Being a Leader

                         I thought being a leader was simple.But I was badly mistaken.Being a leader is no simple deal.And I learnt that just a few days back after taking up my first serious role as a leader.

                             Last Sunday was the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected state leaders of Akhila Kerala Balajana Sakhyam-Asia's largest children's organization.It is an organization started way back in 1929 under the mentorship of Malayala Manorama and has a membership of more than 4 lakh children.It has a 4-tier federation system starting from the unit to the union to the zone and then the state.We conduct classes,seminars and camps for the members and the children in turn carry out many social service schemes like helping children from underprivileged backgrounds, conducting medical camps,building homes for the poor,visiting and helping orphanages and old age homes and helping in mitigation of disasters.

                  Every year is dedicated for a special cause.Last year was 'Nanma Pookunna Varsham'-a year meant for cultivating good deeds.This year it is for water conservation.The Sakhyam has also helped in bringing up many great individuals ,some of whom are able leaders now.Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy was a former State President of the Sakhyam.In fact a good proportion of MLAs in the Kerala Legislative Assembly,many civil servants and bureaucrats have all been members of Balajanasakhyam.

                      And to get an opportunity to lead this great organization as it's State President for 2016-17 is no simple achievement in my life.As President,I also declared our 15-minute long manifesto which proclaimed this year as "Water conservation" year for Balajanasakhyam.The manifesto included the different policies and programmes that we would be adopting this year.The swearing in ceremony was followed by a 3-day camp for all zonal and state leaders of the organization.

                           I've attended several camps of Balajanasakhyam but this time it was from an entirely different angle that I saw the camp.As state leaders we were supposed to manage almost everything in the campsite.I remember us running around the campus,making arrangements for the various sessions,serving food for the campers,getting everyone ready and the lot.Having seen each other in many camps and competitions conducted previously,we state leaders took hardly any time to get comfortable with each other.In no time, I have to say we became great friends.In the excitement of taking up new responsibilities and creating new bonds,we almost forgot that we were under the scrutinizing eyes of others.

                     On the first day of the camp we did receive some criticisms from different corners.We had to work under an air of great expectations since the leaders whom we succeeded were favourites of children and sirs alike. We used to spend more time among ourselves which made the others feel that we were an exclusive band of members with an air of superiority in us. Our rather tensed and hastened behavior seemed to be commanding and dominating for many.On the other hand,there were people telling me that I was rather too mild and behaved too much like a friend than a President.People asked me to be a bit more strong and stern in terms of dealing with people.But yes,there were good comments from many.But the bad things always supersede the good ones,don't they?

                    On the second day of the camp I was running around collecting opinions from the children about us leaders.And many of them weren't very heartening.Though it felt like a spear kicking hard on my heart,I still talked with the campers who explained to me in detail,our errors.Most of us state leaders got rather depressed having to face such criticisms which we had earned from our small actions that we did without actually meaning to.Many of us were crying not knowing what we had done.Before me,as President lay the responsibility of bringing the entire team together,helping us realize the mistakes that we had committed in ignorance and to motivate them all to work together in such a manner that all the children will feel inclusive.I called in all the leaders and talked to them for quite some time,motivating them and telling them what changes we should make in our behavior. They sent in their opinions and ideas and in the end we talked our problems out.I was sworn in a day before,but that was the instance when I actually felt that I had assumed the role of the President.

                The next day we were able to work in a much better and organized manner for which we garnered appreciation from the children and the sirs alike.There were people who came up to us and told us that we performed better than the previous team of state leaders (no offence,please!).Our mentors told us that they didn't expect us to perform so well in our very first camp.I could see the contended and sorrow faces of the children as we entered into that bittersweet moment of parting-contended for the wonderful camp and sorrowful for having to part with one another.

              This is also an article of thanksgiving to all those people who helped us to make this camp wonderful and also helped us to realize our mistakes and become good leaders.Thanks to all our mentors-Lal John sir,Vijo sir,Sankarathil sir,Manoj sir and Bivin sir for guiding us and helping us throughout.Thanks to Kottayam zone leaders for all the backstage efforts that you put to make the camp wonderful and the pranks that you played upon us(Akash,-this is for you!).Thanks to Rohith chettan for carefully pointing to us our mistakes and writing all our certificates.Thanks to all those campers who explained to us our faults and helped us improve-especially Meera and Rinas. Thanks to everybody who gave us comforting words of appreciation on the last day of our camp.And thanks to all the state leaders for being great friends and giving me such a wonderful time.

             No one becomes a good leader on his own.It is his experiences that shape him and teaches him to become one.Not sure if I'm a good leader.That's for you to judge.But if it had not been for these experiences I would have never learnt how to become at least a leader.So a big thank you my dear God for these enriching experiences.I will never let you down!

         

Me swearing in as President.Malayala Manorama Assistant editor Harsha Mathew is spelling out the oath .

That's me delivering our manifesto. Lal John sir and some of the other state leaders are seen beside.