Vjbreathes

I wonder, if free will were exercised fully, considering only the paramount consequences, our interaction with each other, our actions and deliberations would be so much different."The gullible human mind" is so used to behaving predictably and in a patterned manner. Amongst all my colleagues, I can predict the reactions and behavior of 90% of them with 99% accuracy. And, i don't enjoy it. Isn't this commonness UNAVOIDABLE? There needs to be some variety, you need to be irrational sometimes and you need to behave differently on occasions. I am not advocating "extremes" though. We need to develop an appetite for "outliers" and be comfortable with the idea of "outliers". When I wore a shade of pink to office the other day, some of my colleagues couldn't accept this deviation. They felt the color was "odd" and "girly". I felt devastated. I had spent 18 minutes(which is far above the average shopping time for men) in ...

Let Go The power to 'let go' is a very important for every human being. Especially in this age of ever changing lifestyles and priorities. At a philosophical level, it' s called "Vairagya" in Sanskrit.  Advancements in technologies like ICT have made it almost mandatory for people of this age to be able to 'let go'. To be able to 'let go' is now a skill and an ability, and an important one at that. 'Change or perish' is the need of the hour. Change from Windows XP to Windows Vista and then a shift to Windows 7 and finally Windows 8 is an excellent example of how the 'let go' principle has become a norm. Further, it is also being observed that companies are investing their time and energies in making people understand the importance of this principle, and they call it by different names like "re-skilling", "unlearning", "re-learning" and so on. This also holds true to conventions and beliefs of peo...

Rang De (https://www.rangde.org/) is a pioneering web based social initiative that supports rural entrepreneurs with cost effective micro-credit for business and education. Through an online portal, Rang De enables individuals to become social investors by lending small sums of money to borrowers from low income households listed on the website. Launched on 26th January 2008, Rang De’s mission is to knock out poverty in India. So far, Rang De has raised social investments of Rs. 100.3 Million and impacted more than 17,000 borrowers with the help of 4,200 social investors. Many of these borrowers have been able to create or expand their business (ranging from cow-rearing to bag-making to managing tea stalls); while a few others used their loans to pay for the education of their children. To make this scheme sustainable, Rang De works hand-in-hand with local field partners (often local NGOs) who identify potential borrowers in local communities. Once the borrowers’ business plans are an...

Raghu Dixit- A musician turned magician! When my facebok page had an update about a tour called the “Freedom Bus Tour”, organized by Rang De and supported by Raghu Dixit on Aug 10, I saw an opportunity to meet my icon. I signed up for this tour without even probing the purpose. For me, it was just an intervention by God towards ensuring a fan-idol meeting. I signed up for this tour with a minimum expectation-MEET RAGHU. But then, the experience I had in this tour was mesmerizing. In fact, I gained much more than I expected. I gained knowledge of how poverty is gripping several people in India, even though a lot of us think about India as a ‘developing’ nation. I guess, several villages and towns of this great country are still “underdeveloped”. We boarded the “freedom Bus” on 13 Aug and reached Pusad   on 14 Aug. The locals welcomed us with roses and delicious ‘poha’ . “Pusad” is a small town in the Yavatmal district. I met a few rural women entrepreneurs operating in th...

1) Reduce travel on bikes and cars 2) Be the catalyst: Spread the message of car pooling at office.If possible, practise before preaching.You message will be taken seriously 3) You can even think of bike pooling.It will work, if you want it to for you. 4) Try cycling for a change, you may love it as well. And then, adapt to it. Do short distances first. 5) If you are making repeated purchases for household, and spend money travelling, decrease the frequency of purchases, stock up things, if you can afford it. 6) Mass transport is not a very bad idea. Try Volvo or metro, and check if it works. 7) Get a petro card/membership card and check if you can get some discounts or offers on petrol purchase. Try to get more miles with less  dimes. 8) If you are thinking of buying a new bike, have electric bikes, as an option. No need of liscence, pollution check etc. 9) Start waking to the ide of walking. Cover short distnces by walk. Locate laundry, grocery which are nearby. Walkin...

Dear Vj, Wish you avery happy new year.At the risk of telling things straight to you, I have a few important issues, which you need to deal with , head-on. The fact that you've become complacent and comfortable speaks a lot about the abstinence feom the kind of effort you need to really put in. You have to set some really tough targets for yourself and actually "achieve". And 'achievement' is not competition is not competition with people around you, but with yourself. 'Dedication', 'zen' approach is a must in this regard. Don't boast about anything you may have achieved. Its all very minute compared to people who have achived far greater things at your age or even younger than you, in many cases. Start thinking so as to how you can perfect yourself.Your aim of being one of the "best trainer in the world" should be taken vey seriously. Every day, is a new challenge. Look at ways to contribute more to your organization. Look at ways to...

“Brand Bare-Discovering the new rules of the fast changing brand world”-Brand Strategies to drive India towards a Super Economy status By, Vijay. G. Padaguri Faculty of Management Studies New Horizon College of Engineering, Bangalore Introduction: Branding, like many other disciplines has evolved over the years, from being more of an independent discipline to an integrated discipline with several complex factors coming into play. And branding has a profound influence on the way products and services are perceived in the marketplace and also the manner and extent to which products and services get sold. It is, but a stark reality that some of the super brands of today have originated from the super economies. Probably, in a converse approach it would be logical to say that countries which have been able to produce successful global brands have been successful in elevating themselves to a super economy status. The classic example in this case’ would be that of the USA which is ...