Two Lovely Gifts from My Students

 Two thoughtful gifts from my students. Thank you so much!

A lovely folder 

A neat flower pot 

Thank you so much. Very touched.

And the CD Collection Goes!

 Unlike the cassette collection of mine which I do not propose to let go of, I am quite OK to let go of my CD collection. This includes all the movies and music CDs we bought over the years (some of them unopened for later use), some gifted. Many memories though - of CDs in cars, of travelling with the CD boxes and listening to songs unendingly (unlike cassettes which would end after 45 minutes). The CD player in the car got spoilt and music went out until I got a new contraption that could play the USB. 

So I got them all out and took pictures of them - difficult to get them going without having some memory. Here they are. 

Anjali's collection

'Lion King', we must have watched many times as we did 'Finding Nemo', 'Pinocchio' and 'Charlie Chaplin'. I bought that 'Pacific' CD in a rush of being educational.

More Anjali's

We watched 'Jungle Book', 'Madagascar', Chicken Little', 'Snow White', 'Sound of Music', 'Shark Tale' and 'Bolt'. But what I watched the most was 'Kung Fu Panda'.

This is a bunch I retained after the last round of CD collection - Angoor I watched so many times as did 'Chariots of Fire' and 'Harischandrachi Factory'. I have no idea why I bought Fashion, Dhoom and Ishquiya. I think I never watched 'Jab we met'

Retained two - Ankahee (Suhita's and Jayant's) and Golconda High School

Mukti - crazy! Watched 'Stuart Little', 'Piku', 'Naram Garam', 'Chupke Chupke', 'Padosan', 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na', 'Anand', 'Chak De', 'Jaane bhi do yaaron', 'Rang Birangi', 'Chalti ka naam gaadi'. All funnies!

'Chasme Buddoor', 'Baat Ban Jaye' and 'Dil to Pagal hai' we watched many times. Missed watching 'Anjali' though we bought it with the best of intent.

Music CDs

After geting rid of some 50 odd CDs I still found some more left - the 500 songs collection is a great one Shobhs bought and the Sufi ones are also her buys - definitely the Shahrukh ones too!

And some more - I bought the Buddha Lamp CD in the Tibetan settlement at Dehradun and the Divine Chants is a gift from Choudary or at least a recommendation from him

I kept these because there are many thoughtful gifts among these - Marla gifted me Krishna Das and a couple more, Malay's CDs with some fine collections. 

What wonderful times I have had with these CDs. Most of them made long journeys with me in the car, the movies we watched again and again and perked up our moods. Fantastic. I think at that time I must have thought this collection would come in handy for the next generation but little did we know that they would have access to the whole world at the tip of their fingers and at a fraction of the cost - or no cost!

I'll come back and visit this page again.

Aandhi - Movie

 1975. Hindi. Gulzar. Following my Sanjeev Kumar book I watched 'Andhi' on YouTube. Surprisingly good print. Enjoyed watching it. Suchitra Sen (glamourous as hell) plays Aarti Devi, a politician and daughter of an ambitious businessman, and Sanjeev Kumar plays JK, A hotel manager. The story is told in flashback - of how they meet, marry and split - and the drama that unfolds in the present which reunites them. Superb songs.

Canteen Fundas - A Good Leader Need Not be the Smartest In the Room

 If you're the smartest in the room, you're in trouble!

https://www.edexlive.com/opinion/2022/apr/29/e-canteen-fundas-as-a-leader-surround-yourselves-with-people-smarter-than-you-with-no-qualms-28569.html

E-Canteen Fundas: As a leader, surround yourselves with people smarter than you with no qualms


A secure leader surrounds himself with people smarter than himself and brings the best out of each individual and the team

What he says | (Pic: Edexlive)


‘Sometimes, I wonder how Chandra sir became Head of Science Department,’ said Rahul sipping on his lime juice. ‘All others in the department are much smarter than him.’

‘But he gets the results,’ said Rinku. ‘Our Science Department is one of the best. Thanks to the rest of his team perhaps. He’s lucky. In any other place, he might not have found a spot in the Department itself.’

‘Interesting,’ said Rakesh. ‘So, who according to you should be leading the department?’

‘Clearly Roshan sir,’ said Rahul. ‘He’s the smartest of the lot. He won many awards and people really respect him for that.’

‘Yes, bhaiyya,’ said Rinku. ‘I agree.’

‘Hmm,’ said Rakesh. ‘Would you go with someone who knows the science behind how the bus works but does not know how to drive or with someone who can actually drive the bus?’

‘I guess we’ll go with the person who knows how to drive the bus,’ said Rahul. ‘But clearly, the one who understands how the bus works knows more than the driver, no bhaiyya?’

‘Yes,’ said Rakesh. ‘But what matters here is knowing how to drive the bus. Not the theory behind it. Similarly, some people may know more about a subject, but may not know how to lead.’

‘Are you suggesting that a leader need not know more than the others on the team?’ asked Rinku incredulously.

‘That cannot be, bhaiyya,’ said Rahul. ‘To lead an elite team the leader should know more than the others.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Rakesh. ‘The leader only needs to know how to get the best out of his team. If he knows the subject that’s good, but it’s not a necessary qualification to lead. The greatest leaders in the world don’t need to be great scholars — they need a great vision and should know how to get things done. This might surprise you, but one of the greatest corporate leaders, Jack Welch, has, on record, said that he was never the smartest guy in the room.’

‘Whoa,’ said Rinku. ‘Then, how did he lead? Others would have had no respect for him, right?’

‘He knew how to get things done,’ said Rakesh. He knew how to ask the right questions, guide discussions correctly and get everyone to work for a common purpose — in short, he knew how to lead. On the other hand, many smart people who are good at their work might not be good leaders — they get stuck in ego hassles, have people issues, a limited vision and so on. So you see, it’s a wrong notion to think that just because someone plays well, we must make them the captain. It could compromise the entire team.’

‘Are you saying we should keep the smartest ones away from leadership positions?’ asked Rahul.

‘No,’ said Rakesh. ‘I’m saying, pick the best leader. A good leader will automatically get the best people on the bus and manage them well. Jack Welch says that from the first person he hired, he was never the smartest guy in the room. Which means that he picked people smarter than himself, people who knew more than he did.’

‘Whoa,’ said Rinku. ‘He must have felt pretty insecure and stupid.’

‘Not at all,’ laughed Rakesh. ‘Only a very secure leader can do that — hire people smarter than him. That way he can get them to do the best work and get brilliant results. When he gets the results, he’ll not feel insecure or stupid, I can assure you. Like your Chandra sir, I’m sure.’

‘I’m getting a hang of this, bhaiyya,’ said Rinku. ‘We’re used to seeing leaders who surround themselves with mediocre people simply because they’re insecure and cannot handle not being the smartest in the room. Whereas it's actually way smarter if you can get the best brains to work for you to get great results. With a mediocre team, it’s a no-brainer — you’ll only get mediocre results.’

‘Absolutely,’ said Rakesh. ‘Which is why we need more secure leaders in this world who have smart people around and listen to their ideas. Jack Welch goes as far as to say that if you’re a leader and you’re the smartest guy in the room, you’ve got real problems.’

‘That’s so counter-intuitive but so true,’ said Rahul. ‘It could be a measure of a good leader then — how many smart people he has around him and how he’s getting the best from them. On the other hand, the leaders who surround themselves with yes-men are not going to get the best results surely, since it’s only one man’s wisdom, and that too, an insecure man’s wisdom. It’s bound to end up poorly.’

‘That’s right,’ said Rinku. ‘I like the vision of having world leaders like Chandra sir — listening to everyone, letting everyone speak, asking the right questions, nudging them in the right direction and managing egos to facilitate great work. All they do is hold the space and create a good environment quietly. People hardly know they exist, but everything gets done. How brilliant is that.’

‘True,’ said Rakesh. ‘And while at that, they’re quietly developing leaders by pushing their team members’ boundaries, allowing them to take risks and giving them more responsibility.’

‘Wonderful, bhaiyya,’ said Rinku, raising her cold coffee. ‘To more secure leaders and to a better world.’

Pro Tip: A secure leader surrounds himself with people smarter than himself and brings the best out of each individual and the team. On the other hand, an insecure leader is the smartest person in the room, which may lead to poor results.

Koshish - Movie

 Having read the biography of Sanjeev Kumar recently, I was inspired to watch 'Koshish' (1972)  - a Gulzar movie. It's a movie about two deaf mutes Hari (Sanjeev Kumar) and Aarti (Jaya Bhaduri) and how they marry and make a life together.

Sanjeev Kumar is brilliant with his eyes and elevates it to another level. I liked the way Gulzar brings in Om Shivpuri, a blind man, into their lives. These two cannot hear what he is saying and he cannot see what they are saying - and yet - as the son says, they communicate perfectly with one another. Asrani was rather loose and I wished they did more with him - suck out like a sore thumb. The first child's death was rather unnecessary but those were the times. I liked the end though when the son refuses to marry a deaf mute himself - and Sanjeev Kumar gets mad at him. How could he, he says, when you were born to deaf mutes?

Glad to have knocked it off my list. And yes, if you haven't, watch it.  

Down Under - Bill Bryson

 Bill Bryson headed off Down under to Australia and wrote a book 395 pages long. He began (and ended) with saying how nobody knows anything about Australia (but we don't know anything about anyone much) and how nobody would miss it, and how one Prime Minister went for a swim and drowned (never to be found) and such stuff. We realise he is not too awed by the place and carries a healthy amount of disrespect to this place and he sustains it right through.

I burst out in laughter quite a few times which is a must with his books but the general feel I got was this - its huge, there are scattered cities out there quite far from one another. if you get stuck in the outback you'll die a painful death drinking your own urine, there are a million dangerous animals and insects and reptiles out there which can kill you in the most painful of ways, there are cities which are very boring like Canberra, there are places with no pubs, the people are sporty and also not very interesting (except for his friend and another chap he meets, he makes most others sound quite stupid. The one conversation I liked was the one he did not have - with the waitress in a place where he orders a burger and wants chips and she says - we don't serve chips and he thinks - then how did you become like that?

Once he gets chased by some dogs and lands up in somebody's backyard which was very funny. There are millions of scientific data, information he has researched with great interest, and he frequently comes up with the horrible deaths many people have had in the place (he did the same with 'Walk in the Woods'). If you want someone to write about your place in an inviting manner don't think of Bryson because he will see the many ways people can die and also dig up information of how many people have died etc.

There is stuff about the Aborigines and how they have been treated and killed and how the law sided with the killers, the forgotten generations or something like that, the guy who let 24 rabbits loose and how they ate up so much bush until they had to kill the rabbits, a couple who got stranded on the Great Barrier Reef and was never found...stuff like that. Of course he took most of a chapter to make fun of cricket as a game.

Overall, a tad too long for me but since its Bill Bryson, I'll let it pass. Its worth the laughs and the information and I am not going to Australia in a hurry anymore.       

Anjali - The Artpreneur Puts Her Paintings Up for Sale

 So Anjali is on a roll and exploring her boundaries really fast. After becoming mobile - she took a couple of Metro rides on her own in the last couple of weeks, she now decided to earn some pocket money. She said she would put her small paintings up for sale. I was wondering what she would do. 

She borrowed my phone and took some pictures, made some fun and energetic posters (I can never sound as much fun about my work) and put them up on her Insta or Fb or some social media with prices etc. I am so impressed. In fact she is doing a much better job of marketing her blogs too - she posts them on fb, while I do nothing.

Anyway,  back to her paintings. I am so impressed with the energy in the copy and I think I'll help out by posting them on my blog as well.

Here they are.

 

Aisha - Rs 400

Spring But Not - 350

Things - 800

Flames - 350

All in the space of half an hour. It would take me weeks and months to do something like this (and a team of helpers and motivators). I teach 'Art Management' at the University of Hyderabad and if any student of mine does something like this, I'd be thrilled (and would have bought a couple too!) Good show Anjali. I'll still buy a couple from you - but let the market respond first.

So, if you want a piece of this art, go for it! Send me a message at harimohanp@gmail.com or send Anjali a message at paruvuanjali@gmail.com