Think Local Act Global !

Indiafrica Business Venture Contest 2014 took place in Accra Ghana.This event was covered today on CNBC TV 18 on Young Turks . By watching the episode I realized how addressing local problems have a global relevance. 

Following is my take on that   

Grammangal is a NGO in India.

One of its achievements is providing quality education for the under privileged tribal and rural children of Maharashtra. Their methodology is based on joyful learning. For example while teaching Marathi Language to the students, they designed a set of books accompanied by flash cards. 

The series teaches Marathi Alphabets illustrated with objects usually found in the surrounding  of these tribal and rural children. It helps the children to place the language in context of the surrounding. The illustrations in the books highlight what the children would see in their day today life. So, after learning the alphabets, when the children need to use language they can verbally experiment using objects around them.  This instills confidence and the children embrace the language quickly. They find utility in learning a language . Language as a tool of expression is embraced more willingly when you can use the language for the environment around you. This is how Grammangal is addressing literacy problem in tribal and rural Maharashtra in a different way.

The context of this problem solution finds relevance somewhere else in the world. The Non Resident Indian Community with Marathi speaking Diaspora is spread far and wide.  This community yearns to remain connected with their roots. And one of the predominant desires of parents is that their children should know their mother tongue namely  "Marathi". They expect children to  at least converse in Marathi if not write it. In an attempt to teach the language they often use text books like Balbharati   and expect the children to pick up their mother tongue. Unfortunately these NRI kids are unable to connect with the illustrations or context in the text books. Learning alphabets would be too much to expect from them. The solution as per me is redesigning such books which illustrate what these NRI kids see around them ( like Grammangal )

So a न wont be illustrated as नमन

 but may be न  as in नट्स 

The point I wish to drive home is, problems solved in local context (Grammangal in this case) may often be a solution to problem faced somewhere else in the world ( the NRI Marathi speaking Diaspora ).
The two places may be diametrically opposite on the globe or as distant as Africa and India but the problems are common and often the solutions may be the same.
What is required is many more such events like Indiafrica initiatives where one can talk about local Problems and seek solutions through each other's learning.

"So why spend time reinventing the wheel? ". It may be wiser  to assemble one's car using a wheel invented by someone else and drive further on the path to success !

Canvas

I visited Waiangani a small fishing hamlet near Vengurla, South Maharashtra in February 2014. Kirat Trust had organized Turtle Festival. The theme was Hatching of Olive Ridley Turtles eggs. 

On the first day the organizers had invited Artist Polaji who demonstrated "Acrylic on Canvas" painting. He had a unique style of painting. His demonstrations started with canvas that were not plain white. All his canvas were smeared with the residual paints, the left over in the pellet during the earlier paintings.

So as shown in the photograph he selected one which was earlier smeared with various shades of yellow and green . As he progressed, the brush strokes brought out this amazing painting in front of us. He used the background of yellow and drew a mama turtle laying eggs on the sea shore. 

None of us spectators imagined this scene when he started the painting. What Artist Polaji did was, he understood the canvas, visualized what he could create on it, connected the dots and sketched out this painting out of an absolute abstract background!

For me the painting  was true depiction of the life of Suhas Tolaskar a Turtle Conservator .

Suhas went to Mumbai in search of career. Unsatisfied in Mumbai he returned home to Waiangani. Here he found the real purpose for his life. Suhas like the artist accepted the canvas of his life. He accepted that Waiangani an obscure fishing hamlet ( and not Mumbai ) was his destiny . He recognized that he was passionate about turtle conservation . What remained was then just connecting the dots and adding colors to the canvas of his life. Suhas accepted this challenge and made it a story of his life. He is devoted to the cause of turtle conservation for over a decade now .
The Turtle Festival as they call it was organized by Kirat Trust for the third year in succession. This year it was visited by about 110 people. The 3 day event not only created awareness for conservation but was a boost to the local economy for the other wise sleepy obscure and otherwise unobtrusive village Waiangany.

Suhas accepted his canvas (like Artist Polaji ) . He understood that his canvas was smeared with limitations of remoteness. He foresaw the greater purpose in his life. Instead of cribbing about how obscure his village was he focused on the greater picture fighting all odds . Connected these dots added colors in the form of conservation efforts and drew a master piece of his life. I am sure his efforts would leave mark on the sands of time.

So the morale of the story , Accept one's canvas. It may not be empty and may have colors from previous paintings. Accept them , visualize what one can paint on this background, connect the dots and draw your master piece! The least you can do in this life is abstain from complicating your existing canvas and try to add meaningful colors to it. You can start by saying ......
"Today is the first day of the rest of my life!"

Change of State

CHANGE OF STATE

My younger son once asked me the reason for formation of bubbles along the wall of utensil when one boils water. I explained to him that this was on account of change of state (Solid State to Liquid State to Gaseous State). On listening he asked me another question. If an egg is also a liquid inside, why does it not change in to Gaseous state when we heat it?

So, both of us conducted an experiment. I took two utensils and filled them with water and put them on heat to boil. In one I put a whole egg without breaking it . Later, I took another egg and broke it open and poured the liquid contents in hot boiling water.

We observed both the utensils. The one in which I poured liquid egg cooked quickly in a fraction of second. I told my son that this is called A Poached Egg.

The other utensil was kept undisturbed and the egg in it boiled over about 20 minutes.

I placed both the dishes in front of Jay and asked him to make a choice for breakfast. Jay chose the boiled egg. He suggested me to give the poached egg to dog.

The boiled egg was presentable; although it took longer time to boil.

The poached egg was lousy in appearance but cooked in a minute.

I told Jay

1. Egg liquid polymerized in water to form poached egg and so the state of matter changed ( Liquid to Solid)

2. I also explained Jay that if one focused on the task ( like boiling an unopened egg in water) the end result is far superior in quality than the haphazard way of cooking a poached egg .

    Focused efforts take longer time to fetch results and the result is often more presentable. I taught him to be focused in life and be patient.

Above was a learning experience for me, as much as it was for Jay.

I realized how small experiments have so much more to teach in life! In demonstrating the experiment, I changed my state.. from a father to a teacher….

Did you find needle in the Haystack ?

The library at L.I.T. taught me something invaluable. While in the final year of B Tech in 1994 we were all busy with our dissertation. Each student was given a topic by his guide. The initial phase of the dissertation often involved searching abstracts related to one’s topic. This was a painful task and often involved hours / days fishing out a needle in a Haystack!

Every individual was more than busy with his own topic and rarely had time to assist others.

My friend, however showed a different approach. Whenever fellow classmates requested him for help with the abstract search he would more than willingly lend them a helping hand. He would often, spend days searching abstracts for someone else. As the Final dates for dissertation drew closer, I could not resist myself from urging him to stop this social service and concentrate on his dissertation topic.

He did not comment on my unsolicited advice then. The results spoke for themselves. His dissertation was among the best. When I thought over it, this is what I realized. While helping others, my friend searched various topics unrelated to his thesis field. He had a 360 ° approach and often stumbled upon abstracts relevant to his topic, which otherwise he would not have accessed, had he followed a unidirectional approach in searching abstracts.

Few very popular phrases sum it up “GIVERS GAIN” ® or   “WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND”® both of which are registered by BNI® 

Should you wear the Coach Cap at Office?

When India won Bronze Medal at Uber Cup 2014, the headline in  Maharashtra Times dated 29/05/2014 said it all." One Saina Versus Ten China " . 

This is what Saina had to say in her interview "In Badminton , countries like China ,Malaysia ,Thailand , Japan etc have 10 top class badminton players while India has only one or at the most two ! Consequently, only one player is forced to participate in all the competitions through out the year . The player gets burnt out and fatigued."

Is this story not same as we used to hear in cricket few years ago ? Then the whole responsibility to win was thrust upon Sachin Tendulkar .

Athletics coach, Abhay Malekar, has number of young students training under him. He guides them for competitive athletics . From Inter school up to Junior Olympics his students participate and compete across the whole spectrum . He often discourages students from participating at inter house school competitions when they are training under him for an upcoming district meet .According to him it is like appearing for 8th grade exams when you have already passed the 10th Board Exams . Here the coach has distinction to recognize the athlete's ability and know which competition is suitable for the individual . He can also predict when the athlete is going to peak in performance . So every athlete under him performs at various meets and the over all result of the students is consistent and improving .  

In light of Saina Nehwal's comments this approach becomes all the more relevant . Let us create more Sainas and let each one compete with focus only on one competition say for example " The Uber Cup " or "All England Badminton Championship " . This might bring more consistency in over all wins for India in General across the calendar for that particular sport .

The scenario repeats itself in offices as well . A Star Employee is burdened by tasks of various departments . From Manufacturing to Sales he is supposed to be Equally Efficient In All Departments All the Times . To avoid this one needs to be more like Athletics Coach in Business . 

Instead of catching hold of only one " Man Friday " and expecting him to perform on all fronts it would be better to create more specialists for various tasks ensuring that the " Man Friday " does not get burnt out and becomes "The Fall Guy" . Resultant the Company is a " Star Company "