HINDUS DO NOT READ THIS BLOG 

In my classes on LATERAL THINKING  I request my trainees to come up with as many uses as they can, for a marker—the type one uses on chart paper.  The maximum a trainee has come up with is 65 ! I suggest you try this exercise. One unusual use for a marker by the way is to paint a bindi on  a  Hindu girl’s forehead. More about the bindi  later.

I give you this example to highlight another  game in my  repertoire of creativity techniques—the maxim ’HOLY COWS MAKE THE BEST BURGERS.’

The reference is to the several beliefs , policies and practices that are part of the DNA of any organization and are  adhered to without anyone questioning the relevance or validity or even the utility of such practices.

Take for example my experience with a hotel in Ahmedabad.  I checked into this hotel one hot summer afternoon and requested the room boy to get me a  bottle of beer. He reminded me that  Gujerat was a dry state. However like any pragmatic Gujerati  he was helpful enough to suggest that I could obtain a temporary permit to imbibe alcohol on ‘health grounds’  and would I take the trouble of going  down to the Excise Clerk who had an office in the hotel basement ? Off I went and plonked myself in front of the desk of that august and, for me,  a powerful benefactor.

He contemptuously  shoved an application form under my nose .This form was in Hindi without an  English translation. The first line shocked me. Hold your breath, practice meditation,  say your prayers for India. The  opening line read 

                  SHARABI KA NAAM !

[IN ENGLISH IT  MEANS . .NAME OF THE DRUNKARD ].

After a hearty laugh that the clerk could not  understand why,   I filled up the form , bought myself some beer and proceeded to my room and brooded over the fate of my country given such burgers !I wonder why no one, not even the IAS officers who claim to be the cream of India’s talent,  has ever destroyed this  Holy Cow and replaced it with a more civilized  ‘Name of the applicant’ ?

I ask my trainees to list the  many  such Holy Cows that infest our organisations.

Believe me  even  our nations, communities,  and religions are  full of Holy Cows—things that may have been relevant , understandable or useful or even essential  for  survival at some point of time in the past but need to be discarded now.

Hindus  will accept that   some  communities have a practice of a women’s  mangal sutra and  bindi  being removed when she is widowed. This is a painful ceremony and one that is abhorrent for many reasons. I was witness to one such occasion .The women’s screams shook me  and served to strengthen my resolve to reform at least my family .

The link I have provided here shows one such ceremony .It also shows how we may reform by learning to laugh creatively at our foibles and idiosyncrasies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMPGakW08r4

I would be indebted to you if you send me your list of holy cows in your community or organization. I will mention this is my training programmes and if you  wish I shall announce  your name too.

K.R.RAVI

USA