Competition Vs Cooperation

In one of my children school function, the chief guest while addressing the gathering, said, “All great achievements that the ever been accomplished by man is owing to one of the 2 things – Competition or Co-operation”. This line caught my attention and forced me to probe a little further. These two words, Competition and Co-operation do not sound like complementary words, but sound like contrary words. How then can one say that all great achievements are achieved by two contrary things? But if we look at the way our lives have evolved, we would find it is true.

Let us first talk about competition. Competition creates a spirit to excel the other, out beat the other, break an old record. Once in 4years an Olympic game is organized. Sportsmen from nations across the globe meet, to compete. At the end of every Olympic Games, a new record is set, which serves as a new benchmark for the future sportsmen. The next generation needs to find ways of breaking this record, and setting a new record. The ultimate purpose of an event like this is not to see which country has won the maximum number of gold or silver, but an event to explore the human potential. It is a place where learning happens: where the human potential, is challenged again and again.

Let us say, you play one of your favourite sport with someone, where you are an ace player and the other is a amateur. You will be winning all the time, but you will lose interest in the game. You know why? Because, there will be no sense of accomplishment. There is no spirit of challenge. In due course you will find yourself playing like an amateur, because the amateur by the way he plays, has brought you down to his level. On the other hand, when you play the game with an equally tough apponent, you will face the risk of losing, but the spirit of challenge will make you put your level best to win the game. In the process your game technics and tactics will improve. When you win this game, the amount of happiness and satisfaction, you experience, would be beyond words. Therefore the purpose of playing a match is not only to decide who is better than the other, but to bring out the best in us. The essence of competition is therefore to bring out our hidden potential.

We are all proud to be Indians. This pride is a result of our previous achievements. We cannot afford to continue basking in this glory for long. We need to constantly improve our performance in order to be ahead from the rest of the world. For this to happen, we need competition. Competition therefore, should not be something to be feared about, but something we look forward to as an opportunity for our growth. We compete to excel and winning is just a topping in the cake.

Now let us talk about Cooperation. Cooperation strives for team work, team coordination, team building and works on the principle of give and take. It believes in Synergy. Each one of us, have a different strength. As a team, when your strength adds to the strength of the group, there is a great synergy. It defies the mathematics logic and says1+1 is not 2, but 3.

In most of the inaugural and closing ceremony of grand occassions like the Olympics, we see a number of team events performed with great level of synchronization accuracy, which is a treat to our eyes. It could be a group dance, a musical orchestra, a parade, a mass drill or whatsoever. We are awestruck by the magnanimity of such fete.

Competence is therefore a blend of Competition and Co-operation. While you need to have a competitive spirit to succeed, we also need to have a co-operative spirit to be a good team player. The most important quality of a good leader is that he should be a good team player. As an individual we compete with each other in our school, our career, our chosen game to come to the top and gain a leadership position. But as a leader our major role is to make sure there is co-operative effort.

Team work is therefore nothing but collective competence. This collective competence in full bloom is the ultimate flowering of human accomplishment. Let us learn to compete and cooperate in our effort to achieve our goals.

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan

Article Dated Feb 2011

Believe in Miracles

Dear Readers,

I would like to share with you about an interesting incident that happened in my life, about 15years ago. The incident, I am about to share with you, may be too hard for you to believe to be true, but honestly, it a real life incident.

Me, my wife, my son along with my father in-law and mother in law, had gone to Chennai for a holiday.  As usual, we had made an advanced booking of the tickets. As I had to spend few extra days at Chennai, for my official work, I had booked my tickets for a different date and for all my family members on an earlier date.

After the end of the holiday, it was time for my family members to start back to Madurai.  I decided to go with them to the railway station and send them off. So, we all left to the Egmore railway station. They were to leave by Pandyan Express. We checked the Platform number, and as we reached the platform, I got the train ticket which my father in law was having, to check for the coach number and seat number. Once I saw it, I located the coach, got the luggage’s loaded and stowed them under the seats. Having got them comfortably settled, without a second thought, I kept their train ticket inside my shirt pocket.

In a short while from then, the train started and my family members happily waved their hands to me, bidding good bye. Having seen them off, I returned to my apartment at Nungambakkam, to unwind for the day. As I emptied my shirt pocket, I noticed that I had the train ticket and there they have already waved their hands and left.

It was a shock! What a blunder, I told to myself and was thinking about what could be done. Those were the days, when there was no mobile phone. I could not even communicate, to my family members, that the tickets were with me.  I was worried that, they may be de-boarded from the train, somewhere en route, for not having the tickets.

My mind started running quickly. I was thinking of options, of how I could set this right. The first thought that came to my mind, was to hire a cab and rush to Tambaram and catch them there. If I miss out there, I can still go and give it at Chengalpet. But, with the road traffic, will I be able to make it. It was already 30 minutes since the train had left. I was puzzled.

Anyway, I thought let me call up the railway station and find out the time “Pandyan express” will reach the different succeeding stations.  So, I called up the Egmore railway station, got connected to the station master and explained to him what happened.

Here is where, something mysterious happened. The station master asked again, which train did you say?  I repeated, “Pandyan Express”. What he told me was something unbelievable, He said, “there was a problem with that train engine and that train is returning back to egmore station, for changing over to a new engine.” I was sure that the station master was not kidding, with me. 

I rushed to the station.  In a few minutes of my arrival, I could see the train returning to the platform. I could see my father in law and son, waiting at the compartment door, trying to see if I was still there. I waved my hands, and I could see a big sigh of relief, in their face.  I went and gave them the ticket.

Then I listened to their side of the story. My father in law said, that when the TTR came for checking he explained the situation to the TTR. The TTR could understand the situation, as the name appeared in the passenger’s chart. But the TTR could not help them in any other way, except by issuing them a new ticket with some extra fine. Left with no other option, my father in law was about to pay, just then they heard the announcement that the train will return back to Egmore.  So, the TTR himself told, “Let us wait and see, till we get back to Egmore.” Luckily, I had come back and they did not have to pay again. They took the ticket and in another few minutes, the train was ready with a new engine, and they set off again.

This time, making doubly sure that the ticket was not in my shirt pocket, I came back home for my night rest. As I went to bed, I could not believe what had just happened. It was something unbelievable. I just signed off to bed, with a thought, well it is true. “Miracles do happen”.

Happy Reading

D. Senthil Kannan

Article date Feb 2007