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.

Man creates, nature solves

If we look back in time, people lived in villages and small towns and managed all their issues within their commune. They produced what they needed and consumed within. They went out only when they could not produce. This was true for all aspects of life and living. Today human beings are creating problems everyday around themselves and struggling to find solutions.

Whether it is climate change or warming of the earth’s surface, all our actions today ,is leading us to a bleak tomorrow ,for our future generations. We have to move from a world living on greed, to a world satisfied with their needs. I am not sure if we have solutions, for all the problems we are creating ,for ourselves and our future generations. However, the silver lining is that ,Nature has solutions for all man made problems.

Let us look at how we can learn from nature and at least prevent the further de-generation of the human kind. A simple example could be the natural disasters. I am told that the animals sense the onset of a tsunami or an earthquake and caution other animals and birds to move away from the likely site of disaster. Tribal communities who are closer to nature observe and listen to the calls of these animals and reduce the impact of disaster on them.

I am at an ayurveda retreat at present in Kerala, India. As per Ayurveda experts, there are many precautions human beings can take ,to lead a healthy life. This could include ,the type of food consumed, the exercise we do and even our daily routine of getting up and going to sleep. These have been prescribed hundreds of years ago and we are still groping in the dark and knowingly ignoring them.

Another interesting video I was watching was about the bullet trains in Japan. I was told they had a perennial problem of high decibel noise from the bullet trains when they exited tunnels and this impacted the nearby communities. They struggled to find a solution till an engineer saw a kingfisher bird diving into the river without a splash. This prompted the engineer to design the frontal side of the train like the beak of a kingfisher. this not only reduced the sound emitted but also reduced power consumption by the trains.

Nature has myriad ways of teaching us everyday. We have moved away from nature .humans have started believing that our ingenuity and technology can solve all man made problems. We are realising that this is not true and the sooner we get closer to nature, the better it is for mankind.

Let us look at the waste we create everyday around us. Earlier it was mostly organic and got naturally recycled back to earth. Nowadays with plastic and all other chemicals used in packaging etc, there is no way waste will get recycled easily. Although, we are going organic rapidly, our ability to reduce consumption will lead us to a better tomorrow. Here again animals teach us that they never consume more than what they need. Have you ever seen a dog over eating ? It will refuse food when its stomach is full. It is humans who keep consuming irrespective of need and because of greed.

It may be time to reconnect with nature and learn everyday.

S Ramesh Shankar

18th February 2023

 

Down & out

All of us go through ups and downs in our lives. Irrespective of our age and occupation, it is natural to experience highs and lows for everyone in their life. Our life is always like a wave on the sea shore. There would be crests and troughs and we need to learn to deal with both of them.

Some of us experience lows in our personal life or career and get very disturbed by it. It is natural to feel bad when you go through a low in your life. After all, each of us want to enjoy our life every day ,in whatever way we like to. However, when a trough hits us, it is like a unanticipated tsunami.

The universal truth is that ,everyone in this world ,will go through these cycles of life. There will be some days when we feel we are on top of the Himalayas and other days when we may feel like an ostrich and want to put our head under the sand.

The first step in such situations is “acceptance” of the reality. In today’s world, the overwhelming social media has denied most of us of good friends in life, whom we could talk to and confide. In today’s world, psychiatric diseases are as prevalent as physical ones. If we accept, we have a problem, then we can easily solve it.

We do not hesitate to go to a doctor to treat cough, cold or fever. then, why we do hesitate to go to a psychiatrist ,when are feeling low mentally. It is as simple as that. A medical doctor treats a physical disease and a psychiatrist treats a mental illness. Just like our body has breakdowns in the form of fever or pain etc ,so does our mind have issues like depression or sleeplessness etc.

Our everyday life today is becoming hectic and sometimes we make it more complicated by our own deeds. We have to believe that we are the masters of our own destiny. We have to decide how our life has to be ? What is the right pace to follow and when to start or stop something ?

Even at the workplace, we have to decide what is the right balance between work and life. We have to decide what is the nature of work we want to do and how much we want to ? If we feel over stressed at work, it is worthwhile to consult a psychiatrist just like we would consult a doctor if we get a pain in the leg.

Similarly in our personal lives, if we continually feel low for no predictable reason, we need to consult a psychiatrist to understand what we need to do ,to manage it. Everything in life is under our direct control. The steering of our lives has always to be in our own hands. If we allow others to use our steering, then we have nobody else to blame than ourselves.

Life is seldom black or white. It is mostly grey. But we can convert it into black or white ,by taking control of our own lives. We can seek the help of family or friends, who are willing to listen to us. We can seek the help of doctors, social workers, counsellors or psychiatrists when the need arises.

Lets steer our life always and determine our destiny.

S Ramesh Shankar

16th February 2023

 

Empathy is for others, not for me

We all love to talk rather than listen. We want everyone around us to listen to us while we talk. But, we do not care to listen to others when they talk. We want others to be empathic to us all the time but we will not do the same.

Empathy is the art of putting oneself ,in the shoes of others. If we are able to do that ,we know where the shoe pinches. In our everyday life we have full of advices for others. Many a time, we are not bothered if we appreciate the other person’s position before we give advice.

This is true in our personal and professional lives. We advise our children to do things ,which we dreaded doing. We expect the impossible from our children in academics, sports or even in cultural events ,while we may have been an average student and never participated in them.

In the work environment, leaders are not different. They will demand from their team what they have never done. It is like a coach telling a player ,to try something, which he himself would have never practised. Such leaders have no credibility. They survive ,only by wielding their power and position .once that disappears, nobody respects them in their team.

Life is no different. We expect from others ,what we do not practise. We seldom put ourselves in the position of someone ,before we demand anything from them. This makes us hollow human beings. Neither the family nor the society will ever respect us ,for the same.

However, one may sometimes wonder as to “ Why people do it repeatedly although they are aware of it ? This may be because of our ego or because of our position in the family, organisation or society. People do not realise ,that others value the person and not the position. There may be a wrong belief that people respect position but the reality hits us ,only when the person vacates that position.

We may need to practise before we preach. We need to empathise and not sympathise with others ,before we demand anything. Our ability to see the world through the eyes and ears of others ,may help us be grounded and not float in the air. Our credibility as a human being and as a leader ,in any social context, goes up when we live the values we preach.

It may be time to look at the mirror before we look at others. It may be time to look before we leap. Our ability to experience the world through the prism of others will make us better human beings.

The day we realise that the life of others is different from us and we need to experience their worldview before we impose our worldview, our life will be different. Our eyes may open to a new world which we may not have experienced before.

Let us learn to change ourselves before we attempt to change the world.

S Ramesh shankar

15th February 2023