52. Expectations

Two students from Time Management course chatting in Whatsapp.

Hi. What is the goal setting homework?

Find out if your goals cover everybody’s expectations.

How to do that?

Make a list of all your goals.

Then make a list of what people want you to do.

Then tally the two lists.

Basically I need to submit two lists?

Yes.

One with the goals.

And one with what people want.

And these two lists should be exactly same?

Ideally, yes.

That is the aim.

That will mean you are meeting all expectations.

What if there are more expectations than goals?

Then you have to find some time and accommodate those expectations.

And if I have own wishes?

Something not in the expectation list?

Then you are wasting time.

You need to focus more on expectations.

Alright.

Thanks.

51. Next Sunday

Application Session (Family Management)

On the board

Mutual consultation class on next Sunday. 

Participants will help each other in solving family problems.

Please bring a family related problem to class next Sunday for discussion and consultation.

50. Mind Your Language

Teacher’s lecture (Social Media Usage, Paper III – Basic Writing Skills)

“Both content and language matter in a post. You have all heard about content being the king. But the king needs to sit on a throne.

"Language is that throne. If the throne is not imposing, the king has no respect.

"Similarly, if your language does not comply with some acceptable criteria, your content will be literally lost in translation.

"In India there is another layer of complication in the form of the script used for writing. Are you writing Indian languages with Roman letters or in Indian script?

"The following is a list of different writing possibilities in India in decreasing order of social acceptance.

(Applicable to Facebook status, comments, tweets, Instagram comments, Whatsapp group messages etc.)

    1.       (Most acceptable) English comments written with English/Roman script.

    

    2.       Indian language comments written with English script.

    

    3.       Indian language comments written with Indian script.

    

    4.       Indian language comments with grammatical mistakes.

    

    5.       English comments with grammatical mistakes.

    

    6.       English comments written using short/SMS forms (eg. U hd a wndrfl hairct)

    

    7.       (Least acceptable) Indian comments written using short/SMS forms. Nobody understands them.

"Use the most acceptable forms to write your own comments and use the least acceptable ones to make somebody’s profile look bad.”

49. Rumours in Writing

Class activities (Office Dynamics, Paper II – Rumours and Gossips)

The following is an account of the day at the Office Dynamics course at NILS. The class starts at 6:30 pm and ends at 8:30 pm.

6:30 pm

The teacher explains the differences between spreading gossips verbally and by electronic media. While the first requires physical presence, the later demands more commitment since everything is in writing. There are pros and cons for both, says the teacher.

7:00 pm

The students are given two tasks: i) to find advantages and disadvantages of spreading gossips via an electronic medium and ii) to find a method most suitable for his/her own purpose.

7:30 pm

The students are learning about certain writing styles that can be used if one does not want to commit to what one spreads. These styles are called Rumour Safeguards and are based mostly on ambiguity, vagueness, expressions of doubt about sources and using names of unreliable people.  

8:00 pm

The students are learning how to find interesting gossip in social media.

48. Looking Into The Classrooms

Venue: National Institute of Life Skills. Time: 7 pm.

Social Media Usage:

The students are reading an article on how Tinder can be used by psychiatrists to boost confidence and increase self-esteem among good looking people and Photoshop experts.

Party Politics:

The teacher is explaining under what type of social circumstances it might seem like a good idea to have a revolution and give up all ownership.

Family Management

The students are analyzing the different social definitions of ‘family’ in various parts of the world, e.g. the Indian Subcontinent, the Far East, the Middle East, East Europe, West Europe, USA, South America etc.

Office Dynamics

Each student is writing a mail to his/her boss – imaginary, if need be – which will inform the boss about the completion of a certain project, claim the entire credit personally with due subtlety and put all his/her colleagues and team members in a slightly negative position.

Time Management

The teacher is explaining the concept of Invisible Time. It is the time spent on activities which are not considered as time-taking. For example, going to washrooms, checking WhatsApp messages at five minutes intervals, combing hair, searching for a pen to jot down a number etc. The teacher stresses on the fact that Invisible Time is extremely accumulative.

“It does not create any impact at that moment,” she is saying, “but if you are not cautious, the Invisible Time will accumulate and threaten to disrupt your entire schedule.”

47. Stacked Leaves

Two colleagues are talking at office. One of them is doing the Office Dynamics course at NILS.

B: Did you try the homework?

A: I do not understand. What are we exactly supposed to do? Make a list of all holidays?

B: No. A list of all leaves. Not holidays. The leaves that you are going to take.

A: That is a short list. Some annual leaves and some sick leaves.

B: You can also take some hourly leaves in our office.

A: So, there are three. And that is the homework?

B: No-no. You are supposed to plan for a whole year - how you are going to utilize your leaves to the maximum limit.

A: All three leaves?

B: Yes. One has to be careful doing that. Sick leaves are better taken singly, or else people will ask for a medical certificate. Which makes it a good idea to take sick leaves on Fridays or Mondays to make a long weekend.

A: Annual leaves are good for travels.

B: Yeah.

A: (Thinking) Hourly leaves can be taken for parties and invitations.

B: Also on a Friday afternoon. Then you have weekend. And then take sick leave on Monday. You will have a 3 and a half days of weekend. This is called Stacking. If you can stack leaves successfully, you can avoid a lot of stress.

A: I see. Stacking all types of leaves and holidays to the best of effect.

B: To max out your non-working days. That is the homework. Make a plan of leaves so that you can work the least number of days and still remain employed. And you can do that by the method of Stacking.

46. Controlling Violence

From The People at Your Feet by Shaw, Dwarki and Shivaraja (Suggested Reading, Party Politics, Paper III – Introduction to Daily Politics)

“Coming from a respectable middle to upper class background, you are not expected to be directly involved in violence. However, you must know how to deal with violence and violent men.

Remember, to be a political leader, you must rise above violence. Violence should be beneath you and most importantly, under your control.

But how do you to control violence?

By i) channeling it and by ii) never attempting to restrain it.

Violence is actually much like water. If you suddenly find water entering your room and collecting on the floor, you just need to find a way to channel it outside. If need be, open up new ways. And do not be perturbed if the flowing water damages the channels. You can always rebuild them.

But what will happen instead, if you try to restrain the flow? Water level will start rising and soon it will drown you.

Similarly, let violence flow in a gentle manner. If it breaks something, you can always make something else.

But, never – never ever – try to stop violence. If you do, it will take you.”

45. Planned Time and Fallback Time

A Father and a daughter are talking at home. The Daughter is attending the Time Management course.

Father: Where are you going?

Daughter: I am going for a walk.

Father: So late? It is eight thirty now.

Daughter: So what? I am going to walk within the complex only. And this is my planned time.

Father: Is that something with that course?

Daughter: Yes. We are all going to do some physical activity for a month. We need to do it on a regular basis and plan it into our daily schedules. I have chosen walking.

Father: That is fine, but why now? You were sitting at home the whole day.

Daughter: Ohh! 8:30 in the evening is my planned time. I will do it at 8:30 unless something interrupts the schedule.

Father: Planned time?

Daughter: We have planned time and fallback time. If I cannot do it during the PT, we do it in the FT. Like, if it starts raining now. I will postpone it to my fallback time.

Father: Which is when?

Daughter: 6:30 in the morning.

Father: (Laughs loudly)

Daughter: I did not ask for your comments.

Father: (Shaking his head) The only fallback you will know at 6:30 in the morning is to fall back on bed.

Daughter: You just like to discourage me. I really don’t care. I have my plans and I am sticking to it. I did not ask for your opinion. Thank you very much.

Father: You need willpower to do morning walks, not two different plans.

Daughter: I said ‘Thank you’.

44. Application Sessions

It is Sunday evening and Application Sessions are going on at NILS. Some glimpses into the classrooms:

Social Media Usage

Students are learning to troll and to counter trolling. They are working in groups and pairs to simulate situations of group or individual trolling and developing counter strategies.

Party Politics

The class looks like an arts class with lots of canvases and thermocol boards. The students are learning to draw political graffiti.

Family Management

The students are doing situational roleplays. There are three groups in the class, each consisting of multiple people. The teacher has given a situation to each group and a role of a particular family member to each student. The students are now doing roleplays to simulate the situations. The situations are i) a death in the family, ii) a case of an exposed extramarietal affair and iii) a family member suddenly getting a very plush job.

Office Dynamics

The students are learning tips and tricks for job interviews.

Time Management

The students are busy with the preparatory stages of a month long project they are going to take up. As a part of the project each student will conduct some form of physical activity – going to the gym, taking morning walks, yoga etc. – for a month. They are supposed to plan their daily activities in such a way that they actually find time for it.

43. Where to Show Happiness?

A student of Party Politics talks to a student of Social Media Usage during break.

Party Politics: Hi there! Good to see you again.

Social Media: Hi (smiles).

PP: How is the course going? Are you already very active on Facebook?

SM: It is not only about Facebook. It is more general. For example, we just had a class about different kinds of profile pictures.

PP: So that you can take good DPs? That’s useful.

SM: Eh..no. Last year they had offered a course on how to take good DPs. But it was not available in this branch. Today we were taught how to chosse proper photos for DPs in WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter.

PP: Don’t you just pick the one where you look good?

SM: Well, the background, clothing, distance…all these matter. And facial expression, of course. It is kind of same for the photos you upload in your album in Facebook.

PP: Always a happy face.

SM: Yes and there is a reason for it. Generally you cannot tell people that you are happy. Society expects you to be sad and under pressure. If you are not a little sad all the time, then you have not experienced the real world, not seen the suffering and the greed. However, life is not always that bad, right? We all have good times as well. Where do you show your good times?

PP: In Facebook?

SM: In your profile photos, correct. Your Social media profile is one of the few platforms approved by the society, where you can show your happiness without being judged as inconsiderate.