OPINION

THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER 2011 7

News Updates
Omar made the
whipping boy
Dam water to recede,
T
he chief ministership of
Jammu & Kashmir is a
thankless job. No chief minis-
ter after Sheikh Abdullah was com-
fortable in that post. Lion of
Kashmir, that is how Sheikh Ab-
dullah was known, he was a tower-
ing personality, the undisputed,
Kullu deities coming!
VISHAL GULATI
unchallenged, unrivalled and be-

T
trayed political leader till he he water level in a reservoir near
breathed his last. In spite of his leadership qualities, Kullu in Himachal Pradesh will
Nehru had put him behind bars for several years. For six be brought down this week for
decades religious fanatics and politicians used the emo- the "safe passage" of over 250 deities in
tionally charged-up atmosphere to fulfill their political a procession as part of the traditional
agenda; it was done at the cost of thousands of lives of Kullu Dussehra festival.
defenceless people of Kashmir. Different political and re- Over 250 gods and goddesses of the
ligious outfits like Azadis, those who demand independ- Kullu Valley brought in palanquins by
ence for Kashmir; pro-Pakistanis, the National devotees will start converging on this
Conference, the ruling party at present; the People’s historical town for the centuries-old
Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti, have no weeklong celebrations.
common minimum programme to find a solution to the "This time too on the request of the or-
vexed issue of the future of Kashmir. The dozens of ter- ganisation, Devi Devta Kardar Sangh,
rorist groups operating in the Valley take advantage of the waters of the Larji hydropower
this fluid and confused situation. project will be brought down by the
The present turmoil relates to the resolution moved in project authorities before the arrival of
the J&K Assembly for granting clemency to Afzal Guru, the deities for Dussehra," Kullu Deputy
the finding of a mass grave and the custodial death of a Commissioner B.M. Nanta told IANS.
National Conference worker, Yousuf. He had been de- He said making the waters recede
tained for questioning along with two other leaders of the would restore the traditional track
party. Yousuf had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs 1.18 crore used to help the gods and goddesses
promising one a minister’s post and the other a legisla- from the interiors of Ani, Banjar and
tor’s seat. The government insists Yousuf died in the Nirmand divisions reach Kullu.
local police hospital after a heart attack. The Opposition Organisers have sent a special Dassehra celebrations in Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh are as famous as those in
PDP has created a ruckus demanding Chief Minister 'invitation' to the deities to Mysore.
Omar Abdullah’s resignation. The Chief Minister said he participate in the Dussehra
was prepared to face a judicial probe and lamented that celebrations beginning a day before the arrival and ing over Rs.93 lakh so that the palan-
the president of the PDP had levelled allegations against Thursday, the day the fes- departure of the deities. quins of the deities and their followers
him and his father Farooq Abdullah. For Mehbooba tival comes to an end in Nanta said the deities move conveniently.
Mufti any stick will do to beat Omar with. The Chief other northern States. and their followers The Kullu Dussehra dates back to
Minister, who has to fight on different fronts like the sep- Devi Devta Kardar would start reaching 1637 when Raja Jagat Singh was the
aratists, the pro-Pakistanis and the terrorists, requires Sangh chief Narotam Kullu Wednesday. ruler of Kullu Valley. He invited all
moral support and sympathies from the people as well Negi said that after the "It takes more than the local deities to participate in the
as the Opposition to carry on with his unenviable task. commissioning of the two days for some of the festival. Since then, the assembly of
If he goes, who will take over? Larji hydropower project deities, mainly from deities from hundreds of villages
With the Omar government courting one controversy in 2006, the original Banjar and Nirmand, to across Kullu district has become a tra-
after another and questions being raised about his effi- track that over 100 reach Kullu. They come dition.
ciency and competence, the Congress has decided to hold deities had been using only on foot and no vehi- The assembled deities pay obeisance
a review of the coalition arrangement in the State. When were submerged in the cle is used for transporta- to Lord Raghunath (Lord Ram), the
he was given a full six-year term by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, dam waters. tion," he added. chief deity.
it was agreed that there would be an annual review of "Every year we request the He said, like last year, this Unlike other places, effigies of Ravan,
the coalition arrangement. But this practice was never dam authorities to lower the year again around 220 gods Meghnad and Kumbhakaran are not
followed. The rethinking comes in the wake of Rahul water level in the reservoir so that and goddesses would participate burnt here.
Gandhi’s visit to the State recently, during which he the submerged path can resurface," in the festival that would end Oct The Kullu Valley is also popularly
faced a concerted demand from party workers to review he said. 12. known as the "Devbhoomi - the land of
the current arrangement and go in for rotational chief "A newly built tunnel (at Aut) is now The administration has been inviting gods".
ministership when Omar completes three years next the only way to reach Kullu. This is not the deities ever since the rule of The conduit between the mortals and
January. No Congress government, not even the one led acceptable at all. We will take only the structed an alternate road that goes princely States came to an end. the deities are the "gur" - the tradi-
by Ghulam Nabi Azad, had done well in the State. It will original passage," he added. through the three-km-long tunnel. Local legislator Gobind Thakur, who tional shamans of Himachal, who form
be prudent for the Congress to allow the handsome Omar After the dam construction, a four- T.C. Negi, chief engineer of the state- is a member of the organising commit- the core of the communities' spiritual
and firebrand Mehbooba to get at each other’s throat. kilometre road between Aut and Larji run Larji hydropower project, said the tee, said the government is developing sustenance. The "gur" mediates be-
was submerged. The authorities con reservoir water level would be lowered a new path along the old one by spend- tween the people and the gods.

Seeking truce with Taliban Performance Coaching:

VIEWPOINT
Y
esterday’s en-
emies are
t o d a y ’ s
friends and vice
versa. That is appli-
cable mostly in in-
ternational
diplomacy as it is
often said that
there are no perma-
nent friends or foes
but national inter-
S.Madhusudhana ests. In the case of
Rao Pakistan, friends
and foes are all mixed up and they are
crossing each other’s path in the one-up-
manship quest for peace in the violence-
ridden land.
The Pakistani civilian and military
leadership has been on the edge in the
last two weeks over US accusations that
the Haqqani network, blamed for a
string of attacks on American interests
in Afghanistan, is an arm of the ISI, and
that the government should snip off the
umbilical relationship between the Pak-
istani spy agency and the terrorist
group.
Pakistan has refuted all the allegations,
unleashed a PR campaign, sent envoys
to its Arab benefactors like Saudi Arabia
to explain the ‘truth’ that Washington is
blaming Islamabad for the former’s fail-
ures in its war on terror in Afghanistan.
All these efforts are aimed at stalling
American threat of punitive action if
Pakistan does not act swiftly and deci-
sively against the Haqqanis.
The Pakistani leadership has stood its
ground, not yielding an inch to Washing-
ton’s ‘bullying tactics’ and publicly de-
claring that the country could not be
cowed down by American saber-rattling.
The stand-off between the two allies
who have been waging a coordinated war
on terror in the restive tribal belt of
Waziristan in Pakistan and against the
Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan,
took an unexpected turn the other day.
Pakistan has expressed its readiness to
talk to the Taliban, a ragtag outfit of
many factions with bases on either side
of the loosely-guarded Af-Pak border.
The armed gangs move freely across the
border, and in some tribal belts their
writ runs large. At one time the Taliban
was a dreaded organization, particularly
when the militant group was ruling
swathes of Afghan hinterland trying to
establish a puritanical caliphate that
doesn’t recognize or tolerate different
forms of Islam divergent from their own.
The word democracy is non-existent for
them or any other secular or pluralistic
political process. Pakistan had sided
with the Taliban forces fighting a united
front in Kabul during the civil war be-
tween 1996 and 2001. The Taliban is re-
sponsible for Al Qaeda’s growth in
Afghanistan where the terrorist group
used to train and indoctrinate fighters,
import weapons, coordinate with other
jihadists, and plot terrorist attacks.
While Al Qaeda maintained its own
bases in mountain caverns, it also sup-
ported training camps belonging to other
organizations.
After the 9/11, the US had made Al
Qaeda and the Taliban, both based in
Afghanistan, its primary targets and en-
listed Pakistan in its global war on ter-
rorism.
The decade-old war has had its effects
on the Pakistani psyche. Peeved by the
high number of civilian deaths in Amer-
ican drone strikes on militant hideouts
and a general perception that the Pak-
istani leaders are playing second fiddle
Only death can come out of the barrel of the gun
to the US, people vent out their anger in
anti-American protests. Religious par-
ties’ visceral antipathy towards the US
adds fuel to the anti-American senti-
ment.
In the backdrop of public anger, Amer-
ican officials’ constant complaints that
“Pakistan is not doing enough to contain
terror” and the belief that Pakistan is
suffering because of American policies in
the region, comes the dialogue offer from
none other than Prime Minister Yousaf
Raza Gilani himself.
His decision follows an all-party meet-
ing held last week. Apparently, there
was consensus at the meet, attended by
former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
and army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
The proposed dialogue with “our own
people” is yet another signal to Washing-
ton that the US can’t browbeat Pakistan.
Nevertheless, Islamabad’s bid to seek
rapprochement with the home-side Tal-
iban must have come as a jolt to the US
which has been trying to root out the ter-
rorist outfit from Afghanistan and press-
ing Pakistan to expand its military
operations against insurgent groups in
Connect with VAK
the tribal belt along the Afghan border.
For nearly a year, Pakistani forces had
bombarded the militant hideouts with
US drone support. But, of late, the US it-
self has been carrying out the drone
strikes, angering the opposition parties
and a section of the public. Religious par-
ties have whipped up a campaign
against the US for killing dozens of civil-
ians in the strikes.
The Pentagon strategy to fight different
Taliban groups on either side of the Pak-
Afghan border with the help of respec-
tive governments seems to have
backfired. Even in Afghanistan, the
Hamid Karzai government talks of ex-
tending a hand of friendship to moderate
Taliban leaders. If Pakistan too does it,
Washington will have to chase ghosts in
the Af-Pak theatre.
How the US tackles Pakistan when it
starts befriending America’s sworn
enemy will be interesting to watch. How-
ever, the Pakistani move has immense
security implications for India. Though
the militant groups based in Pakistan
operate independently, they unite, or
closely cooperate with each other, while
executing a common agenda.
It is widely believed that ISI-linked ter-
rorist groups operating from the Pak-
istani soil maintain their contacts with
some Taliban leaders. It is possible that
future militant attacks carried out on
the Indian soil may have the Taliban el-
ements whose hands are not noticeable
so far.
It is not yet known whether the Taliban
leadership will shake hands with Gilani
and his men in uniform. Whether it does
or not, reports indicate that all factions
are not in favour of reconciliation efforts.
For example, Tehrik-e-Taliban says it
will not blindly back Pakistan in the
event of an attack by the US, which is
highly unlikely. But the fact remains
that American policy-makers must be
groping in the dark for another approach
to deal with their most difficult ally after
assiduously cultivating Pakistan to fight
the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Time and again it has been proved that
making friends with ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ter-
rorist organizations has not paid off.
Pakistan should have learnt this bitter
lesson after the Swat experience in 2009.
Militias took advantage of truce to oc-
cupy the area and the military had to
drive them out by force. Seeking truce
with the Taliban is like riding a tiger.
Management
E
very manager, time we can develop better rapport with them. Un-
every coach, derstanding a person's preferred mode enables you
practices every mentor, to tailor the way you talk to them so that it can ad-
every guide, who has here to their ‘preferred style’.
helped or worked with There are many established ways in which the pre-
an individual to en- ferred communication modes become obvious and
hance his/her perform- some simple ways in which we can enhance the ef-
ance or behavior has fectiveness of our coaching by connecting well with
constantly maintained the other individual once we are aware of them and
that the two most im- learn to use the same. One way to detect a person's
portant aspects that cre- preferred processing mode is to watch their eye
ate a make-or-break movements, particularly when they are thinking or
situation are ‘trust’ and answering a question. Another simpler way is by lis-
‘connect’ with the indi- tening to the words they use while speaking. The
Revathi Turaga
vidual. model of VAK proposes the use of Sensory Specific
No wonder, then, Language (SSL) by an individual.
across various coaching models, the commonest set For example, to say “I understand what you mean”,
of techniques one finds is on how to connect with the an individual who prefers the different modes would
other individual, on how to build that rapport that say:
is the beginning of a trusting, long-lasting relation- “I can see your point” – Visual (V)
ship. To connect with an individual means to be in “I can hear your thought now” – Auditory (A)
harmony with that person, to be in synch with that “I get the hang of your point” – Kinesthetic (K)
person. Among the notewor- Or, when the individual is
thy are a few techniques of not able to understand how
NLP (Neuro Linguistic Pro- The VAK model suggests that to do something that you in-
gramming) which include though all of us use all the VAK struct as a coach, they
one particular “VAK” i.e. Vi- might respond in the fol-
sual Auditory and Kines- senses in communication, each lowing manner:
thetic (also called of us has a natural preference “I don’t see how to work on
Kinesthetic in some litera- this, can you please show
ture). for using one of the 3 in the way me again?” – Visual (V)
Human beings understand in which we prefer to give, re- “That does not ring any
the world around them bells, can you please ex-
through five senses (for the ceive, and process information. plain again?” – Auditory (A)
sake of simplicity, let us “I can’t get the hang of
leave the sixth sense with Bruce Willis and Harry this; can we please start from scratch?” – Kines-
Joel Osment for now!) These five are the sense of thetic (K)
sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of touch or feel- As you go through the coaching session using this
ing, the sense of smell and the sense of taste. In case VAK technique, remember that the visual individual
of communication, it is a well-accepted norm that keeps observing your actions and behavior intently,
the three senses that predominate are that of sight, the auditory concentrates on what you are saying
hearing, and feeling. The sense of sight/seeing called and asking whereas the kinesthetic individual may
visual (V), the sense of hearing being auditory (A), be ‘going through the motions’ and focusing on their
and the sense of feeling being Kinesthetic (K) thus behavior and impressions as they think or talk about
leading to the popular acronym VAK! For example, what they want. Matching these preferred modes
when we think about anything in particular, we ei- will develop and increase your connect or rapport
ther make a picture of it in our minds (V) or listen with an individual in a coaching session. By ‘match-
to our thoughts in our heads (A), or associate a feel- ing’ your coachee’s VAK words and speech patterns,
ing or emotion with it (K). The VAK model suggests you can accelerate the connectivity or rapport- build-
that though all of us use all the VAK senses in com- ing process. Since rapport is a two-way process, once
munication, each of us has a natural preference for you have this connect, you have developed a bond
using one of the 3 in the way in which we prefer to that even the other individual will unconsciously
give, receive, and process information. This is said want to maintain the same, thus leading to a com-
to be largely genetically determined but that it also fortable discussion and working relationship.
develops over time as we grow. Even a simple basic Use VAK... Connect! Make friends... be the coach
understanding of the different modes can help you you are meant to be! You have the power!
to connect to another more effectively. Acknowledg-
ing that there are these different ways of processing The writer is an International Trainer &
information is important because if we know how an Inspirational Speaker. Revathi can be
individual is representing their world at a particular reached at http://www.revathionline.com