Happy Birthday Kirmani Sir

Syed Mujtaba Hussein Kirmani, India’s legendary wicket keeper and cricketer celebrates his 68^th birthday today. Kirmani Sir, as I call him lovingly became a household name after India won the 1983 world cup. His exploits behind the wickets, the stunning blinders that he his gloves never missed, the breath-taking stumpings that he executed with equal aplomb had been known even before India’s historic win. But the world cup victory changed it all. Padma Shree, Arjuna award Winner, best Wicket Keeper in the world winner, recipient of BCCI’s Lifetime achievement Award, the list of recognition that he has received is quite long and an exhausting one. And as much each of these awards have recognised his achievements and feats, these awards have become richer by bestowing themselves on a person who comes across as a man filled with humility and grace, despite the halo that goes with his name.

My first meeting with him was this year, 34 years after he and his team members conquered the ‘Lords’, thanks to his nephew Kumail, my one time student and now a very successful entrepreneur. I was a mere nine year old boy when Indians conquered the world at Lords. 

Meeting such a legend can be a bit unnerving. We were waiting for him in his living room. It took less than two minutes of wait before Kirmani Sir came to greet us. I was dumbstruck for some time. It was as if one of those posters that used to adorn my walls during my childhood days had come alive. My ears were ringing with words of the radio commentators – ‘And Kirmani pulls off a stunner… another wicket for India…’Those days we did not have television at home and radio commentary was the only way to keep in touch with what our team was doing away on foreign soil. 

Most people remember Kapil Dev our captain or Mohinder Amarnath who was the man of the match in both semi-final and finals for their role in helping India win the world cup. Undoubtedly contributions of Kapil and Amaranth are superlative but there is small but very important part of history that was not recorded on camera and as the saying goes, out of sight is also out of mind. It was one of the league matches of India against Zimbabwe, unimportant for many, but very significant for India, as that loss would have eliminated our team from the tournament itself, forget about even contending for the title. Indian team was tottering at 17 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Indian loss seemed imminent. But what Zimbabweans and the world little knew that two men – Kapil and Kirmani will change not only the course of that match from their onwards but pretty much of the whole tournament. Kirmani joined Kapil at this juncture and while everyone has made an effort to remember the 175 run knock of Kapil in this match, almost everyone has sadly forgotten that Kirmani stood rock solid at the other end for a record 126 ninth wicket partnership. Although Kirmani scored 24 runs in this partnership, had he not planted himself at the other end, Kapil’s feat and India’s comeback win would never have been possible. This match unfortunately was not recorded on camera (in those days only important matches would be recorded and broadcasted by television companies). Alas! A video of this match would have been such a wonderful testimony to the grit and determination of Syed Kirmani. He played the role of sheet anchor and while Kapil took away the applause, Kirmani was content with having done his bit for his nation. Everyone remembers Neil Armstrong as the first person on moon. Few remember that Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin also accompanied him in this successful landmark mission. Kirmani’s contributions were pivotal in India winning the world title, something that changed the perception of the world towards our nation and made the world sit back and take note of this merging global power. A measure of his contributions can be gauged from the fact that it took a good 27 years for India to repeat its feat and win the championship again.

It took a while for the feeling to sink in me that I was indeed sitting next to one of my childhood idols and a legend. However Kirmani Sir has an uncanny way of making you feel comfortable and at ease immediately. His humility and straightforwardness is extremely appealing. A few minutes with him and you will feel that you have known him for years. I have met him two times after that and every time he has left me awestruck by his magnetic simplicity and aura.

I consider myself fortunate that he wrote an endorsement for my book ‘The Life of Y – Engaging Millennials as employees and Consumers’ and even agreed to release my book. His words and presence made my journey as an author so very complete and worthy. The feeling is incomparable and it will remain etched as some memorable moments of my life.

As this legend celebrate his birthday today, we wish that almighty blesses him with long life, good health and lots of happiness.

Happy Birthday Kirmani Sir. Many, many happy returns of the day.

You were, You are and You will remain the true ‘Lord of the Lords’.

Power Mongers Versus Power Custodians

The more I think about it, the more I get convinced about it... the more I see it happening around, the more I tend to believe it... that Power should be always be entrusted with people who do not want it, do not yearn for it; and not to those who want it badly.

Those who want power, who haggle for the same, get almost immediately drunk by it once they are given power or they acquire the same. I call them 'Power Mongers'.They love to dominate, play power games, create & display power symbols, impose opinions, show utter disregard for other's opinions, expect everyone to seek their consent before saying or doing anything, create their 'yes men/women' (sycophants) group, engage in negative politicking.. and whenever someone challenges them for their mistakes or wrong doings, these 'Power Mongers' use their group of sycophants to bully the one who challenged their actions or behaviour. They do not hesitate to mock, public ridicule and hit below the belt whoever stands for just and right.

I encounter 'Power Mongers' in public life, social life and in personal life. I am sure all of you do.

'Power Mongers' are found everywhere - among politicians, bureaucrats, organizational leaders/managers, union leaders, fringe group leaders in society, community associations and even in families. Well, in the age of technology you can even find them in social media, whats app groups and where not...

Using politics, manipulating words and actions, double talk and standards are natural strategies for 'Power Mongers' who are driven by a constant desire to dominate, hog the limelight, grab all the credit (even what others rightfully deserve) and ensure that all advantages are turned to them and disadvantages to others.

On the other hand, those who do not wish or want to have power, when they are given the same, they become guardians of the same. They treat power with a great deal of responsibility and are always self-aware that every time they use power, they could be potentially benefiting or harming others, their interests and creating, strengthening or breaking relationships. They use power with discretion and caution for a defined common purpose and seek to balance the benefits in such a way that it puts no one to disadvantage and every deserving person gets a voice, care and share. They voice their opinions but know to respect others, have the invaluable gift of listening and wisdom. I call them 'Power Custodians'.

Unfortunately we have far more 'Power Mongers' in this world, the root of most problems; whereas we need more of 'Power Custodians'.

Photo Credits: ( http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-in-india/nepotism-rocks-karan-johar-saif-ali-khan-varun-dhawan-mock-kangana-ranaut-iifa-awards-twitter-reactions-4756401/ )

Change Room Politics

The Virat-Kumble spat is much public and the row between the Indian cricket captain and the now ex-head coach of the team has been officially documented in the resignation letter of the latter. Kumble quit of grounds of irrevocable set of differences with the Indian captain. While, leaks about Kumble over-bearing character and his alleged coercion of the players who performed poorly have been doing rounds.

Virat who is in the eye of storm had maintained his silence. In the latest World is One News (WION) interview he refused to spill the beans of what actually transpired between the two referring the same to the sanctity of the “Change Room”. Virat swears by the ideology of  ‘what happens in the “Change Room”, stays in the “Change Room”,  a supposedly consciously constructed culture of the team, which he does not intend to flout.

Virat achieved three objectives by using the “Change Room” defence for his no comment –

> One, by refusing to discuss details he has successfully created an impression that Kumble flouted the “Change Room” culture by washing his dirty linen in public.

> Second, he also rose above the ordinary by not allowing himself to follow his coach’s footsteps.

> And finally, he also put a shroud of mystery on what actually happened inside the four walls of the “Change room”, thus further fuelling public's interest in the same. Public attention is after all good marketing. 

However Kumble and Kohli both have played the "Change Room" politics. - the former by disclosing the contents to the public, the latter by refusing to do so under the garb of ethics. 

Kumble's behaviour amply shows that in he power struggle, he has lost the game and enjoys little support from the board , captain and the players. Kumble took to the gallows not before desperately throwing the knife at Kohli's throat. He perhaps feels a bit vindicated by taking a snipe at his tormentor. 

Kohli on the other hand is definitely one up in the power equation. His silence is a sign of his security and also his growing smartness. He enjoys support and to an extent the board and players are dependent on him to lead the cricket team for the time being.  

In public eye, Kumble has emerged as a sore victim and Kohli as a resilient leader who does not believe in burning bridges or malicious finger-pointing in public. We will leave the debate of who is to fault for this fallout between the two to the Indian cricket board, but for now it is Kohli -1, Kumble - 0  when it comes to public perception. Kohli though will have to now bear the immense load of public expectation, now that he has a free hand.

Power and politics and behaviour have an interesting relationships. Politics is mostly played behind curtains that might manifest itself as "Change Room politics" or "Board Room politics", "Dinner politics" or the more murkier bedroom politics. Who wins the 'game' depends not that much on who is right; more on who creates more dependency that fosters power and sways public perception in one's own favour. this is exactly how politicians get away by many times doing something that is wrong and unpleasant. 

Niccolo Machiavelli, a late 15th century political advisor and political theorist, explained this beautifully in descrbing 'Machiavellanism' personality trait.

Watch -

Why Do We Need Schools?

The high school (10th) and intermediate (12th/pre-university) exams are over across schools in India and results are out too.Students have heaved a sigh of relief. For sometime they will have respite from the pressure chamber  that they have been subjected to for the last many months. 

Their juniors, however, who have just moved to standard 9th or 11th are now experiencing the same. The moment kids move into these dreaded classes, the board exams start looming over their heads. A strange kind of fear psychosis grips most of them as they are subjected to a hyper academic stress created by various stakeholders. 

I call this a 4 walled pressure chamber, squeezing these poor kids, as these walls keep moving inside leaving little room for fresh air. The four walls are - 

Wall One - Parents 
Wall Two - School 
Wall Three - Teachers  
Wall Four - Society

One of my ex-student now working successfully as a marketing manager in a prominent real estate firm told me the other day - ' Sir my parents moved me to the hostel right from my class 6th so that I could score more marks. The hostel and school environment was very strict. We used to study for long hours but everything was for getting more marks. We never understood anything and hence I had little interest in what I studied. I had to just get good grades in my 10th and 12th class board exams. I was told that my grades pretty much determined my chances of getting into a good university in India, After my school was over, I wanted to study business but my father wanted me to join an engineering course. I had to give in to my father's demands and I joined engineering. Again the same story... I studied with no interest and just for marks. Finally when my father saw my performance in my engineering course, he let me join business studies during my master's program. This is when for the first time I started really learning and marketing attracted me the most. I am now enjoying my career. I do not know why and what I studied, before my MBA. I feel it was such a waste. I wish I had studied my courses in school for developing an understanding and exploring new areas and not just for grades!"

Sadly this is the state of most of the kids in India.

Let us briefly examine these '4 walls' -

Wall One: Parents
The moment their child gets closer to board exams, the parents get into hyperactive mode. They somehow take it on themselves the responsibility of ensuring that their child secure the top grade. Anything less than 95% is unacceptable. The child is deluged with several tutions from private tutors, arranged and sponsored by the parents. Even if the child feels that he/she can cope on their own, parents are restless and are not wanting to leave anything to chance. A regular day of a child suddenly changes and becomes ultra busy - school, private tutions, homework, self-study... no time to play, or relax. 

Study, study and more study! No wonder startups have been created out of this frenzy of parents to get tutor's help for their kids. Byju's  the online tutoring site for school students has seen a dizzy rise in the last couple of years. Investors are bullish on the prospects of Byju's and today it is a Harvard Business School Case Study!

Most parents are very happy if the school where their child is studying has less activities, events, festivals and more and more of academics. Extra classes, extra assignments make parents feel happy and secure. The kids on the other hand keep getting crushed under this growing academic stress. 

Recently I heard a mother opining at a school open house - "Mam, thanks to your extra classes and assignments, my child is very serious now. She wakes up at 4 a.m. and studies till late." 

A child turning from happy to serious concerns me, rather than filling me with delight,


Wall Two: School
The branding and prestige of a school is by the result that it can produce with its 10th and 12th standard students, the number of toppers, the number of All-India rankers, the number of first class with distinction, the number of first divisions etc. Everything is loaded on results. 

The school instead should be recognised by the kind of teachers that it has, the process of teaching-learning, the kind of fun that it can inculcate in learning, the amount of creativity it can fuel in the kids. But these are all traded in favour of marks percentage. 

Schools cannot be blamed alone, as parents too build this pressure. But then school in the era of competition have commoditized education and the one that can get best results demands the best price! No wonder these days parents have to apply for loan to pay for the school fees of their children.

Most schools are run by businessmen and not by educationists. Agreed good tution fees is needed to get good teachers. But then ask the teachers, they really do not get paid too well in India. Where is the money going then? While schools keep getting richer, the students keep getting poorer and poorer,

Wall Three: Teachers
Teaching is the art of making the less obvious, obvious and the obvious look magical! Unfortunately most teachers today approach teaching from a mechanistic perspective and the outcome of teaching is knowledge and not necessarily learning. 

Knowing something is not necessarily understanding the same. but understanding something really well is the basis for application, creation and innovation. The rote-based teaching practised by most teachers is focused on narrow outcomes of marks and grades; not on the broad principles of lifelong learning. Making students memorise things is not necessarily making them intelligent and wise. Wisdom and intelligence stems from how one see learning in action. 

Take for instance mathematics. Most students fear and detest maths not because something is inherently wrong with the subject, but because maths is taught in the most mundane method-problem format. In other words, tell the students the method, and then make them do a couple of sums. That's it! 

Recently during an admission interview I asked a student what is the practical application of Pythagoras Theorem. Although he knew the formula of the theorem, he could not tell me the application of the theorem. It had never been taught in his school. 

That is where the problem really lies.

Hence quantum overtakes, quality. Outcomes are desirable in forms of marks. The pressure naturally is more on the students. The added pressure is because of the systemic disinterest for most subjects that is built in them through some really average teaching,.

Wall Four: Society
Society has two personifications with respect to education - one the education boards that exist in our nation. These boards have generally followed a curriculum and propagated a pedagogy that is heavily loaded in favour of rote-based learning. Look at the CBSE reforms this year. All schools must follow NCERT books, all chapters must be covered in the year, students must be put through multiple weekly tests, periodic tests, pre-midterm test and post mid term test, test, test and more tests. Most schools under pressure to comply are throwing out activity based learning out of the window as such a huge syllabus and so many tests would leave very little time for activities. This will only intensify rote-based learning.

We are bent on producing kids who look alike, do alike, behave alike but cannot think. Reminds me of Chaplin's Modern Times.

The second personification is the society at large. A society that perceives a child good in mathematics as intelligent, and the one good in humanities as useless; one that perceives a child good in English as smart, suave and the one who can speak good regional language or Hindi as illiterate; one that looks down, almost condemns children who fail to score too well. There is no place for ability, only one's grades can be a testimony to one's worth and nothing else.

I look at the poor child bent forward by the weight of his school bag, parent's expectations, school's and teacher's dictum and society's 'high' (mark up) benchmarks and only worry how the education and the societal system is killing creativity, stunting growth and dulling a curious mind.

Have we asked ourselves -

Why children stop asking questions as they grow up?
Why kids do not enjoy classes?
Why they rejoice when a teacher does not turn up on a day in the school?
Why the number of mental health cases like anxiety and depression is on the rise amongst kids?
Why the number of kids killing themselves after failing to secure good grades is on the rise?
Why most kids tell in admission interviews that they never got a chance to chose the desired field of study?
Why as a nation that has 1.6 billion people, we do not have more patents and innovations in our name?
Why despite having such high-brow schools and institutes of higher learning, we produce more workers than thinkers?
Why we have won so less Nobels till date?
Why we do not have an Intel, Google or Amazon from our nation yet?
Why we are thinking that the next medical miracle will come from the west?
Why despite so much competition, our kids end up with same repetitive jobs?

Why?
Why?
Why?

Many such questions find no takers. And often defence is offered in various forms.

Interestingly, one of Britain’s biggest graduate recruiters EY, the global accountancy firm, recently announced that it was scrapping the requirement for applicants to have a minimum 2:1 degree pass or Ucas point score of 300 (the equivalent of three B grades at A-level). This is part of the company's effort to attract millennial talent and hence open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their educational background and provide greater access to the profession.

I hope as my child climbs up the ladder of school classes, I as a parent can spare him at least one wall and hence leave him some room to wriggle out of this trap where walls keep closing-in. Will I be able to do that? Or will I succumb to this pressure of grades and degrades? Time will tell.

The 1954 classic Jagriti, long forgotten, needs to re-kindled and watched by everyone. May be then kids have some chance...

Sketch credit: http://kickofjoy.com/role-stress-pressure/