The Hindu Business Line : Find the genie within

You might have heard all these stories: Aladdin and the genie, the ant and the grasshopper, who will bell the cat, the hare and the tortoise, Arjuna the great archer, and the golden touch of Midas.

Potharaju Ravindra retells the tales in Give Me Back My Guitar from Macmillan (www.macmillanindia.com) .

The author, a former head of learning services in IBM India, is currently focused on establishing the school of MINDS (Management for Infrastructure and Development Strategies). And in his book, "he unravels a brilliant perspective to the meaning of life, which is at once stunningly simple and intellectually profound," R. Seshasayee writes in his foreword. "Putting together a series of children's stories (with a twist to the tales) to illustrate the message makes the book charmingly readable."

Thus, you'd hear Aladdin's uncle tell him that the genie is within! Once you discover the genie, you can get richer even while enjoying what you do, assures the uncle. Also, after the discovery, you would have no problem in completing tasks, though you may lose track of time when engaged in those tasks.

Then comes Bob, the grasshopper, and Tom, the ant. Bob tries to live like Tom and labours hard; but after one season, he gives up, and goes back to playing the guitar. But he has a brilliant business model to support him: In return for Bob's entertaining music, Tom gives him a share of food gathered during the day.

The book, written as a labour of love, in the form of conversations, between mother, father and daughter, can have `a deep motivational impact,' Seshasayee acknowledges.

Love, willingness, energy, and hard work are all linked, explains Ravindra, through Bob. "In his love for work was the source of his willingness or `will'. This `will' was a fountainhead that supplied unlimited and instant energy. With abundant energy no work seemed hard."

To those humble enough to learn from the country mouse, there is this valuable life lesson that the cat to be belled is a monstrous one called `ego'. You can `hear' it coming whenever you frantically try to impress or control others, or sink into anger, guilt, worry and ingratitude. "These emotions drain a tremendous amount of energy from our system," so, watch out! "The majority of us are `energy inefficient'," rues the author. "A fraction of our energy is only spent in useful ways. The rest of it gets wasted due to our ego."

The moral of the hare-tortoise race, according to Ravindra, is not that slow and steady wins the race. To the hare, "The race was not challenging enough. That is the reason he had become complacent and could not bring out the best in him. He had agreed for a race where he had everything to lose and nothing to gain."

For the tortoise, the converse was true: "He had everything to gain and nothing to lose." The takeaway, therefore, is to choose your tasks wisely. "Only pick those tasks that challenge/stretch your abilities. Otherwise you will quickly lose interest. Having picked up the task, do not take rest till you complete the task."

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

D. Murali