As I saw it

What all comes to your mind as you allow this to integrate inside your being? Do share. What comes to my mind is that most of the cosmetics industry comes from the traditional western notions of beauty arising from a sense of perfection, symmetry and flawlessness. Somehow thankfully I was never obsessed with my looks and never tried fixing them. I was always comfortable with my two broken teeth, slightly tilted nose, twisting lips, protruding forehead bones over the eye brows, bulging left cheek bone and the ever growing number of black spots on my face. At best I use a moisturiser during winters to prevent my skin from drying and cracking up. Not that this passage from the book I am reading is going to wipe out people’s obsession with the so called beauty products anytime soon. The conditioning has long crossed the critical mass of acceptance to now become deeply entrenched in the masses. As I was typing this something came up: what should we nourish and moisten: our skin beauty or ou...

I was supposed to do a session yesterday on business modelling. And then there were some last minute challenges and restrictions from the client side due to which some on the spot improvisation had to be made in the way the session had to be conducted. What helped me was some of the outstanding stories I had recently read in the book - The Learning Factory by Mr. Arun Maira as well this TEDx talk by Mr. Mark Morin ( https://youtu.be/Hp0Q8Z5Isz4 ) that I watched while shaving yesterday morning and this brief interview with Ms. Falguni Nayar of Nykaa in the Hindustan Times newspaper yesterday that I happened to come across purely by chance while having my breakfast. All the three resources really helped me facilitate that session very well for the participants and they could connect to stories and case studies that are closer home in terms of reality as well as timelines. Thank you Mr. Maira, Mr. Morin and Ms. Nayar. While I have always been an avid learner and do put in lot of work and ...

Going to practice all these 7 types of rest from today till next Sunday evening. I know of so many people in and around my life who need this so badly and yet are struggling or feeling stuck. I wish them all well with lots of prayers for their well-being, love, hugs, healing and an opportunity at the earliest for them to get all these 7 types of rest and recuperation. I remember fondly and with gratitude the wise words of the founder of the financial services company that I was part of in London back in 2006-07: Your first priority in life has to be you. Unless you are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually fit and balanced, you are not an asset; you are a liability for yourself and others around you. It wasn’t always easy for me to prioritise and practice this as one feels guilty given all the responsibilities we have in our lives which have also given us happy feelings but prioritising one’s inner needs are as important a responsibility as others.

Framing makes all the difference in our lives - be it ups and downs. Let’s frame and reframe things the right way. NLP: Neurolinguistic programming.

-1. Nothing is perfect -2. Nothing is finished -3. Nothing lasts forever These were the lines I remembered when I read this article today in The Hindu newspaper. Though I disagree with the point on China’s remarkable results, rest of the article is quite interesting, informative and insightful. The 3 lines above are from the Prologue of the book Wabi Sabi by Nobuo Suzuki that I am reading currently.

Sometimes your best intentions are not received well. Or maybe they are just not understood well at that moment. How does one then navigate through those scenarios? Do we allow ourselves to get hurt or do we reframe our interpretation of the incident in a wiser and more expansive manner? I believe in heartistry. It’s about bringing all of our heart element to what we do. For some, it’s easy and natural and at other times we have to do it very consciously and with lot of intentional effort. And I also believe in encouraging such heartists by recognising and appreciating their effort. I do that by pinning a stuffed cloth heart badge on to their lapels. These stuffed heart badges are made by a special set of women from Gujarat and I get them through my friends Meghna Banker and, Rahul Hasija. I have written a post to that effect in the past. Here’s the link to that: Are You a Heartist?  https://sreekr.blogspot.com/2022/06/are-you-heartist-my-100th-blog.html And then today I came acros...

I am glad that after about half an hour of rummaging through the book shop at the Bangalore airport last Friday, I changed my mind and picked up this book which was incidentally the first book I saw that day but had moved past thinking that there might be just pathetic stories of even worse politicians. But I am glad I finally picked up this book. (After all, how can you leave a bookshop without picking up even one book?!)  😉😉 As I finished this book today I realised why I haven’t finished most of the technical books in my library long after I bought them whereas I have finished all the technical books written by Ken Blanchard and Mr. Prakash Iyer: the latter ones were written in a story format. Either Mr. Blanchard and authors like him are under-rated geniuses or other authors in the field of Human Resources and Learning & Development are yet to learn how to convey any technical topic in an engaging, story-telling format. Nevertheless, I picked up Mr. Thapar’s book a good fo...

Last week I was wondering if my 100th blog could be special but I left it open and not force fit it. I have always benefited more from serendipity and by going with the flow. And here it happened today. Are you a heartist? I first came across this word in an ad campaign that was done a couple of years ago by the Pullman hotel at the Delhi Aerocity. I believe a lot in heart centric work and heart centered leadership. In my work over the last 23 years and in my curiosity since long before that, motivation has been a key subject of exploration, experimentation and explanation. I learnt of the 3-H model from Ken Blanchard’s work. Essentially, in my understanding, experience and therefore belief, great work happens when the Head, Heart and Hands align within a person. And when this happens within a team and organisation, even greater things can happen where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. But it’s not an easy task for an individual or even a manager. There are lots of f...

I just double checked for sure and found that there would be no training programmes for me on 11th August this year as it’s Rakshabandhan holiday. Even otherwise I wasn’t going to make myself available for any official work that day as one my most anticipated remakes is releasing that day. Forrest Gump has had a tremendous influence on my life since the time I first saw it in the iconic Chanakya theatre of Delhi in December 1995. I still remember it was a Thursday and three of us friends decided to go for this movie given the physical fight that had broken out between some of the teachers in our college due to which classes were suspended. I still remember it was cloudy and cold when we came out and I was choking a lot in my heart and throat. The first thing I told my friends was that I wished I was an idiot like Forrest. That way I will at least not be able to hate anyone. And now this! I was looking forward to see how they were going to adapt it to the Indian audience. But the last d...

Caution: Long read. Remember: “Take off is optional. Landing is Mandatory.” Proceed only if you want. Else abort and take a parachute out of this flight! ——————— That long hug said it all. ~ I had initially taken seat 13F during the web check in but when I realised my mistake I changed it to 32A and printed my boarding pass at the Hyderabad airport as I realised that in a south to north  bound flight, I will be able to see the sunset only from the left side of aircraft. I had begun developing a sore throat an hour back at the airport and so after doing a hot gargle with disprin tablet in the flight toilet I settled into my seat. I did get quite a good number of pictures and videos as the plane sliced through the clouds and banked to the right. I put away my phone camera, picked up my book Spy Stories and began reading even as my co-passenger was deeply involved in the Rishi Kapoor movie Do Dooni Chaar on his phone and dozed off till the air hostess came with our meals and I nudged ...

There was an interesting question raised in one of the Whatsapp groups that I am in about why cricketers, movie stars and politicians have unbelievable levels of income and why we shouldn’t feed those self-serving, selfish people leading a debauched life of sex and drugs. There were a couple of interesting as well as balanced perspectives shared by others in the group there. This is what I shared there: I used to wonder about the same question till I came across an interesting perspective in the book: The Go Givers by Bob Burg and John David Mann. What I am about to say doesn’t to apply for politicians as their way of making money is pure thuggery. What I learnt from that book is that the income you generate is directly proportional to the number of people you serve with great value. One might be a great teacher or a doctor but the moment you scale up either through technology or a team that can serve more people, your potential to earn or the number of people willing to pay for your s...

Maybe I can write an entire thesis on this movie but I will keep it short to say that after Gandhi, Amruthangamaya, October and the movies by Raj Kumar Hirani, I am yet to see a film like this with so much of depth, breadth, story, characterisation, screenplay and so much more. Don’t be misled by the trailer and the language to dismiss this movie. The thing with most Malayalam movie trailers is their genius that you can never predict what the movie is all about simply by watching the trailer. This should by far be not only one of the best ever Malayalam movies I have seen but if I were the Chairman of the National film awards committee, I would have given it the best picture award for 2021 and it would have certainly got an Oscar. You can never predict the twists and turns in this amazing story. So, so heart touching and inspiring with so many lessons for all of us, cutting across generations, ages, civilisations and cultures. Please watch it even if it’s with subtitles. Currently on S...

So, a new scam: I thought only the auto drivers of Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Kerala are the rapacious ones. But the Uber cab drivers in Hyderabad have joined the bandwagon. I booked an Uber cab in the morning today from my hotel in Hi-Tech City to the airport. It showed 4 minutes waiting time. And that’s at 6.55 in the morning. After 10 minutes I found that the cab was still at the place it was earlier on. I called the person - one Jatoth Pradeep with an all 5 star rating. He wanted to know the destination and the fare it was showing. Even though I found his request odd I finally relented and told him it was 643 Rupees. Without any second thoughts or even hesitation he told me that he will give me a bill of 1500 Rupees and that out of that I need to pay him only 1200 Rupees! I asked him if he thought I was an idiot? Again nonchalantly he told me that he won’t get any return fare from the airport in the morning and I should pay him the return charges. He refused to cancel the ride from his...

I believe in return gifts and reverse service. Do you? So I was in this Vistara flight to Hyderabad last Wednesday for a client engagement when one of the stewardess bent down near me and asked me if I had a meeting in Hyderabad? I guess she assumed that based on my formal dress. Let’s just call her A, based on one of the alphabets in her name. I said yes and she wished me good luck while she served me my breakfast. As she came by to clear the table, I had my mask down as I was sipping coffee. As I smiled in acknowledgement and thanks for her service, she remarked that I had a nice smile. I don’t know what made her say that but it certainly did broaden my smile and I sensed an expansion in my heart. And then as she came to clear the trash, I motioned to her and asked if she believed in return gifts? Taken aback a little, she said yes. I told her to come back once her job was done. As she came back a few minutes later, I showed her the stuffed hearts that you see and asked her to pick o...

I have noticed a pattern in the lives of leaders from different walks of life who make a positive difference in the lives around and even after them. They all go through what Stephen H Baum calls as life shaping experiences. In this article, Bernie Swain talks about the level of self-awareness that leaders possess about what shaped their future choice to take initiative, responsibility and make a positive difference; not that I agree with all the ‘leaders’ who are featured in the article. The author brings to attention three things that contribute to these life shaping experiences - People, Events and Environment. As I look back into my own life, I have lots of people, events and environments that had a positive impact on my life through moments where I could have easily slipped and fallen. With lots of gratitude for all of them. 😌🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Even though I loved Merchant of Venice in school, I could never understand Shakespeare. The language was too complicated for me and I couldn’t find anything interesting in the way the film makers had portrayed his stories. That is until yesterday when I came across this in my continued pursuit of self awareness and self development. This helps me see the characters in a new light now. Will attempt to understand the stories. I just hope I am able to overcome a language that primarily uses words like thou and thee.

I first passed by this railway station on 5th January 2001 when I was on a train from Trivandrum to Korba. I had boarded it at Chengannur where I had gone to meet my maternal aunts. I was on my way to Kochi to attend a young friend’s wedding that day. I didn’t deboard here that day. And then I happened to be at this station 21 years later last month on 24th March on my way back from Kochi, to board a train to, coincidentally, Chengannur, to meet my remaining maternal aunt. And this time around I was to travel by the Island Express train from Bangalore to Kanyakumari. As I stood on the platform early morning after my breakfast of Appam and coconut chutney, my mind went to remember the famous Malayalam character actor with that famous, deep voice - the late Shri MS Trippunithura. Many a mimic feasted on his voice and mannerisms in their stand up acts. Even as I could never meet him, each time I think of this place and the station, I remember that famous son of the soil and scenes from th...

Do you remember the name John Garrideb? It’s a character in one of the Sherlock Holmes stories that came out in 1924 titled: “The Adventures of the three Garridebs.”   Well, about 98 years after the story came out, I happened to remember that title when a simple set of incidents happened with me last month in Kerala. And that’s why I have adapted the title from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story even though nothing singular or peculiar happened in my case.   Sreekumar is a relatively rare name outside of Kerala. And certainly not with a name that is spelt with two e’s as in Kerala.   But my father gave me that name and so did the father of another batch mate of mine from Kerala School, at the erstwhile Canning Road in Delhi. He joined us in the 11 th standard back in 1991.   We passed out of school in 1993 and reconnected once Facebook came into picture.   We finally got to meet on 23 rd March this year after almost 29 years. It was a great meeting in Ko...