The Splash of Wisdom

All Spring, I’ve been watching the trees in my backyard flourish. All of them have grown into lush masterpieces of nature and vivid beauty. All have matured and revealed precious blossoms to my family and I. All have provided us with shade, joy and protection. All but one. This one tree stands apart. While the others were growing quickly a few months ago, this one had no leaves at all. It looked thin and frail. I wasn’t even sure if it had made it through the Winter. I left it for dead. But then something very spectacular happened. From nowhere, it started to yield stunningly beautiful little flowers on its almost instantly firm branches. It grew higher than every other tree around it. And it offered us more cover than its counterparts. This tree is now the best tree. The Lead Tree in my backyard. Here’s the leadership lesson: 'strong roots eventually yield great success.' I have a suspicion that while the naked eye suggested that the tree wasn’t growing, in truth, it definitel...

There was a farmer who collected horses; One day, he found out that one of his horse became ill and he called the veterinarian, who said "Well, your horse has a virus. He must take this medicine for three days. I'll come back on the 3rd day and if he's not better, we're going to have to put him down." Nearby, the pig listened closely to their conversation. The next day, they gave him the medicine and left. The pig approached the horse and said "Be strong, my friend. Get up or else they're going to put you to sleep!"  On the second day, they gave him the medicine and left. The pig came back and said "Come on buddy, get up or else you're going to die! Come on, I'll help you get up. Let's go! One, two, three..." On the third day, they came to give him the medicine and the vet said "Unfortunately, we're going to have to put him down tomorrow. Otherwise, the virus might spread and infect the other horses." After they le...

               I was lucky enough to discover a book called, The Introvert Advantage (How To Thrive in an Extrovert World), by Marti Laney, Psy.D. I feel like someone has written an encyclopedia entry on a rare race of people to which I belong. Not only has it explained many of my eccentricities, it helps me to redefine my entire life in a new and positive context.               Sure, anyone who knows me would say, “Duh! Why did it take you so long to realize you’re an Introvert?” It’s not that simple. The problem is that labeling someone as an Introvert is a very shallow assessment, full of common misconceptions. It’s more complex than that. So here are a few common misconceptions about Introverts: Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk. This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get...

Pritish Nandy The much maligned caste system, complex and inscrutable as it may appear to us, once had deep roots in our society. The Brahmins pursued knowledge and statecraft. Kshatriyas fought and protected our honour and sense of nationhood. Banias ran business and trade. The sub castes (which ran into many hundreds) played their own roles. It all worked perfectly well till the lower castes, who got the rough end of the deal, began to protest. They refused to do the jobs assigned to them by history (many of which were demeaning) and sought a new status in the emerging India. This was but natural and ended up largely dismantling the edifice of caste. Merit became the new yardstick. But the triumph of merit created its own problems. We see fewer people today doing what their forefathers did so amazingly well. Many have migrated to new jobs, without the skills required to back them. Others have become what can be best described as caste refugees. And, funnily, everyone wants to do the ...

Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the side of a deserted road. Suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt. The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie gets out and asks the shepherd, 'If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?' The shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies, 'Okay.' The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to the mobile-fax, enters a NASA Website, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms and pivot tables. He then prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer, turns to the shepherd and says, ‘'You have exactly 1,586 sheep.' The shepherd cheers, 'That's correct, you can have your sheep.' The young man takes one of the animals from the flock and puts it in the back of hi...

I ran into a stranger as he passed by, 'Oh excuse me please' was my reply. He said, 'Please excuse me too; I wasn't watching for you.' We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said goodbye. But at home a different story is told, How we treat our loved ones, young and old.. Later that day, cooking the evening meal,  My son stood beside me very still.  When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.  'Move out of the way,' I said with a frown. He walked away, his little heart broken.  I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.  While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,  'While dealing with a stranger,  common courtesy you use,  but the family you love, you seem to abuse. Go and look on the kitchen floor,  You'll find some flowers there by the door.  Those are the flowers he brought for you.  He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.  He stood very quietly not to spoil the surpr...

Two women friends chatting in office: Woman 1 : I had a fine evening, how was yours? Woman 2 : It was a disaster. My husband came home, ate his dinner in three minutes and fell asleep in two minutes. How was yours? Woman 1 : Oh it was amazing! My husband came home and took me out to a romantic dinner. After dinner we walked for an hour. When we came home he lit the candles around the house and afterwards talked for an hour. It was like a fairytale! At the same time, their husbands are talking at work. Husband 1 : How was your evening? Husband 2 : Great. I came home, dinner was on the table, I ate and fell asleep. It was great! What about you? Husband 1 : It was horrible. I came home, there's no dinner because they cut the electricity because I hadn't paid the bill; so I had to take my wife out to dinner which was so expensive that I didn't have money left for a cab. We had to walk home which took an hour; and when we got home remember there was no electricity so I had to l...