Relational challenges

Anita Desai (born 1937) has been touted by "British Writers'" A. Michael Matin as "one of the preeminent contemporary Indian novelists," even referred to by many as the Mother of the Indian psychological novel genre. Her meticulous depictions of modern Indian life, combined with an elevated level of linguistic skill that frequently enters the poetic realm, have secured her a place of honor in the pantheon of Indian authors.

After reading Winterscape in the book titled Home and Away by Anita Desai, I found that the writer has posed many questions which are worth considering.
In the story Winterscape, Anu, who is the younger sister of Asha, gave birth to Rakesh, whose blood mother and father was known as Masi and Masa to Rakesh. Her husband died when Rakesh was five and so she stayed with Asha and together, they brought up Rakesh.
Asha who is is married at 15 to a rich husband has no children of her own. She informally brought Rakesh home and is known to Rakesh as Ma. Her husband died when Rakesh was one and she brought up Rakesh and paid for his studies in Toronto, Canada.

From the story, Asha has shown competency in forming relationship for she only sees rich men as capable husbands.The perception of her husband being able to support her throughout her life shows positive stimulus discrimination (actions based on how the person is unique from others). There is the use of the filtering theory here.
Anu went through emotional states when her husband died. She was depressed. She felt lonely and bored being alone. Also, there is a great change in Rakesh's life. In fact, Rakesh who is not being brought up by his biological parents found it hard to accept the ungenuine relationship with Asha. There is intimidation and uncertainty in Rakesh's relationship with Asha. Although there is proximity in terms of physical distance between Rakesh and Asha, however, there is a lack of dyadic primacy (series of exchanges between two persons) which shows that of a mother and son.

In the end, Rakesh (an Indian) grew up and married a white lady, Beth. Beth was told of Rakesh's story and both of them and Beth's sister, Susan have learnt from Rakesh's unpleasant experience. Now that they have given birth to a baby, they vowed not to give their baby away to a relative or even an unrelated person.

Rakesh, who later knows of his true mother, decided to meet up with her one day by inviting her to his country, where he and Beth stayed, before their marriage to get Beth's parents to know Rakesh's mother. The story then revealed the communication problems which have surfaced due to cultural differences between Beth and Anu.

At the surface level, I think that overcoming East-West cultural differences and acclimatizing to a new place is not easy, however understanding others' culture helps in communication. It is difficult to socialize with other cultural groups if one does not understand their language and cultural beliefs. What do you think?

However, beyond the stated, I think that the writer wants to show us that one should bear the reponsibility which is in this case refers to Anu's responsibility of a mother.
Would it make a difference if Rakesh were to have just one mother instead of two? In my view, I think that Rakesh's relational needs (lacking of a true mother and son experience) are not met and this causes great harm psychologically and socially. What do you think?

Group communication

Group synergy is about providing more input than individuals or the best in the group. Cohesive groups lend support and commitment and in order to meet the member's interpersonal needs, there is a need for inclusion, a need for control and a need for affection. I agree with what is written in the notes. Not only cohesive groups meet the member's interpersonal needs, it also meets the group's goal. With a cohesive group, achieving goals will not become a huge hurdle compared to a noncohesive one. As a member of the CJC's guzheng ensemble, I have to say that achieving a group's goal is not a simple task, especially when the group is huge. Potential group problems may surface at any time if any member of the group is not committed.

Talking about potential group problems, this reminds me of my experience during the Singapore Youth Festival where I got to work with others in an ensemble. We have experienced times in which we found it hard to listen to one another due to our lack of attention and focus and I have learnt the importance of group cooperation, to listen to others in an ensemble and know the others' playing style. Good coordination among others playing the melody and the base takes patience and practice and to avoid repeating the same mistakes, good coordination is vital. In a guzheng ensemble, succesful communication within the group can be achieved by looking out for one another's cues through movements. Coordinated movements helps us to achieve more solid sounds during the performance and to keep track of our rhythm and speed. Also, this helps in our communuication with the audience as this livens up the atmosphere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZNinmV7TIY (just to share, this is a video taken during my rehersal in my school auditorium)

Although there may be some unhappy experiences as some may drop out along the way, I have also learnt that for a group to succeed, the group has to carry out groupthink, which can be viewed as a mode of thinking when our strivings for unanimity overides our motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of actions. In an ensemble, it is very important for every member to believe in the group's own morality as I have learnt that a lack of confidence in others can lead to negative behaviours, for example giving up and backing out from the competition.

From my experience, I also realized that factors such as problem solving affects group performance and is not so simplistic. For example, finding a way to help the others to pick up in certain pieces may sometimes be difficult. For example, covering up for others may be a possible technique but this can only be done with practice and focused listening and there is always a downside to it. This may deprive the others of the chance to learn and find out their mistakes. Apart from problem solving, there will also be group pressure and stress can affect a group's performance. For example, playing solo can be streesful as there is no one to cover up and mistakes made can affect the group's performance.

Group synergy allows a group to provide more input than individuals. Experiencing the true meaning of group synergy helps a lot when working in groups. Problems can be eliminated more easily. What do you think?