Why is that when eash of us, as adults, and part of the rat race, are becoming very much self-centered? How is that in big cities, we do not even know the names of the people who reside in flats on the same floor?
Are we so busy, that we cannot spend a few minutes to introduce ourselves and get to know our neighbors on a Sunday? Or better still, introduce our children to their children, and allow them to interact, freely, as children?
There are cases when the children become very close friends, but for some strange reason the adults do not even know who lives on the same floor, and who is the mother or father of whom.
Well, there are association meetings, but most skip such meetings and do their own, without the slightest of worries or caring for the other people.
Why, why and why should all this happen? Can't we, as adults, slip into our own natural selves, at least get across to those in ouur neighborhood and exchange a few words, find out common interests and so on? Why can't we break the jinx?
It is not that we need to break it, but need to break it urgently too.
By not reaching out to relatrives and friends and neighbors we are sending the very wrong signals to our children, particularly in the cities, as our children are already overburdened with the so-called Education System, and have become robots. They have, by and large, learned how to be very selfish and self-centered.
When people -- our own relatives come from our ancestral villages, our children do not respect elders and tend to mock at them., They do not relish any friendhship with neighbors and feel that any conversation is eating into their chatting time and what's up time. They have become very selfish indeed.
Some small picnics with neighbors, some amount of caring by taking our children to the orpahnages, old age homes, is very much part of our attempts to be our natural selves. It is in our human nature to care for others. It is very much part of human nature to be kind, at least give a patient hearing to others and so on. It is very much a part of our natural selves to reach out to people.
Yet, we put on a mask in our rat race and forget to see the realities. We tend to forget the world around us, and never reach out to people. We have forgot how to laugh loud and never ever even make the smallest of phone calls to our own cousin brothers, who live in the very same city. We never bother to even make enquiries about a person who is sick in the neighborhood or visit those in hospitals, even if they are our own kith and kin.
Marriages have become occasions to say "hai" and "bye". In the seventies and even the eighties, marriages were more personal, more intimate in terms of relationships and more focussed in terms of developing relationships. Today, they are occasions to just say wish our relatives, give the present to the bride or bridegroom and then have the food that is available and quietly move out.
Once again, even if our children are teenagers or college-going children, we are sending the worst of messages. Human compassion, ability to reach out to others and tolerance of the idosyncracies of others and the ability to listen -- each one of these are quietly being forgotten.
We cannot and should not do this. We need to take the marriages seriously, call up our close relatives and friends, and at least call on them, once in a while. The "hai" and 'bye' culture smacks of crass commercialism. It simply means that we are so much bothered about money.
Of course, the tendencies are not always so bad, more so, if there is one or may be two, very rich relatives in the close circle. We make every effort to reach out to them, and find out what we can get out of such rich people -- money, influence, new contacts or whatever.
This is a horrible state of affairs. This is the other extreme of selfishness. We cannot have one value for rich people and another for poor people. Our children naturally learn a lot from us, and happily ape us -- with disastrous results.
A very common fallcy is to think that the very rich are also the very happy people. We just do not understand that in the very rich business families, the caring between the husband and wife on the one hand, and between the father or mother and the children, is very little. They have their own worlds, and unless the mother is a very balanced person, things start falling apart.
For instance, if the mother is one who take advantage of the money that is very much available and spends more time in kitty parties and beauty parlors, as is often the case, the best thing is to try to avoid such contacts or friendships or relationships to the extent possible. For, our scope for finding out role models in the woman of the household, would not be there.
Not all families are lite this and this is a big fact. There are very rich people who go all out to help others, to reach out to each relaitive and treat every single relaitve or friend, in the very same way, and be very humble about their wealth. They would also do substantial social work, and take excellent care of their servant maids. There are superb role model familites and we could visit them, more so, if they respect us and seek our friendship or relationship.
We need to get back to being natural, expressing ourselves in subtle ways that show the better side of a human being in terms of caring forr others, taking time off to spend with relatives and close friends, and coming out the of the selfish circle, which we have even unconsciously built around us.
Let us forget the mask that we wear so often. Let us get back to being our own natural selves.
Not a single day passes without some politician accusing the poltician of the party in the opposition, or any politician in the opposite camp, generally called as "enemies" by the political class.
Frankly speaking, there seems to be a tacit understanding between the two political parties at the Centre, who bring up some issue or the other, to divert the attention of people.
Only now and then, the solid issues get discussed. For example, the issue of corruption and black money. The present BJP Governemnt promised to bring back all the black money from Swiss banks, but nothing much has happened on this front. Some issue or the other crops up, and the bigger issue is all but forgotten.
In Tamil Nadu, the two main parties -- the DMK and the AIADMK -- have always played games to divert attention of people, even on vital matters such as the quality of education, the reforms needed and so on.
For example, the standard of education in the State Government schools is so poor, and the net result is that the number of "centums" that is, the number of people who score one hundred percent in each of the three or four crore subjects is increasing year after year.
There is no continuous assessment as is done in the CBSE schools. There is so much of emphasis on cramming, and the net result is that the entire emphasis is on working out problems that almost fall into a set patten in a subject like Mathematics. In fact, the number of schools that specialize in teaching all the tricks of the trade in cramming with a missionary zeal, is increasing year after year.
Every one -- the students, the parents, the educationists, the adminstrators and, worse, the State Education Minister and even the Chief Minister -- is very much aware that there is something or everything seriously wrong with the rather outdated syllabus of education, and the way the entire System is administered.
Yet, no one really bothers as every parent and student wants a share of the pie. Those who score one hundred percent in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, can easily walk into a Medical college on merit. So, parents are ready to pay a donation of over one lakh rupees and secure a seat in what is called the "rasipuram" schools.
The "rasipuram" schools represent one of the fastest growing industries in education in India! What started wih just one school has not multiplied many times over, and a small town, some one hour from a big city called Salem, is a nationally famous centre for cramming of the worst kind!!!. This small town, in Western Tamil Nadu, is the worst advertisement for what a school or any school should not be. However, even Ministers are known to have invested in some benami venture or the other, and the results are there for all to see.
The brightest student, who secures centum in each of the core subjects of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and gets admitted to the prestigious Anna University campus in Chennai ( this Campus college has a syllabus, teaching methods, industry interaction and whatever, that is far superior to any of its affiliated over 500 colleges, and hence enjoys one hundred placement) , fails in the very first semester of the Engineering Degree to which he or she secures an admission to.
How does this happen? It happens because the Anna University has a pattern that is far superior to the training that is offered in the State Board of Educaiton, upto the plus two level of school final examination. The students are not able to cope with the very high standard of educaiton, all of a sudden.
This is a hugely serious issue. One political leader, whose party is actually a caste-oriented and caste-based party, has openly advocated upgrading the syllabus of the State Board, to the CBSE level. This is a very good suggestion. It is also interesting to note that some more politicians have also started supporting this stand. A very important point is that unless the public at large gets involved and involves the judiciary, nothing is going to happen.
Similarly, in most of the North Indian States, there is rampant corruption and a huge amount of violence against women. Yet, the media and the politicians happen to find some issue or the other, to just divert all the attention of people. The people are made to look like fools. Those who are uneducated have already migrated to many South Indian cities, and are working as construction laborers, for wages that are sometimes even forty per cent less thatn what they earn back home. This blatant exploitation is also not reported by anyone -- the contractors and the politicians are active accomplises in the game.
Years ago, the wave of investigative journalism presented a good alternative to the public, to kow the shady dealings of the politicians, with the Indian Express newspaper being in the forefront of the camapign. Since then, there has been a highly subdued press, both electronic and print, that has done absolutely nothing to expose what the politicians too -- their corruption, their double standards and so on.
Similarly, whatever is rotten with the management of the Environment, the education sysem, the domestic violence that leads to even deaths of women and so on, should be highlighted in much greater detail. We should never out politicians to get away with the present trend of diverting people's attention, with the most silly issues. If these things are allowed to continue, there will be anarchy in the society.
Sociologists, lawyers, scientists, technocrats and such other professionals ought to get-together as a group and do something more dramatic as a Nation. For, unless this is done, we will not be able to see any improvement in the lives of ordinary people. The judiciary is doing a commendable job, but we all need to support the judiciary in whatever little ways we can.
Our lives have already become very complex. However, this is no excuse for not undertaking meaningful social action.
The late leader, Mr Periyar is credited with having launched a series of movements to get his message right -- he was an atheist, and this was not acceptable to a huge majority of people. Yet, in his fight against superstitions, he was able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, through his thoughts and action -- he often lead from the front, and was very friendly with leaders across the entire political spectrum. In fact, his friendship with the former Chief Minster and a giant of his lifetime -- Rajaji -- is well documented in literature that concerns social movements in Tamil Nadu.
Much earlier, Mahatma Gandhi was the one who mobilized millions through his method of non-violence, and he had a huge moral authority, mainly because he lived his talk.
Cut to the modern times. The present Prime Minister has unfortunately not been able to carry his messages forward, due to his own party men and his rather hasty utterances -- like the one on the Land Acquisition Bill, which is now seen -- quite rightly, as against the rights of farmers. Very fertile lands can now be acquired without the consent of the owners and this is sheer nonsense. Mr Modi was able to get his message of clean India, across to a wide range of people, but was not able to sustain his momentum only because the intent was lost in the maze of his acting on behalf of huge Corporate Houses -- at least the Public Perception was such that, and it still is.
So, we are back to square one. What should the parties such as AAP do? Very simple. They should collaborate with the tribe of investigative journalists, get their cooperation and mercilessly expose corruption in public places. In particular, all politicians should be taken to task, and no one should be allowed to escape. When such a movement gets played through the electronic and print media, it is quite possible to enter the collective consciousness of people, and the movement can be sustained, through dharnas, fasting, public interest litigation, and quite simply, protests by huge masses of people -- running into several hundreds of thousands of people.
The use of Student power should also not be underestimated. When such a movement, with the active involvement of the people is on, it becomes very difficult for the ruling political class to stay away from it.
This has unfortunately not happened in many cases. For instance, there has been loud shouting by almost every political party in the Opposition, in Tamil Nadu, against the heavily one-sided Himalayan Blunder of a Judgement by the Karnataka High Court in the disproportionate assets case against the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ms. J Jayalalitha.
It is public knowledge that a mass scale loot was then on by the same Jayalalitha and her cronies in Tamil Nadu, between 1991 and 1996., Every single citizen of Tamil Nadu knows that she had indeed swindled over fifty crores. Now, the public is brainwashed into believing that this fifity crores is small change, when compared to the hundreds of crores or thousands of crores of other later scams such as the 2G scam or the Coal Scam!!
Such is the ridiculous argument! Almost every single person has missed the wood for the trees!!!
The present value of all property in the name of Ms Jayalalitha and her cronies is now over five thousand crores, and this is a fact for all to see!!! What was the value of fifty crores twenty years ago?
People have not taken to the streets because the general public shows apathy. Yet, a whole lot of educated people, who are apolitical, have expressed their angst against one of the worst Judgments in recent times, and it they who should have come to the streets.
We cannot ignore any past sin against any politician, just because he or she is now reformed. It is just as fine to say that a criminal who has committed two murders, and is now in prison for five years. His conduct is very good, and so his life sentence should be suspended.
Similarly, we should all fight against the abuse against the degradation of the environment. No "development" can really answer the needs of people --- vegetables, milk, rice, wheat and a whole lot of spices would have to be imported, if we continue with the present policies of heavy urbanization. In fact, there is such a huge shortage of labor for agriculture in rural Tamil Nadu, and this has resulted in farming becoming such a waster of an occupation. Tamil Nadu has the dubious distinction of the highest percentage of people living in urban areas, thanks to rapid development of small towns, that have developed on the basis of a growing service sector, but one without a huge number of highly needed skills.
For example, Carpenters and electricians and plumbers are very difficult to find. It is very difficult to find trained cooks either. All this, when the State of Tamil Nadu has one of the highest literacy rates in India.
Mass Movements against rampant industrialization and consequent destruction of the environment in total, is so essential. For example, in Vellore District of Tamil Nadu, the entire town of Ranipet is polluted with a huge number of leather industries. Each and every capitalist was able to manage for a very long time, without any significant investment in effluent treatment plants. It is only after the intervention of the Supreme Court, has the situation become slightly better.
Similarly, we need mass movements against the rot in education. Worse, the Union Government, under one of the worst Education Minsters, is now trying absolutely stupid. The attempt is made to bring in an uniform syllabus and examination for teachers across all Central Government Universities. This is the worst reform that is now sought to be introduced. Each and every Central University needs to have a role of social transformation, given the cultural construct of the particular State and location it is in. For example, in Tiruvarur, in South Tamil Nadu, it is essential that the focus should be on training through innovative courses, a whole lot of manpower needed for agro based industries, or for service industries such as the Business Process Outsourcing ( BPO), that is now firmly in place, even in small towns in that region.
If there are common courses with common syllabus, with teachers who can be transferred across locations, it will become a fertile breeding ground for corruption and the "localized approach" to cater to particular needs of particular regions will be totally lost.
Mass movements are the need of the hour. There are no limits to such movements. There need to be hundreds of them at any point in time. Let us all break our heads on how to get such movements going.
The world we are living is so complex that we are unable to predict what will happen tomorrow. An unexpected event can happen at any time. Whatever planning you make in your life may collapse due to a single event that will make the whole life miserable. At the same time a surprising event can take place that will give you all success and wealth. We call them as fate or luck, depending on the situation. Sometimes another improbable event happens by which you meet an old friend, who turns your entire life through a different direction. You have not even dreamt about it, but it happened; and you call it a ‘coincidence’. You wondered; why it happened? Was it a supernatural power, an intuition, or the ‘decision of God’? Your search after coincidence begins here.
Coincidence …..
What is ? It is defined as a surprising concurrence of certain events which have some meaningful relations, but no apparent casual connection with each other. Coincidence occurs several times in your life. Whenever you think about something, the next moment that thing happens. Or whenever you think about somebody whom you have not met for several years, the next moment he appears before you. Completely strange and unbelievable incidents take place that make you stunned! And you call it as coincidence or chance or luck. It is not coincidence happened by chance; it is synchronicity that makes these things happen. It is the law of attraction of the universe that happens in an unconscious level of your awareness. Be aware consciously, and you can influence these random events and experience the improbable coincidence.
Synchronicity…..
Synchronicity is the law of unity that makes such impossible coincidences possible. It is your awareness; but you are not conscious about it. It consists of a set of internal programs that change your life by organizing the random events to happen as per your choice. It makes the events to happen on the right time. You do not know the time but you have the desire. When you desire something, when you are tuned in to the same frequency of that thing, you will get it. When the vibrations of your desire match with vibrations of your destined object, it will appear before you. Your subconscious will find a way to bring it before you. Your timing is perfect and you are in the right place. You are neither too late nor too earlier. Everything is in perfect harmony. That is synchronicity; it is your awareness, your consciousness; it is your conscious awareness; it is not coincidence happened by chance, but it is coincidence created by your will.
Carl Jung…..
It was Carl Jung, a famous Swiss psychiatrist, who used the term synchronicity in his essay in the year 1952. He defined it as an “acasual connecting principle”. He believed that events can be connected by either casuality or by meaning. Meaningful relationship exists between events though the casual connection between them cannot be explained. Jung believed that the phenomenon of synchronicity was related to psychic conditions and is shared by the whole mankind. He used the term “collective unconsciousness” to refer the universal interconnection of the unconscious minds that is the basis of operation of the principle of synchronicity.
Universal Interconnection…..
You are not alone. Everything in the universe is interconnected by some unknown forces. Every mind is connected with the universal mind. One small change somewhere, even if it is so insignificant, will have its consequences in every being, and may completely change your life. Your subconscious mind attracts all other minds that are synchronized in similar vibrations. Thoughts are energy. They never die. You know your past. You know your present. You alone can make your future happen. You have the access to the link between the past, present and future. You have the access to the infinite library of this universe. Synchronicity happens from the deepest level of your awareness. You can hear the voice of the universe and become ready to accept the event.
Your World is Incomplete…..
Your perception about this world is incomplete. You cannot see or experience beyond the limitations of your senses and mind. What you observe is only a part of the real world. Millions of beings exist in different planes of existence and live in their own world, unknown to you. You live in a world created by your own mind. Your world exists because of your thoughts. When you withdraw your attention, your world vanishes. Time and space exist in your mind. Your mind knows all minds in the universe and it knows what to do and when. When you reach the right place at right time, you experience the amazing power of synchronicity. It is not intuition, it is not luck; it is not coincidence; it is because you are in perfect tune with the universe. Your desires become manifested as surprising events. You have the power to create what you want, because you are a part of the universe.
Create Your Own Coincidence…..
Focus on what you want; and believe firmly that it will happen. Repeat yourself that everything is going fine and you will get what you want. Believe and let it go. Believe positively. You need to believe in yourself. You need to believe in this extraordinary power of synchronicity. Your belief is the deciding factor. If you do not believe, this power will not work for you; you cannot see luck smiling in front of you.
Do not have doubt, anxiety or any negative thought. Concentrate on what you want; but, not on what you don’t want. The law of synchronicity will not work with negativity. There is nothing like probability. You can alter your future based on your present desire. You can set the events of the universe in motion as per your will. Your emotions are powerful and you are going to write down your future.
Be alert. Be persistent. The stronger you believe, the sooner you will get the result. Be aware every moment. Your vibrations will become in tune with your desire. Sooner you will hear the gentle footsteps of events. Watch every little thing carefully. Never ignore the events. Every event is a signal from the universe that gives you a message. Ask questions to yourself to explore the meaning of the message. Your subconscious will reveal the answers. The answers may come in the form of some intuitions, some revelations, some unusual experience or in some other forms. You will meet your coincidence face to face. It will be a specific circumstance, an encounter with a person, a chance meeting or anything what you exactly want and guide you to your goal.
Connection is There…..
You may sometimes feel that you have never thought about a particular chance event that happened. It doesn’t mean that there is no connection just because you cannot identify it. There should be an invisible connection, but you are not aware of it. From some point in time, a fraction of your consciousness continues its infinite journey through the passages of the cosmos to fulfill its mission. In an unusual place, it meets the chance events vibrating in the same frequency, ready for an unbelievable meeting. Thus it happens. The connection is there. You cannot deny it because you are not aware of it.
Conclusion
Everything that happens in your life has some special meaning. They transmit you some special messages from the universe. You can listen to what universe talks to you. If you are in a higher level of conscious awareness, you will become closer to the universe and will manifest more synchronicities. You can create and control them with your conscious awareness. You are the creator of your future…. You are the creator of your life….. You are the creator of your reality!!
Leadership is the art of getting others to want to do something you are convinced should be done. The origin of the word "Lead" is a word meaning "to go". Leadership requires interaction with others being one with 'them and perhaps coming down to their level. The leader is one who is one with others to the extent necessary to give them a feeling of a quality and yet different from them in terms of his own work and achievement for which they admire him.
The need for power encourages the concept of affiliation which presents a problem. It can lead to slowing the system because the time spent in getting to know others and becoming affiliated can mean time from the main activities of the organization. It is also presumed that the need for affiliation may lead to favour and corruption. But in a world which is becoming increasingly impersonal, in which there is a growing dependence on scientific systems the individual can feel lost. Therefore, the need for affiliation, friendship increases. The leader does thing not only for himself, or to gain popularity, but because of his feelings toward humanity. An executive who does his work better than anybody else can and has been recognized in his organization as being able to undertake diverse activity and do them well. However, since the company needs him in the position he holds because no one else can do it therefore, at times a hardworking, sincere, enthusiastic executive remains in that position and is never promoted, even when he approaches the top management for a more responsible position. Executive is told he is indispensable and for the sake of the company, he must be retained in the position in which he is. There is no doubt he would do equal justice to the senior position which he has sought. Possibly, he would improve systems there also. No one is indispensable. The chance for leadership should not be destroyed purely because the executives has been honest and good in the work he is doing now. Perhaps, if he had not been so devoted to this present job, the company would have had to shift him from there and given him the other position. It is also evident that one who likes to work and do it well is running the risk of not becoming obsolete. Inevitably all organizations require leaders to utilize the abilities of their employees to achieve the goals of the organization.
The effective leadership is the lifeblood of an organization survival. Leadership is a complex relationship existing between the leader, the organization, social values, economic and political conditions. A leader influences others by his qualities, viz. confidence; communicative ability, awareness of his impact on others as well as perceptions about the situation and his subordinates. Leadership is the quality of an individual's behaviour whereby he is able to guide the people or their activities towards certain goals. Managers who possess the quality of guiding and directing the subordinates to perform their jobs efficiently can be called business leaders. A leader interprets the objectives of the group and guides it towards the achievement of these objectives.
"A leader is one who directs other people thus, managers at all levels have to perform the function of leader because they manage subordinates whose energies are to be canalized in a definite direction". As leaders, managers have not only to show the way, but also lead the group towards a predetermined goal. James J. Cribban has defined leadership as a "Process of influencing a group in la particular situation at a given point of time and in a specific set of circumstances that stimulate to strive willingly to attain the common- objectives and satisfaction with the types of leadership provided". Dimensions of leadership behaviour, identified as 'consideration' and 'initiating structure'. Leaders who high on the 'consideration' dimension reflected that they had developed a work atmosphere of mutual trust, respect for subordinate's ideas and consideration of subordinate's feelings. Such leaders encouraged good superior-subordinate rapport and two way communication. A low 'consideration' score indicates that leaders are more impersonal in their dealings with sub- ordinates. A high 'initiating structure' score indicates that leaders structure their roles and those of sub- ordinates toward the attainment of goals. They are actively involved in planning work activities communicating pertinent information and scheduling work.
Studies revealed that high structure and low consideration were related to more absenteeism, accidents, grievances and turnover. Leadership in business is never a bossism because the leader is not synonym of the boss. A boss depends upon his authority and as such always drives and orders, but a leader relies upon his confidence and goodwill and always believes in coaching and advising his subordinates. The foregoing analysis reveals that successful leadership calls for ‘the ability to comprehend that human being have different motivating forces in different situations, the ability to inspire, and ability act in a manner that will develop a climate for responding to and arousing motivations, ‘The existence of able leaders is keenly felt in social life. Koontz and O’Donnell rightly observed that people tend to follow these whom they see as means of satisfying their own personal goals. The more managers understand what motivates their subordinates and how these motivations operate, the more effective leaders they are likely to be. The old concept about leadership is that a leader uses his power to secure the support of his subordinates. But leadership over an extended period of time requires not merely the power but also an understanding of the feelings and the problems of subordinates. Power alone is inadequate means of motivating most of the employees.
The major functions of present concept of leadership is guiding and motivating the behaviour and understanding of the subordinates. Leader needs to establish relationship of warmth and understanding. If the informal and formal leaders are the same, leader earns his place and helps the organization and also the members of the team. Leader should encourage voluntary cooperation and should see how cooperation goes into the total leadership process.
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