate through written format, loss of mobility and precise connectivity and complete monopoly of the service provider trigger the collapse of State 2 to State 3, which is one level higher and more complex.

 

State 3: Mobile phones (a level higher than State 2 and more complex built on the back of internet technology, the transition technology between Phase 2 and Phase 3, which I have intentionally not described since we would discuss the social media which is intenet based technology).

Purpose: How two people communicate quickly over long distances in the spoken format with mobility and precise connectivity?

Interactions of the Pairs of opposites leading to self-movement: Service Providers (many) vs millions of Consumers. Note the change from usually one Service Provider to 'many' Service Providers in this phase of development.

Innovation during the initial state of development: Set up of costly infra-structure, costs sharing and collaborating between different service providers, better signal processing, cartel, advertisements, etc..

Improvizations during development phase (change in quantity to qualitative difference in service and utilization): different strategies to pull customers, dropping prices in response to competition, mobile phone designs (one device multiple functions, like camera, sketch pad, dictaphone, etc), text messages, design and development of user interfaces, different types of services, touch screen, later provision of web facility, 3G with voice and image facility, conference calls (from one to one to one to two), number portability etc.

Growing Field strength to dislodge a stable system into a quick collapse: Inability to network with different people in a cost effective way. harmful radiations that affect health, cost of service, inabilty to strike parallel dialogues simulataneously with many people, inability to collaborate, inability to learn from a wide variety of people, ineffectiveness of branding and advertisement through word of mouth....

 

Phase 4: #Social Media or #SM (a level higher than Phase 3 but more complex)

Purpose: How two or more people can interact, share, learn, collaborate, express themselves in variety of ways.

Interaction of the Pairs of opposites leading to self movement: Consumers to Consumers through participatory approach. Interesting to note that there is no governing body for the Internet system. The consumers create provide and consume the content.

Innovation during the initial state of development: Set up of various forums, platforms and complex network of networks for people to get together and communicate in various modes and methods. The cost of set up of such infrastructure is extremely small when compared to earlier forms of communication where the service providers effectively barred the entry of competitors through the high cost of investments needed for setting up the infra-structure.

Improvizations during the development phase: integration of various modes of communication -- emails (various), short messages with searchable tags (Twitter), photos (Flicker), blogs (posterous), wikis (e.g. Wikipedia, Ning), niche groups, networking and job searches (e.g. Linkedin), sharing and dialogs between group of friends (e.g. Facebook), question and answer groups (e.g. Quora), audio and video (Skype, Youtube) -- all enabling dialogs (both prolonged and short) and all rolled into one (e.g. E2.0 like Traction) and digital book publishing platforms (Amazon). The ongoing development is fast and furious and not yet mature enough. 

Growing Field strength to disloge the system into a quick collapse: Most of the social media is about networking amongst known people and group of friends and professionals. Less opportunity to collaborate for making a living and does not provide an efficient method of offering one's services around the world in a reliable fashion, more specific local needs, inability to cater to physical needs, .... As the strength of the field grows it would trigger the collapse of the present stable state of affair with Social media (or #SM) to give brith to the next phase, i.e. Phase 5.

We have, in brief, looked at the transformations and traced the development of our communication system from the good old Post Offices to present day use of Social Media by applying a the underlying rules of Nature's Model.

The nature of the development is quite fascinating. In brief, the interesting changes are the following:

a) From a single service provider we slowly moved towards having multiple service providers to having millions of service providers. .

b) In the early stages of development consumers were the underdogs. From that position they have now moved on to occupy the role of the virtual service providers.

c) Furthermore, the role of the consumers have changed from being a mere consumer of the service provided to that of being both the provider and the consumer.

d) The cost of providing the service to that of consuming the service has come down multi-folds to something quite insignificant thus making it affordable for millions of people.

e) From strong central regulation to virtual deregulation with no centralized governance.

f) It is providing for the first time in human history the opportunity to millons of people to dream of engaging into dialogs with total strangers, getting to know them and collaborating over brief duration of time to create new businesses (I term them as social businesses) at fraction of the previous costs enabling them to make an independent living without having to depend on jobs that were only created by the thinking and policies of the industrial age.

g) Again for the first time over the last 400 to 500 years of history, the relevance or importance of nation states is being fragmented into more community based living and working (including virtual societies and communities) who are trying to customize their offerings for the consumers by dipping into the pool of the best available global resources. It gradual development in Phase 5 would give a bodily blow to mental abstraction that we hold in our minds that wealth and happiness of a nation rests on existance and effectiveness of large corporations built and managed with the old industrial mindset and globalization. 

h) So far corporations existed with the mantra of competition. Within the next few years they would have to think totally differently for the survival and sustainabilty. They would have to somehow network with communities to produce, provide and consume the offerings (products and services) they would care to produce. The competion they would have to contend with would be from the consumers who so far were more than incapable to fight the might of the corporations or the producers.

h) We would also be moving away from the present economic models of capitalism and socialism to give birth to a different type of economy that would be more participatory in nature catering to the specific needs of the local communities.

i) As the new participatory economy develops the economic cycles that we have of boom and busts or recessions and inflations would minimize to a great extent since the money that would be produced in society would be based on value and not speculation on some financial bubbles. And it is also expected to level out economic disparity within communities and nations.

It clearly showed how Nature's Model helps us to not only examine the nature of the phase of a current development and what decisions we might take at different stages of its development but also helps us to understand the nature of the successive states that would appear in ever increasing levels and nature of complexities and what triggers such possibilities for self emergence.

The model also informs us that older modes of communications would virtually be wiped out with time. It would then be useless trying to fight hard to retain old positions in the face of current development. Organizations that are determined to fight back with the natural process are bound to be extinct or decimated to inconsequential existence. The best response they have up their sleeves is to adapt and to reinvent themselves in light of new changes that appear on the scene.

 

 

 

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CBM - Useless - Why? Useful - How?

Introduction

Condition Based Maintenance as the name implies is a tool and strategy to improve Maintenance. The basic philosophy is that we respond as per actual needs and not carry out activities as per a given plan or idea that forms in our heads. It does not depend on abstractions of any sort.

No doubt it is a fantastic concept.  I hesitate to call it a tool to solve our problems. What is the minimum it might achieve when used properly? It is known to reduce maintenance downtime by 50% (since we can plan the activity) and reduce surprise failures by 25% from a previous level of maintenance when CBM is not taken up as a strategy.

 

This is not a mean achievement. This is the minimum CBM can do. Properly utilized it has the potential to do much more. But as I look around I see industries after industries failing to achieve this minimum level of benefit.

 

Why does it not Work?

 

Naturally, it is time that we ask why?

 

First reason that comes to my mind is the level of difficulty to master the different techniques of CBM, which are becoming more complicated by the day. Whether there is a need for such complication is not known to me. But it takes time and effort to master the most valuable techniques we have and most industries aren’t quite willing to spare the time, effort and costs in order to achieve that mastery. The point is we master the techniques or the functioning and design of the machines. Obviously, it must be both. Without a clear understanding of the laws by which machines move it is not possible to make any headway through the use of techniques. Mastering techniques is more of mastering information. There is lot of information. But information alone can’t help us. Bits of information must be stitched together to weave a story. It is story that makes meaning and the story can only be told if the machine or the system is understood better. Unfortunately, machines do follow the laws of nature and the problem is we have till date understood a small and rather insignificant part of the inner working or Nature.

 

The second reason is improper understanding of the word ‘problem’. Most practitioners aim at finding problems. Is there something called a problem? Most fail to realize that the word problem is an ‘abstraction’ of the mind. It is rather funny that we even give names to different problems. We say mechanical problems, electrical problems, quality problems, operation problems etc. We don’t stop at that. Then we further classify the problems as bearing problems, coupling problem, unbalance problem, etc. That makes it pretty useless. Why? We are always looking at a part of the system and never the entire system as a whole. All problems are systemic. There is no such thing as a problem. The machine does not know of one. Nature does not know of one. How come we know of problems? And that is precisely the problem. And more we trying to qualify and define a problem more complicated it becomes, which itself becomes problematic.  

 

The third important reason is the application of the concept. To start with we buy some equipment. We then buy some software to go along with it. Have a list of ways we can detect possible problems. And lastly pick up some young boys & girls who have very little experience with machines and operations. Then we start with rotating machines. And then we tell that the objective is to find when a bearing would fail. It simply does not work. Why? This is simply because the ‘map is not the territory’. Having the infrastructure in the form of instruments, software, and people forms the ‘map’. The territory is improving Reliability of the system, Availability of the System and the Overall Performance of the System. Or in other words improving the system is the territory to be won. That is not what actually happens. The work design is grossly wrong leading to unacceptable results.

 

How Useful is it?

 

What happens when we correctly apply the deep conceptual understanding of CBM in a proper way? I would like to highlight three important cases from the real world. I would show you examples from process industries like steel, cement and chemical because in these industries the concept of ‘territory’ is vital for the survival of the industry. .

 

Case 1 – Chemical Industry

 

In a chemical factory, they were having 24 breakdowns a month. Obviously this was a pain. Pain was not only in trying to restore the system back but the pain was in loss of costly material and the time it took to restart the system. This was making them uncompetitive.

 

When they applied CBM in the proper way the results were amazing.

 

1. Breakdowns reduced from 24 failures a month to 1 (one) failure a year.
2. The annual consumption of spares reduced by 50%
3. Productivity improved by 30%
4. Profitability improved by 20%

 

Case 2 – Cement Industry

 

One of the well known Cement factories in India had a full fledged sophisticated CBM system in place. In addition, they were the first plant in India to have achieved the coveted Japanese TPM award.

 

But even after all these they were having around 57 breakdowns a year. After proper implementation of the CBM concept, the results were more than wonderful.

1. Number of breakdowns reduced to 1 in a year.
2. Longest kiln run hours in India
3. Maintenance costs reduced by 2/3
4. Profitability up by 15%

 

In fact they still win the international prize for the best overall maintenance performance amongst cement industries in the world. This is the 10th consecutive year they won the prize. That is not a mean achievement.

 

Case 3 – Steel Industry

 

In a Steel Industry their profitability was affected by the consistently poor performance of their equipment. The Availability stood at a maximum of 88%. Breakdowns were heavy and frequent. Their Yield was no better than 92%, 5% short of the best international standards. The Reliability was as poor as 33%.

After proper implementation the results were astounding.

 

1. Availability went up from 88% to 99%
2. Yield improved from 92% to 99.7% (presently the world standard)
3. Reliability went up from 33% to 96%
4. Profitability went up by 6%

 

The important thing is that they have been maintaining these standards for the last 6 years with the minimum of investment in CBM.

 

Conclusions:

 

1. Techniques & sophistication are secondary. The concept is primary.
2. Take time to learn the methods of knowing and reading reality.
3. There is no such thing as a problem
4. The map is not the territory.
5. Understand the ‘whole’ and not try to improve the system by parts.
6. Design the work system correctly to achieve the end.
7. To gain results invest in talent and less on techniques.
8. Solve all problems in one go to get ongoing benefits for years to come.
9. Learn from failures.
10. Induct people who learn from failures and have good idea of machines and systems.
11. Monitor what is going right not what is going wrong.
12. Aim at improving the Reliability Availability and Performance of the System to maximize your gains.

 

It is most interesting to find that the same concept of CBM can be applied to almost anything an organization does or any issue an organization is faced with.  The effectiveness of the concepts of other strategies for organizational improvement fade in comparison to the improvement concept embedded in CBM concept. Why? Because it is based on how Nature behaves not what we think the way it must behave. That is a natural advantage.

 

Should we go for it?

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The Latent Anger

Mrs. Patoliya was very happy. After a long ten years of their marriage, she was expecting. This was her eighth month. Her husband, Ramesh Patoliya is a middle level government officer hailing from a very small town called Radhanpur situated in the middle of the “great salt desert of India”—Kutch, Gujarat.  She fondly remembers those days when she got married and came to her husband’s house at Radhanpur. It was after a lot of visits to the doctors and temples she became successful in getting pregnant. She used to hate those stares and jibes from the elderly women of their family. She was intentionally boycotted and also prevented from attending any auspicious family ceremony. Her crime? She was supposed to be “barren”. To avoid his wife from getting into any of those uncomfortable situations Ramesh Patoliya voluntarily opted for a transfer to Jodhpur in Rajasthan. A wise decision and a new approach to find out a solution ---- it paid off. He was overjoyed.

Sardarji the Chief of the office at Jodhpur is anxious. Only ten more days left for his son’s wedding reception at Jodhpur. Many a rough notes have been made and thrown as paper bundles into waste paper basket. Sardarji’s chamber is now usually busy with his “advisors”. The whole government machinery has been put into action which otherwise remain idle. Two of Sardarji’s trusted lieutenants --- one middle level officer and another assistant have been working round the clock. They were preparing the list of invitees especially the special gentry of Jodhpur city. Two types of invitation cards were made. The costlier cards are for the nobles and the lesser ones for the lesser types who are below his rank and pay. But here the Sardarji has made an exemption ---- “Give the costlier cards to those who are rich and has social status”. His two lieutenants were in a fix. Now how to determine who is where in the social status.  A number of guest houses of different government departments were booked for the guests of Sardarji. After all he has to show his kith and kin what position and status he holds in Jodhpur as the head of a government Office. Sardarji was very much particular in inviting the erstwhile Maharaja of Jodhpur. He went to His Highness palace to invite the Maharaja and Maharani to his son’s wedding reception. Sardarji was very pleased but surprisingly none of his own staff members and their families were invited including his two trusted lieutenants.

The D day arrived. The whole campus comprising the office portion and the residential staff quarters were bedecked with the finest lighting. The army band was playing right from the morning. The whole residential portion was cordoned off from the rest by a bamboo made barrier. There were two main gates. One used for the office and another one goes to the residential staff quarters. Sardarji type V bungalow is in between the office and the staff residential portion. Sardarji bungalow has a spacious lawn enough to accommodate a basketball court. The lawn is being used for all the action. Sardarji went a step further. He issued an order to all his staff members and guards --- “No one should use the residential gate from seven in the evening   till the party gets over”.

The residential quarters wore a deserted look as if a curfew has been clamped. The music was playing in the Sardarji lawn. He wore a Jodhpuri suit with a crimson turban eagerly waiting for His Highness to grace the occasion.  The Maharaja arrived along with his security. High ranking army generals, police officers, bureaucrats, businessmen all of them arrived but no staff members were seen. Only Sardarji’s 2IC (second in command) came with his spouse.

Mrs. Patoliya suddenly felt an uneasy pain. She told her husband. He ignored her. The pain was coming in quick succession. Not knowing what to do Patoliya rang the intercom to talk to his colleague. They decide it was better to shift her to a nearby hospital. They put her into a colleague’s small car and headed for the hospital. They were stopped at the gate by the armed guards. It’s an emergency. What orders? I care a damn of Sardarji’s orders. They just drove away. Mrs. Patoliya was in great pain.  At 2.15 AM Mrs. Patoliya gave birth to a girl.

The wedding reception was over. Sardarji arrived late the next day to the office. He ordered his PA to take a dictation. It was a transfer order of Ramesh Patoliya to Shillong with immediate effect and in public interest.  In the evening every staff member was given a packet of sweets one by Sardarji and another by Ramesh Patoliya. 

The next morning the residential waste collection dustbin contained all the packets of sweets given by the Sardarji. After eight months Sardarji went on superannuation. None of the staff went to the airport to bid farewell, including his two trusted lieutenants.

 

Lessons Learned:

1. More than skill or competence any Leader worth his salt needs a great character to lead. Otherwise followers desert.

2. A leader quickly loses integrity by differentiating amongst his people. He/she then loses the right to lead.

3. Without empathy one can't lead. Empathy brings Respect and Respect brings with it Trust. These would be the keywords in leadership of the 21st century where more and more people would participate and contribute to the economic and social development.

 

Sitendu De is the author of this post.

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The Throne

The chief’s inspection was due next week. He is going to come from Jodhpur (Rajasthan) for the inspection. Rani Dhan Singh Bhatti looked with eagerness at the planner in front of him and started pondering. Sardarji, the Chief is going to inspect all the four units under his control which means he is going to stay at Barmer for all the four days.  How to make the chief comfortable? He should not be annoyed and avoid making any adverse comments in his inspection report. Rani Dhan Singh Bhatti conveyed the dates of inspection to all the officers-in-charge of the four units’ which are under his control.

Bhatti has grown up in these golden sand dunes of the Thar Desert. He was born in a Rajput Royal family at Jaisalmer. The things which he inherited from his forefathers were his huge, intricately carved “haveli” (ancestral house), some cultivable lands and a throne. He prides himself when villagers still hail him as the “Prince”.  Bhati still gets the agriculture produce from his village. The millet, corn, wheat and a substantial quantity of lentils supplements Bhati’s expenditure on his yearly food budget.

Bhatti took a calibrated step after he reached his office. He plans to organize a big party for the chief on his last day of the visit. The show must be of a very grand scale. The Sardarji should feel that Bhatti also holds on to his rich traditions of royal hospitality specially given to a guest of honour. Bhatti calls the police band, the folk singers and the best chefs in the town. He ordered plenty of scotch and invited all the top government officials in the town. He caparisoned the throne and placed it on the makeshift stage.

Bhatti was very pleased with the arrangements. The enchanting sound of “padharo mhare desh” (welcome to my country) reverberated through the huge hall. The Rajasthani folk singers were singing mystically and wore their traditional dress complementing the atmosphere of festivity. The top government officials came with their spouses in tow. Mrs. Bhatti wore the traditional “langa-choli” and was welcoming the females. The police band started to play a traditional British tune as soon Sardarji arrived. Bhatti rushed to receive him.  After all a lot depends on the inspection report.  Scotch flowed uninterrupted. Every one seems to be enjoying the grand party. It was truly in a royal style. The traditional Rajasthani mutton dish was the most sought after.

Sardarji was too pleased with the whole show. He showered praise on Bhatti as he addressed the guests. After the brief speech Sardarji headed for the throne to sit. Bhatti rushed towards Sardarji and said “It is the host who sits on the throne”.

 

Lessons Learned:

1. If one thinks 'red' is 'blue' then it is extremely difficult to change his/her idea. Evidences and Logic don't seem to work well.

2. Such mental models can't be changed by force. It might only be changed through one's internal refection of the reality and struggling to make sense of it.

3. Since traditions and emotional attachments are very difficult to be done away with all change methods must acknowledge and reflect the reality of such attachments and work with it.

 

 

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On more time -- How the heck do we read Vibration Signatures!

Ask that question to any vibration specialist worth his salt and he would

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