Assamee Aawaaz

Language when thatched into poetry has elegance, when composed into notes bring joy, when sung with love brings harmony, touches the unknown and unseen. Rhythm is generated and regulated by the creative force of an artist. As long as words remain prose, they will not draw reality, the moment they are put into rhythm, they vibrate with radiance.

Last weekend gifted me with a splendid musical evening.

Venue: open air auditorium, Shilparamam, Madhapur, Hyderabad.

Occasion: The closing day of Octave 2007, the North East festival conducted by Sangeetha Naataka Academy and Ministry of Culture and tourism.

A colleague, friend and a silent companion, Anu, was with me, delightfully all the way. The evening was pleasant, the multi cultural, disciplined audience, the natural ambiance and shade-colour mix of Shilparamam, exquisite, as it was, always. The bright dais with the dark background was soon handed over to the virtuoso, Mayoogh Hasarika and his wife Laila Datta Hasarika. Mayoogh is the nephew of the renowned Assameese musician Bhupan Hasarika.

How ever busy our active nature outwardly may be, we have a secret chamber of music inside the heart, where tunes come and go freely, without any design what so ever. In that shell, fire of music’s worship is transformed into lamps of a festival, which is silent and peaceful to the limitless beauty.

The two hours that followed was a journey from law to love, from discipline to liberation, from moral lane to spiritual. Duets, melodies, folk, a blend of songs showered and blessed the audience; language was never a barrier as the words came straight from the heart.

Sharing a River

A river is an artery of a society, a life line of a civilisation. When men on both ends of a great river divided themselves and squalidly fought each other, she might have sighed, wept secretly deep inside. Still she was kind, fed her children, with all that she had, carried in her bosom the droplets of both love and life. She was a mother in the true meaning of that great word.We humans see truth when the mind is set towards infinite. It is not in the narrow present, not in our immediate sensations, but in the consciousness of the whole which gives us a taste of what we should have in what we do have.

All civilisations are nurtured within walls and boundaries, matured too. Those walls were based on cast, creed, religion, language, and faith which leave their marks deep in the minds of men. This creates a habit of securing all resources by fortifying them and separating from one another. It breeds a strong suspicion in whoever is beyond the barrier and they will have to fight stubbornly for the entry as well as the sharing.After 16 years of wait on both sides of the boundary, in the Cauvery issue the historic final judgement has come.

The imbroglio faced and shaped life and politics in the Cauvery basin better known as Cauvery delta. Emotional barometer touched all time high, erupting volcanic violence when the interim verdict was announced and when provocative statements were given by authorities. Sensational crusades were carried out, parochialism and regional chauvinism took rebirth and many a politicians built their careers around it.

Race for resources started in early 1920s when Karnataka built their first major dam, Krishna Raja Sagar in Mysore. Madras government reiterated with the Mettur dam. In 1956 when Kerala was formed, the tiny state too claimed a share of Cauvery.Series of major dams were built in the following decades, Kabini, Hemavathi, Suvarnavathy, Amravati, and Harangi. Failed monsoons and subsequent non- release of adequate water irked protests from Tamil Nadu, historically a water deficit state. Serious bi- party meetings were held.

The river battle reached the Supreme Court and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi initiated the setting up of Cauvery Fact Finding Committee (CFFC). Heated discussions followed, on both sides of the border, region’s clique of fat-cat elites roused the regional sentiments to meet their selfish needs, governments changed, Cauvery, as a silent witness continued her way nonchalantly to the great ocean bed with a poignant tone.In 1991, the Cauvery tribunal passed the interim order as per the directive of the Supreme Court. Violence broke out in Bangalore and Mysore, Tamil Ian establishments were attacked and ransacked, and thousands of Tamils flee Karnataka. Since then it perpetuated in fixed orbits around the cold spheres of regional solitude.

No solution to a complex issue can please all, but the final order is just and equitable settlements of a highly contentious inter state issue. Let us salute judiciary, accept the verdict and preach brotherhood and unity among multilinguals. If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would raise our sights a lot higher than they are today. And the great river, in spite of all these flows on and on and on…

Light and Shadow

The light that plays,
Like a naked child,
Among the green leaves happily
Knows not that man can lie.

Shadow,
With her veil drawn,
Follows Light in secret meekness,
With her silent steps of love.

(courtesy : Tagore)

80-20 Rule : Know Yourself

The biggest factor that stops most people from chasing their dreams and working towards their real goals is fear. Fear of the lack of security, the reduced paycheck and of the unknown future keeps people locked into routines that are not satisfying. That path leads to sadness, depression, poor health, low income and ultimately an early death!

Don’t let fear be the reason for not achieving our goals. Stop, reassess our real passions, and remove the money equation long enough so we can think without worrying about finances and make plans. Maximize what we are good at. Find the activities that produce the most results for us and our business and put our energy where the big rewards are.

Of the things we do during our day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of our results. Identify and focus on those things. If something in the schedule has to slip, if something isn't going to get done, make sure it's not part of that 20 percent.

Pareto’s Principle: This is an interesting principle, the principle of 80/20. It asserts that there is an inbuilt imbalance between inputs and outputs, causes and consequences, effort and result. It states that a minority of causes, inputs or effort usually lead to a majority of the result, outputs or rewards. A few things are important; most are not.In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. In the late 1940s, Dr. Joseph M. Juran inaccurately attributed the 80/20 Rule to Pareto, calling it Pareto's Principle. It may look quite strange, but this is applicable to many a things in our daily life.

80/20 Thinking, applied to our daily life, can help us change behavior and to concentrate on the most important 20%. Action resulting from 80/20 thinking should lead us to achieve much more with much less. To engage in 80/20 thinking, we must constantly ask our self: what is the 20% that is leading to 80%?There are many economic conditions, for example the distribution of wealth and resources on planet earth, where a small percentage of the population controls the biggest chunk, which clearly demonstrate the 80/20 Rule.

There are business examples such as 20 percent of employees are responsible for 80 percent of a company’s output or 20 percent of customers are responsible for 80 percent of the revenues, the 80 percent of the decisions come from 20 percent of the meeting time, 80 percent of the customers complain about the 20 percent of the products or sales and 80 percent of the manager headaches come from 20 percent of the same people.At a micro level just by looking at our daily habits we can find plenty of examples where the 80/20 Rule applies. 20 percent of the people we deal with give 80 percent of our happiness. Count on these people and add quality to our life. We probably make most of your phone calls to a very small amount of the people we have numbers for. We likely spend a large chunk of our money on few things (perhaps rent or food). There is a good chance that we spend most of our time with only a few people from the entire pool of people we know.

When we start to analyze and breakdown our life into elements it’s very easy to see 80/20 ratios all over the place. The trick, once our key happiness determinants have been identified, is to make everything work in harmony and avoid wasting time on those 80 percent activities that produce little satisfaction for us.

The message is simple enough - focus on activities that produce the best outcomes for us. This applies to both our business/working life and our “other” life. In truth, and this is a sad fact, most people in the world work jobs they don’t like and only truly live their passions on weekends and outside of working hours. Only a small sample actually lives their passions day in and day out, how they want to and when they want to. So reorganise ourselves, identify those 20, which is deep inside us and get ready to welcome the 80 percent happiness.

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask, "how are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed?
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Because you never had time, to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere.
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music,
Before the song is over.

Courtsey: David L Weatherford (from the poem 'Slow Dance')