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Individuality
Triumphs of Training
by
PGR Nair
 In
the year 1996, when I was the president of Cochin Film Society, I
organized a week long “Film Appreciation camp” in Cochin drawing people
from all over Kerala. PK Nair, the former curator of National Film
Archives of India was the Camp director. The purpose was to give
training to movie buffs on how to understand and appreciate good films.
It included screening of over 40 world film classics ranging from
“Battleship Potemkin” (Eisenstein) to modern masterpieces like “Elektra
My Love” (Miklos Jancso) followed by discussion sessions. The Camp was
inaugurated by the great Malayalam Novelist and Jnanpeeth award winner
MT Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as MT. MT is also well-known in
Kerala as a film script writer whose films have won National awards
several times. During his speech he inspired us with a powerful example
of transformation a film society in Karnataka achieved through training.
In a village near Belgaum, every evening the Belgaum film society used
to freely screen film classics in world cinema to an assembly of
villagers in a maidan. The films included works from masters such Akira
Kurosawa, Bergman , Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Satyajit
Ray. A veteran Kannada film critic used to make an introductory
appreciation speech about each film and he would then translate the
English subtitles into Kannada language so that the villagers understood
each film in all respects. A month following this regular exposure of
villagers to great film classics, the Belgaum film society screened a
typical Hindi Blockbuster or Masala movie. To their utter surprise, the
villagers became furious and made catcalls as the movie progressed .The
whole village square was empty by the interval. The villagers of Belgaum
had acquired that rare sensibility to distinguish between a good movie
and a bad one after that month long training in film appreciation.
Dear Readers, if training can bring that powerful transformation in the
mindset of illiterate villagers, it can work miracles in your life. Many
things are made easier through constant familiarity and training.
Through training we can develop talent and discard our debris. The right
employee training, development and education, at the right time,
provides big payoffs for any employer in increased productivity,
knowledge, loyalty, and contribution. Through training we can change; we
can transform ourselves. I stand as its testimony.
I have been associated with the greatest communication and leadership
training organization in Public Speaking called
Toastmasters
for the last nine years through many Toastmasters clubs in Saudi Arabia.
This forum turned out to be a supreme example of what training can
accomplish in the flowering of my persona. My communication abilities
and self-confidence made a quantum leap through my constant training in
Toastmasters clubs by way of presenting speeches and workshops on
different Topics. I became the first Distinguished Toastmaster (Highest
educational achievement in Toastmasters) in Jubail after presenting 40
speeches and over ten workshops. The new improved PGR established a name
in my organization as a good presenter. All these simply stemmed from my
continual toil by training. There is a Chinese proverb which says “When
planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant
trees. When planning for life, train and educate people”.
Training can transform a cabbage into a cauliflower, a jaded glass into
a glittering chandelier and a man called Johnson into Magic Johnson.
Training also gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by
stress and thus it tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the
body. Today in this competitive world, we all know there is just one-way
to improve our odds for survival: train, train and train. Sometimes, if
your training is too intense it may kill you. More often -- much, much
more often -- it will save your life.
As Mark Twain said "There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is
above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad
principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship."
August 5, 2007
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Individuality
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