Brain Teaser - CROSSWORDS for Hospitality Professionals !!

Very recently I had conducted a series of brain teasers for our hotel's team members, during the COVID pandemic situation where everyone was advised to stay at home (announcement by the ministry). The riddles were based on the departments, general knowledges and the technical aspects as well.

All the riddles were being conducted online, and we had massive response to it. Not only the associates but also the managers and Department Heads loved the idea of engaging talents over online. The fun was to refresh terminologies in our mind once gain, away from our busy work schedule. 

Sharing few riddles in form of Crosswords here, so that you can also play the game with your people.

 

For more such brain teasers, contact me at votresourish@gmail.com, I shall be happy to assist you all.

Walk Away from the Negatives (Video) !!

 "Walk away from the People, who Poise your Mind,

Walk away from the Conflicts, which will never be Resolved,

Walk away from the Situation, which spreads Negativity,

.......

The more you Walk Away from them, you will experience a New World".....

There is absolutely no benefits being with the people or the situation which will trigger the negativity. It poises everything. It can turn a positive person to a negative. 

Once Swami Vivekananda said, "If you are trying change a negative minded people, good; try for it. But if they don't change then just change yourself".

In simpler words, just walk away from them, don't try to explain or convince them to be good, because they will not.

We encounter many people in our lives who have influenced our mind and profession in negative way. At times, we may not avoided such people, however, we can very well walk away from them. The choice is always with us.

Let me give my own example.. 

In my previous organization where I was working, my reporting boss was of extremely negative mind. He never felt himself safe from me when he noticed every time that the team  members were very close to me in order to solve the doubts and/or assistance and moreover I was much approachable to them. Probably, that was brooding in him, finally one day he decided to take revenge in a professional way and he did it successfully when the COVID situation was at it's peak. Well, I decided to walk away from him - from his negativity - from his negative intentions.

Whenever I find myself in a negative and stressed situation, I always follow these thoughts (mentioned in the video below); a positivity pushes me to be strong. 

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CglYNsKqodI

For more such motivational quotes in form of short videos, click the link below & subscribe as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiuYeyPTX5K57htoQgdmBtg/ 

Seasonal Marigold Flowers - Nature's Beauty !!

 One of my favorite, colour vibrant flower is MARIGOLD. Very compact in look, glossy with colours gives a dynamic contrast to the green leaves. 

Marigold can be grown from late spring till late winters. Due it's appearance it attracts the butterflies, bees, ladybugs and other beneficial insects. It adds the variety to the landscapes. 

This beautiful flower comes with many colours - Yellow, Orange, Red and at times blue in colour which is very rare; however the yellow and orange color marigolds are very commonly found everywhere. 

Marigold is easy to cultivate; there are mainly two ways you can get this plant grown. One, use the flower petals as seeds, keep them in porous and nutritious soil, within few days you will see the plants growing with leaves. The second one is extremely easy - just take the branches /stems cut into small pieces of size and plant them on soil, ensure to water them regularly.

Here are few snaps of marigold flowers from my own flower garden.

 

 

 

 

Marigold leaves (or even flowers) have certain unique Scent, which keeps the harmful bugs (e.g. cabbage bugs, fruit bugs, etc) away from the plants nearby, that is why it is beneficial to plant these flowers near to other plants or trees.

How butterfly get attracted to the Marigold flowers !!

P.C: Self

What GOES around, COMES around (VIDEO)!!

"What GOES around, COMES around", there is a famous saying, also popular as, "As you sow, so shall you reap". It is how karma, the law of cause and effect works. 

Everything we say and do determines what’s going to happen to us in the future. Whether we act honestly, dishonestly, help or hurt others, it all gets recorded and manifests as a karmic reaction either in this life or a future life.

There is no exact formula that is provided for how and when karmic reactions will appear in our lives, but one can be sure they will appear in some form or other. One may be able to get away with a crime they committed, or avoid paying taxes, but according to karma, no one gets away with anything for long.

I just got to see a video in youtube, posted by Dhar Mann, and it is about a homeless man's life journey of being honest and depending on begging everyday; how his life got changed with a magical sentence said by a lady. The circumstances shown in this video are more or less experienced by all of us, it's just how we react to it.

Have a look of the wonderful video. 

Youtube link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLoL45nNCIM

Reference read: huffpost.com

Two KEY Ingredients of LEADERSHIP !!

Present scenario is a bigger challenge for the leaders to showcase their leadership skills. While a leader is to show the direction always and to create more leaders (not followers) in future, however the pandemic situation has tested many leaders to balance their work and emotional existence.

Every employee is going through something. The parents are juggling between work demands and family responsibilities. It triggered stress in mind while many are undergoing financial loss, many are insecure about their jobs, many lost their jobs already. 

If leaders want to motivate their employees for better productivity and staying focused at work, they need to also deal with the circumstances in form of stress, anxiety, family responsibilities of their employees. 

Leaders need to understand the purpose and means of the employee's life, at times if required they must extend their active support as well. Gaining employees trust is more important here.

To build and sustain trust, leaders need to deal with empathy. These two key ingredients are essential for an effective leadership.

➤➤ TRUST - 

Trust can a value to someone, it can also be just an word from dictionary. "There is a direct connection between Results and Relationships", as said by Terrence Seamon, an Executive Consultant Coach. It says to gain the trust of others you must trust them. 

Trusting is nothing but the 'communication with care'. Leaders need to have their communication to focus on their people which they are experiencing day by day. It should be honest, open, frequent communication and even asking them how are they doing after work. It also means not everyone agree on checking with their boss in similar way, some prefers to have regular checks, whereas some likes the phone or video call.

Taking time to ask each individual about their wellbeing and showing genuine care increases trust on leader.

➤➤ EMPATHY - 

A leader has to be very real by sharing the challenges, questions and concerns with team in a team meetings, or one-on-one. Leaders can demonstrate traits like vulnerability, authenticity that fuels the new generation. The team must feel that 'Wow, my boss is sharing the organization's concern with us, and we are feeling valued'. 

With empathy leaders needs to collaborate with team, get the team along to unleash their potential energy. A great team's trust is the biggest achievement for a leader. Empathy wins the heart.  

Leaders must focus on the wellbeing of their employees. He/she must encourage them to stay fit at work and must also explain the healthy aspects of being fit required for work as well as home. Leaders need to consider taking small steps to fuel their own wellbeing as essential part of effective leadership.

A great team takes the potential risk when they feel trusted and cared by their leader. And in most cases they achieve their successes. 

Reference: thriveglobal.com 

Two Different Leadership Styles form Indian Politics !!!

 Indian Politics is always critical for those who does not know the roots and means of it. But, everyday morning, one will engage into the conversation of ongoing politics. The heated discussion takes places in a small tea shop where the so called above middle-aged people make it to a routine to have their morning tea and the political discussion as the accompaniment. In some cases, it takes place in offices, transport or in the break time from work.

By now almost everyone is aware of the characters of Indian political faces.

Today, I am writing here the distinctive leadership qualities of two leaders of our current Indian Politics, although I am not into the politics, however, like a common man, I observe their styles day to day. It indirectly influences us with their charishma. Let me make it very clear here that, this is purely a personal point of view, expressed based on the facts and evidences, there is no influence from any third party or others into it.

Well, what I am going to illustrate first, is the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi straddles India’s political firmament like a colossus. This is acknowledged by all, friend and foe, expert or novice. As he begins his 20th year in public life — he took oath as Gujarat’s chief minister for the first time this week 19 years ago — his ascendance and dominance is worth understanding better.

No prime minister was ever as much a master of his/her cabinet as is Mr. Narendra Modi.

Let's talk about his leadership styles..

➥ Mr. Modi's leadership is not aggressive by look and sense.

➥ He is visionary leader

➥ Plans and implements actions based on the right strategy for interest of people.

➥ He is against nepotism in politics.

➥ Has a wide reputation in Global Market.

➥ He is known to be popular amongst the world leaders, and he ensures to make his country benefitted from them.

➥ Personally, he is respected by everyone and also pays respect to all.

➥ One of the tired-less prime minister of India, who genuinely believes in growth for the country.

➥ He is a Team Player, ensures the team's opinion is heard.

➥ A good listener, which is appreciated by many leaders.

➥ A health concerned individual, who encourages the youth to be healthy and get involved in healthy activities.

➥ He is always unafraid to speak bluntly, against negative motives, corruptions, political disrupters.

➥ He is confident and firm in his approach.

➥ He puts his views and opinions logically.

➥ He encourages every one in 'speaking the truth' power, as he follows the same diligently.

➥ A nature lover, who enjoys mother nature at leisure. 

There can be no doubt that today Shri Narendra Modi is the world’s most powerful democratically elected leader; and this is a great blessing for India in these times of uncertainty and turbulence, with enemies – seen and unseen – lurking around the corner, out to distract this ancient land from our destiny. Mr. Modi exhibited a progressive, caring nation leading the global effort in controlling the pandemic compared to the other/previous leaders in similar capacity. 

Now, we are told we should be applauding the fact that in just six years, he has undone achievements and accomplishments of six decades. Within six years, our derailed national journey to glory and greatness stands resumed.

Now, lets talk about another leadership style, of Ms. Mamata Banerjee..

She is an Indian politician who is serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011, the first woman to hold the office. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its chairwoman. She is serving her second tenure as Chief Minister of Bengal.

Here are few leadership styles which she possess...

➥ She is known for her aggressive nature, which led her for fighting many rights for the people.

➥ Has unique hobbies like painting, writing poems.

➥ Has the political mind to influence people.

➥ Bit inferior when it comes the trust issue.

➥ She is known for her blaming character, the ongoing political scenario witnesses it. 

➥ Her leadership style is unpredictable, biased and situation based.

➥ At times, she is hungry for the power, for which she can go to any extend.

➥ Her leadership crisis brought her many dissatisfaction among her team members. Team has multiple scams in their feathers. 

➥ Very poor listening skill.

➥ Always possess a pre-judgmental mind which blocks her mind to see good in others.

➥ At times, she encourages her corrupted team mates, just to be guarded from common people.

In today's time, people of Bengal are showing displeasure to her leadership due to her fake promises, corrupted team mates, showing power unethically, using bad mouths to higher officials than her. She was the only chief minister of India who dares to use unethical languages to the honorable PM, Governor, and other respected dignitaries. 

To sum it up, we now know out of the above two leadership styles, which leadership style is accepted by the citizens of India. We always believe in giving respect in our democracy and also to get the same in return. We value the leadership which always thinks for the development, not the power. 

The rest I am leaving on to you all....

References: The Indian Express... The wire.... WIki.....

CYCLING is BAD for the Economy !! An interesting view...

While we are aware of today's economy, affected by COVID pandemic; many have their opinions onto it. 

The expected dip in India’s economic growth in the second quarter of 2020-21 could actually be among the highest sequential improvement showing countries in the world. From an unprecedented 23.9% contraction in the June quarter, the economy is seen shrinking 8.6% in the September quarter, as per the central bank and 10.2% according to independent economists polled by ET. But, economists cautioned against getting carried away by the improvement. (Source: ET Nov 27, 2020).

Well, all those are calculative, which probably more than half of Indian will not even bother to understand that. Amongst all those opinions, one stands out to be extremely hilarious but true too.

One such opinion is 'CYCLING is BAD for the ECONOMY', and here is how.....

A cyclist proved to be a disaster for the country's economy. He does not buy the car and does not take a car loan as well. Hence, he does not buy the car insurance, does not buy the fuel. Also he doesn't send his car for periodical servicing and repairs.

He doesn't even use the paid parking. And, so he doesn't become obese.

Yes, it's true. He does cycling, so he is healthy too !!

Healthy people are not needed for the economy. And you know that why so?

They do not buy the medicines.

They do not go to hospitals more often and they don't visit doctors too.

They add nothing to country's GDP.

Think of the other side of it. Every new fast food outlet creates  at least experts apart from people working in the outlet. Those outlets could be 'BurgerKing', or 'KFC', or 'SubWays', or anything similar for that matter.

So, choose wisely: A Cyclist or a KFC ??

By d way, Walking is even worse. They do not even buy a bicycle and the health benefits are more than or equal to the Cyclists!!

The above article is just a view from individual mind with lighter aspects; however the cycling or walking regularly have multiple health benefits which are recommended by our doctors. 💗💝

Image courtesy to google.com 

How to Detect Fake Job Offers !!

COVID-19 pandemic situation has taught us many lessons - both in good and horrible ways. Although the count of 'good' are very few compared to the numbers of 'odds'. Survey says that more than a million lost their jobs during this pandemic, due to business close down and many other reasons. However, the brutal truth is everyone has their dependents to feed on daily basis, hence job hunt has been always  apart of their life.

And there itself many fraudulent seizing the opportunity to trap the job seekers. Job seekers often receive fake job offers on email. While some are easy to spot, others may not be. While internet has helped job seekers find vacancies at the click of a button from anywhere, it has also made them more vulnerable to hackers.

Now, how a job seeker can detect the fraudulent job emails initially? There are many ways to detect, however experts found out these eight ways to figure out whether the job offer you have just received is genuine or fake.

➥ Fraudulent job emails usually don't have detailed information about the job, role, company and package. The content of the e-mail would be vague and unclear.

➥ If money is asked, then it's fake job call. No legitimate company asks for money in the name of bond or security deposits in advance.

➥ The list of opening shared with you would be enormous -- right from blue collar staffers of all industries to white collar staffers to the top management.

➥ Generally, these emails would land in your spam folder. Because, they were sent in bulk.

➥ Email address from where the mail is sent would be deceptive. You would find email address where the name of the company would be displayed like this '@abc.com'. However, a genuine job call from any company will never use email services of Gmail or Yahoo Mail or Hotmail to send job offers to candidates.

➥ Office address given in the bottom of the mail would mostly be wrong.

➥ Fake job calls generally would have numerous misspellings and grammatical errors.

➥ It's a fake job call if you asked to disclose your date of birth, social security number or any other personal detail. Companies may ask for some of this information but not before the job offer has been made. It is at secondary stage after you have been shortlisted that some such information is required for background check.

To stay safe, it is advisable to do a little research about the company before applying. See if there are openings on their career page. Also, compare the contact information from company website to the information that you have received in email.

I witness many such examples of getting trapped by the fraudulent job givers in the social media platform - Linked-in. Just because job seekers are desperate to take a job for their living, they get trapped easily.

Original content is followed from timesjobs.com 

18 Rules to Live a Happy Life (VIDEO) !!

 We live our life with both aspects - Happiness & Sorrow, Achievement & Depression, Days and Nights, Good and Bad. How our life is what we portray it in our way. If we take the life easily it shows us the reality in many way, whereas if we are disciplined to ourselves it opens a beautiful aspects of life. 

Many strive to stay happy lifelong, but landed up experiencing the bitter side of life, however if you follow these 18 rules, I am sure your life is going to be amazing and rewarding. You will certainly have a beautiful and Happy Life. 

Click the link below from youtube.com for HD version of this video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZpfrd0SN8

An effective and purposeful '20 Seconds' !!

 Like everyday when I was running my eyes through the articles in e-magazines and social media websites, something really got stuck to my eyes there. It's about 20 seconds of handwashing. 

We all know the importance, especially after the pandemic hit our world. Every responsible organization alongside WHO started reiterating the usefulness of 'Hand Wash'. Indeed it is very much required.

So, there is a renowned company, well known in market for their air carriers, named Indigo Airlines. How effectively the brand did awareness alongside their marketing, here is an example.

Indigo Airlines kept a small tent like information in their airbus lavatories with a purposeful note on '20 Seconds of Handwash', which I liked it very much.  

"They say it takes about 20 seconds to wash your hands thoroughly, and some people that's too long.

But it's not.

It takes about 20 seconds to come up with a name for your imaginary friend. To remember a task and then decide to procrastinate it. To visit a parallel universe in your sleep. To finish 12 rounds of rock paper scissors. To finish reading this.

So if you have been washing your hands right now, congratulations.

You're a lean, clean flying machine, too." 

How subtle way of marketing by the brand ensures: 

➥ The passenger's safety and hygiene

➥ Engaging written communication

➥ Creating interests in mind

➥ Adhering to the brand values

➥ And, of course need of the hour

The Image courtesy to Ms. Priyanka Gaur and Indigo Airlines..

Life is a Gift !! (video)

 Life is a Gift, just enjoy every moment of it.....

In our daily life, we have many incidents and happenings to be thanked for. We just don't take that opportunity to thank for. We realize only when we are in trouble or we are in a stage of  mental dilemma. 

We tend to complain a lot when we do not get what we wish for, we take it for granted; but we don't realize that there must be someone or many who are not priviledged  to be happy as we are. 

We just wish without even thinking once, at times. 

Now is the time to reflect our life and understand those small gifts which we are blessed with and to be thankful for.

Life is a Gift......Enjoy the essence of it. 

The link you can refer for high resolution video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBBFTj2pCNM&feature=youtu.be

Root Cause Analysis | Mythology vs. Management !!

In Business Management, there is something called "Root Cause Analysis", which is widely used to do the analysis to all problems. One of the effective method for root cause analysis is '5 Whys Analysis'.

Let's take you through a lovely conversation between a teacher and a student, on the '5 Whys of Root Cause Analysis', however the case study was on 'Ramayana'.

On a discussion while talking about quality, the management lecturer was critically expressing that "Ramayana did happen due to the poor 'Quality' issue".

Lecturer : We all know Lord Ram went to spend 14 years in forest and Sita was kidnapped because of a "quality issue". 

Student : How is this anything to do with quality? 

Lecturer : Tell me why did Sita go to forest with Ram ?

Student : Because she was his wife and respected his every decision. 

Lecturer : OK but why did Ram go to forest ?

Student : Because his father Dasharatha told him to do so and he never disobeyed his father. 

Lecturer : OK why did Dasharatha send his son to forest ?

Student : Dasharatha offered his wife (Kaikeyi) two boons, and she chose to make use of them in the future. And she wanted her son to be king, so on the day of Rama's crowning, she asked Dasharatha to send Rama to forest and crown her son; reminding him of his promised boons.

Lecturer : So why did Dasharatha offer his wife two boons ?

Student : Because during a military campaign against Sambarasura, the wheel of Dasharatha's chariot broke and and kaikeyi inserted her hand to hold the wheel in place. Touched by her courage and timely service, Dasharatha offered her two boons.

Lecturer: Hence Proved. The quality of Chariot's wheel was not up to the mark .. leading to kidnapping of Sita...!!!! 

So, using the "5 Whys" technique we see that Quality is very important and if the quality of Chariot's wheel was good, the Ramayana wouldn't have happened!

Although, it sounds little funny about the above root cause analysis, however everything happens for a reason. Mythologically, it was all pre-decided by Lord Vishnu, every actions, every scenarios and the happenings. But what could be better to give the relevant example to the today's young generations who think in logical way. After all, management principles are based in logical thinking.

An enlightening story | The Sun and The Cave

We all love to stay inspired every moment, be it in any way, whether interacting with the achievers or leaders, or by hearing the stories. Today I am going share an awesome story which will certainly inspire you. 

This story is about 'the Sun and the Cave'.

One day the sun and a cave struck up with a conversation. 

The sun had trouble understanding what 'dark' means and the cave didn’t quite get the hang of 'light and clear' so they decided to change places. 

The cave went up to the sun and said, “Ah, I see, this is beyond wonderful. Now come down and see where I have been living.” 

The sun went down to the cave and said, “I don’t see any difference.”

But the cave didn't understand why! 

When the sun went down, it took its light along and even the darkest corners were illuminated. That's why the sun couldn't see any difference. 

➥ Moral of the story: The enlightened ones can never be sent to hell or pushed into darkness. They carry their heaven on their shoulders all the time.

We thought that heaven is a place where were we are supposed to go; perhaps it was a state of mind we were supposed to achieve. 

If you are full of darkness within, full of negativity, fear and doubt, you become a cave unknowingly. It's a hell within and no matter how much you accumulate, you still remain hollow. 

If you are illuminated like the sun, then the darkness of the cave wouldn't matter. You could be in the worse of circumstances, you'll still be able to find a blessing somewhere. You'll be carrying your heaven with you. 

Surrender - A Positive and Inspiring Story

Today I am going to share an inspiring story of Surrender.  

Surrender - most commonly misunderstood. Surrender means, to allow life to happen as it is. It means, that you do what's required for you to do,  follow your heart and not worry about the future. Future is not under your control and will unfold as its meant to be. You can only do what needs to be done in this moment. This moment, is all that you have, so live in this moment and trust that you are taken care, as it's meant to be.

The story is taken from the face book post of DR.SOPHIA RANGWALA (no changes in description) 

--------------- Surrender --------

I will share a personal experience of total surrender, because I feel that through sharing personal stories, it's easier to understand these difficult concepts.

It was the year 2009, my father was diagnosed with recurrence of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. It's a cancer of the lymph nodes. He had already gone through complete chemotherapy and radiotherapy in 2006 when it was diagnosed. This was a devastating news for us. Being the eldest child and a doctor, the responsibility always fell upon me to take the right medically related decisions. My father had developed so much confidence in me that he would take my decision over the best doctors also. There is a reason for this conviction that he had in me, which is another story. Anyways, so I consulted one of the best oncologists in Bangalore. His advice was to start treatment as soon as possible because with every  delay, the risk of beyond return metastasis (cancer spread all over the body) was looming dangerously. The treatment that he suggested numbed me. It would require extremely aggressive chemotherapy which would force my father to be admitted into total isolation, as along with the cancer cells, all other vital cells also would get destroyed. He would become vulnerable even to a common cold virus.

I left the good doctor's office with a heavy heart. This was at HCG, Bangalore. I had taken a cab that day. I sat numbed in the cab, with no thoughts, because I didn't even know what to think. At that moment, I surrendered to a God, I didn't understand then. I had no religion or faith, but still deep at the core of my Being, I always knew that this entire Creation and I was not a product of accident. There was a Force, even if I didn't understand it. Tears rolled through my eyes and my mind was blank. Then something happened. I knew what had to be done. 

Something, inside me told me to allow this situation to progress naturally on its own and not to opt for chemotherapy this time. I realized that death is eventual, and if not today then someday, my father, my mother and everyone that I know and my self, are going to go, so why resist this truth? Why hold on to something which is transient anyways? If my father was meant to go, then he will go while at home with all of us around him, and not leave from an isolated hospital room.

A Divine Force had taken over my mind at that time. I didn't know anything about Yoga then as I myself didn't practice any Yogic practice and yet... Read ahead what unfolded when I reached back home.. So I came home and told dad, that it's decided that we will not opt for chemotherapy this time. He will do pranayama and consume a totally vegetarian diet, and gave him a powerful visualization meditation practice. He agreed, and didn't ask a word also. He is someone who is extremely intelligent and  not someone who can be easily convinced. Yet, he just agreed easily and did exactly as I had asked him to do. Let me emphasize here, that I had no idea about Yoga, Ayurveda or meditation back then. I was a very regular person and I was pursuing MD Dermatology then, so logically I should have opted for chemotherapy but I went in a total opposite direction!

The journey of surrender began. I had left it on time and my father also began to follow my advice. My mother played most crucial role in taking care of his health and supporting him. He was so weak to do pranayam, that in the start it was only for 5-10 minutes but with consistent will power, he continued and build it up to 4 hours a day! Yes, you read it right.. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening! He consumed certain powerful Ayurvedic herbs like giloy, neem, aloe vera, wheatgrass and plenty of green veggies daily. He remained optimistic and had strong faith in God. During this time, he dropped his attachment to his business also completely and focused only on his health. 

We would get periodic PET Scan done. Initially there was no change, but the cancer was not showing signs of spread, which itself was a huge positive. Slowly the hot spots began to disappear and in about 20 months, his cancer had totally disappeared. The last scan was done in May 2011. My father is still very much with us today, living a healthy life.

Going back in time, I had no idea what the outcome of that decision would be. It could have gone in either direction but I chose to surrender. For long, I had wondered what made me take such a decision but it's much later that I understood that it was not my decision because decisions are taken using the mind. Without being aware, I had gone beyond the mind and in that moment, the Divine took over and the rest just happened. This is the miracle of surrender. Allow yourself to surrender when all doors seem to be closed. Let Divine hold your hand and walk you through darkness. Trust me, there is light always at the end. Also, sometimes what we think should happen may not happen, but we don't realize that, that is also God's way of taking care of us.

Always trust that all is well. When you can't think what to do because mind is so limited and so foolish, meditate and you will be guided to do what needs to be done.

Two Golden Hearts of India | An Amazing Story !!

Today, I am going to share a story of two Golden Hearts of India. This story I got to know from my professional guru, Mr. Ashwin Shirali, during a fruitful interaction over internet.

The story goes in this way......

Image courtesy to this site.

Once, as Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited Coonoor and came to know that Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw was in the Military Hospital there. APJ wanted to visit Sam, which was unscheduled. 

Arrangements were made. At the bedside, APJ spent 15 minutes talking to Sam, enquiring of his health. Just before leaving Kalam asked Sam: “Are you comfortable? Is there anything I can do? Are there any issues?  Or anything that would make you more comfortable?”

Sam said: “Yes, Your Excellency, I have a grievance!" .

Shocked with concern and anguish, Kalam asked what it was.

Sam replied: “Sir, my grievance is that I am unable to get up and salute my most respected President of my beloved country". 

Kalam held Sam's hand; both were in tears. But the remaining part of the tale is that Sam did tell APJ that his pension of the Field Marshall’s rank remained unpaid till then, for nearly 20 years. An aghast President went to Delhi and passed the pension with arrears within a week and sent the cheque of nearly Rs 1.25 CR through the Defense Secretary by a special plane!

That is the greatness of APJ. But when Sam received the cheque he promptly donated it to the Army Relief fund!!

Whom will you salute now? 

Dr. Kalam and Marshall Sam during a lighter moment of conversation. Image courtesy to this site.

They are our two Heros with Golden Hearts, unmatchable. 

The Management Learnings from 'The Dead Horse Theory'

The Dead Horse Theory - quite interesting but hilarious..

Let's get to know what is this theory all about.

Let us assume that you are riding a horse. And, unfortunately the horse dies. Common sense dictates that you dismount it. Sadly but true, this is not what happens in most cases. A lot of people will assume that the horse can kick back to life. The high hope with exceptional belief is that the horse is experiencing a short term trauma and will get back soon to life and need to be helped to get back in line. 

Sadly, in reality, we all have seen some of this happen before our eyes. We have witnessed that we sometimes are riding a dead horse. We see our businesses, education, work life, and government take more 'advanced and political strategies' to nurture the dead horse back to life. 

The strategy comes in various excuses...

➥  Buying a stronger whip

➥  Changing riders

➥  Threating the horse with termination

➥  Appointing a committee to study the horse.

➥  Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses.

➥  Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

➥  Re-classifying the dead horse as ‘living impaired’.

➥  Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

➥  Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed.

➥  Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.

➥  Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.

➥  Declaring that the dead horse doesn’t have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

➥  Re-writing the expected performance requirements for all horses.

➥  Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position of hiring another horse.

Picture courtesy to Kevin Nicoll. Refer the site.. 

As depicted in the above picture, the Dakota Indians passed down the paradigm, generation to generation. 

Unfortunately, the right mindset is not found in a lot of organizations, with right management approach. As a result, the management (leaders) gets trapped with the short term solutions like,

➥  Unexpected overload of work which needs immediate response

➥  Firefighting culture at every action

➥  Toxic behaviour at workplace

➥  Frequent blame game and scapegoating

➥  Long and ineffective meetings more frequent 

➥  Poor work culture and exploitation  

➥  Poor time management

➥  Lack of personal and professional development

➥  Lack of efficient and effective execution

The lesson from this 'dead horse theory' is to dismount every dead horse. The focus must be on the long term benefits of the organization. 

Organic | Mexican Coriander Garden

 Mexican Coriander, also known as 'Bandhania', 'Culantro', 'Sawtooth Coriander'. It is native to Mexico, Central and South America, and Caribbean; but it is cultivated worldwide. 

It is used as fresh as well as dried herb. It has been used is traditional medicine in tropical regions for burns, fevers, hypertension, earache, constipation, snake bites, constipation, stomachaches, diarrhea, etc.

Culantro's look is extremely different from the regular coriander leaves; although it looks more like spinach, but the leaf edges has shark tooth like texture. 

Here is a glimpse of the 'Mexican Coriander' from my own organic vegetable garden. 

Betel Leaf Firm - An amazing experience !!

Betel Leaf, commonly known as 'paan' in India, is significant in it's use. In India, Betel Leaf plays an important role since ancient culture. As per Ayurveda, Charaka, Sushruta Samhitas, the practice of chewing betel leaves after meals become common between 70 AD and 300 AD. In Chinese folk medicine betel leaves are used for the treatment of various disorders and claimed to have detoxification. 

Chewing betel leaves have changed over the period of time. The betel leaves are chewed together with areca nut (supari) and soaked lime.

In Hindu traditions, betel leaves are used during religious rituals, as it is considered to be auspicious. 

The 'paan' leaves are rich in Vitamin C, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, carotene, and also a great source of calcium. 

It has many health benefits also, such as..

➥ It is used to treat wounds, inflammation.

➥ It is taken after meal (as tradition) to digest the meal.

➥ It has anti-microbial, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic properties.

➥ It also prevents cardio vascular disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Cultivation of betel leaves are not so easy and can only be done in specific areas which has porous soils (mix with sand). The betel garden is called as 'Paan Baroz'; it is typically a square shaped area covered with straws and sticks so that the ventilation can be there. Inside the Baroz the plants are farmed in rows with the support of jute sticks/bamboo sticks. The baroz is located bit high from the ground so that water can't be hold at the roots; which damages the plant. 

There must be trained workers to nurture the plants regularly and also to pluck the leaves. Generally throughout the year 'paan' can be farmed. After plucking the leaves, sorting is done based on sizes, then a set of 100 paans are kept in circular sequential manner. All the pans are beautifully kept in a bamboo basket covered with banana leaves. The extreme cares are taken to preserve the leaves until transported to various cities.

I visited a 'paan baroz' very recently and was amazed to see it. It was in Odisha, in one of my relative's house. I was explained step by step the cultivation process in details. Sharing with you few glimpses...