The Human Pyramid - Teamwork Personified!
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The Human Pyramid
I wake up today to the sound of drums playing loudly. A team of hooligans have entered my building complex. But not to cause any trouble. But instead to show a miracle and earn some money! Its Janmashtami - an Indian festival!
The army of Govindas are here because they see a pot tied to the 3rd floor of my building. Traditionally, the pot is supposed to have home made butter in it. But these days, its filled with coloured water. The army of Govindas quickly form a human pyramid to reach the pot. A small boy of 10 years old is at the top of the pyramid who breaks the pot!
Within 10 minutes its all over. But those 10 minutes are simply amazing. One single picture doesn’t do justice to it. You’ve got to see the formation of human pyramid to believe how well everything is organized.
Lessons Learned from the Human Pyramid
1. You’ve got to be drunk to do something so crazy!A Almost all of these Govindas are drunk.
2. Teamwork.A You can’t break the pot on your own.A You need a team.A And you need to trust that team to not drop you!
3. Foundation.A Taking care of the downside is the most important part. To make sure that no one gets hurt fatally, its important to create a strong foundation: in this case, a huge group of people to surround the pyramid to act as a cushion if some one falls down.
4. Practice.A The team of Govindas practice building the human pyramid for quite a few days before the actual event.A You can see them practicing in open areas 1-2-3 weeks before Janmashtami.
Creating Your Own Pyramid - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
You can’t succeed on your own.A To reach your pot of gold - you need a group of mentors, advisors, friends to guide you.A To hold you.A To make sure that you don’t fall down too hard.
Instead of the “get-rich-quick” mentality, you’ve got to develop the “build-levels” mentality.A You can reach the pot of gold no matter how high it is, if you help enough people, and have enough people to help you in return.
Disclosure: Unfortunately, I wasn’t prepared and didn’t have a camera at hand. So I’ve searched for a picture on flickr to post it on this blog. Picture Credit: Rohan Dumbre
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These are some of the small things I miss back home. Speaking of teamwork, I totally agree with you. I wrote an article Business is a team sport.
Unfortunately, the culture in North America is not usually about symbiosis but “I-want-to-be-on-the-top and I-do-not-care-how-many-toes-I-step-on”.
Posted 04 Sep 2007 #
I actually seen entire show on this - I think it was on Portugal though …
Alex
Posted 05 Sep 2007 #
CA: Thanks for your comment. I’ve lived in America for more than 3 years. And didn’t find it too cut-throat. Yes, people prefer individualism in USA. But they can work together as a team too.
Team work is not a matter of country. Its a matter of bringing in the right people together and having a proper context and a good catalyst.
Alex: Thanks. Didn’t know they had human pyramids in Portugal too… but its a sight worth watching - whether in India or in Portugal.
Posted 06 Sep 2007 #
You know the human pyramids of Catalonia (near Spain)?
Those pyramids are called “Castells” and the people who makes “Castells” are called “castellers”
Here you can see one video and you can search in internet too: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=NIIzGnoYUtc
Posted 08 May 2008 #