Everything in life cannot be valued in money terms. I remember way back in 1987 I was buying a second hand car. My friends and well wishers cautioned me that it was not a good return on investment. It may be true in financial terms especially when interest rates were in double digits. But buying a car or a house is a quasi emotional and quasi logical decision.

Similarly in 2008 I was selling a flat in Gurgoan and my well wishers cautioned me that it was not the right time to sell. The markets were down and I could wait for some more time for getting a better yield. This also may be true. But my decision to buy or sell or a flat is also a quasi logical one.

In life, there are many decisions we take by emotion and then apply logic to justify it. I prefer to go that way. If you love something in life, one should go ahead and do it. If you are guided by return on investment or logic, life may be become worthless. I love photography and videography. I may have bought a dozen cameras in my life. This definitely cannot justify financial or logical reasoning. But the joy it gives me, no money can.

I remember in 2011, I ended up buying a car of my choice. It was an expensive one and many of my well wishers were not supportive of my decision. They may be right logically but my decision was quasi emotional. I love driving and wanted to enjoy life driving a car of my choice. Money saved in a bank or mutual fund can never give me this joy.

I am not for one recommending that we should end up squandering money on worthless things in life. I am only saying that sometimes we decide based on gut and this is fine. After all life is full of emotions. If something in life gives us joy, we should go for it without thinking too much about it.

The moment we try to apply logic and reasoning to everything in life, we may stop enjoying life. Imagine someone working out a return on investment before buying a pet dog. Can you value the love a dog bestows on you as a human being ? We have to remember that everything in life cannot be monetised.

I have lived my life in my own terms. One important learning of course has been to enjoy life without being indebted. We should not end up buying a luxury car or home if we cannot afford to buy it at a particular stage of life. It is better to wait for the right time and buy it rather than trying to enjoy life on borrowed money.

I remember there were many things I yearned to have but could not afford. So, I waited till the day I could afford to buy. One cannot justify buying things stating life is to enjoy if if it goes beyond your means at that point. Yes, we need to enjoy life within our means. We need not justify to anyone what we are buying as long as we can live within our means and love having it.

As in the photo above, the joy of having lemon juice in a road side shop and having a heart to heart chat with the vendor has to be experienced to be believed.

Let us learn to enjoy life our own way.

S Ramesh Shankar

9th September 2018

Life is a suspense. It is like a mystery story that unfolds itself in the least expected way. We may be expecting a bad news and it turns out as the best day in our life. On the other hand, when we have worked very hard and expect good results in our examinations, we are disappointed with a poor result.

There are many ways to deal with this suspense in life. While most of us accept it as destiny or fate, some of us find it difficult to deal with the uncertainties of life. Some of us take it in our stride and move on. While others get bogged down and find it difficult to handle.

It may be useful to view life like we see a suspense movie. We are not sure of the next scene and hence we prepare ourselves for whatever may come in the next few hours we are in a cinema. It may be worthwhile to face life in a similar way. We can be sure of the past but not of the future. It may be useful to put in our best efforts and be ready for whatever comes our way.

Some may say it is easier to write about it than to deal with it in reality. Yes, it is true that writing about life is simpler than facing it in reality. However, there could be a way of preparing for the realities of life. In my view, life is full of choices. When something good happens we are happy and spread joy. When something untoward happens we are sad and share our grief with our near and dear.

It is all about our attitude to life. If we believe that life is a mix of the good and the bad, we may be better prepared to deal with it. If we believe that we are the only one to face all crises in life, we may be mistaken. It may be worthwhile to compare ourselves with people who are less privileged than us. Life is similar to all of us. Some have a longer period of joy as compared to others. However, when grief strikes, it also does not seem to end for some in their lives.

Life is a suspense like the difference between someone who is sad and someone else who is depressed. We can easily recognise someone who is sad because they express their grief on their face. On the other hand, a depressed friend may be laughing at the surface and hiding the sadness within herself. Such is life too.

I am a born optimist and hence would like to look at life only as glass half full. I have gone through the good and bad times in my life. The bad times are difficult to deal with and also seem never ending. It is here self belief and patience plays a role. We need to believe that something good is round the corner and it is only a matter of time before we benefit from it.

We sometimes cannot believe what life has in store for us. It unfolds itself in the least expected way. It is also not predictable for many of us. Even the astrologers and fortune tellers can predict the past but struggle in forecasting the future. Hence, I would say the best way to deal with the suspense of life is to treat it like a mystery. Let us be ready to deal with it as it comes and prepare ourselves for the best and the worst.

As in the photo above, Life is a suspense like walking in a green forest.  You do not know which moment you will see a beautiful waterfall and which moment you may be confronted by a wild animal.

Life is a suspense. Let it unfold its own way.

S Ramesh Shankar

29th July 2018

We live in a world where nature has bestowed us with abundance. Why do we live with an attitude of scarcity ? We tend to live life miserly. We want to conserve everything around us. We tend to have a hoarding mentality and never want to let go on anything in life.

I am not sure if this is evolved in the family environment or influenced by the society around us. I am not professing lavishness or waste of anything in life. I do agree that we need to preserve everything in life for our future generations. However, an attitude of miserliness in our thinking could lead to actions which reflect that behaviour in our everyday life.

As parents, we may not allow our children to enjoy some privileges in life because we did not have them when we were kids. Is this fair ? I am not sure. As teachers, we may be reluctant to share all our knowledge with the students because we may believe that they may outsmart us. As managers, we may not be willing to let go of our skills or knowledge because we believe that may degrade our corporate value.

This attitude percolates to every aspect in society as well. Everyone wants to guard their key skills or knowledge with the worry that it will get replicated. Imagine a world of open sharing. Imagine a world of sharing and caring. Imagine a world of spreading knowledge skills and attitude. We need to believe that the more we give to others, the more we learn.

I was lucky to grow up in an open environment. My family members shared everything they could and enabled me to pursue my passion in life. We ( my spouse and me) have also tried our best to create the same environment in our family. Our children ( daughter and son) have pursued their passions in life . We have not imposed our interests on them in any way ( at least consciously).

Similarly, I have been privileged to work with managers and leaders, who have shared everything they could. They have enabled me to succeed and learn from failures in all that I wanted to do. There has never been a deliberate attempt to hoard knowledge or skills. I have been coached to give more than what I have got in my career. I have tried my best to share whatever I can with everyone I can in my life.

I firmly believe that the more you share, the more you learn. I have never declined an invitation to interact with students unless my work prevented me to do so. I have been willing to share my knowledge and skills with everyone in my team and with colleagues in other organisations, whenever I could. I have benefited from cross industry forums, which has given me great opportunities to share and learn.

Nature gives us everything in abundance. It is we, as selfish humans, are not willing to conserve it for our future generations (as in the photo above).

Let us learn to give more than we get. I have realised that the more I am able to give back to society, the more I feel blessed. I am grateful to my family, friends, colleagues and the Almighty to inculcate the mentality of abundance in me.

Let us give back more than we get always.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th August 2018