Art of Crisp communication!!

Communication is always an under and over rated animal. We always hear in meetings on why a change project failed to take off-the animal to blame is Communication. There are also circumstances where relationships/projects fail due to over communication but most of the times this animal escapes from criticism. Therefore it is clear that communication by design is critical and a fine balance is required to manage this animal.
To say that make only 5 slide presentations, limit each slide to 5 sentences etc are good guidelines but not necessarily fit all remedy. The fact when to communicate and when to shut up is very situational makes communication an art than a science. Great leaders who were able to transfer hope and faith through their commitment and communication have mastered this art while we commoners always struggle with this.
Some time non verbal cues are more effective communication tools than verbal. Seasoned leaders and Managers are able to effectively mask this non verbal cues making it more difficult for others to read them. Having said this the positive energies remain with great communicators...as said in Thirukural " The Speech Artist is never tired and afraid, to defeat him is next to impossible". In Ramayan Hanuman (the Monkey God) is portrayed as this Speech Artist by Kambar.
When he finds Sita and comes back to inform this to Ram, knowing the anxiety and depressed state Ram is in-he breaks the grammar rules-starts a sentence with a verb. Seen the epitome of Chastity, with my eyes is what he says. Why with eyes? By saying this he forces Ram to look into his eyes which is gleaming with confidence. This part is called Sundara Kandam as this is when Sundaran(means a beautiful person-refering to Hanuman-beautiful with his communication)brings back confidence to Ram to wage the war over Ravan.
Is there crisper communication to do this? Maybe. But with such a topic I have already exceeded the limit of Crisp communication I think.

Belief or interpretations!

There are times when we have to face challenging questions about beliefs which have become part of us by the religion we are born, the culture we were brought up or the experiences we have had.
In most cases a natural reaction to the situation is a Closed one with remarks varied from a very aggressive "Will you shut up or stop hurting others with your bully questions" or a more subtle " Maybe you have a point. But I am comfortable with my beliefs and therefore see a need to argue with you who has a contra belief".
Whatever the reaction is, for sure we have recognize it is not the belief that gets challenged but it is more the interpretations.
Yesterday I had an interesting discussion when a Swedish lady approached me and asked "Do you know this Indian Book called G...I...T..A." I said "Sure..It is the holy book of Hindus". She was taken aback. She said "No, no it is about resolution of personal conflicts as there is good and bad within oneself. I am not sure there is any religion to this". I was a bit puzzled and went into more details on where she got this inference. Then she told me about Yoga classes she attends where they also discuss this book. Her Teacher uses a lot of quotes from Gita to ensure that the students have some connection back to soul. She believed that the book is not about Hindu religion but about realizing oneself.
I had a choice-to leave her with that impression or introspect my belief.
I decided to do the later.
For sure who wrote GITA under what circumstances etc are important but the more important is the how the contents are interpreted. The first one is build on beliefs and second based on the objectives fulfilled for receiver. How many people in India live by Gita? Maybe less than 1% of population. If this is the status in the country which believes in Lord Krishna how can I expect any other country to share same belief. The objective of Gita is to bring peace in oneself and as long as this is achieved by interpretations I think there is only good purpose achieved. Afterall Global world is missing the spiritual connection which can be provided by all Holy books and Gita is one of them. To claim superiority of religion, belief is for sure more fanciful for politics but for individuals what matters is self realisation. If interpretations are able to guide this than blind belief then let it be so.

Introvert or Extrovert!!

Personality can be categorized into different ways and everyone is keen to know it from different angles as it is about themselves (who cares more about anything than self). One simple classification which one starts talking even in casual parties is Introvert/Extrovert. It is quite simple as the name indicates-a view if one is too much focussed on himself/herself or is a gregarious kind. I recently had a question from a friend who had less than 10 people networked in his LinkedIn compared to my more than 500-He said you are a real extrovert..so you make friends so easily. Again numbers don't indicate how much friends you have but with how many people you can truly share your feelings indicates this.
There is a lot of times as a matter of over simplicification Extroverts are made equal to be being more friendly than Introverts(like my friend above). It is the greatest myths that I want to discuss(I have more experience now as most Swedes will probably fit in the defintion as Introverts as per Global standards and I have been with them for more than 2 years now).
Let us go step by step into building of this myth:
1) Extroverts are able to start a conversation and smile their way into the hearts. They are very comfortable with strangers (more comfortable than with friends) and break the ice with ease. All this make them approachable and able to discuss on any topic as they strive to find a match...all are good signs of good friends. Right----Wrong I say. And why?
Extroverts are no doubt good at all the things mentioned above. But they are more floaters in most cases. They don't want to touch controversial issues or force decisions. In most cases they compromise to avoid uncomfortable situations. In other words they look at ploughing the field as wide as possible not as deep as possible. For an outsider it will look very impressive as the soil has been tilled at all places around the field. But is it good for the seeds to grow with roots set in firmly? Obviously not(for sure grass/weeds can grow better). Even if the field is tilled for a small area but deeper this when seeds get roots and grows healthy. Introverts are the ones who focus on fewer and smaller set of people but become genuinely attached to them. They cannot hide their emotions in their faces which is a strength rather than weakness. Therefore makings of a true friend is always in an introvert than an extrovert.
2) Introverts are uncomfortable in parties, get togethers and try to look for a corner to hide. Extroverts are loud and make the party memorable to all as they entertain themselves by entertaining others. This is indeed true. But party is not life. We can have party like pickle for food but can it be the food itself.
Therefore to feel extroverts are better than introverts itself is a feeling of depression which probably has been triggered by extroverts to make them feel one up against others. Introverts should feel proud about what they stand for and should live with what is most comfortable to them without getting distracted.
This does not mean that Introverts cannot be extroverts sometimes in life and vice versa. Actually I have always been comfortable being an Introvert the personality I was when I was till I joined college. Ragging does strange things to Teen age pride and it did bring in a change in me. I changed but try to retain the core of being introvert.
Therefore if anyone has debates on this topic let us be clear in our thinking. Live the life as we like it. Change only if you truly like the change. Else be what you are comfortable with as the world has enough possibilities to accomodate diversity.