We all aspire to reach to the top of whichever professional field we are in. Nothing than the top most position satisfies us to call ourselves successful. 

But there’s a very old English phrase that was taught to us in our schools, which was “Dignity of Labour.” We were taught that various constituents of our society perform different functions and irrespective of the activity performed, we should respect each of the worker for his or her contribution. 

Some of this lessons that we learned in school became handy during the pandemic period, when the people performing the humblest of the duties viz. Scavenging, cleaning, policing, delivering, couriering, driving etc earned our respect by being designated as “Covid warriors.” 

The above thoughts got invoked in my mind when yesterday I came across an auto driver, who was well behaved, courteous, polite, readily willing to go to my destination, had kept auto spotlessly clean, had his mobile firmly placed in his mobile with fingers not itching to see it frequently and above all not eating Gutkha to be frequently spitting on the road. He also drove keeping the traffic regulations in mind.  This ride was such a pleasant experience that I couldn’t help but convey my appreciation to the driver. 

And the above traits apply to anyone performing any activity or rendering a service. Coming back to the start of this post, it’s not very important to reach the sky. More important is the path taken to reach wherever we have! A path highlighted by honest intentions, polite behaviour, happy demeanour and a deep sense of responsibility is much more beneficial to the society at large, instead of personal achievements that could take one right to the top, without any benefit to the ecosystem. 

This curiously converges into my previous blog-cum- post on the quote read by me outside a church. The personal success can give us a lavish livelihood but the job well done  that touches lives of others is the achievement that ultimately matters. 

I try not to miss quotes and thoughts  displayed on the billboards outside the churches, thought it’s not always possible to do so, especially when one is focused on driving. Came across a beautiful thought today outside the church near my residence that read:“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give “

And the connotation is very deep as giving means not only money or the goods that we may donate under charity, but all those acts of kindness that we knowingly or unknowingly perform as part of our daily chores. A sweet smile to our driver, domestic help or a junior colleague ( to a senior we will always give a smile even if it’s forced), sharing bit of knowledge with a colleague to help him or her improve skills, recommending a deserving team mate for recognition, being accessible to anyone facing any issue, creating harmony and peace at the workplace and above all, treating everyone around oneself with respect irrespective of that person’s status will all qualify to be termed as “ giving” as per the Church quote. 

What sometimes professional managers may  fail to adhere to in their quest for winning is very subtly explained by such enlightening thoughts. 

I was not aware about International Men’s day, till I received good wishes on WhatsApp this morning from a couple of friends. Google search tells me that this day was celebrated for the first time in 1992 to highlight the issues faced by men. Incidentally, theme for this year’s men’s day is the importance of fostering open conversations about men’s mental health and creating supportive environments where men can thrive.

While there could be a few issues specific to men and women, there’s much common between both the genders when it comes to mental health. The stress, especially related to work, applies equally to men and women and needs urgent attention. The theme of international men’s day this year is, therefore, very relevant to all the working professionals, irrespective of their gender, and there should be collective efforts to ensure work life balance and happy atmosphere at workplaces to address this serious social issue.

And mental health, peace of mind and happy workplace are not issues to be pursued only on a designated day, but should be a reality prevalent on each day of the year.

 Vistara grew at a scorching pace. With a fleet comprising mainly brand new A 320 and a few larger aircrafts added subsequently, the airline carved out a niche for itself in the hearts of flyers, attributable to Singapore Airlines’ guidance and support and Tata Group’s known customer centricity! Virtually in no time, the airlines became a preferred partner for frequent as well not so frequent flyers. In fact, it bridged the vacuum that was caused by unceremonious closure of two of the best airlines India ever experienced – Jet and Kingfisher. 

With the last domestic as well as international flights of Vistara having been consummated on the 11th instant, its merger with Air India is now complete. Like so many glorious and a few not so glorious precedents- Modiluft, Damania, East West, Air Deccan and more recent Jet and Kingfisher, Vistara stands consigned to the annals of history. 

Air India, under Tatas, is still seemingly a little distanced from leading the country’s aviation ambitions. As I read somewhere, “ Tatas should make Air India like Vistara and not vice versa.” With Akasa and Spice Jet still having very small footprints, it will take some time for Indian flyers to be spoilt for choices that’s currently seemingly limited to Indigo and Air India. 

Monday morning is a good time to begin a week on a high note. There are certain eminent writers, who liven up the beginning of the week with a fresh perspective. I, during my tenure as a team leader, used to share “ Monday morning thoughts” with my team that mostly comprised work related issues, but was eagerly awaited by teammates. Therefore, the following took me down the memory lane, provoking me to share the same with my readers. Came across a beautiful reel posted by a friend on Instagram. The reel has a toddler learning to walk and falling repeatedly in the process. As we enjoy the sweet toddler’s effort to get up immediately after a fall without a frown, the word “ failure” never comes to our mind! 

When we venture into an uncharted territory or untested waters, we are like a toddler only, taking our chances. Therefore, falling in the process is not “failing” but a learning that would eventually help us in overcoming the challenge. 

There’s so much to imbibe from a baby’s innocence and “ never say die attitude”. 

Speaking philosophically, we should live our age rather than yearning for our long gone by childhood and youth and enjoy whichever phase we are in our life. And it’s more so for someone like me who’s an eternal optimist, looking forward to each day as a new beginning and an unexplored opportunity. But there are moments when despondency does set in, taking precedence over our positive emotions such as hope and optimism.

As goes an old Urdu couplet, “ `मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर, लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया`. As we traverse the path of our life, we come across people, who become our friends, relatives and acquaintances. And we keep on expanding this list as we continue to move ahead. And as old age starts setting in, while we add new members to this brood in the form of our grandchildren, grand nephews and grand nieces, the fact is that our friends, elderly relatives and acquaintances also age with us and then the karvan (कारवाँ) that we assembled over a period starts depleting.

The above thought crossed my mind as recently I witnessed a spate of deaths comprising my close relatives, friends and acquaintances. While creaking joints, falling hair and teeth, diminishing stamina are a few of the natural consequences of old age, witnessing depletion of your circle or brood or whatever you may call it is more agonising and traumatic. Again philosophically speaking, nothing is permanent on this earth and every creation faces destruction at some point of time, but given all one’s positivity, faith, optimism and what not, there are moments that do plunge one into the state of deep sorrow. Of course, all that we can do is to take all this in our stride and continue our journey ahead.

Before penning my thoughts for this Diwali, I revisited my past blogs written on the occasion of this festival of lights. The common theme of all my Diwali blogs incidentally has been hope for a happier and better future for the entire mankind. The problems have ranged from international tensions to internal strifes to pandemic to wars to frauds to evils of misuse of social media, but the never say die spirit helps us prevail over all these gives inspiration to keep on working and aspiring for a better tomorrow. That’s what the festival of lights, goodness and hope does to us – to uplift our spirits and give us a renewed hope for a great life ahead!

In this journey called life, problems will continue to be an inseparable part of it – a few specific to us and a few affecting the entire mankind, but Diwali eradicates the darkness surrounding us by lighting our life so that we make a new beginning with renewed hope and vigour.

The festival of lights reminds us each year

That there’s light at the end of each tunnel;

All we have to do is to pursue our passion with faith and conviction,

And we shall conquer new heights after every stumble!

Happy and prosperous Diwali to all my friends and acquaintances.

There’s a popular saying in Hindi, “ Jab jaago tabhi savera.” It’s a very powerful message because the thought provides us with a chance to reset our lives. 

As we live our life and cover a sizeable distance, we get ridden with the guilt of mistakes that we committed, opportunities the we missed and risks that we either took needlessly or chose not to take and play safe! And this guilt can really sag our spirits and become a bottleneck or a hurdle in the way of our onward journey. The fact is that as goes another popular saying, “ Aadmi galtiyon ka putla hai”, loosely translatable as “ to err is human” and in the course of performing our duties, we do make mistakes in personal as well as professional capacity. These mistakes are attributable to the judgment that we used at that juncture based on the facts available and maturity of mind that we had! On the hindsight these mistakes may appear to be very gross and outright stupid, but in real life there’s no Time Machine that could take us back to that particular period to relive the moment and act as per our state of mind today! 

It’s never too late to make a fresh beginning provided we shed the baggage of our “ not so rosy past” and live the present with full gusto and enthusiasm. Let’s forget the job offer we didn’t accept, the relationship we shouldn’t have entered into, the assignment that we refused, the bad property deal we went ahead with et al and reset our lives as tomorrow is a new day to be lived like there’s no tomorrow. – forget yesterday! 

We are now the fifth largest economy in the world, with its GDP expected to touch USD3.94 trillion and one of the fastest growing too! Our currency is doing better than other currencies in the emerging market. Our Sensex has grown so much over in the last few years that it has made Indian stocks look quite expensive. In fact, whether it’s infrastructure, consumerism, capital goods, one can see growth happening everywhere. With our economy poised to grow further, are we going to become a developed nation from being a developing one? I think apart from the usual culprits – poverty, inflation, education, population explosion, health care et al that can only be tackled over a period of time, there are certain other concerns that seem to be hindering our way to becoming a developed nation. I list a few of these here below:

(1) Law and order and safety of our women. The day a girl can walk out late in the evening, wearing dress of her choice and by using public conveyance and she considers herself to be safe, raising neither eyebrows nor undue interest of staring eyes, we can consider to have taken a giant leap ahead. 

(2) Road traffic is one of the worst managed – at least I can say it from my experience of whatever international travel I have undertaken. People blatantly break rules, have no consideration of others and are perpetually enraged, ready to pick up fight at the slightest excuse and to go to any length ( even killing other person) in the fit of rage. Road hogs are always in a hurry and go to any extent to prove their supremacy. 

(3) Political intolerance is rather a new phenomenon and sometimes it takes such extreme version that even the best of friends  become the worst of enemies! It’s unlike earlier days when the differences were confined to and were used to get sorted out on the floor of parliament and behaviour outside of it was extremely civil and polite ! 

(4) it’s high time that we leave our social, religious, political, sectarian  differences aside and stand united against the enemies of our great nation. 

Without addressing the above, we will continue to March ahead as our progress now seems unstoppable, but the growth and development will not be inclusive and disparity among sections of society and with the developed nations of the world will be more pronounced. 

Dussehra marks the victory of good over evil. But that was Satyuga and whether it was Goddess Durga killing demon Mahishasura or Lord Rama slaying Ravana – the good and evil were clearly black and white.

In today’s yuga or age, it’s difficult to identify a clear black and white as everything seemingly is tinged in shades of grey. The good and evil depend on the lens with which we are seeing the person or the event. Everything is determined by the narrative, prefixed notions, prejudices and the coloured lens, as aforesaid. Therefore, we as ordinary foks have no idea as to to the clear good or evil – whether it’s ongoing war in gulf between Israel and host of organisations and countries, Russia- Ukraine war that’s seemingly endless and other such events and occurrences in our country and around the world.

Therefore, this Dussehra/Bijoya, let’s pray to Lord Rama and Goddess Durga to let the truth prevail and all the black sheep be exposed so that we don’t get carried away by narratives but are clearly able to identify modern day Ravanas and Mahishasuras for their elimination.

Happy Dussehra and shubho Bijoya!