Time Management

Be on TIME. 
Better to be an hour too soon, than a minute too late.

Time management is one of those issues that we all face, but (ironically) we do not have the "time" to address it. Time in itself is also a very precarious element, in the sense, when you feel you are in need of those moments, it just flies away, while when you are in rush, it seems to crawl slower than a snail.

Time management is possibly that numero uno skill that will take you ahead both personally and professionally. It is just a matter of "time" that if not managed properly, we will just enter into a state of hubbub.

Having said all these, what does it entail. Is it rocket science or just a simple change in attitude? In my perspective, it is just about - 

• Staying Organized: Space | Energy | Capacity

• Efficient Goal Setting: Immediate | Short Term | Long Term

• Prioritizing Goals and Objectives: Urgent | Important

• Meticulous Planning: Thought Through | Spontaneous

• Eloquent Task Delegation: Self | Peers | Seniors | Others

• Effective Communications: Verbal | Non-Verbal | Written | Visual

• Better Stress Management: Attitude | Techniques

Perspective

Conflicts in our lives are part of the interactions with have with the spaces around us. When conflicts arise, acknowledging how others view an issue can be helpful, by being inclusive and interactive.

The key to successful relationships lies greatly on our people skills and solely in our ability to take the perspective of others. Perspective, in sense, refers to the mindfulness of compassion and empathy to our relationships, which brings in mutual respect and moving ahead in a discussion or viewpoint is guaranteed.

Ideally, it's never the situation that's at fault, but the way we choose to view it. Just like our perception of the physical world, perspective matters in our subjective experience of the social world. The same facts can have different meanings when seen from different perspectives. The perspective each person adopts influences what is considered central or peripheral, obvious or obscure, and even present or absent.

The key to shifting our perspective is to remember what we are aiming for. While the practice of perspective taking brings compassion to the emotional climate and has the greatest potential with a positive impact by relating well to others, this does not mean we constantly seek to please and appease others. Our responses, perspectives and views at times can cause disappointment or frustration, which simply means we seek to empathize with others as best as we can. Success in any and every sphere in our personal or professional life zeroes down to effective interactions, humility, self-awareness and the all-important skill of perspective-taking.

Corona Lockdown

There comes every morning the Sun
We still can frolic in the Fun
The air is still abound with Love
Up above the world so happy is the Dove

We are happy and we still hum the Melody
Our loved ones are our worry's Remedy
Relive the lost moments with that Song
Shut the despair by that Bung

As we still have not lost the Hope
Jump like a kid and off you Lope
For nothing stops our Creativity
And a lot is left of our Sanity

Locked down are not our Imaginations
Locked down are not our Aspirations
Not all is still Locked Down
So look up and don't you dare Frown

Secularism in India Under Threat?

It has been the misfortune of our country that we never had a viable alternative to Congress party at the national level. The first non-Congress central government came to power in 1977 followed by several others intermittently till late 1990s for small periods. The total duration of all such governments was ~6+ years. Unfortunately and as matter of coincidence, these governments were made up of ex-Congressmen (Congress being the grand old party) and some other smaller regional parties to plug in and hence the core ideologies were not very different from that of Congress in true sense.

Is there any wonder that a nation seeped with minority appeasement politics at the cost of majority for over 60 years is today talking of societal divide, mistrust between communities and loss of communal harmony?

Was there no societal divide, mistrust between communities and loss of communal harmony prior to 2014? There certainly was enough of these even then but it was not discussed with so much passion for political, intellectual, social or liberal circles. This was because of any mention of the word Hindu or Hinduism or Hindutva was enough to brand a person as anti-secular or a minority baiter.

Secularism

Secularism 

is not only in the Indian Constitution but also in our veins.

We worship Mother Nature too. We believe "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam"

There are three core principles of secularism: institutional separation, freedom of belief and no discrimination on grounds of religion. These conditions allow for ‘competing concepts of the good life’ to be pursued in society.

When secularism is spoken about by the secular brigade, they are talking about a political idea, a way of organising a state and its society in relation to religion and belief. Within this political idea, there are many secularisms, both conceptual and practical. Secularism is the idea that state institutions should be separate from religious ones, that freedom of belief and thought and practice should be an automatic right for all (unless it interferes with the rights of others), and that the state should not discriminate against people on grounds of their religious or nonreligious worldview.

From India to Russia, the US, Europe and the Middle East, secularism is being attacked from all sides: from the left, from the right, by liberal multi-culturalists and illiberal totalitarians, abused by racists and xenophobes as a stick with which to beat minorities in diverse societies, subverted by religious fundamentalists planning its destruction.

But perhaps the biggest enemy of secularism today is ignorance. Although secularism has been of fundamental importance in shaping the modern world, it is not as well-known a concept as capitalism or social welfare or democracy. 

Gender inequality in Hinduism

The ancient society was in fact quite considerate and respectful to those (both men and women) engaged in various vocations, and people were free to make choices or changes in their careers or skills if the opportunity existed. Vedic prayers also indicate that the women had considerable say in selecting their marriage partners, and were espoused to live in monogamous relationships while enjoying same rights as their husbands. Furthermore, in the Vedas there is little evidence of child marriages, dowry system and the practice of Sati. Similarly, there is no indication of any stigma relating to widowhood or the remarriage of a widow. There is also no religious restriction against women cremating or lighting the funeral pyre of their departed kin. Note also that the well-educated, scholarly and charismatic women of yore, who also participated in many philosophical debates with men, included Gargi (the daughter of Vachaknu).

Resistance to Change

One of the most baffling and recalcitrant of the problems which people in all segments of life, whether work or personal life face is the resistance to change in or from people around. Any type of Change is, put in simple words, a variation in pre-existing habits, methods, customs and conventions. Change is always inevitable but so is resistance to change. It is the basic human nature of people to try and keep their methods and customs constant.

In order to facilitate transitions and changes, we should identify the exact reason for resistance. People generally find it convenient to continue doing something what they have always been doing. Making them learn something new is difficult. Changes always bring about alterations in a person’s duties, powers and influences. People who are adamant on maintaining customs instead of taking risks and doing new things will always resist changes. This can happen either due to their insecurities or lack of creativity and will.

Ambitious Zombies

The new generation is motivated: it combines the cultural values of the traditional Indian family with the life goals of the western teenager. No matter how poorly placed they find themselves now, they actually constitute the world’s largest ever cohort of like-minded young people, and they find absolutely no reason why the world shouldn’t run by their rules.

A point of concern but still remains that there aren’t enough jobs to go around. The sheer number of young people has yet to become an asset: only 2.3% of the Indian workforce has had formal training. Secure work is hard to find in India. Entire districts of one or two cities are devoted to call-centre scams. The work has its attractions – one of them is outsmarting foreigners who believe they are smarter, as well as richer, than you are – but the main driver of recruitment is push rather than pull.

Today, although baby boomers are the largest generation of active workers, research shows that boomers identify their strengths as organizational memory, optimism, and their willingness to work long hours. This generation grew up in organizations with large corporate hierarchies, rather than flat management structures and teamwork-based job roles. On the other hand, millennials have a drastically different outlook on what they expect from their employment experience. Millennials are well educated, skilled in technology, very self-confident, able to multi-task, and have plenty of energy. They have high expectations for themselves, as well as from the teams they work in teams, instead of individuals in it. Millennials seek challenges, yet work life balance is of utmost importance to them. They do, however, realize that their need for social interaction, immediate results in their work, and desire for speedy advancement may be seen as weaknesses by older colleagues.

While the Indian CEOs pooh-pooh the issue of work-life balance by saying we have to work 18 hours and build the nation, the expats find the lack of work-life balance in India quite appalling. Unlike the West, there's no distinction between work and life in India — they are fused. Expat CEOs believe spending long hours in the office equates with inefficiency. It's actually hard work done smartly that takes you the long way. At the end of the day, time management is important.