Marooned

Sep 15
Log Entry #72
There is a calm at sea which we have never seen before. Experience has shown that it is always calm before a storm. We have been sailing turbulent seas for the past 14 weeks . Our interaction with the locals at all the ports has been fruitful.On this particular port the natives have been very friendly and informative. They have taken pains to explain to us the intricacies of their customs and traditions. This was the  first port of halt  where the natives welcomed us with lot of courtesy but were disappointed by our small numbers. They had the predatory looks of people deprived of potential food. 

Our ships were scuttled and were stuck in the port for the next 6 months at least. Slowly we are coming to terms with our incarceration. If anything the natives have in addition to teaching us have been very hospitable. They have been feeding us well.... The reason for this is probably to fatten us for the jobs in the offing .

Date 15 Sep 2015 Weather  wind at 11km/h78%Humidity Tuesday 2217h 17.3700deg N 78.4800deg E The natives in addition to feeding us exotic food are also forcefully teaching us things which we feel might be useful to us in the near future .  How useful will be determined by the need to put these teachings in practice in near future. We do not know what will happen . Banjo is on a trip of his own , Perumal has been removed from the daily happenings for sometime now. Rumour has it that he has been taken away to a far off hospital to be ' Reprogrammed'. since his return he has been acting "normally". But there is a marked change in the way the natives have beeen behaving with him- they have been agreeing with everything that he says and does.Jaggu has been the leader. Always plotting as to how to escape from the clutches of the natives. He has tasked Sivaram to cycle all round the area of interest to find ways and means of escape. Only recently Sivaram has done over eight hundred or more kilometers to check out our routes of escape. 

GJ Rao has been teaching the natives as to how to overcome their desire to overcome their death wish. In the process he has been successful in befriending the top echelon of leadership.

 we see no real hope of getting out for another few months . But there is no dearth of trying. Today we were introduced by the locals to a new level of torture. The threat to use calculus and six sigma are real and the only way to alleviate the extreme pain is to go along with the natives and learn their ways so that we do not feel the pain, The report by Sivaram has been encouraging. His trip has indicated the various ways we can get away from all the this safely, The date for trial escape by Sivaram is set . It is Nov  01. Right from the beginning we had decided that it is better to escape one by one , The next person who is scheduled to move away is Sandhya. All that in near future . The last to escape will be GJ Rao . He has decided that his lot is tied up with the natives. His yeoman work in alleviating the lot of the local people will help him in settling into the life here in this location. Jaggu and Banjo have decided to make a break for it together. They think that their team work over a period of time will help them in overcoming any odds that might come their way. The one person who will escape by the sea route will be Himanshu. He plans to make a lie for himself on the foreign shores. ....

God only knows what they have in store for us . It is hopeless ,and at the same time challenging. See you soon....

Desire

Sep 14

Walk a mile to catch a thief - there is no limit to what you should walk to save a life. On Sunday morning GJ Rao was the guest for the 2 km run held by Care Hospital for bringing awareness in the population with regard to Suicide and its prevention. Sunday while it was eventful for some was run of the mill for the others.

For Dr Ramu the PRO at ASCI it was a day of decisions. At long last as the sun hidden by the cloud cover moved up in the sky he at last came to a decision. His motto of 'variety is the spice of life had to be lived up to. Rather reluctantly he came to the decision that he must also put into practice his motto. It was this decision that made him get rid of his close friend and companion for many years. It was with a heavy heart that he took his razor to personally murder his goatee. The transformation was rather miraculous and he was young and debonair once more. The fact was the topic of many conversations in the college. Jagpal said " kya dikhra Boss" and as usual it summed up everyone's thoughts . Of course the dense among us had this puzzled look on their faces and reflected it by saying " Kya dikhra?" 

Anyhow the other part of the story deals with the class by Prof Sachendra. The difference between a leader and the manager was clarified. The leader should also be a manager however a manager need not necessarily be a leader. It is a matter of semantics . A manager is also a leader. Only he  has to follow to lead. Quality as usual reflected in the lecture by Prof Sachendra.  In fact the topic of discussion was also quality. We strive for quality all our lives more than anything else as children we want better clothes and toys as teenagers we want better vehicles as young men better girl friends as husbands - the neighbours wife is always better as middle aged men theneighbours is definitely better if she is younger a, our children are never performing better than their peers, as old people we look for better medical care, housing and various other things. In short we always stress ourselves out craving for these things and striving to attain these material things.

Back to the Future - A short story

Sep12
            Sandhya looked around. All was in place. The mansion was lighted up. The multi colored hues of lights were enhancing the beauty of the Bungalow. The vast expanse of garden with flowering shrubs were immaculate . The pleasant smell of night queen brought back memories of her childhood. She remembered with fondness the open areas of the military cantonment where her father used to serve. Her father traveled all over the country. Every two to three years it was the same . Just when she was developing new friendships the packing would start. The truck was loaded and then it was a new school, new friends and a new location. It had its own advantages. she more or less traveled the entire country, developed lasting friendships and learnt new customs and traditions. The only thing constant was the family and similarity of the cantonments. They ( the cantonments) looked uniformly similar. At every cantonment there was a Sadar Bazar. a club and lot of other children who were in the same boat as she was sailing in.
         
            A remonstrance to the waiter who was mixing up the knife and forks , rearrangement of flowers on the table so that they did not obstruct the guests from each others view and the place was ready to receive the guests. She looked impatiently at her watch. Father and daughter were as usual still not  on the horizon and it was time for the guests to arrive. she dispatched a servant to tell them to hurry up - not that it would make any difference - they always came in after the guests. Having sometime on hand she took the weight of her aching feet. She mentally made anote to spend a little more time at the gymnasium. She had not put on much weight but the extra time spent at her office was telling on her figure...
         
            Her thoughts rolled back a few years . In keeping with her family background she decided to join the forces. At first it was all very novel to her . The carefree days of training, immediate settling of any sort of indiscipline and plenty of money at hand to indulge in whatever took her fancy. She was on the top of the world or rather the world was at her feet. Posting at remote location did not really bother . Then she met her husband. They were both undergoing training at the same location. The affinity was immediate. Before the course was over they were a familiar couple. He a dashing fighter pilot and she an administrative officer . The combination worked well. Soon it was wedding bells and a daughter Hariyali. She doted on her daughter and was content with life. There was however a problem. Spending time together in spite of the best intentions was not always possible - what with both of them being posted at different places - the maximum time being not more than two years at a stretch. This seemed unfair and more often than not, very frustrating. After ten years of serving the nation without complaint she decided to hang her boots for the chance at a more stable family life. In preparation to attack the civil life she decided to undergo a course at ASCI.
         
            ASCI was offering a certificate course in business management and it fell in neatly with her plans of pursuing a civil career.  The first day was quite a shock as all the other officers were very senior. The only saving grace was one other officer who was her age group and who was also planning to leave the services as he was proceeding to foreign shores. The six months sped by and again she was at the cross roads. A job meant that she would again be separated from the family. Her entire being rebelled at the idea of further staying apart from her darling daughter. She took a considered decision (after completion of the course at ASCI)of pursuing further studies in the place of her husband's posting. But as the time went by and her daughter grew up it was only natural that a job was what would keep her sanity. With her qualifications she was snapped up in a multinational company. Her organisational skills learnt in the Services coupled with her qualifications gained along the way stood her in good stead and slowly but surely she climbed the corporate ladder . Today was the party to celebrate her breaking the male bastion and becoming one of the top honchos in the company which she had served with the same dedication she had when she was in the forces. This party was a celebration of this fact. What made it memorable was that most of her coursemates from the ASCI were joining her to toast her success.
         
            Her thoughts were interrupted by a warm embrace round her neck by Hariyali who was breathless and excited at the prospect of an evening full of fun and frolic and dancing. Both Mother and Daughter loved to dance. She turned around to see her husband following her daughter at a sedate pace. Seeing them both Sandhya suddenly felt relaxed and knew in her heart that all was going to be all right. Neither the present nor the future held any threat to her...

Mission accomplished

Sep 10

I dedicate today's blog to two of my course - mates, who have accomplished the Missions they set themselves in their own inimitable styles. It all started off a few weeks back. In fact their achievements are so mind blowing that I would be doing a disservice if I did not tackle them individually.

                           Gp Capt GJ Rao and Mrs GJ Rao

The world suicide day is observed today every year. Why September 10? There seems to be no apparent reason as to why this particular day . But it is indeed commendable that the awareness of prevention of suicide is made public to help people to recognise the signs of suicide and help prevent it . In this respect my coursemate and fellow toiler GJ Rao has spared any effort. In the period since the beginning of the course, he has been working tirelessly to contribute to the prevention of suicide. He has made the government of Telangana accept his model of prevention of suicide. His efforts have culminated in the 

State of Telangana accepting the grim reality

 that suicides are a part of life and have to be prevented. He has released a paper in this respect and 104 has been now accepted the official number for counselling/ calling for all people who are desperate enough to feel the urge to commit suicide. After finally having completed his task he came back to ASCI to report to us his succes. We are proud of the fact that one of us has done some work which is useful to the public in general. In a relaxed frame of mind he is finally a satisfied man.

When The Going Gets Tough , The Tough Get Going

Sivaram  has not been far behind. Sivaram's passion is bicycling. He started bicycling a few years back just to keep fit. It has now become his mainstay and in addition to bcycling he has done extensive research on the subject. In the past three years in Hyderabad he has been a familiar sight on the roads of Hyderabad. In fact he knows the places where he  has been posted like the back of his hand - thanks to cycling. Not unlike the belts in karate this event also has stages of 100, 200, 400 and 600 kms. The mega event sometimes called the blue riband is the Paris - Brest- Paris 1200 km Brevet or the randonneuer, started in 1890. It is now a non competitive endurance test. Sivaram has been preparing for this 600 kms event for some time and has at last accomplished this Mission. It involves a lot of mental and physical toughness and as is evident he possesses both in plenty - and as the newspaper clipping will testify, of the 29 cyclists who attempted this only 12 completed it. Kudos to Sivaram for putting youngsters to shame; He is 53 years old.Finally about class. We can imagine what a tough job the ASCI is facing when we attended the trade union class. Prof Swarnalata gave us a sample as to how trade unions function .We had a mock session with regard to negotiating the deal with the trade union. I suppose that trade unions all over feel that the management is the only entity which is enjoying the fruits of the labor of any organisation. Even in the mock session it was amply proved that the trade unions had a single point agenda - that of not agreeing with the management. No amount of pleading , cajoling or reasoning seemed to work with the union. It was all or nothing . Tempers ran high (remember it was a mock session) and the class ended on a frustrating note with no common understanding in sight. Lessons learnt were many including the one that it does not pay to lose temper.

The afternoon was devoted to Indira Nooyi and how communication played a big part in her success. Prof Swarnalata left no stone un turned to see that the lessons were hammered into our psyche. Her teaching methods are fresh and innovative, We indeed are fortunate to have her teaching us communication . By the end of her capsule it is a given that our comminication skills will improve manifold...

Gallows Humour

Sep 09

Some people have morbid fascination for death ( Of other people). They tell anyone and every one that a death has occurred. Until they get it off their chest they are not happy." Do you know? Today someone I know has handed in his dinner pail". I had spoken to him only recently and now he is no more". It does not matter whether the other person is in a frame of mind to listen to this monologue or not - it is imperative that this news be imparted to all and sundry. And then there are others who do not want to talk about it at all. They are the people who relate to such occurrences in a silent manner . For them it is a sad mishap which should not have happened and it did... Then there are others who feel that the sooner the person is removed from memory the better . There are others who have grave side humour ostensibly to ameliorate their feeling of distress and in the end turn out to be irritating and start grating on everyone's nerves. It is not an uncommon feeling among the others to restrain themselves from becoming violent and causing injury to such persons. One famous joke is by Ronald Reagan - when he was shot and wheeled into the operation theater - asking the Doctors , " I hope that all of you are republicans".  In any case death is a serious business and it is said that Freud summed up gallows humour as follows "The ego refuses to be distressed by the provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure."  Why death? I say why not? Any case it leaves the survivors traumatized. We should support them in their hour of need . For is it not all about help and support?

Today's class was once again with Prof Sachendra. Realising that our level of understanding was not what it should be as far as the decision tree was concerned he decided to educate us on the matter by working it out for ourselves as to how the tree functioned by solving practical problems .. The first problem was solved only by Sivaram and Himanshu. Then it was solved by the Professor for the benefit of the entire class. The second problem was solved by a few more people. By the time the third problem was posed , the tree started flowering - even I understood the method to go about solving the problem. By the time the fourth problem was given the entire class was on the take and easily solved the problem. The methodology, patience and forbearance adopted was commendable. There is a suspicion lingering in my mind that the illustrious professor took it on as a challenge to make sure that we not only understood the logical  way to arrive at the solution but also that we did not forget the teaching all our life. He kept offering us blandishments in form of tea (in the first break) Lunch (in the second break ) and the reward of early release in the final session if we came up to his standards ( Low as they were for us). We rounded the class with a presentation on the process mapping of our choice and pinpointing the shortcomings and how we would overcome them. It was approved by the Professor. During the tea break we were joined by Professors Shah and Shahaida. They discussed with us things other than those concerned with putting our nose to the grindstone of learning and so helping us to recharge our batteries for nurturing a decision 'Plant ' in to a decision tree.

Rains lashed Hyderabad again today . Indira was munificent in all ways after ignoring,  the city for a long time.... 

Feedback

The feeling of contentment has to take a back seat. What contentment? And why Backseat?  The story is as follows - Himanshu wrote a blog about me yesterday. The blog was well written and had a flow to it which was very pleasing. More importantly it did not drag me through the coals and was very nice . But ever since I read it I have been going to the mirror and staring at myself. Am I really what has been written? In any case I take this opportunity to thank Himanshu for a wonderfully expressive and articulate blog. 

Today Prasad did not come for the class. He was busy getting his affairs in order. The dust about Suicide Prevention has yet to settle down. I think it will continue till 10 Sep 2015. That happens to be the world Suicide Prevention day(SPD). As part of Spd there is going to be a run for awareness organised probably on next sunday . GJ Rao will have all the details . For all those who are interested it  will be worthwhile to contact GJ Rao directly.

After a gap of about three weeks Prof Bilolikar  made his appearance in the class again today. Today's class was about sampling and how to go about the conducting it. An interesting class which I am sure will be of use in the future .One important part of sampling is the feedback. Unless you have a feedback it is of no use  - no matter how big or small the sample size. 

The goal of feedback is to improve performance by increasing people’s self-awareness and understanding about how their actions affect others and how others perceive them. So feedback can provide a much-needed reality check. But if the feedback you give seems to have little impact on behavior, maybe it’s because it’s not being given in the most effective way.You may not be giving enough negative feedback – A focus on strengths alone won’t illuminate gaps between how employees think of their performance versus actual measures of that performance. You don’t give people enough of a narrative – People need concrete examples of how their behavior is affecting others. As we have also long said, be specific You are not speaking in a way that can be heard – Use your personal knowledge of the employee to craft a message that can be taken in. In other words, know your audience. Finally, feedback is  just the beginning of the actual coaching, which requires follow through… We want to hear: How do you offer feedback and how do you like to receive it? Do you feel the feedback you have received has altered your behavior? You require feedback from your peers your friends your enemies your children and most importantly from your spouse. Imagine that after you come home from a hard day's work your spouse is sulking and you do not know the reason for this - it is going to drive yo up the wall. In military parlance you need actionable intelligence to further your operations - it is the same in your day to day life also - if I may go astep further you require feedback as to your performance also! Maybe it will help you improve beyond measure...

Sky Warrior

Sep 07

Today, I have the honour to introduce the writer of our course blog who has been relentlessly writing and maintaining this blog, breaking pre-conceived notions and perceptions which challenged its survival beyond a few days. It is indeed remarkable and has set a benchmark for the future courses to look up to. Though it was meant to give a glimpse into the course, but its comprehensive coverage leaves no blind spot and gives a vicarious experience to the reader. These blogs, more or less editorials, have become a source of invaluable information for faculty, course officers and other officers of our fraternity who are yet to decide to hang their boots.

It re-imposes ones faith in the multi-faceted personality of this senior officer who can effortlessly yield not only a weapon but a pen too. Col M Ravindra, commissioned in ’84 in the Indian Army, belongs to the elite 6 PARA which is a special forces unit of the Indian Army’s Parachute regiment and is tasked with special operations, direct action, hostage rescue, counter-terrorism, unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense, counter-proliferation, counter-insurgency, seek and destroy and personnel recovery. The pinnacle of athleticism in service is having both physical strength and mental tenacity/mental agility which undergirds it, for these specific qualities sets the paras apart.

He underwent his Para Basic course at PTS, Air Force, Agra, and was eventually absorbed in the Parachute Regiment. Later, he was deployed to flush out militants/terrorists from Punjab, famously known as Operation Blue Star. Subsequently, he moved to the Eastern interiors of India and was involved in the Counter-insurgency operations under Operation Orchid. From there on, he was instrumental in his role in Operation Vijay, Operation Parakaram and various other operations in dark and deadly valleys of J & K (since in ’90’s subversive activities in the valley increased multifold). An officer with such distinct service was rightly posted as an instructor in Nasik and Army Airborne Training School, Agra to mentor the later generations of troopers. This course has given him the much needed break to settle on family front. Ma’am is the Principal of Neeraj International School, daughter has recently finished her MBBS and his son has embarked on the arduous journey of Engineering from NIT, Agartala.

On a lighter note, he can jump from 10,000 ft without blinking his eye but, understandably, it is difficult for him to fight the goddess of sleep during afternoon classes. As once Prof. Vishwanath remarked, it is difficult to retain the attention of creative minds beyond few minutes unless the speaker is innovative in his/her approach. His observational prowess is three standard deviations from the mean of the population (0.15% of gifted people), who can listen, process, and speak intelligibly on any topic whilst being engrossed in mobile and preoccupied with some other thought. Aptly, rechristened as ‘Chanakya’ of this course by Prof. Swarnalatha.

            I, for once, think that Col Ravindra can write case studies for each of these management subjects to infuse a fresh lease of life into the theoretical knowledge that has evolved with time. The complex interplay of variables to have a desired certain outcome of establishing peace, done by the armed forces against asymmetric insurgents and militia, is indeed an advanced level of application of  these theories. A lecture by officer(s) with such vast and varied ‘first-hand’ experience to the other courses, as well, would definitely help them to learn from his (their) experiences as no one remembers theory in crisis.

He once shared with me in his deep baritone about his first experience of jumping, “At an altitude of 12,000-feet, the instructor asked us to get, set and take the leap, turn wise. Standing at the open door of the plane, I could feel the wind blowing past me. As I leapt out, I felt a strong jolt when my parachute opened. It was totally silent. I spun and when my gyro settled, I realized the enormity of life; I felt closest to the Creator in the huge void as I drifted down to land…..”.

-         Lt Cdr Himanshu Saxena