Celebrating Colors

‘Look deep into the nature, and then you will understand everything better’ Albert Einstei

Happy International Women’s Day! Happy National Safety Week!! And Happy Holi – The festival of Colors, All Colors !!!

What is the common thread between International Women’s day and National Safety Week? Does Holi offer a solution!

“Our Inability to be fair with things for which do not have a measure”.

A day or a week is always celebrated to create awareness, Awareness about the issue which EXISTS, but is shoved under the carpet.

Safety like Gender Diversity at Workplace, ?in Society, our Everyday life, is a big agenda, which jf ignored can be fatal to us, but is ignored, is waiting to be Included in mainstream.

Reason seems to be same, our inability to understand #Equity. ?Our incomprehension of things-phenomenon tacit! Hence our fervour with quantifying everything, in the process losing the big picture, till it hits us hard, but then it may be too late.

We are conditioned to compare, contrast, count and take our calls. Whatever we are not able count, we are not able to assess. And whatever we are not able to assess, we are uncomfortable with. We do not know how to respect ambiguity, live in it. Enjoy the diversity, be in the moment, accept something which is not similar or familiar. One has to prepare ROI presentations on how Diversity or Safe practices will help organisations improve processes, improve productivity, breed Innovation, build brand image ……………………

The need is to move from this number game to a more holistic understanding. Take leap of faith. The way we take on this day of Holi. We apply color to the people we don’t know, we let them put color on us, we are not worried about the touch, quality of the colour, clothes, cast, creed, gender or background of the other person. The need is to decode the essence, and create this similar environment on a daily basis.

‘Colors are an integral part of life, life would be so dull without them. The fervour with which we yearn for different colors in our life, we need to learn to respect them all with same ardour’

While I have strongly advocated on developing comfort with the Intangible. There are two tangible possible solutions to this problem as well, which came out very clearly during the panel discussion held at our office on Women’s day celebration.

Majority’s Responsibility: Be it Men or Major Departments earning Revenue, all need to understand that “They are largely subconsciously biased. Yes, they are, subconsciously though. So they have to be mindful and make conscious attempts of inclusion.

Minority Responsibility: I would use a very good anecdote shared by Dr Dhriti Banerjee, our panellist on Women’s day to pass on this message. What happens to you when you step out of the house and a bird shits on your head? Do you go back home and start crying, curse the crow, or clean it up, wear other set of cloth / comb your hair and move on? You obviously get disturbed but you can’t keep sulking. You will face many such situations. Learn to choose your battles. Also, it is courageous to seek guidance and help.

A brief Intro of our Diverse Panelists ( Age, Sector, Position, Economic Strata, Success Stories)

Taniya Sanyal is the first woman firefighter in the Indian Aviation.

Dr. Amrita Ganguly, Executive Director, Risk Advisory, Deloitte India

Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, First Woman Director of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in 105 years.

She has been co-ordinator of ZSI’s Digital Sequence Information Project since 2012.

Ms. Vasudha Goenka is Kettlebell world champion in the amateur division, she took up active sports in the age of 40, and became world champion in the age of 47. 40ies is her 20ies.n