VOLUME XI – CHAPTER  1

EXPLORE, EXPERIENCE, AND EXECUTE

On  the first day of joining the duty, a principal convened a staff meeting in the afternoon and his opening remark was:-

‘’I have heard enough of your school.

I have come to set it right’’.

With just two sentences and fourteen words, he had sealed the fate of his tenure in the school. This is the mark of immaturity and arrogance. By saying ‘ your school’’, he at once had alienated himself from the staff and with the other 3 words ‘’see it right ‘’, he had categorized them as the Aegean stables. We can understand how boisterous, volatile, and turbulent his tenure in that school would have been fireworks. Lightning, Thunder every day.

Before starting an operation, a commander conducts a recce, sends a reconnaissance team to explore the area, gets all information about the other army, and then plans his moves. So, during the first 100 days, you should calmly observe how the school functions on the old pattern. Notice the pluses and the minuses of the staff, the loopholes, and the license; then slowly start changing the pattern with inputs from the staff themselves you have to engineer your success.

Every day, every movement will be a challenge to your balance. you can display two emotions – tell yourself

a] I am very excited I found a great opportunity.  I am going to achieve something great.

OR

b] I am very afraid anxious uncertain. I face a serious situation. I  am bound to falter a fail.

These are your 2 sides.

When a staff member enters your room, do you consider him as a villain and you as the victim? Don’t forget that he may also think in the reverse manner. Why can’t you both think that you both coexist? To face a staff meeting agitated and exercised over something, the author always used to have in their midst a couple of teachers who are very calm and confident. That would make a lot of difference to the proceedings. They will act as shock absorbers, direction changers, and step-down transformers. The author used to tell his staff to keenly observe the habits and practices of children their tendencies and taste for music, dance art or games, athletics, or speaking. Normally we say, ’’talent is a gift from above’’, but, we don’t think about the unusual circumstance that goes into the champions’’ Take a little time to think about what Mathew Syed – a two-time Olympiad and a three-time Commonwealth Table Tennis Champion says in his book, ”Bounce:-How Champions Are Made”.

“Circumstances and opportunity are vital, what is certain is that if a table was given at eight, if I had a brilliant elder brother to practice with, if I had been trained by one of the top coaches of the country, if I had practiced for thousands of hours in my teens,-because of all of these only I had become Number one in England.”

Discover the talent in a poor boy or an affluent one.  Find out ways of encouraging him with years of painstaking practice and dedication. It is the quality and quantity of practice that matters If year after year, many students of MOP Vaishnav College get selected for the University Team in various sports.

Mathew Syed says Tiger Wood had accumulated by his fifth, more hours of practice than most of us achieve in a lifetime.

Mozart was schooled in piano by his father at age two; by the age of six, he had accumulated an astounding 3500 hours of practice.

Tell your students ‘’the incalculable hours of practice, the many years of ingraining excellence, the thousands of baby steps taken by world-class performers to get to the top –the skills would not seem quite mystical or so inborn.

We have practice in schools to ask a teacher to take a subject he /she is not proficient in. The author knew of a teacher[ M . A. English] in a school run by an autonomous body who was asked to teach social studies. TGT [science] is asked to teach all 3 parts – Physics, Chemistry and Biology. He may not be able to teach one of them –biology. Each subject needs a different orientation. Syed gives a beautiful example to explain this difficulty. “The time required to return a serve in tennis is approximately 450 milliseconds, but there are less than 250 milliseconds in which to return a smash kill in Table Tennis. I wonder why I could return the latter and not the former”. That is the beauty and the irony!

To the author’s rescue, came a class VIII boy who came to his room one day and said, “Sir, I have an idea, would you like to hear it? The author said “ I can’t find any better work than that. Come on go ahead.”

The boy mentioned the difficulty of the science teacher in teaching Biology and said “Sir, wouldn’t it be the best out of them”.

The author gave him a hug and a handful of chocolates for the beautiful suggestion.

The greatness of Kendriya Vidyalayas lies in the freedom of the children to air their opinions without fear.

 

NO PUFFED-UP EGO

The author had seen quite often new Principals (sometimes even some seniors) suffering from power phobia. Jason Sweig, a finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal capsule says, “in each one of us, there works an artist who is forever cajoling us into an inflated sense of our power’’. They suffer from ‘’positive illusions’’.  There is a big gap between what we are and what we imagine ourselves to be a bloated sense of potion and pride. We assume ourselves a big dimension and go out to face the outside world with a mental image that creates a lot of relationship problems.

At K V Coimbatore, the author tried to use his influence and earlier contacts with the local elite for the benefit of the school. So, he initiated several activities, programs, and projects. When the first program on Independence Day went off successfully with the participation of a couple of industrialists associated with the freedom movement, the author convened a staff meeting to analyze assess, and plan further. When some staff started praising him, he said, “ I sense danger in your praise. One success or a series of successes should not go into our heads. This is called             “a hot streak”. This will expect us to be right again and make you feel as a legendary C E O Jack Welt who felt he was 6’ 4” with hair (he was short and bald). When you are proven right several times over, that should be a warning signal to you to combat your confidence and super-man feeling.

One school in Coimbatore had been consistently getting cent percent results for 15 years. There was a sense of euphoria in the first three years. But from the fourth year onwards the 100% results did not evoke any surprise or elation. It was taken for granted as a routine affair. But in the sixteenth year when the result was 95% there was a lighting response to this unexpected change from the Management.

At K V Sambalpur, immediately upon taking over, the author found that most of the local press and the community felt that the school was pro-Hindi and anti-Oriya. So, the author asked the Art Master Sir. Bhoolonath Naick to prepare a new name board for the school with Kendriya Vidyalaya in bold Oriya letters (semi-circular fashion) and the Hindi and English versions in small letters. As soon as this new board was erected, it created a “HALO” effect. That helped the author to achieve many things for the school and with local community in his two-year tenure there.

But in K V HVF Avadi, the author met the incumbent Principal on 14th July. But, could not take charge as he was not ready to hand over. As the author had not taken over officially and also had to rush to the station to catch the G.T.Express to Delhi, he did not call on the Chairman of the school management committee (General Manager of Heavy Vehicles Factory –Avadi – Sri. Madhavan). On the 22nd , when he returned from Delhi and took charge, he went to see the Chairman who first asked him “You came on the 14th itself. But, you did not come and take my permission to go to Delhi”. The author explained that on that day he had not become Principal yet and was on joining time and the Delhi meeting was already fixed by the KVH Hqrs. He also said, “If I had joined duty on that day then I would have met you to convey my regards and informed you of the KVS Hqrs program and also handed over to you a letter requesting for leave on duty. I have been Dy. Director, Training, South Zone, Minister for Community Development Govt. of India for 5 years before joining KVS. I am a stickier to protocol and I would not have committed that indiscretion”

But this did not cut much ice with his puffed-up ego. This created a “negative halo” about the author and in his mind, its negative fallout was there throughout his two-year tenure.

So, you have to be careful to create (at the beginning of your tenure) “a positive halo” and avoid creating a “negative halo”

You may be setting up different committees for different purposes. It will be helpful (as it was for the author) to remember Bill Gates’s statement –

“Triangular partnerships between wealthy, rapidly growing and poor counties offer grant examples of innovation with impact”

Based on this advice, the author always used to put one senior teacher (above 10 years experience) as a convener, two teachers with 6-10 years experience, and three teachers with                1-5 years experience. This assorted toffee pack always produced good results. It was recognition for the seniors, appreciation for the middles, and an opportunity for the freshers.

 

THE GREATER THE PROBLEM, THE CALMER YOU SHALL BE

Sometimes, even without your invitation, a crisis may arise. In that case, the normal tendency is to rush in for solutions. But in 1979, at KV HVF Avadi, when such a situation arose what the author had read in his Indian History class in 1944-45 came to his aid. General Manshingh was told that the enemy was at the gate and Akbar the Emperor had to lead the army. He went to meet Akbar. But, found him in the garden listening to Tansen’s divine music. Birbal stopped Manshingh from disturbing Akbar who he said already knew about what Mansingh wanted to tell him. Mansingh became impatient and asked Birbal “The city will be destroyed, he is listening to music “Has he gone mad?” Birbal replied “No, he is not listening to music, he is working out his battle strategy”. Mansingh rubbished it and said what strategy in Music?. Birbal laughed heartily and said “This is why you are just a General and Akbar is the Emperor”

What Birbal meant was that ideas and plans can come from odd places and situations. The gap between a leader and a follower is in their ability to see the similarities in dissimilar things. Followers need clear specific orders.

Remembering this, the author asked the music teacher to bring the tape recorder and the 90-minute audio tape of a beautiful Thodi recital in the Nadhaswaram by T.N. Rajaratnam Pillai. He asked the Vice Principal to sit with him and told the head clerk to close the door and not allow any disturbance for the next 1 ½ hours. He closed his eyes and started listening to the music. The senior staff was puzzled because just then Principal had told them that the HVF labour officer had informed them that the next morning 2000 workers were going to picket the school. The head clerk told them “Wait, without reason and meaning our Principal will not do anything”

At 3 p.m., the author convened a staff meeting and gave detailed instructions as to what each one should do the next day to meet the situation. One teacher asked him “When you have received such news how could you listen to music?

The author smilingly told him about the story he had read in class X, 35 years back, and observed” All the instructions I gave you were worked out during that 1½ hour, when I prepared our battle strategy. Listening to music which calmed my nerves gave me the peace of mind to think about the problem.

The next day, the plan worked beautifully and the workers dispersed peacefully shouting “Principal Zindabad”

 

PARTNER YOUR CUSTOMERS TO SUCCESS

            At KV Sambalpur, the morale of the staff was low when the author took over in 1971 June. The students were rudderless. The community was apathetic towards the school. Slowly the author tried to salvage the situation and at the end of the year, he prepared a pamphlet listing what all the school had achieved during the year and what it proposed to do next year. He requested the students of classes 8-10 to make individual home visits in the town, distribute the pamphlets, and explain the school’s achievements. This exercise resulted in a total transformation of the society’s attitude towards the school.

The author’s wife’s maternal uncle Mr. Chandramouli was Area Sales Manager of Brooke Bond at Coimbatore during the 1950’s. During summer, he caught hold of students of classes 9 & and 10 living nearby, gave them each a 200-gram Tea packet, and asked them to visit houses and distribute free sample packets. He gave them also at the end of the month a sizeable sum as a commission and also a prize for the first three students who visited the most number of houses. He used to say “I am trying to influence the market through my youth Brigade”.

Now in marketing, this team “influencer- marketing” has gained much ground through Twitter, Orkut, etc. Brand marketing is done.

Rohit Ohri, executive chairman of the Dentsu Group has an idea for you to try viz. cross-switch marketing ie. “The creation of scenarios to move targets and capture their hearts”- to flip a switch in the consumer’s mind” Can you do this with your consumer/customer- parents, staff, students?

The “Dentsu way” means creating in their minds” one uniform lingering afterthought, one key identifier to resound in their minds about your school. The key according to Rohit Ohri is to break the existing mould and “ Think large, think deep, and think wide” Partner with your customer to success. This shall be your Taraka Mantra.

 

DEVELOP HOMOGENOUS HETEROGENEITY

You can take a lot of lessons from the Sports field. We have an ever-smiling sports-savvy person in Harsh Bogle. The ace Cricket commentator and a management expert,  in his scintillating book, co-authored by his wife Anitha Bogle,  “The Winning Way” caution you by saying that “ History judges leaders by the quality of the decisions they take; the outcome may not always be beneficial, but the boldness and intent behind the decision are what matter whether in war, business, or sport. Decision-making is an integral part of leadership and those who dilly, dally or fail to take a call are remembered as weak and ineffective leaders”.

Leadership may weigh you down, maybe a burden to take on any responsibilities, or your personality may blossom- as it did with Sachin and Sourav Ganguly respectively.

As a leader, you must hear – a holistic open ear and mind keen to locate the best ideas from any corner, perhaps least expected.

Consensus is good. Hearing many is good. But, you can’t make everyone happy with your final decision. If you do that you may fail. Be bold, courageous; and have convictions to take decisions and stand by them.

The staff room will appear as a heterogeneous group. You have to make it homogeneous. Staff from various states speaking –various languages. Maharashtrians dislike people from U. P. and Bihar. Oriyas think Biharis have taken away their prosperity. An eternal distrust between Bengalis and Assamese. Punjabi wants to dominate. The intellectual arrogance of the Tamilian. The Union mentality of the Keralite, the high decibel Andhras, the cultural arrogance of the Bengali, the alienation feeling of the man from the Northeast, the commercial angle of the Gujarati- all these present in their native states spill over into the staff room.

Devdutt Patnaik gives a beautiful smile to tackle this. In Mount Kailas, Lord Shiva was with his family. The deer came running hunted by the tiger. Shiva took the deer in his hand. The tiger said, ”I will go hungry”.  Parvati took it as her vehicle. The serpent came chasing a rat. Ganesha made the rat his vehicle and the serpent an ornament around his waist. The peacock wanted the serpent. Karthik made it his vehicle also. The five live peacefully in Kailas. Like this, you have to play all these four roles. You have to create as Herbert Spencer said, “ a homogeneous heterogeneity”. – A garland consisting of different flowers-

In the animal world, a tiger will not harm another tiger. But among Humans ‘A’ thinks that he is a tiger and ‘B’ a deer. Hence all the trouble.

The author used to form committees with staff from different states and make the committees complete with one. And that competition is used to weld the members.

From experience, the author had learned one valuable lesson- when there was some fiction, some non-understanding, some heartburn, some abrasiveness, some cold-shouldering, some lack of warmth, some absence of a meeting of eyes, – then he understood that if the relationship had not ended well, then perhaps it did not start well.

 

MAKE EXCELLENCE YOUR SIGNATURE TUNE

            Do you want ‘Excellence’ to become the signature tune of your institution? Then, you have to find answers to 5 questions. According to Scott Keller and Colin price in “ Beyond performance”.

These are 5 A’s

  1. Aspire – what is your goal?

Set your objective by juxtaposing reality with intuition.

  1. Assess – evaluate your strength and your preparedness to proceed towards your objective

Field Marshal Sam Manek Sha told Indira Gandhi in 1971 “I am not prepared. Give me six months”

  1. Architect – what are your plans to reach your goal? How do you propose to march on
  2. Act – actually from the first step how measured are your steps? Have you picked the talented team? Have you put the infrastructure in place? Have you organized your annual activity calendar? Have you made parents partners in the school’s progress? Have you ensured staff engagement? Have you empowered them? Have you fixed accountability?
  3. Advance – Have you evaluated the school’s performance? Have you identified the loopholes and the bottlenecks? How do you plan to go forward? How deep and thick is the staff’s involvement in this “Go forward process? Have you put in motion- “ Kaizen”- capacity for continuous improvement?

 

IS YOUR SCHOOL AGING?

     How did you feel when you saw the first wrinkle in your cheek? How did your wife react when she discovered, the first strand of grey hair behind her ear? You both screamed within yourself, “ Oh! I am aging?” Anyone reaching 50 is bound by this phenomenon.

Have you thought that your school also will suffer from “ Age limits”. Yes, it is bound to happen. The school also will age when you near your Golden Jubilee. It is high time you become serious about a little heart-searching and stock-taking. Your school brand is not timeless. Some have a long run like Sachin, some have a brief firework – shine and splendor like his schoolmate Vinod Kambli.

Youngsters no longer think “Pears is for me” Do your parents think, “This is not the school for my children?”

What do you think are the signs of aging for the school?

  1. A large turnover of staff
  2. Too many TCs going out
  3. Decrease in the number of parents seeking admission for their next child
  4. Decrease in the number of parents on an annual day
  5. Parents talking about lack of life and glitz in school programs.
  6. Lesser number of activities
  7. Lesser participants in external competitions
  8. Steady fall in results
  9. Frequent complaints from parents about the staff
  10. Poor maintenance of the school
  11. Overgrowth of vegetation on the school campus
  12. Increase in wall writing in the toilets and corridors
  13. A creeping sleepiness and slovenliness in the school atmosphere.
  14. A parent who has a child for admission does not put his child in your school but recommends it to his neighbour’s child
  15. Erosion of rapport among the staff
  16. Students lack of confidence in their teachers
  17. Too many teachers above 50 years
  18. Slow eclipse of sports activities
  19. Staff not drawn by higher authorities for important committee work
  20. Declining respect for the school in society.
  21. Negative references about the school in the society
  22. Corruption, favoritism and nepotism in school administration
  23. Decrease in the number of children admitted from the local population
  24. Increase in the number of students going out to a neighboring school
  25. Teachers being asked to bring in more students
  26. School facilities being used for non-education purposes.

Your health is a major factor in your decision-making process. According to research done by Mirjam Tuk, visiting Professor at Instead Business School, persons who can retain a full bladder have more self-control. If so you will be more controlled and calm in your responses, be less impulsive in your decisions and choices, and think twice before acting. The author had seen Principals who were impulsive and jumping to conclusions, preferring the choice available immediately and being more agitated in their reactions suffering from incontinence.

Mirjam Tuk suggests that you install a soft waterfall which will induce self-control. Now electrically operated waterfall photos are available. You may install one in your room, the staff room, and the office for a positive effect.

You may be inclined to invite guest speakers to the school. Any way you may have to pay for most of their time. This has become the norm now. Take care. The overt motivational speaker who does not expect a monetary reward. He simply creates a gung-ho feeling and leaves it there. The effect of his talk lasts till he leaves the school campus or a day more.

The other is the strategist who sits in style and ignites the spark that changes the mindset of your staff and students. He has to be compensated heavily. May be, he is worth it.

 

 TRY PEER LEARNING

 Have you tried any variation in the teaching-learning model? Of course, the usual top-down from teacher to an eager or unwilling student. The second is peer-to-peer where one student teaches another. And the teacher is only a facilitator. Mrs. A. Jayalakshmi, PRT of KV Ashok Nagar and Mrs. M.Vishalakshi HM of KV Minambakkam, Chennai, tried this for several years.                                 One boy/ Girl bright in English, Maths, and science taught these subjects to a backward student in the 9th period. The teacher was sitting in her chair in a corner and doing her work. The bright students taught their friends the day’s work and verified if they understood, helped them to do their homework. If they had any difficulty in explaining an idea, they approached the teacher for help. In recognition of their services, they were given 5 bonus marks in these subjects in the annual examination and also a certificate on the Annual day.

The third one is where the student teaches the teacher. Through this, both learn. Such instances are just a few. In KV IIT, Chennai in the 1980s, there was a student in the Humanities section who had something new for the teacher every day.

The author had the benefit of peer learning – some intricate aspects of statistics from                             Sri. A. Shanmugam, PGT (Econ) of KV AFS, Avadi, some ideas in Chemistry from                        Dr. Mrs. Rajalakshmi and Mrs. Seethalakshmi of KV IIT, Chennai, some interesting ideas in Biology from Dr. Mrs, Jayalakshmi Jagannnathan of KV HVF, Avadi and Mrs. G. Malaiammal of KV Coimbatore.

 

BUILD RELATIONSHIP

In marketing, the Chairman or President of a big department store chain suddenly walks into a store incognito, talks to the shoppers and staff, and learns about the deficiencies as perceived by them. Kevin Peters, President of the chain called “ Office Depot” used to visit his stores like this. From these visits, he found out that his staff was trained to stack the shelves, periodically to keep the toilets clean, but they had not been told or trained to build relationships with the customers.

This situation applies to our school also.  we have not asked our staff to teach well, to test properly, to train students for activities but we have not asked or trained them to handle parents well. They are our customers. We need them more than they need us. We have to get feedback from them and learn from it.

Once when the author visited the famous cloth store Nallis in T. Nagar, Chennai, he found the owner Sri. Nalli Kuppu Swamy Chetti sitting on a chair along with 5 of his senior staff. All had the same type of chair while the author was talking to him about his writings on the practice of management.

He said, “ Just a Minute” got up, and rushed behind an elderly lady in her 40s leaving the shop with no cloth bag (company’s) in her hand indicating that she had not purchased anything. He brought her back to the shop and found out that the color and design she wanted were not available in his shop. At once, he called his production manager and asked him to sit with her and work out a design of what she wanted. He then told the lady “ Amma” he would personally take this to our looms in Kancheepuram, sit with the weavers, and explain what she wanted. In another 15 days, the saree will be delivered to you.

He told the author, “All my staff is trained to see the reaction of the customers and make them complete a purchase”.

The author decided to apply the Nalli technique in his education management and slowly trained his staff in this art.

Sitting in his room, through the door he would see any parent going out from the office and if his face was not happy, he would come out, call him find out his problem, and try to solve it. The staff was asked to involve as many parents as possible in the conduct of various activities- occasions to get feedback.

The author used to walk around slowly the school twice or thrice a day, observing the teaching–learning going on in the classes, a comment made by staff and students as they were walking the discussions in the staffroom and the backroom talks in the classes by the backbenchers. Attend functions in students’ Homes and community functions – all occasions to meet parents.

Once when the author asked a Science PGT as to how the parents feel about the experiments done by the pupils he said, “ to find out what they feel is not part of my job description”- an isolate!

In one school, the author found several bound volumes of Readers Digest, National Geographic, and Scientific American, Bhavan’s Journal and was happy to learn that the Librarian had an excellent rapport with the parents ( a closed community) and got all these as gifts from them. They were very useful for the student’s project work.

Every minute in a principal’s day is a moment of challenge to his wisdom, mental alertness, stability, patience, humanism, and tact. Every moment will become enjoyable if you see the charm in using it as an opportunity to learn, prove yourself, and go forward. Problems arise only when you take a thing as a challenge to your position, power, and authority.

~~~~~

ONE WHO KNOWS (VOLUME XI – CHAPTER  2)

(DIMENSIONS OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF A PRINCIPAL)

1563. One who knows that has to get three components right
a) His thoughts and feelings
b) Processes to assign with his ambitions
c) His energy levels

1564. One who knows how to grow against all odds.

1565. One who knows that decisions can be taken only with a calm mind

1566. One who knows how to create a “ No Agenda” time

1567. One who knows how to handle the occasional emptiness he feels.

1568. One who turns every year into a year of ‘Breakthrough’

1569. One who fills spaces with his vibrations

1570. One who has “never allowed the behavior of others to destroy his inner peace”, as Tenzin Gyatsopotit.

1571. One who holds on to what he is good at and after some time becomes a synonym for that quality.

1572. One who advises the parents not to worry about what their child will become tomorrow, forgetting that he/ she is someone today.

1573. One who advises the parents to spend two minutes daily waving at the child when she/ he goes to school by bus- give the kids the happiness and faith that the father/mother will stay back and look at them when they wave and that at that moment. If your place is empty, that would stay in the kid’s mind not anything else you would have done for her.

1574. One who asks the parents to give the kids trust whenever they need it and answer any question that springs from them.

1575. One who has learned to accept disappointment without losing hope and believes that the greater the challenge the more glory in overcoming it.

1576. One who says he can’t offer less because nature offers its best without favoritism.

1577. One who firmly believes that to be ahead he needs to be updated, as otherwise he would become outdated.

1578. One who as a head, sees his primary responsibility as to make the institution ready for the future.

1579. One who knows the difference between the fact and reality.

1580. One knows that practicing 1000 different activities is not equal to practicing one activity 1000 times.

1581. One who realizes that “ I may be better than all his people. But I can’t be in all places and can’t do the work of all people.

1582. One who knows that “ successful delegation is in finding the right balance between giving autonomy and holding responsibility.

1583. One who knows that “ Leadership is decentralization of work but centralization of
responsibility.

1584. One who knows that “ the person who follows the leader is usually the person who develops into a leader most rapidly”

1585. One who knows “ to cherish the seed and throw away the weeds”.

1586. One who knows to pause, ponder, and proceed.

1587. One who knows that “ Doing something imperfectly over some time is far superior and yields better results than trying to do everything perfectly for the first time itself”

1588. One who knows to identify his / her “ weak spots” in his / her professional career or personal life and work on them daily and become a ‘ Dhinacharya”

1589. One who knows to walk around, fetch a glass of water, carry another for a colleague, carry a file from the office, with colleagues on an important day- public and personal share lunch, tap a shoulder, give a smile, a handshake- our workplace would become a playground

1590. One who knows to tell a student “ I Love You” who makes him understand that you love him and who knows to tell a student “ Thank you for loving me so much” which shows that he (Principal) understands the student’s love.

1591. One who knows to “ observe his emotions from time to time, especially during stressful and difficult situations, since he also knows that observation mode will help him to reach control mode easily and early”

1592. One who knows that he should not test the anger of a patient man.

1593. One who knows that every student does bloom, just waiting to bloom and it is not a question of How, But just a question of ‘ when’ – to that moment we have to be alert.

1594. One who knows that “ Horizontal exposure with vertical expertise is the way for his future” and tells so to all his staff.

~~~~~

ALL men are Mine; so the whole World has to be saved from the consequences of ignorance or limited knowledge. I will get all My people near Me, for they are Mine, and I am theirs. Then, I will start teaching and training them, until they become entirely ego-free. For the last 25 years, it has all been sweetness, kindness, soft persuasion; hereafter, it will be different. I will drag them, place them on the table and operate. That is to say, I have no anger or hate. I have only Love. It is Love that prompts Me to save them and to open their eyes, before they get deeper into the morass. –  Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba