Surrendering to our craft

I have been fortunate to be exposed to numerous masters who have taught so much about life through their deep alignment and effort towards honing their skills for a higher purpose. I share some of them with you.

‘Be the fibre’

‘Be the fibre’ is what Bernt Treu told me ‘and the rest is common sense from there’. I met him when I was 25 and he 85. It was tough to find experts who really understood processing agricultural fibres. Most pulping experts were used to wood based fibres and adapted the same technology towards processing annual ones which were inherently different and evolving processes to suit them would enable better products.

When we asked this German Lithuanian gentleman retired in Biarritz, France to come spend time with us he said ‘I am no magician and can only make little changes also changes take time so I cannot come for less than a month, are you ready to pay for that?’ And thankfully we were because he ended up teaching us so much.

He would stand and watch processes for entire days and then recommend little, low cost changes like adding a rudimentary device or shift the processing mechanism by a bit and the impact was drastic. Our entire pulp quality changed by making changes that were basic.

He would immediately shun the ‘easy’ idea of replacing a machine for a new one as that was what the mill engineers would come up with in their quest of ‘modernisation’. He found that to be the easy way out and felt it would not change much. The ‘devil was in the detail’ he would say and we have to spend time trying to identify root causes before taking the easy path out. I had to imagine myself as a fibre and feel what the impact was when I was ground or churned in a certain way or was made to soak in a certain chemical and the rest was intuitive post that.

He would question every process and think from ‘first principles’ after understanding fibres and what we were working on achieving with them.

He lived his life dedicated towards building alternative methods and I was so fortunate to shadow him for stretches of time.

‘Question it all’

Then came Mr Durvas Gandikota , who is a project engineer extraordinaire. He had come to us to initially sell some instrumentation and my father, with his knack of understanding people, understood his acumen and involved him even after he had moved on from the company he was working for.

There was nothing left to chance for him. You had to specify it all when you made a purchase order. I remember spending weeks creating a single document as he questioned me continuously…

‘Does you and the supplier know what the expected performance is?’

‘Have you informed them how you would test for performance?’

‘Have you enclosed a clear checklist at the time of ordering how acceptance would be?’

‘Have you specified the protection protocols?’

‘Are they clear on what the site situation is and what is expected of them?’

The list just went on. The key was really to know what we wanted. We had to build a clear document for bringing all suppliers to a level playing field before even thinking about commercials.

I remember going with him for inspections and the suppliers sweating profusely as he wanted to check it all in detail without compromise and one is in deep trouble if they are not clear or dont know.

I am so proud today as he retired and remains associated with us guiding our teams. He remains the same, detailed oriented, analytical gentleman who will not compromise and we reap the benefits of that.

Let’s move away from work.

‘Immerse yourself’

Adil was acting as Othello for over 12 years roaming around the world and he told his director that ‘Othello does not wish to kill Desdemona any more’ and his director being equally capable said follow your instincts on stage and the plot written by Shakespeare shifted.

My friend Adil is a very famous actor. Going out for dinner with him means getting thronged in places as people recognise him. I remember going to ‘Andhra Bhawan’ in Delhi and adulating fans coming over beginning to swoon. We walked out and were laughing about the challenge of going out with him when he suddenly ‘became’ the fan. He acted exactly how the person was behaving. In a brief second he was transformed and we were amazed.

He is deeply ‘connected’ and loves his work. He tells me me even after passing out from the most premier Indian Film Institute he knew that he still did not know. He finally found his ‘Dronacharya’ Guru and asked him to guide him. The guru asked him if he had a hundred thousand rupees and a motorcycle and he did not have both. Off he went for six months to save every penny earned through doing theatre in Assam and was back with the requirements. His motorcycle was a beat up 20,000 rupee Enfield. He thought this was going to be the ‘guru dakshina’ (fees) for learning. ‘Lets go’ is what the Guru said! He was baffled. The guru took him on a 2 year journey to observe people across the country and he says it changed everything as acting was all about ‘really’ knowing people. He was ready to dedicate the time and effort for honing his skill to reach the level he has. He becomes the character. I recently saw his film ‘Pareeksha’ and my jaw dropped witnessing the excellence he had achieved.

Even after so many films, plays and accolades his being shifts talking about something new that he is working on and his excitement rises.

’Be One’

I wanted to know more about the indigenous Mayan culture in Guatemala as we decided to become part of that land. It is important to understand the roots and that comes through connecting with people and the ethos of a place. I found there was a significant disconnect between the modern society and the indigenous culture of the country. I did not know Spanish or any of the local tongues so I had to find a medium.

I called my friend Janma to ask for guidance and pop came her reply that I had to speak with Monica. We connected and had a wonderful phone conversation and decided to meet when I was in Guatemala last week.

She exposed me to an elder through a ceremony and my whole being vibrated through the night as the high priestess had opened parts of me unknown to me. The reverberations were so joyful that I was happy being awake to know myself better through this deep presence.

Monica and I connected and she made the time for deeper conversations.

She was brought up Catholic and had no clue about this world that existed around her. She became dismayed with her religion through a series of events and began to explore. She got diagnosed with a late stage cancer and instead of being treated through western methodology she chose to traditional medicine. The doctors were shocked when she returned cancer free after 3 months. And this became her calling and obsession.

She had to learn and understand more. So, she spent 10 years living and learning to be a priest. Her teachers taught her to become one with the rivers, plants and mountains. They led her to listen deeply to be guided. She saw the richness that was around her and how we were so oblivious. She began her journey towards bringing in this traditional wisdom to modern medicine as she completed her PhD in Switzerland.

She now finds ways and spends time connecting these two disparate world to ensure the knowledge lives on.

I see her eyes light up when she speaks of the wisdom and her desire to bring it in the service of all. Life has not been easy but she does not waver from her path or her craft.

‘Expand your horizons’

‘You will open a school for girls here!’ Is what Subir Shukla was told as Pashtun horsemen surrounded him in Afghanistan and then ‘You will not open a school here’ as he was surrounded by gun toting naxals in certain parts of India. He has made it his mission to educate as many as he can and build quality in our education system. He say that one has to work with the system to enable change, alternatives only impact a few. When he prints a book it has to reach millions. He thinks continuously about ‘relevance’. ‘I need to be able to write or produce differently if I have to enable an educate a grown rickshaw driver to appreciate knowledge’. All ideas need to be appropriate and specifically designed for the audience.

He has worked in all sorts of crazy places like Boko Haram territory in Nigeria, North Korea and various other difficult and educationally backward areas.

He, again, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and doctors were giving up on him so he informed the doctors that his work was not done yet and hence he could not leave!! :)

And survive he did. Each moment for him is spent in the quest of expanding possibilities and enabling more.

I am completely blown away each time I am in a room with him. His ideas are all about enhancing ‘cognitive’ thinking. Rest, he says, google can provide today. He encourages and trains teachers to question their methods and let the minds of youngsters be free from all burdens of rote education to become excited about learning instead of results.

…

The impact of these people (and many more) has been deep on me as I deal with my own obsession and quest. Life is so joyful when we are dedicated to a quest. I have seen many of the masters go through difficult times and remain energised as they have found what they are here for.

I have known people in each sphere of life giving themselves up in pursuit of their craft. The examples in the arts or sports are easier to come by but I have witnessed the same story in each area.

My effort remains to learn from these enormous blessings that have come to be and keep working on becoming a person who evolves his craft for a deeper cause.