Today morning, I spent some time at Madras Club admiring the Nature. The cyclone had just passed by Chennai 2 days back and since then there were small drizzles intermittently. The Parrots, Egrets, Crow, and Myna were enjoying a beautiful day of the nature. Suddenly, my mind was connected to the power of ‘Panchabhoota‘.

John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4’x5′ plywood board — and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches — spontaneous, and always surprising — go further than classroom lectures can.

A must watch video on spontaneous LEARNING through world peace game. Please take out 18 minutes of time.

Now, for most of us, relationship with another is based on dependence, economically or psychologically. This dependence creates fear, breeds in us possessiveness, results in friction, suspicion, and frustration. Economic dependence on another can perhaps be eliminated through legislation and proper organization, but I am referring especially to that psychological dependence on another which is the outcome of craving for personal satisfaction, happiness, etc.

One feels, in a possessive relationship, enriched, creative, and active; one feels one’s own little flame of being is increased by another and so in order not to lose this source of completeness, one fears the loss of the other, and so possessive fears come into being with all their resulting problems.

Thus, in this relationship of psychological dependence, there must always be conscious or unconscious fear, suspicion, which often lies hidden in pleasant-sounding words. The reaction of this fear leads one ever to search for security and enrichment through various channels, or to isolate oneself in ideas and ideals, or to seek substitutes for satisfaction.

Though one is dependent on another, there is yet the desire to be inviolate, to be whole. The complex problem in relationship is how to love without dependence, without friction and conflict; how to conquer the desire to isolate oneself, to withdraw from the cause of conflict. If we depend for our happiness on another, on society, or on environment, they become essential to us; we cling to them and in case of any alteration in each of these, we violently oppose because we depend upon them for our psychological security and comfort. Though, intellectually, we may perceive that life is a continual process of flux, mutation, necessitating constant change, yet emotionally or sentimentally we cling to the established and comforting values; hence, there is a constant battle between change and the desire for permanency. Is it possible to put an end to this conflict?

We had a two-day Mission Samriddhi Summit 4 at Chennai where we spent time listening to various initiatives that are driving the social impact.

Here, I am sharing Project Agrindus – Integration of AGRIculture and INDUStries that was initiated by Dr. T. Karunakaran at MIGRI, Wardha to educate children of deceased farmers’ families in the district of Yavatmal, Maharashtra. He selected 35 children of the deceased and designed a great programme based on the principles of Nai Talim.

A few observations from the programme are listed below:

1. He designed an integrated programme on Personal Development, Knowledge Imparting and Skills Development (4 hours each).

2. The 35 students were divided into groups (pair each) and were asked to form virtual companies.

I will be conducting a full-day programme on Design Thinking named ‘Unmukt‘ on 26th Nov 2016, Saturday at Hotel Sofitel, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. A lot of people who visited FinTech 8012 Design Center, wanted to attend the programme. And fortunately, this time we’ve decided to allot 40 seats for the external participants.

The programme covers powers of boundary-less thinking (Unmukt) and how Design Thinking helps in moving from Mystery of Business to Heuristics and then to Algorithm. It also talks about the role of emotional elements in moving Design Thinking from ‘Just ideas’ to the ‘Implementation of ideas’.

Yesterday, we celebrated Vijayadashmi or Dussehra. Interestingly, it is celebrated in North India as a day of celebrating good over evil and at the same time it is also celebrated in South India as a day of Guruvandanam – celebrating learning, initiating learnings.

My few observations

In South India:

1. Ayudha Pooja i.e, worshiping all tools and vocations is about celebrating power of knowledge and skills in our lives. Goddess Saraswati represents power of knowledge.
2. 9 days are celebrated worshiping – first 3 days are devoted to Wealth (Goddess Lakshmi), physical health (Goddess Durga) and the last 3 days to Mental growth – Knowledge (Saraswati).
3. The houses were decorated with heritage dolls/idols on multi-level staircase stands. These decorations connect all new members of the family with the memories of grand parents in form of physical objects like dolls. Each doll/idol represents – who got it and in which year. It’s a Platform for sharing family stories similar to what in management we call Fireside stories.
4. All the 9 days have different kinds of lentils or also known as Sundals as a giveaway after the Pooja.
5. Ayudha Pooja is a tools worship day with complete Pen down.
6. The 10th day is day of new initiatives, signing up for new Gurus or Schools and thanksgiving to Gurus.

In North India:

1. I grew up in North India where the festival was celebrated in a very different manner. It’s a season of Ramlila.
2. The complete story of Ramayan – which I call it as “Do’s and Don’ts of human life” – is played in every nook and corner by every community.
3. Over 10 days, it is an opportunity for the local play artist to play various roles in Ramlila. For kids like us, it was an opportunity for enjoying Mela and fun for 10 days. The Ramlila typically starts post dinner and continues till late night. It is also a mechanism for fund raising for local temples.
4. Similar to South India, Navratri (9 days) is also celebrated but the focus would be around the life and ideals of Ram.
5. In my family, my mother used to grow wheat on 1st day in a small pot. Within 10 days, the wheat (Jau) grows more than 8-12 inches. This tradition symbolically represents seeding of the new crop. The typical tikka to brothers is performed by sisters of the family with token of gift from brothers.
6. We have a tradition of writing a ANNUAL DIARY on this day where we record attendance on that festival, major events in the direct family, major events in extended family and then important national and international events along with major commodity prices.

I have not experienced the traditions prevalent in East or West India, except the celebration of worshipping Durga. I will request someone to update about East India and West India. Please correct my understanding also.

My learnings in both traditions are about creating family bonding, creating new energies and reiterating learning as a habit.

What a wonderful and holistic design for 10 days of festivities and connecting families year after year. These traditions build on us without even making any effort and become part of our DNA.

Ayudha pooja done for all kinds of tools, vehicles and instruments as part of the festival

Heritage dolls arranged as part of Navratri celebrations

Production capacity: Average adult human being body produces 5,000 – 7,000 crore cells per day.

Rate of Red Blood Cells, the fastest growing cells are produced at 2 million cells per second.

In all living forms, science has discovered Genes – which is encoding of repeating itself.

Question – is there something in all living forms – ‘I am Different’.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Govt. of Tamil Nadu have conferred me the Lifetime Achievement Award on 28th September, 2016. I feel humbled by the recognition from peers and colleagues of the industry.

This is an outcome of vision of Konarks and Partners at Polaris who dared to dream big and achieved it.

This is an outcome of the customers who trusted with their critical banking system technology with us.

This is an outcome of the wisdom of the all the Board Members as well as consultants who advised us at every step in our journey. Above all these, it is also an outcome of the support of all of you who helped me in shaping up my thinking.

Thank you one and all.