Anjali - The Giving Tree and A Promise

Anjali joined a summer camp oganised by the Hindu called STEP Junior League. One of their exercises was to identify someone in their life who is their giving tree. Luckily for me Shobha was away doing some adventurous stuff so Anjali conferred the title on me. I am naturally very pleased with this award of the giving tree.

Thank you Anjali for making me realise that I am capable of giving. Thank you for receiving. And some more. A line that binds me for a lifelong commitment. "You are always there for me".

I am reminded of this story in the first edition of the Chicken Soup series about a young boy and his friend in Armenia. An 8.2 scale earthquake flattens the entire country including the school where the boy is studying. His father goes to the school to find his son and finds flattened buildings. There is no hope but he remembers his promise to his son. "No matter what happens, I  will always be there for you.'
He started digging. To those who told him it was pointless, he only responded - 'Are you going to help me now?' He dug for 38 hours, alone. And then he heard a voice.
His son's.
The boy says - 'I told the others you would come if you were alive Dad. And that when you saved me they would be saved too.' The young son told him that 14 out of the 33 survived because of a wedge that formed in the building when it crashed.
When the father tells his son to come out, the boy lets the others go first.
'Let them got first Dad,' he says. 'Because I know you will get me. No matter what, I know you will be there for me.'

Anjali, I don't know if I said  it before and like so many other things it's you who prods me first - but no matter what, I will always be there for you.

Thanks Chicken Soup.  Lovely story. Thanks Anjali. Lovely card.

Eye in the Sky - Movie

Drone attacks on suicide bombers. Civilian collateral. Decisions. Nice. But in some parts overly dramatic. Watchable.

Mossad (The Greatest Missions Of) - Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal

Mossad is the Israeli Secret Service famed for its many daring and precise missions that it has pulled off for the cause of Israel and the Jews. It is responsible for intelligence gathering. covert operations and counter terrorism. Since its inception in 1948 Israel has been constantly at war with its neighbours Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and other Arab countries and has had significant success.

The book details some 21 missions of the Mossad. starting from its inception in 1948. The missions include flattening a nuclear plant that was being built in Syria, capturing and bringing to trial in Israel a Nazi commanded Eichmann, capturing and killing another Nazi officer 'The Butcher of Riga', setting of honey traps to elicit information, ending Saddam's dreams of owning a super gun by killing the rogue scientist, capturing a MIG 21 perhaps for re engineering purposes, bringing home Syrian Jewish girls who were trapped in Syria with no men to marry, helping Ethiopian Jews cross over into Israel which was their promised land, establishing high level spies in Egyptian government and in so many other places, bringing down several terrorists who had inflicted much damage on Israel, eliminating the Black September leaders who were responsible for the Munich Olympics massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and so many others. The  successful mission to free the hijacked plane in Entebbe airport has been well documented in other books and movies so did not find a place here.

The book was interesting because its real life cloak and dagger stuff. Guns, spies, moles, kidnappings, traps, double agents - it has it all. The Jewish hatred for Nazi war criminals and their tenacity in following them and capturing them and bringing them to trial is noteworthy just as their dedication to bringing Jews from all over the world who wanted to come to Israel. The book also gave an insight into how Israel functions as a country amidst so much hostility around it, the politics of the region and how Mossad established itself as a top secret service organisation in the world. Good read.

Sunday Cricket Lessons - Humility is the First Lesson!

While chatting with Baig sir this morning I was watching a side play going on. There is one youngster who about 25 year old who has played state cricket at a junior level - barely. He comes once in a while to seek some corrections. I have seen his growth over the years - from a confused lad to one who has played state cricket. However the success has not made a nicer person of him and I could see that the old earnestness, politeness has disappeared. These days he does not even bother to greet and acknowledge people - he just goes on with his job like a star. Naturally everyone leaves him alone.

But then, the side play happened. While we were busy discussing something, I saw that this boy was bullying the young batsman who was batting. 'Give me the ball,' he shouted at him when in fact there is no compulsion for any batsman to give the ball back to the bowler. In fact we are taught that the bowlers make all effort not to disturb batsmen and get out balls back from the net quietly. Sometimes the batsmen give the balls back to us if its within their reach. To this day I tell the batsmen to wait and go and pick up the ball from the net myself. So it was rather surprising to see this bully telling the young kid over the next few deliveries how he should throw the ball, once waiting in his place and telling the boy to give the ball when he was actually closer to the ball, once telling him not to act smart and on and on. I thought I would step in but then I also wanted the young kid to learn to stand up for himself and  he did a good job of it too. I also made my displeasure evident to the senior player - dressing him down in front of the others would also make no sense - so perhaps a word later.

The first thing that struck me was this. That humility  is the first thing for anyone to learn. Especially when you become successful and people look at you. It is then that you must behave the way people also want to behave - be a role model. This kid, with his modest achievement, already had so much arrogance and hubris that he could think he could do something like this. While coming back Ramaraju told me about his view of the incident - 'it was sickening to watch' he said.

It does make a lesser person of you if you help your team mate by picking up the ball, by bowling when others are tired, by letting everyone have a good net, by helping youngsters with a tip or two. If one has to learn one thing from the game - it better be humility. Because for me if you are not a good human, you can never be a good cricketer.

Column in the Sunday HANS - Give Us Our Data Back!

Sunday HANS - Facebook and Our Data!
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1637623/SUNDAY-HANS/SUNDAY-HANS#page/13/1

Brad's Status - Movie

Boring. Thought it had a plot like the Misfit. Didn't really. Avoid!

Thought for the Day - To Motivate is To Find the Motive

There was a time when I called myself a motivational speaker. Then I realised that I can speak but I really cannot motivate anyone else but myself. So these days I confess upfront that I cannot motivate anyone.

That said, it dawned on me yesterday that to motivate anyone, I should first find out what their motives are. If I can find out their motives and tell them how to get there (assuming they don't) they are motivated. 

But most motivational speakers, me included, end up demotivating people because we show an ideal and then show them their real life. That shows a big gap and leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. It also shows a lot of hard work and all the stuff one is 'not doing'. Sure ways to demotivate.

Over time I realised that it is better to start from what they have, tell them how to  reorganise effort and definitely show possibilities. If the possibilities include a deep motive of theirs - which is normally to gain some self-esteem - we are on a good wicket.

To find the 'real' motive then is how we can motivate anyone to change behavior. Perhaps we can ask ourselves this question? 

What is our motive? What motivates us?