Tag: Reflection

The Essentials in Life

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What would I consider as luxury? What would I celebrate? What would I classify as a moment of great joy? What would call as a divine blessing? Today, my answers to these questions are completely different from the ones that I had in my mind until a few days ago.

A twenty four hour period of continuous and very heavy rains between December 1 and 2, created an urban deluge that started submerging one locality after another in Chennai. All my family had were just the essentials, the bare minimum to carry on with our day to day activities. And yet, this bare minimum seemed at that moment and even now like ultimate luxuries for which I am very grateful to God.

I do not remember previous instance when there was no power in my house for two days at a stretch. Yet I was grateful that the rain water had collected only in my street and did not enter my apartment complex. The excess water let out from one of Chennai’s reservoirs was causing havoc at localities barely a couple of kilometers from my house. Army and NDRF were using boats and every other possible means to evacuate people from these areas. Though there was no power in my street and the mosquitoes were troubling us, we were safe and had the luxury of a good night’s sleep.

There was no power, no TV, no internet and slowly the mobile battery too ran out. The waterlogging in my street made it nearly impossible to go outside. As a result I spent most of the two days playing and interacting with my daughter. In those two days I should have played and interacted with my daughter more than I would have done in an average fortnight. And my interaction level with my wife, parents and neighbors increased significantly during those two days.

In that time of despair, a bunch of kids in my apartment complex found reason to play and rejoice. When the rain stopped on the third morning and the common area in my apartment complex was dry enough, I and my daughter walked from one gate to another. I also saw my neighbors either interacting with or playing with their kids.

In a city where the weather is hot and humid for most of the year, I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of a day when I would rejoice at the sight of the sun. And yet when the rains stopped and the sun appeared only for a brief period, I expressed my joy by shouting like a child. Thankfully from that moment, though the sun has been playing hide and seek the rains have stopped.

By the third evening, with the power still not back, we left to my eldest sister’s house in another locality. It was still raining at the time of dinner and we were all sick and tired of seeing more than a month of rain breaking one record after another as well exposing the limits of our city’s infrastructure. Though the environment was pale and gloomy, my daughter on seeing her aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousin having dinner with her described, ‘I am very happy. We are all having dinner together.’ I guess she was absolutely right. What mattered was that we were all together and we were safe. Everything else that we counted as the necessities of modern life seemed superficial and redundant. I thank God for providing me this moment/ opportunity to reflect on what is important in life. I hope and pray that the people whose life had been thrown out of gear and traumatized by this monstrous downpour find the courage and help needed to reconstruct their life.

Rains in Chennai

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I do not remember the last time when I saw so many helicopters fly. The incessant rains in December first week left my hometown Chennai as battered like a war-torn city. Unable to cope with unfolding disaster, the state government asked for center’s help which soon dispatched the army, navy, air force, the coast guards to join the NDRF which was already assisting the state government with rescue and relief operations.

Someone photographing the earth from several kilometers high in the sky would have been baffled at the sudden appearance of numerous islands in India’s South East. The railway tracks in the city, the major roads leading to and from the city, the roads linking different localities within the city were all under water. With the airport runway too submerged the geographic isolation of the city was complete. This is probably the first time in several years that train service from the three major railway stations in the city were stopped completely. And for the first time in several years that the airport operation in Chennai came to a grinding halt. And so many people in and around Chennai became aware of the names of all the rivers, canals and lakes in and around the city for the first time in their lives.

The photos that were being relayed across the globe of the devastation would have made everyone question, ‘Is this India’s fourth largest metropolitan city?’, ‘Is this the city whose name used to synonymous with South India until a few years ago?’, ‘Is this the same city that was so strategic to the British in India that it became the only Indian city that was bombed by the Germans in World War I?’ Every locality in the city was affected by the rains. Electricity and Telecommunication were completely cut-off. Instead of resembling a major metropolis, Chennai resembled a series of islands in distress and people were just castaway in their own homes.

The rainfall received in the month of November is the highest in nearly a hundred years. The rainfall received on December 1, is the second highest rainfall in day in the past one hundred years. In addition to Chennai, four other northern districts (Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Cuddalore and Villupuram) and the Union Territory of Pondicherry had to bear the brunt of the cloud’s fury. The endless streams of clouds resembled the unstoppable army of Anubis from ‘The Mummy II’: These streams of cloud unleased hell on Tamil Nadu’s northern districts and crippled normal life.

Nature became a neutralizing agent that made the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the well-connected and the not-so well-connected all equal in that moment of misery. While we cannot do much about the vagaries of nature, one should not forget the fact much of Chennai’s present problem is actually man-made. The steady disappearance of lakes and ground level tanks, the encroachment of canals and rivers, reckless urbanization, greed of the residents for cheaper real estate, toothless civil administration that that did not stand firm in instances where it should have been are all the pieces in the not-so difficult to understand puzzle that shamefully managed to convert the fourth largest city in India into a ‘DISASTER ZONE.’

Voting is both a right and a responsibility

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‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ – Uncle Ben in Spiderman

‘Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware)’ – Ancient Maxim

For every public role that a man or woman would play there is a qualification. If we want to be doctor we have to undergo schooling, then enroll in medical school as an MBBS student. All along the away at every important milestone we have to appear for qualifying examination and then clear it to move to the next level and receive the qualification/ degree. The same applies for other professions like Engineer, Auditor or Lawyer, etc.

However for one of the most important public roles, that of being a CITIZEN of the country, there is no training or qualifying exam in our country. As a democracy, everyone above the age of 18 years has the right to vote. The problem is that people are willing to treat their power to VOTE as a RIGHT and an ENTITLEMENT but forget that the power to vote is equally a RESPONSIBILITY too. Are we exercising that responsibility well? Are electing the right candidates to represent us? Definitely not. We pass on the blame for all of our nation’s maladies on to our politicians but we are part of the problem too. In fact the problems starts with us. Our political class is nothing but symptoms of deep rooted problems in our society.

Every one of us dreams of India becoming a great nation; but we are personally not willing to incur the small but numerous everyday costs that would collectively enable this dream to become a reality. Some of the guidelines to be followed in choosing our representatives include (but not limited to):

  1. We need to make informed choices and choose our representatives based on weighing the pros and cons of his governance record
  2. We should never choose a candidate because he represents the party we support (if the candidate does not merit being elected)
  3. We should not blindly support a party because historically our family elders have voted for that party
  4. We should not cast our vote for someone just because he or she is related to the leader whom we like

We blame that there are not many good candidates contesting in elections. But can we tell the difference between a good candidate and bad candidate? Do we know what information to use to arrive at that decision? Do we know where to look for that information? Do we understand the consequences of sending the wrong candidates to represent us? When the government doles out freebies, what are the other important projects that are being shelved? Where is the government borrowing from and who will pay the principal and interest for these borrowings? What would ensure in long term social progression? Where does India as a whole and individual states within India stand on each and every one of the parameters of Human Development Index? What’s the progress been over the years on these parameters? The answer to all these questions would be an EMPHATIC NO.

The only way to ensure this situation changes for the better is to have systematic qualification exam for voters or voters who are due to be eligible to vote. Going forward, the Election Commission of India, instead of adding anyone above the age of 18 (based on the proof of Indian Citizenship) to the voters’ list, should also conduct a qualification exam to assess if they are aware of the rights and responsibilities of a voting citizen. People who do not clear the exam should be denied a voter’s ID card and a place in the voter’s list. Since the cut-off age for being eligible to vote in India is 18 years, the age around which most kids finish their higher secondary schooling, we can have a subject for 11th and 12th standards across all school boards that deal with various aspects of the rights and responsibilities of a voting citizen. The curriculum for this subject should be handled by a constitutional body like the Election Commission of India. For people who are not fortunate enough to be part of the schooling system, the Election Commission of India should have an independent certification process.

The topics to be covered should include (but not limited to): a brief overview the constitution of India, the electoral process, the powers of the Supreme Court of India, Lok Adalat system, The Right to Information Act, sources to look for unbiased information on the back ground information of contesting candidates, etc. In addition, we should it make it mandatory for people to read the following books or similar books that deal with topics covered in these books:

  1. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman
  2. Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
  3. Games Indians Play by V. Raghunathan (this book provides the Indian Context very well)
  4. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

Note: The above list is only indicative and not an exhaustive one. There can be other relevant topics and books as well. Also there might be books that deal with the Indian context better.

People might question why limit this exercise only to new voters. The costs, logistics and politics of doing this for existing voters are enormous to overcome. Over four or five iterations of this exercise, we will have significant number of voters who would have come through this filtering process. If you don’t believe, keep in mind that the number of first time voters in the 2014 National Elections was around 12 crores!!! In four iterations, at an average of 10 crore new voters per iteration, we can bring in 40 crore voters through this process, a voting block significant enough make a positive change. It is well known in social sciences circle that the minority influence can in fact bring about social change, so making a start which is directionally correct is more important. Also starting with the younger population provides the added advantage that the young are not as much influenced by the social prejudices prevalent in our society and will be more open to change. We can also hope that the awareness created by the process of implementing this new system would have a positive influence on existing voters as well. We should also create incentives for voters to put into use, the knowledge obtained through this system.

There will always be loopholes and we might not be able to create a completely foolproof system. However at this point in time we need to only worry about whether we are moving in the right direction. We should bear in mind that social as well as political change is a slow and evolutionary process and we should be patient enough to give this new system the right amount of time to flourish. Some people might ask why not a qualification system for contesting candidates as well. It is a much more difficult idea to implement. Also as more and more candidates with cleaner and better governance records get elected, political parties themselves will see the merit in fielding right candidates. After all, aren’t Indian political parties’ masters at playing vote bank politics?

Inertia

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When I went to bed yesterday night around 11 PM, I had set the alarm for 6.15 AM and 6.30 AM. I wanted to wake up early and go for a Morning Walk at Besant Nagar Beach. I am not a morning person and I am desperately trying to adjust my sleep cycle so that I can wake up early. Most days I feel not so fresh in the morning if I wake up around 6 AM. During week days I get some kind of support from my wife and daughter as my daughter has to go to school at 9 AM. Today being a Saturday (August 22, 2015), they had no urgency to wake up until 8 or 9 AM. When the alarm rang at 6.15 AM I gathered enough strength to walk till the alarm which was placed on the table about 5 feet from our bed. I reached for the alarm and put in on snooze and went back to sleep.

This, the lack of discipline and the urge to pursue something that is in my long-term interest, has been one my biggest struggles through my life. I have started on so many personal projects but lacked the discipline to pursue them day in and day out and hence have discontinued them as soon as the initial enthusiasm wanes. I have played cricket, football and volley ball at various times in school but never had the determination or discipline to pursue them seriously. My dad sent me to Tennis class, which I discontinued within a year. I went to Hindi Coaching class during my higher secondary school and discontinued it (within a month) after the teacher made an embarrassing comparison between me and a kid who was about six years younger than me. I went to math tuition during my 12th standard but did not attend it for the full year.

After 12th, I went to Engineering Coaching but was never serious in attending it despite going there along with a close friend. During my second year in College I went to a Computer Science Institute to learn C and C++ but discontinued it too. I had enrolled in Gym four times at various points in life but after attending for about four to six months regularly, I would drop off. I enrolled for Guitar class in Bangalore but after two months I dropped off yet again. I took Photography as a hobby and invested in an entry level different DSLR camera too; once again the result was the same. It’s as if I have embraced Inertia as my religion.

And today was no different, I was to succumb to inertia. The wake-up call from the alarm at 6.15 AM felt like a nuisance to a man who had made inertia his life-time best buddy. Yet, destiny intervened in the form of a full bladder. So I woke up reluctantly. I did not walk to the bathroom, rather I walked to the Balcony to take a look at the sky. It was very cloudy and peek at the road made it clear that it had rained through the night. ‘It’s going to rain so better get back to sleep,’ I heard a voice in my head. ‘What’s the big deal? Anyway you like going out during rainy days. Remember all those days when you used to come home from school completely drenched in rain and joy. Better get ready and go for your morning walk, you lazy moron,’ a counter voice in my head. So dragged myself to the bathroom, got ready and walked out of my flat to leave for my morning walk.

When I came outside my flat, I could see that the sky on the eastern side (near the seashore) was almost clear. Thank God, I did not get fooled by the passing clouds. After riding my bike through one of the greenest stretches of roads in Chennai for about five to seven minutes, I reached the beach. Contrary to what I had thought the beach was crowded just like any other weekend. The sun was already out but was hidden behind a blanket of clouds.  The beach looked more like a garden with bees buzzing all around. There were groups of people walking or jogging. There were groups of people sitting on the parapet wall/ pavement chatting about… all things under the sun. There were others playing volleyball, football, etc. There multiple bunches of people immersed in their sessions of laughter therapy. At various points along the beach road I could see people haggling with street vendors over the price of flower, vegetables or fruits.

Near the two wheeler parking, a street vendor was trying to entice morning walkers to buy tender coconut from him as he used to do every day. A group of people were selling hot idlies and other breakfast items from their Maruti Omni van. Around the right corner just diagonally opposite of Cozee Restaurant were different bunches of friends and acquaintances who were trading few days of their lives for few puffs of tobacco smoke. And there was crowd in the nearby tea shop too. Nothing comes close to the joy of having a hot cup of tea or coffee on a rainy or cloudy day. Not to forget romantic couples trying their luck at finding secluded spots in a crowded beach in broad day light! There were catamarans in the sea with anxious fisherman risking their lives for their daily earning. I envy all these morning people. I wish waking up early in the morning could be much easier for me.

I went for my daily routine which a couple of rounds of walk around the block of houses overlooking the beach road. The Clouds threatened to rain and play spoilsport but decided to play Good Samaritan and went on sleep mode after sending down a light drizzle. The drizzle did not dampen the spirit of the people in the beach and they were going about their routines as usual. It was as if the Sun had unlocked the Pandora’s Box with his rays but out came Life in all its glory and there was no looking back even if the sun himself was still handcuffed by a rogue clouds in the eastern sky.  As for me, today’s battle with Inertia has been won but I recognize I have to wage a life-long war with this buddy who refuses to leave me even after knowing that I badly want him to leave me alone.

Admire the Achievement not the Achiever

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A few weeks back as I was talking to one of my college friends. He mentioned to me that he had visited our college the day before to attend the inaugural ceremony of an indoor stadium. Former Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar was the chief guest for the function. He had gone there with the hope of getting an autograph from and a photograph with Sachin. It seems that the organizers had arranged or rather hoped to have a breakout session with Sachin post the inaugural ceremony and had invited a lot of people including sponsors, executives from the companies that recruit from our college etc. for the inaugural ceremony.

However post inaugurating the stadium, Sachin left without taking part in the breakout session (Not sure whether Sachin was aware of the plan for a breakout session). A lot of people (including my friend) went back unhappy as they could not get to interact with and/or take a photograph with Sachin. I was wondering to myself as to why my friend and so many others like him would take the day off and travel long distances to get a glimpse of a person who has stopped playing cricket for more than two years now. Are they fans of the phenomenal cricketing skills of Sachin or just Sachin? If they admired the way Sachin played cricket, they would have been better off watching the recordings of many a blistering innings that Sachin had played in his long career than traveling to my alma mater.

If people had been inspired by the good qualities of Sachin (like focus, hard work and dedication to attaining mastery in one’s chosen field) and wanted to follow on his footsteps, they would have stayed focused on their work that day instead of going to the inaugural ceremony. I am confused as to whether people had chosen Sachin as role model to seek inspiration for attaining greatness in their own life or just as an entertainer. Why is that most of us decide to remain passive rather using our role models as inspirations in transforming our life?

When former World Chess Champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was challenging reigning World Chess Champion Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in November 2014, I had badly wanted Anand to win back the world crown. Anand hails from my hometown Chennai and I, like a lot of other Chennai folks was hoping that Anand will be able to avenge his defeat from the previous World Championship held in 2013. But Carlsen defended his title in style. During the course of a chat with a colleague I had mentioned how dejected I was because Anand had lost once again to Carlsen. My colleague mentioned that in the larger scheme of   things, having a new and young world champion (Carlsen is much younger to Anand) would be good for the Chess World and a lot of youngsters would be inspired to take up Chess at a more serious level. Now that I think about the episode, I feel that my colleague is right. The better of the two players won the Championship, so why should I be unhappy about it. If appreciating a good chess player was all that mattered to me shouldn’t I be happy irrespective of who won?

We all have had or continue to have heroes/ role models in our lives. Initially we would start admiring a particular person (e.g. Rafael Nadal) because of one particular skill or characteristic. However with time we would be interested in all sorts of activities of our hero; from the kind of dresses he wears to his last vacation, etc. Most people would go to the level of spending day in and day about getting to know each and every piece of information about their favorite star; they would even take a hell a lot of pride in doing so. They will also start mimicking their favorite star by having the very same bandana or hair style like their favorite star. Worse still they might even start buying the brands endorsed by their favorite star despite realizing the fact that he or she might not be an expert in that product field and might also have a vested interest in endorsing a brand. Yet people assume that they have a divine obligation to follow whatever their favorite star says and does.

People have role models or heroes because understanding or following abstract concepts is difficult. Once we use someone as an example for that concept then we can easily grasp it. Understanding skill, discipline and hard work might be difficult without quoting an example of person who displays all these in a particular field, e.g. Rafael Nadal’s skill, discipline and hard work in the Tennis World. Having a hero or role model is not bad in and of itself. The problem arises when you lose sight of the fact you started admiring Rafael Nadal for his skill (that he displays on the field) and the discipline and hard work (that he puts into his trainings off the field) and instead make him your fashion guru, investment guru and social etiquette guru, etc..

Hero Worship is one of the many maladies affecting modern day. Does following superficial aspects about our favorite sport star or film star really help us in becoming a better people? More importantly does this celebrity culture help the society at large? Blind hero worship has several downsides: celebrity brand extensions (beneficial for the celebrity not for his or her fans), political dynasties (beneficial for the politician and his family and definitely bad for the society), acts of vandalism and violence, people being misled into doing things or buying stuff which might not have done without endorsement from their heroes and last but not the least herd mentality.

Whenever we decide to elevate someone to the pedestal of our personal hero or role model, it is very important to ask these questions to ourselves:

Why qualities that person makes you admire him/ her?

It is always better to remember why we started liking a person in the first place. And we should not try and translate the admiration for a particular characteristic of a person to admiration for that person as a whole. For e.g. we need to question ourselves: “How much ever I like and respect Anthony Robbins, does it make sense for me to accept financial advice from him?”

What do you do with that admiration?   

Most of us express our admiration for our heroes in all sorts of wrong ways or rather in ways that are not beneficial to us individually or to the society as a whole. The manifestation of our admiration can take several forms: from the simple following of our heroes fashion statements to emotional and illogical Milk Abhishekams for our hero’s cut-outs to the very dangerous forms like vandalism and acts of violence (e.g. an obsessive Steffi Graff fan stabbing Monica Seles). I remember a scene from one of my favorite Tamil movies, where the hero’s teacher advises him. The teacher asks the hero not to blindly mimic him but to use the admiration for the teacher’s musical skills as a catalyst to grow and bring to fore the unique skills within the hero.

A couple of years back I was watching the video of Suki Sivam giving a talk on leadership qualities in a school function. During the course of the talk, Mr. Sivam mentioned that he generally dislikes signing autographs. During the Q&A session one of the students asked him why he dislikes signing autographs and shouldn’t he oblige and sign the autographs for his fans/ admirers. Mr. Sivam mentioned that rather than wishing to get autographs from their heroes/ role models, the students should aspire/ aim to become someone who would sign autographs for others. Meaning rather than hunting for others autographs the students should spend their energies in becoming an achiever themselves.

Does our hero still display/ espouse the very same qualities for which we started admiring in the first place?

This question becomes important so that we are actually following a person with the qualities that are desirable to us. It helps to prevent us from making emotional and illogical decisions like continuing to support a tainted celebrity (e.g. Lance Armstrong) or support a political dynasty in a democracy.

  1. We would all do ourselves and this world a great favor if we realize these fact:Rather than having Sachin Tendulkar or Rafael Nadal or Leonardo Di Caprio or Warren Buffet as our hero, we should try to a be a better version of ourselves. The society will gain a lot if each individual is able to become a better version of himself or herself by a mere 10%.
  2. Never let our admiration for role model’s achievements translate into hero worship. While we continue to admire and seek inspiration from their achievements we should never admire them.

One Hour in a Packaging Line

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Recently, I had volunteered in my company for ‘Stop Hunger Now’ event. My company had tied up with ‘Stop Hunger Now’, an international NGO that gets food and life-saving aid to the world’s most vulnerable people. The goal was to pack 100,000 packets of food items for the needy. Overall, there was a need for approximately 1000 volunteers, who will be working on the packing lines. For each of the packing line, there was a need for a total of 10 volunteers per line, working for 1 hour shift each. Our company’s social impact team was planning to have 12 packing lines, and approximately 8 – 9 shifts to complete packing of 100,000 meals (Uncooked, dry food and vegetables). Each person had to volunteer to work for one hour… just one hour for this cause. Part of our cafeteria was cordoned off for this activity. I had chosen 2 PM to 3 PM timeslot. I and a few of my colleagues reached the registration desk at the appointed hour.

At the registration desk, they had a paper to fill our details. We saw a lot of smiling, excited people curiously taking a peek at the packaging lines. At the registration desk, they distributed us a cap for covering our head and then a pair of polythene glows. Just behind that table there was a partition frame that was partially covering the 12 long tables arranged in 6 rows and 2 columns with aisles in between. Each table was kind of a mini packaging line. They were playing music through a stereo system to motivate the volunteers. The whole place was buzzing with activity. A few of the people were busy replenishing the packaging lines by fetching food items from the store room. From the registration desk a volunteer led us to the packaging area assigning us to different packaging lines that needed volunteers.

At each packaging line, One person was opening and handing over the packet/ cover in which the food items will be filled, the next person was filling the packet with a cup of rice and a cup of dhal, the next person was adding a small amount of dried vegetables and the next person was putting a small sachet of minerals and vitamins mix to the packet. On either side of the table there was one person who was weighing the packets to make sure if they were within the desired weight range; if not they will add a little bit of rice to the pack to meet the weight requirement. Finally one person on either side of the table would seal the packet using an electric sealer. It was at this sealing location that I was posted for an hour. Beside the sealing location, we had to arrange the sealed food packets which then will be packed into a carton at 36 packets per carton. As I was being assigned to this work, I assumed that if I could seal one packet per minute, it will be a significant personal achievement.

Initially when I was assigned to the table, the person who was helping to seal the food packets during the previous one hour taught me how to seal the packets. After ensuring that I was doing the task correctly (by observing me for about 5 minutes) he signed off. For about the next twenty minutes, I was sealing the covers frantically like a humanoid robot. I was counting the number of packets that I was sealing and how was kind of curious to predict the number of packets that I will seal in one hour at this rate. Well in these twenty minutes, I actually did not know the contents of the very packets that I was sealing!!! At this juncture curiosity took over me and I paused for a minute to investigate the contents of the packets; that’s when I figured out that the packet contained rice, dhal, dried vegetables and a sachets. Then for the first time in that 20 minutes, I looked to my left to see what was all happening in that table. It was strange, even while doing such a small and mundane task, I got lost into my own world. And I was lost in achieving some goal (number of packets to seal) that had little importance in the larger picture. Even at this moment I did not get introduced to any of the other folks who were working at that table. I also noticed there was hardly any interaction between the other people at that table as well.

With every passing minute, I got increasingly uncomfortable due to sweat in my palms. I also kept a count of the number of packets that I sealed. I also kept thinking how life would be on an actual packaging line/ assembly line within a factory. We were working in an air-conditioned cafeteria, they were playing music to motivate us, people were doing a little bit of stand-up comedy as well and they were announcing the progress made through a loud speaker. None of this would be present in an actual factory. Also we were going to do that work for only one hour plus an added incentive that we were doing it for a good cause. In a factory, people would be doing this kind of work for hour’s together day in and day out. Surely the mental agony of being transformed into a temporary humanoid robot without much interaction with colleagues would be more than the physical pain incurred through working long hours. I wonder if Henry Ford would have thought about the negative impact on the quality of human life that his invention, the assembly line would have for ages to follow.

As my thought kept slipping into these kinds of internal deliberations, I was pulled back into the real world by the loud announcements about the progress being made against the target of packing 100,000 food packets. At the end of one hour, another volunteer took over the task from me. In that one hour, I sealed 153 packets. I had to rework on 4 of the packets because, I did not seal them completely the first time. I looked around for my team members and once they were also finished, we took a few snaps and selfies and proceeded towards the exit. As we were walking back to our work desks, I was thinking about the missed networking opportunity due to lack of interactions at our assembly line. More importantly I was feeling bad for the millions of people who work in much tougher packing/ assembly lines across the globe for years together. An hour after we got back to work, we got a mail stating that the initiative had met its target a couple of hours before schedule. I felt happy for volunteering for that initiative even if it was for only one hour.