The Ovarian Lottery

Recently, I attended a programme organized by the CII titled the Global Partnership Summit, which was held in Chennai.  A number of reputed persons were part of the elite panel of speakers.  One such speaker, Mr. Tarun Khanna, a professor of the Harvard Business School, used an unpopular terminology “Ovarian Lottery” while he was addressing the issue of skill gap existing in this country. What he meant by that terminology was that some people are born lucky or in an advantageous position as compared to others.  It’s the idea that fate plays a part in your success, because being born in a certain place makes a huge difference in the outcome of your life.

To explain this further, imagine there are two identical children born, both equally bright and energetic, but one of them is born in the USA, and the other in Zimbabwe. The probability of the one born in USA, climbing up his life ladder is much easier as compared to the one born in Zimbabwe.  Though the person born in Zimbabwe has inherent strengths, like his counterpart who is born in USA, the country he is born has inherent weaknesses. In order for him, to tide over these limitations, a huge amount of his time and energy is lost. He has to first survive the problems of his living, such as food, water and shelter. It is after this he has to aspire for education and primary health care. If he has been lucky enough to manage these, then comes the question of employability. He then encounters the curse of every developing country, such as corruption, bribery, quota systems, red tapism, and what not. In the course of time, his aspiration suffers a premature death. The probability of these people rising above all these limitations, are very rare and exceptional.

The country factor, could be just one such variable. Many other variables such as  the economic status of parents, the literacy level of parents, the social conditions in which one is brought up, etc contribute to the ‘Ovarian Lottery’ as a whole.

Why compare two different countries? Let us for instance, take the life of an Indian living in the Urban India Vs a person living in Rural India. Is not the challenges of people living in the rural part of this country, far much greater than that of a Urban Indian? . Starting from basic infrastructure such as road, rail, water availability, electricity, health care, education, etc; aren’t we facing a huge imbalance?

Gandhi said, ‘India lives in its villages’. How much has this been a concern amidst the decision makers in the country. The migration of labour from the rural part of the country to the urban part is a clear indication, that not much developments are happening in rural india and therefore the limited opportunities, compel people to migrate. While many trade bodies and organizations are voicing out their complaints and in reciprocal every politician is selling a hope for a better tomorrow, in practice the pace of rural developments is very slow. The inability of the government, to cater to the employment needs of the rural  people, shows in form of offering free food, free TV, 100days guaranteed employment schemes, all aimed at keeping the rural masses happy and content in life, while no real progress is happening in their lives.

The real life stories of successful people who had a humble beginning, inspires most of us. It is the ‘rags to riches’ stories we see in the movies, that emotionally overwhelms the masses. Undoubtedly, there are many such people, who have a high aspiration, but could not make it to the top owing to the many inadequacies they have faced as a result of their ‘ovarian lottery’.  When we are in contact with such people, let us not condemn them for their incapacities, but have a heart to look, where they come from. Let us give them the benefit of extra care and concern; they failed to receive in their childhood. There may be many bright stars hidden behind the dark clouds. Let us strive to give equal opportunity for everyone, and make the stars shine.

The question is, “Does our country have a better story to tell for the future generations or are we going to continue depending on our ovarian lottery.”

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated April 2010 

Bless the people around you

We are conditioned to think that ‘Blessing’ is a big word and that it is often connected to God or the elderly people. But in fact blessing is a very common thing that we keep giving to others in our daily life, either intentionally or unintentionally. 

Don’t you agree that every genuine act of love is a blessing? In this way, the love of your mother is a blessing, the care of your spouse is a blessing, the smile of your children is a blessing, the appreciation of your friend is a blessing, the motivation of your peers is a blessing; and the list is endless. So are they all not blessing you in some way?  But the irony is we never take time to appreciate it. We take it for granted.

It is the same thing with God. We wake up every morning, but don’t feel blessed that God has given us one new day to live. We have more than enough food to eat, but never realize that we are blessed so much as compared to a millions of people who are starving. But every morning, we make it a ritual to go to the prayer room and pray God to bless us abundantly, while he has already blessed us with abundance.  This is a beautiful line that justifies the above, “When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives, but are grateful for the abundance that is present… we experience heaven on earth.”  With the abundance God has given us, it is our duty to impart his blessing to the people around us.

Even if we should assume that blessing is an act of God, then we need to realize that God cannot come and bless each one of us individually. He blesses us through some human form.  There is a belief that as it is difficult for God to do favours to every human being individually, He sends an invisible guardian angel along with every human being who is born on this earth. That angel is always there with you, listening to your problems and trying to find ways to help you.  At the appropriate moment, she will bring someone in your life to come and help you. The person may be someone close to you or someone who you have never met in your life before. If you ponder a while, you will be able to relate some event in your own life, when you felt blessed by an unknown person.

When somebody needs help and you are there for them at the time of their need, are you not blessing them? Let us say your friend, is in a financial crisis and you go and lend him some money and tell him “I know that you are in need of some money now. I have some savings, which I don’t need at the moment. I am not in a hurry; you can pay it back when you are comfortable”, will he not find it as a blessing. A blessing is a way of answering someone’s prayer.

It need not be that only elders deserve to bless the young ones. Anyone can bless anyone. The age is not important, but it is the genuineness of the wish that is important. For example: When you give alms to a beggar, he or she says, “May you live happily”. Do you ever question, whether the beggar deserves to bless you. You just take it as a positive statement. Is it not? When somebody helps us, we feel so thankful to them that we say some nice words, which is a blessing to them. So blessing is reciprocal. When you bless someone with your kind deeds, you are blessed back with their kind words. So when we keep doing good things to people around us they will keep blessing us, with good words and genuine smiles. The more blessings we receive, the more our day will be happy and good, because of the positive vibration that comes with it

What we need to understand is that, every genuine wish is a blessing. Every noble help is a blessing. Donating blood is a blessing. Helping someone in a road accident is a blessing.  Caring for the elderly is a blessing. Saying ‘Good morning’ to someone is a blessing.  Wishing someone, ‘All the best’ is a blessing. When someone conveys good news, and you congratulate them and wish them well, it is a blessing.

Start blessing the people around you and see the positive change it brings in your life.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated Mar'10

Let us be Humane to Human Beings

A few days back, as I was returning home in my car, I saw a poor old lady lying on a road like a dump of rag. I thought, she had probably fainted and fallen on the road. This was just a few yards away from my house.  The public seemed indifferent to the situation, so I was a little puzzled. However, my heart did not allow me to ignore the situation. It was about 5.30pm. I was unaware of how I could help her, so I dialed ‘100’ and informed the police that there was a person lying fainted on the road and to arrange for some help. The answering policeman said OK and kept the receiver down. I was thinking that they may arrange for some help, but till 8.30pm no action has been taken. I called the police station again and told them. The policeman said, that they cannot attend to every case and that I should take some self initiative rather than calling the police. His answer was disappointing. It was disheartening to know that, in spite of my good intentions and initiative to inform the police, there was no remedy coming from their end. It is only on them, a common man can rely on for his social security needs, but when they decide to be indifferent, we are really clueless of how to go about.

I then called my good friend, Sugumar, briefed him about the situation and asked him how I should go about. He suggested that I call “108” which is the statewide emergency number. I called “108” and the call reached the Chennai Control room. The person, who answered the call, took all the details and said she will arrange an ambulance. In a few minutes, I got a call from the Ambulance person, who had by then identified the old lady lying on the road. He said that the woman lying on the road is a beggar and unless someone accompanies her to the hospital and signs the relevant papers she cannot be admitted in GH. As I did not know who that person was, I was afraid to take personal responsibility and therefore said it will not be possible for me to come. He said in that case, nothing can be done, as this was the procedure.  I told him that as it was late hours of the night, the lady may get hit accidentally, by some by passing vehicles and therefore asked him, even if he cannot admit her in the GH, at least to leave her in some other safe place. He said, he will just lift and place the lady off the road. This was a little comfort to me, though it did not solve the problem. I saw the lady in the same situation for the next two consecutive days. I understood that she was insane. She could not understand her own plight.  Every time, I saw her I felt guilty, for not being able to help her. Then somehow, with the help of the local ward councilor we managed to get her admitted in GH. I am not aware of what happened to her after that. But what comforted me is, I did not have to continue seeing this soar sight of a poor woman lying on the road like a stray dog, totally neglected and uncared for.

What I have shared here, is just one of the thousands of cases that we spot every day. We all wish that some help will come to them, but we are afraid to take action.

There are essentially three types of people in the world –  the FEELERS, the THINKERS and the DOERS. While all of us are a combination of all the three types, there is one type that dominates us.

For example, in a typical road accident a ‘Feeler’, will either faint on seeing the blood stains or cry out or get emotionally upset on seeing the scene. A ‘Thinker’, would be thinking, how did it happen? Whose fault was it? How could this be avoided? How to tackle the crisis. A ‘Doer’ on the other hand would have by then pulled up his sleeves and got into the job of rescuing the person. He would lift the person, put him on a vehicle and carry him to the hospital. He will not be afraid of the consequences, but be only concerned with the emergency.

At most times, we are good feelers and good thinkers, but not good doers. In this specific incident, I have narrated, I ‘felt’ for the old lady. My feelings made me ‘think’ of a way to save her, but there was a lot of initial self resistance in the ‘doing’. Even after I found a way of how I can help her, it took a long time for me to get into the doing.

I think of great people like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, who came across similar incidents. The young advocate, Gandhi was ill-treated by the British. He felt the pain of humiliation and he thought of ways to gain freedom for his countrymen. The little sister, Teresa, saw so much diseased people suffering in the streets of Kolkata. Her feelings for them made her to think in the directions of setting up a home for them to live. Today, they are recognized as a Mahatma or Mother, for exhibiting great courage in transforming their feelings into thinking and the thinking into doing. All major changes in this world has followed the same transformation pattern of “Feeling - Thinking – Doing”  by  someone, whom we today recognize as a Leader or a Scientist.

There is poverty all around. There is misery all around. Not everyone can be a Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi, but when there is a call, we need to be responsive to it, in order to prove we are human beings.

In the evolving self centered modern culture, no one seems to care about what is happening around them. Everyone is so glued to their own priorities that they just keep running behind to achieve them. It is OK to run the rat race, but let us not get so engrossed in our rat race that we forget that in reality we are not rats but human beings.

Let us be humane to human beings.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

 Article dated Feb'10

My Key Learnings

It has been my practice, that at the end of every year, I sit in silent contemplation and think of the major happenings in my life. I go through the track of events that happened in my life from the start of the year till the end, without any judgment whether the event was good or bad. Some events would have made us stronger, while some would have made as weaker. Some events would have influenced us in a positive way and some in a negative way. But more than just the events, what I sincerely try to figure out from this exercise is what are my key learnings for the year. As I did the same this year and my mind could deliver me three key learnings that I would like to share with you.

To brief:

·         Learning 1: I don’t have to reply to every question asked.

·         Learning 2: I don’t have to prove the world, what I am capable of.

·         Learning 3: I cannot satisfy everyone at the same time.

Learning 1: We have always been conditioned to the thought, that whenever someone asks us a question, we need to give them an instant reply. It is probably due to the subconscious fear that, if we don’t reply, people will consider us immodest or incapable.  What I have realized recently is that we need not answer every question that has been asked to us. It is no more a school, and it is no more a teacher – student relationship, where every question carries a mark. There are times, when we don’t want to or don’t feel like answering a question. Many times a question can be asked, with an intention to trigger our response, which further leads to an unworthy argument. Sometimes, it is so disgusting that people keep asking us questions, with an intention to dig out, some of our close guarded secrets. In these situations, most often what we tend to do is give an answer with a sense of embarrassment or tell a lie to escape from the question.

I have now learnt that I need not succumb to such annoying questioning. I think there is a third and better alternative, and that is to return a smile, as an answer to the questioner without telling a word. By doing so, most often, the questioner understands that we are not interested in answering the question and leave it there. But if he persists, you can just change the topic to something else.

Learning 2:  We all share a common feeling and that is the feeling to prove the world, what we are capable of. We believe that the whole world is looking up at us with so much of anticipation and we need to prove them what we are capable of and if we  don’t prove them, they may think we are a  failure in life. But, if you look at it closely, you will realize that what you  call the “whole world” is hardly nothing more than a 100 people, who are your family members, your friends, your relatives, your colleagues and your business associates.

Now, I have a new perceptive. The people, who I like to be called as my world, should be the ones who know what I am capable of and not those who need me to demonstrate my capabilities time and again to prove myself. I am matured enough to decide what to do and when to do. I don’t have to anymore do things, for the sake of proving my capability. I know my own capabilities and incapabilities. I know my strengths and weakness and because I know it, I try to spend more time focusing on how to overcome my limitations, rather than keep proving my strengths.

Learning 3:  Our priorities in life keep changing. At different point of time, different things and different people become important to us. Life is expansive by nature and we need to be open to accommodate new events and new people in our life. When this happens, we need to accomodate the interest of more people, and therefore sharing our valuable resources such as our time, our efforts with everyone equally becomes very difficult. Ultimately, we end up not being able to satisfy everyone at the same time.  This leads us to feel guilty.

What I now realize is that this desire to satisfy everyone at the same time is extremely stressful on me. Therefore the best alternative, is to choose the right thing to do at the right time for the right person and not worry about others. I trust that the people who know me, will understand me. They will know that I will be there for them, when they truly need me.  I allow them to trust me at their own will.  I believe that, I have a positive balance in the emotional bank accounts of the people I have been close with. A little withdrawal, then and there will not cause much harm. After all, what is more important in today’s world  is quality time and quantity time.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan
Article dated Jan'10

Does it make a Difference?

A few days back, while I was travelling from Chennai to Tuticorin by train, one incident happened which kept me thinking for a while. As you would be aware the food vendors, pick up food orders in the train and deliver it to us at some particular station. So, I ordered for a food parcel and the same was delivered to me after Chengelput station. The vendor asked me for Rs.30/-, which I happily paid.

One of my co - passenger, who had not been talking with me till then, asked me a question. He asked what was the price printed on the wrapper box of the food parcel. I saw and said it is Rs.27/-. He asked me, why I paid Rs.30/- and did not demand the balance amount of Rs.3/- from the vendor. I did not have an answer. Infact, I myself had not noticed that there is difference of amount being charged and the price printed on the pack. Even if I had seen, I am not a person who would have insisted on the change, because of my general generous behaviour.

He told me, “You look like a educated person and you itself do not question such things. If literate people like you don’t question, what is the plight of the illiterate people, who do not know to read or write”. He added that people were exploited because they do not dare to question the wrongs happening around them. I did not feel hurt by his remarks, but I felt quiet guilty for a moment. The guilt arised out of his words, “literate people like you”.  For a moment, it opened my eyes to a fact. It showed the amount of faith and trust the common man has on the educated segment, who he thinks will take India out of the darkness to light.  In this case, it was not the meagre Rs.3/- that mattered, but the question of social responsibility.

It is not OK, to just keep blaming the politicians and higher authorities for the mishappenings around us. It is perhaps because we succumb to such situations, so easily, more and more mistakes are happening. It does not necessarily mean, that we should pull a fight with each and everyone, to justify our rights, but trying to be assertive enough to stress our rights.

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated Jan 2010

Are we learning from our mistakes?

It was one of the rainy days, I and my son, Sidhaarth where going on the car. I was in the driver’s seat and he was seated beside . As we all know,  the condition of our roads during the rainy season is horrible with pot holes here and there, allowing for stagnation of rain water. As I was driving , my car glided through a puddle of water and the water happened to splash upon one of the pedestrian walking by the side. I did not take much notice of it, but my son called out to my attention and said: “Dad, you just splashed the dirty water on a pedestrian”. By his voice I could understand that he was unhappy of what just happened. So, I took a defying stance by telling him, “What am I to do? The roads are like that”.  My son responded, “No dad, if you slow down the car where the water is stagnated you can avoid splashing water, on others”. It was a invisible slap on my cheeks. I realized it was my mistake. I felt bad for being insensitive to the pedestrians. I resolved within myself, I will be more concerned about the pedestrians hereafter.

There are many instances in our life, when people bring to our attention our mistakes, but most of the time, we just try to defy it, with our justification. Though later we realize that we were actually wrong. It is our ego, our sense of superiority that does not allow us to take it on the face.

Our natural instinct when somebody pinpoints our mistakes is to question, does that person deserve to comment on us. If we keep looking at things that way, nothing good is ever going to happen in our life. Let us say, you go to a doctor and he tells you that you have to stop smoking to save your lungs or stop drinking to save your liver and the same evening you see the same doctor, having a nice smoke and drink in a bar, you may tend to ask, “he does not practice what he preaches, then why does he advice”. But is that a wise question to ask? No!  You take his advice for his competency, as a doctor and not for his character as an individual person.

When some of my close circle of friends, pinpoint my mistakes, though at the first instance it makes me a little worried or upset, after a few minutes it makes me realize where I am wrong. It deepens my awareness. People who see us from far, may think we are extra ordinary, but it is those close set of people who see us at close quarters, who can pinpoint our mistakes. It is the special right we ourselves have endowed upon them.

My friend from the training fraternity, Mr.Angappan often uses this phrase in his training sessions. “Be happy, when your wife pinpoints your mistakes. Be happy when your boss finds fault with your work. Be happy when your close friends, tell you are wrong. If not for them , who has got the right to pinpoint our mistakes. And if there is no one to make us aware of our mistakes, how do we learn and how do we grow”. I think, it is a very valuable point. God has blessed us with wonderful relationships, not just to pamper us with nice pleasing words, but to give some constructive criticism which helps us change for the better.

In the name of pinpointing the mistakes of our close ones, let us not develop a nagging tendency and make ourselves hostile to them. There is a subtle difference between nagging and pinpointing. For the purpose of clarity, let me add, pinpointing is saying once and leaving it there. It just brings awareness to the other person and the change has to happen from within. Nagging is stressing on the same mistakes again and again, till the other person has changed. But most of the times, nagging leads a person to repeat the mistake again and again rather than change. Or at the very best, the person may pretend, as if he has changed, but real change may not  happen.

I received a nice thought provoking SMS, which read , “Every one says, we learn by mistakes. But the learning happens only when we take steps to correct our mistakes.”  I think it is very true. We often admit, we were wrong, but we do not do much to correct our mistakes.

As we reach the end of 2009, and about to start the new year 2010, let us resolve to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated Dec'09

A Tribute to Kamal Hassan

With a lot of media hype going on, about Kamal Hassan celebrating 50 years of filmdom, I feel a compulsion within myself to express my admiration for this great versatile actor, of whom I have been a great fan since my childhood. I think it is just my way of paying my tribute.

It is such a delight to see so many people, from different walks of life, showering praises on him, at this milestone year of his career. This handsome, dynamic and ever youthful actor,  has always deserved a Oscar, but has not even one to his credit, till date. Yet he is not demotivated. He keeps trying. He is innovative. He works on new ideas. He wants to bring the latest in world cinema to the tamil audience. His movie “Vikram”, was the nearest to James Bond movie in tamil film industry, those days. A man of bold attempts, who does not get bogged down by criticism and does not fly too high on praise. He knows the balance. He is a man, who is so passionate about his choosen career – cinema. It would not be high sounding if I say, he eats cinema, sleeps cinema, breathes cinema.

Cinema has been a very powerful medium, for ages, much before television crept in. His movies have influenced people greatly, not only by the different hair styles he keeps or the fashionable dresses he wears, but by the variety of roles he plays.

Kamal has not been just a role model to many, but many roles he has played in his films are worth being  modelled. I personally, have been greatly influenced by his films. I would not hesitate to say that my life, has been greatly moulded by this silver screen hero. To start with, I aspired to do a MBA abroad, after seeing his movie “Thoongaathe Thambi Thoongaathae”, wherein he plays the role of a foreign return. His movie “Unnal Mudiyum Thambi” triggered the natural instinct in me to do something good for my society. “Thevar Magan” was yet another film, which reinforced my beliefs of living and doing good for my home town. “Anbae Sivam” was a classic portrayal of good human relationship. There are many such films, but these movies in particular have created a real life impact, on me.  Some of the values that are deeply rooted in me, has got to do something with the morals, I imbibed from his films.

In real life too, there are so many qualities I have admired in him. He was the first person in the cinema industry, who had all his fan clubs converted into service clubs. No matter how good these clubs serve, I am sure his intentions were good. He propogates the cause of blood donation and organ donation, by being a living example. He is a full body donor. He practices what he preaches.

He is a perfectionist. You can see perfection, in the role he plays. I have heard that he spends a lot of time, observing people, whose role he is about to play. Like, if he has to play the role of a mentally handicapped person, he spends several days watching mentally ill people, their actions, re-actions, physical movement etc. Many a times, he criticizes himself, for his own flaws , which I think is a  great quality, that has taken him so close to be a perfectionist.

Inspite of all his greatness, he is so humble. I had the opportunity of meeting him in a cinema shooting, when I was in my college days. He was shooting for the movie, “Sathya”.  I shook hands with him, but I had no words to say. I was just spell bound when I saw the shadow image in reality. It is the awe feeling, anyone of us feel when we meet someone, who we have  admired from a far distance.

I don’t know whether it is befitting to call him a “Universal Hero”, as he is fondly called by his fans. But undoubtedly, he is a hero Tamil Cinema can be proud of in this century, not just for his acting skills, but also for the technological innovations, by which he has taken Tamil Cinema to global standards.

Happy Birthday, Kamal. I wish you live many more years and keep giving more meaningful movies, to tamil cinema.

Happy Reading

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated Nov'09