In India, thee are several festivals in all parts of the country.  Many or most of these have a big social dimension: they bring friends together, there is a big time feast, several friends and relatives get together, and in most of the cases, the people really make a big difference by simply sharing experiences, jokes and so on.  

With the break up of joint families, such festivities are becoming rare indeed.  Friendship is still there, but in many cases, such friendship, has often acquired commercial tones.  People do not joke with each other like what they did some years ago.  Compassion is becoming less. 

Well, we need to simply put the clock back.  

Everything has to start from our homes.  We need to care and share with our wives and our children.  We should praise our wives for the food they serve us, even if there are some areas of improvement.  We should share their household duties.  This is already going on in the cities, and this ought to become a regular feature in small towns and villages as well.

We need to spend quality time with our children, identify their hidden talents, and encourage them all the way.  If the parents need to go the extra mile in getting this done, so be it.  For example, many musicians, directors, painters and so on, have really made a success of their careers, only because their parents encouraged them all the way.  In no way, is any human being inferior to anyone else.

For, God has given each of us some talent or the other.  This talent is latent, it is inborn.  We just need to identify this talent and nurture it to the greatest heights.  Once this is done, there will be a big difference in the attitudes of children, and the respect they give to elders.

The smallest of things can make a big difference too.  In several houses in the district of Coimbatore, in Tamil Nadu, there are servant maids who literally live like members of families and take care of every need of the family. In return, the servant maids are not treated as servants but as members of the family members, and  the children of such people go on to study and become doctors, IT professionals and so on.  This is more true of farm houses, where the entire family lives in the farm house and manages the one hundred acres of land that the family owns.

Such is the caring for the other person in such households.  Since the family lives in unison with nature at its best, with the best of ecology, all around, the health of such people is normally determined by the intake of rich organic food, without the trace of nitrogenous fertilizers.  In fact, research is now available on how the health of people in such environs is now ensured, because of the environment.  There is happiness all around, since people are healthy.

We need to take a leaf from such human interactions, and then start preparing for doing something in our own unique way.  This author knows of several families, who are filthy rich, who spend at least two hours in old age homes, orphanages, and even slums.  The children are given educational aids, the old people are talked to, and are encouraged to be happy, lots of jokes get shared and so on.  This makes a huge difference to the lives of the old people, and those who are not lucky in terms of economic resources. 

When we talk about the poor, we can be a lot more kind to them, and offer them all help.  There are several voluntary organizations that reach out to the poor, when there are fire accidents, and everything is gone.  They are even given soft loans to rebuilt their homes.  Such efforts should be further widened to make further inroads into whatever help can be given to those who deserve such help.

The rich IT class has to wake up and do something solid.  Many take a sabbatical and are aligning themselves with Non governmental organizations.  India needs a tremendous push in this regard, and we all need to wake up.  

Words of kindness can make a big difference.  Some months ago, a little girl lost her life in flash floods in the town of Vellore, in Tamil Nadu.  The real tragedy was that the family had come to Vellore for medical treatment of one of their relatives.  Many unknown persons offered to trace the body, and also gave all support to the police.  Very recently, when an eleven-storied structure came down crashing in the city of Chennai, thousands of unknown people literally ran to the place and saved many lives.

So, such good feelings and emotions are part of human nature.  What we need to do, is to enlarge the scope through community initiatives and help the society to grow.  In Tamil Nadu, several Self-help groups have now come together to provide training on various trades to women, on a mass scale.  Such initiatives help the women to stand on their own legs.  The scope of such initiatives needs to be widened even further.

Similarly, the creative energies of teenagers can be mobilized further.  There are some good autonomous colleges in Chennai, where community work is compulsory.  In fact, many first year girl students take free English tuitions in Government schools, educate women on small savings and so on.  These efforts need to be given a further fillip to take the movement to the next level.

Where there is a will, there is a way.  The involvement of the religious heads in some movement or the other, will also have a sobering effect on corrupt politicians.  The Amma Canteens in Chennai, is a classic example.  This Government initiative has met with tremendous success and has found support from all religious heads.  The politicians, who normally wait for an opportunity to swindle money, are now supporting this scheme, that addresses the needs of urban poor.  In fact, this scheme is now being extended throughout Tamil Nadu as well, and the success of this scheme has prompted other State Governments to follow suit.

So, we do have several good case studies, several reference points to take our initiatives forward.  Now, what is required is a will to share resources, our talents and so on, for the benefit of others, particularly the poor. 

Once we make a start, we will get new ideas.  And these ideas can be taken forward, for better success.

It might sound like basic common sense but it is not.  Each one of us is capable of becoming much better human beings, performing at our peak potential, and also developing into far better individuals, in terms of talents.

Yes, we tend to forget that we have at least one good talent, be that singing, or dancing or writing or acting, or whatever.  It is just that we need to become conscious of this fact.  Once this is done, the rest is far more easy to accomplish.  But for becoming aware, we need to understand that we alone will not be able to do it.  

Feedback is required.  For example, from parents, or friends or very close relatives.  Such feedback should be centered around what is really natural in us, what comes to us as a matter of routine, and what career can make sense, given our natural inclination for something that is already within us.

For instance, we often hear about some extrovert or the other making it very big in mass media, as director of television serials,or event managers or very creative advertising professionals.  The key is the reality that they had some natural inclination to become what they are capable of becoming.  They pursue a bachelor's degree course in Visual Communication, and become real experts in their chosen field.

The next big agenda is to relentlessly go about gathering key skills specific to that particular career.  Once this is in place, the rest becomes far more easy than ever before.  However, it is essential to note that value-addition is the name of the game.  Without value addition, nothing will happen.

In the first ten years of one's career, it is essential that the individual becomes very much alive to the fact that he or she needs to go after jobs that offer a good deal of really good experience in the chosen field.  A basket of skills will help him or her to become more versatile.

Becoming very conscious of the direction in which one is going, is also very important.  Once again feedback from good friends can be the key to success.

In ways more than one, self-awareness is the key.  Hard work comes next.  Without hard work, we will go nowhere.  We all need to understand that this is the back ground rule even in entrepreneurship, though the set of self-awareness skills would vastly differ.

For entrepreneurship, the individual needs to understand the emerging nature of the market more than anything else.  Is the market an expanding one, capable of serving many players?  If yes, half the battle is won.  For example, the food industry can cater to different tastes, and hence different customers.  It is one that will simply multiply, because of the huge population.  It can also expand, because it is human nature to eat different types of food.

Hence, self-awareness and hard work, are the first two steps.  The third is planning for both short-term and long-term goals.  If we do not plan properly, we cannot reach anywhere.  The fourth step is not only execution, but also self-evaluation. 

This might sound very simple, but it is not.  This requires a huge amount of skills centered around listening to others, observing others, having a check on whatever has happened in one week, and so on.  This process will help us focus on our strengths and eliminate weaknesses, as applicable.

Becoming more better human beings also requires that we become very humble, as success dawns upon us.  It is required to constantly tell us that we need not only have miles to go, but also have to forget our egos at every stage.

Humility is a big virtue of all great people.  In recent times, volumes have been written about the humility of Shri Narayanamurthy, the founder of Infosys Technologies, and Mr Azim Premji of Wipro.  We can always learn from them too.

The fifth step is to have in place an accurate estimate of all that we can put to commercial use, at any point in time.  Those who are trained in classical music or dance, for instance, are experts in this.  They travel all over the globe, simply selling their talent, and become very famous, mainly because they have done their homework very well.

It is always possible to learn from such people, or from similar people, who are known to us.

Unleashing the power of self, does not mean that we need to read each and every book on self development, available in the market.

Having good friends, hard work, constant feedback, and good evaluation skills, as described above, come with experience.  It is quite possible that experience teaches us far better things than books and what is written therein.

There are reasons for this step of action.  The world is far more complex, far become interdependent on several variables, and hence a bigger awareness of the reality is more important at any stage of life.  For instance, it is realistic to assume huge amounts of time, spent on travel, in big metros, and cities.  This has to be factored in, when we plan to achieve anything.

Becoming more alive to emerging opportunities, to anything that is commercially viable and so on, are other qualities that we need to develop, to unleashing our power in full. 

There are many people who always think they can do something about their lives, big or small.  There there many others who simply say "it is always my fate", literally shutting the door to any suggestion.

The latter group of people have to be reminded that most of what we make of our lives, is largely within us.  Of course in God, and doing all that one is bound to do, in terms of religious practices is always a good thing.  However, in the absence of planning, effort and hard work, even God cannot help any human being.

The famous director of Tamil film music, A R Rahman, has won several international awards for this work.  He is now a global music director, as he does music in many languages.  However, many do not know that he is one of the most hard working persons of his tribe.  His entire creativity, his innovative tunes and what he calls as "fusion music", comes out of several hours of terrible hard work, up to eighteen or even more hours per day.

Similarly, what the famous actor Rajnikant has achieved, can be attributed to hard work, of a tall order.  

So, the power to change ourselves, that particular urge to excel, is part of ourselves.  It is within us, a deeply embedded thought that needs to be ignited.  Only consistent, planned work, can help achieve success. 

Most business people are endowed with this terrible knack of getting the best of people, and scarce resources, in any given situation.  The plan to do the best and can be seen doing a lot of hard work, to execute their plans.  They even work on Sundays, and work is worship for them. 

It is always wise to learn from such wonderful people.

The first is self-belief, and the innate need to love oneself.  If we do not think highly of ourselves, who else will?  If we do not love ourselves, who else will?  This may seem like sheer common sense but it is not.  This common sense eludes us, and we fall into the trap of negative thoughts about ourselves.

The second most important learning is that we need detailed plans for each of our ambitions or goals and objectives.  For example, the moment one joins a college as a teacher, the first and most important plan that he needs to execute, is a plan to complete the doctorate degree.. This is an absolute necessity.  Unless one has a doctorate, he or she cannot succeed at all, in the teaching profession.

It is not only that a doctorate is required, a big focus on research is required as well.  If the teacher manages to get his or her research papers published in a reputed international journal on merit, he or she can rest assured that the whole world will open up, for a highly lucrative career.

The teacher then has to graduate towards writing books, and coming out with original thoughts on how to make the life of students, very interesting, how he or she can do value addition in terms of teaching and so on. 

It should be appreciated that value addition can happen only if the urge to excel is there.  Otherwise, like most other teachers, he or she will simply fall into the activity trap and not realize his or her ambition at all.

The urge to make a big difference is a must in all of us.  We should never be satisfied with the status quo.  If we do so, we are just fooling ourselves, we are missing all that is good about ourselves, we are not using our strengths at all.

Planning alone will not help.  Execution is as important as planning.  For example, many good teachers do spend their long journey hours in trains or buses, reading a book or two.  This helps them to save time.  They can jolly well go to sleep as well, which is a good alternative.  But this alternative, it should be noted, does not yield any result.

Once the plan is executed, we also need to analyse if everything went according to plan.  If we notice gaps, we should take corrective action, learn from mistakes, and ensure that mistakes are not repeated.

Documentation of experiences is also important.  The human mind is very nimble in nature.  We tend to forget what we had for breakfast, today, if we are questioned tomorrow.  This being human nature, we need to find out ways and means to ensure that meaningful documentation of our experiences is not only done, but also the learning is highlighted for our future use and action.

We can take conscious steps, we can also make a big difference.  We have within us.  We have it in a big way.  All that we need to do, is to explore our inner selves and take appropriate action.  We can indeed make a big difference, by developing an urge to excel, at any point in time.

A few decades ago, it was always assumed that labor, represented by strong Trade Unions, was the enemy number one of Management.  There used to be a massive distrust between the two parties and not a single day passed, when each party would try to create trouble for the other, through means, fair and foul.

The advent of the advanced behavioral sciences research and the professionals trained in the nuances of such research, that is, the MBAs from the very famous B schools such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, started making a huge difference, and the entire approach towards labor changed from the excessive importance given to implementation of labor laws, to approaches aimed at securing the voluntary contribution of labor at all levels.

In reality, such attempts have succeeded to some extent.  However, given the existing global environment where there is a huge amount of uncertain events, leading to increased cost of production and slowdown in global markets for most products, the relationship between Management and labor cannot be one of milk and honey flowing in all directions at any point in time. 

Yet, there are some common guidelines that one needs to follow, and if these guidelines are strictly followed, the relationship can be better.

The first guideline is to build a climate of trust and discipline.  If the Managers want labor to be disciplined, they need to be disciplined themselves.  They need to set an example,  Transparency and openness have to be really practiced.  There can be no compromise in this respect.

Similarly, there is also an urgent need to treat organized labor as a business partner.  The Japanese are experts in this field.  Through very simple Quality Circles, they have not only involved the labor, but also brought about dramatic improvements in the latter's outlook.  They have made a big difference to the quality of participation of labor in day to day work.  In fact, Quality Circles have been a big success in many other cases, and it is always wise to learn from such good examples.

The third guidelines is to give a thrust to cost control, but by involving labor.  Once this happens, their voluntary cooperation is very easy to obtain.  For instance, in many organizations of the TVS group, there are suggestion schemes, which are basically exercises designed to cut cost, through innovative practices.

The fourth guideline is to at least have one yearly event, where the employees get together and participate in what may be called the 'Annual Day", with members of their families.  Companies like BHEL have such exercises.  Even if there is some money involved, the money is well spent, as the average employee gets a big chance to involve his family and show them the surroundings in which he would work on a given day.

The fifth guideline is to make the work place an interesting one, by giving them a little scope to involve themselves in social groups.  Man is a social animal, and apart from the Quality Circles, if there are attempts to involve the labor in such groups, it can produce wonders.

The sixth guideline is to give away some small swards to workmen, like the Best Employee of the Month, Best Employee Suggestion for the Month, and so on.  Once these wards are instituted, the workmen will be more than motivated.

The seventh guideline is to enable the employees to have meaningful relationships with their family members at home.  When they have good relationships at home, they tend to have good relationships in the office as well.

Taking the help of professional counselors to wean away employees from very harmful practices like alcoholism, can indeed help a great deal.

The eighth guideline is to enable the employees to have a good say in community matters, particularly in social work in the immediate neighborhood.

For example, if the employees can contribute to blood donation camps, planting of trees, making the old age homes better places to live in through some work, and so on, the employees are very likely to develop mature outlook in work as well.

The next guideline is to institute some welfare measures to help employees to build their own homes, and save enough for the education of their children.  They should be constantly educated about some schemes where some small savings done today, will have a big effect tomorrow.  

These are days when every employee is worried about his future.  Given such realities, it is but essential that Managements do something very urgently to address such concerns and help labor see a good amount of light at the end of the tunnel.

Contrary to all public perception, particularly those of line managers, labor is not at all bad in both intent and in behavior.  If they are given meaningful space to do creative work, if they are involved, if they are listened to, and if their small grievances like quality of food in the canteen are resolved, we can make giant strides in inter-personal relationships.

The trick is to keep on trying.  The trick is to never give up.  Sincerity and honesty are very important indeed.  Once this happens, there is bound to be a massive thrust in improvement of inter-personal relationships.  In huge cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, the social life of workmen is subject to a huge amount of stress.  

Serious attempts need to be made to address these concerns.  Some short-sighted Managements attempt to cut costs drastically on canteen subsidy, and welfare measures.  These things lead to wrong perceptions and opinions of labor.  

There should be a very serious movement at securing the involvement of labor.  Many organizations like the Aditya Birla Group, the Tatas, the TVS group of Chennai, the Murugappa Group of Chennai, and so on, have made great strides at innovative experiments.  

These innovative measures often get discussed in various conferences as well.  The trick is to constantly learn from such experiences and evolve some common denominators that can be implemented in a big way.  Working around the problem, is much better than forgetting the problem.  

If there are serious efforts on the part of any Management, inter-personal relationships between Management and labor, can be very healthy indeed.