21st Century Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there lived humor. It was here, there and everywhere. Humor would often show up in nibble conversations, a glimpse on some lips and a theatrical performance when friends met up.

It was a great friend of the freedom of expression. There would always be some misunderstandings between the two. Yet they made up and were almost inseparable.

Some decades back, Humor’s friend was attacked and sent to exile.  Since then, humor started living a trembling life, unsure of where and when to show up. He missed his friend terribly. They would often meet but not in public anymore. Only in known and trusted circles. Despite their best efforts, one of them would be caught and tortured.

They only realized that they would have to endure this bashing to stay alive. They both knew they can’t give up. They can’t die. No matter how much they get targeted and tormented. Not yet.

Somewhere amidst all the mayhem, they got a second lease of life. A third friend had come to their rescue. “Freedom of expression” & “Humor” really thanked their stars and their HERO; The Social Media.
Or so they thought, until they met one other contrived mate, The “Physical Social Life”. Before they realized the gravity of the situation, they were trapped.

Humor and Freedom of expression are both only seen in the Social Medial these days.
Any other public appearance is condemned and ridiculed.
Their mate (Social LIFE) is silently suffering and may go into a coma soon.

The three of them have to come together for a Heroic Rescue to resurface and establish themselves back in the society.

The last heard news was that they are looking for volunteers to get them out in the open and release them from the trap to live a life of respect and dignity.

Each one of you is free to volunteer. For any further information, contact your inner self and leave out a smile every now and then.

Once they reunite and are rescued, we will all live Happily Ever After!

Spread the Cheer!

In a country of 1.3 billion, everyone’s an expert in critiquing, providing comments and passing judgments. Yet perfection is an elusive concept. Creating winners looks like an impossible dream.

Every little act including as lame as someone’s dressing style invites all of the above. Comfort and preference completely overruled.

I hear people say that we don’t have a global brand like Starbucks or McDonald's or Wal-Mart etc.

Statistically, anything we do as one nation is easily the 2nd largest in the world – purely by our population status. Our chain of local “baniya” (grocery) stores has to be the largest in the world. It’s just not branded. But is that really the objective? OR catering to the local needs is? With so much diversity, differences in taste, aspirations and lifestyles, why should we yearn for standardization? Why can’t we pride in this localization? As a matter of fact, these so called standard chain stores have localized to Indian tastes. Where else would you get a Vegetarian Rice bowl in KFC?

We are a nation that takes pride in being aware. Our youth maybe ignorant on world economic issues and the depleting ozone layer and its consequences, but our youth is probably most aware of the situation in their immediate environs. The survival instinct is too strong and that’s precisely why we Indians can survive in any country and can adapt to any climate, overcome any language barrier and abide by the local rules and regulations. India may never have been good at documenting and data analytics but we are the best and quickest learners. How many countries can claim that? Introspection is good but instead of continuously looking at our flaws, what would happen if we realize what our strengths are and nurture them to the extent that our flaws are managed within acceptable limits. 

Focus on the positives instead of fretting over the negatives.

In a training session, one of my various “Gurus” mentioned a brilliant example.

A tennis player has to play using both his forehand and backhand. Usually one is stronger than the other. Imagine someone being strong at forehand but loses points each time the ball ends up at backhand. Instead of fretting over improving his backhand to perfection, the player should simply work on his strong forehand so much so that the opponent finds it difficult to return his shots; does not mean that he ignores his weakness completely. The player should ensure he improves to just about manage to return the backhand shot. If passion can drive both to excellence, that’s a whole other story.

The analogy quite hit me.

We instruct more “Don’ts” than “Do’s” while raising a child. When inducting a new employee, in the name of mentoring, we end up critiquing one’s grammar, dressing style and fonts/color choices in a presentation but how often have we appreciated the thought / idea behind it. That’s usually lost (not always). We end up focusing so much on highlighting and improving one’s weaknesses that the strengths are LOST or hidden.

Instead, if we only focus on the positives, what would happen? Just imagining the situation gives me goose-bumps. The amount of positive energy would be immense and possibilities would be endless.

Yet again, it’s not my attempt to solve World Hunger OR change the system or anything silly like that.

Let’s do these OURSELVES first. Try telling someone (your friend, spouse, sibling, colleague) 5 positives about them. And obviously count your own. If it’s difficult, time to do something about it. If it’s easy, keep on increasing the count and spread the cheer.