This cartoon in one of my favourite news papers set me thinking of not only my past but also my current situation.
Go to any Leadership training program or read a book on leadership and the point of giving praise to people who work keeps getting hammered again and again. This is one of the motivational tools that all people in Supervisory and Managerial positions are supposed to use liberally.
Personally, I have found it very effective to give and receive both.
When Urmeela was alive, she would inevitably praise me for some dish or the other that I hustled up for her or for something that I did for her or whatever and I would feel like an Emperor. Ranjan learnt this trick from her and uses it liberally on me to great effect too.
In other words, I am thoroughly spoilt.
It was too good to last. My father belongs to that generation that takes being served by the women of the house and children for granted. If at all any comment is made, it has to be criticism. Under no circumstances should the underlings be praised, lest they get uppity and forget their station in life.
I am his first born. In other words that fortunate creation who took the maximum brunt of such thinking as a child and a teenager. For him, despite my now being a grand uncle to scores of kids, father of a 39 year old son and a fairly respected elder member of the society does not matter. I can not come up to his standards. Full stop.
I can relate to that cartoon. Can you?
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