I am coming across lots of posts across various social media sites by the HR Heads and other senior functionaries of various organisations that talk about various feel good things – up skilling and learning new skills, team spirit, camaraderie, accepting challenges, voluntarily accepting higher/ extra responsibilities, career planning et al. To my mind, this onrush in posting such articles could be to counter the negative employee sentiments arising out of work pressure, toxic work culture and a general apathy of the employees in light of “ none too friendly” HR policies. 

However, whether the employees truly believe what their HR Heads and other senior managers are conveying through these posts and is aligned to the actual work culture obtaining at these organisations is a matter that could be put to doubt.

The above hit my sensibilities strongly when I came across a beautiful short poem by William Shakespeare that reads:

You say you love rain,

But you open umbrella.

You say you love the Sun,

But you find a shadow spot.

You say you love wind,

But you close your windows.

This is why I am afraid,

When you say you love me.

Nothing more needs to be said as the poem conveys everything with unusual subtlety. 

While bathing today, I realised my wife had put an age old iconic brand, “Hamam” in the soap tray. Immediately, my memories went back to times when a major brand in the portfolio of TOMCO, the brand along with others, was sold by Tatas to HLL, as HUL then known as and the general folklore then was that that how odd, it would sound that “ Tata ka Hamam” had become “ Hindustan Lever ka Hamam. 

I am not privy to what could be the strategy of Levers to deal with the acquired brands, but as a commoner, it’s clear that the way they push their old brands – Lux, Rexona, Pears and relatively newer brands like Dove, the same push is not given to Hamam. 

And yet like another iconic brand, Thums Up that not only continued to be numero uno, but actually topped Coke’s sale, brand Hamam has withstood the test of time and survived in spite of crowding of bathing soap segment! 

What makes a brand stand so tall that it’s ownership becomes immaterial is a topic that market researchers should investigate, but to my mind consumer’s trust is the single most important factor that leads to the longevity of the brand for several decades! Hamam has acquired a cult and iconic status where its ownership doesn’t matter! 

This is a learning for all those players who want to be long term players, enjoying trust of their patrons for many many years! It definitely works better than a short term name, fame, profit and share price motive! 

In treta yug we had Raavan and came Kansa in Dwapar yug. If those yugs were not bereft of demons, how can we expect kalyug to be free of them. Only yugs have changed , but demons have not only remained but become more vicious. This Dussehra let’s hope Lord Ram and Ma Durga slay the demons of today – terrorist, separatist, hate monger, rapist, communalist,  corrupt and others of their ilk. 

Happy Dussehra and Shubho Bijoya! 

While casually surfing social media, I came across this message from an inspirational speaker ( couldn’t catch his name) and became deeply impressed by it and therefore, decided to share it. 

After I superannuated , I avoided overindulgence – in binge eating, sleeping, net surfing, watching TV, travelling- and have generally lived a controlled and disciplined life. Sleeping and waking up early, eating moderately and doing regular physical activity, including yoga are a few of the good practices I meticulously follow. I also pursue my passion of reading and writing. 

However, as per the message that I came across, as aforesaid, all the above is alright, but it’s “ inward looking” and self-centric! What is society, community, country or the world getting out of it? The need is to have a larger purpose or a dream and work towards attainment of it. Rest is a good routine, but only a routine! My search for this objective and its attainment continues. 

All my life – childhood, student days, professional stint – I have been an audience, listening to parents, elders, teachers, seniors and specialists speakers. I have always been on the other side of the dais , facing speakers. There have been occasions when I have chaired a meeting, but those have been official and the audience comprised team members. That, strictly speaking, didn’t qualify me for being termed as a presenter or a keynote speaker.

This changed the other day when a former colleague, who now stands elevated to the rank of a CEO, invited me to address his team members in an informal session. Having always posed questions to the speakers, it was a pleasant experience when, for a change, the audience posed questions to me and I responded with utmost candour and honesty. The climax of the event came when several youngsters, having bought books authored by me, wanted me to autograph their copies. 

It validated my conviction that years of efforts that we put in and experience that we gain, may not always earn us ready recognition, but would definitely provide some occasion to showcase the same. We need to be patient and do our bit selflessly. 

There are two days in a year when those who have affection for you by virtue of being associated with you remember you. These two occasions are Guru Purnima and Teacher’s Day. To my mind, teacher is more relevant in the context of school and college where several disciplines are taught. Guru is one who shows you the righteous path.

I am neither a subject matter expert nor spiritually evolved to show anyone the right direction. However, number of messages I receive on the aforesaid two occasions endorse the fact that more than lecturing, teaching and mentoring, respectful treatment of your associates is ever more important and one’s consistency in this regard has the power of earning one the accolades of Teacher and Guru. I am humbled by the love and affection bestowed upon me this teachers day.

It’s not unusual for the CEOs to bring in people of their choice in key positions, as a dependable team is an essential prerequisite for achieving the intended objectives. It happens all the time and while the existing senior position holders suffer – they either have to accept less meaty and more subordinated roles or quit altogether, if there’s no role- ultimately, if the organisation benefits, such sacrifices should be acceptable as part of the larger corporate upheaval! 

It’s also true that it’s unfair to expect  the new team to start firing all their cylinders immediately in pursuit of the stated objectives. However, what happens when after passage of sufficient time and availability  of all the required enablers, the team falters and the organisation falls well short of the desired outcomes! 

External factors also play an important role in guiding the direction that an organisation has to take and the impact a few of these factors – regulatory, geopolitical, natural disasters etc  – could neutralise the advantage of having assembled a top cracker of a team! 

To my mind, performance of any organisation is contingent upon several factors – internal as well as external- and instead of placing such a huge reliance on individuals, it could be much more advantageous to keep up the morale of the existing staff complement, simultaneously on boarding talent laterally wherever the internal skills could be lacking ! A cohesive, enthusiastic and charged up team will always deliver and the key man risks are substantially mitigated.

Let me also put in a caveat here that this post is not directed at any specific organisation as the above happens all across at all points of time. 

Search on Google bore no result and I couldn’t find any lyrics having been fitted into the legendary and iconic Come September tune, made everlasting by handsome Rock Hudson and epitome of glamour Gina Lollobrigida in the immortal  eponymous movie that was released in 1961, an year prior to my birth. While I have grown old, the dance movements of the aforesaid two icons shaking to the arguably the most popular piece of music ever, looks and sounds very fresh even after more than 6 decades! And if we all check our WhatsApp messages, we can gauge its popularity by the number of our acquaintances that would have shared the music/video clip today i.e. on 1st September. 

Expectedly, Bollywood had a song on the above tune in by now largely forgotten Aamir Khan  flick , “ Ishq” and the lyrics read –

ओह, अंखिया तू मिला ले राजा
आए है दिन बहार के
अँखियाँ तू चुरा ना राजा
जाए ना दिन यह प्यार के
अँखियों तू मिला ले राजा
आए है दिन बहार के
अँखियाँ तू चुरा ना राजा
जाए ना दिन यह प्यार के
नींद उड़ती है उड़ने भी दे
चेन खोता है खोने भी दे
जान जाती है जाने भी दे
इश्क़ होता है होने भी दे

But I am sure that many attempts to fit in words to the immortal tune must have been made in the past, but having gotten so used to hearing it only instrumentally, the lyrics would only possibly jar the experience. 

Each year, the month of September

Heralds the arrival of autumn;

A gentle transition from heat to wetness,

To winter, a season most solemn.

Additionally, the beginning of the month

Takes us down a trip down the memory lane;

When to the tune of iconic Come September ,

Danced every Jack and every Jane! 

Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrating the birth of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles , the vighnaharta! 

Obstacles come in our way to test the strength of our character. Each obstacle should be seen as a challenge, instead of losing heart and mind over it. We can always overcome any obstacle in our personal and professional lives by striving harder, learning new traits and by adapting to the changing circumstances. If nothing of the above seemingly works, there’s always Lord Ganesha, the Vignaharta, the universal protector! 

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi! Ganpati Bappa Morya! 

Celebrating the spirit of the 79th Independence Day on the 15th August ,  Republic Channel was telecasting the achievements of ordinary people like you me by presenting their contribution and interviews throughout the day. I myself had several engagements on that day, including elaborate Independence Day celebrations in our society and could, therefore, only catch up the aforesaid telecast in bits and pieces.

There’s this person in Delhi who’s teaching a group of underprivileged children from the nearby slums under the protection of a flyover. He has been doing so for past several years. Once the students coached by him reach a certain level of literacy, he takes them to the nearby government schools that admit these children to an appropriate level, depending on their proficiency. He has not taken a single rupee in donation and his feat became famous when PM Modi mentioned him in one of the editions of his “ Mann ki Baat”.

A sarpanch from Rajasthan, upon sad demise of his young daughter, took to planting Kadam trees in his village and neighbourhood. He also made it a mission to plant 111 trees for each girl child born in the village. The result is that the water table that had dipped to thousands of feet in the area has now come right upto the surface and the proportion of girls to boys has improved by 52% in the last few years that the mission started. The sarpanch has become an icon in the area, inspiring several other such stories and for this remarkable contribution of his, he has been honoured with Padmashree award.

A young boy from the local poor family in a village in Assam, started planting bamboo trees after his village faced repeated devastation following the floods and landslides. And over the last 4 decades, his bamboo plantations have become a forest spread over 1300 hectares, attracting birds and beasts and protecting the local village from nature’s curse. He has also been a Padma recipient.

I am sure when these people started their respective mission, the last thing on their mind would have been personal glory or recognition in the form of a Padma award. It was just the selfless spirit to protect humanity, nature, girl child, environment etc and their humble beginnings resulted in such impactful outcomes !

Instead of spending unending hours on social media, posting interesting ( sometimes not so) posts and reels, awaiting reaction to these, reacting to others’ posts and joining conversations (sometimes very acerbic),  I am making sincere effort to regulate my engagement time on social media and looking for something where I can voluntarily offer my services. It may never reach the levels of above mentioned angels, but at least some effort can be made in this direction . I welcome inputs/suggestions from my connections.