Learnings from Facebook (Article from June 2014)

Dear Friends


You must be wondering what the title is about:

•    Is there something new happening on Facebook?

•    Is there any new post put up or any gadget being advertised?

•    Is there any new app FB has developed?

Well it’s not about Facebook but about someone from Facebook.

This is about book by Facebook COO - Sheryl Sandberg that I read in June 2014. In the book she talks about women empowerment, work life balance and a whole lot of things.

I am quoting some snippets from her book - that are backed by statistical data:
 

•    Men get promoted based on potential and women based on past accomplishments.   

•    For women - when it comes to work life balance, life always wins over work.
•    Men make most of the decisions in the world whereas women’s voices are not heard.
•    Women hold themselves back in their work areas by the lack of self-confidence, not

      raising their hands, pulling themselves back when actually they should put forward their  

      thoughts firmly.
•    She talks about women to get rid of their internal barriers and to recognize their potential.
•    She puts forward her thoughts of a move to an equal world of opportunities for women as
.     well as men.

 My thoughts
 

1. Though we are seeing a shift where women are now moving to the top and we have some

    examples in India like Kiran Shaw at Biocon, Indira Niyoogi at Pepsi, Vinita Bali at   
    Britannia, Naina Kidwai at HSBC India, we are not yet seeing more women at the top  
    positions in India.
2. However I sincerely believe that it is a matter of time since the current generation of    
    women have the aspirations, will and the attitude to go the full distance.
3. We can also take inspirations from women within our group and relatives, and though    
     majority of them do not work in the outside world, in their own special way they influence
     and contribute to the success of their other family members.
4.  I strongly believe that in our group, we have women with the potential to go the full way
     and head the organization in various positions either as CEO/CFO/COO etc. in the near    
     future - be it in the fields of architecture, medical, finance, banking, HR, dentistry etc. It is
     just a matter of believing in yourself, dreaming big & consciously working towards it.
5.  Even our Indian government has made an indirect contribution by insisting on having   
     women directors on the board of companies that are listed on the stock exchanges.

SO - I am willing to bet against anyone, that we will have at-least 1 women from amongst our group who will make it to the top and head an organization in the future. 
If I consider the pool of young talent in our group be it one from the many Zara’s, Surabhi’s, Misha, Tanaya, Aarya, Vibha, Sarika and from other siblings of our extended group - just quoting some names for reference that I could think of from my whole laundry list of relatives.  (since recollecting & quoting names of all woman from this list is simply beyond my limited level of intelligence)!!

But I am sure quite a handful from these talented lot of women will rise to fame, I think the chances of my bet on 1 woman from our group making it to the top are loaded heavily in my favor.   

What can we do to inspire and motivate the women in our life to recognize their potential and go to the top? 

Well you can start with inspiring, guiding & motivating the women at your work-place - either who are reporting to you, your colleagues.

Alternatively you can take-up some additional portion of the household chores and if it means your spouse upgrading her knowledge in that time, doing some professional work it is worth it. 

If above effort seems difficult to you, you can start with reading this book which will definitely inspire you for taking the next steps..

 
In the future generations then may-be we will change the proverb from –
Behind every successful man there is a woman - TO - Behind every successful woman there is also a man !!

 

Enjoy

Ravindra

 

Journey to Leh-Ladakh & the journey within (Article from August 2014)

Journey to Leh-Ladakh & the journey within

Dear All

Sharing some insights on our Leh-Ladakh trip which we had been from the 3rd to 13th August,2014 with a total of 12 travelers – having an assorted mix of youth , middle-aged & elderly persons - by age - but all of them – young by heart !!

1. Travelers list
Myself-Ravindra
Shilpa
Milind dada
Nutan Vahini
Rajas
Sukhada
Anuja
Nitindada
Jyotivahini
Kedar
Vijumai
Vivekkaka

By the way the travelers list is randomly arranged and it will take some effort to judge the persons who are youngest by heart
Moreover as you go thru the article, you will see that the persons who were eldest by age were the ones who effortlessly demonstrated that they were the youngest by heart.

2. Visit to Hall of Fame (Kargill war-May to July 1999)
We visited the Hall of fame at Kargill where the Indian soldiers had fought & won key strategic India locations – that were captured by the Pakistan army.
We also watched the video film of the Kargill war where the battles fought at Tololing, Tiger hill, other locations were displayed – along with the modern weapons used e.g. Bofors guns, bombing of Pakistani bunkers by the Mirage 2000 aircrafts. The war showcased the co-ordination by the different units of the Indian army viz. the Navy, Airforce & Artillery units and is ranked as one of the benchmarks of all the wars, considering that this was done in the face of harsh climatic conditions & without having the full-fledged infrastructure for waging this kind of a war.
Our group distributed sweets at the Kargill venue to some soldiers- and the shine/gleam that I noticed in the soldiers eyes was priceless.
I also read some letters written by the soldiers to their children wherein they mentioned that the threat of death is a part of the professional hazard and their children should take care of the elderly persons in the family & the grandchildren. And impart good values to the grandchildren for succeeding in life. The clarity of thoughts, especially even while facing threats of death (in adversity) left me spellbound.
One thing that struck me immediately was that we appreciate, recognize the importance of the soldiers / army only when we visit such places or at best only on the 2 days of 15th August & 26th January.
To start with - Next time when we are making / buying sweets (ladoos, chivada) or at-least before eating them, let us resolve to think or pause for a moment about our soldiers and their war deeds. - this will be a good beginning.

3. Mother Nature is the King
We visited a lot of places – highest motorable road at Khardung pass @ 18380 ft., Pangong lake, Sonmarg, monasteries, anti-gravity point, took a lot of photos.
The topography in terms of rock & snow formations, the variety of rock, flora & fauna colors, birds, water, breeze was out of the world and dynamic (changing every 500 meters or so)
One important learning was that - No matter how much intelligent we human beings are – with a variety of skills & experiences at times you are helpless against Mother Nature.- this realization was reiterated when we were stuck for 4 hours on the way to Sonamarg due to a landslide and later due to traffic.

4. Funny & Thrilling Incidents
At one of the hotels we were served bread for breakfast. On enquiring with waiter about what to eat with the bread – we got Tea, coffee as the answer – can you beat that !
Drivers view of Leh-Ladakh : there’s nothing to see here except mountains, valleys, snow & monasteries.
One hotel at Kargill – had 1 common key for 2 rooms
Crossing stream enroute to Pangong lake – While travelling to Pangong we had a stream flowing on the road at high speed and carrying small rocks with it. So all vehicles were waiting – fearing that driving thru would mean taking risk of vehicle being washed away by forcing water. One of the car drivers crossed the stream by running from 1 side to the other and then drove his car cleanly over the stream. The other drivers then drove over the stream. In this situation the first driver demonstrated himself as a situational leader - by taking a calculated risk. (and thereby challenging the belief that leadership is demonstrated only by people at the top or those in white collar jobs). And set an example for others (drivers) to follow.
The extensive usage of solar energy at Pangong school, and the location of the students classrooms & lodging based on sunlight was impressive
Skills of drivers and their ability to drive & maneuver on the narrowest of roads was remarkable

5. Interactions
We played cards, cracked jokes, attempted some songs, had insights from all our traveler members
Nutanvahini wrote and narrated great article on our entire journey, our group – I suggest she should compile articles of each of our trips and compile a book on same.
Vivekkaka & Vijumai shared their experiences on Sanskrit literature and were always the most enterprising people in our group
Nitindada shared his radical viewpoint on having a zero-based budgeting for 2 to 3 years for the younger generation so that they understand the efforts involved in striving for even the basic necessities
Milinddada, Shilpa, Jyotivahini & to some extent me - we all contributed to the chaos
The importance of camphor and its recognition as a medicine was instrumental (so much that I became jealous of the importance it got !!)
Younger generation from our group (by age) was busy in taking selfies, photos etc. I think they can do lot of multi-tasking- by simultaneously eating with 1 hand, using camera/phone with other hand, listen to music and speak out on a separate topic - with equal ease & confidence in all areas. (unlike us - when we get a call while working on PC – we inform the caller that we will call back later). Wav!! – what a super potential for India’s future growth. – key is give to them enough space to draw their own canvas and balance this freedom with values.

6. Insights
Personally I have sensed an Increase in my energy & optimism levels (even though we travelled in areas with lower oxygen levels)
Increase in awareness and/or importance about our army, soldiers and the need to recognize this belief and pass it on to the next generation

I am sure my other fellow travelers would also have felt a surge in their energy levels and got struck with inspiring thoughts.

I think trips like these also give us an opportunity to re-discover our own-self and understand ourselves better.
In that sense though the Leh-Ladakh journey is over, I believe the journey within (our minds and possibly our hearts) has just begun.
Here’s wishing that let this Journey prosper, bloom, bear fruits and continue………..

 

Enjoy
Ravindra

__._,_.___

 

Brexit Revisited..with a difference (July 2016 article)

Dear Friends

 

With the recent Brexit event that everyone knows off (viz. Britain's exit from the European Union in June 2016) I have come up with some new acronyms / definitions on my own:

1. Axeit / Axit - Deciding of doing away with something.

    For example..I have axited from joining the gymnasium.

2. Compxit - Withdrawing from participating in any competition / competitive event.

    For example..The cricket great announced compxiting from playing in the IPL cricket     

    tournament from next year onwards

3. Mixit - Mixing or messing up any task, assignment and exiting from it.

    For example..The sales manager mixited the company's sales strategy and left his job.

4. Socxit - Removing socks from one's feet or removal of a person, people from society.

    eg. The couple was socxited from their community after their inter-caste marriage.

 

And finally the 2 most popular terms that all of us know of, but I have tweaked them a little bit as below:

 5. Rexit - Resigning or giving up any task or assignment.

6. Breakxit / Brexit - Taking a break from doing any task or work.

    For example..I have brexited from my job for taking up a sabbatical.

 

Hope you all have Brexited your task at hand and enjoyed reading all these different Brexits...

Now I am making a temporary exit till I blog and post a new article...

Enjoy

Ravindra

It’s Your Life – Make it large

I was inspired to write this article after watching a Marathi play in April 2016 titled “2 Special”.

The play narrates story about 2 lovers who deeply loved each other in their youth but who could not get married to each other due to certain circumstances. And who get married to different partners.

By a twist of fate they again come face to face, after a long time and the story of the play unfolds.


Some Learnings / Insights from the story :

1. Accept the past and take insights and positives from it, but don’t dwell upon the negatives from it.
2. Life is too short to quarrel about petty things and regret things that you don’t have.
3. Make the best of what you have and enjoy all the small things that life offers us - be it mother nature, sweet aroma of tea across the road, the enchanting smell of water lilies, innocence of your child, calm voice of your mother, the comforting words of your teacher.
4. Live in the present but aspire for your dreams and work towards it consciously.
5. Do take some time out and help the needy people, the shine in their eyes after you help them – will definitely make your eyes moist and you will feel proud to have made a positive difference in their lives.
6. Take some time out and visit your school and college teachers. Since they are the ones who have contributed in shaping up some part of the goodness that lies within you.
7. Every day when you wake up in the morning, think that you are going to have a great day. This will automatically generate positive thoughts in your mind and you will act accordingly.
8. Reward yourself for all good things and achievements that you do…………..be it by indulging in eating a chocolate or ice-cream or any fruit that you like or have a glass of drink with your friends or listening to music… anything that you like.
9. Do note that the only thing constant in life is Change… so change your-self thru your thoughts, change for a better tomorrow, accept and embrace change and do help in making a positive change in other people’s lives.
10. So nothing in life remains constant…… after good things… you will have to face some bad things……. and then again good things would follow………so in case you have a bad day @ work or you are facing some challenges just remind yourself mentally – that this too shall pass. And you will come out of challenges in life mentally stronger, wiser and a better person.

Moral :

 It is your life. So you have a big role to play in making it count for the better.

“It’s your life, make it large“! (phrase borrowed from the TV advertisement… of Seagram’s Royal Stag Whisky)

Re-visiting 3 Motions Differently

A simple way of looking at 3 motions viz. rotation , revolution & evolution differently.

1) When we are infants  we rotate around ourselves.
2) Once we start crawling we also begin revolving  around our parents and with schooling begin revolving around our teachers, elders. With both these we also start evolving as a person.
3) Once we grow up into teenagers we start revolving around our friends and through this involvement , more ideas start evolving within us.
4) In these teen times we also tend to revolve around persons of the opposite gender,  which is also a part of the natural process of evolution.. In this evolution phase at times all of us experience some queer rotations and revolutions within ourselves..
5) Once we get into a job we start revolving around our seniors, bosses and also evolve as a person with new ideas, knowledge & beliefs rotating within ourselves.
6) Those who get married  also revolve around their spouses , families and in the process also evolve automatically.

To summarise these 3 motions :
The key is to ensure rotation of ideas within ourselves irrespective of our age and revolve these with other persons , so that we evolve as a better person and contribute to the society in some way and in the process create a revolution..


Hope my thoughts have not resulted in your head spinning with rotations & revolutions..

Enjoy
Ravindra