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.

Spectacle of our eyes


I have always wondered as to how God created our eyes as the best camera in the world.  No technology in the world has been able to beat our eyes to capture pictures around us.  The best of cameras I have tried in my life so far have not come even near the beautiful capture of our eyes.  It captures in three dimension or may be four.  As apart from the three dimensional picture, it also conveys an emotion to our brain to appreciate the beauty.

Let us start with nature.  We can neither capture sunrise nor sunset with a camera as well as our eyes displays it to us.  The clouds in the sky, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the valleys and et all are picturized by our eyes like no camera ever can.  The birds, the animals, the insects or even the landscape around us is best visualised by our eyes.  I sometimes wonder as how to express my gratitude to God to bestow me with such a beautiful pair of eyes.

In my view the beauty of a human being is best seen through their eyes.  As they say, the eyes speak more than a thousand words.  We can feel the emotions of a person through their eyes.  When in joy, our eyes sparkle.  When in sorrow, our eyes are moist and give away our sadness.  A mother’s eyes expresses care without a word uttered to her child.  Similarly a father’s stern eyes may deter a child from doing a wrong.

At the workplace, we also speak through our eyes.  Many a times we need not utter a word to say we agree or disagree on any issue as our eyes will convey it to the other person even before we utter a word on the subject. Eyes symbolise words through expressions.  If you look at pieces of art – a painting or a sculpture, the artist conveys her or his emotions through the eyes of the art.  Just by changing the design of the eyes the meaning of an art piece can be changed.

The communication between a small kid and her parents are primarily through the eyes especially when the kid is yet to utter her first word in life.  Children can express all forms of emotions through their eyes easily.  They laugh, cry, get angry or express sorrow by the wink of their eyes.  Eyes express more than words.   Words do not carry emotions with them but eyes do.

Most of us have experienced or seen lovers communicating through their eyes. It may be classmates in college or colleagues at the workplace.  They may not even talk to each other in the presence of others.  But the communication through their eyes signifies the intensity of their love for each other.  This has been picturized very well in movies and plays and described eloquently in songs and poetry around the world.

As in the photo above, the eyes speak for themselves.

While all senses of the human body – sight, touch, sound, taste and smell are equally significant , sight through our eyes is the most beautiful.   Let us be blessed to admire nature and beauty in life through our eyes forever.  Let our eyes inspire us to look at the world through the beauty of other human beings, animals and things.  Let us learn to love other humans, animals and plants through the positive expression of our eyes.

Let our eyes give us sight and insight.

S Ramesh Shankar

Art of Music

“A thing of beauty is joy forever” said Keats.  I experienced this while attending a music programme today.  The singer explained how art has different forms.  She said that when a sculptor carves something it is beauty of form.  When a painter draws something it is beauty of sight.  When a dancer displays her art, it is beauty of expression.  When a musician sings, it is beauty of sound.

This struck a chord with me.  I had always been a connoisseur of beauty in all its forms.  Nature has always inspired me and so has music.  Interestingly I have no knowledge of music but every time I listen to soothing music, I transcend to a different world.  I have always enjoyed all forms of music and especially instrumental music.  Today it was Carnatic music but the way the singer explained the notes and connected them to beauty and spirituality, it was wonderful.

Another interesting dimension of music is that it has no language, religion, region or country.  It transcends boundaries of nations and cultures.  It unites the world in all its forms and makes you spiritual.   Music has healing properties too.  When I am feeling low, I love to listen to music.  It soothes my soul and relieves me of all my stress and strain.  Music is therapeutic and it definitely relieves you of all your pain.

I love to listen to music when I travel and it cools my body and mind.  Music also triggers my creativity and many a time its crystallises the thoughts in my mind and then words flow like a stream through my blogs.  I love to listen to music to relax.  I wonder how music soothes our body and soul.  It is indeed an art form expressed in sound. The most interesting aspect of music is that you enjoy it even if you do not understand its meaning.

In the picture above,  the singer explained the art of music and how it is a form of beauty and expressed in sound.  She sang Carnatic songs and explained the origin of music from the Vedas.

In the Indian tradition, music is played from the time of birth till the last rites of a person.  It helps us celebrate festivals and enjoy occasions.  The temples, churches and monasteries reverberate with the music of the bell.  The soothing sounds takes you to a different world.  The early morning chirping of birds is another form of music, which revitalises you at dawn and dusk if you are in sync with nature.

Music has no description.  Just as beauty has no dimension.  It cannot be described in words nor documented in a book.  It has to be experienced to be believed.  It has to be felt to discover its beauty.

Let us enjoy the beauty of music in life.

S Ramesh Shankar

We win some and lose some…


We win some and lose some.  Life is a zero sum game.  Today we had three international games in which India played.  The first was when an Indian won the Indonesian open badminton final.  The second was a hockey match where India defeated its sub continental counterpart with style.  In the third match, India lost to the better team of the day in the champions trophy cricket final.  The whole nation forgot about the spectacular victories in badminton and hockey and was cursing the Indian cricket team for its loss.

The lesson I learnt today is our ability to accept loss in a game with grace.  We cannot win every game in our life and there are days we may win and other days we may lose.  We need to learn to accept victory with humility and loss with grace.  I do accept that we are a cricket loving nation and this sport has almost become a religion in India.  It brings together the whole nation and stirs emotions. But to swing to extremes of emotions on winning or losing a game may not be a good idea.

This phenomenon is true for life too.  We may win on many occasions and lose in some.  We need to learn to be humble in victories and reflective in defeat.  This is easier said than done.  We tend to get proud on being victorious in life.  If we continue to top the class or represent the school in a sport, it may go into our head.  We may get into the best school or college based on absolute merit.  We may then end up in the dream company of our choice.  All this should be accompanied by our feet firmly on the ground.  We need to learn to realise that victory could any day be followed by defeat.

On the other hand, when we fail in an exam or do not get admitted to a college of our choice, we almost give up in life.  Neither victory nor defeat is permanent in life.  The earlier we realise this, the more successful we may be in life.  In the cycle of life, victories and defeats are also cyclical.  God bestows us with the best of everything in life based on our hard work and commitment.  We taste success and the moment there is an aota of doubt that we have become proud because of our success, he gives us a taste of failure.

As the successes in life make us feel good and move forward, the failures in life should make us reflect, learn and bounce back.  We neither should climb a tree and announce to the world that we have arrived on achieving our first success, nor we need to regret our first defeat in life.  In my learning in life, failure teaches you more than success. Hence, the need to accept success and failiure in life with equal equanimity.

In my experience, success and failure in life is like the day and night.  We can neither expect the day light to last forever nor expect the night to be omnipresent.  Night begins when day ends only to give way to the next day.  Sun sets today to rise again tomorrow.  Just like the plants and animals learn to live with day and night, we as humans need to accept victories and defeats in life with equal respect.

As in the photo above, we can learn from a kid how to accept defeat gracefully when he is not able to climb a tree.

Every victory will make us proud and should do so.  Every defeat will teach us lessons, which in turn will make us victorious in the future.

Is it time to learn to accept defeat with grace ?

S Ramesh Shankar