10th September in my life

Was today any better than previous days that have come into my life. No it was just like any other day, late at the start, for I am more of a night person than a day person to the chagrin of my family members, and it started with my missing out the first session of holistic development lecture scheduled for today. Now what is a lecture on holistic development doing in a business school? Well for one people have realised that the better rounded of the personality of a manager is, the better he is able to contribute to the bottomline of a corporation. And the era when profits were everything is long past. I am not saying that corporations have stopped paying attention to profits, but merely that new variables have entered in the equation. People have started looking beyond money as the only motivator. And companies are looking at community development, green causes, employee engagement, employee development etc.

So the new fad seems to be drawing everyday lessons from scriptures : as to how to achieve a balance in life. And people have started looking at our own Gita as a manual for achieving balance.Gita is supposed to be the greatest gift to mankind from India, and within India it is looked as a manual straight from Lord's mouth, and in the present scheme of things, is revered more than it is read. So it was a pleasant surprise to see the words of gita being applied to corporate cases. So the morning session that i missed was all about higher philosophy applied to today's corporate world.

The time at which i joined, we were being shown a movie : the legend of bagger vance. It starred Matt damon, Will smith, charlise theron as actors & robert redford as director. The purpose was to show that we recognise our own cob webs and come out of the wallowing pity we feel for ourselves. As Bagger Vance says,"Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can, rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like... ". Then later at a critical moment when Damon seems to have found and then lost again his swing, he says "Ain't a soul on this entire earth ain't got a burden to carry he don't understand, you ain't alone in that... But you been carryin' this one long enough... Time to go on... lay it down... " and later, or before i don't remember exactly, he says, "What I'm talkin about is a game... A game that can't be won only played... ", obviously the hint being towards life.

How was the movie? Frankly I would say, it didn't appeal to me very much. Despite all the philosophical underpinnings and great lead actors something was missing. Something magical that seems to transform a movie from average to great. With due apologies to Prof. Dr. Prasad Kaipa, if it wasn't for him and his engaging explanation I would have walked out of the movie. The 3rd session which ran till about 7 in the evening was about appreciating an individual for whatever good he does. The practise of criticizing has to give way to appreciation. We were made to form a group of five and point to each others strength and thus appreciate him/ her for it.

So it was after the lecture when i had come home the thought came to write the blog in form of a diary. The thought has been there in the sub conscious for a long time but i could not gather the courage to write. For writing about your feelings does seem to require some courage.So I have thought to start writing in about a day or two in my life from time to time. The purpose is to engage in a conversation with my own self and to see if any changes occur over time.

The hardest thing for anyone to do is to have a candid conversation with one's own self.And it would be great to do so in the form of an online diary. Only if i can write it.