WORK IS WORSHIP TO HIM

 

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare write a poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.                                                      

                                                                                   -          Martin Luther King (Jr.)

 By the time of writing this story,  Sukh Ram just turned 60, retired and proceeded to his native place in Uttarakhand, India after fruitful government service.

 He  was a sweeper in a central police organization, India.   I closely  observed his work life  for  five years.  Truly he is the sweeper the hosts in heaven cherish for. 

Sukh Ram is a silent worker.  I never find him sitting idle during the work hours.  He constantly sweeps the floors and wipes them with wet cloth.  He is such a devoted worker and never gives an opportunity to be pointed out on his work.  He always keeps the floor, wash basins and toilets neat and clean.  Anybody who see the premises must feel so homely.

Whenever I am in low moods, I look at him and draw inspiration.  He is a fountain of energy.  His small built but robust limbs never get tired to climb up and down the stairs during the day.  He always respects his seniors with courtesy and smiling gesture.  I used to see him closely in my afternoons at the library where he reads the local newspapers to keep himself abreast of the world affairs.

When I called and interacted for this story, it was totally an exhilarating experience.  When I see such hard-working people, huge respect flows from my heart and I look into their eyes to draw inspiration for such exemplary work culture.

When I talked to Sukh Ram, I did not feel that I was talking with an old man who was on the verge of retirement.  There was no tiredness on his face. Physically and mentally he looks  sound to work for another decade or so.  

Bookish knowledge is of no avail to you unless it is translated into action.  In the worldly point of view, Sukh Ram is not literate enough to gain media glare nor he did any such extraordinary feat to come to limelight.  He simply did his job so well that caught my attention.  On moral and ethical side, he is taller than his insignificant position in work life.   In one word, he is a package of different sort.

Worshipping the workers, noted Indian poet Subramania Bharati says that:

I sing in praise for the work you do,

Like Brahma, you are creator too.

Whenever I speak to Sukh Ram, these words of Swami Vivekananda resonate my mind:

He who does the lower work is not therefore a lower man.  No man is to be judged by the mere nature of his duties, but all should be judged by the manner and the spirit at which they perform them.

So many people come and go in our lives,  but Sukh Ram etched in my memory  with a permanent home in my heart due to his unparalleled work ethics.

MEN OF STEEL - BOOK REVIEW

 

Being creative means not to limit your potential with past experience as a bar you set for yourself. The ultimate lesson of creativity is to recognize the need to act upon those strengths/ talents which would put you into next orbit. Day after day when you are on this mindset and start working, the magic happens and success embraces you.

Books factor a lot to stir the creativity in you. That’s why book reading should be nurtured to grow in life. The book I am going to introduce you is: Men of Steel. It is a book based on one of the best known journalists Vir Singhvi’s candid conversations with top Indian business leaders. Published by Roli Books in 2007, this book peeps into personal lives of India’s best business minds like Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sunil Bharati Mittal, Azim Premji etc.

Each leader’s strategy to strive for best in expanding his business empire is truly inspiring & rewarding and the best part of the book is how they handled their crisis times. Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla says : brand is not about individuals, whatever it stands for is really a tribute to the team we have created.

Amongst those businessmen Mr. Singhvi portrayed, my favourite one is Azim Premji. I like him because, he maintains low public profile. He is like a silent dynamo. He says that he was groomed to believe that values are more important than money. His advice to spendthrifts is even when I was young, my family never believed in spending much money or in conspicuous consumption. If we went for a holiday, it would be to Mahabaleshwar or some place like that. We would not go abroad. I still have that same attitude to money.

The best advice from Premji is this: I am very careful not to lose my temper when I am in office.

A lot needs to be learnt from these giants. They don’t want to be in limelight. Their activities speak louder than their words.

The life of every successful business man is like diving into rough sea and balance in the midst of turbulence with knack.

This book in nutshell offers the perennial wisdom from some of the best business brains of India with a global presence!

DREAM TO BE A ' WORDSMITH '

 

To write means to have proficiency on language.  Whether you choose your mother tongue or a foreign language, you must have a reasonable command to knit your thoughts into an interesting narrative.

 

When I decided to show to the world that I could write, I was already a writer confined to my inner chambers of heart.  Then I was in the habit of writing on my mind-slate constantly, so I did not find it tough when I started actual writing for my blog started way back in March, 2011.

Swami Vivekananda is my guiding light to hone my language abilities.  I read his Chicago lecture countless times in my final year of graduation.  If you read those immortal words, a new power unleashes into your system.  What mesmerized me in that particular lecture is the kind of his select words before the American audience.  In fact that speech of Vivekananda drove me to read his biography and further inclined me to show special interest on philosophy.   Book after book, my interest multiplied to read more of Vivekananda .  I was completely swept by Swamiji’s inspiring passages.  I wondered his super-human capabilities, especially his photographic memory power.   What ignited a lot is this timeless quote : If you can think that infinite power, infinite knowledge and indomitable energy lie within you, and if you can bring that power, you also can become like me.

When I look back those troubled times by abandoning studies and started reading Swamiji’s literature, I felt that I  have bigger agenda in my life.   I realized my strengths that could not only inspire myself but could inspire others as well through my words.  When you read Swamiji’s works, you would stand up with enthusiasm in search of your own inner power. 

Since, I already decided during  my college years (1990s) to write on consistent basis, I started building word power.  Initially, I used to write a few new words and their meanings daily on loose-old-science record sheets of my elder sister.  I also began to collect paper clippings of The Hindu (newspaper) column: Know Your English    Till this day, that habit is continued with some minor interruptions now and then.

When I started writing seriously in 2011, I felt high deficiency of apt words to fit to the context.  For almost one year, I simply used to  refer dictionary to know new words,  but only on 4/22/2012,  I recognized the need to open a dedicated  note book to write news words with their meanings on daily basis and  I wrote more than 3500 words.   Some of those words are well into my muscle memory.  Simultaneously, I also started observing the sentence structures in newspapers and magazines to grasp the style and started working on my own style.

Like Rome was not built in a day, vocabulary should be built brick-by-brick.  There is no magic wand that makes you super-human on word power nor can it be instantly downloaded into your brain. 

Vocabulary is the basic building block of language upon which the empire of a writer is built.  If you use third-class words, poverty flows into your prose and readers would skip to next best one.   So those  who dream big to write  must first recognize the need to build vocabulary on daily basis!

WHAT TO TEACH ?

 

We are inherited by a British -driven education system Lord Macaulay introduced more than 180 years  ago. The basic purpose of  such education is to groom clerks for his erstwhile East India Company. Those Victorian times had gone, but we are still languishing with rote learning as a dominant factor.

 The current education you can say, is simply examination-oriented. Students' aim is how to score high marks than how better understand the subjects taught. The guiding light of student - teacher is locked up in mediocrity. Majority of teachers do their teaching jobs as a routine  with no creativity. They don't read beyond the subjects they teach. The fate of our  educational system is better explained by technocrat and former chairman of Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda. He says that our teachers do not do research and our researchers don't teach.

People in different walks of life have varied backgrounds with  individual strengths/ experiences.  If they are  channelized and create a platform , they could brilliantly give gripping lessons   to students of advanced learning say for 11th, 12th and graduation and post-graduation levels.

 We need to create a structure immediately where such liberal minds get a chance to teach/share their ideas/experience with students across streams - Humanities & Sciences. An online databank of such volunteers who wish to teach students with subject, date and time and location would give new fillip to institutions which must act to allot those slots to schools nearby in a time-bound action plan. This way the students are exposed to real world with latest inputs received directly from concerned domain experts in the society. 

 

When those good times come, I register myself to teach to students/like minded. Dr. Kalam with his post-retirement life has ignited me enough by teaching children/students across the world. I continue to draw my inspiration from this towering personality. His books always lift me to unimaginable heights. 

 

When it comes to education reforms, I feel that  science must be kept compulsory. It must be an added subject to Humanities at  +1 and graduation level so that children improve their learning curve. When subject books are devised, stress should be laid to write in an interesting tone to ignite students. I am telling these words after reading a couple of lessons of my class 11  Geography book of my daughter. It is time to write less technical jargon and more in an understandable way.

 

When it comes to teaching, we have to strike a balance between  teacher and taught (student). Both their egos should not clash in giving and taking process. The very process of teaching is explained by Galileo in these immortal words : You can't teach a man anything; you can only help him/her to find it within himself/ herself. Poet Alexander Pope further refined it : Men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown proposed as things forgot. 

 

If the teacher follows the Galileo and Alexander Pope principle, teaching would turn into play and fun and a close bond between a teacher and pupil would give education a creative thrust.  It travels beyond school subjects. Then teacher like a friend instantly connects with  student and this alchemy creates an unexpected wonders in their lives. 

 

I love to switch over to teaching profession as soon as  an opportune moment comes.  I have devised my own methods and procedures on knowledge front. May be it is not having a governmental vetting.   If I don't get an opportunity then I would love to settle as librarian so that I get adequate time to read  and derive maximum benefit from the books I love.

 

Sharing of knowledge is  synonymous with  teaching. This should be a new mantra to bring radical change in education sector.  When blogs grow into  knowledge hubs, it gives a different sort of education across age groups.   

 

I am waiting for a day when volunteers come liberally to teach students without expecting anything and students derive full benefit from the lessons being  taught. This task is  simply not  left to government hands. Civil society, corporates and NGOs must plunge into action to strengthen our education system to bring back the glory of Indian Education System. 

 

When education happens in this atmosphere, the students blossom and choose their careers. When they choose their careers, they do wonders in their lives. Parents must only play supportive role as  guardians and facilitators so that the child's creativity is allowed to flourish. This is what education in true sense with no time limit set for learning and it should continue till last breath.

What is  education is better described by  SwamiVivekananda: Education is manifestation of perfection already man !

Let these noble ideas are translated into noble deeds !