TAKE THAT CALL

The young archer bowed in front of his teacher’s idol and raised his bow for the aim. One after the other, the arrows left his bow as the string gave them momentum towards the intended target. His aim was perfect and all his shots hit the bull’s eye with great precision. His gaze froze at the target’s line and the arrows cut across the air to sizzle the target. The new master was emerging and had majored in his art. His teacher was merely an idol who had never given any course correction to his art.

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed the Lunar Module on Moon’s surface on 20 Jul 1969. A debate raged for days together to decide who would step out on to the lunar surface first- Buzz or Neil. Neil Armstrong was the Commander of the Apollo-11 mission and Buzz Aldrin was the Lunar Module pilot. Should the Commander of the mission get sacrificed in case of an emergency or the Lunar Module Pilot? Their seating positions inside the Lunar Module decided the history’s turn that day!!!

The young archer was Eklavya. He was summoned by his virtual Master when he saw a dog’s mouth stuffed with arrows as Eklavya ’s practice got disturbed by the dog’s barking. He fired arrow after arrow and kept the dog’s mouth opened without any physical injuries to the dog. The Master and his stunned pupils examined the dog and realized that Eklavya had picked up his art merely by focusing on his Master’s idol and zeal to learn the art of archery. The master asked for his gift for training him with virtual presence and Eklavya willfully sacrificed his right thumb as per his Master’s diktat.

Eklavya could never shoot precisely fired arrows again and neither Buzz Aldrin could step out to the first man on Moon. Logic sometimes defies clarity. Had Eklavya refused that day or had Buzz Aldrin demanded to be the first man on lunar surface citing the vulnerable Commander’s position of Neil Armstrong? Who knows what history would have been? What is it that defies humans to take that call which can make the difference between achievements and the also ran?

In almost all lives, situations keep on emerging out of nowhere. Many of these situations rattle the motley humans and majority of them try to subvert or avoid the confrontations. This is the most likely reason for not being able to take that call and to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Coupled with the lack of the will power is also a sense of either gratitude or fear or lethargy or obedience or a combination of many such traits. It is a natural phenomenon to many humans to just give up when the odds are stacked against them. They merely raise their heads and immediately surrender when the situation appears to be big. Most of the times the fight is over even before the fight has begun.

What would have happened had Eklavya refused to the demand of his virtual master? The various options would have then raked the Master’s mind as his task of creating the best archer amongst his royal pupils would not have been accomplished. Maybe, Eklavya would have challenged the royalty at various occasions and emerged victorious or Eklavya might have been punished for his defiance. Both Eklavya and the Master would have weighed their respective options as moments ticked by them. Eklavya was alone in those moments and his call was to follow the Master’s demand. He willfully cut his right thumb and sacrificed his entire talent in that one moment. Why did he train so hard? Was he not confident about his art? Was he scared? Arjun would have still won the war even if he was the second best to Eklavya and if Eklavya would not have sided Arjun’s enemies. The Master could have easily guided Eklavya to remain neutral in case his services were sought during “Mahabharata”. Many such questions can now be posed to gauge the gravity of situation on Eklavya’s mind. The outcome of the entire episode was that Eklavya had taken a call which a student should take and provide a gift to his Master. The questions would continue to arise still!!

Buzz Aldrin could have staked his claim to step on the Lunar Surface when the craft touched down. The biggest stumbling block was the design of the craft wherein the door opened towards Neil Armstrong’s side. It was a design issue. Did the designers factor that Commander of the mission would be compromised in case of any emergency at the Lunar Surface? Who took that call to design such a door from where the Commander of the Mission only could come out easily and without damaging any equipment of the Lunar Module? Did Buzz think that there would be next missions wherein he would have been the natural choice to be the Mission Commander and would re-touch on the Lunar Surface? Or did he think that in case something went wrong, he would have the opportunity to retract safely to the mother ship?

The questions that history poses are difficult to answer many times and the mind can be sent into the tail spin. Debates and arguments rule the roost as humans sit down to dissect the decisions of the past. Do those decisions affect the present day humans? Aren’t many of the humans still doing a great injustice to their very own existence by not taking the right calls and not performing their assigned duties? What do they wait for as they let the issues struggle under them? The entire humanity suffers as many of us keep waiting for someone else to complete the task. Humans have a wonderful ability to let the chaos prevail and grow in each situation. Basically, this reflects the inability to take the initiative and seize the moment as it emerges. There are ample proofs in each situation analysis that the correct agents were available to diffuse the situation, but they did not react. The loss is of the entire humanity which faces the brunt of that particular situation.

This goes without saying that each human has the ability to take a positive call. The spheres are well defined wherein someone has to get up and face the wall. Scare should be met with dare and if the intention is positive then the public opinion should not matter. Stand up once and take the positive call- it would set the record straight for the entire life as human courage builds up with practice. So, go on and accept the life’s challenges with all the guts and achieve glory. Take that call as it matters only at that moment when the situation raises its head, a late response does not yield the best result.

Do not sacrifice your challenge if you can do better for this World. Future demands that humans take positive calls on the arenas of their lives and create better influences for whatever is left of this World.

Do you have it in you, eh??  

TRAVELOGUE CORBETT- PART II (20 & 21 MAR 2016

The day in the wilderness began with invigorating sounds of chirping birds. If you read Jim Corbett's book "Jungle Lore", you would be fascinated with the sounds of birds and insects. Each sound has a meaning and indicates happiness, fear or anxiety as the animals too live their lives. These sounds can propel humans to understand nature's sensitivity and their role in conservation along with the morality as a seminal trait.

Jim lived in these parts of India till 1950s before he migrated to Kenya for his business and remains buried there. He remained such a strong personality that in the spring of 1985, a film crew came to his hometown Kaladhoongi to shoot a film on his life. Suddenly, an old Kumaoni man of about 80 Years arrived to meet "Carpet Sahib" as he was fondly called by locals. The man had heard that Carpet Sahib had arrived at his home and he traveled 100 Kilometers in 2 days flat to meet his icon!! This generation has long gone. If you ask an average Kumaoni today, you may be surprised with their answers about Corbett. Corbett name today is about business and the writ of business runs larger than the Corbett persona.

As ,I powered the 4×4 Duster through the winding roads in and around Kaladhoongi and criss-crossed the jungles,I could vividly imagine Corbett walking through many of these areas along with the majestic animals and flora. The tell tale signs of the animals are written large over the signboards which guide humans to be careful with nature and not to walk alone into the woods. Humans never walk alone in any case. We come in droves with all sorts of fancy gadgets and each one of us does our bit of damage to the ecological system. Some of us steal the woods,many of us dump the litter and in the end it is the quintessential selfie which remains our only possession till another one replaces it!!

The Sivalik hills have eroded- the greens are a pale shadow of their rich past. Maybe, if Carpet Sahib comes back,he will not even recognize these zones. I drove slow and steady keeping my headlights on to forewarn the speedsters who kept zipping on the curvy roads. Dried up Kosi River,threw up many questions as its white boulders devoured each drop of the little rain that came by as a welcome note. 

 I did not see any animal other than some small birds and the jungle was silent. I did get a resolute salute from Pankajkali,a tame elephant as she dropped the Safari tourists.

Somewhere,deep inside these woods, a Tiger would be looking up as its home is getting shrunk each day. Would the gracious animal survive to stitch another Jungle Lore? The naked hills,the dried up river and the pale yellow woods all silently weep as the Big Cat puts its head on its paws and its intestines churn. The Tiger is no match to the technology of today. Maybe the game would have been perfect if human would have fought it one on one with the Tiger. Alas, humans are not known for fair deals and sound decisions.

I am powering back to New Delhi now and leaving yet another beat in Corbett's Zone. Looking forward to yet another trip down here and a prayer that we must do a little for the Jungles.

TRVELOGUE CORBETT- PART I (18 & 19 MAR 2016)

The heat of the moments and constant throbbing of the brain was becoming a constant feature at New Delhi. I had hung my Military Uniform on 31 Dec 2014 and was fortunate to get some money as my retirement benefits. I parked almost 1/3rd of the bounty into a 4×4 Renault Duster to keep following my passions. The Duster joined my Vehicle Collection, but, the trips out of New Delhi just dried up. Last year,in 2015, I could squeeze a week out only to get holed in Chennai,raise a beard and just pray to get our son into an Engg College. Phew! I look back and firmly realize- it was not my Class XIIth,right?

The hanging of Uniform and move to the Corporate World can really blow the steam out of a human. The grind began and the Duster kept aching in Delhi. Finally, after 13 months of plying 4×4 on Delhi roads,my passion to know more about Jim (Corbett) propelled me and family out of Delhi and we finally began the drive.

We got out of New Delhi after a 2.5 hours of struggle through Delhi,Indirapuram and Ghaziabad. The traffic just seems to be ballooning up in NCR. Whatever infrastructure gets created seems to get gobbled up in no time. Ah,my beloved Delhi!!.

A pit stop at Hapur on Highway Haldiram charged my energies and the sweet Lassi put sucrose into the brain. The drive till Ramnagar was good and here we met the Harley boys from Chandigarh led by a tall Sikh. The Harleys drove along with us and it was fun as the Green Duster and Orange,Silver and Black Harleys Fat Bob,883,1200 etc captured imagination of onlookers. Whoa,this is life!!

Now,we are breaking out at Samsara Wildlife Resort and having a break with nature. Tigers and Leopards have gone into hiding and oblivion along with Old Jim. We went to Kaladhoongi yesterday and paid respect to Jim. He must have been a great man and lived a great life. I have read his autobiography a couple of times and it is intriguing. Maybe,we have never seen those beautiful animals who walked in line with Jim!

It will take at least 20 more trips to Corbett to finally proclaim that I have been to all those places which Jim walked and left his footprint on. Keep alive Jim,we need many more of your ilk to keep nature alive. 

A day more here today before we set off back to work and take charge of lives. Lots of new ideas have come in and work would become much easier with better analytics and graphs speaking volumes towards corrective courses. Chirping birds are adding on to the thinning down of Adrenalin. After all, humans cannot keep Adrenalin pumping always and pit stops are required to charge up the brain ,heart and other vital organs.

Looking forward to the day in wilderness.

RIPPING FAULTLINES

Admiral Sergei Gorshkov was appointed at the helm of the Soviet Navy in 1956 at age 45 and went on to command it till 1985. This duration of 29 years saw the Soviet Union’s expansion into a global sea power. Gorshkov’s 29 years as the Soviet Navy’s Chief demonstrated that he was not only a survivor and but also an extremely patient man. His tenure saw through five Soviet leaders in the post-Stalin period. This speaks volumes about his ability to play his political cards right with the Kremlin. He also survived a defense structure dominated by WWII-era party officials fixated on land power and Red Army marshals who were contemptuous and ignorant of naval matters in equal measure. Thus, Gorshkov clearly understood the limits of inter-service rivalry and intellectual rigor within the Soviet system.

Gorshkov penned forth his vision of sea power, Russia’s maritime heritage and destiny, and the naval component called    Operational Art. Gorshkov’s writings led to vigorous debates amongst Soviet naval experts in the West and established a strategic discourse for the superpower naval rivalry that, in hindsight, was truly remarkable. He was, if we may conclude, successful in bridging various fault lines which emerged as he led the Soviet Navy through the tumultuous 29 years wherein the Cold War ran at its peak.

This analogy leads us to an interesting debate which emerges on the fault lines which have been ripping the world apart in various human arenas. Each and every field of human life is seeing ripping fault lines cracking up the domains within no time. Each new fault line shifts the strategy to new corners and seams of the arenas are always getting torn apart. Can we name even a single arena where the issues are closed and chaos does not prevail?

These are interesting times. Humans have developed interesting traits. There are hardly any followers now. Each human is a leader in his or her own right. In majority of the cases, even if they follow a leader, it is for certain gains and if there are any pains then the followers simply vanish. The shift of focus is fast, furious and premature exits are the norms of the society. The challenge build up each day and not on each day the human are willing to take the challenge head on. The energy levels of each human are different and so are the capabilities. Getting a bunch to think alike for the progress of the society hardly finds any takers!!

The deep penetration of social media should have been a boon for the humans. Even in this arena, the fault lines have ripped apart the thought processes. The smallest of the issue has multiple confused solutions which eventually do not lead humans anywhere near the peace, prosperity and joy that humans always strive for. Agitations, threats, insinuations, sedition are the buzzwords of these times. Stability has been lost in a myriad of desires and broken dreams. Cracks and fissures are competing with each other at a maddening pace.    

What do humans actually need? This definition seems to have blurred approaches and therefore is the natural cause for ripping fault lines. Every human wants to breathe, but it seems that they only want to breathe for themselves. There is no space left for others to join and to gain happiness. The only bright spark is that all is not lost yet. There is scope of getting around and getting better. Maybe, many of us need to calm ourselves down and take a strong look at the future. A fractured World will be of no use to man or mankind. Calm and peaceful humanity would bring about the best results to soothe the pains. It seems to be easier said than done, but, it is not difficult to achieve either.

Each one of us in our own arena needs to calm down the nerves of our associates and to guide them to plug their own fault lines. A little help at the correct time can prevent the small issues to escalate into a full-fledged fault line. Probably, this is exactly what Admiral Gorshkov achieved many a times in his 29 year long stint as the Soviet Navy’s Chief. It must not have been easy for him to have lived through five political leaders and to put the Soviet Navy on the path of growth. With each change at the helm, Admiral Gorshkov would have meshed his plans, plugged the gaps and ensured that no fault lines are created.

Calm heads and clear visionaries are the need of the hour in any Organization. Only those organizations, where a clear path is shown and smooth movement of people is ensured will grow in the fault line strewn world. These professionals would be able to bridge the gaps and ensure that they do not topple. Each one would have to carry many individuals with them to spread the message farther and farther. The ripping fault lines are moving at a hectic pace and time is absolutely right to plug them up. The results of plugging the fault lines will bring in the much human desired and long lasting peace, prosperity and happiness.  

So, if you need to live a smooth life, get up and hold some one’s hand to stop him or her from creating yet another fault line to rip the World apart. Do you have it in you, eh?