No Worries

We go through life worrying about all kinds of things. The trivial, such as what will I wear or what will I eat. To what we consider serious, such as, "BUt how could she have said that. I thought she was a friend." The only constant in most of our lives is worries, so much so, that the first English word known by many non English speaking Indians is "Tension". A commonly hear senstence in fast paced Mumbai, "Mala khoob Tension Aahe".

Strangely enough, this Marathi sentence, loosely meaning, "I have too many worries" can be heard from the maids, to the risckshaw drivers, to the college going syduents, the working woman, the housewife, the executive and even the presidents of companies.

I came across one and then looked for and found two more videos that should make us think. After seeing them, you will never have any worries. Not that anything will change. But realization may dwan on us. What we have is a life filled with Roses and we need to learn to appreciate it. Especially when people who have "Worries" have figured out ways in which to have "No Worries".

The 5 people you'll see are as varied as they come. An American young man, a British middle aged lady, an Australian teenager of Iraqi descent, a young boy from Korea and finally a young student at graduation.

If I can, YOU can

Susan Boyle

Emmanuel

Boy Steals The Talent Show

Graduation Speech

The magic of IKEA

 

Yesterday I visited an IKEA store. And whilst I've always felt that it was a good idea, it dawned upon me how awesome the idea was. The magic of IKEA was amazing. It had a story. And they told it well. Very well.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/history/index.html

And like all great stories, this one to was a simple one. The clarity of the brand is visible in the IKEA business idea. Simple and self explanatory
"At IKEA our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people. Our business idea supports this vision by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/the_ikea_way/our_business_idea/index.html

And what they have done is remarkable. I'm not an expert in either furniture or retail. But it seems to me that the biggest cost in furniture is the cost of making it, and the cost of displaying and stocking it. IKEA did a very simple thing. It removed the cost of making, by putting the onus of making on the furniture buyer. Removed the problem of stocking by creating packaging for the now bits and pieces of furniture. And reduced costs by creating furniture as a standardized mass product.

And by using a small number of standard set of joiners, the re-usability of most of the products became phenomenal not only across similar furniture types but even across furniture types.

What is remarkable about the brand is that unlike most multinational brands, profit does not seem to be the only driver. They seem to care about the environment, the needy in society, children who need help and have again used their brand and money to support these.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/yearly_summary.html

The concept of IKEA Sustainable living is yet another of their good ideas.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/people_and_planet/index.html

Who says all corporations are selfish and greedy ?

Lessons learnt from my favorite eldest daughter

Last week my daughter wrote a nice blog about me. And as they say every good deed deserves a "quid pro quo". And so I said, that this weeks blog would be about the lessons I learnt from her.

At the point of saying that this blog would be about the lessons I learnt from Freia, I had no idea that these lessons existed. I was just reacting. And so I was surprised that when I sat to write I found that she indeed had taught me quite a few lessons. I'll limit them to the Top 5.

1. Ask Lots of questions

Even before she could walk, she would talk. And had a zillion questions. Many of them simple, innocent questions. Why is red, RED ? What is Time ? And in trying to answer them I realized that asking the right questions leads to interesting solutions.

2. There is no limitation to your imagination

Freia has a favorite TV show. And whilst I can't recollect its name, I recollect what she kept repeating. Probably to drive it into my head. "There is no limitation to your imagination". Watching that show with Freia opened up a whole new world of Imaginovation.

3. Keep an open mind

I had a habit of jumping to conclusions very quickly. Freia was the opposite. She would allow for all kinds of possibilities. Various discussions with her over the years, have not gotten me to completely change, but at least be open to changing the quickly formed opinion.

4. Its okay to do nothing

This is probably the best or worst thing I've learnt from her. Doing nothing. Don't know if its of any value. But once in a while, when I do it, its reinvigorating.

5. Live Spontaneously

I'm a natural planner. And Freia plans nothing. She lives spontaneously. Once again I'm not sure if this is good or bad. But I've managed to get some spontaneity into some of what I do, thanks to her.

And a bonus I've got from Freia is "A good sense of humor". She has a great sense of humor. And I realized this when she became the first (and possibly only one), to recognize and appreciate my sense of humor. :-)

Thanks FREIA.

Lessons from a self proclaimed old madman

Yesterday my daughter Freia sent me a mail saying she had written a blog about me.

I read it. And was touched. Touched by the article. And whilst I feel that a lot of it was what I like to call "embellishments", it was nevertheless touching.

We all love to hear people say nice things about us. And when someone we love and respect says it, we love it even more. And when that someone happens to be your Child, your head swells with pride.

And instead of rambling, let me reproduce the article.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Lessons from a self proclaimed old madman.

Anyone who knows me knows what an impact my dad has on my life. He's more than a parent and a friend for me, he's a role model and a guide, he's a partner in crime and my worst critic. But screw all this sentiness, if you've seen this you know that we're not any ordinary father - daughter combo, no. We're WAAAAAY cooler than that yo.

There are a million things I've learnt from my dad in the last 17 years, and I'm going to share just some of them with you.

1. Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di toh main apne aap ki bhi nahi sunta.

No, seriously. My Dad is the personification of commitment. As far as possible he is always on schedule, always does what he days and tries to meet every possible promise he makes.

Whenever we say "DADDDY BUT YOU SAID YOU'LL DO THIS", he stumps us with a "When have I ever said anything and not done it?"

No, he's not exaggerating.  He really is that cool.

Simple example: look at his blog. He decided in 2010 he would blog every week and so he did. 52 posts in 2010, 52 in 2011. This is the first time he's been behind schedule (Thanks a lot, Dad -__-)

2. It's always worth a try

I cant stress enough how true this is. So many times in my 17 short years, have I been able to sneak my way into (or out of) something seemingly impossible. A workshop that was full. Adding a song on a preplanned annual day, 24 hours before it. All of these things are all because of my dad. Getting cake and champagne delivered at 12 to my Grandparents at the Taj, even though I wasn't there. He always says "Try karne mein kya jaata hai". It can do wonderful things.

3.Work is fun. Work is worship.

Everyone but me  some people think my dad is a workaholic. But he's shown me time and again, that if you do what you enjoy and you enjoy what you do, you will never be tired. Like my dad! He works and works and works but for him, it's no big deal because that's what he does for fun. And for work! How cool is that?

4. No risk, No reward
This is something he taught me by example. He has taken so many risks, as a serial entrepreneur and whatnot. Most recently he dropped everything here and moved to the US. Sure, he had a job and everything but there was still a lot of risk involved. And if you don't take risks you wont be rewarded

5. Ideas Matter

For someone who coined the term imaginnovate way before it was famous, it's pretty obvious that ideas matter. He's always taught me to ideate, think out of the box, and think big. 

I've learned these, and many more things from him, and if I sat down and wrote everything I learnt from him, I'd spend all my life doing it.  But he's taught me so much, and continues to teach me more things all the time.

So thanks Pa, you've taught me more than you can imagine! :)

Pa: Feel free to follow this up with a "Lessons learned from my favourite eldest daughter"

You should check out her blog too:
http://thatgirlwhowrites.blogspot.in/2012/10/lessons-from-self-proclaimed-old-madman.html

p.s.: And Surprise, Surprise, next weeks blog will be "Lessons learned from my favorite eldest daughter"