Buffalo Traffic Jams

Sometimes it makes sense to get away from it all and really unwind.

To keep creative, keep on top of stress, retain an optimistic outlook and maintain enthusiasm, you have to rest the mind....

Sometimes it makes sense to get away from it all and really unwind.

To keep creative, keep on top of stress, retain an optimistic outlook and maintain enthusiasm, you have to rest the mind.

Especially in today's economy.

So the last week I have been wandering through the outback of Braj, in Northern India, a region that boasts its own dialect, Brijbasi, as well as an ancient and rich culture that can heal and teach Westerners through its deeply imbibed wisdom and traditions.

The West has achieved startling things over the last three hundred years. Now a very broad array of countries that is much more diverse than the West is participating in and contributing to an ongoing technologically driven economic revolution.

While the economic dividends of this change are immense, the impact on human beings' social, psychological and spiritual welfare is less clear cut.

The Heart and the Mind need to be aligned. But this is more easily said than done.

The Mind has some great advantages. It can think rationally, categorize, memorise and analyse.

It is a less useful tool for healing, reconciling and accepting. It does not understand love.

Two anecdotal stories from my recent trip illustrate this point.

We were traveling in a convoy of nineteen buses along a single track road, parentheses by fields of hay with a dusty dusk ominously drawing in. We had stopped. It was hard to even exit the bus as the narrow road meant the lush fields intruded onto these routes, a plethora of thorn bushes greeting any brave passenger considering jumping down.

And in that dusty, hot, quiet coterie of passengers, you could feel the silent questions bubbling up in the mind of the collective consciousness. The roads are deplorable and darkness would make collision or mishap much more likely. A couple of bridges along the way allow these buses just inches of error.

We managed to inch forward and a young man named Tyler who used to work for us managed to get out and direct traffic. He speaks Hindi and Bengali. And he converses in Brijbasi as naturally as you or I order a cappuccino. The fact that he is white and looks totally Anglo-Saxon stuns the locals into a mixture of awe and affection. It would be the equivalent of a Gujarati turning up in North Wales and having a pint in the local pub swapping stories in Welsh......with a perfect accent. This is the kind of guy you need in a Buffalo crisis.

What he reported back was hilarious. There was a stand-off between a tractor pulling an improbable stack of hay and a bunch of buffalos with their owner pulling their loads. Facing off each other, it is clear that the buffalo equivalent of road rage does not exist in Braj. Both drivers decided to address the problem later, have a smoke together, oblivious to the one and a half mile pile up their nonchalance was causing.

Tyler, understanding not just the language but the way to get things down out there, launched a tirade of Brijbasi swearing which only made these guys more dumb struck and charmed. The familiarity of the spicy language made them love him more and the smoke became quickly a secondary priority.

Within minutes the buffalo jam was clearing and the passengers ululated with relief.

Such interaction would never get humans to the moon. But it's fascinating to watch lots of people, the local buffalo and tractor drivers, the bus driver, the passengers and Tyler navigate through this inconvenience, able to be enriched through humour, tolerance, affection and acceptance.

Twenty hours later, I am at gate 4 waiting to board the Virgin flight bound for Heathrow.

First on were the disabled and those with children. One man advanced from the back of the queue to the front. Another man started a fierce altercation with him sensing foul play. Until he saw his little tribe following behind him, reticently. Then there was classic Indian ambiguity. Did "children" mean under-4s? Or anyone with an under 16 year old? At one point I figured that perhaps my only disqualification was my one week old beard! Needless to say there was restlessness in the crowd. The pretty stewardesses, perfectly attired in their red uniforms, smiled as sincerely as they could.

Complaints were hurled, frustrations rose, a sense of injustice pervaded.

When the mind kicks in, eclipsing the heart's sense of infinite Time or as philosophers would define as the Eternal Now, all sorts of destructive behaviour can develop. Just look at the 20th century. A crescendo of rationalism morphed into the bloodiest 31 years in history.

There was a great film I once watched called "The Chosen" which reminded the viewer of these issues. A Mind with no Heart is risky, precarious, restless and dangerous. A Heart with no Mind is unable to manifest much.

The Mind does not get perspective. And a sense of perspective and proportion is needed when doing business in these uncertain times. We spend a lot of time feeding our Minds. Do we invest enough time enriching and deepening our Hearts?

Next blog will move from buffalos to below market value and property. I got some interesting insights (from afar) on the Indian market. But a respite from tangible issues of profits and returns and a chance to express some inner sentiments as a result of a week off is too good an opportunity to miss.