Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Of Trails and Trials


A day filled with light warmth. The warmth of Christmas spirit seemed to engulf the air. I was driving down with my family on the Highway towards Chennai, when I hit a section of road that held out the promise of accommodating good speed with fewer obstacles. It was not just this but my anguish in doing nearly 800kms on lazy roads that seemed to yawn so often but it was a desire to reach my comfort called home that made me increase the pressure on the accelerator. The speed made me a bit uncomfortable but what caught my goat was a lady in a similar car casually drives past me with absolutely no sense of effort.

I tried to shrug it away, but at the cost of disappointing my children who goaded me from the read. “Come on daddy” seemed resound in my ears as – I know you will not take up the challenge d. And my challenger was getting ahead of me faster that mail without an attachment. There is no greater school that the school of Demo. I had to do it, pick up the challenge, which I did.

She seemed to sense my thought and moved faster and I had to get my testosterone gushing without any show of emotion. I felt my eyes focusing, and my hands and feet getting stressed and my heart towards high beat zone.

She was a clear leader, she made my way easier. I seemed to like it for the level of comfort it gave me, but being numero ono, irrespective of the responsibility was expected of a Christian. Some of faith stepped in. Be fruitful, multiply and have dominion, and that word Dominion took up a thicker case and impacted my mind, resulting in a my feet getting aggressive on the accelerator. But she went faster.

Challenge for the leader came in the form of two motorists who seemed to block the passage after a heavy meal. And providence smiled on me. I sneaked ahead exploiting the situation to the best.

Then started the trial of leadership. She was in pursuit and I took on my shoulder the job of cutting the path, judging gaps and unexpected eventualities. She was happy behind visible on my rear view mirror goading me to move faster. The pressure was on me to allow her to get ahead.

The speed was so high there was hum in the air. My faith was hitting max points. In the process I went past many, started reveling on the speed trip. Reached home early.

And what was the topic of the conversation in the journey? It was about Jews who most of the time are involved in scientific breakthroughs and then the other mortals merely improvise.

There was a clear lesson for leadership. The Trials of the leader depend on who is on your trail.

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