Hey Corona! Thank you

I admit I am one of the privileged few. I have a maid, a servant, a driver and a gardener. But thanks to COVID19, I can no longer avail their services. So since March 16th, I have been planning, cooking, cleaning, de-stressing, and managing one bedridden patient on palliative care, his nurse, another senior citizen who just turned 75, my husband, my older daughter who graduates this year, my younger one who just finished high-school, and a 3-year old pug. In total, a household with 6 adults, 1 teenager and 1 dog. And all this while also working from home.

But this blog is not about how Corona helped me become superwoman (ahem!), managing family, house work, office work, and in-house counselor with elan and grace.

This blog is about my father-in-law’s death and how Corona played a key role in the way he passed away.

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FOUR things I intend to forbid if I become the Prime Minister today

Indians are the new black. Wherever we go, there WE ARE, just like that only. We are on top, doing jugaad and taking the world by storm in sports, movies, business and pretty much everything in between. But if I was made the Indian Prime Minister today, and I had unlimited power, here are FOUR things I intend to forbid. Granted that the chances of me becoming the prime minister is pretty remote, but I want to vent. So here goes:

#4: Indian men cannot wear shorts:

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Of leaders – the heroic and not-so heroic

 

As part of the Stanford SEED program, our management team is required to read some pretty deep articles, case studies and management papers so we can all get on the same strategic page and create the Business Transformation Plan for Suyati. One of the articles that I read included a couple of chapters from “Power Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership” by David L. Bradford and Allan R. Cohen.  The essence of the article is that Heroic leadership, the kind that gets things done by sheer will, command, authority and knowledge is slowly and surely giving way to not-so heroic leaders (the actual term used is Post-Heroic Leaders). These leaders do not lead per se. They create environments where individuals step up and take responsibility for their success. This guarantees the maximum contribution from every employee as they become more empowered, take charge, step up and meet and exceed expectations, in turn becoming catalysts for others also to become like them.

Hmm. Hmm.

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Hiding in bathrooms. And other lovable traits of an Introvert

Image: You know things are serious when the Introverts show up!

As a child, I was painfully shy. And that’s not a phrase I casually use. I would pinch my wrist, bite my nails, or keep prodding the pimples on my face to ward off anxiety attacks caused by having to meet new people. Hiding in bathrooms when the company become too much to handle was something that I did naturally. Even today, most of my ideas for blogs or articles rightfully stems from the time I spend in bathrooms!

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Live in the moment or plan for the morrow? Yes!

Image courtesy: http://everythingfunny.org/tag/humorous-comics/page/69/. All rights reserved. 

When you are here and now, sitting totally, not jumping ahead, the miracle has happened. To be in the moment is the miracle – Osho

Plan your work, and work your plan – Napoleon Hill

Sounds contradictory, don’t they? Live in the moment? Yes do. Plan for tomorrow? Yes, of course. So what do we do? Both.

Is that possible? When you are in the moment, your breath and your mindfulness is focused on what you are doing now. If you are watching TV, that is the only thing you are doing – not planning for the next day’s meeting or worried about your kid coming late. On the other hand, planning for the morrow means taking a long term view of your objectives and life goals, working them backwards with timelines and to-do lists, and executing them based on the schedule. Are both possible? Let’s see.

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How do writers write? The journey of an idea from conception to completion


        
    

People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it. – Harlan Ellison.

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