The weekly prompt of Blogchatter under their bloghop series was to write about a conversation with your diary. So here goes...
" Hi, How do you do? I have been trying to speak to you for the last couple of days. But you have been ignoring me."
" Well you had forgotten that I even existed. You think of me now, after so many years simply because Blogchatter has asked you to talk to me. You are what they say in Hindi "Matlabi (an opportunist) !"
" Really sorry about that, dear diary. You have always been a wonderful companion - solace in difficult times and a joy while recording and reading about the good times."
" so then, why did you ignore me for so long?"
"Look, I didn't do it intentionally and you know that. I remember I first turned to you in the year 1983 on the advice of Prof Sreenivasan, an author who said "Rajeev, keep an account of whatever happens in your daily life. You can revisit it periodically to gain insights." I followed that advice for some time and then the rumble and tumble of working in a corporate took over and there was no time to write diaries.
" Now, don't give excuses. You stopped writing around the time you got married and started a family."
" Well, ok that also added to the problem of becoming busy and not finding time to write."
" Yet, you turned to me once again years later when working for Hyundai Motor India Ltd."
" Ah, yes. I resumed writing once again when a trainer friend presented me a diary with a title on the cover that read "The Book of Happiness". She suggested recording in it all happy instances and incidents that occured everyday. It was in that phase that I was associated a lot with you. I also enjoyed recording about the official trip to US for the Hyundai Global L&D meet at the Alabama plant . I continued enaging with this avatar (version) of yours until you almost ran out of pages. Guess, we should not give a break to the activity. If you do that, lethargy sets in. "
" Would you like to share with readers some of the things you had recorded on my pages?"
" Oh sure, here is an account of a work day as HOD of Learning & Development department in Hyundai.
8/7/20011
Today I took the Law of Attraction (LOA) class for the Graduate Engineering Trainees. It was a big hit. One of the participants, Sriman came and told me during break that he earnestly believed that this input will open doors and provide solutions for the difficulties he faced in achieveing goals. I told him that I could teach him EFT (Emotional freedom technique) to remove the blocks and doubts to enable practising of LOA without hurdles. He was very enthused by the offer and said he would give up his lunch to learn it. Seeing his enthusiasm, I requested the faculty of the session before lunch on 'security' to grant him permission to leave half an hour earlier during which time I taught Sriman EFT. He was very happy and so was I.
On returning home at night , I watched the Airtel Star singer musical competition program on Vijay TV. I was happy to learn that the judges had decided not to eliminate any contestant after the "Devotional songs" round. All the kids had sung very well and deserved to be retained.
Now a page on the US visit to our Alabama plant.
6/10/2011
On the second day of the conference, we visited the factory and were taken on a tour of the plant by Mr Tim of Public relations department. An exserviceman, he was superb in his presentation with a high level of clarity and quality of language. We went through the plant on a moving vehicle and could see the employees at work. One interesting thing we noticed was that, unlike as in India there were a good number of women employees (strong & well built) working on the shop floor engaged in activities requiring physical exertion. Tim urged us to wave to the employees and call some of them by name. Many waved back at us and we cheered calling out loudly "Go Hyundai!" Later, we had a group photo with the head of the plant.
Subsequently, we went to the training center and made our presentations about the learning & development activities of our respective home units. During discussion, the concept of AI (Appreciative inquiry) and sharing of positive stories came up. I articulated my own understanding of AI in simple and clear terms.My presentation on the GHRDS implementation was well appreciated. I also gave my views on the exhibits in the 'Gallary walk' and thoroughly enjoyed the process. During the two days we spent at the Alabama plant, I learnt to say "My name is Rajeev" in Portuguese from one of the delegates.On the last day we returned from the plant straight to the 'Country club' for an elaborate, finale dinner. This time the car was driven by Nancy who shared her experiences of working for Hyundai and life in America. It was a nice, rewarding experience conversing with her.
" Look at the amount of impact I had made in your life- capturing the key moments of your life on my pages! "
" So true dear diary. I have resolved to not let go of you, from now on . I plan to make you an indespensible part of my life."
"Hey thanks. Only I hope you keep your word this time and not get lost in, as you say "the rumble and tumble of day to day life."
