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 journey of life

 

Driving has always been a passion in my life. Today, it struck me that “the journey of our life” is almost like a drive on the highway. Where we are likely to be born we do not know and where we may die is not in our hands. But the journey in between is all in our hands.

Let us explore life. like our drive on a highway. Everyone who loves driving, may not plan for a trip all the time. Sometimes, we plan and at other times, we may take off ,without any destination in mind. Life is almost like that. Some things happen as planned while others may be called destiny in life.

We need to learn to enjoy life, the way it is ,rather then the way we want it to be. On the highway, we enjoy the stretches of the road where it is smooth and scenic. We feel like going on and on and suddenly there is a road accident and a traffic jam and we regret our decision to drive.

Life is no different. We may be enjoying every minute of the day, when things go our way and we are enjoying life ,as we celebrate some successes. But, when some things go the wrong way and we feel sad, we do want to experience it. Life is a total package. Some days are like gold and others may be like rusted iron but we have to learn to take ,both sides of life.

Another interesting aspect of the journey on the road is that ,you cannot always plan for the weather. It is bright and sunny and you have started your journey ,imagining great weather, right through your journey ,to your destination. However, somewhere on the way ,it starts raining and you are forced to slow down and time takes a different turn in your journey.

Life is also like that. There will be some days when you feel you are on top of the world ,after a promotion at work but then suddenly a crisis will dawn on you ,and you feel all the joy has suddenly vanished ,in your career.

Another interesting aspect of driving on the highway ,is to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Many a time, we seem to be in a hurry to reach our destination and do not enjoy the journey. There are hills, rivers and forests on the way and we do not seem to enjoy them ,as we are focused on reaching our destination on time.

Life is no different. Sometimes ,we are so focused on our goals in life that we may not be enjoying the journey. It is like having a child and focusing on the child’s future education. We sometimes ,may not spend enough time with the child ,to enjoy playing and growing up since our energies are focused only on educating the child to reach her goal.

Every journey in my car in my life so far ,has been a new discovery of life. Every person I met and every place I have visited along the way, has taught me life lessons. So is life. Every person you meet and every place you visit in life ,may teach you new lessons in life. It is up to to us to learn, unlearn and re learn ,as we discover the journey of life.

Let us discover life as we drive along.

S Ramesh Shankar

20th June 2023

 

Stirring a hornet’s nest

I saw a hornet’s nest in a neighbour’s house in our community and was wondering what it was. My neighbour explained to me ,that it was a hornet’s nest. Till then, I had only heard of the idiom in English – “ Stirring a hornet’s nest” and had never seen one.

After a few days ,I noticed that the hornet’s nest had quietly disappeared from my neighbour’s home and set its nest at my backyard. I decided not to disturb the same but observe it every day silently and learn from it.

The English idiom goes as “Stirring a hornet’s nest”. The belief is that if you do not stir a hornet’s nest, it does not harm you. A hornet’s nest is a nest of wasps which can sting you, if you disturb them. As long as you do not disturb them, they do not harm you, in any way.

I have experienced this ,multiple times in my life. The first incident was when I had noticed a cobra in my bathroom at the steel plant quarters, where I lived. My wife had gone for delivering my first kid and I was staying alone. When I got up in the morning and opened the bathroom, I noticed that a cobra was relaxing inside my bathroom. I was scared . so decided to close the door and leave for office without disturbing it. In the evening, when I returned home ,I noticed that the snake had left my home ,from the same ventilator ,from where it had entered.

The lesson learnt from this incident is that ,if you do not disturb even a dangerous cobra, it will not harm you either. I have experienced this multiple times in my life time. It is equally true for dogs, cats or even monkeys, which generally frequent our community since it is green. It is full of fruit trees ,providing good fodder for them.

Life is no different ,in general. If we do not disturb the life of other human beings knowingly or unknowingly, nobody harms you. However, if we interfere in someone else’s life, then they do hit back either through words or actions.

We need to live life ,without harming anyone around us. It could be other humans,animals or birds. The moment we try to enter their personal space, they may harm us ,in order to defend their own territory. For eg. a snake may bite us, if we try to kill the snake ,using a stick in the garden. However, the same snake may disappear in the woods ,if we let it go ,as it may have just come to our garden ,in search of food.

Sometimes, we may also need to realise ,that due to human greed, we may have occupied the territory of animals or birds and not the other way around. We may have destroyed forests or lakes and built our homes, which originally belonged to these animals or birds. In this scenario, if they end up attacking us to defend their territory, we cannot blame anyone apart from ourselves.

Human needs can always be fulfilled but human greed is limitless. We need to learn to try and fulfil our needs and not our greed. The day we realise this basic tenet of life, we may have arrived and no animal or bird or plant will harm us in any way.

Let us learn to live and let live from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

3rd Sep 2023

Life is always a choice

Everyone of us have a choice, everyday of our lives. Many of us wonder if we have a choice at all. In my book, we have a choice in every stage of life. We can choose the way we want to live our lives.

As a kid, I grew up in a lower middle class family. We had limited resources and facilities at home. We could not afford a fridge, TV, beds or a dining table at home. We had to eat and sleep on the floor. We had to keep the rice in water overnight and have it in the morning ,as there was no fridge at home. But, these things did not force us to be unhappy or sad.

We were a happy -knit family and enjoyed life in every possible way. Our parents were our role models and they never made us believe that we had any limitations in life. They encouraged us to pursue what we wanted to study and also pursue our hobbies and passions. We chose the career of our choice.

Our parents had the choice of cribbing every day and limiting our possibilities in life. But, on the other hand, they chose to enable us to lead a happy and contended life. We had our family dinner together everyday ,sitting on the floor and pursued our dreams in life ,without any limitations.

We were instilled the right values of honesty, simplicity and encouraged to be grounded in life. My father led a simple life as a government employee and still could build his own home and buy his own scooter ,with his savings. Our parents never made us feel that we had limited resources in life.

Then after completing my education of choice, I started my career in my chosen field. Joining a leading public sector ,gave me the security of job and the privilege of a new role ,every three years. My family then supported me to take risks in my career ,as I moved from the public sector to private, joint ventures and then full fledged multinationals. Every place I worked and lived ,gave me new choices to learn and grow.

I had a satisfying and gratifying career. As parents, although we also began our life with limited resources, it never came in our way , to give the best of education and learning ,to our children. They also could pursue subjects of their choice and then chose careers ,where they would thrive and grow.

Today both my children are grown up, independently working and married. They also have a choice ,to be the way they want to be. They can be happy or sad, the way they choose to be ,in every stage of their lives. We cannot blame anyone else ,other than ourselves ,to the choices we make in life.

Today, after retirement from active service, I still have a choice to pursue my hobbies and dreams. I am able to coach, consult, mentor and teach ,as I always want to do , and at my own pace. I still have time to travel, read, write and listen to music. I am also blessed to contribute back to society ,in my limited ways.

I believe ,everyone of us have a choice ,at every stage of our lives. We can be happy with what we have or cry all day and night ,and want more. Contentment and gratitude may enable us to be happy. On the other hand, greed and unlimited wants ,may lead us to be unhappy and sad at most times.

We have a choice to make and let us learn to make the right choice, at every stage of our lives from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

20th May 2023