Varalotti's Speech And Pictures Part III

Now let’s turn our attention to self-motivation books.

The Collector of Madurai told here in this same stage while inaugurating the book-fair that of late self-motivation books are selling like hot cakes.

My publisher and other members of the industry confirm the veracity of the statement.

I have written two books on self-motivation. So I can’t be throwing the stone while sitting inside a glass house.

And yet some stones have to be thrown at the wrong life-style advocated by these motivation books.

The first such book that was given to me was Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People.

The book is a publishing phenomenon. It was bought in millions and is still spoken of as the father of all motivation books.

I can’t even digest the title of the book let alone its contents. How to Win Friends..

You don’t win friends. You win over your enemies and you just get friends.

When you win friends then it could never be a true friendship. Winning friends is the work of insurance salesmen, though I am afraid that the term friends does not sit well in this statement.

Friendship like love is as natural a phenomenon as the blossoming of a flower. You meet somebody somewhere.

You feel like talking to her. And you are aware that she too has the same kind of feelings for you. You talk about everything under the sun.

And after many conversations you realise that you have become her friend and she yours. That and that alone is friendship.

Contrast that with this popular US commercial for a credit rating agency. A person cautiously eyes at his fellow passenger in the plane. It’s a long haul flight. He shakes hands with him and exchanges business cards.

He wants to buy a drink for his new-found friend. He takes the card and his lap top to the rear end of the plane.

He logs on to the credit rating agency’s website and finds that this ‘friend’s’ company is doing very well and it would be worthwhile to have business relationshiop with him.

He returns to his seat, touches his friend’s hand and declares in a state of jubilation, “Come on buddy, let’s have a drink. It’s on me.”

If only the credit rating of the man’s company had not been good this man would not have wasted the money on the drink for a not so creditworthy stranger.

The drink is not for the human being but for the credit rating. And the rating agency boasts that you can get the information within minutes.

There could not be a more classic example of technological superiority; nor could there be a more telling example of the moral depravity of this technology-driven civilsation.

Dale Carnegie gives the most beautiful advice to husbands. Even if you don’t love your wives make it a point to say ‘I love you’ to your wife at least three times in a day.

That’s the best way to save your marriage. Superb. The miraculous words ‘I love you’ have been reduced to the level of Sporidex-500, an antibiotic taken three times a day to ward off the bacteria of marital disharmony.

Beautiful. If you love your wife and tell her I love you, it’s great. If you don’t love her but just don’t mind living with her and you don’t want to lie to her saying, I love you, it’s still good. You are both honest and responsible.

But if you don’t love her and yet to save the marriage you say I love you, well that’s hypocrisy at its worst. You are thinking one thing and saying something else, sowing the seeds for the worst type of neurosis.

No wonder the brilliant author who taught these wonderful lessons to us ultimately killed himself.

I have been reading books ever since I was twenty and have been writing since I was forty. I pledge all my reading and writing experience to declare that the best motivation books are fiction work of great writers.

You will get some real tips for good living from the works of Jeyakanthan, Sujatha, Devan, Kalki and a host of other writers.

Any day a classic work of fiction will have more self-motivation hints than all the so called self-motivation books put together. And it will be delivered in a way that you’ll never forget.

My critics always condemn my works as “too good to be true.” All my stories are about good people, they have a good ending and they uphold good values.

People waste no time to criticise my stories as Utopian. I want to ask you has any story been rejected as “too bad to be true.”

There are stories about serial killers, about those who mercilessly mutilate the bodies of their victims, of those who rape even their own children.. and yet those books are accepted. “It happens, you know.”

But if you read a story about a husband who’s true to his wife, about a doctor who goes out of the way to help his patient, or an Army General showing compassion to his enemy soldiers, you jump on your seat to shout, “Oh Sridhar, that’s too good to be true.”

If our great epic Ramayana were to be given to our TV serial producers as a story line to base a serial on, they will make several changes in the story as the original (written by no less than a sage like Valmiki) is too good to be true.

When Rama is told that he can’t be the king, he would be made to file a writ against Dasaratha, Kaikeyi and Bharatha. Bharatha will contest the writ.

There will be fights between the brothers. The case will drag on for years inside the court and outside it.

And they will also change the storyline regarding Sita’s abduction.. Well I don’t want to go any further on these lines as I am a staunch devotee of Rama and if I say more I’ll be blaspheming my all-time favourite hero.

If you want a good world you should have good heroes. If you want good people you need good stories. Even stories “too good to be true.” And start rejecting stories as “too bad to be true.” Believe in the goodness of human beings. They will be good. Believe in their “badness” they will be bad.

I have come to the end of my speech. A book is a safe, durable and a valuable investment. I remember the writer Mrs. Prema Nandakumar sharing her childhood experiences. When she was 11 years old her grandfather, the legendary Thathachariar, got her a copy of Thirukkural for four annas. He also got her a silk dress for fifty Rupees (equivalent to Rs.5000 these days).

In a matter of two years she outgrew the silk dress and it was soon torn and disposed off. She says that the values taught by Thirukkural are still with her, in her seventies.

Four annas of investment lasting for sixty years and five thousand Rupees being wasted in two years. Now you know how books fare in relation to other modes of investment.

Given the present day living conditions we are going to be alone in our old age. Our children might not be with us.

We might be living alone in our homes or, who knows, in an old age home. Books are going to be the only company for us. But you should start your love affair with books right now.

I pray to the Presiding deity of our city, Madurai Meenakshi, to bless you all with everything good in your life.

Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.

 

Thanks Akila for being the first. I am only against that Dale Carnegie type of self motivation books. I am not even comfortable with Wan Dyer and Deepak Chopra types. A motivation book should list out some incidents and tell about the great strengths of an individual in a particular crisis. I hate all those preachy, hypocritical books. In fact I took up to writing my first self motivation book in 2006 (Vetriyin Vithaikal) only as an answer to this question.
And my editor at my publisher called me yesterday to say that in a talk show in Vijai TV (Neeya Naana) a person in the audience when asked what was the book that affected him most replied 'Varalottiyin Vetriyin Vithaikal'. I felt happy not because my name and my book was mentioned but to see that the right type of self motivation book still has its market, albeit pretty small.

Thanks for your compliments about my "too good to believe " stories and I am planning to publish a few of them through e-publishing in kindle.

thanks once again, Akila.
sridhar

 

Dear Raji,
You simply bowled me over with your call. It was nice talking to you. It was a hectic time in our office and talking to you provided the relaxation I badly needed.
Now coming to the point; instead of writing a thousand page motivation book condemning the practice of gambling, if you just narrate that one scene in Mahabharatha where Dharma gambles his kingdom, his brothers and his wife, the listener will never resort to gambling.
All my morality came from the stories I read. Thi. Janakiraman (Tamil) Aldous Huxley, Somerset Maugham defined my moral landscape more than any of the preachy scriptural texts.
sridhar uncle

 

Dear Nihas, thanks a lot for understanding. I think a time has now come for such type of stories. A time has to come to quit mindless violence and meaningless sex perversion in stories and talk about love, compassion and benevolence. Your flowing fb now encourages me to do more in that direction. Who knows, very soon, I might load you with another serial story here in IL.
thanks once again,
sridhar uncle