The Green Icon

As the convenor of the Environmental Panel of CII Thoothukudi District, for the year 2011-12, I was instrumental in organising a one day environmental conference titled the ECO Summit. We had some of the top brains, who talked on various environmental related issues and how we could proactively engage ourselves, in mitigating the risks associated with environmental hazards and disasters.

One of the key speakers of this summit, was Mr.M.B.Nirmal,  the founder of Exnora International – A NGO based in Chennai who enjoy international repute today, for the enormous amount of work they have done in cleaning and greening the environment. This simple unassuming speaker shared his life story, in a witty way, but it was something that touched our hearts. The audience were both moved and inspired. If each one of us carry this little spark he lit within us, we are sure we will make our life purposeful. I hope sharing his life story, would inspire you too, to stretch beyond all limitations.

Nirmal was basically from a very rich family and they had a number of properties in Chennai. His father, ran into severe business debts, owing to some high risk business ventures and they had to sell all their property and their family literally came to the streets. Nirmal’s mother was persistent that she will not go and live in a rented house after having lived such a rich and royal life. With the very little money their family was left with Nirmal could only find a house in the slum, which he readily bought. It was a very painful period in their life. One of the visitors, who came to visit Nirmal’s family in their new dwelling, asked Nirmal, “Can’t you find a better place to live”. Nirmal was taken back. He had no words to say. He was in such a bad financial situation. It was that day he told himself, “My present conditions do not permit me to move to a better place, but I can make the place I live a better place.” This thought got so deeply rooted in his mind, that he focussed all his time and effort in making this slum, a clean and green place. He educated the people living in the slum, about the need for hygiene and he involved them in the process of making the place, green and clean. In his pursuit toward making the slum a better place for everyone to live in, he used creative approaches and brought about innovative solutions. It was not easy for him to convince people who were in the practice of open defecation, to use toilets. Inspite of creating toilets, no one was using it. He did innovative things like calling“public toilet” as “people’s toilet”.  In order to motivate small children to use the toilet, he painted the toilet walls with animals and cartoon images and renamed it as “Toy-let”. These small changes made a big difference, in people’s behaviour.This created a sensation, in the city and soon many people started coming to him, asking how he was able to do it. By duplicating his success model, more and more places, got cleaner and greener. This is how Exnora was formed.

  

Exnora is nowtalked about worldwide. The amount of toil, Nirmal has to put to make it a reality is something commendable. His untiring effort, determination, optimism, passion and contagious enthusiasm,has made a world of difference. In his own words, Nirmal says, “I am an incurable optimist”.

Today, Nirmal happily boasts about growing 1300 plants within his small apartment. His apartment is being visited by people across the world, who cannot believe their own eyes.Nirmal is 68 year old, but his mind is running at the speed of lightning. When you ask him, what is his goal at the moment, he says,“I want to be recognized as the world’s best thinker of our times.”

And if you think Nirmal is just an environmentalist, you are mistaken. He is a Motivator, Mind Programmer, Humorist, Orator, Trainer, Social Reformer. How can one person don so many roles? This really makes me wonder. He is an exemplary evidence, for those who question the limits of human potential. Let the life example of Nirmal, inspire us to stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities. For those of you, who are not aware of him, I am happy to introduce Mr.M.B.Nirmal - THE GREEN ICON.

Happy Reading,

D.SenthilKannan

Article dated April 2012

Say NO to beggars

·         Does the sight of beggars on the streets, worry you?

·         Do you feel, sorry for them?

·         Do you want to help them in some way or other?

If yes, please take my advice. Say No to them. What I am telling you, may be contradictory to the popular, that by giving alms to a beggar, we have done him some good, we have gained some good karma or whatsoever but in fact we are doing a social harm of breeding more and more beggars in the country. Tossing a coin in the beggar’s bowl may be considered by few as a sign of affluence and magnanimity, but in fact we are encouraging a social crime.

Begging is a social crime. Begging gives a bad image of our country, to the rest of the world. We are a country with huge intellectual capital, large man power force and many great social, spiritual and business leaders. We need to be looked up and not looked down.  But because of beggary prevailing in our country, we are looked down. Dan Boyle in his movie, “Slum dog billionaire” has exposed this begging practice in India, to the rest of the world. It is such a shame for our country. But we are just happy about the movie winning an Oscar award!

India is developing at a fast pace in terms of economic development. Statistics show, that our GDP and per capita income has increased. If that is true, then the number of beggars in the street should reduce. Is it not?  But in spite of all the positive developments, the number of beggars in India has increased significantly.

While there is so much of labor need in this country, why should people to resort to begging? Believe me, it is not poverty that has pushed them to take this decision. It is a lazy profession they have chosen, to make a comfortable living. Gone are the days, when people felt a sense of shame to beg. Today, begging has become a thriving occupation of many. On an average, a beggar earns anything from Rs.80 to Rs.200/- a day, which is in par with the daily wages of a factory worker. This easy way of making money, has become a preferred source as compared to having to put 8 hours of hard work of a daily labour.

In fact, I too have been supporting this social crime for quiet long. Even when people told me not to do so, I never use to heed to their words. I used to say, “What difference does it make for me, if I shell out a few coins, but at least the beggar can buy a cup of coffee”.

My perception of beggars changed, to a great extent after I saw the Tamil movie, “NaanKadavul” which talks about how begging has become a mob business, like any other mafia activity. In the movie, they show how the beggars are maimed, so that they become icons of sympathy to the general public and thereby they can earn more.  Maiming involves deforming the body, limb or face, by causing external injuries, through crude and cruel means. I thought it was just an exaggeration, but I came to see some live examples of this, in one of my visit to the SabarimalaAyyapan temple. It is then I decided that I will not encourage this practice.

I am not saying that there is no real poverty in this country. Of course there is a lot of poverty and genuine needs. If you wish to help the people with genuine needs, I suggest that you do it through some organized sources like World Vision, CRY, Helpage India or any such organization that is committed to enhance the life of the deprived and downtrodden You can also volunteer to be a member of any social organization like the Rotary Club, Lions Club or Giants club, who are working on specific projects with a long term plan. In this way, you can reach out to the needy, in a more appropriate way.

God has blessed all of us, with a soft heart; so that we are sensitive to the needs of our surrounding and help those are in need. The beggars have capitalized on this emotion of ours and made it a profession. Let us not become victim to our emotions. Let us not encourage “beggary” anymore. Let us learn to say NO to beggars.

Happy Reading,

D.SenthilKannan

Article dated Feb'2012

Are we giving space to others?

Quiet recently, I attended a 5 day TCI workshop. TCI is a unique concept developed by a German Psychologist, Ms.Ruth Cohn.  TCI stands for Theme Centred Interaction, which means a group of peopleinteract with each other on a particular theme. This interaction helps the participant to gain more insight and a better understanding of some real life situations and challenges, from different perspectives. Every TCI Workshop has a theme. The workshop I attended was on the theme, “Do men and women lead differently? We had two international facilitators, Mr.Konrad from Germany and Mrs.Annelis from Switzerland to handle this workshop, which made it more interesting.

The TCI session titles are different and interesting. One of the sessionsof this workshop was, “Drawing together with you and you…. finding my own space”.  In this session, our facilitator formed 3 groups of 6 people each.  We were given chart board with a box of crayons. The instruction given to us was, each group should do a drawing in the chart provided, but the rule is that the members within the group should not discuss or talk within the group. The time given was 15 minutes. This was a nice challenge, because there was no scope for planning what we are going to draw. So, our group sat on the floor together with the chart board in the centre. I took a yellow crayon and started drawing a sun, on the top of the chart. My team members seemed to get a clue, that we could draw scenery together and one of them started to draw a flock of birds with a black crayon and another person drew the clouds with a blue crayon. I soon followed it up, by drawing a mountain range across the chart with a brown crayon. In no time the chart paper became a beautiful scenery with a flowing river, tall trees, blooming flowers, a house, people, cattle and other things.

When the time was over, we were pleasantly surprised to see, that our drawing has come out nicely, inspite of we not speaking a single word with each other.

Now it was time for the facilitators to give their observation of each team. The facilitator, when giving his observations about our team, captured the essence of how we worked as a team. He pointed out that, it was me, who initiated the drawing, which he mentioned as a positive leadership trait. He said a leader is one who initiates. These words made me feel good about myself. He then said something that was like an invisible hammer striking hard on my head.He said, that I did not just stop with initiating the drawing, I went on to use large amount of the space in the chart paper to draw the mountain range. By doing so, I have been insensitive to the space requirements of my team members.  In the large chart paper, everyone should find space for their expression, but by occupying a large extent of space in the chart board, I have curtailed the expression of the other members of the team.

I realised that very moment, what he said was right. It was an eye opener to me.I was astounded to find that our subconscious mind gets manifested by our behaviour, exposing our true inner nature, even without having to say a single word. I felt bad about myself, but did not miss to take the learning of the day.  I learnt that I need to give others their needed space, so as to help them find expression of their true potential. I have been unconscious of my own mistake.When he spotted this out, I realised that I have aninner tendency to do more than what is expected of me. This doing more than what is expected, is not a good trait, when it comes to working as a team. As a team, every team member should feel a spirit of contribution to a project accomplished. By doing all the things, that others could do, we are in fact robbing from them, the joy of teamwork. In team work it is never ‘my work’, but it is ‘our work’.

Most of us commit this mistake unconsciously, at work place, social organisations or even family. We tend to dominate the show. We want to see the end result to be exactly the way; we mentally imagined it to be. But in a collaborative world, this sort of thought infringement would leave a negative mark of not being a good team player.r.A creative collaboration of ideas canin fact give a unique outcome, which an individual mind can never conceive.So, next time, when you are working on a team project, ask yourself, “Am I givingothers the needed space, to express themselves?”.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated March 2012

The magic of appreciation

Of all the things, I see there is one incentive which I feel really works with everyone. Maybe because, that is the most rarest to find today or may be very few people are willing to share it with others. It does not cost them anything, but people are still so reluctant to give it away. This incentive works great magic with your spouse, your children, your family members, your colleagues, your subordinates and even your superiors. It has always been assumed that the most important factor that drives a person is the money or the fame. I am surprised how this thing, that I am talking about has never been thought about. Infact, I feel that this is the greatest motivator, of all . It is called APPRECIATION.

How many of us, really use this on a daily basis. How many of us know that this can be a effective tool to motivate, your team when all other resources are running dry. Appreciating people is a art, which we need to cultivate in our lives. It is also our moral duty to teach our children the “art of appreciating”. 

A country like ours, which has such abundance of resources, lacks in this great resource called appreciation. If you ask a parent, why they do not appreciate their children for the marks they get, they may say, that they expect their children to perform better and reserve the appreciation for the day, the child gets 100/100, which is never going to happen without the small, small appreciations the child earns for its small, small achievements.

Start to appreciate others and see the benefits, for yourself.  The results would be far more than you would have imagined.

 Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

The beauty of friendship

There is a far deeper meaning to friendship, than what we normally perceive. While many of us may feel the primary reason for having friends is for social interaction and entertainment, if we look more closely to what it means we will realize that the reasons go way beyond that.

Friendship is not only about spending time with like-minded people so that one doesn’t get bored on a Saturday evening; its purpose is far more meaningful.  It is about love and understanding.  It stretches beyond our family relationships and lends us a support that is different.  It is about a different kind of love.

With our families we are sometimes wary about discussing our fears or difficulties, but with friends often it is easier to discuss our feelings, as there remains a space that is personal yet with fewer expectations.  It is a space that is built on sharing – sharing of our joys and sorrows, of discussion and reasoning, and many other things that urge us to open our hearts to others.

It is in friendship that we also learn to be less judgemental and to be accepting of other people’s differences and eccentricities and to be open to loving our friends even if they don’t think like us or share our philosophies.  Friendship teaches us to be helpful.  To give support and a listening ear to our mates, to be there for them in times of need or celebration, and to be part of their lives as a person that gives them comfort and who is able to understand and accept them for who they are.

Cherish and celebrate the spirit of friendship, everyday

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan

Making New Year Resolutions Work

Making resolutions on New Year is one of the popular practices around the world and perhaps many of us do. But how long do we stick on to our resolutions, is a question we need to ask ourselves.

Resolution originates from the word, ‘resolve”, which means to decide. Therefore a New Year resolution is a important decision you are making, and the decision you make should be a good one. The quality of our life depends entirely upon the decisions we take, from the list of available choices we have, at every moment of our life. When you make right decisions, the outcomes are good and therefore your life is happy. When you make wrong decisions, the outcomes are bad and you have to face the consequences. Therefore, a good decision is something which is well thought of, considering all the factors and then made.

New Year resolutions vary to a great extent from person to person, but some of the popular one’s are:

·         To quit smoking/ drinking.

·         To get into a daily exercise regime.

·         To wake up early.

·         To spend more time with family.

·         To save money for the future.

·         To avoid procrastination.

·         To avoid gossiping.

·         To get organised and systematic.

·         To learn something new.

·         To reduce work load and stress.

Are a few of these in your list of 2012 resolutions? Perhaps, Yes. So, what made you take these resolutions? Let us examine. Something, within us told that, our life would be much better and happier, if a particular change happens in our lifestyle. Our mind processed these thoughts and showed us an ideal picture of how good our life would be if we made these needed change.  For example, when we said to ourselves, “I will get into a daily exercise regime”, our mind showed us a positive image of being, ‘fit and healthy’. Along with this positive mental image came a positive feeling and it was this positive feeling that triggered us to make the resolution.

Then, why is it that after having made a good New Year resolution, we have not been able to hold on to it? This is because as the days go by we tend to get tired andbored,of having to get disciplined. We as human beings do not like to be curtailed by any limitations, even if it simple imposed. Whatever that restricts our freedom, is seen as a burden. So when we forcefully discipline ourselves, it is not a comfortable feeling.Though we very well know that, what we are doing is for our own good, our mind finds it difficult to accept the change. For example, if we have been giving ourselves the freedom to sleep till 7 in the morning and then we make a resolution to wake up at 5.30am, when the morning alarm rings, we feel so disturbed and our mind searches for an excuse to sleep a little longer.

It could also happen, when we enter a state of frustration that the desired positive outcome did not happen, within the anticipated time. So we lose heart, get stressed and go back to our old habits. We are all hooked up to our old habits, and remember habits die hard.To get out of our old habit and to live a new habitis not as easy as we think. It takes many days of practice and perseverance.

Behavioural Scientists and Spiritual Gurus advocate the “21 days to form a new habit”. This also means that it would take at least 21 days to break an old habit. They say whatever you do for 21 days in a stretch, (including Sundays) will get embedded in your neuro system and become a part and parcel of you. For behaviour transformation to happen, Sunday cannot be a holiday.No matter what, if you can stick on to a new habit for 21 days the chances of you to succeed is far higher. So, give it a try!

A resolution backed up by a good action plan, a deep commitment, an effective monitoring system and the willingness to undergo the pain during this course of change, will surely succeed.  If any one of these elements is missing, then what you have just made is not a resolution, but just a wishful thinking.I wish you and your resolutions to succeed, this year. Happy and prosperous 2012.

Happy Reading,

D.SenthilKannan

Article dated Jan'12