As a kid I hailed from a lower middle class family. During the summer days especially in a city like Chennai, it was very hot and humid. We used to run to the terrace and sleep under the night sky to cool ourselves. Life was blissful admiring the sparkling stars and the moon too.

Then as we grew up, finished our formal education and started our career, we split from our families and started life on our own. As a bachelor, I never had the time to go to the terrace to see the night sky again.

We then moved to bigger cities and the stars almost disappeared from the sky. It was not because the stars were not around but we as human beings had polluted the environment so much that there was a layer of dust and pollution hiding the stars from our naked eyes.

The air coolers and then the air conditioners entered our homes making us cosy indoors and we moved further away from the beautiful night sky. Literally we found ways and means to run away from nature. We neither got the clean air to breathe nor the sights of stars and planets.

We have become materialistic human beings. We are happy accumulating wealth and not realising that money cannot buy health or happiness for us. There may be nothing wrong in satisfying our material needs as long as we can afford it. But to forget the laws of nature and respecting nature can be catastrophic for us.

We realise how much we miss our connect with nature only when we visit a hill station or a forest for a vacation. Unfortunately most of the holiday destinations have also become as crowded as a city nowadays. We need to find destinations where we can connect with nature and wander around listening to the song of birds, admiring the movement of the clouds, the sound of the wind or gazing at the stars.

We need to strike the right balance between technological advancement and the preservation of nature. One cannot be at the cost of the other. While technology and development have definitely made life more comfortable for us, it cannot and should not be at the cost of nature. After all nature bestows us with unlimited resources and gives life to our living. We have a responsibility to respect and sustain it.

This pandemic is a wake up call for all of us. We suddenly realised that we have destroyed nature for fulfilling our selfish human wants. A symbolic illustration was recently seen by many of us. We cut trees from the forests and destroyed nature in the name of modernisation and today we are in need of oxygen from cylinders because nature may be teaching us lessons on sustenance.

Life comes a full circle. I would love to go back to the open terrace and have a good night’s sleep on a natural fibre mat under the stars. I would like to commit that I will respect nature in all ways I can. I will give back to nature at least as much as I take from her.

Let us commit to respect nature in all ways possible from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

15th May 2021

Most of us as individuals make new year resolutions and try to live up to them to make us better individuals both in our personal and professional lives. Now, it may be time for organisations to make new year resolutions and strive to to be better organisations in the future.

I would recommend the following priorities as the top twelve for organisations to focus in 2023. They could consider focussing on one factor every month and thus make the world a better place to live in.

1. Move away from shareholder value to stakeholder value: Today most organisations and their senior management are focussed on how to enhance shareholder value. While there is no doubt that the shareholders are the owners of the company and hence we need to add value to their investment, it is important for organisations to realise that all other stakeholders like employees, suppliers, customers, governments and community at large are equally important for sustainability of organisations.

2. Think long term rather than quarter to quarter : Organisations tend to plan and strategise to achieve their quarterly results. While there is nothing wrong in ensuring consistent quarterly performance, it is important to focus on the medium and long term and not just on the short term results of the organisation. Sustainable organisations look beyond quarters and enhance value for all stakeholders.

3. Strive for employee wellness as much as organisational wellness: Managers tend to focus on organisation health. It is important for senior leaders in any organisation to focus on organisation health. If an organisation turns sick then it impacts all its stakeholders. However, it is important for managers and leaders to focus on employee wellness too. This is important because employees take care of all our key stakeholders of the organisation.

4. Focus on Sustainable products and services: We produce products and services to fulfil the stated and unstated needs of our customers. In this process , we may sometimes end up producing products and services, which are not sustainable in the society at large. Hence, it is critical for organisations to ensure that their products and services are always sustainable.

5. CSR should not be a statutory obligation alone: Many organisations today tend to serve communities around them more to fulfil their statutory obligations rather than a duty towards the communities they live in. It is time to realise that organisations cannot survive in an isolated world and hence need to serve the societies around them to thrive and grow in the future.

6. Target Carbon neutrality as a goal: This may appear as a long term goal. However, it is important for organisations to begin with small steps. Leaders need to find ways to neutralise the carbon they produce and emit in the environment so that they can aim to be carbon neutral in the future. This could be done with small steps like self generation of power by using renewable energy and so on.

7. Think “Zero waste” & recycling of resources: Organisations tend to generate a lot of waste and pollute the environment around them. It may be time for leaders to explore ways and means of targeting “zero waste” and recycling of resources so that they reduce unnecessary waste and pollutants in society. Recycling of packaging materials could be a first step.

8. Suppliers are as important as customers and employees: Most organisations focus on customers and then on employees. Yes it is true that customers apart from shareholders are the one of the most important stakeholders. After customers, managers tend to focus on employees. This is important too. However, there is a tendency not to treat suppliers with same value. Is is important to realise that suppliers are as important as customers and more so in times of crisis and hence they need to be partners to our success in good times and bad.

9. Let employee restructuring be the last option always: When an organisation goes through a rough patch financially due to business cycle or environmental factors, the first decision most organisations take is to reduce the number of employees as a way of cost reduction. It may be time to think of employee restructuring as the last option and not the first. Organisations need to realise that employees win customers, sustain suppliers and manage other employees.

10. “Customers” pay us always: It is important for organisations to realise that our “customers” pay us always. They not only pay employee salaries but ensure the sustainability and survival of organisations. I cannot imagine organisations surviving without keeping customers happy. Organisations tend to become arrogant over a period of time when their brand value increases and they distance themselves from customers. Hence, it is important for organisations to revisit their customer orientation periodically.

11. Equity is as important as profits: It is critical for organisations to be in good financial health always. Making profits on a sustainable basis helps organisations to thrive and grow in a competitive market place. However, it is important to realise that maintaining internal and external equity for all its stakeholders is equally important. Organisations have to ensure that equity is a value while dealing with customer issues, supplier problems or employee salaries. This will ensure its survival and growth.

12. Ethics has always to be a way of life: Shortcuts may yield quick results. This may end up in higher profits too. However, if organisations do not make “ethics” as their core value in all their business operations, they may not survive in the long run. History will always teach us that ethical organisations only can survive and grow in the long term.

As in the photo above, organisations also have equal responsibility to make the world a beautiful place like this exotic flower in the garden.

While the above 12 may not be the only priorities to focus on and may not be equally relevant to all organisations, they could be considered as important foundations for a sustainable organisation of tomorrow.

S Ramesh Shankar

15th Dec 2022

I am a great admirer of nature. I believe we have so much to learn from nature. A friend sent me a small video on nature with a lot of life lessons and that video inspired this blog.

We can look all around us in nature and learn life lessons every day. Everything in nature is in a way living for others. The rivers run from the hills to the ocean providing water to everyone who needs it without asking anything in return for itself.

The trees provide shade for others while bearing the brunt of the heat of the sun themselves. We cannot imagine the trees asking for anything in return. Even in the monsoon, the trees are like nature’s umbrellas for us when it pours. The trees do not eat their own fruits nor do they consume their leaves. They share their fruits and leaves with humans and animals without any bias .

The flowers bloom in colourful ways to brighten the lives of all living beings around them. They spread their fragrance and allow bees to carry their pollen from one flower to the other without asking for any compensation.

The sun shines all days of the year for everyone. The moon is also around to help us wade through the night. Neither the sun nor the moon send us any monthly bills for their generously spreading light in our lives.

On the other hand, we as humans are living life selfishly day in and night out. We consume nature in all its forms and give trash and junk in return. We not only destroy nature in all its forms but regrettably are not concerned about our own future generations.

We may think we are happy if we live life full of material comforts. We may be happy temporarily. But true happiness is only when we make others happy. We realise that money cannot buy everything in life. It can definitely not buy health or happiness. Thus one of the best ways to lead a happier life is by making others happy.

Nature gives us opportunities to learn every single day in every possible way to make others happy. But we are so much engrossed in our own happiness that we are oblivious of making others happy. The day we wake up from this slumber, we may kindle our own conscience.

The most important lesson nature teaches us is that “change begins with me”. If we need to change the world, we need to first learn to change ourselves. Last month I learnt thirty one different ways of making life more sustainable every day.

It is like our gardener who designed this colourful art piece did not put her name on the photo nor wanted publicity for herself. Serving others is her nature too.

If each of us are willing to learn from nature, we possibly will give back to nature much more than what we take from nature. We will not only make ourselves happy but possibly make others happy too. Nature teaches us that making others happy because of us is the true meaning of happiness.

Let us learn from nature every day and in every possible way.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th August 2022

I have lived across different parts of India. My father was a government servant and this gave me the opportunity to do so. Further, after my studies, I lived and worked in different states in the north, south, east, west, central and south of India.

I found every place fascinating and the people interesting. I have learnt life lessons from each of the places I have lived and from the people living there. Although, I was born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, I did pursue my education in Kolkata, Jabalpur and Chennai. I started working in Chennai and then moved to Bhilai, Indore, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and my last stint was in Mumbai.

Each city is close to my heart and made me a better human being in many different ways. Let me start with Kolkata. A city rich in heritage and culture taught me patience and tolerance. It also made me realise the richness of Indian culture and how traditions can be sustained through active community participation.

Jabalpur is almost the city of the defence forces. We can see heavy defence equipment being manufactured here. This city taught me how our defence personnel sacrifice their lives for the nation and protect our national borders for all of us. I also learnt pure unadulterated spoken and written Hindi from this city and its inhabitants.

Chennai is in my home state. I learnt to lead a simple life from this city. I also learnt how education can make a man and external material success is not the ultimate in life. The people in this city also taught me to be rooted in family traditions and understand the multifaceted dimensions of my religion – Hinduism.

Bhilai taught me cosmopolitan living. This steel city is a mini India. I have met people from almost all states of India living and working together happily in this city. Nobody in this city is recognised by his religion, caste or state which they belong. They are only treated as human beings. This city inculcated the values of secularism and co-existence in a beautiful way.

Indore was my next destination. It taught me the tastes of India. The variety of food available in this place is unbelievable. Apart from food, the people in this place are vey helpful and enable you to settle well without you realising it. Today it is the cleanest city in India and has been awarded for being so for the third consecutive year.

I then moved to Delhi, the capital of India. Apart from beautiful wide roads and heritage like the Red Fort, Qutub Minar and the Humanyun’s tomb, it has brought people from all over the country and the world to live and work here. I learnt the meaning of risk taking in this city. Apart from being a planned city to a large extent, it has green well laid out parks almost in every community and has a lot to offer for visitors in terms art, craft and culture.

My next destination was Bangalore, which is the ultimate destination today, where I have settled post my retirement from active corporate life. I have always envied the weather in this city, which is pleasant almost throughout the year. It is greener than most other metropolises in India and can boast to be the Silicon Valley and hub for start ups too. I decided to settle here for the weather and wonderful flora and fauna in the city. Apart from the greenery, it has great world heritage cities within a 350 kms radium and possibly the largest forest cover in India.

My last destination before I hung up my boots from the corporate world was Mumbai. I loved this city for its spirt of living. I have not seen any other city welcoming immigrants from all walks of life with open arms. Further, every dream could be fulfilled for everyone if they were willing to put in their best and luck also favoured them. There are innumerable rags to riches story not because of family lineage here but because of the individual’s talent and the abundance of opportunities. This city taught me to bounce back from every low and believe that there is sun rise after every sun set.

So, having lived in every part of India and also travelled to almost all the continents of the world, I can say there cannot be a more beautiful and diverse country than India. Every city I lived gave me something to learn. It is time for me to give back to my country in my little ways.

S Ramesh Shankar

3rd February 2020

I came for a short break to Anaikatti on the outskirts of Coimbatore bordering Kerala. I did not realise that the resort I was booked was on the banks of the river Siruvani.

On reaching this place, I got a room facing the river. This is not only scenic but the gurgling sound of the flowing river soothes your mind, body and soul. You forget the material world around you and sink into the soulfulness of nature.

It is green all around you surrounded by coconut and arecanut trees. As you watch the river from your room, you feel a sense of calm. It flows steadily and without any catalyst. This made me think why we need a push all the time in our life.

A river can possibly teach us a lot of life lessons. First and foremost it goes around its business without any fuss. It flows through the hills, forests and plains and does not look at stones, girders or hills as obstacles on the way. It considers flowing through them as part of its journey to reach its destination.

The crystal clear water of the river signifies that we can be pure at heart even if we are surrounded by people we may not adore. Most of us throw all trash into the river as it flows by but the river purifies itself and flows clear along its way. It not only provides water for drinking, bathing and other ablutions, it also cools the environment around it as it passes through its way forward.

A river never stops on its way. Have we ever heard of a river, which stops mid way. Never. It surmounts all the obstacles on the way and moves forward all the time. We get immersed in life and get drowned and pulled down by obstacles. We wonder whom to blame for all the things going wrong in our lives.

A river shares its resources without expecting anything in return. It provides water for drinking, transport, washing and many other uses and does not expect us to pay back. On the other hand, we as humans expect more in return even for the smallest service we provide to others. It’s time to learn to be selfless from the rivers.

As the river flows down its path and merges into a bigger river or into the sea, it does not cling to its identity. It is willing to give up its name and fame as it merges into its final destination. We as humans are not willing to subsume our ego for the larger good of society. “I” is the centre of everything we do and we want to take credit even for things we may not have contributed much in life.

I was fascinated by the qualities of the river flowing in front of me. It taught me invaluable lessons of moving on without blaming obstacles on the way, sharing resources selflessly and working for the larger good of society by subsuming our egos.

It is time to reflect and learn from the rivers around us.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th March 2020

Today I got up in the morning listening to the chirping of birds. It was an apt reminder to me to be with nature. I live in a home which is surrounded by nature. Yet I have not yet realised the beauty of nature.

Then I fed the fish and found that although there are seven fishes in my aquarium they do not fight with each other when I put in their morning feed. They take their quota and peacefully leave it for the others to have their food. We need to learn to live and let live like the fish.

Then it was the street cat visiting us. As my wife fed her milk. She not only had it herself but shared with her sibling. The lesson learnt was that we need to share our resources with people around us. It is possible that we are bestowed with more resources than we need. It is time to share.

Everything in nature is inspiring. We can learn all our lessons in life just by quietly observing nature. The self sufficiency of trees or the kindness or the generosity of animals around us. Each of them have something to share and it is up to us to observe and learn.

I looked at the birds chirping and waking me up from my bed. Unlike the alarm jarring in my ears and my pouncing on it so that I can have a short snooze again, the birds inspired me to get up. It reminded me that my sleep was enough and it was time for me to enjoy the beauty of the morning and get on with the chores of the day.

Today with all the technology in the world assisting us in every walk of life, we are drifting away from nature. We can realise this from morning to night. Unlike the birds waking us up, today it is AI in the form of Alexa or google chrome that  wakes us up. Unlike the morning stroll in the forest or amongst the trees, today it is the tread mill where we aimlessly jog just to prove to ourselves that we are exercising.

Every aspect of life has become unnatural. I am a great fan of technology but instead of enabling us to be better human beings it has possibly made us lazier and less natural. This possibly has an impact on our behaviour as well.

Unlike the fish or the cats which were willing to share with others and were selfless, we are self centred most of the time. We are oblivious of our surroundings and our neighbours. In cities, we do not know most of our neighbours most of the time unless there is a crisis.

In my view all this is possibly because we have moved away from nature. It is time to get back to nature. It is time to live naturally. The movements to recycle things in life is a positive step. The segregation of organic and inorganic waste is also a good step. We need to reduce and possibly eliminate the inorganic waste in our lives. I remember as a child we recycled waste within our homes as all of it was organic.

Let us resolve to be in touch with nature and get inspired by it as my friend is seen in the photo above. Let us lead by example so that our future generations will lead a better quality of life.

S Ramesh Shankar

2nd June 2019

Birds have always fascinated me. Apart from their melodious tweets, they impart a lot of important life lessons for us. I can spend a whole day admiring the birds in a garden or on the beach or a forest. The colours of the birds are spread across the spectrum of the rainbow. The singing of birds is always music to the ears.

Let me share my first lesson from the birds. They live the life like a gypsy. They neither have a permanent home nor they are bound to a particular place. They possibly live life in the best place which suits the weather and their bodies. They fly way to a new place when are not comfortable with their environs. They do not complain to anybody about their lives. They are ever willing to adapt themselves to the environment around them.

The second learning is that they are self dependant. They seem to do everything themselves. They fetch their own food, build their own nest and sing their own songs. They neither depend on others for anything in life nor blame others for their miseries in life. They seem to live life as if there is no tomorrow and what better lesson in building our attitude to life.

The next habit I admire in birds is their ability to plan their day and organise themselves. They get up at dawn with their songs, spend the day fetching their food and building their nests and end the day by getting back to their nest and sleeping before being told to do so. They are lucky that the ubiquitous mobile phones have not yet invaded their lives. They seem to be at peace with themselves at all times.

The art of communication is to be learnt from the birds. They sing their own melodies. They effectively communicate to their peers and family members without making any excess noise like we humans do. They do not disturb other birds while they are communicating to each other. Their language seems simple and effective.

I am also a fan of the cleanliness of birds. While they may pick up things from all around them, they put things in their place. If you visit their nest, you realise how painstakingly they have been designed. If you touch their nests, they do not like it and never return to that place for fear of being attacked by humans. They may not be trained in 5S or other Japanese techniques of housekeeping but teach us life lessons that everything has a place in life.

When they fly high in the sky, they seem to carry all other peers along. It is always fascinating to see a flock of birds flying in the sky. They carry everyone along and cooperate rather than compete with each other to reach their destination. The leader ensures that others are following them and they have a pattern of flying to ensure that they are not attacked and they are guarded from all sides.

I wonder why we do not spend enough time to learn our life lessons from the birds, animals and plants around us every day. Today I am lucky that I decided to reflect on the life lessons from the birds. This has made me think and introspect on life. It may help us to think of one animal, bird or plant around us every week and wonder what we could learn from them. This may be easier since we find it difficult to learn from other human beings around us.

Nature teaches us every day in every way.

S Ramesh Shankar

7th November 2018

We have moved from a culture of “recycle & reuse” to “Use & throw”. I remember an interesting incident which happened a few years back. I was digging out my old coloured lights to light it for the festival of Diwali. Usually we use it for the festival and then dump it in some closet for the rest of the year.

We take it out just before the onset of the festival season and invariably find that a few bulbs are fused. The same thing happened to me. I picked up the light and went to an electrical shop to repair and replace the fused bulbs. The electrician was surprised to see me. He politely told me to dump the old bulb set and buy a new one.

I belong to an era, where we were brought up in the family and the community to “recycle and reuse” things. So based on my upbringing, I went to the shop to repair and reuse my colour lights. The shopkeeper gently smiled and said that the cost of repair may be more than the price of a new set of colour lights. I followed his advise,  left my old bulbs with him and bought a new set.

When I returned home I reflected on this issue. I realised that life has indeed changed. The way we look at life today is different from the past. If we considered recycling everything in life as the right thing to do, use and throw is the norm for everything in life today.

It struck me that this may be true in our relationships too. We were brought up to respect our parents and elders right through our life. We were trained to be grateful to people who help us at various stages of life, throughout our life time. But today, we tend to use our parents as providers of comfort and forget them as they grow old and may depend on us. We forget friends and relatives after we have benefited from their help and move on with our own lives.

Relationships have also transitioned from gratitude to usefulness. Gratitude symbolises renewing our relationship for our lifetime. Usefulness on the other hand fixes an expiry date for a relationship. We tend to “control+alt+del” or move on as soon as the usefulness of that relationship is over.

One may wonder if we are moving from “Selflessness” to “Selfishness” in life. It may be difficult to state whether it is right or wrong. After all today, we have mastered the art of justifying every action of ours. No value is absolute and sacrosanct any more. It is all relative and we find innovative reasons to justify our behaviour all the time, to everyone around us.

One more learning I got in life. Once when I was buying new clothes for my family for a festival someone suggested that every time I buy new clothes, I could consider donating an equal number of clothes ( in good condition) to those who need them more than me. This may again be an old fashioned belief but it does help others and is based on the philosophy of recycle and reuse.

Life comes a full circle. Today, use of plastic bags is being banned all over the world as it is polluting the environment around us, choking the drains and causing floods everywhere. We are urged to use cotton bags for our shopping and reuse them. I am happy with this change and I commit to do my bit in this direction.

We used to recycle a pair of shoes for at least two generations in the past whereas now it does not even survive one person for more than a few years as in the photo above.

Is it time to recycle and reuse everything in life ?

S Ramesh Shankar

21st July 2018

One of the most fascinating things in my life is to drive on a highway. A highway gives you great insights on life and living. Apart from the fact that I enjoy driving, every sight around you gives you new perspectives.

The first thing which strikes me is the mesmerising skyline. Whether it is the early morning crimson sky or the blue evening one it is always breathtaking. I wonder how nature paints the colours in the sky. I am amazed at the shapes and sizes of the clouds.

The blue and green mountains along the highway make you realise how small you are and the need to be grounded always. Their mighty stature makes you realise the wonders of nature.

Then you pass through rivers and lakes and they are spots of beauty. Rivers remind you as to how much nature gives you as humans and how less ` we give back to nature. They also make you realise the value of water as a natural resource.

Another interesting aspect of the highway is the road side food. I love to stop by a road side cafe for a cup of tea or even the local cuisine for lunch. People along the highway are very courteous and customer centric. They are keen to treat you as their personal guest and make you smile always.

When you stand under a tree like in the photo above, you experience the rhythm of nature and the taste of tea is invigorating. It not only refreshes you for the drive further but also makes you realise that it is worth syncing with nature.

I also enjoy the quotes written behind trucks and buses. Some of them are very creative and remind you of the potential talent in our countryside. They give you simple lessons of life in a very innovative way.

The long winding roads teach you the best lessons of life. There are times when it looks as if the road will never end and at other times the traffic will never ease. But every time you do reach your destination with or without any hurdles.

We all have the capacity to deal with the hurdles along the highway. It is similar in life. As long as we believe in ourselves, there is no obstacle in life which we cannot overcome. Yes sometimes it may take longer than we believe. It is like sometimes our destination may take longer than we had estimated.

It is up to us to enjoy the drive on the highway or keep cribbing about the weather or the bad roads along the way. If we enjoy the drive, the journey is fun and if we don’t then it is a burden. Life is no different.

The weather may change along the way. The roads may be good or bad. The car may even break down. But it is up to us to make a choice. Either we can crib all the way or enjoy the uncertainties along the way. Every obstacle may be an opportunity to learn something new in life.

Life is like a highway and we need to enjoy the drive.

S Ramesh Shankar

2nd October 2018