Happy New Year

Let’s Dive Into 2022

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Its been a while and this is a fresh dive. Over the last few months, I vowed myself into silence on most platforms and friendships. The focus was on how quiet I could become and stay silent. Searching for meaning and purpose as we dealt with change, losss, awareness.

Perhaps, implicit in that search was a fond hope that at the end of it, there will be a renewal of sorts. A pot of gold, if you will!

September. October. Novermber. December. Each month came. And went. Like passing clouds. Somewhere I drew a line in the sand for the silence. 2021.

Every passing day of 2021, the quiet, the work and deep private conversations have left me clutching new ideas and plans. And just like that, 2021 ended. And it is 2022.

Happy New Year

For the past several years I have put out a word of the year. Last year I sat down to reflect on the year gone by, my own aspirations for the future, talked to people and then chose one word. Adding meaning and structure to something that was more whimsical earlier. And then, the year took over. I never got to post it. So much for planning!

This year, I hope to do better. On all fronts. And perhaps there is an ounce more of energy powering that statement. (Does this count as a renewal?)

Previous posts are here and here.

Dive

Yes. Dive. Thats the word of the year for me for 2022. The dictionary states that dive is “to plunge into water intentionally and especially headfirst”.

Well thats a pretty accurate verb for my aspirations for the year.

There are ever so well made plans that need focused execution.
There is work and research to deep dive into.
Yes, the water is cold and God knows how I will land, but then, I won’t know until I dive!

Shel Silverstein is a personal favourite.

He says it like no one else.

You’ve been up on that diving board
Making sure that it’s nice and straight.
You’ve made sure that it’s not too slick.
You’ve made sure it can stand the weight.
You’ve made sure that the spring is tight.
You’ve made sure that the cloth won’t slip.
You’ve made sure that it bounces right,
And that your toes can get a grip
And you’ve been up there since half past five
Doin’ everything… but DIVE

And the little miss..

The little miss adds a twist or two that completes my thoughts. She has never failed to do so. Not this time either.

She painted those fun dolphins, when I spoke to her about Dive.

And according to her, the best way to dive is to do it with friends.
And then, you always come up refreshed after a dive!

Plus, Dolphins are fun to be with and intelligent beings. “You are intelligent, arent you?”, she asks. Some questions, I leave for another time. This one belongs to that category!

For now, I am staying focused on ‘Dive’! Thats good enough! 🙂

In the spirit of diving, I hope to be more regular here. Let’s dive into 2022

Happy New Year people.

Play 2019. Happy New Year!

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So, its another new year. A chance to look anew. An excuse to restart. An opportunity to refresh.  Perhaps a new way to renew. A milestone by the side of the road that announces an opportunity to change lanes. A pin drop on the map of fast alleys and winding lives.  For some of you, it may just be a change of a calendar. However it is for you, it is an unmistakable opportunity to pause, ponder and plod on, in directions that you have always wanted to.

My little miss has been at work for some time now. Shooting the rural breeze, counting sheep, feeding cows and dipping toes in the village well.  Last night, she drew me a picture and wished me a happy new year. Of course, we spoke about it for a while.

She said that the honey bee was actually playing and so was the flower! In her world, the ground was blue, because, ‘it is a nice colour’. And the Sun is always smiling at us all.  She wanted us to play more in the new year, like the Sun and the flower.  And perhaps paint the road in the colour of choice.

That left me pondering ‘PLAY’ as the word for 2019! Play stands for joy. Experimentation. Light. Wins. Losses. Trials. Preparation. Diligence. Practice. Work ethic.  All in a spirit of partnership.  Am reasonably sure that this is not what she had in mind when she said ‘play’. For her, it means ‘great fun’! And I can’t agree more of that being the baseline.

And that is my most sincere wish for you. To Play. Erupting in childlike joy and to always retain the essence of curiosity and free will.  All of this with the energy to float and the effervescence of holding others and their actions lightly.

May we all live fulfilled, happy, healthy lives.

May we play 2019 well. Happy New Year!

Annual Sunset

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It’s the same Sun that will pop out of the east tomorrow morning. Yet, today’s sunset helps us keep score that one more year has melted. It’s the 31st of December. And this is the ‘Annual Sunset’!  Sunsets are amongst the most enticing of reminders that one more block of time is gone for good. The annual sunset on can be sentimental. Partly, because the world seems eager to be done with it and embrace the shiny’, ‘new’ year!

So, its time to change the printed calendar that hangs on the wall. I have to take care to write ‘2018’ instead of  ‘2017’ on the cheques that I sign. Other than that, nothing changes. Of course, tonight some folks will move in the name of dance, to random noise that’s called music. Everybody will wish each other ‘Happy New Year’ and then go about living their lives with renewed fervour.

By the 8th of Jan, 25% of resolutions “have fallen by the wayside”. “And by the time the year ends, fewer than 10 percent have been fully kept”, says a piece in the New York Times. Thats a colossal underperformance by corporate standards, won’t you think? (Do give the piece a read. Very good pointers )

That of course, is a limited view. Thank God!

What would we do if there was just no chance in hell that we could begin all over again? Even if we knew in the innermost recesses of our hearts that it is the same Sun that will show up tomorrow.  That it’s sinking into the west doesn’t sink with it our warts and wiggles. I wouldn’t mind it taking along with it the credit card bill, the lump of fat on the hip and the sinus in the head. Alas! That said, the new year is special. For it is the chance for some energy into starting all over again.  That is priceless. It fills us with hope and courses a new energy in our fraying minds.

An uncle of mine used to say that this energy would take him through “March – April”! “If you get a few solid wins in this time, who knows, the momentum can take you into June-July”. I find this enticing today.

It makes sense. Once it is July, you are already looking at beginning the countdown to end the year and make a new beginning.  In early October, the uncle would say, ” we are going to end the year”. Looking forward to it like a kid walking with his dad to buy a promised lollipop.  The ‘looking forward to next year’ saw him through the last three-four months.

In one way or the other, he had to wade through pestilence laden waters of ‘what is the meaning of my life’ and such other desultory questions for about five months.  Right in the middle of the year. Those months could seem to have a slower pace to them.  A few other ways to work those months would help. Perhaps breaking the year into smaller bits. Maybe having other special rituals for renewal.

But right now, the Sun is just about downing its shutters for 2017. The mid-year ‘sulk months’ seem a good distance away. Those months will happen when they happen. To make them ‘happening’ is after we take care of this evening and the next few weeks.

I have on my agenda a few must-dos.

Meet friends.

Make white spaces.

Plan well and yet create the space to plan as you go.

Spend time with the little miss. Grow up with her.

Walk. Run.

Take care of the body. And the mind. That’s the best way to take care of the bank account. (“Fixed deposits are best in the bank. Spare your hips”, said a wall scrawl in Madurai ).

Eat vegetables.

Write.  Travel.

Dream.

Do meaningful work.

Shoot the breeze.

That’s the best part of beginning again. For some irrational reason, it fills the heart with hope. As this sunset sinks its teeth into the year’s neck, the fleeting gasps of the setting Sun remind me of the promises that I need to keep. No new promises. Just keeping the old ones is good enough.

That’s as good as it gets. The aim is to go through to the end of March with it. A running coach once sat me down as I shuddered thinking about how I would ever do a 42 KM run. The trick he said, “is not to think of the full 42 KM. But to have a target like “until the end of where the eye can see”.  With the run soaking up most of the energy, my line of sight was often a just a hazy patch. It helped me finish!

So, here is what I am going to do. Soak up the Sun and look forward to the end of March. Maybe, April. Before the blink of the eye, it would be July.  And then, it would be next year.

For now, go dance. Sing. Love.

That’s all there is to it. Besides saying “Happy New Year”!

There are two pigeons that dart on to my balcony. Tilting their necks and looking at me with an odious ‘oh not again’ look. I want to prove them wrong and start somewhere, even as the bright arc of the orange Sun is reduced to crimson splash on the horizon. I pull out my laptop and start typing. “It’s the same Sun that will pop out of the east tomorrow morning. Yet, today’s sunset helps us keep score that one more year has melted. It’s the 31st of December. And this is the ‘Annual Sunset’!  Sunsets are amongst the most enticing of reminders that one more block of time is gone for good. The annual sunset on can be sentimental. Partly, because the world seems eager to be done with it…”

A new year swings in! Happy New Year 2017

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Happy New Year 2017.

2016 has been a heck of a year. I still remember the same time a year ago when I sat down to see a new dawn. It seemed to run in along with a lot of a promise and hope. And suddenly it is today and a brand new year is at the door! Just as what was the case last year. This year hustles while it waits. So much so, I can hear its wait! 

The little miss is all about the house as has been her wont. I have spent some part of the last year, growing up with her. More often than not, becoming present to how fast time flies away by just watching for every minute change in her and succeeding to spot a few as they happened. For large part though, I must confess, wondering how it happened!

Like when she asks me what is an ‘office’ and ‘what happens in an office’? And of course, the next inevitable question: ’What is Work?’  I am sure this isn’t unique to her or me. It must be on the lips of many kids as they stand up and begin to explore the world. It is easy to give ‘some’ answer but then the real answer is a bit beyond cursory search. 

‘Can you be a teacher in my school?’, she asked the other day. With half a popcorn in her lips and a sparkle in her eyes.

‘Sure’. I said. It is the most inviting approval I have had of 2016. Something that I can gloat about. ‘Can we begin tomorrow?’, she asked. If there was ever a heart that skipped a giant beat on hearing a job offer, it would pale in comparison to mine that day!

Or of this time, when she said ‘Push me higher Appa’. On a swing by a lake in idyllic Mount Abu. I was a tad scared, for this was a swing that was just there in the midst of undergrowth and uneven ground. A plank of wood, two pieces of a rope all on one sturdy tree branch. That made the swing.  ‘Dont be scared, Appa’ She said. With a silly smile as an enduring accompaniment as the swing climbed newer heights.  ‘I am going higher on my own Appa. You don’t be scared’.

For a moment, I didn’t know if I should clap in joy or wince in despair. After all I was expecting these lines down the road. After many years!  I brought a smile on plastic dry lips and clapped.  ‘Letting go isn’t easy’ I told my missus over dinner that night. Silence stayed tall in the room as we munched on some veggies. ‘It isn’t easy at all’ added the missus in-between all her munching. I wast sure if she was talking of the veggies. That’s part of the plan for this year. Munching more veggies that is. And yes, ‘letting go’ of stuff that we have been holding on to is also part of the plan! 

A couple of days ago, we were at the movies with the little miss in tow.  Dangal. The movie that everyone is raving about. The movie about a father who lives his dreams of winning a gold medal for the country by getting his daughters to do so, long after his prime.  The melodramatic storyline with wrestling bouts that go on predictable lines to leave India with a gold medal and left me with a stern headache. A headache that only loosened up when the little miss looked into my eyes and asked: ‘Appa, they did all this for one medal?’

I smiled ear to ear.

As the same Sun rushes in a new year, these and her other questions dawn on me with new meaning.  I don’t have all the answers. But the very fact that the questions are here is enough to keep me on the swing of life. For that I am thankful.

I wish you more questions and deeper conversations!

Happy New Year 2017! Here’s to a fabulous 2017

Renewal Time!

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A brand new year has come our way. Yet again. Like it always does. Here is another opportunity to seek renewal of promises made and conversations had. With others and ourselves too.  ourselves too. 

Here is a wish. Actually here are a bunch of wishes for you. For me. And for the rest of the world. A set of disparate wishes that perhaps form an incoherent bouquet of sorts. Delivered with love, which is its only redemption. Perhaps!

Here is a wish for moments stolen from the frenzy of daily living to pause and ponder. At the marvel of creation and the simple joys of life and living too. 

A wish to keep reality of the large world firmly in our midst even as detest even the slightest seconds that we are disconnected, from the internet that is!  

A wish to stay healthy in the mind & body, with a resolute belief that ‘things have a way of working out’. A wish in tow for good sleep. Good habits. And great choices! 

For patience with our fellow people. For acceptance. For passion, consistent effort and zealous work to strive for progress.  

I look at my daughter and the words flow on to the screen with greater ease. 

A fervent wish for each of us to be filled with curiosity about what’s possible. A child like laughter. Togetherness. And a devout hope for a better future. 

And then, to look around and pass these, better wishes and some cheer, at the first available excuse to our children. And their children. Year after year. 

For now though, its Happy New Year 2014. Heres wishing you the best! 

PLAY !

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Play

Every passing day produces numerous reams of data, research, insights, conclusions, new processes, benchmarks and such else. Produced with good intent and long hours of tireless work and thought. Usually. (2 million google searches every minute, is indeed something, dont you think ?)

Often times, the arduous effort is clouded as a methodical effort and creative processes underlying learning and discovery stays so much in the background, that its ignored.

It is a no-brainer that development and progress is a creative process that builds on what exists. ‘Connecting the dots’ is perhaps are much used words, but those three words pack in a powerful punch.

The ability to connect seemingly distant ideas and disparate data that are so apart from each other, is a necessary part of any creative process. Products that have caught our fancy, brands that stand out are have threads from very different streams woven into one entity, in a very creative way. It is not uncommon for ad gurus and film makers to go to the market place and sit in a café, watching the world emptily go by and then use some insights to make a film!

The constraints and opportunities that the 21st century presents will need all of our creative weaves and warps to present a rich tapestry of value. A value that will create a sustainable future for our children to inherit.

Speaking of children, creative processes work well in a state of ‘play’. ‘Play’ has extensive reference to ‘children’ and ‘a child like’ state. As adults, we so much strive to ‘not fail’. So much so, that ‘playful at work’ has a thick ring of negativity attached to it. Pregnant with the meaning that you cant be both playful and working at the same time!

In a state of child like play, a sense of exploration and discovery permeates. In an active infant, for instance, reaching a dead end while trying to ‘yank the lid off a bottle’, doesn’t lead to a deadpan face but a renewed energy in trying to do the same thing in some other way!

It is this state of ‘play’ that most of us adults miss out in the quest of getting it ‘right’ / ‘perfect’ / ‘not fail’. In the new year, if there is one thing that I have as a fervent wish for you, me and the world around us, it is this : that we spend more working minutes in a state of ‘play’! A state of play that helps us connect dots and arrive at meaningful solutions to the challenges that face us. And have fun doing so.

Heres to a playful 2013 !

Happy New Year

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It’s a brand new year. May it bring with it quiet resolve and constant love.  May 2013 be the year when each of us pulled all of us to a higher plane!  May there be abundance of health, love and cheer in our lives. May our outlooks get powered by that sense of ‘abundance’. 

May there be peace. May goodness be our permanent companion and fairness be our passport to higher order. And let there be challenge just enough to strengthen our backs and solidify our resolve.

May there be laughter. Dance. May there be reading. And writing. And an unwavering spirit. To take our collective futures, forward!

May our children grow stronger. Drawing strength from the resolve of their character rather than the weight of a bank balance. May they learn to see, appreciate life, living and giving. May they see a life that has a greater end than pointless effort and mindless competition. Oh yes, may we see it too!

May our worlds emerge far clearer, when we take stock at the end of the year. May our lives resonate with a spirit of having made a difference to someone. Or to someplace. Or to something !

If that sounds like a tall order, perhaps we should leave it at a simpler wish for all of us: a renewed energy to stay happy pursuing our passions and passing on some cheer. May we stop to say thank you to folks like Walt Disney who said, “Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age and dreams are forever.” 
May this year be the year that we lit a lamp to dispel the darkness, and from the depth of the shadows may there emerge a billion stories. Of how ‘better was possible’ because we tried. 

Happy new year! 

Hello 2007 !

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2006 was a defining year. 2007 will be even better for each one of you, your families and all who you knew.

2007 brings with it new found hope that the equation of the world order will edge towards balance & become more and more democratic. That the individuals will still be able to wield more power than governments. That poverty will be reduced for all those who are resourceful.

To me, 2007 holds out new hope that barriers and borders will become much more blurred. And we will all stay better connected. I am equally conscious that 2007 will have its share of disappointments and occassions for the teardrop to fall. But hopefully, it will bring with it the resolute resolve to get up after a fall and march on.

At a personal level, 2007 is poised to be a year of great challenge and opportunity. I am all set to continue building on all the fundamentals that i have carefully put in, and augment it further. Each day will bring in more learning, and i hope i am mentally alive to catch each of those.

So, with that, wishing you a very happy new year !

Lets join the chorus and say, Hello ’07 ! Nice to meet you !