Category: Uncategorized

 “Magnetic People”

img_3857-1 I always admire people around me, who wear a positive attitude to work and life. You can meet them on the street, in the park, at your work place or even at home amongst your siblings and relatives.

It is easy to spot them as they attract you towards them like the bumble bee. They may not be the wealthiest or occupying the highest position in the organisation but they are the people to be around with. You can spot them by their smile, their unconditional giving or even their helpful attitude. They enjoy whatever they do and they never complain about anything in life. I have met quite a few of them in my life. Today I met one of them and hence this article. Let me share the experiences of meeting a few of them so that you can spot them easily and then try to imbibe their values in your own lives.

The first person I have met is the principal of a school in Delhi. I met her first as the parent of my child studying in her school. She had summoned me to inform me about some misdemeanours of my child. I told her to take the strictest possible action. She retorted that she does not need my permission to take action against her student. However, she had called me in to partner with the school to help the child to develop. Every time I met her there after I found she was amenable, approachable and smiling always. She treated every child and every parent alike irrespective of the background of the child or the parent. I saw kids adore her and almost treated her like a friend.

The second person I have met is in Priyadarshini park Mumbai, where I go for my walk every day. She is a lady, apparently from the economically weaker strata of society by her looks. But she is rich in her character and deeds. She walks into the park every day with bags full of food and feeds all the stray dogs in the park. As soon as she enters, you can see all the dogs follow her like the pied piper of Hamelin. Once we met her and asked her and she was unassuming and said she was just doing a small service. She gives unconditionally without expecting anything in return. All the dogs in the park follow her and love her.

The third person I met is a yoga teacher. I had been to Lonavala to attend a one week yoga camp last year. This teacher was not only conscientious in her duties but caring for each and every student in the class. She did not do her job as a vocation I but as a duty to help a student to transform. Her attitude was positive and her caring nature infectious.

The fourth person I met is an ex colleague who worked with me in a steel plant. He is a living example of unconditional giving. I have always seen him around when anyone faces a crisis. He is there with families in a hospital. He will volunteer to do anything without expecting anything in return. He will travel to be accompany old parents for a friend. He will be the chief organiser in the marriage of a colleague’s daughter. I have often wondered why he does it and have no answer. It is his definition of “Joy” in life. Unconditional giving without expecting anything in return.

The fifth person I met is a nurse in a Ayurvedic hospital in Coimbatore. She endears you with her smile. In spite of nursing being a demanding profession, she treats you with a positive smile and is always willing to adapt and adjust to keep you happy and healthy.

I am sure each one of you would have met many such people in your lives. They attract you like a magnet with their positive behaviour. Their smile is contagious. Their giving attitude is unconditional. They enjoy what they do in life and are content and happy with what they have. So, the learning here, it does not matter whether you are rich or poor, it does not matter if you young or old, it does not matter whether you are senior or junior or female or male. What really matters is your positive attitude to life and living and how you impact others everyday in your life.

May be it is time to reflect and learn one positive quality from these magnetic people.

Let us try from now on…

S Ramesh Shankar

“Man proposes – God disposes”


We may sometimes wonder as to why things don’t go the way we had planned. Some call it destiny, while others divinity. One may neither believe in destiny nor in divinity but it is true that every time life does not take us where we want to go. It may lead us sometimes to a better destination and sometimes not.  

   When things go well for us, we tend to believe that it is all because of our hard work and so on. But, when things go wrong, we are ready to blame God and even others in our life for making life difficult only for us. In my view, it is either of the extremes, which makes it difficult for us to accept life as it comes to us.  

   I do believe that our hard work would normally take us to where we want to go. Hence, it may be a good idea to work hard and be honest in whatever we do to the best of our ability. But sometimes, God may divert our direction to somewhere we do not want to go but may be good for us. One may call this destiny or luck. It does not matter. I think it is our ability to accept things as they evolve and adapt ourselves to the fortunes of life, which would make it easier for us.  

   I have many incidents in my life where I had planned something and something else happened. For instance, I always had a dream of building my home in Bangalore, where I eventually plan to settle down post retirement from work. My job took me to Bangalore in 2005. I bought a flat in 2007 and I thought I had settled down. In 2011, life took a turn in my career and brought me to Mumbai, which I had never planned. I got an exciting job and moved. I still plan to settle in Bangalore. But, this turn in my career and location made me build a beautiful green home of my dreams in Bangalore. Hence, I believe that whatever happens to us is good for us. I am a born optimist and hence believe in this. Of course, when things do not go our way, we may find it difficult to accept the realities of life. But, in hindsight, if we reflect, it may have been good for us too.

   Another incident in my life which turned my destiny was a denial of a promotion way back in 1988. I was not promoted and it really shattered me. I always believed like all of us that I was the most deserving and had worked hard to earn my promotion. When my junior was promoted ahead of me, I felt God was unkind to me. However, today in hindsight, it may have been the best thing to happen in my life. Six years later, I decided to quit a secure public sector job after working there for 14 years and rose in my career as per my dreams. Today life has taken me to where I have always dreamt to be.  

   Thus all these incidents – good or bad may not be planned but it happens. One may call it fate. I would say – ” Man proposes – God disposes”.

S Ramesh Shankar

“Faces”

All of us have different faces, which we display in different phases of our lives.  We even present ourselves differently even in different parts of the day and to different people.

Let us first start with our family lives.  We are enthuisiastic and energetic faces as kids and grow as rebels when we turn teenagers.  We then become responsible adults and then as we grow into parenthood, we tend to forget the child in us.  So, it is almost a full circle in our lives.

If we next move to the work life.  We are eager learners as individual contributors as we commence our career.  As we get promoted as team leaders, we tend to lose our patience and are impatient for results.  We then grow as manager of mangers and thereby tend to drive looking at the rear view mirrors and are not very keen to learn from others or from the circumstances around us.  Thus the face of the same employee transforms from an energetic and enthuisiastic learner to an impatient manager and finally to a conservative leader.

Of course, it is true that all of us do not change all the above ways in our personal or official lives. Some change for the better and some for the worse.  Some of us learn along the way, while others falter and regress.
I think it is human to display different faces in different phases of our lives.  The transformation of our faces are also normal and evolutionary.  It may be worthwhile to reflect how we can adapt ourselves to the changing demand of the environs around us.

I believe all of us learn by experience.  Some of us learn faster than others.  It is better to display different faces in various roles of our lives and life stages than to be faceless.

I assume that if we learn to look at the mirror regularly we may learn to show a similar face under all circumstances .  It may not be the same face at all times but at least similar ones.  If we cannot look at the mirror ourselves regularly, we could try looking at the mirrors shown to us by our family, friends and colleagues.

Lets figure out where the mirror is and keep it clean so that the reflection helps us learn the best at all times from everyone around us.

S Ramesh Shankar