Study Plan - An Anecdote

When I was running NIIT, a Parent, Bank Official, came to me with a request for help. His daughter was in 11th but according to him not living up to her potential. His solution to the problem was simple "She has to work harder, but she doesnt. X,Y score more than her" I asked to see his daughter,he brought her,but he and his wife accompanied her. I asked them to wait outside. He was not happy but agreed. The girl was sullen, clearly unhappy and in a rebellious mood. I spent the few minutes talking about her hobbies, friends.She relaxed. I asked her what she liked about her school, what she didnt like, and gossiped a bit. Then I casually asked her which subjects she liked best. "Sir, English", she was very enthusiastic I allowed her to open up about English. Then "Which subject do you like least?' "Maths' And she had her reasons. Gently, I made her rank the subjects in the order of her preference. "English, CS, Physics, Chemistry, Maths". Then I asked her for her marks in the last 2 exams. She was at 88% level and a good student - 441/500. She told me she was 13th in the Class, and the first mark was 98%. I told her not to worry about others. She was genuinely surprised. She gave the split up on marks and surprisingly it matched her preference of subjects with the exception of Physics and Chemistry. Marks from high to low was English, CS, Chemistry, Physics and Maths" She told me she put 4 hours after the school studying which was a good workload. I gave her a small exercise. Created a simple excel sheet with Date of X Axis for a month, and Subjects on Y axis. She was to just note down the hours she spent on each subject at home every day. She asked incredulously "That is all" I replied in the affirmative. I called her parents in. Father was clearly unhappy that I hadnt given any "Good Advise". He told he will 'Supervise' whether his daughter did fill in the table. I told him to let her be and not go anywhere near her The girl came back exactly one month later. The Table was filled in without any errors. I asked her to analyse herself. She totaled the hours for each subject and looked at me with mixed emotions. Whenever she started studying she spent more time on English, her most preferred subject, and least on Maths, the hated one. The spread was like 40% E, 20% CS, 15% each P & C, and just 10% on Maths We also went back to her Marks. I gave her the first target of moving up from 441 to 450 - additional 9 marks. Told her where it will come from. She was scoring 74 in maths. Gave a target of 77 in Maths. Likewise for other subjects so that she scores 15 marks extra. assuming she might lose a few. I also asked her to restructure her Home Study hours. She did the workings on her own happily and took ownership. We continued this exercise till she finished 12th, pushing up the target little by little. She ended up scoring 473/500. She came with her parents with a big box of sweets when her results were announced, and she was a little disappointed she didnt score 480, her target. I brushed aside her disappointment and congratulated her She later on studied in REC, and is well settled now

Nay Sayers

There are people who caution us against everything under the sun. My Late maternal uncle,who as a VP in a Welding Rod Manufacturing Company in Mumbai was one such.He,being the eldest,was always asked for opinions. eg; if there is a match for my sister, father would ask him and his standard reply was "Paathu Pannu" (Be careful and do with due diligence), which means nothing Ditto if anyone asks him whether he should take up a particular job. If things go well, he basks in glory saying "Yes, they asked my opinion, and it had my consent" If things go wrong, he would say " I told him to be careful but he wouldnt listen. He didnt take my advise" Heads he wins, Tails you lose. He never took a stand. His Sons wedding got postponed because he wont take a decision. His Wife, my Aunty, got fed up and said "I am going for a wedding in TN for a family wedding. I will pick the first eligible girl I see in that wedding for my son". And she did precisely that. Only once in his life my Uncle took a stand. The Founder of the Company where he worked for 34 years died & there was a turf war between the Son and Nephew for Control of the Company.He thought and thought for 7 days and finally decided to back the son. One day he went to the office in the morning, as usual as he was about to enter the Cabin,Nephew walked in & said "Thank you. Please clear the desk. Take whatever you want, keep the car, here is your settlement check, but ensure you are out in 30 minutes". Apparently my Uncle chose the wrong horse on the only time he was decisive He was 58 and was shocked beyond belief. He was also one of the 4 who knew the Chemical Formula for the Welding Rods.He came home crying, never really recovered, health deteriorated over the next few months and died I was reminded of him when I saw some tweets cautioning us to not get Covid Vaccinated as it will take 15 years to develop a Vaccine!

You can learn from anyone

I had just joined HPCL in 1989, and was in Chennai. Roaming around near Siva Vishnu Temple in T Nagar, I was accosted by a Lady Selling Flower' "Ayya, Poo Vaankungo. Veettukkarikku kudungo. Nalla Malli Poo. Adukka thoduthirukken" "Enakku Kalyanam Aakalaye" "Azhaga Sevappa irukkenga. Kathalikku vangi kudungo" Smiling I said " Enakku Kathali illaimma" She persisted "Ammakku kudukkalame. Santhosha peduva" "Amma oorile irukka. Naan thaniya than irukken" Pointing at the temple she insisted " Appadinna Kadavulkkaga vaangi podungo. Seeghram kalyanam Nadakkum" Just to humour her and her superb ability to create a need, I bought 5 muzham poo and went inside the Temple I used to give this as example while teaching Need, Want and Demand to may MBA Students & they were "Eh? You giving silly examples of a flower lady to teach concepts?" Look around. The average Street Sales guy will teach you more about Marketing than any Harvard Professor