Drummer Girl – Part 2

I wrote about the little drummer girl a few days ago. She has been coming for practice every day and surprising me with her inherent sense of timing. Every time I give her a new beat or a fill, she picks up in seconds. That’s extraordinary.

Apart from playing well she has disrupted the idea that only boys can play drums(generally people think so). She has created a furore (positive) among other children. Now everyone is coming and asking me if they can learn drums. Some kids even want to challenge the little drummer girl. I have told them to be my guest. They are even jealous. Many boys haven’t been able to learn in two years what the little star has learnt in two months.

What I like is the fact that someone came along and opened up the opportunity for everyone. It is like in the olden times that people used to beat the drums to get attention and make important announcements. The little drummer had to beat the drums to get everyone’s attention to music. This is quite disruptive and I am glad about it.

Work is a necessity

To be productive is a human need. Work is a necessity. Without work we would ‘die’ as we wouldn’t get our worth. I was talking to a friend who’s utterly frustrated, almost depressed, because she doesn’t have a job. She started feeling worthless and life seemed meaningless at times. That’s a terrible feeling.

Being productive is a human need, a necessity. We are all equipped with certain talent and skills and those need to be used. When we sit idle we produce nothing. Man has always ‘worked the ground’ even since the first man walked the earth. Work not only gets us money but gives us fulfilment and happiness. Even people with tons of money have some kind of work. They cannot be sitting 24×7 and do nothing. That will kill them is sometime. It’s just impossible.

I was once without job and in the afternoon I used to have long naps. When I woke up I always had this question: what am I doing here? I felt so worthless at times. It is frustrating. That’s why I tell people to be thankful for work. Happy working!

Faith and Courage

I left my IT job in 2008 and ventured into freelancing and entrepreneurship. I had no idea about business but I wished I could have a business of my own. My friend came up with a brilliant idea and we found an investor too. We shut shop in 6 months.

A year later I got another idea, a good one. I got few friends to invest and do a prototype, but that too had to be shut. After that I tried at least 5 other ventures but none of them survived past the incubation period. I was quite disheartened but I had to move on with new hope. I got back into the workforce. What I have learnt from all these experiences is that we lacked two things: faith and courage. I have been watching some interesting ted talks and hearing stories of people who are now millionaires. They all started small, had a humble beginning. One such venture started the same business that I was into. His company is now thouching the sky. Mine should have at least touched the moon by that logic.

I, along with my partners, didn’t have faith and courage. We had doubts in our products and our ideas. That’s why nothing worked. We had options to get back to jobs and that was the comfort we lived with. With faith and courage there’s no stopping.

Drummer Girl

Three years ago I had spotted a little drummer of 8 years. I waited for three years to get her to drumming and yesterday she proved that she has it in her – the amazing sense of timing. She’s ready to beat the world.

I have always wanted to do something that’s not stereotype and this time I wanted girls to play drums. It’s not a girl thing right? I wanted the ‘boy things’ to be done by girls and I found this little girl. Yesterday she had her first band performance with the high school children and she nailed it. Everyone was in awe of her sense of timing. It was her debut performance in front of an audience. I was quite nervous even though I had the faith that she would pull it off. To add to my nervousness the drum stick fell as she was playing the fill. I was relieved when she was handed the stick and got back to the rhythm. When the final roll was played, the crowd shouted for her impeccable debut performance. She is all of 10.

I am glad Suhani has picked up the sticks to beat the stereotypical norms that exist. She has the swag too. I am sure I will be able to witness more of her performances and hoping that she will continue to feel the beat as I do in my heart.

Peeling in time saves nine

The old adage stitch in time….is more meaningful in modern times. I say this because we are busy doing so many things. Especially for those who work and live in the city.

In the last one week I peeled more garlic than in the whole year. Since my wife is away for work and my daughter has exams, I am the head chef at the moment. With so much already on my plate this is an additional domestic hazard. So I decided to peel the garlic 🙂 As advised by a friend, I peeled the garlic, cut the onions, tomatoes and ginger. Cooked all of these to make a masala(mixture) for cooking curry and pulses. This saved me from a week of unnecessary pressure of peeling and cutting every morning and evening.

Since I had to do so many things the peeling in time saved me from the stress of extra menial work. I am going to make this a habit. Half an hour spent on a day to prepare can save many hours for a week.

Silent Clap :)

What’s this? Just raise your hands and flip the palms left and right. I have ‘heard’ the silent clap for the first time few years ago. I thought that was just to settle children and reduce the amount of noise children make. I never thought this whole concept would be used as an alternative to celebration.

Recently at a school function children had a poetry recital competition. When the poems were recited children where asked to do silent clapping. Fair enough. That reduced the commotion. At the end of the programme there came the announcement of the winners. The team that got the first prize shouted and cheered with jubilance.

Nothing can stop you from jumping for joy when you win. It’s narural. Celebration is always loud. To control the noise level of the crowd you might use silent clap strategy but when it comes to celebration, making noise is natural.

#Paper Ball #Paper Bomb

Reminiscing childhood is one of the best things in life. Today I was with 3 graders for an hour. They wanted paper to draw. I remembered my childhood days making paper balls and planes. I was telling few kids that I forgot how to make paper planes. And then I checked online.

I searched ‘how to make paper balls’ online and there came the videos. I showed one video to the kids and as we were watching they said “it’s a paper bomb and we know how to make it.” I was wondering how did the innocent paper ball became paper bomb. What they do is that they make these paper balls, put water and throw at others like a grenade. That’s paradigm shift, really. In our growing up days, things were simple – no violent video games, no internet. We just hung out in the open with friends, played whatever we could.

Times have really changed. Children are exposed to killing, in games and movies. There’s so much violence they see. So much so that the paper ball has now become the paper bomb.

What you see is not what it is

One judgement every single person has pronounced on another human being is “Everyone is running after money.” How much truth is there in this statement? Especially spiritual leaders and so called saints say this.

When you see a lot of people trying to swim this great ocean of opportunities it looks like that. When people don’t remain in touch after getting a job, people tend to say that that person is now running after money, forgetting friends, or even family. When a person is loaded with responsibility at work they are not able to be in touch or visit family for long duration. The ‘verdict’ again is running after money. I feel this is very unfair and we should refrain from making that conclusion. As adults we have different priorities and they keep changing. We keep making new contacts and even new friends. We are less likely to keep in touch with the old gang. We have children and we get busy with them. All these things are added to our lives as we move forward.

These are the by-products of our progress and not because of running after money. Even after years of working some people find it hard to make ends meet. Struggling is not bad, giving up is. We need to give the benefit of doubt when we don’t hear from our friends or family members. We need to be more gracious to people than be judgemental. In this there’s more peace.

Why win argument, win people

Don’t fight just to win the argument, fight for a good reason. I have often seen teenagers and their parents fighting for petty issues. Children just want to win the argument saying that the world has changed and we don’t know anything about it.

My wife and daughter usually are seen at loggerheads trying to outdo each other in arguments. I generally keep quiet when they are at it. What I have studied is that winning an argument becomes the priority and not resolving the problem. If you tell a teenager to sleep on time they will argue saying that their friends also stay up late. When you tell them it’s unhealthy to be up so late, they won’t listen.

Of course sometimes they ask for logic for certain things, which we were afraid to ask our parents, but most often they only want to win an argument. Even adults sometimes argue to win not for a valid reason. It’s better to win people or even their confidence, rather than just an argument.

One small act of appreciation

It’s Teacher’s Day and it brings back memories of my school days. I was naive, reckless, lazy, carefree, rustic. Teachers taught me to read and write and that gave me wings to imagine.

I particularly remember my English teacher when I was in class four. Her appreciation has remained with me forever. We were asked to write a letter to our parents as a letter writing exercise. After she read my letter she wanted to show it to class 7. She took me to class seven and said this is the way to write a letter. I was overwhelmed by her appreciation. Her one little act of kindness and appreciation made me like the subject so much that every year I did well in English. Ultimately I chose English honours in college. And today I am able to write. Thank you ma’am!

Teachers have a great role to motivate. They don’t need to teach everything but just show the way. A little appreciation can go a long way. I am sure that letter wasn’t that great but she genuinely thought I made a good attempt. Children need that push all the time and such little push can propel them into the future. Happy Teacher’s Day!