Thought for the Day - The Difference Between Hope and Responsibility

We can take up any job with hope. Or with responsibility. Hope gets us nowhere. Seizing responsibility does.

Hope is what you do when you do not look at reality and then take action. Your head is in the sky while you are actually doing work that affects stuff near your feet and you hope that somehow it will all connect up. It might, it might not.

Responsibility is what makes us look at the job on hand, watch reality closely, find the pattern and work in a purposeful manner. You get an intuitive way of dealing with the job at hand when you look closely at anything. Skill, expertise, consistency are all results of that.

The artisan and the artist. But the greatest artists are at heart great artisans. They look closely at what they have to do, get the pattern intuitively, and proceed purposefully.

Why don't we look closely? Fear. Of taking responsibility for what we dish out with our best effort. But as an artist you have to take both - praise and criticism. Look closely. Then you will automatically move in the right direction.

Raazi - Movie

Absolutely edge-of-the seat stuff. A gripping narrative. Danger from all sides. A committed spy who puts her job ahead of her life. How she risks her life to send vital information that turns the tide in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Based on Harinder Sikka's novel 'Calling Sehmat'. Alia Bhatt as always is perfect. Recommended.

13 Questions - From Dr. Travis Bradberyy

Dr. Bradberry says that when things aren’t going quite the way you’d like them to, ask yourself these right questions.  

1.       How do people see me differently than I see myself? (Ask for feedback and compare with your own self assessment)

2.  What/whom did I make better today?

3.  Am I being true to my values? (Firstly, what are my values and then this)

4. If I achieved all of my goals, how would I feel? What can I do to feel that way as I work to achieve them? (Is there a way to enjoy the journey?)

5. What haven’t I taken the time to learn about?

6. In what areas of my life am I settling?

7. What do I want my life to be like in five years?

8. What would I do if I wasn’t scared?

9. Who has qualities that I aspire to develop? (Find them, meet them, know more about them)

10. What problem are we solving?

11. What’s stopping me from doing the things that I should be doing?

12. Will you be my mentor?

13. What’s the most important lesson I’ve learned so far in life? Am I living that lesson?

Ask the questions.

Fine Performance by MPA Students - Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad

It's the second year in a row that I am teaching a course called 'Arts Management' at the Department of Dance, Sarojini Naidu College, University of Hyderabad. It's part of the Masters of Performing Arts course (MPA) that is offered by the department. It teaches two main forms - Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi - the theory and practice of it. The course is a part of their fourth semester. The class sizes are generally small. Last year there were 9 students and this year we had 12.

Standing - Shanmukha, Tejaswi, Me, Vaishnavi PB, Vaishnavi S, Kavitha
Sitting - Seenaiah, Anusha, Ardra, Athira, Chudamani

I know little about dance, classical or western, Bollywood or pop. But I studied management and apart from that have tried to understand what one must do to gain an advantage in a particular path they have chosen. In other words, manage things without feeling overwhemed by the odds. I try to do the same with my writing - manage it. One of the main aspects of becoming better as a performer or even as someone who wants to understand performance arts is to perform. What we call in cricket - match practice.

To perform well over a period of time one certainly needs to strive for expertise - hence purposeful effort is a must. My theory is that one needs to deconstruct skill, get an expert coach or coaches to guide, practice the right things the right way (instead of  merely putting in loads of hardwork going nowhere) and once ready, perform on as many stages as possible. One needs to meet people of higher standing, have clear role models, engage in discussion and in interpretation and analysis, and mainly take responsibility for their careers. Visibility is important, understanding audience needs is important, understanding how to present oneself is important and mostly, like writers, one must also realise that its not just learning the skill but understanding and fitting in with the environment that's important for career growth.

Based on these principles, we decided to organise one performance at least on a stage - either at Shilparamam or at the DST, UoH. It was wonderful to see the students organise the event all by themselves and perform so well. They transform so much on stage that you wonder what it was that they were worried about - so much passion and work cannot just go waste.

And so it was that I got to see and applaud my students this year - Athira, Ardra, Anusha, Chudamani, Kavitha, Radhika, Shanmukha, Seenaiah, Tejaswi, Vaishnavi PB and Vaishnavi S. It was a wonderful evening and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. It had live music. Prof Anuradha Jonalagadda was there, as always helping the students. I met Dr. Siva Raju, Head of the Department too at the beginning. A good sized crowd came by to cheer - the hall was almost packed.

Well done students. Wishing you many more performances to come in the future.