Leadership Talks - Talk 1

Chatting with M, HT and MJ about captaincy the other day, we discussed a few points which can be used as guiding principles. 

1) The captain's main job is to deliver results - and he must do all he can to deliver wins. 

2) All wins go to the team, all losses and blame comes to the captain - part of the deal.

3) The captain must ensure that the best resources are playing - the best XI must play. Any compromise will compromise the team, the result, and will affect the captains record. One cannot give an inch in the quest to win. It's sheer arrogance if one feels they can do with less than the best resources. 

4) Apart from being strategically poor, not playing the best players (normally out of bias) sends a signal to the entire team that the captain is not fair. Once the team feels that the captain is not fair, he loses respect. Players start playing for themselves, the team gets divided and we lose the edge. One cannot win championships with such an atmosphere. On the other hand if the captain is fair and fights for what is fair, the team trusts him and backs him and fight aa one for him.

5) Having ensured the best XI the captain must ensure he is getting the best out of everyone by using all their skills fully. To do this the captain must have an understanding of what each one brings in terms of skill and attitude, their strengths and weaknesses. The best way is to talk to them, talk to their team mates, coaches, watch them in different circumstances etc. Most players do not know their potential. A good captain can see it and helps them achieve it. Eg. Pinch hitters, part time bowlers. Sehwag as opener and off spinner.

6) The best XI is followed by our decision to bat or bowl after the toss. Unless there's a clear advantage in the conditions for bowlers, it's best to put runs on the board and put pressure on the opponents. It gives tactical advantage. Enough thought must go into what they course of action should be after the toss.

 7) All of the above is to get a competitive advantage over the opponent. The entire idea of winning is to grab the advantage and press it home ruthlessly. If we do not have the advantage we must hold on our position without slipping too far out of the game and try and get a foothold in the door and then come back. Eg. India -Australia at Calcutta, VVS Laxman's match

8) Winning is all about being ruthless. Practice being ruthless in every competition, in every game, every situation. Winning must become second nature. No relaxing. 

9) Ruthlessness extends to resources as well. Resources must earn their place and not be handed it out in an out-of-turn manner. This will not only hurt that resource, it will hurt the team and the captaincy record. When a resource is ready, the opportunity will create itself. The captain need not create chances. 

10) Under a poor captain, the entire teams performance goes down. Under a good captain, all the main players to perform and he will carry much of the load himself. But a great captain will get everyone to perform better than their expectations. Great captains normally show their belief in the fringe players and motivate them to give an extra 10-20% which adds up heavily to the final tally. It also eases the pressure off the main players.

To get that extra edge, our job will be to focus on getting a little more out of the fringe players by believing in them, setting expectations, giving any coaching inputs etc. Eg. All good captains - MSD.

11) The good captain operates on faith which is very different from operating on hope. Hope implies there is no belief. Hope implies we are not sure and are taking a chance. Faith comes from a stronger space that translates into the player feeling trusted. The difference in hoping and trusting shows in the players performance. Eg..MSD - Joginder Singh

12) Much of cricketing knowledge or understanding passes on through deep discussions on craft, strategy, tactics, history and story telling. Mumbai cricket revels in that culture. To gain faster exposure, captains and aspiring captains must learn to engage actively, ask questions in all kinds of fora more so with senior players, captains etc. Eg. Mumbai.

13) The best players need not be the best leaders. So giving your star player the burden of Captaincy may not always be right. It may affect negatively in two ways - one, that the star players performance gets affected and the team performance subsequently and two, sometimes the pressure a star performer brings on the team does not aid the others to perform. Unless the star is also a good leader who can get others to perform as well, it's better to look for a different captain so team performance is not affected. The star player can focus on his game and the leader can focus on the rest of the team. (Eg Tendulkar)

14) Every little change in the course of the game gives an opportunity to seal the game - do not relax once you have the game fully under control. Finish it as soon as you can, by using your best resources, else things can go really bad if we let the opponent breathe. Eg. All games that were in our control and we let the opponents get away.

A few points that came out of the discussion. It was an excellent discussion and I hope to build on this.

The Feedback Series - S C

I love good feedback. When it comes unsolicited, even better. This came in today, most unexpectedly, from a student I taught last year at the Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad. Absolute treasure.

"Happy vinayaka chavithi sir 

Hope you are doing good 

S C here from MPA Bharatanatyam HCU 2026 passed out batch 

I got a job as dance coordinator in Christ university Bangalore with 8LPA

Arts management truly helped me in achieving it . I followed most of the concepts I have learned in arts management sincerely & here I am . 

I am truly greatfull to be part of the learning’s , couldn’t explain how it changed the way I see myself now , with more learning mindset , goal setting, feedback management, asking for help, wishing everyone each and everything moulding me into a better person day by day. 

I won’t stop here sir, I will crack UGC NET and try my best in securing seat as a PhD scholar in HCU again with the same learning’s that brought me till here today.

My heartfelt Thanks to you sir ."

Made my day. 

Thought for the Day - Difficult is a State of Mind

Anything difficult is a State of mind. If we label anything that seems unknown, uncomfortable, needs effort as difficult, it will get difficult and harder to achieve. 

By labelling it difficult we make it more difficult than it is, make it easier to give up, make it easier not to achieve. Your shoulders tighten, face grows long, body stiffens, heart grows heavier.

Stop labeling. Just do it. If you have up label it just say it's a breeze. It will be. Life is a State of mind.

Vinod Bhai and the Abids Second Hand Book Market

Vinod Bhai is the senior pro of the Abids Second Hand market. In the past four decades I suspect he has missed very few Sunday visits to his beloved market. To get an idea of his love for books and through them this beautiful market one must visit his blog vinodekbote@blogspot.com

Books, authors...my world expanded many times thanks to Vinod. He has gifted me several books, many I have borrowed from him, helped me buy or find some particular book I was searching for, takes my friends and guests for a tour of the market and every once in a while gives me these wonderful surprises - pictures of my books among many others.

One doesn't know if one should feel good about seeing your book in the second hand market - wondering who has discarded your masterpiece - or just feel good to see your book next to a Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Paulo Coelho and others. 

I think I will feel both and enjoy the moment. Thanks Vinod Bhai for spotting both 'If You Love Someone...' and 'This Way is Easier Dad' and sending me the pics.

The Phuket Diaries - Day 3

This being a day of light activity, a trip was planned to the some sights and then the Old Town in Phuket which was a quaint part of the town with a market and food and stuff. I didn't do any research this trip, being in some kind of a daze and just followed the others like Mary's little lamb. So the taxi van came at 10 and we got our breakfast done  by then and hopped on. It was a longish ride.

Wat Chalong temple

The place where they burst crackers after their wishes are fulfilled

The first stop was at the 19th century Wat Chalong temple complex (aka Wat Chaiyatthararam) which had many beautiful temples. It is Phuket's largest temple and most visited where people come to pay respects to several monks - chiefly two monks Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang who helped the citizens fight against the Chinese Rebellion in 1876 by helping out the injured with their knowledge of herbs and so on.

The 3 storied chedi

Ground floor

People come and pay respects to the monks in what I presumed was the main temple. There are signs that tell visitors to dress appropriately. I could not follow the rituals they did but it did look like they were praying. Outside there is a small enclosure where they burst fire crackers when their wishes are granted. 

Many Buddha statues

Paintings of Buddha's life on the walls and ceiling

3rd floor - where a splinter of the Buddha's bone are kept

The huge, most impressive building is called a 'chedi' which is three floors high. You can walk right up to the top floor. There are many statues of the Buddha, paintings of his life on the walls and the ceiling. As we go to the top floor, it has a glass enclosure which has a splinter of  the bone of the Buddha. From the top floor one can also see good views of the complex. There are many other buildings, all of them beautiful but we neither hired a guide nor knew enough so we headed out.

Khao Rang Hill

Khao Rang Hill City View Point

Next stop was some view point which was quite scenic - one can see the sea in the distance. Its green, quiet, a few monkeys around, one man playing some serene music like a DJ. We wandered around, got some pictures of the panaromic view, enjoyed the quiet and left. From there we could see the famous Big Buddha statue on a nearby hill and wondered if we had time to visit that and still go to the Old Town. But time was short and there was some heavy rain predicted so we looked at the Big Buddha from far and headed to Old Town.

Old Town Phuket

Old Town was beautiful. We entered it through a flea market which had all sorts of stuff - clothes, knick knacks and so on until we stepped out onto the main street in Old Town. It was really quaint with a lot of Sino Portuguese structures, many buildings that remind you of old British architecture or of some Goan buildings.

We shopped around a bit - I bought myself a toy scooter.

 Outside on the street Rajesh and I tried some interesting ice creams. One nice feature is that they serve chilled coconut water. I tried something which had ice apples in the mix. We wandered in and out of ships until we ended up in a restaurant that was suggested by our jovial taxi man Charlie. 

The food was great, beer chilled, service warm, decor quaint, so no complaints. There was an antique gramophone, type writer and many such. We finished our lunch and headed back. Rajesh and NisHa had some work back at the resort so the rest of us got off at the Premium outlet which has all brands. We shopped a bit and got a cab on their reliable app Grab. The heavens opened up on our lunch ride back home and it took an hour to get back. 

The restaurant - perfect

Indian shops

An evening of fun and stories and celebrations and we were done for the day. That pretty much ends the trip.

The Phuket Diaries - Day 2

Day 2 was an intense day. Rajesh booked a travel company for some package where we visit a few islands on a speed boat and generally get a hang of Thailand and its many islands. I am generally wary of water but then this seems to be my year of water. 

Off to the speed boat

Breakfast at the Coffee Club was brilliant - English Breakfast. Surprisingly they had a door that had sensors but it would open only if you pressed a part of it or waved a hand at it - not automatic like it claimed. I could as well turn a knob. So I stood before it for a while expecting it to open but it didn't and someone came and did that thing with their hand and all was well.

Limestone

Our ride came, that same huge 12 seater which was very comfortable, a very courteous driver who drove us for an hour across the island.  He drove very gently, taking utmost care to go slowly over the speed breakers, staying to a side when making a turn. nothing like our traffic here which is all about showing everyone who is strongest. Culture does show in traffic.

Canoes

We reached the jetty from where our speed boat was to take off and we were ushered politely into a small cafe by a very polite young man who smiled continuously (he smiled in a day more than i would in two months I reckon) , surrounded by greenery. We tried some country liquor, very strong, bought some flippers, caps (I got one with roses) and were all set to go. Our guide was Patrick which is the Irish name he says - looks like a film star and was a lot of energy and fun. He led us to the speedboat, told us not to litter stuff, gave us soft drinks and water, some do's and don'ts, the general itinerary and we were off zipping cross the Andaman sea to what I feel must have been the farthest point.

Green lagoons

After half an hour or so we stopped near a cove or a lagoon overhung by limestone karst formations - quite beautiful - some 60 kms away from Phuket. Then we went ahead to what was possibly Panak Island. I guess we were traversing the Phang Nga Bay from whatever literature I could read. The Phang Nga Bay has about 42 islet in a 400 sq km area, with Krabi being on the other side of the bay. 10000 years ago they say one could walk from Phuket to Krabi, now there's a sea.

Floating village

Next we went to a place which I think was Hong island (Hong apparently means room) and saw many speedboats stopping there. Soon as we stopped some canoes drew up along side and we stepped in, two per canoe, and the canoe chaps paddled us away into beautiful lagoons inside the island, sometimes we had to fully lean back horizontally because it was quite low. its called an emerald lagoon and was quite stunning.

Ice Cream - James Bond Island

The canoe guys were quite tuned in to Indians and started singing some Hindi songs and doing Shahrukh Khan gestures and even presented the women in the canoe with a ring made of some root. After about half an hour of this beautiful canoeing we headed back to the speed boat and hopped on.

Crazy rock formation

Onwards to the next island which if I remember right was the Koh Panyee village, which stands on stilts entirely. It was built in 1880 apparently by sea faring Muslim fishermen from Indonesia. About 360 families live on the village which has about 1600 people. There's a school  a mosque, even a floating soccer field (which I did not see). The main attraction for us was the restaurant where we were to have lunch and we had a nice lunch and checked out some shops and hopped back on the boat.

The clouds were getting a little darker on one side and we next headed to the James Bond island or Khao Phing Kan island where the Bond film 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was shot. it is quite spectacular with an ice cream cone shaped rock in the middle of the bay. On the island there is a great rock which I cannot describe, maybe you can see the picture and get an idea. 

While there on the island the weather suddenly changed in minutes and a crazy wind blew hard and we all ran for protection in the rocks else we would have been blown back to Phuket. It looked like it would blow everything away for a while and after about 30 minutes subsided. We got on to our speed boat and off we were.

Eerie cave

Patrick had us stop at an island which had some stalactites and stalagmites - but to see the more interesting ones we had to almost bend double and go into a big room full of bats. Apparently this was the cremation place for some really old visitors to the island and he showed some markings which indicated that. It was fun. Half of us went and the other half stayed back.

Not what you think

Limestone formations

From there we went to another island, popular for swimming, water sports, beer and some stuff like that. While some water-loving members of the party flung themselves into the sea I stayed back and enjoyed a cold beer. After about an hour we headed back.

The chilling island

The last stop for the day was Koh Phae island which Patrick says is the sunset island and calls it the Patrick island. On this island the water recedes in the evening and a 300 mete sand bar appears which leads to an uninhabited island. There were many water jet riders doing stunts near the island. We hung around and looked for the sunset which looked normal. It's the island that is the highlight here and not the sunset.

Koh Phae Island

Headed back to the jetty and then back to the resort. Tiring day. Cannabis is legal here so M bought a few sticks - beginners stuff they said he said. We chilled in the evening and settled down for a more relaxed day the next day.

          

The Phuket Diaries - Day 1

A sudden trip with friends, a decision to step out of comfort zone, and lo behold we were in Phuket. There's a direct flight from Bangalore that lands directly in Phuket after three and a half hours. Thanks to taking the flight from Bangalore I got a chance to check out the new terminal in Bangalore which has a less intimidating presence than most airports. Anyway, unlike most trips where I do some amount of research I fully went by what friend Rajesh decided. An easy holiday, one day out boating to some islands, a chilled day and back. Sounded nice enough. 

Day 1 mostly went into flying to Phuket and arriving to find a nice, clean, less crowded place. There were hardly any VISA formalities - just some document to be filled in electronically - TDAC or something. The cars or vans are normally 10-12 seaters and quite spacious. They are very courteous the Thais, bowing deep for their namaskars, wishing you in a melodious sing song voice that somehow makes it very friendly and welcoming. I can greet in a curt manner but not when I do it in a sing song manner which makes you automatically smile. 

The resort was nice but away from the town. The beach was hardly a few minutes away and we headed out there. Not a soul here because the beaches are mostly annexed to these hotel properties. To the delight of some of the party it was discovered than weed was legal in Thailand.

The property was nice. Apparently the sea here is called the Andaman Sea (India shares maritime border with Thailand). Thailand itself I discovered later, was known as Siam in the olden days before the Europeans landed - Portuguese first. So there's a lot of Sino Portuguese architecture in the old town area of Phuket.