CELEBRATING 365 DAYS IN A YEAR AS A NEW YEAR!

CELEBRATION is in every moment that we live happily. Say NO to negative thoughts - Say YES - YES - again and again to `joy thoughts'. Celebration is a continuity - freezing it for a day or few hours is an impossibility - and even it were possible to do so IT WOULD LEAD TO decline of joy after that period is over.

So when I can celebrate every moment of the whole year why should I celebrate it it for merely one day.

I AM CELEBRATING 365 DAYS IN A YEAR AS A NEW YEAR - join me!

LIFE IS BUT ONLY A JOURNEY

Let there be no lights in the darkness - they sting my eyes. Let there be no darkness in the bright day - it wounds my soul!

When all around me there is pervasive ignorance what shall I do with my little lamp of knowledge. The howling winds will blow off this light in a fraction of a second if I step out - yet the possibility that I may get another unlit lamp [safely cocooned from these winds] is so tempting.

Within my own mind there is this all inclusive brightness and there isn't any nano space in which a shadow could reside. So be it!

What is - will be! What can't be - shan't be!

Life's vibrancy must co-exist with the immortality of non-life. Both EXIST! The living must take from the non-living to exist and the dead must rejoin in the chain of non-living. Here there are no choices - life is but only a journey.

MAKING INDIA A SPORTS SUPERPOWER-COUNTRY FIRST THEN ME!

SPORTS is no more `mere playing' - it has become a war zone - at least, that is how the leading sporting nations think. The will to win transcends individuals' need for excellence; millions of countrymen rooting for you is a heady sensation for every sportsman worth his salt.

IN INDIA, HOWEVER, INDIVIDUALS COME BEFORE THEIR COUNTRY! This mindset must change.

Having been involved with `grass root' sports for the last three decades - I have seen and known all the reasons as to WHY WE ARE WHAT WE ARE. We always have a reason for our `failures' - we don't believe in putting our house in order. Whoever can manipulate takes the cake.

The nexus of `favourites' - `influential' - `quota scavengers' - `overage cheaters' - `regional representations' etc. has destroyed Indian sports. Even the sports academies and other `centres of excellence' suffer from these maladies. All is fair for politicians as long as they get their SEAT and all is fair for sportspersons as long as they make the TEAM.

I have seen many `UNSUNG HEROES' of Indian sports - the voluntary coaches who donot get one single paisa for their effort - their only motivation is their love for the game and their wards. Their old and dusty track-suits and `stitched' shoes give them away; their sincerity is extraordinary. The `official coaches' have spick and span `REEBOK' shoes with the latest designer track suits.

WE DONOT HAVE PROPER GRASS-ROOT SPORTS! A player aspiring to be world class must begin his `focus' from childhood. In his or her teens the player must jostle among his seniors at an equal footing and as a youth must stamp his class at national level or even international level. We donot have `scouts' who identify such players. We have brokers who `promise' CET SEAT; GOVT JOB - in return for `hidden' favors. So it begins ME - ME - ME and India is forgotten.

THIS COUNTRY THAT HAS GIVEN ME BIRTH - THIS COUNTRY THAT IS MY MOTHER - THIS COUNTRY THAT IS MINE - Let me make my country the greatest in the sporting world and to that end let me sacrifise all - my mind, my body and my wealth.

SUMPOORNA is my battle cry - providing training facilities for basketball for those who donot have the opportunity - providing joy to the young sports persons - motivating them for excellence. Let them be in any nook and corner of India - we promise them opportunity to serve the nation by becoming a great sportsperson.

MUMBAI BLASTS - WILL WE? WON'T WE? SHALL I, SHAN'T I?

I remember, as a child, when China invaded our country in 1962. The immediate response was, one of hatred against the invader. But as the dust settled - there was one big lesson for our country. IT WAS A WAKE-UP CALL. So when Pakistan attacked us in 1965, we were prepared. In hindsight - we kept hearing our elders say - we should thank China - but for them we would have lost Kashmir.

Dust is slowly settling on Mumbai blasts too. The lessons have to be learnt. WILL WE? WON'T WE?

Friends allow me to slumber; Enemies keep me AWAKE!

I had hoped to keep away from such public domain issues. But the mind keeps asking SHALL I? SHAN'T I?

DID I PLAY IN THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Watching Bhaskar shoot his baskets is eerie. He has copied the jump - the extended arm with the palm up on which rests the basketball and then that flick of the wrist to score a basket. My mind shouts - IT'S ME IT'S ME!

AND Raghavendra, who doesn't believe in passing, the great trot down the flank, dribbling through in a cosmic dance to finish a great lay-up. IT'S ME, IT'S ME - I am overjoyed.

AND Rojabai, the one girl army of St. Mary's; give me the ball and thou shall get a basket - reminding me of MY GREAT BALL HOGGING DAYS!

BUT surely, the master of all this, PRASHANT, the great giddu [short heighted person], hardly visible if you look straight and out of nowhere, the ball magically follows him, he makes everyone believe in the direction that he is going - the only problem is HE GOES IN THE EXACTLY OPPOSITE DIRECTION. What cunning guile - the ultimate fake of great basketball players - yet, every time he shoots IT IS ALWAYS A BASKET!
IT'S IT'S ME - forty years ago!

I am left wondering did I organize this tournament or DID I PLAY.

INTROSPECTION - FEW WORDS - A LIFETIME'S ESSENCE

TRUTH IS INEVITABLE - YET WE LIE - WE LIE - WE LIE!

TO BE ABLE TO `GIVE'- give correctly - IS AN ABILITY FEW POSSESS.

For the non-living - `living' is an exercise in futility!
For the living - it is `non living'!

The overhead sun doesn't cast a shadow;
An act of greatness doesn't create a doubt.

Every morning I rise from a D E A T H.
Every night I willingly embrace it.

EXHORTATIONS - no matter how powerful
Can't stir F O O L S.

Whenever YOU SEE a problem
KNOW! That your are the cause of it!

The more I wanted - the less I got
The less I wanted - the more I got

LIFE SHORTCHANGES US!
What we EXPECT doesn't happen often enough
What we don't expect - HAPPENS OFTEN.

NURTURING THE NEW GODS AT SUMPOORNA

The eyes stare back - in a perplexed way - do they even understand what I am trying to communicate. They have their small make-believe worlds in which joy & sorrow are easily understood.

What is this `new' thought - why am I trying to instill it in their minds. To awaken their `extreme' potential that would transform them, their families and the nation to which they belong.

All these days - like unsung gods, they have just sufferred & withered. Not any more - I tell them. Their rightful position in the world must be secured by a deep focus of their minds. Liberation and success is not going to come easily - especially when bandicoots rule the roost.

Many new goals would have to be set - a metamorphosis would be needed that would then transform the history of the world itself. Meek shall not inherit the earth - the `seekers' of glory shall and then rule this world with justice. HUMANITY MUST CHANGE - THE NEW GODS ARE BEING NURTURED AT SUMPOORNA!

I SEE US - YOU SEE YOURSELF!

You see `me' as a different & distinct entity separated from the whole - and hence YOU ARE YOURSELF!

But I see within you myself and hence I see `you' and `me' as a part of a whole - an indivisible entity of which we both are parts.

AT 55!

WE ALL KNOW SO MUCH. At least that's what we think. I thought I knew more than anyone else when I was very young. My journey of life has taught me that - the more I learnt THE LESSER I KNEW.

Now that I know that I donot know - THE URGE TO KNOW is slowly dissipating - and this declining urge is my way to nirvana. I can now wryly smile at my `antics' of the past and blissfully look at the dawning future where NOT TO KNOW is knowledge.

QUIT NOW? NEVER!

FACE UPTO IT! Are you not creating extra-ordinary desires in them and then when they see the `dark' future - won't they curse you. Just because you have a dream and just because you think you can create world champions - and just because these children and their PE TEACHERS are easily misled - don't you think you are one of the biggest criminals. Just because you have a dream - does it mean that it would become a reality. Why do you give yourself this cocky confidence and in the process are you not ruining their `middle class' dreams of ORDINARINESS.

When the Government - its qualified officers - having thousands of crores of infrastructure and training programmes is not able to achieve - YOU A BARE ASSED SKINNY `GIDDU' on the wrong side of fifties, think you can achieve - HA HA - don't you think you should quit now - once for all.
N E V E R RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

JOURNEYING ALONE!

Loneliness is so pure an act that its almost akin to being in a `moksha'. One can be lonely even in a crowd and be `crowded' even when one is physically far away from every one. My loneliness stems from my goals - I have no single companion who would traverse along with me. I have companions who travel along short distances or different periods of my life OR maybe I really don't want a companion on this journey which is full of unending struggles - failures - heart breaks. That, in the end, I will prevail, of that I have no doubt. But journey I must, ALONE.

FEAR! MAINTAINING SANITY

Do you know what fear is? Fear is when you ask a 9 year old Deepu to take 20 children of 9-12 years IN HEAVY RAIN down the slippery slopes of Savandurga - when at that same time you are trying to climb up an impossible cliff to bring down two frightened girls. Having lived such a fear can I then fear??

Fear is when you are training rookies for aggressive `fast brake' basketball; one who breaks out in a gallop going for a very fast lay-up is followed by another by just half a step - AND YOU PRAY that one at the back doesn't mistakenly trip the one in the front - or give a friendly shove into the RCC pillar of the shooting post.

Fear is when you look back at your 53 years' of life and wonder how you survived and having survived - been able to maintain your sanity in this chaotic world.

IMPOSSIBLE GOALS!

The path is full of obstacles but then it is the grit of the traveller that will decided the outcome. Persistent efforts - consistent focus - everything will slowly fall in place. Victory is sure - how much to go before it arrives can be the only variable. AND when the traveller is ready to strive till his last breath - how can any goals be impossible to achieve. Rather, only impossible goals suit such travellers for anything less wouldn't satisfy them.

INTROSPECTION - VALUES TO LIVE FOR!

How can I make myself happier? What are the goals that, if achieved, would give a meaning to my life. What could be my self actualization? I, by myself, can be happy in any circumstance. No amount of adversity can take this `zest' of life from me. The zeal, to live, to enjoy what LIVING dishes out - is a primal urge.

However, I can be happier by `righting' whatever wrongs I see specailly among children. Of course, by what yardstick I am to judge and who has given me this right - is a sobering thought.

To set them on their way - maybe act as a beacon for these `youngsters' could be my ultimate aspiration. A justified self obituary could be - HERE LIES a struggling man who lived a simple life - sharing and caring for the child's joys; in pursuit of excellence in everything he did;didn't match enough in his familys' needs but lived and drank the nectar of life in a fast lane.

GETTING BY REJECTING

Most of the time we keep aspiring for `things' that we are unlikely to get in our lifetime. The `want' makes it `difficult' to get. The moment you stop wanting - you are on the path to `getting' it.

A mind full of desires cannot get any `desire' fulfilled, because as soon as one is `got', others arise and a vicious circle begins. However, a mind which rejects these `desires' gets them - though, of course, they are not utilised. The very act of REJECTION makes these desires GETTABLE.

THE FACES

The `faces' strike suddenly - they jolt you out of your miseries and shower a joy extraordinary to our souls. They have that handsomeness or that beauty which pulls our gaze magnetically and helplessly we are drawn into a vortex of their charm.

AND ALL OF US HAVE OUR UNIQUE PATTERN FOR THESE `faces' - what I may like, maynot be your choice. Yet there are some which are universal. Everyone likes them. As we grow older, our choices also change.

AND a time shall come when for us no `face' will be `face' enough.

MUSINGS FOR PREM, ANIL, PRATIBHA, NARESH & ALL OTHERS WHOSE ELDEST BROTHER WENT AWAY FROM HOME

11/4/05



FOCUS is the key.



Look at the small tasks - how easily we finish them. Divide your tougher tasks into smaller parts - you can finish them easily too!



When you set out to `change' the world - first you must change; then you must change your loved ones AND only then the world starts changing.



Deserts can bloom into forests when a single rock defies the flow of sand - the little obstruction allows miniscule moisture to accumulate - the moisture helps the wind blown `seed' to grow - the sapling accumulates clay particules like a magnet - the tender roots ferociously search for nutrients - the young tree then stands as a sentinel - allowing other wind blown seeds to come and take root - and then mother earth nurtures them all - a young forest slowly grows - bringing with it new life!



12/4/05



The more you see - the more you get diverted from your `focus'. Learning to sieve the `acts' you see and then giving your atention only to the important ones you can help yourself as also the ones you want to help.



Whenever someone coughs - asking him about it shows your `concern' but also gives the other an opportunity to `show' his or her problem [maybe at times a little exaggerated]. Ignore it till you can visibly see that coughing is continuous and extreme - then provide the solution or practically get the person to a doctor. Merely asking `how are you' feeds the ego of the person . Actually doing something shows that your really `care'. Too many of our acts are cosmetic - its time we shifted our gears to the realistic realm.



This would give us self respect and dignity of a higher order and create our relationships to be more meaningful. Providing lip sympathy to a person who is sufferring is a deceit we should avoid. Taking firm action to set right the problem indicates a clarity of the mind.



13/4/05



To achieve targets on time - is possible to varying degrees in varying circumstances. A target achieved is not achievement - it merely denotes that the circumstances were perfect and everything was synchronised well enough for achievement.



However, the problem is when `others' effort is involved - they, in turn, are dependent on ideal environments for the `act' to take place. In all such cases - to give an excuse to people becomes embarrassing - especially when others know of you as a `prompt' man.

The best way to deal in such situations is to be flexible - like a rubber band - stretch it as far as possible without breaking it. Pull hard but use pragmatism, because too much is at stake at the farthest point beyond which it just won't go.

More relationships go sour becase the rubber band was pulled suddenly in a rash manner. Relax it a little bit - to pull further - sway with the wind - pulling and relasing it in bits helps your cause to the maximum possible.

But when you see the door ajar - when the intention is itself malafide - then go ahead, stretch it and break it off. You are better off without such people around you. But anyway give them a sufficient `relax' before you make the pull.

16/4/05

Often we are criticised. How we take it is an important issue. No matter who criticises -for whatever reasons - it indicates a desire on part of the critic to be heard. If you ride out the criticism just as you would a road hump - nothing would be lost.

But we often reply - either to placate that person or rashly retort at him - either way making a mistake. Silence would help in the immediate aftermath of criticism. It creates a cocoon around you - the critic often wonders at it. You have surprised him. The objective of most of the criticism is to create anguish - and /or anger coupled with humiliation - your silence indicates rejection.

Many would think that by not responding you are accepting the fact that the critic had charged you with. However, to ensure that you are not misunderstood - you can use the simple `silence' for a long enough period. At the end of that deep pause you have two options -

a] You just laugh in the face of the critic, or

b] You thank him for his honest opinion and praise him for being so forthright.

Either way you would make him squirm in his seat.

17/4/05

The peace is shatterred. Actions of others affect us - sometimes so much that we are forced to defend ourselves. You know the ugly news is going to come - sooner or later - the surprise is that it comes at the most unexpected moment. Life will go on but the tranquility will not be there. The joy of `peace' won't be there - till we learn to ignore these shattering moments and take them as `prasadam' - a price to be paid for being a part of this volatile world.

The child must stand on its own feet as early as posssible - yet its every fall is a blow to its parents. That it is a part of learning - this realization can reduce the pain but cannot completely remove it.

The thorny path of life - the flowers and the thorns that come by and by - are but the two sides of the coin. Sometimes you are prepared - the expected happens - and sometimes you are not - the unexpected forces its way as an intruder.

The `core' of life must be made immune to these flip-flops - whether in one's own life or that of our loved ones. For then life can be lived with a neutrality that would neither sadden us nor gladden us.

The colour of this pen [RED] indicate the transition - life must go on - some rules, though, may have to be changed.

18/4/05

The enormity of what has befallen us in our family is slowly sinking in. No matter how many times we hold each other - no matter how many tears we shed - a harsh fact is emerging - ARE WE IN CONTROL OF OURSELVES or are we a plaything of our environs.

The worst is over - from down below the gloomy well we must journey upwards to our `happy go lucky' attitude. But a shadow would always remain - as also the stark realisation that `worst' could have happened. It is time to take stock - time also to sit back and allow the `dust' to settle. Only then the rational thoughts will begin to merge.

What the future brings - no one knows and yet we can prepare ourselves. That the preparation would be so shattering for all of us - is, of course, because it was the expected unexpected. The images of this incident would keep re-playing again and again but then it is not the end of the world. It could, of course, be an end of something and beginning of another something.

To shape it to meet our dreams would need courage and resilience. Do we have it? The future would tell!

ONLY ME - NO ONE ELSE?

I have set out on `missions impossible' hundreds of times. For me, my pursuits are too pristine to be given away - as my pursuits evolve I too evolve. Those who fit into this evolving stay others just drift away. That's why I have been a loner most of the time.


Yet there are many who have stayed on me for years and years - in the hope or maybe their belief that it would be better to stay then drift away. My responsibility to them has grown proportionate to the length they have been with me. For them, if I were to delegate any authority to anyone, it would be catastrophic. Good or bad, their desire to stay put is my greatest happiness - in a way it makes me feel important.

As I set out to re-write the SPORTS HISTORY of this country - my fellow travellers look after me fondly - they worry too! But then the gigantic task that I have taken upon me must be `ONLY ME - NO ONE ELSE'.

NETWORK TEACHING

A single teacher for a single subject is like drinking water from one stream and trying to undrstand the taste of all rivers of the world. A better alternative would be to allow different teachers to interact with the students. The learning would be multi-dimensional.

Every teacher has excellence and blind spots in patches. The students must suffer both. Providing a second teacher and probably a third teacher [for the same subject] would enhance sieving action in the minds of the students. They would develop the ability to decipher the `blind spots' much easily. Network teaching would enhance learning, indirectly it would help both teachers as also the students.

At times a teacher feel that he hasnot been able to explain a particular `point' to a certain group within the class. He can suggest the next `network teacher' to take up that point again. Almost always there is success.

Mobile teachers doing network teaching would have less pressure as they can enhance their `excellent' spots to the best and allow their `blind spots' to be cleared by other teachers. The students would respond to this `excellence' by allowing churning of diverse knowledge to take place. Tangential learning leading to innovative thought processes would unleash questioning of networking teachers. The learners would demand knowledge and not that the teachers have to force-feed.

But the question is - is network teaching possible. Especially with teachers having OVERSIZED egos which keep becoming bigger and bigger. NETWORK COUPLE OF SCHOOLS - YOU MAY BE SURPRISED AT THE SUCCESS!

PS : The heading of this was to be NETWORK COACHING - as during a visit to a residential school some of my basketball students attended `chemistry' & `maths' classes and compared their own teachers - the idea of NETWORK TEACHING was born. Even coaches should allow their players to `learn' from others so that a multi-dimension in learning is developed, rather than hanging on to players because of their personal egos.

THE SELF LEARNING PROCESS

Learning is a forgotten art these days. There is so much `teaching' for the young children that there is a tendency on everyone's part to think that without teaching there is no learning. I submit that when there is no teaching the learning process is must faster.

Environmental interaction is a powerful tool in the self learning process. Climbing up a hill or getting down can rarely be taught because every `hand-hold' or a `foot hold' on the rock is a unique process of `self learning'. The younger children {assumption is that they have not been `taught'} learn swimming much faster when there is no teaching.

But self learning doesn't mean the absence of the teacher. His role is that of a co-ordinator or a motivator. He can show unknow vistas - fire the imagination to much greater heights. This is totally absent in todays' teachers. They hardly inspire.

For the motivaor to inside the LEARNERS - he himself should be ready to self learn at all times. It is surprising how most of the teachers stop `learning' and just repeat their lessons like audio cassettes. They donot allow you to interrupt - they donot allow you to question - they are so dull - its often good to sleep in their classes.

The self learning process is a vibrant force in which everyone learns - no one teaches. The lesson is never the same. As individuals change the direction of the lesson also changes. The questions are different and occassionally strange answers are found. Innovation comes naturally in the process of self learning. Indeed the arraival of man from the jungle to today's super cities has been a process of self learning and innovation. Today's teachers would have advised the cae dwellers to stay in the caves and not venture out at all. They do it today only the shape of the cave is slightly different.

Self learning begets complete understanding. Once begun - the process of self learning is a constant source of knowledge - it moves in all the dimensions to give a clearer perspective. There is no ambiguity in thinking.

Clear thoughts help determine positive action. There is no confusion. Positive action is a promise of achievement. The synergised mental and physical achievements is the `nirvana' that is the culmination of all living beings.