Precious Pearls

I have always been a team person, as a child and also as a professional. I get along well with people and every time I couldn’t, I would invariably make sure my dislike or discomfort didn’t permeate into a group. I believe that cordial attitude graces every interpersonal relationship. Weirdness on part of an individual weakens the bond. The boding that apparently seems stronger is often fragile. It’s everyone’s responsibility to care for fragility and not stretch it to an extent where it will break. Right from schools and families to workplaces, we have teams and groups. In childhood, innocence binds us no matter what differences. Tiny tots living in a neighbourhood or studying in the same school become good friends in no time. As we grow, our likes and dislikes determine our social relationships. As we get into the profession, we have do deal with people in a team. These are all interpersonal relationships. One has to have a sociable attitude to keep the bonding going and when an ind...

Unconventional thinking has always been my insistence. When it comes to executing some out-of-the-box idea, I feel I would require still more courage to put theory into practice. One of my relatives was once agitated at his son deciding not to pursue college education but set up his business at 16. Though it was an unconventional decision, I couldn’t tell the dad bluntly to let the kid follow heart. Instead I opted for a ‘sober’ ‘‘Do at least your graduation and get into business simultaneously.’’ In my mind, however, I knew if the boy had conviction, ‘at least graduation’ was not required. I told myself “When you know education is not everything, why can’t you dare air a candid opinion? It’s not your responsibility if the son doesn’t prove his mettle…” I was wondering why I couldn’t call a spade a spade. Is education all important? We aren’t ruling out the importance of academics but haven’t we heard of Einstein, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, our own Dhirubhai Ambani and Steve Jobs, n...

Stories of people hailing from humble backgrounds and making it big aren’t unheard of. At the same time, these tales hint at a huge talent pool toiling amid poverty, illiteracy ignorance and indeed, waywardness. One such story touched my heart. It’s a real life story of the hero in a small budget film ‘Malegaon Ka Superman’. The movie, depicting the Superman combating tobacco menace, has won critical acclaims and awards in international festivals like Los Angeles , Prague , Italy and Pakistan . Shafique Shaikh, 23, who played the Superman, wanted to fulfill his last wish to watch the movie’s release before breathing his last. At 23, age where life doesn’t really begin for many, his days were numbered as he was diagnosed with cancer. Ironically, he had fallen for the addiction he was fighting against in this movie. He tasted tobacco first when he was just 13 and came to a stage where he chewed 40 sachets of gutkha everyday. To make his wish come true, a special screening of the movie ...

His face was blank. How blank? Well, as blank as the white space I was asking him to read! The poor chap was struggling to fathom what I was saying. What reading between the lines and what meaning, he was all at sea. Taking a pause, I looked at him and realised he was too young to understand the point I was trying to make. Here was my 11-year-old cousin taking a discourse from me on futility and hypocrisy behind certain religious rituals. Validity of the topic apart, how is a kid expected to react to it but go blank? Of course, he was a victim of my serious thinking. Each of us victimise someone sometime or the other when we passionately talk about something. And we often get passionate about topics close to our hearts. Little do we understand that are we getting into the preaching mode and also, aggressive at times unmindful of the listeners’ mindset. Do we take a few things little too seriously and think too much? Trust me, I’ve seen people analysing even newspaper cartoons. Instead...