#AbMontuBolega and I will too!

A few days back, at a corporate training program at my workplace, I was asked some questions unexpectedly. The Leadership Training Program was designed to understand the capabilities and aptitudes of the upcoming leaders in the organization and to check whether we are ready to take up new roles. Each of us was asked to fill up a questionnaire that had questions related to our thoughts over leadership.

One of the questions that struck me personally was whether I voice my opinion strongly whenever we are in a meeting or when our suggestions are discussed in an open platform. I asked myself, and the answer was 'No'. While I do voice my opinion and suggestions, they are sadly not strong enough to be taken seriously. Isn’t it the same that is happening with our country right now? We all have opinions about what to do and how it should be done. But do our opinion reach the right platform?

India, with its newly formed government, is wishing and working towards bringing about a change in the outlook of the country. That we can and we will. But how? For me personally, turning India into Swachh Bharat is not only the government’s responsibility. It is our responsibility as well. Clean India is not about only clean roads and alleys or putting up dustbins all across. It is also about voicing your opinion about something that requires immediate attention, and that for me is the safety of women and children. It becomes difficult to travel at late nights for women, even if accompanied by family or friends. Whether it is when you are coming back from work in a public transport or from another place, the fear of facing unexpected and difficult situations is always there. Why can’t we have police patrolling on the streets on the weekdays as well? Why can’t we have a female police accompanying us? Why can’t we have the lights on at the bus stops to check if any person is already there?

Probably we can now - with the new campaign from Strepsils. Strepsils is the world’s leading sore throat lozenge which fights both bacterial and viral throat infections and gives soothing and long-lasting relief. With Strepsils, you can get a healthy voice to express yourself completely.

#AbMontuBolega campaign or The Power of Voice to Clean India, organized by Strepsils has been designed to encourage the people to raise their voices, share their opinion and to stop being a silent spectator. Raising their voices against all that is dirty in India is the most significant power that they have. Exercising this power will help in taking a step towards cleaning those places and addressing those issues that deserve immediate attention and the authorities managing them require to hear them out. This is how we can achieve a Swach Bharat. That is why, they say Kyunki Bin Bole Ab Nahi Chalega #AbMontuBolega. The campaign details and updates can be accessed on Strepsils Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/StrepsilsIndia) and Twitter (@StrepsilsIndia). For further details and to listen to Montu, visit http://www.abmontubolega.com/

And like Montu, I am raising my voice and opinion, with a clear throat to address this issue.

PS: I am going to apply the same in my office as well. Because, it’s time to speak up and speak right.

#BringBackTheTouch of love and care with your soft and smooth skin

It is going to be more than two weeks that Arjun will be out of town on work and then visiting his family. First, he will be visiting his regional head at Chennai and will be stationed there for about week, followed by a week and a half spending time with his family back in Hyderabad. Arjun had been busy with his shopping for his mom, dad and sister and making plans to meet his friends after almost a gap of eight months. It looked like the most exciting phase in his life and he didn’t want to miss out on any of his plans. Diya was a constant witness to his excitement, shopping ideas and buying things, helping him pack his bag, etc. While she understood his excitement, encouraged and smiled at each of his ideas, he missed out on understanding her sadness. A customary hug was what she got the night before he left.

Diya made sure that she makes the most of these few days and concentrated on finishing off her pending work and waiting for Arjun to come back to her. Her wait seemed to look longer than it actually was. She waited for him to come to her and be with her. She waited to feel his love for her back, the exact one that she had started enjoying from the time they realised their love for each other. She didn’t wish it go away so fast because of the work and the stress, or any other thing.

The day Arjun was back, they couldn’t meet. She was out on a meeting for the entire day and decided to catch up the next day when they both are free to spend time together. They met for dinner, talked for hours and Diya was dropped back home. She knew she couldn’t make him realise how much she missed him. She knew he loved him but failed to realise why the passion in their love was missing even after they met after such a long time.

The coming Friday, they met again. Not for dinner, but for a quick chat on the projects they were planning to manage together. While discussing the project details, it was a just a casual touch with her soft hands that made Arjun feel something different. She, oblivious to his realisation, continued with her discussion while he just held her hands as they sat close to each other. Her touch had managed to ignite the missing spark with a sensual touch and feel. After almost a month, they experienced a sensual experience of touch, discovering the feeling of being together. The love that was never lost, but was only missing in action.

Well, Diya’s smooth, soft and nourished skin did the trick for both of them!

You may lose your precious moments of love and care owing to your other priorities in life. But a simple touch of love and caress can bring back it back for you. That is what Parachute Advansed Body Lotion promises to do for you. Parachute Advansed Body Lotion is a 100% natural moisturiser complete with the goodness of coconut and ensures that you have a soft, smooth and nourished body skin in seven days and #BringBackTheTouch.  Visit http://www.pblskin.com/ for more details on the product.

If you have a similar story like Diya and Arjun or Nimrat and Parambrata (watch the video below), do share with us. It’s always great to read about love and feel happy about it. 

Time for some action, let’s build a #ToiletForBabli

When you have loads of grannies, aunts and uncles, your conversations with your mother will never have a dull moment. For she always has tons of stories and circumstances to tell you to help you relate with your current situation. Yes, this is exactly what happens when I am chatting with Ma.

This time, we were discussing about one of my grannies and Ma’s aunt. One of the prettiest sisters who grew up in a posh locality in Kolkata was married off to a Zamindar family still living in a village, looking after their family business of farms, etc. Visiting them in their village used to be once in a while affair on occasions such as weddings or festivals. For me, rural areas seemed a distant reality and used to be a place that will be exactly like I had seen in my books or painted in my classes. After growing up in an urban setup, relating to most of the things in that village seemed difficult. I was about seven or eight years old that time and followed Ma for everything. But what was most shocking was the arrangement of toilets and bathing there.

Since they were Zamindars, they had a bathroom in their palatial house but the others, I found, had been defecating in the open in the nearby areas. Not knowing how to react, I asked my Dad about it. He replied that these places are still not developed enough to have bathrooms in each of the houses. It sounded unbelievable and disheartening to see many of the kids of my age going beyond the bushes or in the open field to defecate. The children and the parents, especially the mothers looked pale and sick. And I was only helpless, not knowing how and what to do for them.

But now I do. I know the importance of practicing hygiene and having proper sanitation facilities in your house and I have realized that it is now time to take a step forward, even if a tiny one, to eliminate this problem. #ToiletForBabli is an initiative launched by Domex, Hindustan Unilever Limited’s flagship sanitation brand that aims to make a major contribution towards solving the problem of more than 597 million people defecating in the open, still.

The Domex Toilet Academy programme was launched on November 19, 2013, with an aim of becoming a sustainable and long-term solution of providing sanitation facilities that will benefit the local community and in turn help in stimulating the local economy. This academy makes toilets that are easily accessible and affordable, and promote the benefits of using clean toilets and good hygiene. Their efforts have resulted in bringing about a change in the villages of Maharashtra and Orissa and in the coming time by 2015, their aim is to build 24,000 toilets in the rural areas that still deal with the problem of open defecation.

So, are you game for making a start to address this issue? All you need to do is, visit http://www.domex.in/ and participate in the “You Click Domex Contributes” and show your support for this Domex initiative. Simply “click” on the “Contribute” Tab on the site and on your behalf, Domex will contribute Rs. 5 to help in their plan of eradication of open defecation, thereby, will help many kids like Babli to live a dignified life.

I have done my bit. Now, it’s your turn. Go ahead and give the women and the children chances to live a healthy and a happy life.

Workaholic, are you?

There is something special about being a workaholic, I believed in my childhood. People somehow respected the person than an average person who would slog equally but was there to have fun, spend time with his or her family and pursue interests. So, I wanted to earn that respect of a workaholic, not knowing what this life holds for me.

When I joined my first workplace, I was the junior most member and needed to work as much as I could to prove my worth in the company. I had no idea about a deadline because it was completely different from the ones that were given in the University. Daily assignments and meeting deadlines were becoming a pain in my life. But it could never overshadow the power of getting appreciated for the good work that I did. I started overlooking the work pressure, stress and body ache completely. I spent more time at work than at home. This followed at every workplace where I have worked so far. I will reach early and leave late. There will be never ending work on my list even if it is not a priority. And this leads me to become a certified workaholic, going by the definition of the same.

By the time I realised what being workaholic holds for you, it got a little late. I was already having health problems, would stay tired and exhausted mentally and physically, the pretty face of mine started having puffed eyes and dark circles and a permanent fixture of sadness on my face. Was I working too much than I am expected to, or rather needed to? I needed to find out, seriously.

Workaholism usually refers to extreme behaviours such as working late at night in the office when everyone has left so that one can get peace and sort out the tasks for the next day, typically leading a life that is out of balance. The problem seems to get worse if not addressed at the right time. To make you workaholic, you have your smartphone with a messaging and mailing facility, a tablet to do all your work even when you are travelling or simply sitting back, and an annoying calendar to remind you of your meetings and updating you with your schedule. I do use a smartphone and it has a calendar as well. Just that I don’t own a tablet and work on the go.

May be I haven’t become a workaholic to the extreme that one of my fellow office colleague has become. He reports to work as early as 6 am on the rare days and by 7:30-8:00 am on regular days. I also come early and we usually bump into each other. On this particular day, while we were discussing something completely irrelevant, I find him taking out something from his bag pack. I was completely taken aback when I found him brushing his teeth at his desk using his tooth brush and paste from the travel kit which is kept in his bag. Upon asking him, he replied that he forgot or didn’t have time in the morning. It’s normal, he said.

No it wasn’t, and it should never be. Is working day in and out the only thing in our lives left to be done? What happens to the parents, the friends, the fun and frolic, the hobbies and personal satisfaction from things that we love doing? Job satisfaction should be there but we must also realise that work must not become an addiction. Your health will deteriorate and so will your mind. Negative thinking, frustrated and unsatisfied outlook toward everything that we do, and most important, incompleteness.

I wanted to become workaholic to earn respect. That’s a dream I lived. Now, it’s the other way round. I want to earn respect by leading a balanced life. With going for a morning walk with a free mind, walking into office at the designated time and leaving when I am done with my work, paint, knit, cook, watch a movie, read and write at my convenience. And sleep peacefully with the alarm not set at midnight for me to wake up at the wee hours to finish off my work.

So the next time when someone asks me, do you work hard or do you hardly work, I will answer, I do both!