Venue: AIMA Centre

Attendee: Mr. Aritro Dasgupta

This session was organized by AIMA for members to explore the art of happiness and how we can imbibe the same in otherwise stressful lives. The session consisted of 2 panel members who were as follows:

Mr. Sumit Chaudhary

The speaker opened the session by asking few simple questions from the audience. The delegates were asked questions on their usual happiness levels, their material wealth and the correlation. The simple straw poll revealed that there was not such a strong co-relation between wealth and happiness. Post this revelation, Mr. Chaudhary introduced the audience to Dr. Rekha Shetty and her achievements. He then outlined the plans for the session’s objectives. At the end of the event he even delivered the vote of thanks accompanied by the presentation of memento to the distinguished guest.

Dr. Rekha Shetty

The speaker began her session with a mock yoga drill. She asked all to extend their arms straight to their respective trouser pockets, pick out mobile phones and switch them off. She described this asana as cell-asana. This mock drill was intended to demonstrate how mobile phones have intruded into the lives of people and how they come in the way of happiness. She then proceeded to another drill where each of us were asked to turn sideways and compliment the person sitting next to us. Then the delegates were asked to repeat the sideways movement but this time, they were to pat the other person. This drill was intended to show the power of touch and how high-touch culture can be more suited to delivering productivity than the so called high-tech.

The next activity involved a plate full of an orange and an ice cube being put in front of each of the delegates. Dr. Shetty asked each of the delegates to pick up the ice cube, hold it for a while and then behave as they would have when they were 18 years old. The idea was to let go of inhibitions. The speaker then moved to the technical aspect of the session where she explained how the so called Swachh Bharat campaign may not succeed. She feels that just by brooming for a few days, problems will not disappear and nor will the volunteer get much credit. Instead a culture of integration must be implemented. For this she suggested 4 steps. These steps were- sustainable development, cultural vitality, economic vitality and communication. We will now have a look at these 4 steps individually.

Sustainable development will involve the digging / construction of compost pits in individual neighbourhoods. Such has been successfully implemented in Gujarat and even high rise apartments in Bangalore. The idea is to dig these compost pits and disperse all organic waste into them while the paper waste would be disposed off to the garbage collection team. The compost pit can work very well for growing greenery instead. Dust bins are a complete no as they only increase pollution.

Cultural vitality refers to a culture where elders instruct / guide the youngsters on waste management and disposal. Economic vitality means the financials derived out of such procedures. Communications refers to the amount and level of communication between people. The speaker feels that in the present times, there is a lot of digital media to help us communicate better with others. But we misuse them. She did not outright criticize the likes of Facebook or Whatsapp, but instead warns that they must be used with due diligence.

Finally she asked the audience to open up the orange which was provided in the beginning and eat it up. She asked the members to use all 5 senses and discover the various ways in which nature has bestowed us with pleasures. The kind of packaging that an orange or other fruits or for that matter the human body have gone through is impossible to be replicated by humans and machinery. A book written by Dr. Shetty was then released and some copies handed over to prominent delegates. As a conclusion the host thanked the speaker for the wonderful session and how all delegates seemed cheerful and energetic in spite of the time being past 7 pm.