City Of Djinns, A Year in Dehi - William Dalrymple

It may soon happen that William Dalrymple may creep up into the top 10 authors I have read. I picked up 'City of Djinns' more because I have always been fascinated by Delhi, a place where I have spent less than five days in all my life. But of what I saw, I know that it will take me a week, nay a fortnight or more, to even see perfunctorily all that I wish to see. Reading about the history of Delhi and all that happened there, I am still waiting for that big touristy trip.

William Dalrymple chose a Memento kind of a structure, starting with the present day Delhi and going right back to the Dwaparayuga, touching upon all that transpired in between - the Rajupts, the Tughluqs, the Mughals, the British and the current day occupants. Of course he takes us to meet the wonderful Dr. Jaffrey, the eunuchs Vimla and company, the Sufi shrines at Nizamuddin and Ajmer, the dancing dervishes, the unani hakims, the many palaces and havelis, to Pakistan to meet the author of a fine book on Delhi, the many gardens, to an old Princess directly related to the Mughals and her daughter who works at the library, to Jama Masjid, to Dr. Lal who is an archeologist and who does believe that there is evidence of the Mahabharata  though to some extent only - and many more people and places that no Indian author writes about. During the course of the year's stay with his landlords the Puris, he meets Sufi saints who have the power to capture a djinn and of course it is someplace that he quotes a source as saying that Delhi is full of djinns.

Its a different India William Dalrymple sees and explores, one that is alien to me who is an Indian too, one that I am too scared to touch . I might not hop on with the same ease and felicity that William does as he goes into Jama Masjid and perches up on it somewhere, or rush off into a Sufi shrine (I did go to Ajmer but had nothing to ask for though I met the most delightful young child which was as divine an experience as it could have been). The eunuchs and their lives, the calligraphers, the historians, the malis - it is an India I will probably never have the courage to flip a cover and delve into and I am grateful to Dalrymple for doing it so lightly, so nonjudgmentally, so like a seeker trying to uncover what went on, what is. The blood and gore of the 1984 riots, the India we know and have seen, is no worse than the violence and cruelty of the Tughluqs or the Mughals. That part was depressing and so was the many thousands of killings over the years for Delhi but Dalrymple sticks to his job and tells the tale well. Most amusing were the tragi-comic tales of the Anglo Indians left behind in India. Its a fine read and takes you through Delhi and its history in a most intriguing and engaging manner. Lovely sketches by Olivia, William's wife. Highly recommend this book.

Leadership Module 3 - Ace Dezines

Some big changes before we get into the session. Three participants were already waiting for me - they had taken professionalism seriously and showed up before time - and the fourth joined in under five minutes. Good work guys.

A quick recap of the last session revealed that the process had not been set in place. The team leads had not answered the questions on goal clarity, role clarity, target setting, empowerment, communication and  performance appraisal. In fact they were stuck at goal clarity itself.

Goal Clarity
I asked them to make a 2 line goal what they could share with their team. Most had 'happy clients' as a goal which is a noble one. However, we had to measure happiness and we had to bring in names and numbers to make the goals actionable. All goals must translate into work.

To begin with, we listed out why any client would be happy. Delivery - adhering to time, quality and quantity would be a fair enough reason for clients to be happy. Having done that we needed to develop some feedback mechanism that shows us client satisfaction or happiness. We looked at a 5 star rating. We felt that currently the client rating could be between 3 and 5, say an average of 4.

The goals then came down a bit more clearly. x number of happy clients by y date (six months from today) reflecting in a 4.5 and above rating on 5, on delivery exceeding expectations on time, quality and quantity. Now that could translate into work.

One reason why we do not make goals is that they instantly add some burden to our shoulders. However the way forward is one of responsibility so one must take that burden. The goal must be worthy of sharing, must be a actionable, with a time frame and actions, and must interest the team. To do all this the leader needs to work at it, think through and put in some extra hours. The group was given an assignment to write goals for their teams keeping all the parameters in place, discuss among themselves once, share knowledge and then reveal the same to their teams.

You must be able to paste the goal on the wall so everyone can see it.

Other factors
Role clarity, Target setting, Empowerment, Communication and Performance Appraisal would follow but it would require greater clarity of thought from the leader. To help with the same I asked them to develop a small note on each of the above aspects. The document will contain all details so as to make their thought process unambiguous and absolutely clear. This will also require the team lead to be two steps ahead of the others in terms of thinking through.

They were left with two assignments 1) to set goals and meet once before discussing or revealing the goals to the teams along with likely benefits and 2) to prepare a document detailing the other parameters in the process.

The 20 hour principle
As far as the aspects on which they had rated themselves as leaders in session one, they were asked to prioritise 3 qualities that they lacked confidence in and work on them. I know it sounds tough but all one needs is to put in enough to learn anything new.

A wonderful TED talk on the 20 minute principle where the speaker Josh Kaufman spoke about 'How to Learn Anything - The First 20 Years'. He said that all one needs is to invest 20 hours to get to a reasonable level of proficiency to feel good about it.  Watch the talk here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY

He also mentioned how one must go about the 20 hours business. 1) Deconstruct what you want to gain some expertise at 2) learn so you can self-correct 3) eliminate practice barriers and 4) practice the 20 hours. It cold be 45 minutes a day for a month but it can lay many demons to rest.

The team leads were asked to devote 45 minutes a day to work on that particular skill or quality for a month.

Next week about Inspirational Leadership. Hopefully some learnings from this week's application will make it even more interesting. 

Anjali - The Art of Gratitude

We were talking of something that happened at school while driving to school today.

'I forgot my pencil nanna, so my friend Amaan gave me his pencil. It was very sharp. You know sometimes they break easily. So I was very careful. You see Amaan gave me the pencil out of kindness to me na. So I should use it carefully and not spoil it or something right?'

Ah, how I wish we had more adults think that way. That this world around us is in fact giving us stuff that we can use carefully and pass it back.

Why do we abuse everything?

Thanks Anjali. Good for Amaan. And good for you too.

The Usefulness of Blogs, The Kindness and Love of Friends

So I crib about all that goes wrong with my day on my blog. What good is a blog if I cannot even say what I feel like? When I wrote about my Children's Film Festival experience I had nothing more in mind than the hope that somewhere, someone might just see it and make some arrangements for people who show up at the venue. If not now, some other time, so someone else can benefit.

But it so happened that the blog was noticed by one exceptionally kind hearted gentleman I know, one who also happens to be a great fiend of mine, Vinod. He decided to do me the kind deed, and when I went over to meet him for our customary mirchi bajji-coffee-gossip session, he flashed two passes at me and Anjali. What a lovely gesture!

Anjali was thrilled with the fact that she got a pass and we both wore them and posed happily for photographs. There is but one day left as the film festival is drawing to a close and Anjali may not want to bunk school to see a movie, but Vinod bhai, you do keep our hope in the good things in life going. As I feel more and more strongly these days, it is kindness we need more of and that is something that Vinod possesses in ample measure.

There then, enough to warm up a steadily nippy Hyderabad weather. And who says no good ever came out of blogging? Wonderful stuff.

Quotes by Aristotle.

Quotes by another Greek master - Aristotle. Best known as the tutor for Alexander the Great for almost three decades (ah, the virtues of a good coach) Aristotle studied at Plato's Academy at Athens from age 18 to 37, writing on many varied topics from ethics to metaphysics, chemistry to zoology and many more.
A glimpse into the great mind that shaped much thought in our world through some of his quotes.

(More at the site http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2192.Aristotle)

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

“Hope is a waking dream.”

“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

“Anybody can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.”

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”

“To perceive is to suffer.”

“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.”

“A friend to all is a friend to none.”

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

“Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”

“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”

“Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.”

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.”

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.”

“Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god.”

“The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.”

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” 

“Happiness is the settling of the soul into its most appropriate spot.”

“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”

“All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.”

“Learning is not child's play; we cannot learn without pain.”

The Children's Film Festival Experience

News of the Children's Film Festival is splashed in the news everyday and I thought it might be a good idea for the young six year olds Anjali and Mansi to watch a movie. They nodded in agreement and got all set to watch a children's movie.

Since the newspaper did not mention anything about exclusivity or donor passes etc I assumed that the passes/tickets might be given at the venue. We looked up the schedule at Prasad's IMAX which seemed to have the most number of movies playing, starting from 930 in the morning and headed off for the 12 noon show. We headed straight to the counter and asked if we could get some tickets to watch the children's films.

'Sorry sir' came the voice through the glass partition. 'Children can go in free but adults need to get a pass.'
'Sure,' I asked. 'But where do I get the pass?'
'At Masab Tank sir,' he replied. 'There is an office there.'
Masab Tank is about 5 kms away!

I don't know what office he is talking about and what they will ask me to submit to get that pass. I could well imagine what would happen - I had been in similar situations before. In all likelihood I will have difficulty finding the office, finding parking, have to wait to meet the concerned person who would be too busy on the phone or out drinking chai. on return after lunch I may have to fill out a form ascertaining that I am an Indian (with documents), have children (with proof), will not misuse the pass (police verification), passport photograph, residence proof and id proof etc. Maybe they may send the pass home directly as well.

I could not understand what kind of a warped logic would have someone get a pass from a venue some 5 kms away when they have ticket counters at a venue as well organized as the Prasad's IMAX. Fine, you need your delegates, your directors etc but you also need your audiences to view these movies right? Or do you just want the special few to watch? I am sure some 20% seats could be allocated to people / children who want to watch the movies at the venue. I would have happily paid a premium for those seats.

Anyway, the kids looked a bit disappointed and also voted that they will not see the movie without me (children can go in but adults need a pass you see!) so we went and played some games etc. I could see many more parents struggling to get some information about how to watch these movies.

The film festival is still going on and everyday we hear more and more news about movies that are being played, famous directors talking eloquently about the films and all that. But somehow one wonders if the true spirit of having a children's film festival is being lost. Somewhere they need to get out of these passes business and sell some tickets at the counter. That's how movie watching is done normally.

If Only I could Fly - Short Film

This is a short film by the talented young screenplay writer and director Mallik Ram. Little needs to be said because the work is out there to be judged.

Take a look. I liked it. Kept me engrossed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnIiD7o7TcM

Good job Mallik and all the rest who are part of this short film. There is promise.