I was walking around my garden. I noticed that every flower blooms irrespective of being big or small, healthy or otherwise. Nature ensures that every plant has a space to grow and it allows it to bloom. You can see this while driving through a forest.

However, I realised that we are different. We have our own mindsets, beliefs and values and we want the world to be our way. Till the recent past, an engineer wanted his son or daughter to be an engineer and a doctor wanted her daughter or son to be a doctor too. We were not even willing to encourage our children to be different from us.

Today the world is changing. Even in India, the current generation is willing to think differently. We are willing to take the unchartered path. Our risk taking ability has improved. We are encouraging to let our children choose subjects they are passionate about and not what we think they should take.

This is a positive first step. Even in families, there is an open dialogue and the future generation is willing to change directions in their lives. It is no longer considered necessary to follow the footsteps of parents or other elders in the family. It is perfectly fine for people to venture into start ups and even fail before they succeed.

As a society, we need to promote this spirit in every walk of life. Our educational system needs to get revamped. Every child in the classroom has to be considered a talent. Some may be good in maths while others may be good in arts and crafts. Our system needs to create an environment where every child blooms like every flower in our gardens.

Organisations are no different. The performance management systems are too rigid and straight jacketed. They look at all employees through one lens. It may be helpful to revamp these systems and processes so that every employee blooms like a flower in our garden. Let organisations believe that every employee is a potential talent. By proper nurturing and enabling, they may sparkle in different areas of work.

As a society, we need to believe that every individual can and will contribute to the larger good, if we are able to allow them the space and the opportunity to succeed. We need to challenge age old traditions and beliefs. We need to adapt to changes in technologies and utilise them optimally for the welfare of humanity.

We need to believe that as individuals, families, communities, societies or even nations, we need not compete with each other to succeed. We need to work together to succeed. We need to believe that every individual, family, community, society or nation can coexist and still be successful. We need not succeed at the expense of one another. We can succeed by enabling one another.

While we can wait for the world to change, it may be easier to start from oneself. Let us create an environment around us in our family and community, where every flower can bloom.

It is time to reset our thinking and let every flower bloom.

S Ramesh Shankar

10th May 2021

As a human being, we all are emotional and it is natural to us. We go through highs and lows in life and each moment tests our emotional stability. While most of us are able to deal with highs with relative ease, we find it challenging at times to deal with our lows.

When the chips are down, we look for solace. We look for support, guidance and a listening ear. In most cases our family members or friends come to our rescue and we are able to get over this crisis in our life.

However, there are some times when we are ridden by sadness over a prolonged period of time. We try to put up a brave face and surmount this challenge in our life. However, in many such moments we lose our mental balance. We find our grief never ends and we have no options to deal with this crisis.

We then find that our close circle of family and friends are not able to to support us. We sometimes even lose faith in God. It is in such moments of despair that we are willing to seek help of anyone around us who is willing to lend a patient listening ear. It is in such moments of despair the so called God men and God women exploit our emotional weakness.

They are prevalent almost in all religions and act like predators waiting for the prowl in a forest. They pounce on such emotionally weak human beings and offer them seemingly convincing advice and also at times emotionally exploit them. They abuse the human weakness and in the name of God seek favours of all types including sexual favours. They promise the impossible and unthinkable at times.

But as emotionally distraught beings, we easily fall prey to such predators. In my view, these God men and women are devils in the name of God. It does not matter which religion they profess, they are devils in human form exploiting an already depressed human being.

While many wise men and women may laugh at such unfortunate human beings visiting such God men and women, it is sad because they do so as the last escape from their personal crisis. They almost feel they are hitting their heads against the wall and these God men and women provide them a ray of hope and then exploit their emotional vacuum.

I would condemn such God men and women from all religions. We as normal human being need to condemn such people rather than the poor victims who fall prey to them for no fault of theirs. We need to challenge such God men and women and ensure they are caught by the police and do not exploit poor emotionally discharged human beings.

I am not aware of any religion in the world which supports such God men and women. But the irony is that they exist in all religions and thrive on the human weaknesses of men and women.

It is time to wake up. It is time to condemn them and make them hang their head in shame. Each one of us can make a difference by influencing people around us in our family and friends circles so that they do not fall prey to such devils ever in their lives.

S Ramesh Shankar

16th Nov 2019

A friend of mine asked me as to why people in general throng to God men or God women alike cutting across religions. I said I really dont know but could be because most people who have some weakness need an emotional anchor to cover it up.

I find the rich and the famous thronging to religious leaders of all faiths. This could be because they have grown their wealth but lost out on their health – physical or mental. On the other hand, the common men and women also throng to these spiritual leaders – may be to seek what they have not achieved in life so far with a short cut.

All of us aspire for something in life. We work hard and also trust our luck to get us where we want to reach. But sometimes, either our luck or lack of efforts does not take us there. Then we possibly take refuge to God men or women to accelerate our path to success.

We may also look at these religious leaders to be an emotional anchor in our lives. Many of us do not have real family members or friends to support us although we have many in the social network. Then we get swayed to these leaders to seek emotional refuge.

On the other hand, sometimes we are stuck with consecutive tragedies in life and then we lose faith in ourselves, others and even in the super power, we seek refuge somewhere. It is at this time that the religious leaders take full advantage of our emotional weakness and mesmerise us to follow them blindly. We are willing to give away our wealth, health and even happiness to listen to them in every way.

In a democracy, every individual has a right to pursue whatever she or he wants. I have nothing against God women or God men. However, what I am against is their uncanny ability to exploit a human emotional weakness. They prowl around and catch hold of women and men in distress who are seeking an emotional support.

One thing I must admit that these Godmen and God women have something in them. They either have assimilated knowledge in their area of expertise or the gift of the gab. They also develop magical mystic and through their hypnotic powers are able to impress and sway their followers into blind disciples. Then these disciples in turn become their brand ambassadors. We possibly have an opportunity to learn from this strength of theirs.

In my life so far, I have met only one religious leader who did not follow this path. He was simple in living, high in thinking and attracted followers through his simple living and high spiritual powers. He neither sought wealth nor encouraged his followers to bestow their wealth on him. He never used cars, airplanes or material wealth of his followers to establish his credentials. That made him a real Guru.

On the other hand, all the others I have met in life so far have made religion a business. They not only have amassed wealth in the name of religion but travel around almost like a tycoon and wield their political power for other than religious or spiritual reasons.

As in the photo above, the kid displays how most Godmen or God women have misled people more than they have led.

I do envy these fake gurus who are making religions a business and feel sad for their gullible followers who seek refuge in them to get over their own emotional crises in life.

Is it time to discover who can be our real guru in life ?

S Ramesh Shankar

9th Feb 2021

I love my country. India is the biggest and the most vibrant democracy in the world. We may not have the best physical infrastructure in the world but we have the best emotional quotient. We care for our people and we care for the world. “Vasudeva Kuthambakkam” is a old Sanskrit saying. It means the world is one family. We believe in this tenet and try our best to live it every day in our thought and behaviour.

The other day I was flying down from Mumbai to Chennai. It was from the west coast of India to the east coast. The state where I currently live and work is on the west coast. The place where I was born and bought up is on the east. The language they speak and the culture of the two states are completely different. The type of dress they wear and the customs and traditions are also quite varied. But, what is common is our emotional connect. We live and breathe as Indians.

Today the western civilisation has invaded us. We have got the best of technological advancement from the west. We have learnt the traditions from the East and have blended the west to the east to get the best. We need to be proud of our past and confident about our future. We need to learn the best from the west and leave the traditions of the east to continue to thrive in our country so that we get the best of both the worlds.

We have 29 states in India and each has its unique culture. We have hundreds of languages and dialects. While Hindi and English is spoken and understood across the country, we do not have any problem in living or dealing with each other wherever we live. The reason behind this in my view is because by heart we are an Indian. We are brought up with a tolerant attitude to life and living.

We need to continue to learn and grow this tolerance in us. No religion, caste, creed or community should create barriers between us. While vested interests in society may intrude into our culture, we have a responsibility to preserve it and promote it for the future generations. We cannot afford the evil forces of society to impinge on the fabric of our cultural society.

We have to be proud of the past, while we create a future of our choice. We have adapt and adopt the best of technological advancement without compromising on our values or ethics. We have to embed our culture in our younger generations. In my view culture is like the blood in the body. No foreign organism can destroy the blood as long it is pure and has the immunity to fight all external forces.

We need to remember the best traditions of the past while we embrace the best technology for the future. Both need to coexist. We need to remember that our culture is the bedrock of our society. It is the foundation of our democracy. It is the bloodline of our society. We should neither allow our culture to degrade nor dilute due to the invasion of technology.

We have a rich tradition of science in our country. We have to embrace science for the betterment of mankind. But we need not do that at the cost of traditions. In my view, culture and technology are like two our two eyes. While one may be enough for sight, the two eyes provide us the third dimension of sight, which is not replicable by any technology. No camera in the world has been able to better the vision of our eyes.

The sun rising in the east or setting in the west looks as gorgeous across the Indian coast line as in the photo above on the west coast.

Let us learn to embrace technology and imbibe culture. Let the West meet the East.

S Ramesh Shankar

We had a teacher in college by name Professor PK Vishveshvaran, whom we called the “Walking Encyclopaedia”. Anyone of the students had a query on any issue, she would go to this teacher and he always had an answer. If he did not know the answer, he would neither guess nor fake an answer but accept that he did not know. Further, he would commit to find the answer and get back to the student. It was in the early eighties, where computers and the internet was non existent.

Most of us were in awe of this professor. He was a simple, down to earth and a knowledgable professor, who had no pretensions. He was accessible to everyone and always willing to help. I have not yet met a teacher in my life, who is so endearing. He used to keep a radio in his room and listen to music and news from around the world. His room consisted of open shelves and he used to meticulously maintain reference materials in a very haphazard manner, which only he could retrieve. But the best part was that he could retrieve any information within minutes from a maze of shelves, registers, books and papers.

I have learnt a lot from this teacher in my life. He is like a role model for me in many ways. The first learning is that he led a very simple life and was always willing to share his knowledge with others. Hence, one could learn that simple living and high thinking is easy to admire but difficult to imbibe. Further, the belief that the more you share your knowledge with others, the more you learn and grow in life is something I learnt from this wonderful human being.

The second learning I got from this Guru was that he never aspired for any recognition. He was an absent minded professor in letter and spirit. He used to dress very casually and mingled very well with students and everyone else. One would never get impressed with his dress or his looks. His hairstyle would be strewn all over. He never dressed to impress. On the contrary, you will wonder whether he could be a master of his subject by the way he presented himself. However, the moment you interact with him for a few minutes, you realise what a reservoir of knowledge he was.

The third learning I had from this lecturer was that he was a life long learner. I have seen him from my college days till he lived.,I have always seen him curious and enthusiastic. He had the memory of an elephant and the inquisitiveness of a child. He always had questions to ask and did not hesitate a second to say – ‘he did not know” ? I have always been humbled by his presence and humility.

Sometime back I came to know that he was admitted to a ICU after a slip . His nervous system had been impacted. As soon as this information spread, students from all over the world prayed for him and were generously contributing to support him to recover. The prayers were answered by God within 24 hours and he became conscious and did recover. I did realise that a wonderful human being like him should never suffer from any disease or injury. God was kind to listen to the prayers but he did not survive for long.

I also recall that he attended every alumni meeting of the college and remembered me and my wife from our college days. He would recall the name of the place where I first started my career thirty six years ago and reminded me of the post cards he used to write to us. He took the three books written by my wife and promised to read them and send his feedback and review again through a post card. I recall he said – I will send a snail mail as I am not yet used to emails.

Unfortunately, he died last year. What a great human being he was ? I pray to God to help us learn from his humility and be s better human being.

S Ramesh Shankar