Category: Life & Living

Ray of Hope

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There is always light at the end of a tunnel. You realise it every time you drive through a tunnel on a highway. However, it takes a lot of patience and perseverance to go through the darkness in the tunnel before you see the light. Life is no different. Every obstacle in life looks like a boulder in front of us. It overwhelms us and we get bogged down by its magnitude. It takes courage and patience to weather the storm and then look for the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have had many experiences in life, wherein I felt as if the world was coming to end and and I was in the midst of it. When you are going through a crisis in life or at work, you are bogged down by everything around you. You are drained out by the depth of the crisis you are facing. You try out all the options and still the you feel that the dark road in the tunnel is never ending. It is at this time you need to reflect and find a way.

I would like to look back at a few incidents in my personal and work life and share my learnings. I have been a born optimist in life. Hence, looking at life as art of possibilities has been my outlook. But, when you are confronted with a crisis then your optimism fades way giving way to pessimism. I recall the first instance in my personal life. I got an income tax notice for buying a timeshare property. I was shocked and perplexed. I have been a honest salaried tax payer for more than three decades now. But this incident happened way back in 1992.

I went to my tax advisor after spending a few sleepless nights as to “why me ?” . When he explained the process which the income tax department follows to track tax defaulters, I was relieved. He explained that they look at new car buyers at random and sometimes at property buyers and so on and then send them a notice to explain the source of income. When I had been an honest tax payer, I had nothing to worry. I had just to explain the source of my funds and how I have paid them. I had also paid all my instalments by cheques and hence there was nothing for me to explain. But spending a few nights with the notice at home was like a long ride in the tunnel.

The second time it was on the work front. I was made the prosecution nominee ( management representative) in a departmental enquiry against a corrupt union representative in one of my previous organisations. I was shocked. I received threats from this person including possible attacks on my family members. I was again worried as to why I was chosen for this unceremonious role. The enquiry was completed and I could help the management with my presentation skills in establishing the charges and ensuring the corrupt union representative was dismissed from service. Then my manager explained to me that I was selected because I was courageous and honest to face such a dishonest employee in an enquiry in a fair and brave way. But this enquiry took more than four months and it was an arduous journey.

The last incident was when I joined a new organization. I was confronted with a court case filed every month by the unions against the management on frivolous reasons. I was always used to maintaining harmonious and trust worthy relationship with the unions in all my previous assignments. When I took charge, I realised that there was a trust deficit between the management and the unions. It took me almost two years to rebuild that trust and thanks to a great team to work with and a responsive union we not only turned it around but today can proudly state that we have not had any court case filed against us in the last four years. But these two years were like a long dark tunnel ride.

Every situation looked dim at first sight. The more you grapple with it the more you are disappointed. When a problem gets complicated and you do not get adequate support, you tend to lose hope. It is at this juncture, we need to believe in ourselves and our credibility. We need to trust ourselves and hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. It is like the streak of sunlight always kindles hope on a otherwise cloudy day as in the photo above. This ray of hope re-ignites the optimism in us and helps us find a way.

Let us look for the ray of hope in life every day.

S Ramesh Shankar

The world is not perfect…

Our life starts with a dream. Whether at work or at home, we have a dream. We then try to realise our dream through our efforts. It is perfectly normal to dream and try our best to convert that dream into reality. Some of our dreams are realised, while others fade away in spite of our best efforts. There is nothing wrong about it. It is fair to expect that all that we dream about in life may not be realised in our life time.

This does not mean that we should stop dreaming. It is like every organization has a vision and then strategies to achieve that vision. What is in control of the organization is within it and there are many factors outside the control of an organization. This is true at the individual level too. We need to have a dream. We then need to evolve our strategy to achieve our personal vision in life. I firmly believe that through stint of hard work, most individuals may be able to attain their personal vision in life.

Some organisations do not achieve their vision in spite of their best efforts. This is not because they did not have the right intent to achieve it. On the contrary, it could be that inspite of their best efforts the environmental factors swayed against them and hence they could not achieve their vision. This is also true for individuals. We need to realise that sometimes our best intent and efforts may not take us where we want to go. We should not lose hope. I would stay we need to press the “Control+Alt+Del” button and reimagine our goals in life.

My lesson in life is that the world is not perfect. Just like we as human beings are not perfect. We need to learn to enjoy the imperfection in the world and in us. We need to learn to adapt and change. We need to learn to redefine our goals and move on. Most of us spend our time analysing why the world is imperfect ? It is like analysing why the formation of the clouds is different each day in the sky.

We have to believe that nature has created imperfections in the world to enable us to learn and change. We need to trust our capabilities rather then worry about the failure of a plan. We are human and the world is not perfect. Hence, the earlier we get used to this fact, the better it is for us. We will learn along the way and change. We have to accept the clouds in the sky as they are and appreciate that every day is a new formation and a wonderful creation of nature to admire.

Life is no different. It is neither perfect nor imperfect. Our ability to deal with life as it is rather as it we want it to be makes all the difference. We have to build the ability to change rather then wait for others or the world to change. We have to remember that it is easier to change thyself than to try to change others. Our success in life is directly correlated to our ability to change.

We need to be able to reconcile in life. We may set a vision for ourselves. We may even define the path to achieve the vision. However, as we go along, the path may change even if the vision remains intact. Sometimes, we may need to restate the vision as the environment around us has changed rapidly. It is frivolous to think that anything is constant in life. The ability to anticipate variability and deal with it effectively makes us a winner in life.

As in the photo above, the peak may be at a distance but we need to continue our journey facing all barriers on the way with focussed commitment to achieve our goal.

I have gone through my own ups and downs in life. Every time, I was about to lose hope, I rekindled my commitment to my goal. I learnt from my mistakes and was willing to redefine my goal and the path. This helped me to be in tune with the times. I realised along the way of life that it is not perfect. I have tried my best to do everything to the best of my ability but accepted imperfection as a way of life and living.

What is your take ?

S Ramesh Shankar

Never too late to resolve…

Another New year dawns on us. We wonder what new year resolution to make. I am no different. I sometimes wonder if it is too late in my life to make a resolution. But on reflection, I realised that it is never too late to resolve.

If we look back at our lives, we have so many imperfections embedded in us. We are not yet perfect in anything. Hence, the opportunities to makes resolutions to change and improve is endless.

Let me start with simple things in life. Am I good at making up my bed after I get up. I leave it to someone else to do it for me. So, may be the first resolution can be that I make my own bed everyday.

Then the next question to ask is “Can I make own coffee or tea ? If the answer is no, it is time to learn to do it yourself. So, the second resolution can be to make your own coffee or tea and may be make it for your partner or family members also.

Do we do some exercise every morning ? It could be a walk, a jog, cycling or playing any game. If the answer is no, which is most likely for most of us, that can be the third resolution. I commit to walk or do yoga every day.

Then we look for someone to help us with our clothes and office accessories. This could be our fourth resolution and we could learn to organise ourselves well so that we do not need someone’s assistance to pick our clothes or other office paraphernalia.

Most of us ride a bike or drive a car to work every day. We then blame the world for the increasing pollution around us. Our fifth resolution can be to take the public transport to work at least once in a week and there by contribute our bit to reducing pollution in the world.

Do we wish everyone with a smile at work ? We enter the workplace and find it difficult to wish the security guard. We do not think it is important to wish everyone around us at work and shake hands with them before we start our day. This could be the sixth resolution that we will start the day by wishing everyone around us with a smile.

At work, do we delegate things we can easily do ourselves ? If the answer is yes, then it is time to change. Delegation is a good management practise. However, we can do somethings ourselves, which when delegated may delay action and is not necessary. This could be our seventh resolution.

One thing which amuses me is that people do not return calls made to them. Yes, all of us are busy all day and night and we may not be in a position to pick up calls many a time. However, courtesy demands that we call back everyone who called us. It could be a junior colleague, family, friend or the CEO it does not matter. This could be our eighth resolution.

Our ninth resolution could be get back home on time. While working hard is a good idea, it does not add to productivity by sitting late at work every day. This neither improves our performance at work nor makes our family happy.

The tenth resolution may be to make at least one of the above nine resolutions and ensure we follow it through the year. My belief is that if we commit to do at least one thing and make it happen, it will be great.

Let me wish you, your family and friends a wonderful new year. So, here are my Ten Commandments to myself for the new year. I was reflecting on them sitting in front of the Buddha in my garden.

What are yours ?

S Ramesh Shankar

1st January 2019