Dear Readers,
I was unaware that I have so many silent admirers — I mean admirers of silence.
I have received quite a few comments and it is my duty to share some of them considering the trouble readers have taken to write back.
Senior reader and ex-bureaucrat Padmanabha says silence is golden, but it would almost be a crime not to speak out in certain situations. He then quotes a poem by Von Niemöller:
First they came for the socialists | and I did not speak out | Because I was not a socialist.| Then they came for the trade unionists | and I did not speak out | Because I was not a trade unionist.| Then they came for the Jews | and I did not speak out | Because I was not a Jew | Then they came for me | and there was no one left to speak for me
Rama Iyer quotes Claude Debussy, the French composer, who opined that. "music is not in the notes but in the silence between".
Shahji, Tarun and others have recalled the song ‘The Sound of Silence’. Listen to it here.
Shahji found another word with ‘turtle’ in it — ‘turtleback’ — something shaped like the back of a turtle, especially an arched structure erected over the deck of a ship as protection from heavy seas.
Capt. Sarma experienced ‘stunned silence’ when his family refused to invite his Navy friends home for the 80th birthday and instead took him to a hotel where his jaw dropped seeing 60 of his navy friends singing happy birthday!
Stage fright and speechlessness reminded Padma Satish of an embarrassing situation she faced as a 9th grader: it was a poetry recital contest and she kept repeating the first line.
⑁ Benchmarking
Way back when I was in Hardwick High School in Mysore, our classrooms used to face the east or the west depending on the standard we were in. I distinctly remember that when I was in the 7th standard, my classroom indeed faced west. My elders had hammered into our heads that east-facing is very auspicious and good in all respects. This profound postulate did not hold good at school, where the west-facing classroom was our favourite.
As kids, we grew up cursing the easterly sun for being in such a hurry to rise and making us scramble to get ready and run to school. We loved the westerly sun which at 4.30 pm, at the sound of the gong, liberated us from the clutches of the teachers and led us to the fun-filled playground where we spent the next two hours.
So, where does benchmarking figure here?
You see dear readers when sitting in a westerly facing classroom with no watch on anyone’s wrists, the only way to figure when it would be 4.30 was to carry out an exercise in calibration which involved making an indentation on the bench and when the receding sunlight hit that mark, the person entrusted with watching that benchmark would start closing the books signalling to the class that the gong was about to sound, releasing us from the shackles of the ropes of learning.
This practice of ‘benchmarking’ continued all through our college days. In some classes, the mark was on the wall due to the angle of the sun. Believe me, even in those college days almost none of us had a wristwatch, and the mark on the wall was our wall clock! 😉
‘Bench’ we knew well, but benchmarking, as the term means now, was alien to us. Of course, we could be marked by the teacher for indiscipline and asked to stand up on the bench!
Even after I passed out of law college, the term ‘benchmarking’ was unfamiliar and it was only when I started working for companies that I frequently came across this term.
In today's parlance, benchmarking could be anything ranging from the cost of production, competitiveness, industry-level compensation, data protection, operational efficiency, market leadership, etc. Each industry would compare its performance with its peers and in some cases with global players.
I had heard much about the ‘parta system’ that was being practised in the Birla Group. When I joined the Group in 1998, I was told that late Shriyut GD Birla converted the parta into a reliable system for benchmarking cost efficiency. The head of each business unit would report just three numbers every day: the earnings minus the expenses and the gross profit. This became an exercise in benchmarking to compare less cost-effective units with those which were very cost-effective and help institutionalise best practices across verticals. I myself have known of a situation when the per-unit cost of captive power was compared and the unit incurring higher cost was subjected to some diagnostic study to improve cost efficiency. The colloquial rule was: ‘If they can achieve that, why can’t you?’
Let’s see how in retrospect we can relate benchmarking to social and family situations.
Before I studied law, where I did pretty well, I was a reluctant student in B.Sc. and I got benchmarked every day for my average performance in all the science subjects. There were some relatives who derived vicarious pleasure in announcing in front of my family that their daughter or son got distinction and secured merit scholarship, which would trigger off another set of benchmarking for me by the family. Mercifully the scholarship I got for my Masters helped me measure up a bit.
Imagine a young man making the cut and going abroad for studies creating another benchmark that is not easy to beat for everyone. But his peers found themselves being compared to him. Years later, at a time when inter-caste marriage was taboo, that young man married a caucasian bride and scandalised the family. Today it's widely accepted. Anyway, at that time, that boy's parents appreciated all the local boys for having obeyed their parents and getting married to a girl of the parents’ choice! As if there was any choice back then.
Unrealistic expectations should not be used as benchmarks to measure individual accomplishments. Imagine a boy scoring 99.98% and his girl classmate scoring 100% in the same subject. Undoubtedly the girl’s achievement should be applauded but there is no reason to not celebrate the boy’s achievement. Some parents who are high achievers themselves do tend to commiserate rather than celebrate the boy’s hard work. Some even make a gender-based remark like, ‘look at that girl…’
Neighbours are forever benchmarking each other. If one gets a promotion, the neighbour’s wife would benchmark her husband and accuse him of not working hard to please his boss.
Jewellery, dishwashers, air conditioners, or other white goods might set off a competition among neighbours. This extends to showing off the talent their kids have to belittle other kids. Beating the benchmark of kids’ birthdays can be very daunting.
Marriage and other celebrations are also benchmarked. The ostentatious and vulgar display of riches is seen as status symbols. If a wedding was held over two days the next one will be for four days. If one was conducted in a five-star hotel, the next will be a destination wedding.
Benchmarking is about emulating best practices and staying ahead. But in a social and familial setup benchmarking loses its real meaning and morphs into a one-upmanship game. It is all about beating someone at any cost even if it involves borrowing big time.
Negative traits are also benchmarked. Think of two young guys, both school dropouts. One sits at home freeloading and the other does Dunzo and Swiggy deliveries. The latter’s initiative to work becomes the benchmark for the laggard.
In sports too, benchmarking is of great help. Each new record enthuses you and challenges you to not just emulate the high performers but excel them.
There are advantages to benchmarking yourself against your group of peers. Let’s say they are an educated, accomplished, ambitious and knowledgeable group who value financial security and independence and are willing to invest time in securing the interests of the family. This very accomplished group gives you benchmarks to help you determine how you are performing financially; where you are excelling, and how financial security for your family can be improved, which would help you maintain a respectable lifestyle.
COVID has created new benchmarks in social behaviour. It has infused in all of us a sense of responsibility towards the community at large, besides being responsible for ourselves and our families. These benchmarks of social distancing and wearing a mask are here to stay for quite some time and none of us should let our guard down. Never in the past have we appreciated or experienced this intensity of empathy, sympathy, benevolence, selfless service and charitable disposition. You too can do your bit within your means in the community you live in. Set your own benchmark!!
I leave you with this quote which I read, though I am not aware of who said it:
“I learned to give not because I have much, but because I know exactly how it feels to have nothing”
See you next week!
Pras has set a Benchmark in writing on ordinary topics in an extra ordinary way with wit and humour. A good goal to achieve.
In my college days I generally performed well. But my high achiever father though congratulated me would find a reason to tease me too. When I missed my firs rank in BSc both in Maths and English by two marks and one respectively, my father said you lost out to the same girl twice. When I received a second prize in a competition by Phillips, I received a gold centered silver medal at Taj, Bombay. But the ego balloon got punctured when you discovered that the first prize recipient was a girl. Fortunately I didn`t have to compete with women in the Navy.
Dear Prasanna,
At the outset, I must compliment you on the regularity with which you have been writing the FC week after week and without a break. 48 different topics is no ordinary feat. Equally impressed with the variety of offering. You are able to make the ordinary look and sound extraordinary. It is becoming a habit to look forward to FC every Sunday morning. You also don’t reveal what is coming the following week to maintain the surprise element. Great going.
Talking about benchmarking, were we not influenced by it at every stage of our life ? Be it our behaviour, studies, a skill or sport. There was always someone better and the pursuit for excellence never stopped. Looking back, thanks to the unseizing stimulus mainly by our parents that we can attribute to whatever success we have achieved in life. Whenever I set out to write something, you become my benchmark. And the pursuit never stops !