Author: S Ramesh Shankar

Born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India, I have been brought up in different parts of India. Graduate in chemistry and post graduate in personnel management and industrial relations. Have been a HR practitioner for 38 years in the industry and have experience in working in steel , automobiles, FMCG and engineering industry. Was head of HR for Siemens in South Asia based out of Mumbai till March 2019. Currently founded hrishti - joy forever, a social enterprise to give back to society and work as Chief Joy Officer.

Water & Life

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Can we imagine life without water ? May be difficult. We could even say “Water is life”. Apart from quenching our thirst, water helps us in multiple ways every day in our life. Let us examine the use of water from morning to evening every day.

Most of us begin our day with a glass of water after we get out of bed. Then we brush our teeth with water. We have our morning coffee or tea by boiling water. We then use water for our ablutions and personal hygiene. We have a bath using water.

Then if we are proceeding to work, we may use water ways or power generated by hydro electric means to move to our workspace. The power used in our offices and homes will definitely have a portion of water powered electricity.

Nature around us at work and home depends on water for survival. The plants and animals depend on the rains for their survival. When it does not rain, they depend on ground water or stored water. It is not possible to think of life around us without water.

The lakes and oceans around us provide the balance to maintain the temperature around us. We also use water to cool our air conditioners or air coolers in offices and homes. Water provides us coffee and tea all day at work. It also quenches our thirst all day and maintains the body balance.

We use water to clean our cars and bikes. They also provide a medium for nutrients and food for aquatic animals like fishes. One cannot imagine life without water for living beings around us.

Most of the food we consume has water as an important ingredient in content or in formulation. One cannot imagine consuming any food where water does not contribute in some form or the other.

Water also acts as a medium of transport when we use boats and ships to move from one place to another within or between countries. Inland waterways are an important means of public transport in states and nations where lakes and back waters are common place.

Even when we fall sick, water is the most important ingredient to regain our balance in life. Water is injected in the form of liquid diet or medicines to cure our body of any infection. Even plain water helps in rehydration of the body when we get dehydrated.

I love beaches as you can see from the photo above. Water energies me when I am on a beach.

Today we have forgotten the value of water and how much it contributes to our lives every day. We waste water in many ways at homes, offices and factories. There are many cities in the world which may dry up in the near future. This may be a reality sooner than later in most urban cities unless we take preventive steps.

Let us realise the value of water and preserve it for our future generations.

S Ramesh Shankar

16th May 2018

Silent Service…

I was passing by my neighbour’s home when someone called me by name. I looked back and realised that it was not for me. So, I moved on. Later, my neighbour called me and apologised for the same. She said that she was teaching a student by name Ramesh online and coincidentally I passed through at that time .

I told her that there was nothing to be apologetic as it was a strange coincidence. I enquired from her as to what she was teaching and she told me that she teaches special children in a school for the last 15 years. Her specialisation was teaching autistic children. I was touched.

Many a time in life we believe we are doing a great deal of service to society. It is only when you hear such stories, you are grounded . It makes you realise that how people have dedicated their lives to fulfilling the needs of society, especially the needy.

It is difficult for anyone to teach children. Imagine teaching children online and that too special children. My salutations to the teacher and the taught. It is indeed incredible commitment to a cause.

What I want to share here is not about my neighbour teaching autistic children but her silent selfless service. I know my neighbour for quite some time now. She has never spoken about her service to children.

What I have learnt in life is that the really selfless people do what they do without making any song and dance of it. It is like we say the right hand should not know what the left hand is doing when you are donating. Similarly, the genuine service minded people serve society silently.

In today’s world, we come across people, who do claim to do social service just to make it to national newspapers, social media or the TV channels. They also do it to cover up for all their misdeeds and believe God may forgive them in this way. It is a rarity to see silent people serving society even without their neighbours knowing about it.

I should admit that I realised how little I do when compared to such people. It is people like her who inspire me in life. They are the real heroines and heroes for me . It is like the front line health workers today who are fighting the pandemic without bothering for their own safety.

Selfless service not only makes you a better human being, it makes you a role model for society and the next generations. It helps your own family members and friends to imbibe the right values. It gives you good health and limitless happiness, which money can never buy for you.

As in the photo above, such selfless servers of society do not want their own publicity. They always want to work behind the scenes

Let the world learn from such committed people all the time.

S Ramesh Shankar

16th August 2020.

Feel the hunger…

The other day I was playing badminton with a neighbour and he said he was a bit tired and wanted to stop after two games. I wondered what had happened to him as he normally had a good stamina. On inquiry, he informed that he had fasted the previous evening and hence was tired.

He further clarified that he was not fasting for any religious reasons. When further asked for the reasons, he hesitatingly said that he was periodically feeding children in an ashram and hence was fasting on that day. What really struck me is the reason for his fasting. He said he started fasting on every Thursday when the Ashram owner told him that it was not enough to feed the kids but may be good “To feel the hunger” by fasting once a week.

“Feeling the hunger” was a powerful statement and it got stuck in my mind. “Empathy” is not only a word in english but an experiential learning for everyone. Like they say, you need to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to experience what they feel in any situation.

At every stage of our life, we find people sympathising with us but rarely you come across people who empathise with you. The difference between sympathy and empathy is the phenomenon of “feeling the hunger”

As a child when you miss out a rank in the class by a few marks or lose a match for the school there will be many who sympathise with you but rarely some who can empathise. The ability to silently put yourself in the other person’s position is easier said than done.

As you grow into an adolescence and want to rebel at everything in life, everyone around you is critical as they tend to look at it only as a deviant behaviour. However, if one can experience what an adolescent goes through the story would be different. You may lend a listening ear or comfort the person that it is natural to rebel.

Then even as adults you find it irritating when someone gives you advise which they don’t follow. It may be easier to advice others than to lead by example. Leaders in organisations are not respected because they lack empathy.

Today’s generation is not looking for sympathy at all. They are touched by an empathetic leader. In times of crisis nobody looks for advice from the ivory tower. People expect leaders to be on the ground, smell the earth and work along.

Leadership is all about “ feeling the hunger”. It is all about empathy. We need to evolve our ability to put ourselves in other person’s position and experience life as they do. Once we are able to do that, our approach to life and living would be different.

As in the photo above, even while we cut a cake to celebrate a birthday, this neighbour skipped the cake to feel the hunger since it was a Thursday.

A simple off the cuff remark when someone said you need “to feel the hunger” made me think how much I still need to learn on this front. Learning is a life long journey and we possibly learn more as we listen more.

Let our learning blossom forever.

S Ramesh Shankar

16th August 2020