Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the buzzword these days. But its origin can be traced to a few hundred years.

In northern Kerala, there were professional fighters called 'Chekavar'. If two parties have a dispute, they will approach these chekavers who will fight on behalf of them for a fat fee. The party who has sponsored the winner of the fight (the chekavar who lost the fight invariably loses his life too) would deem to have won the dispute. Folklore on the bravery of these chekavers are legendary. Musketeers of France were along similar lines as chekavers.

Even breast feeding was outsourced in rich families. 'Wet nurses' who breastfed children of affluent families was very much in demand.

Sometimes I do wonder how innovative we are. Or more appropriately, how smart our ancestors were. They seem to have done most of the things that we practice today without even thinking about it.

Show the door

Another controversy is in our midst.

I am talking about the blatant disregard for political norms, moral values etc etc shown by T R Balu, the Shipping Minister of Government of India in using his ministerial powers to allot gas to the company owned by his sons.

The act itself is bad. But the brazen way in which he has tried to brush it off telling that there is nothing wrong in his action. Hello! Excuse me! But did I hear you wrong. I thought you took an oath in the presence of President of India wherein you mentioned that you will not misuse your office for personal gain?

The farce doesn't end there.

"The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) forwarded as many as eight letters to the Petroleum Ministry for allotment of gas to the firms owned by the two sons of Shipping Minister TR Baalu, but the Congress sees nothing wrong in that!. As the issue continued to rock Parliament, the party defended the PMO and said that forwarding letters is a common practice and did not necessarily mean endorsing the contents. Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "The PMO had forwarded the requests to the Ministry. There is no question of endorsing or agreeing with the contents."

I am within my rights as a citizen of India to ask whether PMO is a post office, whose only job is to forward the requests?. Are they not expected to do some due diligence.

Senior Congress leaders said that the party would not press for Baalu's resignation, as it was an internal matter of DMK and not the Congress.

Misuse of Office by one of the Ministers an internal matter of a constituent party? Someone must have their head really examined.

Dr.Manmohan Singh! There is a thing called Accountability. Would be nice if you can look up the meaning of the word in a Dictionary and whether you understand or not, call TR Balu and give him exactly 30 seconds to either put in his resignation or face dismissal from the Council of Ministers. Show that you have some spine. You are unfortunately the leader of our Country.

On another matter, at long last we have kicked out KPS Gill and his lackey Jothikumaran from the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). The joke is however on us. They were suspended by Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which is being headed by Suresh Kalmadi for donkey's years and the IOA's track record on 'uplifting' the Indian sports is more dismal (if that is possible) than IHF. And they shall be supervising the IHF. God help Indian Hockey.

Now, now - will someone please show the door to the Suresh Kalmadis, Randhir Singhs, Priyaranjan Das Munshis of this world. Let some fresh air come into our sports arena

Might is Right

“What a strong man says often becomes the only dharma;
A weak man may have dharma on his side but who listens to him ?"

thus spoke Bhishma in Mahabharatha.

This is more true today than then. In modern context might is right. America is dictating terms to other countries in the world despite their economy in shambles. US economy is in a worse state than the Far Easter Countries in late 1990's. The same country which preached economic prudence and belt tightening to other countries to sort out their financial problems are refusing to do the same in a similar situation.

Had it been any country other than China, there would have been global hue and cry over the atrocities conducted by China in Tibet and they would have been taken to cleaners for human rights violation. But look at the muted response of the world and especially the shameful servile attitude of India. Suddenly people are more concerned about the sanctity of Olympics and the need to uphold Olympic spirit.

It is time India and Indians understand the importance of being strong. Without that preaching platitudes and dharma shall yield no results

Leading the underdogs with Passion

Staying with Cricket once again...........

The stand out player during the first fortnight of IPL has been Shane Warne. Much has been written in every second website worth its salt about how he, a retired legend, took over a bunch of no hopefuls of the Rajasthan team that had not invested as much in star players as some of its more famous opponents, and turned them into a match winning team. He has led from the front, given the youngsters the confidence, led with passion and delightfully said that he doesnt need a few computers, pages of notes and umpteen meetings to create a fine team. He has made his no hopers believe in themselves and has led from the front, whether be it ball, bat or as a captain. The underdogs have been barking and sniping at other teams with great success. It is a regret that the cricketing world never got to see an extended run of Shane Warne as Captain of Australia, which he should have been instead of Ricky Ponting, but for his colorful life off the field. Such a pity. It has been a delight to see his intensity and leadership on and off the field. (maybe Sachin can take a leaf out of Shane. He has done his usual vanishing act in the current Harbhajan - Sreesanth slugfest. As the icon of Mumbai team, he was expected to take Harbhajan to task the moment he punched Sreesanth. This is not the first time and wont be the last when Sachin has abdicated from his responsibility despite being the finest batsman India has produced -well almost! for me, Sunny Gavaskar qualifies for that title. While I respect Sachin for his skills, I don't think much of him as a leader of men. He has hardly stood up to be counted when it mattered on any issue).

About a few weeks back, I was in a Middle East country visiting some Schools as part of my job to evaluate a prospective business partner. The Principal of the School claimed with lot of pride that his school always had 100% results. While my colleagues nodded in admiration, I asked innocently, " What is your detention rate at 8th and 9th standards and do you conduct an entrance exam when you take the students in?". An embarrassing silence followed. I had touched a raw nerve. There was lot of hemming and hawing. When I insisted, they admitted that the retention at the pre board exam level classes were quite high and yes, they did have a strict entrance test to ensure the best students get in. You don't have to be a frigging genius to get 100% results from top students. Also by detaining students who are just about average, you are making them failures in life when they are not. The psychological scars run deep. This is what the so called best private schools do. They of course have the best of the infrastructure and teachers. Compare this with a Government school, that takes in at least 3 times the number of students, working with tremendous constraints, not detaining students and still having a 60-70% pass rate. Who is the better of the two? My heart goes out to the selfless teachers and administrators of these Government School whose passion for teaching is seen to be believed (not all of course).

Leadership and strength of character are not about recruiting the best and making them perform at 80%. It is about taking over a team and a situation when you know you are given a raw deal and then to lead from the front with passion,turning around a hopeless situation into a clear success. That is what separates men from boys. The operative word is 'passion'

Think from a different perspective

Having been brought up in a traditional atmosphere in a (not so) typical Palghat Brahmin family, it was the norm to think conventionally. Anything that challenged the traditional thinking was frowned upon. This despite my father being quite liberal in outlook.

It was cricket that taught me to think unconventionally to start with. Being a reasonably active player in the Age group tournaments, I was a permanent fixture in the summer coaching camps.

As batsmen, we were always told to look out for where the fielders are positioned to avoid hitting the ball in the air to them. Then one day our regular coach had a bereavement in the family and he was replaced by a new young coach who was considered to be a bit of a maverick. He scrapped the regular net session and replaced it with matches every day. While I was waiting for my turn to bat, he came sat with me and said, "Raja, try this out. When you go out to bat, don't look at where the fielders are, but concentrate on where the GAPS are. Since you are so obsessed with fielders, you tend to subconsciously hit straight to them. Think only gaps". Even as a youngster, despite my upbringing, I always had a rebel streak in me and was (and is) game to any scatter brained ideas. I went out, fixed in my mind only the gaps and the runs flowed. Anything and everything I stroked that day pierced the field beautifully. Score 1 for lateral thinking.

The next instance came in an inter zonal match. The pitch was turning square and the spinners were turning the ball a mile and beating the bat my the same margin. It was all 'oohs and aahs' but we just didn't pick any wickets as the ball was beating everything and the spinners, eyes lit at the sight of a square turner, putting more vicious spin into each ball. We came in for lunch and were quite animated. The coach didn't say anything at first. When we were about to go out, he said, "don't spin the ball, use your arm balls and top spinners more. success in a spinning track lies in not spinning the ball." I was leading the team. In the middle, I called my left arm spinner and leg spinner for a chat and asked them to try out the coach's advice for at least 4 overs. I changed the field accordingly. The slip was straightened, the short leg move a little squarer and left the mid wicket open. My spinners carried out the coach's advice superbly, they mixed up the odd turning ball with a majority of straighter ones and bamboozled the batsmen who were playing for the turn. We took the last 8 wickets in 41 balls after lunch for next to nothing. Score 2 for out of the box thinking.

There are many tit bits like this.

The most critical thing in football is off the ball running and positioning, not the actual ball play. Always analyse the teams from this angle.

In tennis?- well all you have to do is watch the mighty Roger Federer's footwork the moment he hits a shot. Look at how he moves back to the centre which enables him to be beautifully balanced and prepared for the next shot. That is the key to his success.

Back to cricket. The dictum in spin bowling is that "spin is in the air and break is off the wicket". The spin is all about how much revolutions you can give to a ball in the air. The more the better as it will allow the ball to drift and dip, bite the wicket and then turn(break). Good spinners always beat the batsmen in the air, not off the wicket.

You can create wonders if you only think out of the box in your workplace and looking at things from a different perspective. More about that at a later date

I do like T-20

I have always felt that I will be the last person to take to T-20 Cricket. I am a die hard fan of Test Match Cricket and one day cricket had never held a fascination for me.

But IPL has changed everything. Initially I thought it will be a sham, more of a festive match than serious stuff and essentially a slam bang thank you very much kind of game. But the intensity shown by the teams surprised me and the first week of IPL was really competitive. That is what sports is all about - being competitive.

The biggest gain was that I was able to sit back and watch a match without getting emotionally involved as in the case of India playing. There is no nationalistic jingoism and no sadness when one's team loses. It is just a good game of cricket that can be enjoyed.

It has not always been about batsmen so far. Warne turned the match on its head the other day with 3 for 17, showing that a great player is great in any form of cricket. Mohammed Asif has been his measly self. The slam bang batsmen have all failed to live up to the expectation. It is those who play correct cricket who have scored runs - Mike Hussey, Shane Watson, Rohit Sharma, Mathew Hayden, Sehwag. Compare this with the failures Gilchrist, Symonds, Afridi, Bravo, Jayasurya.

After a long long time, the Indian second string is getting a chance to test their skills not only against the top Indian Test Players but against some of the best players in the world. This can only do them world of good. Badri, Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Gony, Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Raina have distinguished.

Isn't is strange to see that Cricket, with its staid English moorings, has been the most innovative of the Sports of late. During the past 3 decades Cricket has evolved from Test Cricket alone to One day Cricket, coloured clothing, white balls, playing under lights to T-20 now. Compare this with other games who have hardly changed - Football has refused to innovate. Same is the case with Basketball. Volleyball just tinkered with the scoring, likewise Badminton and Table Tennis.

Cricket has demonstrated why it is necessary to have periodic product innovation. Now they have a nice product mix. Hats off to the Administrators

Stories

Stories have a wonderful way of communicating a message. I have been fascinated by stories since childhood. Reading Chandamama (the malayalam version 'Ambili Ammavan'), Poompatta, Thalir, Balarama, kadhasaritsagaram, panchathantram, 1001 Arabian nights, Aesop's fables, Grimm's stories........................................all helped.

Most of the popular stories linger in the memory. Quite a few not so popular ones too. One such is reproduced from memory in my own words.

An ayurvedic physician sat down for dinner one late evening. Since his house had a common wall with his neighbours, he could overhear his neighbour who was a reasonably rich trader.

That day he heard the trader ask his wife to bring him a cup of curd.

The physician turned to his own wife and told her 'I promise to get you a pair of ear rings'

Then he overheard his neighbour call after his wife " Add some salt to it"

Physician " there goes one of your ear rings"

After a minute, he heard his neighbour tell " don't forget to add a piece of ginger to the curd"

With a sigh, the physician remarked "now both your ear rings are gone"

The confused wife asked him the meaning of his promise and the later withdrawal. To this the physician said,

"It is not healthy to eat curd in the night. That would have led to the trader falling sick and approaching me for treatment. I thought I shall be able to get you a pair of ear rings from the fee he would have paid. But adding salt to the curd reduces the negative effect by 50%, hence my comment that you have lost the opportunity to get one ear ring. When he asked for ginger to be put in the curd, it makes the curd safe to consume. A guy who knows to add salt and ginger to negate the adverse effect of taking curd in the night don't need my services. Hence my final comment"

This story, that I read once nearly quarter of a century back, has somehow been etched in my mind. It conveys in a simple way the negative aspects of curd and the ways to counter it.