I recently spoke at TEDxIIMRaipur. They had a wonderful theme: “Thoughts, Actions & Beyond”. In this post, I have shared the summary of my talk & the video (at the end).

In this open letter to my teachers, I am trying to ask a few questions I couldn’t ask as a young student. The idea is to try and move everyone on to a better path. Some would say I am being idealistic. Why not? Our teachers are framing the society, one kid at a time. We deserve to ask them questions!
Dear Teacher,
You have always had an issue with me- ‘Why I do not respect you fully’. That’s because me and my friends do not respect teachers but respect ‘Good Teachers’ only. The hardest job that my friends & I face today is to behave in a well mannered way without seeing ‘Good manners’ anywhere around us. Be it college or be it at home.

to see them as ‘Package Deals’… People are like mobile phones. Some have a great camera but poor battery life; some are great at music but are average at processing speeds, some look sleek but are v expensive. Ditto with people! All we need to understand is that you JUST need to be bothered about that feature in a particular person which is important to you. You need not confuse your mindset with a feature that is not pertinent to your usage. Accept people as ‘package deals’& that’s about it. That’s the secret art of managing people!

Shilpa Shetty in the movie Dostana said it so right in the song— ‘Shut up & Bounce! Baby Bounce’. She has a baby, a cricket team and a husband too now (not necessarily in the same order). If people would have understood Shilpa’s message in that song; they would not be over doing their TALKING in their lives 🙂 … This blogpost is about the ineffective communicators and their habits that ruin whatever comes out of their mouths.

I saw her frantically reciting a mantra. Her hands were intensely locking each other in prayer. Tears were there; which she was trying to hide from the curious eyes of onlookers. I still do not know her name. I never asked her. But the worry lines on her face made me re-think my To Dos for a Healthy Life.

Vacations enhance ‘Bonding’ between family members. They are forced to see each other and live with each other while on a vacation. If done well vacations have a tremendous recharging value too. But I have hardly seen people taking 100% vacations. Don’t kill your vacations after you have gone through all the trouble to find time to go on one – by being all over the place!