Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

The importance of being ‘Birbal’

Rasha-al-Raisi
Rasha-al-Raisi
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While browsing for books in Al Fair, I came across an Indian children’s book called: Akbar Birbal. I knew who Akbar was — the great Mogul emperor who ruled India between 1556 and 1605 — but who was Birbal?


I bought the book to learn more about the character. Birbal was the adviser of Akbar who was well-known for his shrewdness and wit. The stories always involved him solving a dilemma thrown at him by Akbar, other courtiers or normal folks.


My favourite one involved a linguist who spoke all Indian dialects and dared the courtiers to guess his mother tongue. The courtiers questioned him in their mother tongues and being so fluent, they all swore that he came from their own regions.


But Birbal had another idea to solve the mystery. He waited till the linguist went to bed and entered his room covered in white, pretending to be a ghost. The linguist was terrified and started praying in Bengali, his mother tongue. Birbal knew that when put in a highly emotional state, people would always use their mother tongue to express themselves.


The stories were entertaining and extremely funny at times but made me think of how difficult it was to be Birbal. Birbal’s life was a continuous stress cycle: from dealing with Akbar’s temperament, to solving Akbar’s wife (the Begum) endless problems and her jealousy of his closeness to her husband. Not to mention the courtiers continuous scheming to remove him from his post.


He also solved simple folks’ problems — mostly to do with money and property being taken forcefully.


This led to another thought: why is the industry of Human Resource Development is so focused on creating leaders but not their advisers? Why people are so focused on becoming super heroes but not sidekicks, which are equally important?


Leadership is one of the trickiest subjects to teach to students of all ages. It’s my least favourite subject and I always grumbled when given the task to deliver it to the super enthusiasts. Students understood the theory very well.


After all, knowing what it takes to become a good leader is not rocket science. But when it came to execution, it came so naturally to some but not to others — even though they were following the same instructions. Is it charisma and being able to convince others of your own vision? Or is it an innate skill that some possess and others don’t? Even as a teacher, I can’t provide a certain answer to that.


But what I know is that developing the adviser’s role is of an equal importance. Advisers are the sidekick that every leader need. Akbar was a great leader but whenever he was in a dilemma, he threw it at Birbal and trusted that he’ll be getting an answer back soon.


Some of the skills that advisers should possess are: eloquence, problem solving and smartness. In addition: charm and wisdom. Interested? Please try answering the following questions inspired by the book (no cheating please!):


1) Akbar’s favourite parrot is dead. You are to deliver the news without being sentenced to death.


2) Entering the court of the emperor for the first time, you find that everyone is attired similarly. You have to identify the emperor to deliver Akbar’s message.


3) A commoner insists that you had borrowed money from him in his dream and wants his debt back. What would you do?


Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com


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