My Year 2021 in a Flash

There have been those who follow me on LinkedIn, (over 3,300 when I last checked) and there are a few on Twitter (over 1300 ) and  on Facebook( about a 1000). Thanks to each one of you for participating either directly or indirectly in web-based exchanges. Here’s a little listing sheet for those who’d like a glimpse of what 2021 was like. The pandemic of course topped our attention spans. Seems a miracle, we’re here today.

Books I read this year and would recommend

1.       Emotional Agility by Susan David

2.       The Silent Coup by Josy Joseph

3.       The Gift by Edith Eger

4.       The Indian Boss at Work by Steve Correa

5.       Think Again by Adam Grant

6.       Who killed Osho by Abhay Vaidya

7.       The Courage to be Disliked by Kashimi and Koga

8.       Poona Company by Farrukh Dhondy

9.       Blueprint for a New America by Karl Albrecht

10.    Beyond Entrepreneurship by James Collins and Bill Lazier

The movies I saw in the year and would recommend. I am surprised at the variety myself!

1.       All the Bright Places

2.       Jai Bhim (Tamil)

3.       Grudge (Turkish)

4.       Miracle in Cell No 7 (Turkish)

5.       Malik (Malayalam)

6.       Minari (Korean)

7.       Love Me Instead (Turkish)

8.       Joji (Malayalam)

9.       5 Flights Up

10.    Sherni (Hindi)

 

TV Serials I would recommend you view to get a longitudinal take on phenomena and history

1.       The Good Doctor

2.       Marco Polo

3.       Fauda

4.       Medici the Magnificent

5.       The Family Man

Courses I facilitated this year

1.       Introduction to OD and Change Leadership – Master’s Program at TISS

2.       Introduction to OD and Change Leadership – Executive PG Diploma at TISS

3.       Mindset, Learning and Paradigms – CUSAT, Kochi University MBA Induction

4.       Tuning Behavioral Choices for the HR Profession – CMS Jain University, MBA in HR

5.       Use of Self in OD – TAPMI, MBA in HR

I share with you some resources I found this year that I thought you may like to dip into too.  

 

6.       https://sahilbloom.substack.com/archive  - a compilation business professionals can refer to overcome cognitive biases, has a great 'in the room' feel to it. (like Alexander Hamilton!)

 

7.       https://www.susandavid.com/ - for almost anyone who would like to navigate emotional states with flexibility in honest ways

 

8.       https://seenunseen.in/ - for mind-bending conversations of topical interest on matters related to India

 

To the many whom I’ve interacted with, especially my students – kudos. You’ve braved the virtual connect, and are holding on. Some of you actually suffered and recovered from COVID. Some of you have shared your bereavements with me. I’ve lost classmates across school and college myself. Many an episodes here gave me useful perspectives and insight.

 

9.       https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain Where Shankar Vedantam provides a part conversational, part academic angle to social psychology and neurological basis of human behaviors.  You can access the podcasts on Google podcasts too.

 

10.    https://brenebrown.com/podcast-show/unlocking-us/ Brene Brown has been on my list since 2010. Now with her atlas on emotional landscapes, you can tune in to nuanced descriptions of vulnerable human tendencies. Listen to her conversation with Edith Eger. How fascinating that it was Phil Zimbardo that inspired Edith's expressions in academics. 

 

 I was also invited to be a guest Speaker for Worldview Academy's 'OD Talks' earlier this year in September - Watch that session here.   

Another session that I was particularly pleased to host is with Steve Correa and V Kartikeyan, my batchmates from the NTL cohort we were part of. The session was for TISS students, but it is good for all who are interested in Organization dynamics in Indian context. Catch that here.

Hope you liked what I shared here. Drop in a word. Let's keep in touch.  

Unintegrated experiences - a thin awareness

This dawn I woke to the sound of near pounding rain. It is of course a matter of concern that an elder member in the neighbourhood chose to record the accompanying sounds from terra firma on video format. Not that we can deny him the pleasure. But if he enquires if someone’s making that sound in human form? A pitiful sadness in me for the aged man who cannot yet recognise croaking frogs of the season from snores of fellow humans.

22 degrees C. The wisp of the Bengaluru morning breeze. That’s what we pine for. I cleared the dry dishes to their respective shelves. Gin and tonic weather for those with the common cold, I thought. And where does gin come from?  The juniper ‘pine’ tree! As I walked indoors, I reminisced the use of the word ‘brisk’ too. Not long ago, between Flagstaff and Phoenix in Arizona, a school music teacher mentioned her elation for the weather at a scenic stopover. “This is the brisk weather we love here” she said to a look of wonderment in me. I had never heard the word used in conjunction with the weather. Quite the cue for her fingers on a catchy tune she would teach her students I imagined!

After making myself a lemon water mix with ginger, cinnamon and shreds of apple margins, I recalled the contrasting sunrise of the morning the day before. 

It looked like the clouds were giving way today too. So, I went on to the balcony to see the gerbera bloom, facing the sun like Helen Keller’s fierce optimism would.

I made myself a cup of oats. After adding a sprinkle of muesli, it was apt for breakfast. To complement the dietary fibre, I ate a small palayan thodan variety plantain. Not to let go the remainder of the apple half, whose margins were crushed into the morning lemon squeeze. I heard the newspaper thud that the delivery boy sounded outside the door. That did not move me enough to cling to the details the headlines would canopy for any traveling leader in politics or the contra-indications of the roads meant for city commutes. I left it to the pleasure of the morning maid to pick up. She, who cleans the floors and windows of the house has developed a fetish to pick up the newspaper and bring it into the house.

No sooner than she entered to commence her cleanse, I asked, “What was the rain like yesterday?” She promptly responded “Very heavy. Our house was leaking”. My wife then asked, “so is that why you needed the old plastic cover we were using?” “Yes, but I have not used it yet. I have kept it safely”.

I was even more curious “Is it because you need someone to climb atop the house?” “My youngest son does that for me”, she responded.

It did not seem like they were using the latest cover for protection from the rain. Saving for a rainy day, takes a literal and sombre tone. The briskness of the weather gave way to the uncertain living conditions. It did not please me a bit to know what other manner of burden the lady traversed to reach our home. She would have to walk about 50 to 100 metres parallel to an apartment complex which hosted 16 COVID cases. We are glad she completed two weeks since her second vaccination shot.

Within minutes she emptied the tabletop to clean the glass that collects the fine dust of construction strafing in from about 150 metres from our window. As she completed her cleanse, we got news of another 8 cases of COVID-19 from the apartment complex across our main road.

Amid the pleasures to the eyes, the palate and the privileges of being served, I am left with the reality of dolour. 

One is awakened not by thieves of the night, but by rain water leakage. Sleep lost in nature to nature. 

Others battle the pandemic. The taboos on unexpressed realities and pains unshared linger as unintegrated experiences. A pandemic of such trauma is small change, when the ones experiencing the discomfort are also carrying the weight of the world with them. 

One among the thousand funeral experiences of people whom we knew differently before, and have died to in the moment. As they flicker their realities and then withdraw into a necessary darkness for our growth. They were once like that. And this is now. Our choice. Do we integrate the light, the darkness and the versions of bandwidth or spectrum between in ways that honour their existence?