Month: July 2015

Bajrangi Bhaijaan: An Indo-Pak CBM

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a breakthrough project in the Salman Cinemascape as it is a rare feat that a film that stars Salman Bhaijaan has minimal action sequences and is more an emotional experience regarding separation and inter-faith understanding. Leaves a tear at the corner of your eye with all the emotional bombardment on the senses with separation plot of a speech impaired girl (the talented Harshaali) who is super adorable like a doll.. This film is probably the most thoughtful film of Salman, after ‘My Brother Nikhil’ which was a cool decade back.  The film tackles deftly the xenophobic anti minority bent of the Sangh, the snobbish mentality of the upper caste Hindus towards non vegetarian fare and shows the humanity which often gets clouded by the veneer of religious dogma. Also, shows Sufism as a common ground between India and Pakistan.  Well done, Mr V Vijendra Prasad and Kabir Khan; the conceptualisers  of this rather off beat, yet mainstream story. With a dramatic ending, across the LoC in Kashmir, with the speech of the little girl being restored miraculously, the film carries a strong people to people message.

Pavan is the new ‘Prem’ of Salman now. after this performance. Salman’s fan following will bulge especially among a family audience. Nawazuddin Siddiqui again delivers a stellar performance redeming the film as the activist Sindhi Reporter who brings in the media angle by publicising the Bajrangi affair. The second half is a critic’s delight, while the first half was a Salman Khan Fan boy/girl video in the words of a dear friend. Bhaijaan delivers a clear break from a Kick, Ready and a Wanted; his popular fare mainly meant for a hardcore Bollywood Audience.

The cinematic treatment of Kabir Khan is macro, placing a human story in a geopolitical narrative. The India Pakistan theme continues from the last Salman starrer with Kabir, the uber successful ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ which I saw in a theatre in Vashi, Navi Mumbai twice. The biggest Confidence Building Measure India Pak Relations can get. Truly a ‘Being Human’ affair. ‪ Narendra Bhai should watch this film with Nawaz Miyaan in their next meeting. 

Art has a unique ability to inspire hope and look beyond the prejudices of reality. Bajrangi Bhaijaan offers some hope in spreading Love and Understanding.

Charge your Market Rate

Never do anything for free what you know to do well about which there is a market need. Even for a start up or not for profit, even if they do not pay you make sure they respect your work and factor in your opinion. Otherwise, do your own stuff until there is a critical mass until folks need your skill set. Charge the market rate, that is the only respect that matters.‪

Empathy : The key to training your field leaders

Data collection is at the heart of the decision making business known as leadership. For a non-profit, monitoring and evaluation is a sacred ritual in order to renew its funding tap aka the grant. This post is primer in training your field leaders covering the bottle necks in designing and executing a field leadership program. I will first tap on the softer leadership challenges towards training the field crew, who are your eyes and ears on the ground.

There is a human connection to the data collection story; the local field workers who are cultural insiders and familiar with the culture of the region. Some of them might not be very well educated being merely literate at times and had not used a touch phones or a tablet before. Tech phobia can be very real as they feel that they might spoil the device (the psychological tyranny of using a pricey device, which is not very pricey). One more perspective is their inability to read the language interface in English although the questionnaire instrument might be in English. Understanding the device and empowering the field staff in accepting the tablet and the questionnaire is a fundamental challenge.

A real question asked by a Field Leader in the heat of the field:

“How do I save the data input file?”

Such a simple activity may seem simple to a digital native of an urbane Gen Y; but a barely literate but empathy rich Field Leader in rural Vidarbha is a challenge.

The soft power answer to training your Field Teams?  In my personal experience in training field leaders who are so crucial in the entire primary data initiative, good old empathy and confidence from the city bred university educated program managers towards their field leaders is so critical.

There are other critical issues while organizing a field training program apart from the softer issues such as logistical hassles in getting the projector working in the midst of a power cut. Taking note of having backup power such as solar chargers for laptops if the training is under open sky is critical.

Significant force multipliers in a training program:

  • Cater for Food. Food is an amazing connector
  • Have a fun break out session. Play Govinda songs to cheer up the milieu!
  • Have a training per-diem for the participants. Hard Cash Helps.
  • Make the training hands on. Do not preach. Do not.
  • The trainer should be a friend. The human connect matters.
  • Take the training environment as comfortable and at home for the training participant’s even if it means on spending a couple of thousand rupees more. Conquer the mind; the training will seep in better.
  • Most importantly, meet training objectives while having fun!

I hope this primer helps while your non-profit sets out on your next boot camp in the journey towards social change!