Small drops make an ocean

Sumedha was very happy today.

She had just got a confirmation call from Mrs. Salunkhe, and that took the total of the purse order to 40 now. Diwali was fast approaching, and she had to pull up her socks to complete the order within time. She got quite busy with planning and shopping, but she had one thing in mind. She had to talk to her cousin brother’s wife and tell her about it. It was because of her that the purses happened and came to this stage.

She belonged to a typical middle-class family, where her parents were working. She and her elder brother grew up together. She completed her graduation from a reputed college, gave exams for recruitment in banks, and got a chance to work in a bank. She got married to a lovely family and went to a different town after marriage. She continued the job with the bank and also managed the house with the help of her mother-in-law. She was working in a bank, but her interest was stitching clothes for newborn babies and small kids. The market for this type of clothes was not very big, and there was hardly one dealer or shop which had excellent quality and reasonable garments. She had also done a tailoring course, and when she got time on weekends, she did stitch a few clothes for kids and babies in her friends and family. She was very passionate about it and was always researching and reading about new patterns and different ways to make it more attractive to the customers.

She came to a crossroad one day. She had to decide if she wanted to continue doing the job at the bank at different locations at different times or take up stitching as a full-time work. Her parents and in-laws and husband supported her a lot in this, and she took the big leap of giving up a full time, a secured job to do something she always wanted to do.

She slowly started getting good work. Though it was not full-time or well paying, she was enjoying it. She could concentrate on her daughter now, who was a new addition to the family and also take care of the house and manage her work from home.

She had got a message one day on her phone.  About 4 years ago, her brother’s wife pinged her on Facebook to ask her to make something.

Manasi: Sumedha, can you stitch a few sling bags for me, please? I want to gift them to my friends in Germany. You are into sewing clothes for kids and other stuff. I am sure you can also give me a beautiful hand-stitched sling bags which will be a great hit among my German friends!

Sumedha: Well, I have never tried my hands at this, but I can definitely give it a shot. I have a few blouse pieces from my aunt. They are very traditional and beautiful. I can surely make something extraordinary out of them, and I am sure your German friends will love it. I will show them to you if you like. You can let me know which ones you want. I can stitch purses out of it and also purchase a few new materials if you don’t like the ones I have.

Manasi Sounds good, am up for it. Show me the blouse pieces at the earliest. I need the purses to take with me in 2 months.

Sumedha: Sure, I will send the pictures right away.

Manasi liked a few blouse pieces and gave the order of 6 purses. She took them to Germany with her and gifted them to her German friends who loved them a lot. After some time, she again asked Sumedha to stitch 6 more purses. This time Sumedha chose a different material and also made the purses a little bigger. 

An idea struck her then. “Why not ask in friends and family about stitching these purses for gifting on festivals?”

She made a flyer about it and circulated it on social media and also in her contacts. It got a tremendous response, and the result was that she now had 40 purses to stitch before the festival season.  She remembered Manasi’s first offer to give her bags, and she wanted to tell this good news to her.

Sumedha: I have something to tell you. Thank you very much!

Manasi: For what?

Sumedha: It all started with your inquiry of stitched sling bags. I hadn’t done it before, and the first time, I just sewed the blouse pieces I had and gave the purses to you. But when you asked again, I delved deeper into the subject, did proper research, procured different material and stitched different bags. I also asked around in the family, and I got a tremendous response.

Manasi: Wow! That’s so nice! It’s your hard work and perseverance, and I have done nothing. I am just happy to have supported you. I wish you a lot of good work and keep the good working going.

Sumedha: Thanks a lot. Your support means a lot to me.

Sumedha was slowly venturing into new territory and to make her presence reliable in the market, she also runs her own Facebook page, where you can see her creations and also get in touch with her directly if you would like to place an order for the same.

You can check out Sumedha's collection here:

https://www.facebook.com/%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%87-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9F%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%87-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%A8-118789289507912/

How small things create big ripples!

How grit and passion and perseverance takes people to unimaginable heights!

By

Mrunalini Dabke

Karlsruhe, Germany

The art of conversation

Being a good conversationalist is very important. The way y speak, the choice of your words, the quality of your voice are fundamental to how you are perceived. The people who talk mostly about themselves, who have poor grammar, who are indifferent listeners are not seen in a positive light. Survey has proved that eighty percent of people lack communication skills - not technical skills and as a reason are held back in their careers. Whichever job you are in, whatever conversation, whether it is a presentation or chatting with your seniors, the ability to reach and influence a listener is one of the most valuable assets you have.

Every time you speak, the listener is subconsciously registering the quality of your voice, your grammar, your enunciation, your pronunciation and your choice of words. Most often, it is only when one of these elements deviates from the norm that it is noticed for better or worse. Your voice can hit at your self-confidence or lack thereof, your background and level of education, the region you are coming from and your mood at the moment. Components like pitch, volume, tone, rate, enunciation, and accent contribute to the overall quality of the voice. So the voice should be a midrange between loudness and softness and the tone should not be monotonous. The rate at which you speak is important. Fast talkers are more difficult to understand than slow talkers and thus have to repeat themselves frequently. Slow talkers merely make the listener impatient. So also pausing too often between words can make you seem uncertain and distracted. Pronunciation, though sometimes like when with peers is not so important, but most of the time is crucial. Effort should be made to pronounce the words correctly

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Tips for improving the Art of Conversation:

1) Be interesting and have something to say: Many conversationalists think that people want to hear about them, their routine, their family, etc. But unfortunately, no one wants to hear about your latest troubles, conquests or daily routine. To avoid that, become a knowledgeable and well-informed person. If you are not well informed, tend not to read much or have very few interests, you will have very little to talk about except yourself.

2) Show interest and be curious: People who are genuinely interested in others are usually interesting by themselves. This is because they are more open to learning about and understanding new things. Showing interest also encourages the other person to be relaxed and share information more freely.

3) Be attentive: Surprisingly people mistake conversation skills to speak only. But it is also listening carefully. Display attentiveness by keeping good eye contact and listening actively. Share your reactions honestly.

4) Do not dominate the conversation or make it all about yourself. Strike a balance of giving and taking.

5) Do not interrupt or cut in with your own ideas before the other person has finished speaking.

6) Maintain an open mind; everyone has a right to express themselves even if you don't agree with what they are saying.

While there is more to having good conversational skills than being a comedian or a dramatic actor, it is not necessary to become more gregarious, animated or outgoing. Instead, you can develop the ability to listen attentively, ask fitting questions and pay attention to the answers - all qualities essential to the art of conversation. With diligent practice and several good pointers, anyone can improve their Conversation skills. Possessing the art of conversation improves personal, social and work relationships. It gives you the opportunity to meet interesting people and introduces you to various new topics and subject matter.

By

Ashwini Deshpande

Body language

Body language is the communication of personal feelings, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts through body movements either consciously or unconsciously, voluntarily or involuntarily. It refers to any kind of bodily movement or posture, including facial expressions, which transmits a message to the observer. Every part of the human body, either in motion or stillness, conveys a meaning which depends upon the physical, social and cultural context of the action. It is the meaning behind the unspoken words.

Body language forms part of the category of para-language, which describes all forms of human communication that are not verbal language. This includes the most subtle of movements that many people are not aware of, including winking and slight movement of the eyebrows. In addition, body language can also incorporate the use of facial expressions, eye contact, appearance, posture, and proxemics.

However, body language can contradict the spoken word. This is because the body is more articulate than words in communicating emotion. The tricky thing about it is we are often unaware of how we are reacting to it. So also people sometimes may intentionally use a different body language to hide their feelings.

So also different nationalities and cultures use their bodies differently. An acceptable gesture in one country may land you in jail in another country. So, before visiting or moving to another country, it is advisable to do homework and find out what is suitable and what is not. So also before making a gesture, think whether it is appropriate and acceptable.

Body language has an important role in maintaining interpersonal relationships. So also it plays a greater role in building industry relationships as it reveals your emotions, reduces confusing words and messages and improves your communication skills, thus leaving better first impressions.

By

Ashwini Deshpande

Good Communication

Communication skills are one of the most important attributes in life. Be it anywhere -home, office, social gatherings, anywhere where two or more people come together. Animals and humans alike, use their own separate languages to communicate with one another, but no one can survive without communicating. It is thus a social affair.

     

Communication refers to the exchange of thoughts and ideas. It is a two-way process which includes vocalization as well as gesticulation. Different types of communication skills are used for different people, in different places and maybe for achieving the same goal. But all communicate through verbal skills and non-verbal skills. Listening, speaking, writing and reading are verbal skills while body language, personal appearance, facial expressions, postures, eye - contact, proxemics, etc. are non - verbal skills. Listening and Reading are the receptive language skills while Speaking and Writing ate the productive language skills.

Communication in whatever form can be used to inform, explain, instruct, advise, persuade, sell, discuss and question. In each instance, the purpose and the context in which the communication takes place will affect the communicators choice of action.

The success of communication is determined by the achievement of the desired attitude and behavior of the receiver. It does not matter how much time and effort goes into the construction of the message and the transmission, the communicator has failed if the receiver does not respond as expected. So before proceeding the communicator must know with whom he is speaking, how he wants the person or people ( with whom he is responding) to respond, what he wants them to know on receiving his communication, what he wants them to know on receiving his communication. It is the responsibility of the transmitter to ensure that the purpose is clear and that the communication process is carried through successfully.

Good communication skills are necessary for all walks of life. The lack of effective communication skills has a negative impact on the personal as well as the professional life of a person. To improve communication, we should focus on every aspect of communication skills.

By

Ashwini Deshpande

Know thyself

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials. "

Today, when we are living in a global village we have to deal with people of different region, culture, language, and religion. To understand them first we have to understand your own self. It is said that "He who does not know himself does not know others. "

Therefore you need to discover yourself, the true person within you, your true identity and not what others perceive you to be. This is because your personality is made up of many facets that you can pick up and reflect from your experiences. Sometimes they are strong and cover the real you.

Thus by knowing yourself, you will know your Strengths and Weaknesses which further help you in strengthening your strengths and weakening your weaknesses. This is important in all stages of life and a pre-requisite in Personality development. This is because Self-knowledge is the beginning of Self-improvement.
  
Knowing yourself helps in controlling your emotions, reaching your goals, reaching better decisions, in improving relationships, in realizing and improving your full potential and ultimately in experiencing happiness and joy.

Knowing yourself is a life-long process. For that, you need to remove all the multiple personalities that you can put on for different people and at different times. You thus need to get down to the core of your essence and then need to get rid of your own false images and delusions.

You can do this through various ways like maintaining a personal diary, developing hobbies or new interests, meditation, exercise, etc.

If you want to develop a better personality and succeed in life the first step is to be able to know yourself.

By

Ashwini Deshpande,

Personal development is your Springboard to Excellence

We often see that people very good at Academics cannot deal with stress, criticism, negativity or failures. Despite having a high Intelligence Quotient they are utter failures in their personal and professional lives. This is because Technical skills are needed only to the extent of 20% in our day to day life but the skills required to face all these are Soft skills. Even though learning and genius are important, the practical man who is gifted with or has developed soft skills is far better equipped for the battle of Life. Common sense is more important and useful than fine and exalted sense. No matter wherever a man goes, whichever school he attends, his best opportunity is his own self, in his self-development.

Today, Soft skills are gaining more importance than hard skills as Survey proves that regardless of industry, Soft skills are more important than hard skills. They help one to excel in Workplace as well as the personal and Social front.

In our everyday life, whether at Workplace or otherwise, we come across various situations where we need skill sets like good communication skills, interpersonal skills, analytical skills, problem-solving skills, planning, control, Empathy, time management, stress management, etc. All these come under the umbrella of Soft skills.

Soft skills help in inculcating positive attitudes like likable Personality, adaptability, self-confidence, etc and thus further help in bringing inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness, and satisfaction. And the most important is developing Emotional Quotient ( which is more important than Intelligence Quotient) as it helps the daily affairs of life move more smoothly and makes life look bright and promising.

Thus it does not matter which university we have graduated from or which subject we have mastered, we need to be graduates in the University of Life.

By 

Ashwini Deshpande, Nasik.