Mythology has always guided people since pre-civilization times. India, with its roots deeply buried in rich cultural diversity, has been living through many testing times as a secular nation. Myths and stories prevail all over this peninsular landmass, regardless of which religion had given birth to them. May it be the unparalleled Mahabharata, the Bible or the Holy Quran, lessons for life is the string that tie them together as revered religious epics.

 

On this effervescent occasion of Diwali, we would like to cite few such valuable lessons that the Ramayana has been imparting time and again, for centuries.

 

One: For the People

 

As the King of Ayodhya, Ram exhibited excellent leadership characteristics. The kingdom did not exist for him, but he as its rightful leader, existed for Ayodhya.

To be a true leader, one has to empower people with endowments and not snatch powers from them.

 

While we work in teams, we often come across people who fall back on us, seeking advice and or holding us in charge of decision-making that has total effects on their lives. Such instances require a leader’s guidance and not conquest.

 

Two: Leaders Create Leaders

 

Lord Ram was not in favor of burning Lanka. On realizing this, a guilty yet loyal Hanuman hesitated to make his own decisions. Having understood Hanuman’s plight, Ram ensured that the latter could rediscover his abilities and made way for Hanuman to independently use his powers to rescue him. During the course of the story, Ram created a leader.

 

Leading is not an eternal action. In fact the very idea of leadership came about in order to multiply exponentially, so that several others get to relive the dynamic experience of being a leader. Teams are dynamic in nature too. They involve change, evolution and growth through effective instillation of competencies in the members. When the right seeds of power are sown, new leaders are born.

 

 

Three: Righteousness

 

The Ramayana is illustration of how we should live life with integrity so those who look up to us as an example will have a good one to follow. From time to time, teams, groups, communities and nations have experienced an epoch of corruption.

 

The easiest lesson that we know of from the Ramayana is the win of good over bad. Ultimately, it is ethical governance that pays off. Ravan, however evil a person he was, he was equally skilled and talented. His biggest wealth was his intellect and inexhaustible determination. But the parables of his end surfaced the moment he had let go of his morality.

 

During several instances, we are challenged with situations that tend to pull us towards negative zones. Dishonesty might appear to be the best way out and deceit might look like the only harbinger of peace. However, harboring such thoughts may make peace with the mind temporarily but not with the heart.

 

This Diwali, explore your leadership potential. Allow yourself to bask in the thoughts of what makes you who you are, what makes you a true leader.

Light up lives and play it safe!

Heartiest wishes from the AIESEC India family!

Humankind has a basic need of wanting to be helped and talking about helping people but never actually getting to it. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

When you reach out of your own comfort zone, the magic happens. I came across three splendid instances where individuals have gone beyond their comfort level and reached out to someone. One always ends up wondering if there is an alternative to the accumulation of wealth and possession of materialistic wants. However, there is always that window of opportunity when you think beyond and at the same time do something beyond yourself.

Here is an interesting scenario. Cafes in Bulgaria follow the tradition of “Caffe Sospeso”. On literal translation, it means suspended coffee. It is an act of goodwill and kindness followed by almost 150 cafes across the city. Bulgaria is one of the least wealthy countries of the European Union with prevalent social unrest. This Coffee-on-Hold initiative sees people buying coffee for people who cannot afford it.
A customer walks into a cafe, buys his coffee but pays for one more or how many ever is affordable. People in need of coffee and cannot afford it ask if there are any coffees on hold and they are given the purchased ones. Some pay in advance for coffees that they do not drink so that impoverished people get to enjoy it. Nobody ever knows who has paid for that coffee and this is a blind act of kindness. The satisfaction of knowing that something you did is going to make another person happy is the motivation that has given this tradition the push it has rightfully needed.

Siddharth Sthalekar is the former co-head of the Derivatives Trading Desk and the head of algorithmic trading at Edelweiss Capital. He has also appeared on CNBC, advising investors and viewers on accumulating stocks. Now he spends his days serving food to people who are given the choice of payment. Funny? Not a transition people of his professional caliber generally make. But he did. He and his beliefs operate on the fundamental concept of creating value in the society with the firm notion that the society will support him back. He quit his job and ventured out to discover and implement the concept of a gift economy. Sthalekar then opened the Seva Cafe. He and volunteers cooked meals from Thursday to Sunday for free. Patrons walked in, ate their meals and paid as much as they wanted to or as little. The Seva Cafe aimed to remind people of the fact that not all people are governed by greed. He trusted his assumptions around the fact that irrespective of his or her economic standing, a person can still afford to be generous and kind, by either choosing to cook or pay for a meal. The beauty of this entire gift economy project is that it is not meant to run forever. It is to remind society that there is always a chance to exhibit generosity, whole-heartedly. People always want to help. They are almost always kind. The sole hiccup in their entire wanting to help is that they actually do not know how. The Seva Cafe started out as a small eatery where volunteers would cook and around 60 patrons were expected. Today, seven years later, the cafe still runs on the sole goodwill of the people. Given a chance and opportunity, compassion never loses hope.

Another beautiful initiative is the Share-A-Dabba campaign. Mumbai has an incarnate system of around 5000 ‘Dabbawalas’ serving 200,000 lunches everyday. The Dabbawals deliver around 120 tons of food, of which 16 tons are left uneaten and wasted. To put to use the uneaten food, this initiative was started. The streets of Mumbai are home to beggars and children who go hungry everyday. This initiative allows them to have at least a meal a day. The Dabbas that are delivered this way have a special sticker. If any Dabba has uneaten food that is fit to be shared, it is marked with the sticker and the Dabbas are kept separately. The uneaten food is then parceled and delivered to the orphanages and schools. These meals do not cost any extra money for those receiving the same.

These are three remarkable stories that have a received some limelight. Acts of kindness do not sustain on paparazzi. They yearn for initiatives, pro-activeness and a good heart to begin with. Not everyone can quit his or her job, but one can definitely put a coffee on hold.

– Prachi Shirole, Mumbai