Hours well spent

To be seated on a railway platform and watching the trains go by

To be seated on the steps at the mall entrance and watch the selfies taken

To be seated in an old idyllic café where nothing and no one changes

To be sipping piping hot coffee and looking around at the other tables

To be walking aimlessly while all around people in cars and autos whizz and honk in impatience

To ramble with a friend and talk absolute nonsense of zero importance – those conversations which are forgotten once uttered, like vapour whose path one can’t trace

To be writing what one wants (like this) instead of tapping away at keyboard on the report that one has to finish

To watch the world go by

Go by in Doing while all along those hours well spent are all about Being.

Corporate Communication - A funny take

Change being the only constant, the way we communicate in the corporate world is changing too.

In the last 10 years, these are the key changes that I feel have happened:

- We Bullet more and more on each slide of the ppt

- We need infographics - even when we have nothing to say. Sorry, especially when we have nothing concrete to state.

- We create more ppts to get points across - what a decade back was done probably by walking across a few workspaces and having a discussion And reaching a decision on next steps to take. Today, that ppt will go across workspaces, with each person adding his/her two bits and finally, someone will lose the trail mail and then, well, we all know the game Passing the Secret. Open Secrets.

- People need the assurance of constant inflow and outflow of mails to feel all’s well with the world. It’s pardonable to miss out something when a colleague shares a few words across a coffee, but put the same thing on an email and send it across, if not acknowledged, it’s not right.

- And finally, my favourite – the terminologies we use when we speak. Here’s a matrix.

How we said it then	How we say it now	Me the cynic
We are meeting in Room 2	We are meeting in ‘Garuda’/’White Petal’/’Grand Canyon’.	All are names given to conference rooms. The Personal Touch. If we can name a cyclone, why not a conference room?
Do you all agree with me on this?	Are we all aligned on the same page on this?	Mere agreement isn’t enough. We need alignment.
It was good 2 hour discussion	We only have 20 minute agile meetings. Which may extend. But only agile, please.	Fitness freaks, here we go!
We need to think more before we come up with a solution.	We need to think out of the box.	Corporate decisions require right shaping, of the mind.
We had to let go of a few workers	We are rightsizing	It hurts to use the word’downsizing’ or ‘firing’. Rightsizing feels Right.
This is very good news	Epic!	Which epic is it now?
We need one brilliant idea that works.	We need ‘Aha’ moments.	Oho. Will work on it. By thinking out of the box.
We want insights.	We go beyond insight – foresight.	Poor eyesight so no vision to comment.
We don’t have much statistics on this now.	We believe it’s all about quality here.	Quality agreed. God or bad?
Can we cut the report short? It’s too lengthy.	Trim this, make it crisper, without losing the essence. Separate the noise from the signals	Are we slicing bread or baking? Or are we on a train? Which case, I see a red future for the report.

Well, as we say goodbye to 2015, I shall vertically align myself and resolve to be more agile, think more out-of-the-box, strive for more ‘Aha’ moments and hail 2016 with a lot more foresight. Everyone aligned on the same page, I hope?

Expressions !

Recently I started volunteering to teach English to children of I Std. in Nivedita Vidyapeetha, a charitable school that seeks to educate the underprivileged. And as is done, I try to minimize Kannada and speak only in English to them most of the time, of course generously using all other signs and symbols to make them understand what I am trying to communicate.Over the last 3 weeks, I would hear a child say on and off “English baralla..english gothilla”. And I would in turn tell them that my very purpose of being among them was to teach that and hence they should start saying “I am learning English”. The child would nod, more out of respect, than out of conviction.

The last few days, they have been learning to write their names in English, and today, all of them got it. The look of happiness and sheer glee on their faces I can never forget !

One boy, after class came running to me with a semi-toothless grin  and said “Akka, nanégé English banthu” (I know English) and that he would write his name in English at home and show it to everbody.

Fulfilling, and at the same time made me realize knowing how to express one’s name in a language gives  a true feeling of accomplishment  in learning a language!! 

Ben Okri's 10 1/2 inclinations

The Royal Society of Literature asked 10 writers to suggest the 10 books that children should read before leaving school. Instead of a list of books, I wrote this :

1. There is a secret trail of books meant to inspire and enlighten you. Find that trail.
2. Read outside your nation, class and gender.
3. Read the books your parents hate.
4. Read the books your parents love.
5. Have one or two authors that are important, that speak to you; and make their works your secret passion.
6. Read widely, for fun, for stimulation, for escape.
7. Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.
8. Read what you're not supposed to read.
9. Read for your own liberation and mental freedom.
10. Books are like mirrors. Don't just read the words. Go into the mirror. This is where the real secrets are. Inside. Behind. That's where the gods dream, where our realities are born.
10 1/2. Read the world. It is the most mysterious book of all.

Questions!!

Kids can really stupefy you sometimes:

Q: Are we all inside a story?
AA (Attempt at Answer): Yes,a true one. Real story.

Q: Is God carrying us or is he trying to kill us with an invisible gun?
AA: (really do not know where that came from!)Of course not.... (I really sounded unconvincing, I knew it!)

What do you mean? Day 2

“we call this a prism, not a mirror”
“have it your way. Stop the comments and start looking into it.”
“go away”
“not possible, you called me, remember”
“yes, now, don’t shout, go away. Feels like my head will explode”
“good that’s just what I want. A very good state to be in”
“NONONO. The noise is too loud. I can’t take it anymore”
Silence. IT went away. Silence. Phew!
And then I looked. Into the prism. I thought I saw IT there, again, was that a smirk. But no, now, there’s too much to see, so much that I cannot hear anymore.
Too many prisms right inside.
“just this program, please teach me…I promise we can do English together.” We are seated in the terrace of the computer institute. He has the most tired look. Really, we have been sitting there nearly 8 hours, but I don’t seem to be making any progress. But he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t go. Begins all over again.’ And I think as I see the prism, “really, did I want to not learn so that he would stay and not go away?”
Uncle with his glasses. His fat stomach. The same black belt. Chasing her along the corridors of the big old house. Is this running and catching? But somehow feels different. Not the same. Not right. She knows something is wrong. where are her friends today? What sort of game is this? She runs and runs, up the stairs and behind the door to the terrace…this place is a good hideout for hide and seek, one who hides here never gets found out. But uncle is right there. Shit, what is he doing?
I dropped the prism. It didn’t break. Only became more fragmented inside. But I know, once I begin to look, suddenly that surface will focus itself and blur the rest. Just like the noise inside my head which now singles out a strand. And keeps at it, all along, never ceasing.
I lift the prism, the mirror. And can’t help but look. Fuck, not this!!
TO BE CONTINUED

What do you mean?

“you know what, this is all wrong. It was never meant to be this way.”
‘what do you mean?”
“I shouldn’t have ended up here at all.”
“who says this is the end?”
“I do, because I can see where it all began. “
“that doesn’t mean you know where you would have ended.”
“what do you mean?”
“you got lost, your inner geographic sense is as screwed up as it was as it was in the beginning.”
“wait, wait, if you agree I do have an inner sense, wouldn’t that guide me...where does geography and NEWS come in here?”
“you really don’t get it, do you?”
"what do you mean?”
“i hope you do see you are using that way too much. What did you do when she was telling you all this?
“she?what do…?”
“now don’t tell me you don’t remember. All along she was there, at every right and left you took…”
“you mean holding my hand??”
“no no, by herself, and you made sure that for every left she took, you took a right.”
“of course. Why would I follow SOMEone?”
“yeah, right. Which is why I said your inner geography is screwed.”
“so now you telling me she was the map?
“finally, you seem to be getting somewhere.”
“Really, WHAT do you mean?”
“that you will soon figure out for yourself.”
“if you remember, I am in the i-do-not-like-this-end state. What’s this drivel about SHE?
“happy new year. Here’s my gift for you. A mirror. Let’s begin….”
TO BE CONTINUED…