Neel's Notion

Whether it is personal or professional life, baby boomers are standing tall as a personification of patience. Unimaginable pace of life has eliminated the word walking from the dictionary of life for many people. But a postman relied on the same mode of transport to fulfill his job responsibilities for a period of 35 years. D.Sivan, a post man by profession, walked 15 kilometers every day to deliver letters and pensions to the plantation workers who live in nearby areas. Applause from various corners for his impeccable service has made his contributions recognized by a wider audience on the day of his retirement.
It would be very ambitious to expect roads or even a proper pathway in the 15 kilometers stretch that he has to travel every day. Rail tracks, mountains and even a dense forest welcome him every day.  One needs utmost respect for their profession and great tenacity to face those uneven and dangerous terrains day after day. He used to create his own path aniticipating the possi…

Last year I moved to a gated community, where there is one apartment as soon as you cross the gate, followed by two parallel lanes with independent houses. It felt nice when I was part of the Ganesh Utsav celebrations where everyone in the colony exhibited solidarity by celebrating them together. One thing that surprised me is, no one from the apartment was part of the celebrations. It took me no time to realize that there is some friction between the residents of the apartment and the independent houses in the colony. Recent incidents have bolstered my opinion and the behaviour of the residents from both parts exacerbating the overall relation. Differences are part of life, but those should not creep to an extent of limiting the usage of open spaces and god gifted nature. The residents of the colony have opposed the apartment residents from using the road around the colony to walk. The apartment people don’t allow anyone to pluck flowers from the trees beside the apartment. My brain…

More than anything else Narendra Modi addressing the nation must have received maximum TRPs during the lockdown. The nation patiently searched for any word related to the lockdown in his speech. During one of his speeches, he spoke about the importance of GDP in a country's growth and what the citizens can do in order to contribute to its growth. "Vocal for Local" is the phrase he used to requested the citizens to prefer Indian products over foreign products. But the bigger question is, do we have enough ammunition to facilitate the choice-making?
Let us examine the grocery buying scene that we usually encounter in our daily lives. The first aisle, which is of malt based energy drink powders, is completely occupied by Boost, Bournvita, Horlicks and Complan. Boost and Bournvita belong to Cadburys, Horlicks is by SmithKline Beecham and Complan is by Danone. Though the Indian choices Patanjali Powervita and Amul Pro are available in some stores, they are limited to the lea…

The Indian newspapers have been following the relaxation norms similar to those of lockdown. No newspapers were printed during the first phase. In the next phase, the subscribers received the newspapers predominantly covered with COVID-19 related news. Now, in the third phase, other stories are finding at least 50% of the space. While reading today's news, one article grabbed my interest. New Zealand has successfully relieved itself from the COVID-19 manacles with a planned strategy led by their prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Businesses in New Zealand have begun to fill up the revenue deficits by receiving customers after a plausibly long hiatus.
Like any other citizen, the prime minister of the country wanted to visit a restaurant for a Saturday brunch. She chose to visit the Olive cafe located in Cuba Street, Wellington, along with her husband. When she reached the cafe, she was welcomed with a piece of good news and an unpleasant one. The good news is that the restaurant was f…

"The Go-Giver" was presented to all the current employees by the CEO of my previous organization. I knew he is an avid reader and I was confident that there will be important takeaways in the book he recommends. The bolstering for the confidence was the success I found when I read "Who Moved My Cheese" just because he mentioned that book during one of his presentations. Usually, many book stores segregate books into Business Management and Personal Development. But I strongly feel the challenges mentioned in these books greet us in both personal and professional lives. The resolutions can be made by applying the same principles to both parts of life.
The Go-Giver story revolves around a struggling employee and the helping hand he receives in the form of certain principles that guide him towards achieving his goals. Marketers work with many clients, but they go above and beyond only for some clients. The reasons might vary, but the efforts put and the hard work exh…

Corona, a word that has changed the course of not just a state or a country but the entire world. A disease-transmitting from human to human, citizens not stepping out of their homes and politicians working day and night. Great countries giving up their fight against a tiny virus. It doesn't take much time to realize that we are not watching a fictional Hollywood movie, but looking at the world around us. Learnings from other countries and a presumed debility to handle such a heart-breaking situation made the Indian government be proactive in taking appropriate measures. The central government and all the state governments deserve resounding applause for being on their toes during such a critical situation.
Straight on the face numbers on corona cases and deaths by 24/7 media shadows the positives and lessons that we can take once the dust settles. So I choose to look at what can be considered as the silver lining on the corona cloud.

World Leaders: We have the biggest companies i…

I am getting trained in Table Tennis under a coach who is 75 years old. 75 years old, isn't it amazing to be fit to train someone in a game at that age? One day, when we were wrapping up our practice session I asked him for how long he has been playing table tennis. He said for 35 years and mentioned that he paused it 3 years ago to take care of his wife who was diagnosed with cancer. I asked him how long he used to practice in a day when he started playing Table Tennis. He said all I used to do during those days was, go to work, come back home and play table tennis. He also said, "my wife completely took care of my kids for many years, I took care of her only for 3 years. Nothing would suffice for what she has done for me and the family". I felt so happy to hear such a plaudit from a man belonging to the prior generation to his wife, who is a home-maker.
Let us jump to an advertisement for dishwashing soap. A kid is filling some form for his school which has the column…

Certain years after I began my career I started feeling monotonous with just work and home. So while I was in Bangalore I took part in voluntary activities by an organization called "The Ugly Indian". In 2015, I moved from Bangalore to Hyderabad to join a new organization. Around 3 to 4 months after joining that organization I again felt the urge to take part in some social service activity. It was sheer coincidence that the CEO of the company sitting somewhere in the USA felt the same. During his next trip to India, he expressed his desire to sponsor the complete education of girls who score well in their tenth exams and are financially weak. I felt like the head of the organization has used his telepathic ability on me and has come up with an idea bespoke to me.
Through his connections, my CEO choose Government Girls High School located at Moosapet, Hyderabad to select the girls from. We visited the school to check the facilities and also announce the sponsorship. Once th…

The news about the demise of Gollapudi Maruthi Rao must be limited to the death of another movie artist for many. But that is not the same with me, it was a poignant and disturbing moment. It is an indefinite silence of a voice that has reminded me of values and also taught me about some great people who I never heard of. I don't remember which article on social media made me stumble on www.koumudi.net, the audio column was presented by a voice with great storytelling capability and a capacity to deliver inspirational messages by appending subtle emotions to those. The author and the owner of that voice is Sri Gollapudi Maruthi Rao. He is known as a character artist to many and a screenplay and dialogue writer for film industry insiders. But very few know that he is an author and a columnist. One of his columns Otami Vaibhavam (The Glory of Defeat), elucidates how modesty can enlarge the image of a champion, by taking the example of the 2017 Australian Open Final match between Ro…