People & the Ordinary

It all began—as many times it does—with a cup of coffee. “Professor,” I said, “eco-anxiety is the new pandemic today. Young folks are spiraling. Between the IPCC, the AQI, and the RSS feed of floods and typhoons, nobody is breathing properly—except those who can afford air purifiers.” The Professor nodded solemnly. “Indeed. The air in Delhi and now in Mumbai is thicker than my Mysuru…

In my younger days, I used to be listening to program called “Saturday Date”. Saturday Date was a cherished radio program broadcast by All India Radio (AIR) Bombay, particularly popular from the 1960s through the 1990s. Airing at 10 PM to 11 PM on Saturdays, the show featured English pop music and allowed listeners to send in song requests and dedications. It provided a unique…

What if the next great ESG consultant isn’t a MS or MBA, but a radio jockey, stand-up comic or a sustainability event coordinator? In the era of AI, conversational agility and prompt engineering may just be the specialization the sustainability services need. Most of us in the consulting services profession find retaining people a challenge. People come and go and change jobs like the tee…

In almost all conferences today, there are keynote speeches. In the inauguration, you will generally see address by the Chief Guest or Guest of Honor and a key note speech by an eminent personality. When the program is generally conducted in sessions, you see a key note speaker featured for the session as well. Then there is a valedictory address to be given at the…

I am always in a fix when someone asks me for a photograph for including on the social media or in the brochure of the panel discussion or a conference. Most of times I don’t easily find a good or a suitable photo on my hard drive or on my iPhones photo gallery and so I finally settle for a photo that I really don’t…

Simply said imagination is the ability to form pictures in the mind. The term imagination comes from the Latin verb imaginari meaning "to picture oneself." Paraphrasing Merriam Webster, imagination means: The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality A creative ability or the ability to confront and deal with a problem So, Imagination is often linked to creativity and contrasted with…

"If I Were a Rich Man" is a song in the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, written by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. It is sung by the main character, Tevye, and reflects his aspirations to become rich. I have always loved this song and especially how Topol enacts it in his inimitable style in the movie. Tevye dreams of the material comforts that wealth would bring him. He describes the enormous…

(This blog is not my usual writing but my tribute to legendary singers Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris. And sorry readers, if you don’t like soulful music, and the silent messages it gives then please pass this post) Sooner or later we are all called to say goodbye…for the last time. When the day arrives, whether it is your own end-of-life or that of…

I was short of my visiting cards. I needed a pack of 200 badly as I was leaving for Bangkok to see my old pals and attend an Alumni dinner.  We were to meet after 25 years. Some of my pals were business tycoons, successful fund managers, chief sustainability officers and holding high position in the Governments. Of course the crowd also included some of…

As per the Merriam Webster dictionary, an “environmentalist is an advocate of environmentalism or the one concerned about environmental quality especially of the human environment with respect to the control of pollution”. Suddenly environmentalism is hot. Many double income young couples want to switch to vegan diet. School children in private (and expensive) schools want to do more community based green projects to build their…