All Entries Tagged With: "The world around us!"

I have never agreed with any research finding that says that every individual has a split personality. But watching crowds with smiles instead of frowns on their faces at eating joints has forced me to change my view.

We have a persistent feeling of events receding into a past of non-existence. The future is a nebulous void. The present moment is all that we experience and therefore grant it a higher level of existence.

For most of us, childhood is when life is most enjoyable. Bereft of responsibility, we are taken care of, sheltered, fed, clothed, educated and kept in good health. All we have to do is savour every wonderful moment to the fullest.

I have observed people from all fields across cultures, genders and education levels. The lag does exist, only the degree varies. It can be wide or narrow but I have not been fortunate enough to meet people whose talk and walk are without a lag.

My own experience of life is that we are most of the time playing chess within our lives for no reason. For example when I was 10 or so, some boys wanted to steal mangoes. In the very first try we got caught. I decided then and there that there was no value in this cat-and-mouse game. The next time I wanted a mango, I just went and asked the owner and he gave me one!

The paradox is at the heart of all things. The opposites necessarily coexist. The back of the hand and the front of the hand are dependent on each other for their existence. You can’t have one without the other.

Employee Engagement has always been a burning topic amongst HR people. It is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work.

“There is no such thing as a ‘boss’,” he announced, leaning back with his cup of green tea. The three of us burst out laughing – together. We worked in the same department and had to meet a deadline in three days to keep his bossy highness in good humour.

Some time ago, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani broke up and the Reliance group was split between the two of them.

There is a tendency to criticize the two brothers for their inability to work together. The general perception is that they were not being good brothers and they did injustice to their deceased father who had built the industrial conglomerate from scratch.

2009 was an eventful year with its fair share of ups and downs and nothing indicates that 2010 won’t follow suit, if not further test our mettle. As

I was talking to my cabbie in New York who happened to be an emigrant from Hungary. I asked him how life was these days in his home country. I was taken aback when he stated rather casually that the ‘oligarchs’ were enjoying themselves while the public suffered privation.

In any age, there are moralists, crusaders and reformers who take upon themselves the task of weeding out the evils of the world. They condemn evil and propagate goodness. This line of thought gives rise to all sorts of values, rules and laws in the society.

The greatest evangelists of open markets are now trying to change the rules, again, focusing on their benefits. In the 80’s Regan and Thatcher promoted globally that all countries should open their markets, go for the privatisation of their public companies and services, let financial markets work freely worldwide, and so on.

One of the wonders of the world is that obviously intelligent people make elementary but serious errors in thinking. I happened to meet a friend of mine, a successful banker in California who had migrated from India to the US more than a decade ago. He was talking about violence in India and gave that as one reason for his disappointment with his home country.

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato. And, this will remain true as long as human beings exist. Let’s ponder on why we need to play sports. Humans are nothing but an assembly of different kinds of energies. This includes positive and negative [...]

During my workshop/training program I always touched upon food, and the concept that I started in 1994, “Abhudaya” under the heading of “Ethical Approach to Food and Life”. We are one with nature and nature is one with us. We live in an interconnected world. It is important to choose the right food for our [...]

Film has always had an enormous impact on fashion. Hubert Givenchy in creating a wardrobe for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s created some of the most iconic and enduringly fashion images ever. Audrey is always top of any list of the most elegant women. Marilyn Monroe in the most famous dress ever by William [...]

We don’t need no education. We don’t need no thought control…All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall. All in all, you are just another brick in the wall. Pink Floyd It is difficult to be a child of the 21st century -  to be a part of the most educated generation of [...]

How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, and how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows, That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, [...]

Fold and toss & fold and toss & fold and toss….house after house. Are you old enough to remember this? This was the little boy who lived down the street and delivered your newspaper. If he were lucky, he had one of those spiffy canvas bags he wore to carry the papers. He got very [...]

I stay in the coastal city of Chennai and one of my favorite pastimes is to explore the coastline that borders one side of the city. Starting from the crowded marina and Eliot’s Beach to the less crowded and secluded ones that dot the East Coast Road (or ECR as it is called), I have [...]

Eureka! Yes canyons! There are two similar ones. One in the USA. One in India. They are located on different longitudes and are almost 16,000 kilometres apart. Separated by mighty oceans, both are located almost on the same latitudes. Both have been naturally carved out by two mighty rivers and neighbouring winds! The one in [...]

South Africa: Circa 1893. Scene: Railway platform Pietermaritzburg railway station. A train is halted unceremoniously, by the then white majority, and a two legged Indian, “black dog” all suited and booted like an Englishman, was unceremoniously thrown out, onto the platform as he was traveling in the first class. Traveling on business, from Durban to [...]

What’s the best way to raise a child? A million dollar question, which unfortunately has no right answer. Each child is unique, thus no set of rules can apply to all. However there are a few things that you should keep in mind to be on your way to becoming a better parent.

Yesterday while playing on my music system I discovered a whole new way of looking at life. While I was shuffling the equalizer button to adjust the volume effects I got an insight that’s very meaningful and connected with our lives. And the insight was – our lives can be compared to the graphic equalizers [...]

First, we need to have a clear concept of what ethics are and the difference between actions and processes of business development related with cultural aspects and ethics. The Collins Dictionary defines ethics as moral beliefs and rules about right and wrong. An ethic of a particular kind is an idea or moral belief that [...]

I write from my home office, on a Danish teak table, in front of a big window looking onto our street. I usually have the blinds closed because the sunlight makes it hard to read the computer screen. And from the sidewalk, at nearly the same time everyday, I hear loud hollering yelps, a groaning-holler [...]

In this beautiful part of the world where I live (Eastern Ladakh) the hills are alive with a pregnant vibrancy. Even though the mountain tops (and the passes) are still covered with snow; our beautiful emerald lake Pangong tso is still frozen; and we are still experiencing minus degree temperatures, there is a tangible expectation [...]

Life experiences have always taught us very beautiful lessons, even the ones not studied in B-schools. This has always made me appreciate the immense benefits of learning from unusual sources. This is what my daughter and my wife taught me about ‘gold plating’. As usual, it was one of those wonderful late evenings with the [...]

I was reading some posts and news about the current crisis and diverse opinions about possible turnarounds, about the consequences in developing countries, some trends and forecasts, different perspectives and evaluations and the usually wizards’ visions of future, some with the Armageddon perspective and others with an optimistic vision of short-time crisis. What make me [...]

Mention the word ‘metrosexual’ and watch Gramps and Grandma glare at you like you have just said something vulgar. Metrosexual, a word that has recently gained popularity, is a neologism, looked at as the new black. We can go into a whole paragraph defining the meaning of a metrosexual but to keep it simple, it’s [...]

This topic is inspired by a recent ad of an SUV in India called Tata Safari which talks somewhere of the life most of us are living. The ad shows a corporate executive with a sad de-motivated face telling himself, ‘I always wanted to resign on a Monday morning.’  Then it shows a senior corporate [...]

Based on an experiment that was carried out in the US, I tried this with my trainees, relatives and friends – all Indians. Here is the experiment. Find out the odd one out in the following: A cow, a stack of hay and a pig. Most people point out that the pig is the odd [...]

We have a natural tendency to reflect about the past. I often hear people saying wistfully, “Those were the days!” This expression is almost always followed by some criticism of the present life be it environment, economy, society, politics or any other aspect – the pollution has increased, politics has become dirty, the economic world [...]

Just the other day, I happened to read and was overjoyed to learn that India is the world’s largest producer of fresh fruits. In that sense, like in several others too, we are God’s own choice. Blessed, in many ways we are, Indians. I have always marvelled at fruits. If not for their nutritive value, [...]

Would somebody tell me how valuable I am? Am I more valuable dead than alive? You would of course say “alive”. Truly you would say I am asking a pointless and silly question. Very well, then would you explain to me why nobody could find time to visit Mr. X when he was alive but [...]

Once there was the ant, saver and thoughtful. She was able to look forward, calculating expenses, saving seeds and tiny pieces of whatever for the cold cold winter. I need to save, I need to have, she’d stress The cicada, shallow and shopaholic, jigging about through hot and shiny summers, wouldn’t bother with savings and [...]

Is Barack Obama the Robin Hood of our times? Look at this man, stuck in a world of capitalists, but doing his best to get the wealth distributed. Sustainability is his mantra! Not because he is pitching for clean energy via wind turbines, solar panels only but also, for asking the corporate to be responsible [...]

I practice a kind of thinking called multiple order thinking. This means that I try to go beyond the obvious and the apparent. At first I try and get into the second order thinking where one can grasp what lies beneath. In the third order I try to get at the underlying concepts of deeper [...]

There was an animated discussion when I had hosted a party at my home in the US yesterday. Most of the guests were Indians. These were successful people in diverse professions but all united in their love for India with deep regret that they could not use their talents in their home country. At one [...]

So I was reading too many books on quantum mechanics, then moved to cosmology and from then moved to evolution of life. As a general feeling, my belief that there is no role of God to influence our life gets stronger. Because after all, universe is nothing but a huge collection of matter collected to [...]

Beyond the film itself and beyond the awards that the film has received, there is a dimension that might have escaped your attention. This movie has brought into sharper focus India and its development experience. A correspondent for the Financial Times of London wrote about the movie and how it had brought India into the [...]

Globe trotting, socialization, automation, attrition, layoffs, high productivity, transfers, and quest for knowledge anytime, anywhere – these are the buzzwords of lifestyle today. As a result, an individual will come across hundreds of people in a week, at work or at play. Gone or the days when a man would live in a village throughout [...]

This morning, I came to the office with a colleague of mine, as I had left my vehicle in the office last evening. As we approached our parking lot, I saw that my vehicle was parked haphazardly and it was blocking the way to the parking area. At that time when I parked there were [...]

In my lateral thinking sessions I like to entertain and educate trainees with this small exercise: “Write down the rule that generates the series of numbers 2, 4, 6…”  I would then ask each trainees to tell me another three number series based on the rule he had identified. I would merely nod ‘yes’ or [...]

The business of business is business. That’s how the famous quote on business goes. Business is run to make money and not for charity.  Human beings are referred to as “resources”, passionate work is “job description” or  “roles and responsibilities”. So, were does a feeling such as gratitude pop up in an office devoid of [...]

What is the difference between one dog owner and another? Well, it is rather difficult to say because, as you probably know, there are dog owners and dog owners. The attitude to their adopted pets differs considerably. Likewise, we have managers and managers. Before I embark full steam ahead, I would like to provide some [...]

Last week was very memorable. A very simple event, was the source of boundless joy. The arrival of a hand written letter. Not an email. After a very long duration, may be years and years, I received a hand written letter. From a caring human being, who is destined to become my relative, by law. [...]

When I got married, my uncle gave me only this advice: The sea of suspicion has no shores! The gravity of the statement did not hit me until recently when, again, I was moved by the common thread that connected a few disparate incidents! The common thread was “suspicion”. I set out on a journey [...]

As a London personal stylist I spend many hours reviewing wardrobes. Given the fact that we only wear a shocking 20% of what we buy, frankly most of my clients waste money. The buzz of buying translates into the unworn, there is nothing remotely glamorous about this. Learn the difference between style and fashion and [...]