Redefining Horizons

  Folklore or History Almost every Indian child, schooled or not, would have listened to stories about Birbal, Akbar’s most trusted courtier. Birbal rose to such a position of importance, relevance and trust that the emperor gave him quarters within the palace. He was considered first amongst the ‘navaratans’. Incidents centered around Birbal, true or not, is folklore. While some of the stories going around may be true, most of them are too good to be true, yet substance for interesting folklore.   Perception Shift Birbal’s exploits resonated with my childhood naivety seeking triumphant truth. It was exciting to see how Birbal used wit and intelligence as powerful tool s to help the emperor understand follies, arrive at correct decisions and administer justice. Birbal was the hero. Evil and deceit were detected and truth triumphed. As adolescence kicked in, perceptions changed colours. Birbal’s exploits assumed a different form. How could a powerful emperor be so...

  It was just another Saturday morning for everyone but for Tom. What burdened Tom Sawyer, more than the daunting enormity of the ‘job’ at hand, was the ignominy of doing it when “ all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life ...   [1] ” and all the other children were free to be themselves. 'Whitewashing the fence ’, is a classic illustration of human behavioural dynamics. Simple words. Great impact.  Nothing much has changed. Localise characters and language, the spirit of ‘whitewash’ yet remains. Differentials That Hurt There are occasions when we find ourselves burdened. Interestingly, it’s during such ‘groan and mourn’ times that we tend to notice others with ‘ spring in their steps’  and ‘ song on their lips’ . Immersing ourselves in self-pity and oblivious to their burdens, we presume everyone else is happy. Accept it or not, it is the differential, assumed happiness of others compared to our misery, that make situ...

  “Don’t Have to Fight to be a Man”   There is something haunting about the way Kenny Rogers sings ‘Coward of The County’. The concluding lines of the song depict the transformation of Tommy a confirmed pacifist to a fighter.   “I promised you dad, not to do the things you’ve done I walk away from trouble when I can Now please don’t think I’m weak if I didn’t turn the other cheek And Papa, I should hope you to understand Sometimes you gotta fight when you are a man”   There are times when one needs to pick up a fight and take it to conclusion.   Life is Like That   "In that case, we are striking work" thunders an agitated union leader. "We will declare a lock out" , declares an equally agitated GM Administration   "You agree or not, we are getting married" declares a dissenting son. “Don’t come back” shouts a distraught father Different words. Different settings. Yet essentially the same situation! A conflict is in escal...

  Safety of Ports or Sea of Opportunities? Ships, berthed at ports are safe. But aren't ships meant to be out there on the high seas, conquering waves and braving storms searching for treasures that lie seven seas and beyond? Life is no different. Caged in protective environments and living off what has been inherited is survival,  mere existence. Repeated setbacks and failures are integral to chasing dreams and fulfilling them. Triumphs over tribulations sweeten success to no end. Poise with which setbacks are handled and the determination to get back on the feet to persist with the fight set victors apart from the vanquished. Setback and spring back! The innocuous catapult has a lot to teach. Scenes Behind Success The pellet and the target grab all the attention. The straining structure, stretched strings and soft seating are seldom seen. It is the pellet’s impact that is always discussed and not what got it there. Without untiring stems, instantaneously retracti...

Orbitals -The Sub-atomic Domain Progress is irrevocably linked to man’s restless mind, his relentless attempt to find verifiable logic to everything seen and unseen, experienced and even remotely experienceable, visualisable or hardly visualisable. It is this ‘search-continuum’ that has helped humankind imagine, postulate, define, explain, test and prove or disprove anything and everything. The cathode-ray tube experiments of JJ Thomson in 1897 and discovery of electrons paved way for quantum leaps in research in the domain of subatomic particles. But it took many years of proving and disproving different hypotheses to explain behaviour of atoms in relation to its structure. Scientists, for now seem to agree on ‘energy-level’ based allocation of electrons to s, p d and f orbitals. Interestingly, even behaviour of both successful and unsuccessful individuals, can be explained by an analogy of the ‘ s, p d , f ‘architecture they operate from. Orbital theory for success and failure?...

  Que sera - sera 2012 Dec 28. The conglomerate gets a new chairman, young but experienced, handpicked and groomed to replace a living legend who took the group to unimaginable heights. It was after a two-year long search and selection process that the successor was decided up on. The choice was hailed and celebrated. On 24 th Oct 2016, in less than two years after the assumption of appointment by the individual, the Board of Directors ‘overwhelmingly’ declared that it lost confidence in the chairman and resolved to remove him from the post. What went wrong? The Inevitable Time and change are inseparable companions. With time, change is inevitable. Applicable to anything known, the universal diktat holds good for organisations too. If change is evolutionary and planned, all departments of an organisation play assigned roles in the process of change. But, good, bad or ugly, unexpected changes do happen. Precipitated by situations, succession in organisations, could become a...