Ideas Into Action - Session IV

When peers and professional gather in an informal session, to discuss topics like...

“Does God Exists?”

"Are women really the ‘Weaker Sex’?”

"Life is beautiful, because it does not last... so what you are doing about it?"

...it is bound to give you food for thought.

(IIA is an informal platform for interaction with a small group of peers and professional friends, invited to discuss ideas, share thoughts and best practices from which we all can learn. A time to spend a relaxed evening sharing thoughts, converting ‘Ideas’ into ‘Action’)

The IVth Session of IIA, held on 3rd May, 2018 at Hilton Hotel - Bengaluru, was about how we all manage work and life in perfect balance with our passion as driving force. Though we had free flowing discussions around diverse subjects like a tribute to recently departed scientist of the century - Stephen Hawking or about 'the Non-weakness' of the Urban Women and 'Life that is made beautiful through passion', I think it was all about us.

TOPIC I - Does God Exists?

Can you wrap your mind around a thought, i.e. if there was nothing before Big Bang, where exactly the Big Bang happened? If something happens somewhere, that somewhere has to be there somewhere. Right? But the scientist of the century, Stephen Hawking says that there was nothing before the Big Bang. Not Even Time! So what do you think? Can you picture a place, which is not there? If you can, and if you believe that place exists, then I think, you should also believe in God's existence. My personal belief is that it does. But not Stephen Hawking! He implied in his best seller 'The Grand Design' that 'God Does Not Exists'. And as a tribute to Late Stephen Hawking, we had an intense, "non-religious" discussion around it.

Of course he does….in my books GOD is our luck he is with you sometime and other times he is busy taking care of others... also I strongly believe our ancestors are not fools to have such a belief - Prem Kumar (Infosys)

My colleague Rishi from Cushman & Wakefield and many other's talked about the miracles that happened with them and around them, which made them believe in the existence of God. But are these incidents not mere co-incidences? Edward, Country Manager of Bene was quite sure that there is a supreme consciousness and Toli Carpet's Kannan, believes in the form of quantum energy, pervading all across the universe as God.

My friend, Partha (Director - Conduent), who had given a wonderful little talk earlier in the beginning of the session about his happiness quotient in which he took us on a picturesque journey through wonderful movies and images, was quite certain that there are evidence of His existence all around us. But when asked if any one has seen Him, all we got was coincidences clothed in miracles. Around all this clamor, Marnik Vermuelen - Director India & South Asia (IBM), held the opposite view. He believes in Nature and Nature of humanity instead of God. In my opinion, he was clearly talking about something I personally believe in as well.... Purusha and Prakriti philosophy of Patanjali - the ancient sage who gave the world - Yoga.

TOPIC II - Are women really the ‘Weaker Sex’?

The group generally agreed that, in the context of urban populations, they are not 'The Weaker Sex' and stand on the same footing with men in cities like Bengaluru. However there was a voice of disagreement from Sandhiya, Architect at IBM, who recently experienced a surprising situation, where she was 'singled out' to help in a profession gathering at the tea break since she was a women. Why, she wonders, men are generally not asked? My personal view is that it is insensitivity.

But before the sessions started, Jayaram, Head of Infrastructure - Danske, shared the effort Danske is making to ensure women's safety at office spaces. Women's safety is at the forefront of their each engagement, from transport to general and professional interaction during office hours. He shared the view that there is a need to treat women employees differently. However, there was also an undercurrent view that sometimes these efforts to facilitate, are consciously misused or misrepresented by the same employees.

Marnik (IBM) said that the fact that this topic came on the table, just proves that equal treatment of people of all genders, convictions and beliefs continues to be an issue in many parts of the world. Only when nobody no longer feels that this is worth a debate, will we be able to truly state that "all men are equal"....

"One only just needs to open any newspaper any day to see that we still have a long way to go...  " Marnik (IBM)

In a contrary view to Jayaram, I feel that the real problem is not the that there are situations like what Sandhiya (IBM) went through, but about the insensitivity shown towards women, specially in the rural areas. Where the voice of women are feebly heard or not at all. Most of us agreed that this problem needs to be understood in the context of Urban and Rural divide. Ramakrishnan R - CEO (Live Best Solutions) added to Jayaram's view that every organization need to have well defined policies and procedures and educate employees about the same. One on one counseling with violators will help being things under control.

"Male dominant is prevalent in large companies as well, however conscious efforts are made by many companies and professionals to ensure at all levels we have women at leadership level or focused discussions are happenings to ensure women feel comfortable work environment. This is positive sign and they are no longer weaker sex, they are equivalent to male." - Ram (Live Best Solutions)

Life is beautiful... so what you are doing about it?

American actress Brit Marling once said, "Life is beautiful because it does not last". So what you are doing about it? We come across many people, who have certain passions that make their life more beautiful. Ideas Into Action sessions are focused towards highlighting some of those individuals, we come across.

This platform had heard from inspiring professional and friends like Rahul Agarwal (CEO - Lenovo) - A Fitness Expert; Kulwant Singh (CEO Food Products Manufacturer) - Pro Golfer; Ramita Arora (City Head Cushman & Wakefield) - Car Rally Pro; Dharma (Ex-KPMG Consultant) - Running Coach; Amit Somani (Partner - Prime Venture) - Reader, Budding Blogger and Ideas Expert; Amit Gupta (Group CEO NewsNetwork18) - Awareness Guru; Architect Anand Dugar (Designtude) and Dhananjaya (DellEMC) - Swimming enthusiasts and many more, who made their life different and better following their passion.

This time, as well, we listened to another inspiring personality, who is not only Global facility Head of Subex Group, but also a person who followed his passion for acting. A professional model with more than 500 TV commercials and ads to his credit, Harindranath has worked with more than 30 current movie stars. He says his younger day's passion for modeling still keeps him engaged in his day to day work at more deeper level. He talked about his modelling assignments and how it helps in keeping work life balance in his presentation at the IIA session.

"The atmosphere at IIA was electric with oodles of enthusiasm and anticipation. Engagements on sensitive issues is often an expressive one and this was no exception." - Hari (Subex)

After Hari's talk, that covered his struggle to find work in Chennai and how his three movies could not get distributed, it was time to talk about my passion - Writing. This passion has made my work & life both, far more meaningful and satisfying. Every Haiku (Classical Japanese form of Poetry where in three lines of 5-7-5 syllables, one has to paint a picture) that I write brings about a sense of wonder and admiration in day to day life. Writing each Haiku is a form of meditation for me.Writing gives clarity to my thoughts, focuses me on my day ahead.

Which prompted Sudhakar Pai (SPA), probably the only architect in Bengaluru who had read one of my books "Songs Of The Mist"(Ranked 29th in Amazon's Best Seller list in April, 2016) to share his thoughts about my book.

Girish Ramanathan shared his passion for environment and health, which resulted in creating a business on its own. As the discussion progressed, people opened up to share their passions and how it makes a difference in their own life and work. I was pleasantly surprised to know my colleagues from Cushman & Wakefield - Rishi is a great shaayar (Reciting Urdu Poetry) and consistently wins prizes on radio and Mitali has been a DJ in her previous professional avatar. Sandipan (Unisys) is a tabla player and Partha's daughter sings Korean Rap. Looks like the next IIA Event will have an in-house concert.

SAVE THE DATE

"IDEAS INTO ACTION - SESSION V" WILL BE HELD ON 28TH JUNE, 2018

The 'Ideas Into Action' event is periodically held at Hilton Hotel, EGL, Bengaluru in collaboration with Edward Kumar (Bene), T P S Raman (Toli) and Shashidhar Sharma (Cushman & Wakefield).

Please do get in touch with us to be invited to this event.

Read reports on Ideas Into Action - I | Ideas Into Action - II | Ideas Into Action - III