Applied Psychology series (2/4): Management of Agreement

We humans are social beings & day in day out, we interact & live among people in our personal & professional spaces. Hence Interpersonal skills is of huge importance, for our effective functioning in society. Interpersonal skills is multi-facet comprising of team work, communication, cross-cultural understanding, just to name a few.

Group Decision Making is one such critical social skill, which we need on a frequent basis, for working effectively in group setting, for facilitating discussion & decision making.

Group Decision Making, in progress

In fact, we all have engaged in group decision making process, on a regular basis, in some form or the other, either as a participant or as a facilitator.

Hence, it might be a good idea to spend some time in understanding the various aspects of Group Decision Making, so that we can up-skill ourselves in Group Decision Making technique & become effective in 'Management of Agreement'.

Several years back, while undertaking a course on Social Psychology, I had came across three very interesting phenomenons (listed below), which have profound impact on the effectiveness of Group Decision Making process.

• Group-think (Conformity) 
• Group-shift (Group-polarization)  
• Abilene Paradox

At the core, these concepts are raising a fundamental & radical question:

'Is Group Decision Making always preferable, in comparison to Individual Decision Making?'

Group Decision Making vs Independent Decision Making, which is better?

Intuitively, we might have a positive bias towards Group Decision Making, for it's obvious benefits like consensus building, generating multiple ideas through brain-storming sessions, engaging with multiple stakeholders etc.

However, Group Decision Making, has it's own pitfalls & hence it is crucial for us to raise our awareness about these not so obvious phenomenon, if we want to become effective in our 'Management of Agreement'.

All members in sync, with group decision

Let's begin our deep dive, by taking stock of the merits & demerits of Group Decision Making:

• Merits of Group Decision Making

1. Likelihood of generating more information & benefiting from collective knowledge
2. Varied inputs & heterogeneity into the decision making process
3. Increased diversity of views
4. Multiple approaches & alternatives
5. Consensus building & increased acceptance of the decision(s) made 

• Demerits of Group Decision Making

1. Brainstorming sessions are time consuming (slow paced process)
2. Conformity (an individual with a different point of view, succumbing to group pressure)
3. Group decision making can be dominated by one or few members 
4. A group's overall effectiveness will suffer, if it comprises of low & medium ability members,
5. Ambiguous responsibility (in an individual decision, accountability for the final outcome resides on one person. However, in group decision, the accountability of any single member is diluted).

Let us now, explore the three phenomenons which can derail the effectiveness of Group Decision Making process:

• Group Think: 

Group-think - Social Pressure on an individual to go with majority

Many of us, at some point in time, would have experienced this phenomenon, in varied degrees & in various occasions in our day to day life. 

We would have felt like speaking up in a meeting, in a classroom, or in an informal gathering but finally we would have ended up, deciding against it.

One of the probable reason may have been our inability to overcome our shyness.The other possibility, is we might have been a victim of group think.

Group-think, is social pressure on an individual who has a different point of view, to conform (agree) to the group consensus (norm).

Group-think, suppresses the full expression of deviant, minority & unpopular views of an individual.

Does group think happen in all groups?

The comforting news is, 'No'.
However, there are many factors which contributes towards the occurrence of group-think, in a group decision making process.

The probability of Group-think, is high in the following situations:

1. When there is a clear group identity
2. When members hold a positive image of their group
3. When the group perceives a threat to their group's positive image & they want to protect it.

To safe-guard the effectiveness of our Group Decision Making, let us now explore the strategies to mitigate it's occurrence:

1. Group size: People grow more intimidated & hesitant as the group size increases. Hence try keeping the group size upto 10 members or split the large group into smaller sub-groups
2. Facilitator should try to play an impartial role. 
3. Devil's advocate: Someone in the group can be assigned to play the role of devil's advocate.They should explicitly challenge the majority position & offer divergent perspectives.
4. Group Leaders: They should avoid expressing their own opinions, especially in the early stages of deliberation. They should actively seek inputs from all members.
5. Avoid Positive Bias: Delay discussion of possible gains, instead talk about the dangers or risks of a proposed decision. Focusing on the negatives, makes the group less likely to stifle dissenting views & more likely to gain an objective evaluation.

• Group shift or Group Polarization:

Group taking extreme position

From our personal experience, we would have been witness to situation(s), wherein the group takes an extreme view, during their course of group discussion. The discussion process, leads members towards a more extreme view of position, than they originally held. This phenomenon, is referred as Group-shift (Group-polarization).

Conservatives become more cautious & more aggressive types take on more risk.

Whether the shift in the group's decision is toward greater caution or more risk, depends on the dominant pre-discussion norm.

The reasons, for group polarization are:

1. Shared identity & comfort zone: The members of a particular group have a shared identity & they are in a comfort zone with each other. Therefore in group discussions, the group members are more willing to express extreme versions of their original positions.
2. Diffused responsibility: Group decisions frees any single member from accountability for the group's final decision, so group members tend to take a more extreme position. 
3. Competition with Out-group: The IN-group members, have an urge to demonstrate themselves as different from the OUT-group (other groups, whom they perceive as their competitor).

As a group-leader or as a group-member, we should execute our judgement & moderate the extreme approaches during our group decision making, which unintentionally we might end up taking.

• Abilene Paradox:

The paradox between explicit & implicit behaviour

Have you ever, been in a situation, when as a group member you went along with a decision thinking it is a group consensus? Later on, you discovered, even the other members of the group did the same, thinking it was a group consensus. The paradox was, every member went along with the decision thinking it is a group consensus. In reality, none from the group agreed with the decision, but still all went along, till things fell apart. This paradox is called, Abilene paradox. (This theory was coined by researcher Jerry Harvey).

Let's look into the probable reasons behind the occurrences of Abilene Paradox:

1. Group members, feel a compulsion to be perceived as part of the group
2. They are fearful of challenging conventions (traditions)
3. Dominant & rigid hierarchy, results in members toeing the line
4. Groups which displays passive behavior & lacks interaction among the members

Let us explore the possible mitigation strategies, for avoid this unwanted phenomenon in our group decision making process:

1. We should develop a culture of transparent & open communication 
2. Facilitate interaction among all the group members, cutting across hierarchy.
3. Group leader, should encourage 'critical reasoning' among the members, to avoid herd mentality.
4. If members are fearful of expressing their opinion freely, create systems for seeking anonymous feedback & opinions.
5. Arrange a follow up review session, with sub-group(s) or individuals, for evaluating the final decision (consensus).   

Putting things into perspective, we can see Group Decision Making offers both breadth & depth of input for information gathering, makes analysis more critical & facilitates support from the group for implementing the final solution. 

But on the other hand it is a slow process, it can create internal conflicts & aspects of human behavior like group-think, group-shift & Abilene paradox can derail the final outcome of Group Decision Making process.   

So in conclusion, which method is most effective?
Is it Group Decision Making or Individual Decision Making? 

Effective Group Decision Making
(Image courtesy: www.123rf.com)

Taking into considering all the above stated factors, we can clearly see there are pros & cons, in both the methods. 

Hence one needs to factor in all these aspects in their evaluation process & opt for the method which best suits in the given context & situation. 

In practice, one needs to be observant for picking up early signals of the probable pitfalls (Group-Think, Group-Shift & Abilene Paradox) for their timely mitigation, to facilitate an effective 'Management of Agreement'. 

References: Organizational Behavior - Robbins, Judge & Vohra (Pearson)

                    Course on Social Psychology - Professor Scott Plous Wesleyan University

Applied Psychology series (1/4): Wear Your Thinking Hats

Image courtesy: blog4tests.com

The ability to 'THINK', is possibly the greatest skill possessed by we humans.

Ironically, thinking through all aspects, taking into account the time perspective, collateral implications, balancing emotions & rationality does not come natural to us.

In most cases, we end up with 'not so good decisions' & in the hindsight we uncover the judgement errors we made.

If these lessons learned were embedded in our cognition & next time around we were better off in our thinking & decision making, it would mean we are progressing & getting better.

For some of us, this does happen [wiser folks :)], but then there are majority of us who end up 'herding' to our old thinking pattern & decision making.

Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' is a very powerful yet simplistic model, which can help in enhancing our thinking ability & facilitate better decision making.

Six Hats method is synonymous to 'Parallel Thinking'.

Parallel Thinking, is holistic approach, multi-dimensional view, putting all views on the table & choosing the best alternative keeping aside ego & bias.

Image courtesy: www.mkk.school.nz

The colour of each hat is related to a function:

• White hat: White is neutral & objective. 

The white hat is concerned with objective facts & figures.

• Red hat: Red suggests anger, rage & emotions.

 The red hat gives the emotional view.

• Black hat: Black is sombre & serious.

 The black hat is cautious & careful. It points out the weakness in an idea.

• Yellow hat: Yellow is sunny & positive. 

The yellow hat is optimistic & covers hope & positive thinking.

• Green hat: Green is grass, vegetation & abundant, fertile growth.

 The green hat indicates creativity & new ideas.

• Blue hat: Blue is cool, & it is also the colour of the sky, which is above everything else.

 The blue hat is concerned with control, the organisation of the thinking process & the use of the other hats.

Advantages of Six Thinking Hats concept:

• Power: Intelligence, experience & knowledge (in a group setting) are fully used.

• Time Saving: Divergent point of views are put alongside (in parallel) & based on merit, a decision is made. (This is different from being argumentative).

• Removal of Ego: Six hats, put asides confrontational & adversarial thinking, which feeds into ego issues. (Six hats method provides a neutral & objective exploration of a subject).

• One thing at a time: Processing information, managing feelings, exploring options, walking the line of caution etc all happening at same time leads to confusion, which adversely affects good thinking. Six hats model, helps us to entangle these threads & take one aspect of thinking at a time.

For a detailed understanding of the concept, one can refer to the book 'Six Thinking Hats', by Edward de Bono.

Psychology Today had quoted in it's review - "We owe de Bono a debt for constantly reminding us that thinking is a skill & can be improved".

It is indeed a great book, to invest our time, if one seeks to improve their thinking & decision making skill.

Why do you need more?

It was just another normal day, I sat in the taxi with my son, on the way to drop him to his pre-school. It so happened that we found a coin (HK dollar) on the seat. My three & half years old son, took the coin with playful innocence while I instinctively looked at the seat, just in case there were more coins accidentally left behind. My son asked me what Pappa? to which I responded, I am checking if there were more coins. I was subjected to a profound philosophical follow up question by my three & half years old son, "You got one coin,..........Why do you need more?"

Much of our problems of today's complicated world, can be traced down to this simple question, Why more? I am not talking in terms of ideologies like socialism or capitalism, but from the philosophical & from the popular culture point of view, which we all have created & subjected ourselves as the order of the day (societal norms). 
The whole yardstick of success in our modern society is How much money one makes? (micro-level), what's the GDP of a country? (macro-level). 
I am not advocating that the modern day's policies are 'plain black & white' or a 'zero sum game'. There has been many bright things like significant improvement in people's living standards, substantial progress in individuals economy, health, education etc. 
But the myopic vision & greed on materialistic gain, as the only yardstick of perceived success will keep on deepening the divide between the have's (rich) & have not's (poor) resulting in an unstable & unsafe societies (crime, civil war, protests), degradation of moral standards (money & muscle power, crony capitalism). Trust deficit within societies will continue to go on it's downward spiral, unabashed plundering of environmental resources will push us to hyper acute crisis state sooner or later (climate change).

The time has come, when we collectively as a human society now need to have a paradigm shift & readjust our trajectory of evolutionary process, towards a Holistic meaningful progression. 

Coming back into my day to day life as an individual, I do not have any ready made answers to the question "Why more?", which my three & half year old innocently asked me. 

However, over the years gone by, in my understanding one of the most important word in English dictionary is 'Balance'. 

Collective change will happen out of compulsion in near future (this is my strong belief - crisis will compel us to rethink & re-calibrate our direction). This collective change probably will take time, till the tipping point is reached. However, at an individual level I can at least strive to strike a Balance in my thoughts & in my way of life. I call this personal philosophy in my own words as, "Quest to be a Practical Idealist" - striking the right balance between practical-ism & idealism, to make a purposeful, meaningful & fulfilling life.

    

We are the Prisoners & We are the Guards

I am reading a book "What I wish I knew When I Was 20 - by Tina Seelig". In this wonderful book, the author mentions about one of her favorite dialogue from the movie "My Dinner with Andre", which says,  New Yorkers "are both the guards & prisoners & as a result they no longer have ..... the capacity to leave the prison they have made, or even see it as a prison".

This line is so very powerful, yet so simple, it is so deep, yet it is just tugged away somewhere & we all tend to miss this very essence from our consciousness, from our daily life each & every moment.
Isn't it so true that we all are the Prisoners & we are the Guards, for ourselves.

 The extrapolation of this statement can be made in all dimensions, in all aspects of our life. 

We do make rules, assumptions, expectations, believe, value systems & then unknowingly become prisoner within this boundary & guard ourselves to make sure we stay within this invisible walls.  

If we step out of the philosophical metaphor & see ourselves in the realm of the real world & society, it is the same story, isn't it? 

We graduate in a particular field of study, we pursue a chosen career & do not challenge ourselves to see the endless possibilities of breaking the stereotype, we define success in terms of title, money, car, house, exotic vacations & sleep walk through our life as prisoners within this invisible framework of rules, we created unknowingly or unknowingly for ourselves.

In history & in our contemporary life, there have been many men & women, who perceived life, society & themselves with a very unique lens of their own. They were willing to identify & challenge assumptions, & to break free of the expectations that they themselves & others had projected on them. They were not afraid of getting out of their comfort zone, they had a healthy disregard for the impossible & to turn well-worn ideas on their heads.

Of course, leaving the well-worn path & choosing to walk against the current is never easy, but these unique men & women have left behind a legacy & tale of inspiration for all of us to ask this question to ourselves - "Are we the Prisoners & are we the Guards for ourselves?".

Knowing that you can question the rules is terrifically empowering. The sole rule is that you are limited only by your energy & imagination. - Tina Seelig.

Acknowledgement: The photo, is taken from Carl Pendle's beautiful blogpost 'Bird Tied Up'.  http://carlpendlephotographyandvideo.blogspot.sg/2010/01/bird-tied-up.html

Educated - Real education or certificate education?

There are several questions in LIFE, which makes us feel very uneasy & not so comfortable. When I
became a Father, I wondered what is the right way of upbringing my son? What are the dos & do nots? Isn't it funny, that we have Soft & Technical Skills trainings in Professional life, we have a manual on how to install & operate electronic gadgets, but there is no Manual to refer to for the most important phase of our life, BEING A PARENT!

I remember many of those soft moments, filled with Love, Care & Affection & then those crazy moments of anger, frustration, losing my cool on not being able to handle my son adequately. I soon realized, my parenting methodology was trial & error, my knowledge was based on my thinking ability & my understanding which I inherited from my previous generation, in other words it is ‘My Way’, but not necessarily the ‘Right Way’. Quite frustrating isn’t it? We the average large section of the society seem to know about Economy, Climate Change, Politics, Movies, Cricket, TV Soaps, Property Rates, Fashion, Cars, Festivities & our Gods, yet we know so little about the most important role of our life Parenting & Child Psychology & Development.

As parents many of us lack the scientific knowledge of ‘Child Development', & in the urban scenario we have a busy lifestyle, we are working couples….thereby limiting our influence on the day to day process which shapes up our Child into a teenager & one fine day transformed into an adult. So to speak, for many of us, our Parenting outcome is ‘Luck By Chance’.

The grey areas of our country’s Educational Sector, keeps me introspecting further:
Most of the educational institutes are more focused on becoming coaching centers for cracking exams rather than preparing for life. 
On top, the approach of one size fits all in education, not taking into account each individual is different & offering career guidance leaves a big gap in the final outcome, by the time the child comes out of the education system. 
In a nutshell we cannot blindly outsource our children’s upbringing to the educational institutes & absolve ourselves from our parenting responsibilities.

I can speak for myself, I loved History, Philosophy, Archaeology, Teaching, Creative Writing, Theatre but never knew how to pursue them as a career, when I was in school. I followed what others thought I should do, because a Professional Degree is considered to be more secured & stands a better chance in the Job market, rather than MA in Philosophy or studying Archaeology. So today, here I am with a reasonable success & established career in the corporate world, but with graceful ageing now I have a realization may be, with proper guidance & encouragement to think ‘out of the box’ during my childhood years, my present may have been totally different. 
Well no complains & I know my parents are ‘Best in the World’ for me, but rationally speaking
they did their best in their own way, quite similar to what I am doing today as a parent.

By the way, the current Educational system has a very short history, just dating back to the emergence of Industrial Era, in the 19th Century. The bulk of the certifications, diplomas, degrees are batch production mode, to make supervisors & officers to run our Industrial Houses.

I came across a beautiful talk on TED, by Sir Ken Robinson (Author/Educator) on the "How our current Education System undermines Creativity". In this talk, he elaborates about the phenomenon of 'Academic Inflation'. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Think about it, during our Grandfather’s generation a Diploma would have fetched a good job, in our Dad’s generation a Bachelor’s Degree would be needed for an equivalent job, in our time we need a Masters Degree & by the time our children enter the job market PhD or Post Doc for a job will not be a far stretched nightmare. The Academic Inflation is inevitable, with the huge population explosion, impact of Technology, Business reallocation based on emerging markets, low cost centers, downsizing of Work force, cost cutting, dramatically changes the Business environment, the Degrees having no values & Employment rate shrinking in our ailing Global economy. (UNESCO – “In next 30 years, worldwide more number of Graduates will come out, than the entire Graduate population in the whole of history”).


When I see my son now, I can see a reflection of my childhood in him, full of potentials &
possibilities. Will he too follow the same pattern of ignorance, herd mentality & might live a life in full sync to his true self? It’s painful to pen down, but that probability is quite high,unless I as a parent, first unlearn, re-learn, introspect & partner with him, in this new light of conscious parenting.

Hence it is absolutely important that we help our children to recognise their true talent & potential, help them pursue their interests, we should not suppress their creativity, we should not force them to have a herd mentality & follow the safe mediocre path just because of our own fear & insecurities.

We really need to reassess our own mindset, our insecurities, our methodology & what should be our
Objectives & Motives behind upbringing & educating our children? Do we want them to be educated by Certificate or 'Truly Educated in preparation for Life’. Someone who grows up to be Truly Confident & Competent to take on the world, a world which will be far more complex, difficult, unstable, dynamic than our's. We may or may not be there, but our Children will live in that world & it is our responsibility to prepare them for those unseen times, through the right upbringing & holistic education.

Beautiful from Outside, Ugly from Inside

I have a 3 year old son, who has started his new phase in life: going to Kindergarten. In mornings, I drop him to his kindergarten & after that I head off to my office. The morning ritual of dropping my son to his school, is one of my most treasured moments, as we get time to spend with one another, talking, walking, bonding with each other. 
On one such occasion, I was holding my son's hand & waiting on the pavement outside our Community gate for a Taxi. There was a young couple standing few paces away from us waiting for taxi, probably headed to their office. They were very attractive, well dressed, sophisticated, well groomed urban couple. I spotted a taxi coming from the other side of the road & waved my hand & called out Taxi! Luckily, I managed to catch the cab driver's attention & he drove his cab towards us. Since he was on the other side of the road & our destination was on the opposite direction I signalled the driver to make a U-Turn. 
The cab steered it's way, towards this side of the street & came to an halt mid-way between Us & the Couple. I started walking towards the cab holding my son's hand, matching my pace to his small steps. The Beautiful Lady, rushed towards the cab, opened the door & sneaked in. The guy, was still hesitant & perplexed, he came near to the cab & had a short exchange of words with her (probably, telling her, it's not right moral values). He then looked at me sheepishly & told SORRY (poor soul, he lacks courage to do what he things is right) & got into the cab & drove off. 
My Son, asked me "Pappa, why he said Sorry?".
It is normal for us to lose our temper, spoil our mood over such irresponsible & unjust act of others. Such emotions did start to empower me momentarily, but being a PARENT now, I have started to realise I have an opportunity each time to help my child learn a lesson, from the GREATEST TEACHER of all, i.e. LIFE. 
So I quickly regained my calmness & refrained from getting into an impulsive reaction. I explained my son, what happened & told we should never become one of them. That particular unpleasant event at the start of our day, now turned into a Life's Lesson for my Son. He got lessons on Etiquettes, Good Behaviour, Respect for Rules, to make right judgement & build moral values, no school could have taught him better than Life itself.
I was also left behind with a philosophical thought by Life, "The real Beauty resides Inside..... what's the point in being Beautiful from outside, Ugly from inside'. 

Concert of Incomplete Orchestra

I had heard a lot about the Movie Director Akira Kurosawa from Japan, who is regarded as one of the 'All Time Greatest Director' in the history of World Cinema. I came across Akira Kurosawa's movie collections at a DVD Shop in Shanghai & without a second thought, I picked it up & since then it is one of my prized possession in my humble sized library.

This weekend, I watched my first movie of this great director, the movie name is "One Wonderful Sunday" (English translation) (Original name: Subarashiki Nichiyobi - in Japanese), it's a black & white film made in 1947 & runs for 108 minutes.

Even though after the passage of 65 long years & me as an audience who is not Japanese (alien to the cultural aspects), the movie connected instantly with me by the storyline's pure innocence, the wonderful chemistry between the two lovers, the heart touching beautiful moments of hope & courage to keep alive their dreams & the heart wrenching moments of their despair & hopelessness, in the back drop of post-war Tokyo.

The story plot goes like this: Yuzo & his fiancee Masako, are in love with one another. They do not earn enough to met their ends & possibility of a better job, better income is remote during the post war times in Japan. Due to their financial constraints, they haven't been able to take forward their relationship into marriage, as Masako's  family would not approve of Yuzo, due to his low social standing & low income. 

Masako stays with her family in the suburbs of Tokyo & Yuzo stays with his room mate in a rented shabby room. They save whatever they can from their meagre income over the week for the eagerly awaited Sunday, the day of their dating. The typical date starts with Masako arriving Tokyo in train early in the morning with Yuzo waiting anxiously at the platform to receive her, then spending their whole day within their meagre budget & at night they part off with a heavy heart at the railway station, with the lingering hope to seeing each other next Sunday once again.

The movie, is about one such Sunday, they spend together with their weekly savings of 35 YEN..... the story takes you through the whole gamut of Human Emotions of the two lovers, through the day they spend together in the middle of the difficult times.

One of the scene & the narration: "Concert of Incomplete orchestra" will always stay with me, probably it was the essence which Kurosawa-san wanted to convey. Our life's may not be perfect, but we should try to make the best of it........"Concert of Incomplete Orchestra".   

Not black text & a photo, but made up of Blood & Flesh like You & Me

I remember in school, in History books we had was a photo of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, wearing a circular hat & some two to three lines in black text saying, he abolished the customs of ‘Sati’ in the year 1829 . The purpose of this reading was to get 1 or 2 marks in the short answers section of the examination.

After so many years, when I have grown up to become mature with age (well I hope so that I have maturedJ), my interest of history, philosophy has taken more concrete step. The other major factor, which I think has really helped all of us to expand our thinking, exploration & access to knowledge, has been Internet. Out of my curiosity & my interest in history, I have been browsing through YouTube for documentaries & other videos from which I will be able to get more insights in the historical events & the interesting & fascinating characters from the history gone by. Moreover, I can know about them without pressure & worry of scoring marks in the exams….. J.

In one of these regular browsing sessions, I came across a short documentary on Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Youtube. In that 15 minutes of documentary, I got to know so many fascinating things about this great man. It just made me think, wow! I hardly know anything about him, apart from the photo in school history book & 1 liner description of him.

This made me curious & I found a full length feature film on him, titled Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Youtube in Bengali language (unfortunately, it doesn't have subtitles for reaching out to the wider audience). The experience of watching it was so very moving, that it left a deep impression in my mind. Till today, my connection with him was the school history book which carried a small photo & one liner about his life.

But seeing the movie, the connection evolved to a humane level. In the back drop of dark ages in India (when Mughal rule was diminishing & East India Company spreading over India & social illiteracy, malpractices in the name of Religion was at the peak, when Indian masses had lost faith in themselves & were leading a life in delusion, despair, lacking self belief & confidence), a little boy by name Ram Mohan, set out on a journey for seeking the eternal truth & with the burning desire of uplifting the countrymen.

In this treacherous journey, he was disowned by his own parents, was cursed by his mother, thrown out of home to live on his own from a tender age as a punishment for his radical thinking. Such was emotional torture; that he was not even allowed by his Mother to lit fire to his father’s pyre & was not allowed to participate in the rituals. In such an emotional turmoil too, he didn't give up his principles & ideals for the larger cause of mankind’s upliftment.

All throughout his life, he withstood the pressure of sarcasm, social boycott, resistance through social pressures, money & muscle power but he never succumbed to them, & kept up his faith that one day Truth will prevail. He finally died ailing, fatigued & lonely, working till the last breath for what he believed in.

I kept wondering for quite some time, about his biopic, his life’s story. He didn't look like Black Text & one photo anymore.

The story became a humane story about a boy, who grew up to become a Renaissance Man, who went through so much of trauma at emotional level whole life, he was the true super hero who had the courage & strength to walk against the tide when everyone was going down the hill. It’s unbelievable to see, how enormous mental strength he had, how strong his conviction was, that no pressure could buckle him down. Truly he was the torch bearer of Renaissance in India.

He now no more appears to me made up of black text & a photo, but made up of blood & flesh like you & me. How I wish I had got this perspective while reading History in school........

   

Gitanjali - Tagore

Some of my favourite poems, from Tagore's Gitanjali

VIII
The child who is decked with prince's robes & who has jewelled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play, his dress hampers him at every step.
In fear that it may be frayed or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, & is afraid even to move.
Mother, it is no gain, thy bondange of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life.
XXI
I must launch out my boat. The languid hours pass by on the shore - Alas for me!
The spring has done it's flowering & taken leave. And now with the burden of faded futile flower I wait & linger.
The waves have become clamorous & upon the bank in the shady lane & the yellow leaves flutter & fall.
What emptiness do you gaze upon! Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air with the notes of the far-away song floating from the other shore?

XXIX
He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. I am ever busy building this wall all around & as this wall goes up into the sky day by day I lose sight of my true being in it's dark shadow.
I take pride in this great wall & I plaster it with dust & sand lest a least hole should be left in this name & for all the care I take, I lose sight of my true being.

XXXIII
When it was day they came into my house & said, "We shall only take the smallest room here".
They said, "We shall help you in the worship of your God & humbly accept only our share of his grace" & then they took their seat in a corner & they sat quiet & meek.
But in the darkness of night I find they break into my sacred shrine, strong & turbulent, & snatch with unholy greed the offerings from God's altar.

XXXV
Where the mind is without fear & the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches it's arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought & action - Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

XL
The rain has held back for days & days, my God, in my arid heart. The horizon is fiercely naked - not the thinnest cover of a soft cloud, not the vaguest hint of a distant cool shower.
Send the angry strom, dark with death, if it is Thy wish, & with lashes of lightning startle the sky from end to end.
But call back, my lord, call back this pervading silent heat, still & keen & cruel, burning the heart with dire despair.
Let the cloud of grace bend low from above like the tearful look of the mother on the day of the father's wrath.

XXXVI
This is my prayer to thee, my Lord-strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys & sorrows.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys & sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before the insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give the strength to surrender my strength to Thy will with Love.

XXXVII
I thought my voyage had come to it's end at the last limit of my power, - that the path before me was closed, that provisions were exhausted & the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity. But I find that thy will knows no end in me. And when old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart, & where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with it's wonders.

LXXVIII
When the creation was new & all the stars shone in their first splendor, the Gods held their assembly in the sky & sang, "Oh, the picture of perfection! the joy unalloyed!"
But one cried of a sudden - "It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light & one of the stars has been lost".
The golden string of their harp snapped, their song stopped & they cried in dismay - "Yes, that lost star was the best, she was the glory of all heavens!"
From that day the search is unceasing for her & the cry goes on from one to the other that in her the world has lost it's one joy!
Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile & whisper among themselves - "Vain is this seeking! Unbroken perfection is over all!".

XCII
I have got my leave. Bid me farewell, my brothers! I bow to you all & take my departure.
Here I give back the keys of my door - & I give up all claims to my house. I only ask for last kind words from you.
We were neighbours for long, but I received more than I could give. Now the day has dawned & the lamp that lit my dark corner is out. A summons has come & I am ready for my journey.

My first post

Today finally I took up the courage of creating my Blogging Account. I have always loved Writings, though I can never claim myself to be an intellect or a professional writer in my wildest dream, writing has always been something which I have loved from within & enjoyed doing so since a child.
Though with the growing up years, I took up Science & specialised in Pharmacy & eventually took up a Corporate career, I try to keep myself connected with my love for writing through Diaries, writing emails to my friends about my thoughts, some events which touches my inner side, journaling, maintaining memories of my son's childhood days which I plan to hand over to him when he grows up.
I am trying to take up Blogging to extend my Love for Writing & to explore my undiscovered Inner side. But, it has been quite a 'Start Up' problem today, the whole concept of Blogging, the Interface, the Options, the sophistication of the webpage, my complete ignorance of this medium has held me up like a slow moving traffic during the rush hours. Hopefully, in coming days, things will get settled down & my mind will be less agigated & the Blog will feel like my diary & pen in my hands.....hopefully, I will not have to name by Blog again as 'Starting Problem' :)