Random Thoughts on Random Words - Day 1 Ability

Preamble:  I am very happy and thrilled to be participating in the  Blogchatter challenge this year. The writer is required to write one blog per day every day of the month (excluding Sundays). I have been watching friends participate in the challenge and have wondered whether I would be be able to exhibit the drive and discipline to write every day for so many days. Well, I have thrown my hat into the ring and will soon know. I guess we have to motivate each other to sustain the spirit for completing the challenge successfully. 

The exercise, while challenging is also exciting. I have however chosen to not put on myself the pressure of writing on a particular theme. As is clear from the title I will be writing randomly on random words. Surely a person who has lived on this planet for over six decades will have something to say on seemingly random words that  are very relevant and often used in our day to day lives. These words and my take on them would reflect the way I see the world. However, some of my thoughts could be revealing even  to me  as we normally do not sit and ponder over such topics unless there is an immediate or clear need for it.  

At the end of the exercise, hopefully readers will get to see a little more of the inside of Rajeev rather than the superficial exterior such as height, weight, profession, place of living and so on. After all, it is the inner functioning that truly "maketh the man" or woman, for that matter. So here we go. Hoping to receive encouragement and support from you readers in the form of comments/feedback whole through the journey ending 30th April 2021.   

Day 1 :    Ability       

We have all been created by the good God with some ability or the other. It is another matter that we do not immediately recognize and build on it. Some of us remain unaware of our true ability even for the whole life time. This is the reason we choose careers on the basis of pressure from parents or because all friends are doing it or  could it be  because a particular job  is valued more in society. After I joined BEML Ltd in Bangalore in 1996, I was interacting with a colleague one day. I was surprised to learn that he had opted to take Tamil as the second language in college. He was living in Bangalore since birth and interacting in Kannada for meeting the day to day transactions. His own mother tongue was Telugu.  "  So,how come you did not choose either your mother tongue or Kannada", I asked. His  answer was interesting, even if a trifle amusing. " Most of my friends were Tamil speaking. Therefore, in order to be in their company most of the time, I chose Tamil."

Ability and willingness:  To my mind ability is of no consequence if we are unwilling to pursue and develop it. I was reminded of two employees at VISL Bhadravathi, the  company in which I started my career. Both of them were appointed on the sports quota, for their ability to play volleyball. They were representing the company in tournaments. When I complimented one of them who had become the captain of the team, he said " Sir, my friend is a lot taller than me (big advantage while playing) and also has lot of talent. But he is casual in approach, do not come for practices regularly and does not keep himself fit. If he were to put in even half the effort that I do, he would have excelled and become the captain himself." 

Another instance that comes to mind is an interview that we were conducting in our company TTL, at Arakonam for selecting suitable persons from amongst ITI  holders (Industrial training institute pass outs who are trained in various trades such as welding, machining, fitting etc) Some of them had  passed  3 to 4 years earlier. There was even a case of a person who passed out 7 years prior. Our GM was annoyed with the answers of some to the question as to what they were doing all these years? They said "I was  waiting for the opportunity to land a job in a  safe public sector company"  or " I was waiting for my luck to turn." Needless to say that the jobs were secured by those who on finding that jobs were not immediately available, opted to work in a workshop or garage and gain experience even if paid a pittance or no money at all. 

Ability and Encouragement : Even if you have the ability, if people around discourage you, you may not pursue it with enthusiasm. The opposite is true when it comes to encouragement and support. It is possible that you have an ability but are unaware of it. A friend or mentor may identify and support you. We have instances of villains in cinema (like Janardhanan in Malayalam)  who would never  have dreamt of doing comedy, develop a successful second career as a comedian simply because a director believed they could do it. In the absence of  encouragement or faced with discouragement, a person  needs to have the courage to listen to his/her inner voice.    

Ability and Courage : Malayalam actor Mukesh says when he was approached to do talk shows on television, his friends discouraged him saying taking up such projects is like a demotion having already made a mark in cinema. However, he went ahead and did some very successful shows on TV. As he had an art of  relating stories which were famous in the industry, a suggestion came to convert them to a book titled "Mukesh Kathakal". Again courage and conviction came to his aid and he was able to bring out two successful books with sufficient material for two more! 

We had an employee in our Bangalore complex who was working as a senior technician. He used to proudly declare that he was a classmate of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah at the National School of Drama. When he got an opportunity to work in public sector company BEML, he chose to come back to Bangalore while Shah continued in Mumbai pursuing his dreams surviving many of the struggling days on Chai (tea) and biscuits. Thus to reach great heights, ability needs to be supported by not only courage but also persistence.

Ability and comparison:  I would like to end this post with another interesting thought. It could be inappropriate to compare the abilities of one with the other. As for example comparing the abilities of a monkey and fish to climb a tree will show the fish in poor light while the opposite would be the result if the comparison is made on the ability to swim. Each of us have our own unique strengths and abilities. These have to be developed and strengthened. Administering the wrong tests can undermine the confidence and create self doubts in people. Giving a test to know the ability of Virat Kohli to play the Veena  or one to test the cricketing skills of his actor wife may sound stupid. Yet we tend to do just that  giving  some general tests like IQ across the board. We now know these tests focus on some types of intelligence ( Logical mathematical, linguistic) and leave out others like interpersonal , intra-personal, musical, spatial etc.

In his book "Think like a Monk" Jay Shetty gives tips on identifying your ability. Instead of using an exotic word like "Passion" he says look out for the things that interest you. What are the things that you are curious about? What are the things for which you feel compassion? Contemplating on these three would give you the answer to where your abilities lie. It is not the same for everyone. After all, one man's food can be another man's poison. Close  attention to the basics would lead you in the right direction and provide you the ammunition to persist till you make it!   

NB: This is powered by Blog Chatter's # A2Z Challenge   Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2021