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.

The festival of “Holi – the spirit of India”

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Most of the time we celebrate a festival and try to recall the folklore to tell the origin of the festival. It is the festival of Spring. The harvest is over and the red flowers bloom in the trees to signal the end of winter and the onset of Spring. People may recall the story of Prahlad , Holika and so on.

In my view, all these may be incidental but the real thing to celebrate is the “Spirit of Holi”. I have never seen a festival which brings people of all religions, caste, creed and strata of society as one community to celebrate together.

It has become fashionable to use toxic chemicals as Holi colours and spray on one another. It is best celebrated with organic spices and may be sprinkling the same on one another may add to health and well being rather than the toxic colours used today, which could cause skin infections.

I have lived and grown in the north, south, east and west of India. I have never seen a festival, which is more cosmopolitan than Holi. It is a festival of colours. But, more than that it is a festival of togetherness. It’s a festival of families and friends congregating together. It’s a festival of sharing.

Instead of debating tolerance and intolerance, let us celebrate the “Spirit of Holi” in our daily lives. We can be proud of this tradition of celebrating together. India is rich in its diversity and culture. It is festivals like Holi, which binds us together as Indians.

Let us create the Holi spirit everyday in our lives by celebrating joy together. Let us continue to celebrate the “Spirit of Holi”, which in my view is the spirit of India.

S Ramesh Shankar

Courage to say – ” I am sorry”

Courage to say “I am sorry”

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I wonder many times as to why I hesitate to say ” I am sorry” even when I am sure I have done a mistake and hurt the other person. Yesterday, I met a colleague, who confessed the same dilemma to me.

I realised that you need to have the courage to say ” I am sorry”. May be it takes a lot of effort to bury our ego and realize our mistakes in life. But, it takes much more effort to go ahead and say ” I am sorry” even after we realize that we have made a mistake.

I think it is worth a try. Let us go ahead and say ” I am sorry” to someone we have hurt along the way at work or at home. It has to come from the bottom of our heart and not from our lips and it may work wonders. I am sure it will make our day.

Let us try today.

Regards,

S Ramesh Shankar

Happiness = ” Attitude in life”

Happiness = ” Attitude in life”

Happiness = “Our attitude to life”
   The other day, I met a colleague at an informal tea session and he asked me – if he could ask me something personal – when I said yes – he asked me if all my letters and emails to employees are written by me or someone else. I did confirm that it was written by me. He responded that my choice of words were good and it touched a chord with him. I was humbled by this interaction and it further motivated me to write more often to all of you.

    I have always been wondering to find out as to what makes people happy in life :

Is it wealth ?

Is it to be born in a rich family ?

Is it career accomplishments ?

Is it personal accomplishments ?

Some unknown reason

    To me, the answer could be all or none of the above. I have met people who are happy with no enviable income. I have also met people who are very wealthy and are always cribbing. I have met employees at the peak of their career and even after getting multiple promotions are not satisfied. On the other hand, I have met employees, who have been doing the same job for many many years without a promotion but are very happy. 

    After a lot of interactions and reflection on this subject, I have come to the conclusion that ” Happiness = “our attitude in life” . If we choose to be happy, we will be happy under all circumstances. On the contrary, if we choose to be unhappy, we will remain unhappy even after accomplishing a lot in life and career.  

    Two words which may help us build a positive attitude to life are ” Contentment” & ” “Gratefulness”. If we are content with what we have, we would be happy. After all there is no limit to our greed but our needs are always limited. Similarly, if we are grateful to God and all our well wishers for whatever we have, we would be happy. After all there are millions of people in the world, who are not as lucky as we are in having all that we need in life.

     So the choice is ours always. We can choose to be happy or unhappy in life based on our attitude to life. The world is the same for all of us – some enjoy and choose to be happy always while others crib all the way.   

      You can make your choice today.

S Ramesh Shankar