25.10.2011

Today, I wake up with the thought that there is - ‘too much under utility’.

There is so much talent out there made to poor use. Unused resource being wasted.

       Quick examples: 

      1. I have a maid who cooks meals for us. She joined us 3 months ago. She does her job well. I have known her for over three years now as she serves at my brother-in- law’s home too.

In the last three months, we have cooked a total of 6 different dishes at my place. Guess you are thinking… ‘Is that all she knows?’  The fact is - Nope! She cooks a large variety of dishes at my b-i-l-z home.  The question is – ‘Why not at our place??’ 

Less opportunities.

2. (During my last trip to Muscat, I had this conversation with a Divisional Manager of an IT company. We had a long interesting chat. And this was one of the stories he shared. )

Their company had a particular project at the airport involving heavy networking.  This involved some experts from Germany coming down to assemble the parts of their products.

He also shared that there is this guy in his team who is an exceptionally skilled worker.  He doesn’t get paid a fancy salary but he could create magic with his hands and troubleshoot most problems. So much so that many a time the worker would surprise his German counterparts with his troubleshooting skills on their products.

This Manager was telling me about the large amounts of money they were able to save because of this one worker who had the guts to solve problems in-house.

My question here is – ‘What happens if this worker, despite having the power to resolve issues, keeps mum?

Simple. You have an SOS call to Germany. An expert flies down. Fixes the problem. And leaves you with a smile and his itemized check =)

So here are two cases.

One - where you have our maid who has less opportunity to display the extent of her culinary skills with us. Hence, a talented cook remains under- utilized. The other where you have a skilled worker willing to explore his genius further enough to resolve issues for his company.

Mind you, money is not what motivates this worker to do miracles - but it is the job itself. Also the faith, respect and appreciation the manager has in him that motivates him to solve issues.

In both cases and in many others I feel this strongly in my heart, about a need to understand people, engage them and  

bring out God given talent.

Go... Create Opportunities.

say Now!!

For a period of my life...especially while growing up at Muscat, I'd complain of being stuck at home on weekends not being able to do anything. I also remember some point in my life where I decided that I am not going to let this happen to my own lil family (whenever that happens =) )

Last weekend my socially gifted extroverted friend came up with this idea of visiting a mall - like just to hang out. My immediate response was in the negative... but ended up giving in eventually.
We got to this mall with no specific objective and landed up at the kids games section =) What happened in the next 2 hours has escaped my memory. All I know is that I laughed enough to cough. =)

On my way back, I asked myself...
'Would I normally make such a choice of going to a noisy mall on a weekend?'
The definite answer is 'No'.

And I realized it took the 'No' to be a "Now" to make me have a weekend I'll remember for awhile.

Say NoW!  =)

VBS @ Hyderabad

I was in Hyderabad a few weeks ago to lead a Vacation Bible School program for kids at the Ascension Mar Thoma Church. Somehow, last year and even a month ago when achen had invited me there were some other activities in place which didn't make this VBS look possible. But, thanks to the way God turns things around, I got to make it to Hyderabad.

I need to say I had a great time with the Kids and teachers. Some of the parents showed up everyday to cook meals for the kids. Twas awesome! I enjoyed the hospitality of Mathew achen & family who treated me like royalty!

My experiences with certain people...

a. Luke! : Ok...Luke is 5 years old. But he can talk like a 15 year old. In my first session he surprised me with the kind of answers he came up with. Young chap with an excellent smile. So was this other guy Shawn (4year old)... major smiles and man therez so much radiance on their faces!!
(Luke & Shawn were, I guess, the names I called the most during my sessions... they were so coool!!)

b. Achen & family: If you have been brought up as a syrian christian, there is this reverence & respect you have for the priests/bishops or clergy in general that is kinda ingrained in your system. I have always pictured myself on the giving side when I meet the clergy ( ie: give respect/honor etc.).
Here, in Hyderabad, I have this achen & family who turn the tables. I am suddenly on the receiving side. =) Yea... I was treated as a Bishop! lol! The love, care and responsiveness they showed were amazing. They'd go out of their way to serve. God bless their serving hearts!

c. Youth band =) : When I got to Hyderabad, I had brought a guitar assuming that I am gonna be doing a lot of singing alone. And when I casually check with Achen, they even have a drum kit at church. Wow! A traditional church having a drum kit??? hmmnn...not so common. Well to my surprise I had a lead guitarist, a drummer, a keyboardist and a bunch of vocalists...what more did I want?? =) There were these guys called Rubin, Wilfred, Sunil, Tobin, & Jewel who turned in for practice in the mornings before the day started - some of them driving 45 mins to get to church. Wow!

d. The Cooking team : I dont know why but I was really happy to see a good bunch of parents and church members coming in every morning to cook food for about 70 people. The food was amazing!

More than that, it was just the thought that these folks could get together to cook and also discuss their worlds with each other. I have heard of corporates taking their managers to a cooking workshop to improve team dynamics. A lot of things happen when we do things together... and it was just beautiful to see that.

with the Team @ Ascension MTC, Hyderabad

Writing Skills with CTS

Last week I was at CTS, Siruseri with a batch of new hires. This is a new project I have taken up in collaboration with ReThink Solutions. Thanks to Mike!

Twas a great time with a nice bunch of youngsters.  On Friday, the group surprised me with a bunch of roses. Really sweet of them. Itz in a real long time, that I got over 7 days continuously with the same bunch of guys. Good time of learning & engagement.

Herez us.