Sundays were made for?

GOD is the greatest entrepreneur of all time. 

What she has ‘started up’ needs no TechCrunching… 

Now, if the fable is to be believed, GOD took a break on Sunday. 

I guess she really went through hell all week and then decided – let me breathe easy and start anew on Monday. So on Sunday she did not work. 

This post is dedicated to ‘the other side of work’. (if that exists)! 

I do not know what really caused the recent death of Raghu Pillai, the SAP Head of India – but if it was stress, then this post is also an obituary to him (and other corporate leaders from India Inc. who passed away recently)

In my personal experience, I think the root problem afflicting the young Indian professional is NOT work load. 

It’s actually the LACK of a Hobby or ANY other INTEREST besides work. 

The Western World works works 9-6, Monday through Friday and their per Capita GDP is for all of us to see. 

Indians work typically 12-14 hours a day, at least 6 days a week and we still are unable to FEED half our nation. 

I rarely meet senior managers or professionals who tell me something interesting things that they did during the weekend, besides the usual, “I saw a movie, went for dinner, met friends or slept”.

Why are Indians so ‘hobby deprived’? 

– Is it early influences in school and home (to only study or die) 

– Are we sub-consciously ‘ashamed’ to say that we like to do things that are not ‘productive’? How many 45 year old middle managers will say that they like to paint?

– Is it just too difficult to manage a hobby given the way our infrastructure and public support system is going? I mean, where are the parks, the open spaces, the town halls?

Let me give you an example: 

For 14 continuous years (yup!), on the first Sunday of the month, I used to travel to a small flat in Khar (Mumbai suburb) that housed a Japanese Tenri Shrine. 

Tenri is a beautiful religion from Japan that is simple to understand and also easy to follow. Like all Japanese customs, on that first Sunday of the month we would dance with special fans, conduct a beautiful ceremony that involved getting food from the kitchen to the shrine (like a slow motion relay race but with co-ordinated steps using fluid hand and feet movements), and we would sing and meditate. In the end we share a cozy ‘pot luck’ meal.

A TENRI SERVICE!!

When I started going to the Tenri service in 1991, it would typically take me 20 minutes from my house at Peddar Road to reach Khar and finding parking in the building compound was no problem. 

In 2005 when I stopped, the journey was taking 1 hour and parking had become impossible. I just got fed up and refused to torture my driver to come on his Sunday. 

I am not saying that’s an excuse to give up, but I just switched to Art Of Living sessions near my building. That too became impossible to manage attending thanks to parking and logistics (try parking on Walkeshwar Road leading to Malabar Hill on Sunday at 10 am). 

Now I silently meditate at home. 

Also, I think I have found some Nirvana in blogging. This is my release from the stress I carry. I blog as often as I can (lunch break and of course through the weekends). 

I never hear stories of, “Hey I wrote this poem” or “I drew this sketch” from Corporate guys. All I hear is a how a deal was cracked or which new pub they visited. 

I think it’s VERY VERY important to find a hobby and an interest outside work – else you will become Unproductive. 

And I mean that! 

If you have interesting weekend hobbies and passions – please share them with the members here!

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