Why do we welcome a new year with all this enthusiasm?

An infant gets an year closer to childhood; a child to teenage; a teenager to youth; a young person to adulthood; an adult to middle age; a middle ager to the age of superannuation; a superannuated to old age; and ultimately an old person to the only truth in this world! indisputably, each next stage of life brings an additional bit of tension and responsibility from the gay abundance of infancy and childhood to the heavy baggage of the old age!

From the above, a person essentially should be circumspect about a passing year and welcoming a new year as in a way, he’s moving towards the eventual reality. I think we welcome a new year because for once, we cannot control or stop time from elapsing and secondly, we don’t want the unsavoury experiences of the year going/ gone by to be replicated in the new year! So a new year is all about new hope and new achievements and unbridled happiness that might have eluded us in the past!

On the above note, let me wish all my friends and readers a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year 2023. To end this on a poetic note:

2022 was welcomed with gaiety and enthusiasm

Without realising we’d witness wars, Covid and tragedies galore

While we wished things to improve for better

The things only got worse and our woes from less to more!

Losing the nightingale and thespian were big tragedies,

But they had at least lived their age;

Loss of so many others under different circumstances,

Caused deep misery and a feeling difficult to salvage!

Hope the new year 2023 is better

With more happiness, prosperity, success, achievements for one and all

While some of the things will be inevitable as before

Let each one of us take one baby step to better the things overall!

2022 for me was the landmark year

To retire at 60 and live life without fear

Now that 2022 is about to go into oblivion

I have the same old feeling of haze and confusion

New resolutions and goals will be listed

But the earlier ones are pending to be dusted

And what’s going to be new about the new year

Will all the problems evaporate and disappear?

Will the world become a better place to live?

With no war, no hatred but only love to give

But each New Year’s Eve kindles such hope

But as the year progresses these all elope

The same age old problems continue to haunt

And year end leaves nothing to flaunt

Bur mere wishing and hoping will change nothing

Unless all of us join hands and do something

As we hold each other’s hand and form a human chain

The problems will start vanishing not to appear again

As we bid adieu to 2022 let’s pray to almighty

In 2023 we shall unite and become mighty

And when common man rises and makes himself heard

Devils on this hearth have no choice but to get conquered!

Yes, I admit unabashedly that I am old fashioned and from the old school, as evident from the following:

(1) Every morning, I eagerly await newspapers and spend hours, reading news, comic strips, editorials and solving crosswords, sudoku and word jumbles;

(2) I need my parantha in breakfast and roti and rice as part of lunch and dinner;

(3) Instead of going to gym and doing weight training, I do some free hand exercises at home every morning along with a few simple asanas;

(4) As part of my reading, I am currently finishing compendium of 12 James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, written in 50s and 60s. I follow book read with the movie based therein starring the likes of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig- all legends;

(5) I address elderly and seniors, not only in designation but also in age as sir and madam unless someone insists on being called by his or her first name.

(6) All my savings are in banks, Mutual funds and insurance.

(7) My favourite cuisines are Indian ( more specifically South Indian), though occasional indulgence in Chinese or Pizza is not considered a taboo.

(8) I love Indian classical movies and Bollywood music up to 80s.

I used the word unabashedly for being from old school, because I am so by choice and not out of ignorance as evident from the following:

(1) I have tried all kinds of healthy seeds, salads, nutrients, supplements and found their qualities unproven;

(2) Throughout my professional life my focus was on self help and improvement books, inspirational biographies and other such world of non fiction and I find at least a few of them overrated. There is hardly any substitute for dirtying one’s hands in actual action and gaining real life on the job experience.

(3) Addressing seniors, elderly, mentors with respect is needlessly considered old fashioned and too much weightage given to informal atmosphere created by calling everyone on first name basis. My take here is that to each, his own and categorising employees based on this is more of a jargon and vogue rather than of real merit.

(4) I have seen a few of my colleagues suffering loss of their lifetime savings by investing in modern day instruments such as crypto, options, futures, overseas bonds and properties.

(5) News on media are loud, biased ( not that newspapers are very neutral, but at least they cover all the aspects), and short updates on mobile leave one yearning for more.

I have similar justifications for the other points but would end now for the sake of brevity.

Happy new year in advance. Live life fully!

In my previous blog, I wrote about the chips being down due to all the unpleasant things happening around us. To add to our woes, Covid menace has brought back the horror of previous waves when the entire mankind suffered.

However, with Christmas round the corner, there’s magic in the air. Santas with their sacks full of goodies for the expectant children, markets lit up brightly and homes decorated with Christmas stars and Christmas trees – all these around us, for a moment, divert our minds and attention from unpleasant things and saturate us in the spirit of Christmas. That’s the magic of Christmas.

As this another difficult year is shortly about to come to its end, let’s celebrate the festivities of Christmas and new year and pray for-

(1) Complete eradication of Covid from our planet;

(2) End of Ukraine-Russia war that’s causing the lasting damage to the entire world;

(3) Peace on India’s borders with prevalence of good sense on India’s aggressive neighbours in the West and North East;

(4) Last, but not the least, a complete unity amongst various communities in India based on mutual respect for each other’s religious freedom, food habits, territorial integrity, language and gender.

When the chips are down

And conditions are overcast

No news can be better than Christmas

To lift the spirits and happiness that lasts!

Let Santa empty his bag of happiness

Containing love, respect, peace and prosperity

And take in the same bag with him

Hatred, aversion, mistrust and enmity!

Merry Christmas to all of you! May this Christmas bring unbounded joy and happiness for all of you.

As my readers know, I closely follow Urdu press and this includes publications originating from our neighbouring country too that’s currently facing political turmoil.

Yesterday I read two interesting things in Urdu press that very pointedly highlighted that problems of politics are not necessarily what bother ordinary citizens and as usual both the pieces are full of irony and bitter truth. The first one a couplet read:

समझते हैं कहाँ बारीक चालें

हमें आतीं हैं बातें मोटी मोटी

सियासी चक्करों में क्या पड़े हम

हमारा मसला है दाल रोटी!

The above is loosely translatable as:

We don’t understand finer nuances

We only see the big picture

Why waste time political bickering

Our issue is simple hunger!

The other is a piece by Sadat Hasan Manto that also needs to be first quoted ad verbatim and then translated. It says:

दुनिया में जितनाी लानतें हैं, भूख उनकी माँ है – भूख गदागरी सिखाती है। भूख जरायम की तरगीब देती है । भूख अस्मत फरोशी पर मजबूर करती है । भूख इंतहापसंदी का सबक़ देती है । इसका हमला बहुत शदीद, वार बहुत भरपूर और ज़ख़्म बहुत गहरा होता है । भूख दीवाने पैदा करती – दीवानगी भूख पैदा नहीं करती!

Hunger is the worst of all the evils – it teaches begging. It tilts one towards crimes. It forces one to sell his/her honour. It gives lessons in extremism. It’s attack is most severe, onslaught most powerful and wound extremely deep. Hunger leads to obsession – obsession doesn’t lead to hunger!

Isn’t the message loud and clear. Satisfaction of hunger is the key to socio economic problems and the issues that make the headlines in media are tertiary – not even secondary. Along with hunger, I will add education also. If we can satisfy hunger and educate our masses, lots of problems that repeatedly stare us in the face can be addressed.

Does Corona virus have a fascination for festivals? As we approach the festival season comprising Christmas and New Year, Covid has raised its ugly head once again and is reportedly causing havoc in China. It’s also spreading rapidly in a few other countries, more particularly US. Indian Government has already issued advisory regarding wearing of masks in crowded places!

Like I did for Diwali, I was planning to celebrate this festive season also with a series of feel good blogs, but this news of COVID spreading thick and fast and new Covid mutant strain BF-7 having already reached India has dampened my spirits a wee bit. I hope the joy of Christmas, prayers offered during the Christmas masses and anticipation of a happier, more prosperous new year, will reignite my sagging spirits and that of my fellow citizens too !

Santas are greeting children with sackful of goodies,

Laden are Christmas tress too with them and spreading light;

Let Covid not dampen the spirit of this festive season,

Let’s mask up, wash hands, stay safe and be ready for another fight!

FIFA World Cup 2022 came to a thrilling end with a cracker of the final match between Argentina and France. The match had so many swings and so much uncertainty that it almost looked like a suspense thriller.

The first half belonged to Argentina and they virtually toyed with the French outfit, scoring two goals in the process. Second half witnessed a transformed France team that played with a lot more purpose. Of course, Argentina’s change of strategy from all out attack to part defence also contributed to French revival and they equalised the score.

Extra time continued to witness a thrilling game of soccer with both the teams scoring one goal each, leading to penalties.

Rest, as they say, was the history with Argentinian goal keeper stopping two penalties and Argentina winning their third World Cup.

Of course, it was a fitting tribute to the Greatest of All Time ( GOAT), Lionel Messi, who was magical and inspiration for the entire team. This could be his last World Cup as he’d be close to 40 by the time next tournament happens, too old an age for the modern game of soccer that requires lightning speed and supreme fitness. But Messi couldn’t have dreamt of a better swan song World Cup. In the process, he set so many personal records that would be difficult to be surpassed anytime too soon.

The blog will be incomplete without the mention of GOAT in the making Mbappe, who played mesmerising football and with his never say dying spirit, almost spoilt Argentina’s and Messi’s party! Hopefully, we shall see more of him in club games and future World Cup games.

And Qatar, a tiny country of 2.7 million people, has emerged as a world power given its organisational ability and very high standards of sporting facilities and that too without compromising on Islamic requirements.

It was a festival lasting a month and there’s going to be a long wait of 4 years till the next edition. But FIFA 2022 will remain etched in the memories of football lovers for a phenomenon named Messi!

Let’s salute this GOAT!

My driver has been with me for more than two decades and is now like a family member.

When I had more than 6 months to superannuate, I had alerted him about the need to find a new job for himself. For one, I had no intention of picking up any job post retirement, had plans to swich over to smaller, fully automatic vehicle that’s easier to self drive and was already pretty used to using Ola/Uber, whenever he was not around.

In spite of our warning or alert in advance, I saw him making no effort towards finding a new job. Whenever we coerced him, his standard refrain was that as long as he was in our service, nobody would offer him a job as everyone required a driver with immediate availability. Also, due to his long association with us and regular annual increments, his salary had increased substantially in comparison to the one he was hired on and such a high salary was not available in the market, especially as he had aged also over a period of time and was already 50! Most importantly, he owed us money that was deducted from his monthly salary, something that he feared he might not be able to honour out of lower salary! Lastly, his two sons were at a very critical juncture of their scholastic life and he could ill afford a dry month when he had no earning!

When I returned from office for one last time on the day of my superannuation, there was perceptible tension on his face. However, I and my wife had already decided that looking to our comfortable finances post retirement and the very need to support an old loyalist who gave his best years and efforts to us, at this critical juncture of his life, we would continue with him. The happiness and relief on his face upon knowing our decision is something that I would carry with me all my life!

This real life incident is in fact in continuation to my earlier article on the HR practices in organisations, wherein I had discussed the trauma being faced by employees who face severance under a retirement option. This purportedly happens as some of the on roll staff become redundant as their skills are no longer required or on such other similar grounds. While as HR experts we can talk about the need for people with better skills, management education, more energy , offering flexibility of options etc and continue with the churning, I think we need a social support system that takes care of all such people that are affected by such circumstances at an age when it’s too early to hang the boots and too late to start afresh! I don’t want to sound very charitable by showcasing my personal experience with my driver, but all of us, including the organisations, need to brainstorm about balancing the extreme professionalism with some humanitarianism.

Our neighbour in the North and East persists with its aggressive posture that’s basically aimed at making it to be the most dominating power in the world. And whether it was Galwan earlier or Tawang now, our bravehearts are always there to protect India’s sovereignty, notwithstanding risk to their own lives. Someone has posted on Linked a video that’s purportedly covering the day before yesterday’s skirmish between the two forces. Expectedly, it has attracted attention of everyone and comments are mostly patriotic.

My firm view is that in the matters of the National security and those concerning acts by our armed forces, we should avoid creating controversies and instead stand behind them and our Government wholeheartedly and unquestioningly. In such matters, we should not allow our idiosyncrasies to come in the way and exhibit patriotism as “ One Indian”. We shall all survive and flourish if our nation is secured and strong.

Salute to our brave hearts guarding our borders on all the fronts against very aggressive neighbours and terrorists! Our thoughts are always with them whether action happens in Kargil, Galwan or Tawang!

Jai Hind! 

At the beginning of the tournament, soccer fans were betting on Argentina, Brazil, England and France to be the likely top 4 teams with one Latin American and one European team to be playing the finals for the coveted cup. Alas, the fans and experts were only 50% right and only Argentina and France could make it to the last 4, other 2 being absolute dark horses – Croatia and Morocco. No body could have in his or her wildest dreams thought of Morocco or Croatia making it thus far!

And look at the GOATs – Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Neymar of Brazil, who were expected to win laurels for themselves and their respective country! Luckily another GOAT, Lionel Messi is still in the fray to achieving lasting glory for himself as also his country.

The tournament has thrown up new icons and new heroes – Mordic, Mbappe, Boufal, Hakimi, the names that were relatively unknown before the start of the tournament.

Semifinals are commencing now and while the general expectation is Argentina vs France final, going by the trend so far, any other permutation is possible, the most astonishing would be a Croatia vs Morocco final. Morocco has already won the laurels by being the first African team to have reached so far.

I have always heard that cricket is the game of glorious uncertainties. What about soccer?