If Tomorrow Comes?

It is generally believed that people of our nation are very good in execution but falling short of the skills in planning for the same. That has perhaps, given avenue, to so many of our projects across globe as people who have better planning and driving skills have always used our strength of execution and led their assignment to completion. We are so adept in mastering what we do, we went on to specialize execution, proceeded to derive our 'rights' of execution so intensely, we even forgot that we could also plan and drive. This could be the reason for our slavery over decades, where we allowed ourselves to be mowed down by people with better communication and leadership skills and spent decades again to wean ourselves away from these clutches.

This mentality of executing the end of the chain job could have possibly led us to stabilize ourselves as a hard bargainer of our rights and always made to look up and fight rather than dictate and lead the way. Our leadership and environment are also not helping us either. Whenever a date is set for an activity, people are relaxed under the comfort that this date will be postponed. Be it wearing of helmet by two wheeler riders, removal of dark films from car windows, Aadhar card registrations, Income tax filing to auto meter rate decisions.

That one has to file the IT return by 31 March was well known even on the 1st April of previous year ! Then, where is the need for extending it?

Why is that an extension is necessary? Does it mean that our leaders are unable to plan what could be that 'just enough' time for our citizens to comply with. But then we have precedents of even some national level leaders 'forgetting' to pay the Income Tax !  How then can you explain that only 19 out of the 70+ Ministers have submitted the annual statement of their properties. It is a matter of shock and despair that as per the report, the defaulter list includes our honorable Prime Minister !!

Normally we choose as leaders, those who set themselves as shining examples, who always stick to the nobler and righteous side of things and who are worthy of emulation. Be it reality or movies or politics, we look upon leaders with reverence based on their good deeds and nobler thoughts. People normally look upon their heroes and leaders to inspire, lead and drive them with positive thoughts. Are these expectations any more relevant, one wonders?

Are we a nation of procrastinators? Have we misunderstood / misinterpreted the word 'Procrastination' , as a nation that is under refuge to postponements - procrasti'nation' !! Or have we lost the value of time? As is happening in some of the bank branches, any request other than cash- be it statement or deposit renewal or passbook updates or tax certificates, the customer is promptly directed to come 'later' ! Do we realize what it takes for a customer to come again- cost, time, effort, support in case of senior citizens....?

I have never heard of clients postponing the delivery date for a project , just because the team is unable to complete the job. A date once decided is cast in stone, but for unforeseen circumstances beyond one's control and acts of God.  As a lateral entrant to the IT industry , I have had occasions to face this situation. When I was convinced that the product was not completely ready for shipment and stood in the way of delivery, my boss used to intervene and say that "one can never aspire for a 100% complete product and even if it is 80% ready, let it go, as we should not miss the agreed date".

By 'anticipated' postponements, are we setting the right attitude for our coming generations? I am worried with such indifference to targets, whether we are also unintentionally instrumental in leading the younger ones to think , that these might never happen and will never be implemented! It is time for people concerned to wake up and stem the rot.

Art of appreciation

The two year old grand son of my brother, did not even pronounce the words properly but hurriedly completed the rhyme, was himself clapping and egging on others around to "clap, clap" until everyone complied. The beaming child on hearing the applause all around him was a sight to behold. Without any further prompt, he sincerely proceeded to recite the next rhyme, anticipating a bigger round of applause !

My aging uncle also had this habit of recounting everything from his early days, like when Mylapore area was almost on the fringes of a forest and Adyar was unknown, there were boats plying in Cooum river with firewood etc., Seasoned people around him used to silently listen but if anyone asks for more details , his eyes will open wide and then there will be no stopping him.

Such is the power of appreciation, a tool of recognition from a child to the senior. Everyone wants to be appreciated, applauded, recognized and talked about. Only the performing artistes have no hesitation in accepting that they value the clap of the audience more than the material returns. Of course, there are sports persons who find an empty stand very dampening to play which perhaps is the reason for the greater popularity of cricket in India.

While I was on a business trip to U.S , after a presentation of our capabilities was made by my boss, I was very impressed and immediately shot an email to him, who was sitting at the other end of the horse-shoe table in the conference hall. This was done with all sincerity and meant as a genuine expression of my appreciation, but I was more surprised to get an acknowledgement within minutes, which was written 'thanks' all over.

In one of the organizations I served, the management was astute enough to conduct an "Appreciation day". On this day, people could obtain any number of 'Appreciation card' from the front office and were encouraged to send them to anyone in the organization whom they appreciate.   It need not be from one's own team, it could be from Admin, HR, Help desk, support teams, your boss, your junior most team member or even the President of the organization. It was a treat to watch the good will flowing through the day and whoever came up with the idea need to be well appreciated.

Any unfortunate event, any bad exchange, any sour event could be turned with a single stroke of appreciation with a simple pat on the back. Hope this is also taught in management and training schools for the Managers of this era. In my opinion,  this is the only activity in this world which warms the hearts of both the giver and receiver !