PGR’s blog

In the year 1996, when I was the president of Cochin Film Society, I organized a week long "Film Appreciation camp" in Cochin drawing people from all over Kerala. PK Nair, the former curator of National Film Archives of India was the Camp director. The purpose was to give training to movie buffs on how to understand and appreciate good films. It included screening of over 40 world film classics ranging from "Battleship Potemkin" (Eisenstein) to modern masterpieces like "Elektra My Love" (Miklos Jancso) followed by discussion sessions. The Camp was inaugurated by the great Malayalam Novelist and Jnanpeeth award winner MT Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as MT. MT is also well-known in Kerala as a film script writer whose films have won National awards several times. During his speech he inspired us with a powerful example of transformation a film society in Karnataka achieved through training.

In a village near Belgaum, every evening the Belgaum film society used to freely screen film classics in world cinema to an assembly of villagers in a maidan. The films included works from masters such Akira Kurosawa, Bergman , Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Satyajit Ray. A veteran Kannada film critic used to make an introductory appreciation speech about each film and he would then translate the English subtitles into Kannada language so that the villagers understood each film in all respects. A month following this regular exposure of villagers to great film classics, the Belgaum film society screened a typical Hindi Blockbuster or Masala movie. To their utter surprise, the villagers became furious and made catcalls as the movie progressed .The whole village square was empty by the interval. The villagers of Belgaum had acquired that rare sensibility to distinguish between a good movie and a bad one after that month long training in film appreciation.

Dear Readers, if training can bring that powerful transformation in the mindset of illiterate villagers, it can work miracles in your life. Many things are made easier through constant familiarity and training. Through training we can change; we can transform ourselves . I stand as its testimony.

I have been associated with the greatest communication and leadership training organization in Public Speaking called Toastmasters (visit toastmasters.org for details) for the last nine years through many Toastmasters clubs in Saudi Arabia. This forum turned out to be a supreme example of what training can accomplish in the flowering of my persona. My communication abilities and self-confidence made a quantum leap through my constant training in Toastmasters clubs by way of presenting speeches and workshops on different Topics. I became the first Distinguished Toastmaster (Highest educational achievement in Toastmasters) in Jubail after presenting 40 speeches and over ten workshops. The amazing encouragement of my fellow Toastmasters prompted me to publish my speeches as articles in Sulekha and Boloji (Most of my articles in rediffiland are my earlier speeches rehashed as articles). The new improved PGR established a name in my organization as a good presenter. All these simply stemmed from my continual toil by training. There is a chinese proverb which says "When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people".

Training can transform a cabbage into a cauliflower, a jaded glass into a glittering chandelier and a man called Johnson into Magic Johnson. Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus it tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body. Today in this competitive world, we all know there is just one-way to improve our odds for survival: train, train and train. Sometimes, if your training is too intense it may kill you. More often — much, much more often — it will save your life.

As Mark Twain said “There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship.”

 

"Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being"
' Montaigne

My family and I were once returning to Cochin from Mysore. It was close to 1 AM when we reached Tellichery. Torrential rain and whistling wind had been hampering our journey. Our driver looked drained of energy and I suggested that we should halt at a restaurant for a cup of coffee. Luckily we spotted one. It was a clean, well lighted place with a sparkling lobby.

As we stepped into the lobby, we grimed the floor with the dirt and mud oozing from our shoes. I saw a small boy standing in a corner with a mop in his hand. As customers entered the lobby, he rushed to swab the stains left by their shoes. In the wee hours of that night, his fervent concern in mopping the floor fascinated me.

As we left the restaurant, I approached the boy, asked his name and tipped him with a ten rupee note. The boy looked perplexed and asked me why I had given him the money. I told him that I was impressed with his commitment and hence the tip. The boy instantly gave the money back to me and said that it was his job and he was paid for it. As my good action suffered a surprise setback, I tried to save my face by thrusting the money into his pocket. The boy was equally vehement in ejecting it. To avoid further embarrassment, I quickly picked up the note and rushed to my car. As I sat in the car I thought about the remarkable self-esteem of that boy. The words of President Richard Nixon came to my mind "Scrubbing floors or emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the Presidency".

Self esteem is a supreme quality we should nurture in our lives. Self-esteem isn’t about having a Rado watch or a Ray Ban glass. It isn’t bragging about how great you are or you look. It’s more like quietly knowing that you’re worth a lot (priceless, in fact!). It’s not about thinking you’re perfect, no one is, but knowing that you’re worthy of being loved and accepted. Good self-esteem is important to hold your head high. It lets you respect yourself, even when you make mistakes. And when you respect yourself, others respect you.

In Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' there is an incident where Napoleon Bonaparte meets the Russian ambassador during the war. To test whether the ambassador will side with him, Napoleon takes out his handkerchief, wipes his face and intentionally drops it on the floor, to see whether the ambassador would pick it up for him. On seeing this, the Russian ambassador takes out his own handkerchief, wipes his face and lets it fall to the floor. He then kneels down, picks up his handkerchief and puts it in his pocket. The incident wins the instant admiration of Napoleon. Self esteem is the reputation we acquire with ourselves.

Your relationship with YOU is the core of all your relationships. How you rate yourself acts as a guide to other relationships. If your self-esteem is high, there is a good chance that your family relationships will be strong. Unless you perceive yourself as valuable and worthy, you will be incapable of developing self esteem in others. "You cannot lead a Cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse".

It was the deep self esteem of Mahatma Gandhi that incited him to rebel against British rule when he was thrown out of a first class compartment in South Africa. Black became equal to white by the dignified struggle of the martyr Martin Luther King Jr.

We should strive to elevate our self esteem and help others to hold their head high.There are some things we can do to help to promote higher levels of self-esteem. Make a list of the most important accomplishments you have made in 2006. Well, none of them may get an entry into the Guinness book of records. But, they are still records of your self worth. Surround yourself with positive thinkers and people with pragmatic perspectives. Often, the people with whom you associate can have an impact on your self-esteem. Accept that there are certain things about you that you cannot change. You should learn to love your skin color and shoe size because they are part of you. Getting into the habit of forming realistic expectations of yourself based on your current abilities can improve your confidence and self worth. Engaging in a new activity or diversion such as writing blogs in websites like 'rediffiland' can tremendously heighten self esteem.

For many cloistered guys, who lacked self confidence in the past, writing a blog has helped to establish their presence in the world. Not only is the blogger often well received on the internet, but the blogger becomes a more confident being in the offline world as well. With the new found self esteem, the person’s career, business, studies, professional practice, and interpersonal relationships could take on a more positive tone.

As Henry David Thoreau once said '"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."  You may choose to blame yourself and feel guilty of your shortcomings. Or you may choose to affirm in the good qualities that lie within you. The choice is yours.

Remember, 'Nobody can make you inferior without your consent'