Perfect Show with Himanshu Rai : Exploring Life's Passion!

After a good long break of 4 months, Iam happy to present the next edition of Perfect Show. This show is something which I had been planning for a long time & will be liked by many. The Show guest; apart from being my Professor in PG, is someone who is highly respected & looked up-to. I had admired him both as a teacher as well as an Individual. May it be his innovative way of making the classroom session interesting or the eloquence with which he utters the Slokas, he always leaves an indelible mark on his students. It’s my pleasure to have Dr. Himanshu Rai as a guest in this edition of Perfect Show. 

Dr Himanshu Rai teaches PG and Doctoral students at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India, and his core area being Human Resource Management, Negotiation, and Leadership. He has also taught at XLRI Jamshedpur. Apart from academia, he had a corporate stint with Tata Steel for eight years where he played a pivotal role in developing Quality Systems for his Departments and the Communication Policy for the Company. In addition to his professional commitments, he is deeply involved in academic research, training executives across the board in various industries and management consultancy.

The latest feather in his cap was Common Admission Test 2010 (CAT 2010), as the Convener of which he successfully led the largest format change in world’s testing history exceeding all global standards of testing. He hails from a Vedically oriented background, making him a connoisseur of Sanskrit literature. He is strongly committed to yoga, which he has also taught to his students and is passionate about adventure sports, having led a dozen expeditions in the Garhwal Himalayas. An avid quizzer, he has conducted about 50 quiz shows across the country and has had a delightful stint in dramatics with many plays to his credit. He also juggles a keen interest in reading and collecting books with a strong dedication to music. You can know more about him here

Let’s begin with the Show now!

Guest: Dr. Himanshu Rai (HR)

Host: Prashant Sree (PS)

The PERFECT SHOW

PS: Welcome to the Perfect Show, Sir. Thank you for accepting my invitation to be in the Perfect Show.

HR: Thank You Prashant. It’s my pleasure be in the Show.

PS: Starting with the Perfect Show, What are you passionate about in Life?

HR: I am passionate about living, and I am passionate about learning. Life is beautiful and I love living every moment of it. In particular what excites me about it is the tremendous opportunity it provides me to learn and experience. I do it through my passion for mountaineering, trekking, reading, music and yoga.

PS: That’s sounds wonderful. To keep pursuing your passion in-spite of your busy schedule shows your passion for life. What are your life lessons which you would like to share with others?

HR: What I have learnt is that detachment is a virtue that can help you become a better human being as well as a professional. The concept of “Nishkama Karma” suggested by Krishna in Gita is the beacon that guides my life to a large extent.  

PS: If you could change one thing in world, what would that be?

HR: It is impossible to change just one thing for the consequences of that change would affect the entire course of history as it plays out. However, if I leave alone the intellectualization J and just play it like it is meant to be, the one thing I would change is the position and movement of tectonic plates! We seem to be having one too many earthquakes these days!

PS: I would have preferred the former reply to the latterJ. Who is your favorite Mythological Hero and why?

HR: My favorite mythological (or historical, depending on one’s faith) hero is Krishna. His life itself is a huge learning with the Gita being the icing on the cake. He is one character who is at once artful, diplomatic, detached, and sagacious. The way he handles issues, both philosophical and realpolitik, is amazing!

PS: What would you like to evangelize in your life?

HR: The need for our country to focus on primary education and community health, especially for the female child.

PS: What do you consider to be your charm, which you feel attracts people to you?

HR: My sense of humor.

PS: I can surely vouch for that. :) What is your Thumb Rule for Life? J

HR: ‘I don’t believe in miracles; I rely on them. Occasionally I create some!’. It actually is inspired by an Og Mandino quote which said, “I can accomplish far more than I have, and I will, for why would the miracle which produced me end with my birth? Why can I not extend that miracle to my deeds of today? “. Further, I have realized that I have been more fortunate than many others in my life and I owe it to divine intervention. J Being an eternal optimist, I expect these interventions to continue and in the journey, possibly, make a difference to some other lives as well.

PS: Wonderful saying; it is one of my favorite quote. It is certainly motivating to enable people to create miracles in their lives. Being a book enthusiast, what are your three must read recommendations for others & the reasons?

HR: My choice would be;

Gita: for it teaches you how to live

Siddhartha (by Herman Hesse): for it teaches you how to explore

Any PG Wodehouse book: for it teaches you how to write!

PS: Quite nice! I have found these books to be inspiring & enlightening, especially Siddhartha. Moving onto Entertainment, Name three movies which you have found most inspiring?

HR: My top three choices would be:

Life is beautiful, Gandhi & Dabangg

PS: Dabangg! Iam curious to know why Dabangg features in the list?

HR: Dabangg unapologetically presents a hero with darker shades of character, a Hindi speaking Robin Hood, but who is also a cop. Through its protagonist, it represents the importance of courage and also elements of realpolitik.

PS: Certainly, Dabangg did set a kind of precedent in the Bollywood Industry. What is your advice to the youngsters; on how to be successful in their professional & personal life?

HR: More often than not we are surrounded by negative thoughts for we have been told by people around us that we are not good enough, or not as good as someone else. You must learn to love yourself for what you are. Do not seek love or approbation from outside; seek it from within. Positive thoughts have to come from within; they can’t come from outside.

PS: My next question is regarding the Human Resource field. It is considered to be an easy job requiring not much effort. Can you share your thoughts on what could be done to make a difference in this field?

HR: Human Resource is all about motivation, and to do so you need to understand people and their individual needs. Having dealt with ideas and machines earlier, I can say with complete conviction that dealing with human beings is the most challenging job, one that has an extremely high emotional cost. So the statement that HR is an easy job is a myth.

One needs to understand that motivation is all about direction, intensity and persistence, and to instill that in people, one needs to observe and understand people with a detached perspective. 

PS: What is the skill sets required to be successful managers/leaders?
HR: Skills required to be a good leader: Communication, Negotiation, Networking, Persuasion; Traits required to be a good leader: Emotional Intelligence, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to new experiences and people

PS: On a final note, Iam sure this question would be of interest to the wannabe IIM aspirers. What is the secret to unlock the impenetrable CAT?

HR: There is no Secret ;). On a serious note, IIM Aspirants ought to focus on their basics in terms of the four areas of testing: Quant, Verbal, DI and LR. They need to analyze their preparation objectively, identify their strengths and weaknesses and then plan accordingly as to which areas to devote more time on in the prep stage. It is always useful to have a blank day just before the test, so that the mind is well rested and stress free on the test day. Also, they need not get bogged down by expectations, either raised through self or by others. They need to understand that CAT is not life, but a part of life and life has much offer to offer beyond CAT.

PS: Well said, Sir. With that, we come to the end of this show edition. It’s been a real pleasure having you in the Show and interacting with you. On behalf of my show readers and myself, I thank you for sharing your life lessons with us. Iam sure your life lessons would have been inspiring and motivating to young readers like me.

HR: It was nice to be a part of the Show. Thank you for your wishes and I wish you the very best too…

That's the end of this edition of the Perfect Show. I hope you enjoyed this edition. Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your loved one's a Happy & Safe Diwali!

Adventures of Rim, Jim, Sim – Quest to identify the inhibition to talk to a Girl! – Part II

Adventures of Rim, Jim, Sim – Quest to identify the inhibition to talk to a Girl!: Part I: here

The atmosphere was grim… The three of us sat facing each other. The only difference in the sitting styles was that I was looking down, Jim sat looking up and Sim sat with his face nodding in an oblique angle. One could say that our pose was reflective of our predicaments. I had just returned back from office and was really tired as I had a hectic day. But due to Jim’s insistence for coming up with a solution to the problem he faced, I was more or less forced to sit down with him. We had a 3 hour discussion about why he hadn’t been able to speak with the girl, but we hadn’t arrived at any solution yet. So I was wondering about his problem and about how long would this so called meeting would go on. Jim on the other hand was looking upwards, as if asking God for an answer. You might wonder about Sim’s pose that of an oblique angle, that’s coz he has a unique knack of sleeping while appearing to be hearing. You might ask how one could do that, that’s one of Sim’s special ability. He will make it seem as if he is listening to your conversation while at the same time doze off. His head will be nodding continuously more so coz he is asleep rather coz he is listening to you, but making the speaker think that he is intently engaged in the conversation. Only when you have spent a major amount of time with him that you would realize what he is actually doing. Few things that give him away would be things like his answer to your statements. No matter whatever you say, you will get the same reply. You might exclaim to him that you got to speak with a girl who you had been planning to talk to, and his reply would be ‘Ummmm’. And the same ‘Ummmm’ will appear when you tell to him that your boss shouted at you. Anyhow, presently Jim was too pre-occupied to think about Sim’s sleeping. The poor guy was lost in his own thoughts as to why only he had the inability to talk to the girl who he liked. And one would really sympathize with him. Finally when the clock ticked 1’O clock, we decided to call it off and retired to our beds.

The next few days went by with very less remarks about the girl from Jim. We assumed that the matter has died down with him. But unknown to us, the whole thing had been troubling the poor guy. It was at this context when the fate decided to play its dice. We had just returned from dinner when Sim rushed in with a paper in his hand. And he pointed to a column in the paper indicating some fashion show which was to happen this weekend.

‘We have got to go for it, guys’, remarked Sim… ‘See it’s also written that only limited seats. Let’s call the guy and book our tickets’

Jim remained mum. Not that he was an eager, talkative person normally but due to this particular enigma troubling him, he was more quiet.

‘Leave it, Sim. It’s better to hang out at some other place’ I said while indicating to him with my eye not to speak about this as this will remind Jim about the girl.

‘Hey come-on, this is a good chance for Jim to forget the girl and see few more attractive girls. Who knows he might end up liking someone and he can go talk to her’, remarked Sim, completely ignoring my signal.

None of us replied and remained silent.

‘You guys are bore, I think I will ask the new girl who had joined my team’ Sim said, flung the newspaper near us and went out of the room.

I was wondering what to do to engage Jim in a conversation, when he replied, ‘Let’s go for it’.

I didn’t get what he was talking about. Then I saw that he was holding the newspaper in his hand and was looking intently at it. I was surprised that Jim could change his mind about going to fashion show so soon when I realized that he was looking at a column at the corner of the paper. It was a tiny column about some seminar and went on to say about something called ‘Emotional Intelligence’. It said that if you are suffering from the following – “Not able to interact with people well, not able to express your emotions well, not able to utilize the best of your potential’, you had to attend this seminar.

I found it surprising that it had mentioned all the ‘NOTS’ in our life. After reading the ad, one might think that a human was not capable of doing anything on his own other than eating & sleeping. Nevertheless, Jim was completely enthused about this and decided to call up the guy and book 3 tickets. It was to happen on Saturday. I wasn’t sure if Sim would join us for the seminar coz he was pretty enthusiastic about the fashion show and had planned to go there with his friends. Anyway, I told Sim about the plan to go to a seminar on Saturday and invited him. ‘Ha ha, you old people go for this kind of seminars. I need to live my youth… Hope you will have a good time listening to some old greybeard deliver some lecture’, ‘ saying so, he left.

On the day, we were supposed to go for the seminar, Sim left the home pretty early to go and pick up his colleague before going to the fashion show. I and Jim were about to leave the home, when he came and parked the bike. He had a sullen face.

‘What happened. Did they cancel the fashion show. Or was it a male fashion show,’? I asked

‘Nope. She got stomach ache and couldn’t come. What fun is there by going alone. So I thought why not come along and take you guys to the fashion show’

‘Come on, Sim. You know how serious Jim is taking this. We can’t come with you today’, I said.

‘Guys, think about it. Haven’t you spent your college days listening to college professors. Why do you have to make yourself undergo this torturous experience again?’

We didn’t say anything, started our bike and left for the seminar. After sometime, we found Sim following us. We reached the venue well in advance. The only problem was that Sim started sulking too coz of the missed opportunity and for making us drag him here. Even I thought that the seminar would be boring. But as soon as we entered the inner hall, we found around 4 pretty girls clad in saree and welcoming people to the hall. Probably they were checking if people had the entry tickets and were guiding them inside. Sim’s joy knew no bounds. He dragged us towards the girls as if he was the man in charge, he told them about our booking and went on to talk about his job, how busy he was etc. The girl checked the tickets while patiently listening to him. She then asked us to go inside the hall. We came and settled in our seats. Hardly a minute would have passed, when Sim excused himself and went outside… I went outside to stroll for some-time when I saw Sim talking to the girl. I dragged him back to the hall and made him sit. Shortly thereafter the seminar began and a young man started the session.

During the course of the seminar, the guy wanted a volunteer for some activity. And as fate would have it, he ended up selecting Sim as the volunteer. Sim was asked to reminisce an incident from his childhood where he was bullied or he saw someone being bullied. He then went onto show how people mature & become emotionally intelligent at a young age. The audience gave him a warm applause. A thing to note about Sim is that he always wishes others to recognize him and tries real hard for that. In that sense, I think the speaker inviting him onto the stage really made an impact on him. His engagement for the whole duration of the seminar amazed the speaker itself. I guess he hadn’t ever seen a more enthusiastic volunteer involved in his talk before. What we eventually learned about emotional intelligence is the fact that EI is a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups, this in turn leads to an increased self-awareness, self-management, social awareness & better relationship management. It seemed as if the speaker was addressing Jim’s problem. Jim too was hinged onto every word of the speaker. The speaker also mentioned a main point about Daniel Goleman being the one to introduce Emotional Intelligence to the world. And the session went on. The lecture finally concluded and we left for our home. Sim’s scrambled at the last moment to get the autograph of the speaker as a souvenir, really moved the speaker to a great extent. The next day being Sunday, I was surprised to see Sim waking me up. This surely had to be miracle as he doesn’t gets up soon. I told him that I had to sleep more and asked him to leave him undisturbed. I could only hear his voice trailing off saying ‘Iam missing a big goldmine’. ‘Whatever, who cares about it now.’

I slept peacefully for 7-8 hours and woke up relaxed. I opened my eyes to smell a strong scent emanating from the scented sticks with my room thick and completely dense. It got me wondering if I had being teleported to Heaven… while I was contemplating about it, Sim entered and gave me a smile. I followed him to the living room to see lines written on the wall ‘Jai Gole, Jai Gole’. I got confused that Sim would have adopted Sanyasi living and ‘Gole’ must be some god in the vast list of Indian gods. It was when I saw the photo of Daniel Goleman kept in the center of the room and decorated as that of a deity, when I realized that the Gole was an abridged version of Goleman. Near the photo were stacked Goleman aka Gole’s various books on Emotional Intelligence… I asked Sim what was all of this. He replied that he and Jim had decided to follow Goleman’s teachings in their day-today life and one way they could integrate it in their daily life was to see him daily… Certainly few gods would have wished their devotees to pray to them like Goleman was being revered. The next few days saw Jim savor 3-4 books of Gole in rapid succession. He seemed to learn something from it, at-least it seemed so. Sim on the other hand restricted himself to saying bhajans of ‘Jai Gole’ and hoping that it would rub off the Gole’s magic on him. Sometimes during the night, Jim would sit and share few learning from the book. One interesting thing about it was the fact that Jim realized why he was facing inhibition while interacting with her. There is something called Amygdala effect which is nothing but the response of a gland called Amygdala (an almond shaped structure in the brain) which determines the significance of the external stimulus and triggers emotional responses like freezing or fleeing. The amygdala is specialized for reacting to stimuli and triggering a physiological response that’s described as the "emotion" of fear. Amygdala being the storehouse for the memory of fear, misinterprets signals from the body and cause inappropriate actions such as panic, increased breathing, increased temperature, localized sweating, freezing etc. This certainly made sense why people acted in a weird way. Sim reasoned here why not remove Amygdala gland itself as it was causing so much nuisance in the brain. Jim said it doesn’t work that way and said that Amygdala is beneficial for humans in certain critical times. Emotional Intelligence certainly seemed to be important in one’s life.

As the saying goes, ‘If you desire something truly, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it’. That was very true in this case. Somehow, after a week, Jim returned from office excitedly and remarked that she has been put in his project. The management had decided to shift her into his team for a new project which he was about to work on. Now, because of the close proximity, Jim got to try out his new EI skills with her. Sometimes he failed miserably. Once he was sitting in his cabin, when she came to a cabin next to him. He looked up and to his joy/misery, realized she was there. Joy coz he generally gets excited when he sees her, miserable coz he suffers from Amygdala effect due to high anxiety. When she looked at him, he smiled and in return she smiled back. She asked him ‘Howz work going on’. Poor Jim, he wanted to talk a lot, except that like the kid in ‘Taare Jameen Par’, his mind was full of colorful images of what to reply, but his mouth was completely shut. Thankfully, one grey cell in his mind was still functioning and he picked up his phone and acted as if he had received a call, while at the same time, managing a smile on his face. Somehow, he escaped the situation without embarrassing himself. By constantly re-affirming the fact that he is in control of himself and by undertaking few activities like breathing slowly etc, he was able to relax himself back to normal self.

Things started improving gradually. He was able to have small conversations with the girl now. As far the updates goes, he had taken her out for a dinner… To top it, Jim came home once and happily remarked that he will be going to the fashion show. The girl had always wanted to go to a fashion show and when Jim offered to take her, she readily agreed. Imagine what surprised us the most… Sim instead of fighting with Jim to go to fashion show smiled. When we asked him what was his plan, imagine our surprise, when he took out a ticket of the EI seminar and waved it at us… Irrespective of who had wanted a solution to a problem, it was heartening to see Sim on a quest to conquer Emotional Intelligence. His plans were to do a research on EI and put forth the concept of EI for animals. Who know which animal he may help in overcoming it’s inhibitions… nevertheless, it was good to see a good ending for Jim as well as Sim regarding his new conquest for knowledge…

The Top 5 Activities of MBA students in the final phase

Come the 6^th aka final term of a two year stint in a MBA programme, and one finds quite a few unique things happening around/to oneself. It is a different matter altogether that something keeps happening to/around oneself throughout the MBA course. But the 6^th term is somewhat special. May it be regarding activities, academics, interest or casual time pass; all of it gains a new perspective and like a kaleidoscope appears to bear a multitude of different things. Based on my observation of few things, this is a humble attempt to pen down the Top 5 activities actively (or passively) indulged by the majority of the students in a MBA campus. As Margaret Fuller says ‘Nature provides exceptions to every rule’ so is the same true here.

Do try to check if you can correctly identify the Top 5 activities by your own (Of-course before you reach the end of this article).So here we go with the activities stated in no particular order.

1. Quest for Nirvana

As surprising as it sounds, the fact of the matter is that many students develop a new interest in the attainment of Nirvana or Enlightenment during the ending phase of the MBA programme. It may be either coz they have seen/experienced a lot in their 2 year life period which makes them seek a higher purpose. But it’s to such a high degree that even the sages of Himalayas might feel insecure seeing the passion of these young fella’s. And yea, as the quote goes, ‘Its not in the idea but its execution which actually matters’, the students actually perform the Tapas (Meditation) most of the time.

They get good support from student administration who schedules the classes’ at a heavenly time appropriate for Meditation (Morning 8am). It’s becomes more convenient for the students to enter the class, sit in their places (depending upon the acoustic of the classroom) & enter the tapas mode in search of the Nirvana. There are also two different categories in this namely the inexperienced and the experienced ones. The inexperienced folks who are yet to master the secrets sit in the first-second rows & depend on external support (the Prof’s lullaby) to enter the Tapas mode. The more experienced ones detached from the external environment choosethe last row and enter the Nirvana state on their own accord. It’s amazing to watch a class after say 30 minutes of its start, and one can see ample amount of students in their steady, meditative state focused sincerely on a single minded focus to achieve enlightenment.

2. Job hysteria

This shouldn’t be hard to guess for any MBA grad. After all the main purpose why many left their well paying jobs and entered a two year Vanvasa was to ensure they get a good plump offer at the end of 2 years. (It’s a different matter altogether that what they expect and what happens is similar to intelligence and beauty quotient in girls aka Beauty Brains Paradox). Still, come the final term and it is the time when all things come to a standstill. 99% of the academic related activity whichever a student undertakes willingly would be for this factor ‘A Job’. May it be CV (Curriculum Vitae) preparation, CV submission, CV review, CV re-review, the fear factor ensures that you end up doing all of it and still wonder if the CV is good enough to feature in a company shortlist. Also, a new expert group emerges (who have been lucky enough to have pocketed a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) assisting out the poorer souls to help them conquer the Mountains of NoJobPhobia (read No-Job-Phobia).

3. Virtual Corporatization of the Institute

Few may argue that this activity should fall under the previous activity. While I completely accept the argument that it is more or less qualified to be a sub category of the previous heading, this has enough strength (qualities) to stand on its own. Let me explain why. While the frenzy over the job makes the students run around haplessly, this activity is undertaken by most of the student batch whether they have an option or not. And yea, the expert PPO groups aren’t left to choice too. It is a common belief that the orchestrations of all this is done by a special group aka You-Know-Who or They Who Must Not Be Named… Well, so the Virtual Corporatization refers to the corporate culture which the campus finds itself in. Hold on, don’t mistake that all of us evolve and start behaving like professionals which is hoped for in a corporate culture. Na, Na, far from it. What I refer to is the visible phenomena which could be seen as in a corporate place. Yea, iam referring to the suited Men & Ladies who run around helter-skelter to attend the company ppt’s, company interview, group discussions etc… The whole scene looks like hordes of suited people moving around. So for a person who might venture into the scene out of nowhere might wonder if he has entered a corporate office (excluding the jungle setup). I personally feel that the students deserve some Bravery award just to admire their courage to brave the bitter cold and live to attend the next day’s ppt too.

4. Awakening of the Explorers

Many of us seek inspiration from others who have achieved something great. In this case, one person to whom many look up-to would be Ferdinand Magellan (Yea, he wasn’t the first person to circumnavigate the world, rather it was his slave Enrique, yet going by popular belief & well known names, let’s go with Magellan).

I wonder how many of the MBA grads would have gone around the campus once, so going around the world can’t be thought of at all. In that case, the only option left to the so called explorers is to circumnavigate all the places in the nearby vicinities. So, gathering inspiration from Magellan or Columbus (If you like him), there arise a group intent on covering all these places. Well these places aren’t that well known to raise a second glance, yet to name few places near Lucknow, it would be Dudhwa national park, Khajurao (quite a distant 380 kms away), Agra, Delhi, all the religious bathing sites (Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kashi etc), Nainital & some places in Uttaranchal. So as soon as we get a free weekend, the explorers set to conquer these less well known places and derive satisfaction at the end that their adventurous appetite has been attended to. For the others who don’t prefer to wait for the weekend time, they ensure that they circumnavigate the inner areas of Lucknow almost on a daily basis.

5. Entertainment Marathon

This last activity is something which is indulged by almost every living soul in the campus. The time which we get excluding the time spent on Nirvana meditation and the Job run is exclusively devoted to this aspect called the ‘Entertainment Marathon’. This is nothing but the continuous watching of movies, sitcom’s, drama etc etc… It’s as if the life on the earth is about to come to an end, and every person has an unfulfilled commitment to watch a certain set of movies before time runs out. Few common conversations which could be heard would be suggestions on the movie names from the so-called movie experts. You might say what about the Bollywood flicks which release on a frequent basis, yet gauging from the failure of the recent flicks of Bolly movies (Tees Mar khan, ToonPur ka Superhero etc) to fulfill the student expectations, many have resigned to the fact that it’s better to see better movies in the comfy of their rooms rather than venture out. But there are still those who believe that their commitment to maintain the legacy of watching all the movies in theatre has to be continued and that their expectations will somehow be fulfilled by at-least movie.

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure… The life goes on. May it be the acads, competitions, events, a common thread unites most of the students and that is the intent to enjoy the best of remaining few days in the institute and to imprint few evergreen memories. Suited or not suited (where we really don’t have an option), one thing is for sure, as Barney in the well known sitcom ‘How I met your Mother’ says

“Its gonna be Legen… (wait for it)....Dary" for the remaining days.

P.S: If you are still scratching your head over intelligence and beauty quotient in girls, the axiom says that intelligence is inversely proportional to beauty, or that beauty varies inversely with intelligence, or that people (read girls) aren’t typically endowed with both beauty and brains!

S.O.M.E memoirs : Chat with Mrs.Anuradha,Prithvi Innovations

Hello all. We have started this S.O.M.E (Saviors of Mother Earth) memoir, as a means of chronicling the efforts and activities being done by environment enthusiasts. A little background about the series of events which has lead to this chat with Mrs. Anuradha. A group of IIM Lucknow students have joined hands together to form a group “Mission SOS” (Mission Save our Surrounding) for spreading environmental awareness and help people adopt more environment friendly outlook. The motivation behind this initiative is the fact that change begins from within, and that each individual can help make the world a better place to live in by consciously deciding to adopt environment friendly ways. As a part of our initiatives to help spread the message, we are interviewing prominent people who have been involved proactively in environmental awareness.

In this edition, we have Mrs. Anuradha Gupta, General Secretary of Prithvi Innovations sharing her experiences about founding Prithvi Innovations and her thoughts on various issues facing mankind and the way normal citizens can make an impact in living a greener life. The quoted line in the beginning is an excerpt from the interview. Over to the Show.

Host: P.S: Prashant Sree

Guest: A.G: Anuradha Gupta

P.S: Maam, we are happy to have you as a part of this Show. I on behalf of Mission SOS team invite you in the Show.

A.G: Thank You Prashant and Team Mission SOS.

P.S: For the starters, could you please share some information with us about Prithvi Innovations and the motivation behind starting it.

A.G: Yes sure. I would like to start with the motivation behind its inception. The primary thought was that each one of us as an individual has a responsibility of giving back to the society. We come into this earth from the womb of Mother nature, but sadly over a period of time, we begin to damage it unintentionally. Just think of this, a new born child which comes into this world, the air it breathes is going to be highly toxic given the current rate of environmental degradation. Don’t we as responsible citizens have a role to ensure that future generations are not hurt by our actions. It was this belief that led to the inception of Prithvi Innovations.



Prithvi Innovations

We started Prithvi Innovations in 1999 with a handful of members. We got officially registered on 2002.

P.S: That’s indeed a powerful motivation. So what kind of activities does Prithvi Innovations conduct?

A.G: Initially, it started with small activities like spreading awareness among citizens and involving children. Then we started arranging workshops, campaigns and involved the school children. We have conducted 2-3 major events, one with the help of International Physical Activity and the Environment Network (IPEN) who financed the vent, about sensitizing the citizens to the risk of poisonous toxins which the pollution is causing and the ways in which we can adopt more eco-friendly ways. We also conduct tree-plantation annually, and spread awareness about saving waste, recycling energy etc.

P.S: Good to know that Prithvi Innovations has been involved in a variety of social awareness activities. Coming to the involvement of school children, what opinion do you have on the involvement of youth in such activities and the extent to which they can contribute towards such issues?

A.G: That’s a nice observation which you have made. Youth, by virtue of their name, represent dynamism and tremendous energy. The contribution which they can make towards the society is huge. Yet sadly, the energy has to be channelized in the right direction. Once the children realize how important they can play a role, I think it would be easier to educate people about various issues. But initially, every youth must realize it within him/her. That survival doesn’t matter, living is what matters.

And today’s youth by all virtues are smarter, tech savvy and bright. It would be great to see more Youth getting involved in social issues. Global warming being the current critical aspect to be worked on, the Youth can play an important role in many ways.

P.S: Very true Maam. I believe with experienced people like you, being present to direct the students, the good work will go on. Could you share with us few examples of the ways which can be adopted by families or by communities..?

A.G: well there are varieties of things that one can do. To quote few things, one would be making judicious use of water in kitchen/bathroom. Another insignificant thing, which not many people don’t know is how their purchasing habits can make an impact. If people can buy stocks in bulk instead of buying it in random way, it would help conserve fuel, time and energy to say the least. One’s money is saved also one ends up making an effective contribution.

Another thing which I have observed is to practice the small things in home. As action always speak louder than words, it advisable to sensitize the children in families towards this. Once this is done, the children will go on to adopt many such practices.

P.S: You really seem to be passionate about involving children and sensitizing them towards the environment issue.

A.G: Yes, absolutely.

P.S: Very good then Maam. On a final note, your thoughts about Mission SOS.

A.G: Well, when I came to know about such initiative by IIM Lucknow students, it was good to see professionally educated students coming forward to join hands to work together on such issues. Iam very happy to get to work along with Mission SOS and my best wishes to Mission SOS in making a better impact and helping the world become a better place to live.

P.S: Yes Maam. Thank you for your kind words. Also, we wish you the best in taking Prithvi Innovations to new heights. Thank You for your time. J

A.G: It’s a pleasure to be a part of this interview. Thank You.

Please do visit the Mission SOS page in Rediff @ http://pages.rediff.com/Mission-SOS/5084

If you are interested in being a part of such initiative, and want to start a S.O.M.E (Save our Mother Earth) base at your place, feel free to contact us or share any experiences which you would have had.

P.S: I thank Uday for patiently recording the video of the interview. We will be uploading the video soon.

A Day with Prof Sunil Handa, an Entrepreneur Evangelist

We hear about so called Evangelist, in different fields. There are umpteen numbers of such folks. But there are few people who redefine Evangelism itself. They live, eat , breathe and preach what they love. You meet them once and it changes your life in a unique way. I have had the fortune to meet few such people. One such person who had come down to our campus is Mr. Sunil Handa, Professor at IIM Ahmedabad who takes LEM (Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Motivation) in IIM-A. When I saw the workshop invitation from IIM-Lucknow’s E-cell wing, I assumed it to just to be another so called workshop sessions. Except that this mail stated that he is not only a seasoned entrepreneur, he has inspired and motivated many of his students to take the untrodden path and become entrepreneurs themselves. I have been playing with this thought for sometime about taking the path of entrepreneur and making my mark, yet there has been this ‘What If” scenario in my mind. What if I fail, What if I don’t succeed… So I thought why not go and listen to a wise man and hear it from the horse’s mouth itself – what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.



Prof.Sunil Handa started the workshop with the question why have you people come for this workshop. Few said they had come to listen to him. Someone said that he had been having an idea in his mind for a long time and that he wanted to hear his speech to be inspired. Prof Handa called it the “Kick in the Ass” requirement.

And then he started sharing about his experience as an entrepreneur. One thing which stood out of his speech is the fact that the guy is passionately passionate about ‘Entrepreneurship”. Every word and every action of his would make you think and consider Entrepreneurship as your career option. The workshop he took was of three sessions of two hour duration. I can’t put down all that he shared with us (mainly coz I don’t remember all that was shared), yet Iam sharing the important highlights which he said about entrepreneurship.

Foremost, the point he said was that it’s best to become an entrepreneur as soon as you can. Few of the people had asked if it’s better to work for few years (2-3 years) , save some money, build network and then try out the waters. For which Prof. Handa said that the two years at this time of our life is equivalent to 20 years of his time. The energy, madness, passion and enthu which we have at this moment will fade as time goes on. Not to mention, the additional responsibilities which we would be having. Hence, this is the best time ! About the money saving/network, he said that at this time, the money we would end saving would be miniscule which can be arranged anyhow. And the contacts aim to make, would be of our similar profile, to be of any major help. Overall, his message was that the two years not is the GOLDEN period of your life. Leverage it!!!

Another important message which he had shared was the fact that whichever business you want to start on, make sure you are the KING in that business. Nobody in this world should be more knowledgeable than you in that field. Know the in and outs of the business, its working, your competitors etc. The moment you are qualified to that extent, you will be the best in your business too.

Then he told us the importance of Partnership. Partnership is the most important thing while starting out, hence choose your partner wisely. He advised that Partners should have complementary skills, instead of having someone you like, or someone you gel well with. He said that Partnership is a deep and meaningful bond which one has to share. So choose carefully and in a wise manner.

He also said the two commonly repeated phrases which a Entrepreneur hears often. First, is whenever you suggest to do something in new way, people will give you one answer – “we cant do it that way – Coz people have never done it that way!” Secondly, most of the time things will go on as they have been going on. Be it be any process to manufacture something, or way of ordering things etc. unless you question it, it wouldn’t change. And questioning is what every entrepreneur should do. Because, most often, we can find new ways of doing things much better. The standard reply people will give when you ask them why weren’t you told that this could be done before is – “You never asked me”

I will end up by saying the one thing he said which stood out in his workshop. You all would have heard about it, yet it’s the ‘Elixir’ for an Entrepreneur. It is “Never give up”. In the business and in life, you will face many situations when obstacles seems insurmountable, you don’t find answers to your problems, and nothing seems to be happening. At those moments, remember this – NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP ! Some thing would definitely happen., if you keep persisting, the problem is gonna yield sometime. But just ensure that you NEVER YIELD to the PROBLEM.

Thus ended the wonderful six hour session workshop by Prof.Sunil Handa. Just want to convey my sincere thanks to him and hopefully one day will give my Guru Dakshana to him by charting along the same path and making my mark. He is one hell of an Evangelist !!!