The last week of December is a source of inspiration for Sikhs. every year, each day of this week inspires me to ponder, examine,  reflect on what am I doing against what I ought to do such that I transit from on ordinary transactional individual to a being of substance. This week urges me to re-establish connect, rediscover, my own self, to be with my individuality and shed away the personality, which I have deftly adorned for the society. Kamal Jit Singh Ahluwalia offers another bouquet on the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

LET’S TRAVEL 316 YEARS BACK -wherein during this week something incredible happened, something awe-inspiring manifested, something out of the ordinary was displayed, something unbelievable yet factual happened- a series of events that shook, redefined, the edifice of a purposeful living, learning to lead an expansive, celebrative living, wherein an Everest of grief, hardships, was transformed into a distilled, pure, unbridled joy, Interestingly more its intensity, better was the celebrations.

A week which was written in human blood – martyrdom of young, tender lads aged 7 and 9 years, Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh, younger sons of Tenth Sikh Guru – Gobind Singh, who were famished, tortured to the hilt, subjected to an Everest of physical atrocities, intrepid with fear of death 24×7. Yet, these young lads refused to buckle down to give up, to blink- consequently were bricked alive.

This didn’t end here –their 80+ years of Grandmother was subjected to same pain and hardships, of being denied warm clothes, bedding, in the harshest temperatures that were plummeting down to 3 degrees. Topping this was their imprisonment in an open minaret adjoining a rivulet, such that the wind chill freezes their bones too.

And all this happened cause they refused to let go their self –esteem, their self-belief, their self-worth and the ideals of one human race where freedom to uphold one’s virtues, values, need to be respected, where humanity, not establishment was to run the show, where freedom from bondages and break free was the norm, where love, respect, caring and sharing were the drivers. And opposing this was a tyrannical Mughal establishment -who had ruled India for 300 years + with an iron first –creating a society of classes, and had never taken a no or dissent for an answer, till date.

This isn’t a miracle -it was simply work in progress – inception was just 4 days prior when a battle weathered army of 46 Sikhs, famished, who had a bare minimum supply of ammunition, were pitched against an army of 1 million, battle-ready soldiers combining armies of Mughal and Rajput Kings -their only aim being to annihilate those who believed in themselves, and were crystal clear to lead a life of dignified and expansive living.

They met face to face- eyeball to eyeball at Chamkuar, Punjab –Northern India on a bitterly cold night, with rains lashing over. And something unexpected happened- something unbelievable manifested, something unfathomable got resurrected.

In bands of five, these inspired Sikhs took the battle to the enemy camp, creating destruction and havoc. History states that 10,000+ soldiers of the enemy camp were exited from the earth by them – the greatest battle ever manifested between the have-nots and the haves -resulting in panic in the opponents camp that they retracted.

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Yes, a price was paid – 44 of them got martyred – and created a new history. Till date in the annals of the warfare, this is the greatest unequal battle fought. Furthering this was the martyrdom of two elder sons aged 18 and 16- Baba Ajit Singh and Baba Jujhar Singh, of Guru Gobind Singh who witnessed the butchering and slaughtering happening in front of his eyes.

And if you and I can imbibe the above, in our beings – thoughts and actions, we are Sikhs –the chosen ones –the ones who have the tenacity and the audacity, to rewrite the history, and not to a passing reference in it.

Unmoved, sans grief, sans remorse was this General who thanked the Lord for creating an opportunity in which his team could perform well and better. For him objective accomplishment with available resources was the aim -hence he endeavoured to bring out the best in them, each time, every time.

As a student of leadership and strategy, the following are my key take-homes from this week:

• Get beaten or get better.
• Change before it’s too late.
• Managing less is managing better.
• Look reality in the eye and don’t flinch. Consequently, be ready and eager to rewrite your agenda.
• Take a hard look at your overall scenario, and decide as early as possible what needs fixing, what needs to be nurtured and what needs to be jettisoned.
• Face reality- don’t pursue a central idea but rather set only a few clear specific goals as strategies.
• Create a culture and then spread it.
• Don’t get stuck in the past, be open to change. Thus re-examine your agenda constantly and if necessary rewrite it.
• Transfer ideas and allocate resources and then get out of the way.
• Ensure that everyone in your team gets all the information required to make critical decisions for themselves – empower them to action off.
• Express a vision and let your team implement it as their own.
• Go for a quantum leap- think and act beyond the ordinary.
• Get faster, better- each time, every time. Be a rationalist optimist.
• Find the melting point of the opponent and strike hard, very hard.
• Remove the boundaries- search for the synergies between your team to strive for integrated diversity. Need to die as individuals to rise up as a team.
• Create an atmosphere where your team feels free to speak out and assumes authority when needed. Listen to the people who actually work.
• Go to your team and answer all their questions with candour and authenticity.
• Aim for speed, simplicity and self-confidence.
• Imbibe the miracle of self-discipline. There are a hundred thousand reasons justifying a failure, regretfully none is a good one. Success is its own reward.
• When you got to go, you have to go. Then let’s go in the now. Do your own thing. Remember success is predictable and dither not to pay a price for achieving it.
• Be centred- be an agile thinking being – not a reactive or justifying one.
• It’s a war out there and you have to win it- that’s the only aim and objective. So just do it.
• Imbibing self-discipline is the critical input for personal success- The ultimate end of life is the development of character. The core virtue of a character is not realizing truth but truthful living.
• Do the right thing and not the thing right. Remember what you dwell upon grows.
• Self-discipline is responsibility – get out of the fatal fallacy. Discover an antipode to negative emotions. Never complain, never explain- antidote is action in the now. Hence take control of the situation now.
• Self-discipline is personal excellence- there is no limit to your potential. Step out of the ordinary into the extraordinary.
• Self-discipline is courage – the art of living dangerously- do the opposite- change the goalposts – pass the ball to others to effect a goal. Shed to grow and succeed better.
• Visualize yourself as unafraid by not only confronting your fears but by moving towards them, dealing with them directly – head-on. Remember death is the bride of a brave.

And if you and I can imbibe the above, in our beings – thoughts and actions, we are Sikhs –the chosen ones –the ones who have the tenacity and the audacity, to rewrite the history, and not to a passing reference in it.

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Remember the birth and the death dates are decided by the Lord –nature -on which we have no control. Yet the gap in between them is under our control. Let people remember me for the gaps and not the dates. The choice is ours.

Kamal Jit Singh Ahluwalia, popularly known as K S Ahluwalia describes himself as a student of Sikhism, endeavouring to uncover, understand better the Sikh ethos. For the past two decades and more, he has been sharing insightful thoughts in print, personal interactions, workshops and talk shows on Sikh Inc. -management principles from the House of Nanak and life-transforming leadership skills.  He is a regular contributor to eminent journals and he has impacted the lives of thousands of youth with over 5.6 million man-hours across diversified audiences at more than a hundred plus global locations.