WAR LINGO IN CORPORATE WORLD

In the #corporate world, we love using the analogy of war in our presentations and conversations. This helps in bringing focus, attention and inspiration. 

So, terms like ‘attack’, ‘bombard’, ‘guerilla tactics’, ‘hostile’, ‘targets’, ‘bulls-eye’, ‘War Room’, ‘squad’, ‘surveillance’, ‘Ammunition’ are used abundantly in the meeting rooms and on the slides. 

While we love using military jargon in the corporate world, but we do not learn from them about standing up for your colleague the way the armed forces do. If you speak to a soldier or a military person, he or she is willing to die for their colleagues, even if they like them or not. 

Why? Because that is the only way they know. The readiness to give away your life does not come with conditions and bias. They have the same level of commitment for each and every colleague! 

On the other hand, in the corporate world, forget about life, we will even think twice in giving credit or a word of appreciation to our colleague because of the various emotions (dislike, jealousy, insecurity, ego) and feelings that will cloud our reaction.
So, the true spirit of military jargon will only come to life when we can walk the talk.

DIWALI KA SAFAR

As #India gears up for #Diwali, there are many new brand campaigns that are being launched. Each one of them tries to build an emotional connection, showing bonds between families and relatives, distribution of sweets, bursting of crackers and all the other rituals that you associate with this festival. However, in their new TVC, Samsonite India Pvt Ltd takes a step back and weaves a beautiful story through long form content with an impactful voiceover. It is a well made film with the right level of emotions and the connections between the scenes. I do not want to give away much as I would like you to enjoy and feel the ad film. 

Do notice how every story is related to travel, making it perfect for #Samsonite to own it. 

                                #diwalikasafar #kunalviews #communications #marketing

MAKE IT COUNT!

In the current digitally connected world, it is quite easy to think that we are establishing connections and building relationships without even having a face to face conversation. Despite the advent of technology, nothing comes close to a personal interaction because, that is when people feel close to each other, and cared for. With these thoughts in mind, I just crafted a few lines: 

Phone calls couldn't do much, 
What you could achieve through touch. 

You could gift them the best mugs, 
But the most happiness only came through hugs. You can promise them a treat, 
But what they want is to meet. Doing a phone call is nothing but a ploy, 
If you can't be there to share their sorrow and joy. Congratulations should be given by a pat on back, 
Not by a cold message through Slack. Apologies are messages said with emotion, 
Not a WhatsApp message with an emoticon. Nothing works better than a smile, 
Don't be lazy and walk that extra mile. Building a relationship takes some time, 
Meeting people in person is not a crime. Don't drop an email, meet face to face. 
Don't be busy in your inbox, life isn't a race. hashtag#poetry #poem #kunalviews #success #corporate #technlogy #break #connection #personal #relationships

Why Don't You Write?

`Why don’t you write these days? It has been a while since you wrote something.`

He did not have a response. He knew he was guilty. Guilty to her and guilty to himself. There were thousands of stories within him, hundreds of poems bubbling, waiting to be leashed out and a string of words that came into his dreams every night, but yet there was something that was stopping him. Was it the famous writer’s block? Was it inertia and laziness? Was it distractions that gave him instant gratification without much effort in comparison to writing which took its own time and effort and the gratification wasn’t even guaranteed?

Yet, whenever she would ask him innocently on why he wasn’t writing these days, he felt as if he owed it to her to sit down and write something. It was even ironic that while he himself was struggling to write, he kept pushing her to write every now and then and she would oblige by coming up with the most beautiful stories that were recognizable and relatable to all, stories that resonated with its readers, stories that stripped the outer layer of human emotions that were all made up and went deeper. It was as if she had access to the realms of people that they themselves weren’t aware of, but yet, every time they would read what she had written, it would leave them with a pang of pain, a sense of moral dilemma or deep pathos that made them sit back and reflect.

He was her biggest critic as well as her biggest admirer. He would read lines and words in her story that would make him wonder in awe on how she thinks, what brings to the surface such deep lines and how she surprises him by going one step further in her craft than what he would think is her limit.  Oddly, he would feel proud that she belonged to him and loved him, that she had the purest heart which got reflected in her stories, that she wrote on his insistence every time and yet his writer mind would also feel a tinge of jealousy. He would happily tell the world that she writes and would urge others to read what she wrote and yet he would wish that someday his craft would get sharper enough to stand next to hers. He knew there was some distance to be covered, he knew that her writing was the spark that he needed every now and then to improve his writing but what he kept forgetting was that to even come close to her, he had to write first.

Why don’t you write these days was a question that she asked him innocently but she didn’t know that it started the rusting machinery once again. 

The Misadventures in this Adventurous Trip!

Every time, man thinks that he has become the most powerful being on this planet, nature has its way of telling the person who is the boss! Who said reaching the mountains was easy? Every mountain comes with its own story of adventure, surprise, excitement and many other emotions. 

Last month, that is the month of Aug’16, I got a chance to visit two mountainous areas in two different countries – The Highlands of Scotland and the Cliffs of Moher of Ireland. Technically, both are not mountains that I had to trek or climb, but yet the view and the experience was just like that of a mountain. 

Taking a flight to India and then a car to the highlands should seem like very normal and easy but like I said at the beginning, mountains will test you, your patience, your perseverance, your passion before they reveal themselves to you. So what really happened and how did my story unfold?

Let me begin from the time I left India. I was flying on an Emirates flight, which had a stop over in Dubai and just two days before my flight was when Emirates had a crash landing in Dubai, which was in the news all over the world. Do you see the similarities? I am flying the same airline from the same country (India) to the same country (Dubai), where one of the planes of the airline had crash landed! But I wasn’t changing my plans because of this incident so I decided to go ahead.

Changing of flights at Dubai airport was hassle free and I was amazed that the airport seemed absolutely calm, two days after such a big event. Little did I know that there was a storm that was brewing at the back end of the airport, which we would only get to know about much later. From Dubai, I landed at Glasgow airport and kept waiting for my luggage at the conveyor belt. From ten minutes to half an hour to an hour and there was no sign of my luggage. And then I saw a few other passengers from my flight filling up a form at a temporary table that had been set up at the airport. On going there, I got to know that about 200 bags had not been loaded at the Dubai airport due to the ongoing chaos and so people were filling their baggage details so that the airline could get in touch with them once their bags would arrive. Obviously, I was one of the victims! So here I was, in Glasgow for just three days with no clothes, no toiletries and no other items that I had carried. I was sure that I would get my baggage in a day but that was not to be! Multiple calls and follow ups later also, the authorities weren’t able to locate my baggage. The day I was supposed to leave for the Highlands is the day I decided to go to the airport to the Emirates counter to inquire about my bags once again but they had no trace of it. What that meant was that I couldn’t hire a car to drive into the highlands and at the last minute, I had to take a bus to reach my hotel in the Highlands with still no trace of my baggage.

The bus ride was smooth except the rains that were coming. I kept thinking to myself that how would I go to my hotel from the bus stop in this rain. Since I had not managed to get a hotel in the main town of Glencoe, I had booked a hotel in another town called Crianlarich, which was about an hour’s drive from Glencoe, which I thought could be covered easily since I would have a car. As soon as the bus reached Crianlarich Bus stop, I got off and right in front of the bus stop was my hotel. Now that seemed like a good sign till I realized that all of Crianlarich town was this hotel plus a few houses! That isn’t the best of places for a solo traveler, but then what choice did I have. 

The next morning, I took the city bus and got off at the entry point of one of the National Parks. I realized that I was one of the first ones to arrive at the pier and there was no one in site. I soaked in the beauty, took a few pictures and by the time I was done was when a few tourists started arriving. I decided to stay back and spend more time with people around. Soon I realized that most of them had come in huge groups and were a part of the tourist buses that had come in from Glasgow. I decided to try my luck and requested many bus drivers to add me to the tour so that I could also see the other sites along with some company. Unfortunately, either the buses were full or they did not have a policy to add one more passenger in the middle of their tour. With no other choice, I once again took the local bus and decided to go all the way to Glasgow and get off there. I enjoyed the sights of many mountains as the bus drove to Glasgow, got off and took a lovely walk in the town of Glasgow, enjoyed a hot chocolate in one of the cafes and spent a couple of hours before the same bus was to pick me from here and drop me back to my hotel. 

Now if you are thinking that what happened to my luggage all this while, then here are the details:

a. My calls to Emirates call centre continued throughout the day.

b. I had done a bit of shopping in Glasgow to manage clothes once my baggage didn’t arrive for more than 2 days. 

c. Emirates finally located my luggage and sent it to my hotel in Crianlarich a day before I was leaving Scotland!

But then again, these were not the only mountains that I was visiting. So the next set of mountains brought its own set of challenges. I flew from Edinburgh to Dublin and landed with the intention of hiring a car and driving to the countryside and spending a few days there. For some reason, there weren’t any small cars available and I did not want to pay a bomb for a bigger car for a single person. I decided to use the RyanAir website to book a car as I had flown through them and they were offering me an option. Once the booking had been done, payment had been made is when I got a mail that said ‘Your booking is being processed. We will let you know once it gets confirmed. It may take anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours.’ Ouch! That was not what I was expecting. I kept waiting at the airport for a confirmatory mail for two hours but when I couldn’t see a ray of hope, I decided to approach the RyanAir counter to seek help. They were kind enough to give me the Customer Service number, which I called. They regretted that the booking hadn’t happened as no car was available, but they could book me on another car after half an hour, but I had would have to pay more than what I was paying earlier. With no other choice in hand, I decided to go ahead with whatever I could get. 

I got a nippy little hatchback of Volkswagen and I went off to continue my trip. After driving about 100 km, I decided to take a break and pulled myself into one of the food courts that come on the highway. On coming back in the car, I realized that my car was not getting into reverse gear. Now that was not good! I tried changing the gear multiple times but to no avail. Finally, I saw a young man passing by and I asked him if he could help me with this problem. He got into the car and was able to put the car in reverse within seconds. He then told me that there was a particular way in which this car would go in reverse gear. I heaved a sigh of relief. 

Going ahead, another 50 km down the road is when I reached the toll plaza. Due to some miscommunication, I thought that all tolls on my hired car has been paid and so I decided to drive through the unmanned toll plaza but the boom barrier did not open. Now I couldn’t figure how to operate the toll machine. Thankfully, there was an old gentleman in his car right behind me who told me about the Assistance button that I had to press and speak to toll help. After about ten minutes, a toll assistant came to my rescue, explained to me how it works and then I was able to move forward. 

It took me 5 hours to reach my hotel near Cliffs of Moher and I was so relieved that I finally made it. 

On reading this, you must be thinking that this trip must have been so much of a hassle and pain for me. Let me tell you that once you see the beauty that nature has kept in store for us, all these hassles and pain just go away as you realize that the world is so beautiful and one has to take some efforts to witness this beauty. As the old adage goes ‘No pain, no gain’ and these pictures below will prove that!

DLF Emporio - luxury with a capital L

If you want to indulge yourself and luxury is what’s on your mind, then just head to DLF Emporio in New Delhi. It is a mall that defines class, luxury and prestige. It will make you want to soak in its elegance, exclusivity and aesthetics every time you visit.

Located in South Delhi’s tony Vasant Kunj area, DLF Emporio houses 74 International brandsalong with 111 Indian designer brands and other lifestyle brands under a single roof. Designed by architect Mohit Gujral in a five-star setting and conceptualised around two dramatic atrium courtyards with skylight, it has openness as its central theme.

Some of the top-end international brands that form a part of DLF Emporio are Alfred Dunhill,Bottega Veneta, Canali, Cartier, DKNY, Ermenegildo Zegna, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Tods, Tom Ford, Versace, etc. These are brands that fashionistas love to flaunt and they spend considerable time and money here in a bid to make their lives more glamorous.

If you have a big Indian wedding coming up, then once again this mall is the place to head to, as you get a plethora of choices - Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla, Abraham & Thakore, Ashima Leena, Ashish Soni, Kimaya, Malini Ramani, Manish Arora, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal, Satya Paul, Tarun Tahiliani. Any designer worth his or her money has a presence here. With so many options to choose from, you definitely won’t go back complaining that you did not get what you wanted.

After some retail therapy, one is bound to get hungry. Fret not, as they have taken good care of that aspect as well. They have a SET’Z – Restaurant and Bar, spread over an area of 19000 square feet featuring six world cuisines – Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Italian and Indian.  If you are in the mood for a quick coffee or an ice-cream, then head straight to Café DLF Emporio on the Ground Floor in the lobby area and enjoy the experience of Palm trees and their lovely sink in sofas. During the Delhi winters, if you want the lovely rays of the sun from the terrace, then you should order your pastries from On the Go and enjoy the weather.

All of this put together makes this the best luxury mall that India has to offer. If you have not visited yet, make sure that it's on your agenda the next time you're out and about or visiting Delhi.

LETTING GO

The topic that I have chosen for today’s blog has some relevance in each and every one of our lives.  As human beings, emotions play a significant role in deciding our behaviour and in building relationships and attachments towards people as well as inanimate objects and things.

Quite often as someone or something becomes ours, we tend to get emotionally attached to it very strongly and the reasons for the same can be multifold. Some people or things bring joy and happiness to us, some others have a certain strong memory/memories attached to it, while some others have been acquired by putting in a lot of value (money or time or emotion or efforts).

From here on, I would like to talk about people and objects as two separate entities as each of the two has a separate emotion and value to it and it would be foolish to talk about the two in the same frame or with the same lens.

I will start with the inanimate objects first as they can be dealt with far easily than people. When I say that they can be dealt with far easily, what I mean is that one can let go off them far more easily. Yes, letting go…..two words which most of us hate to hear when it comes to things that we are very fond of. Letting go is a very strong action which requires one to be strong mentally and emotionally as letting go in most cases also means that you are accepting the fact that the thing will go away from you forever and you will not get to see it again in most cases. It is a very difficult act to perform and that is the reason we see a number of people holding on to a number of things dearly.

Let me illustrate what I am saying by a number of examples.

I have seen a number of mothers keeping the small clothes and toys of their kids, neatly folded/packed, occupying a large amount of space in their houses and cupboards even though the kid has become an adult and has left the home for a bright future. For that mother, there is no monetary value to any of these items but there is so much of nostalgia and memory attached to these items that asking her to let go off these can be very difficult.

Similarly, there are a number of women who still keep a size 26 jeans in their cupboard although they have outgrown that size a number of times over the last few years and they know it very well that they will never be able to reach that size again unless they decide to starve themselves. Yet if you were to ever ask them to let go of this jeans, the response that you will get is that she is keeping it so that she can wear it once again when she comes back to size 26.  Here again, when the woman looks at the jeans what she is actually remembering is that there were those days when she was really that slim. Nostalgia and memories once again play a big role in not allowing her to let go of her jeans.

You have a number of such cases of people keeping things that they won’t use again in future – books, clothes, toys, shoes and the list can go on.

It is always a struggle for them to let go of these possessions but sometimes you need to take that big step and just let it go as most of these things just occupy too much of space, which can be used to store or keep something else. Unless and until the emotion behind keeping that item is way too strong, you should just follow the rule of 6 and let go of these items.

Rule of 6 is an interesting rule that allows or facilitates letting go with some amount of ease. All you have to do is go through all the things that you have/own/possess every six months and ask yourself that which of these is something I have not used/worn/taken out in the last six months and put all those items aside. Once you have got them separated and if they are more than 6 items then what you can do is ask yourself that which of the 6 out of these is something I can let go off without feeling very bad. Select those 6 items and just discard them. You will feel better at this after sometime and you will also realise how much space you have got for new things and items in your life.

Now that the easy part has been talked about, let me talk about the difficult part which involves letting go of people.

Just look around and you will see a number of people who are holding on to another person even though there is no meaning left in holding on any more as there is no love or no happiness or no bond.  You see people holding on to companies (who I will consider as people) even though they are not happy there, people holding on to their partners even though the relationship or marriage has gone kaput, people holding on to friends who are really not friends but opportunists.

In most cases, people are holding on to other people and not letting go because of:

1. The time and effort that they have given – Seen mostly in case of companies, relationships and friendships
2. Kids and Social stigma – Seen mostly in case of marriages
3. Fear of the future and the unknown – Seen mostly in case of companies, relationships and marriages
4. Inertia or the mental strength – Seen mostly in case of companies and relationships

Almost all the people know when there is a genuine bond or feeling between people and when are they really holding on. There is just no point in dragging it for more time when you know that the result will be the same or worse. Of course, in the case of people, one has to try much harder and see if there is any merit and value in holding on or not before deciding the next step.

Yes, letting go in this case is not easy at all and it can really drain you out but sometimes when it has to be done it has to be done. Unfortunately there is no rule of 6 that can work in this case. The only rule that works here is asking your heart and your head whether it is worth continuing any more or will you be happy and better off outside and with that single approach, just go ahead and let go.