i-TFTD #238: @ 43

Note: This self-indulgent year-end post contains a lot of links that may lead you to interesting sites.

My niece Viyoma inspires me in many ways. The first child in the family, she was always the quiet one and soon acquired the label of "shy". Her creative presentations during her MBA, and her early foray into blogging made her popular amongst her friends. She forms and expresses her independent views in a politely assertive style and her offbeat career choice has opened up excellent opportunities for her. I love some of her interesting blog posts. Like the one on vendors in Mumbai local trains, her poem on the monsoon, her short description from Mangalore, her dialogue with her ideas, and her reaction to the tragic 26/11 event in Mumbai in a poetic rendition of what The Taj Hotel had to say.

On her 24th birthday she listed 24 things she did in the previous year that she is proud of. In a blatant plagiarization of title and format, along with the clear and present risk of bragging, I decided to attempt a similar list for myself. With apologies in advance to gentle readers of i-TFTD, here are 43 of the new or good things I did in 2009:

▪       Spoke at a seminar—my first where I addressed an HR audience—at Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai around Jan-09
▪       Won second prize in the first Inter-corporate team Scrabble tournament held at Bangalore in Jan-09
▪       Led a day-long Strengths Approach to Career Development workshop for HR Infotech Association Mumbai chapter in Feb-09
▪       Opened Goodreads account around Feb-09 where I list the books I read, categorize and rate them, and occasionally write a review.
▪       Was Tournament Director for a Scrabble tournament at our Mumbai offices for employees in Mar-09
▪       Co-led a half-day training programme on Branding Self for NASSCOM's Women in Leadership in IT (WIL-IT) forum members in Mar-09
▪       Delivered 90-minute capsule sessions for senior managers titled Mindmapping and Beyond (covering mind maps and concept maps! ) around Apr-09
▪       Flew (parasailing) 50 feet above ground, tethered to a vehicle at Arnala beach near Virar, Mumbai in May-09
▪       Experienced handling different kinds of sail boats at Aquasail India's Murud facility, courtesy a one-day outdoor event arranged by National HRD Network in May-09
▪       Eased into HR operations role in May-09 by figuring out that it is more or less like managing software application production support
▪       Conducted 1-day Strengths Workshop for over 200 HR and Training professionals at Hyderabad International Convention Centre under the aegis of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and More Than HR Global in Jun-09
▪       Facilitated one of the break-out sessions at Global Diversity Symposium at Bangalore in Jun-09
▪       Finally got on to Facebook around Jul-09 though still an infrequent updater
▪       Rolled out an internal coach development programme involving HR teams other than my own around Aug-09
▪       Began tweeting in Sep-09 at http://twitter.com/r_ganesh - 95 posted in 105 days
▪       Floated (tandem paragliding) 3,000 feet above sea level at Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar in Oct-09
▪       Thrilled to be the oldest member (with my daughter as one of the youngest) in a trek to Naneghat (3,500 ft above MSL) near Kalyan arranged by our office club in Oct-09
▪       Participated as a provocateur in a panel discussion at a B-school for women in Pune in Nov-09
▪       Started posting haiku poems (17 syllables in three lines of 5-7-5) at http://twihaiku.com/ in Nov-09 - 52 posted in 50 days
▪       Sang on stage for the first time in my life at a friend's wedding in Dec-09. Mangaloreans are friendly and courteous
▪       Met school mates in Dec-09 after over 28 years, basked in the warm nostalgia, spoke to "girls" who never interacted in SIWS High School in the 1970s   
▪      Designed and delivered a 90-minute capsule session titled From Creativity to Innovation in Dec-09
▪       Posted comments at Harvard blog (here for example) and Ribbonfarm (here and here, for example) blogs that received pointed responses from the blog authors
▪       Wrote over 50 instant rhymes of 4 to 48 lines (unsure if purists would call them poems) to wish someone on their birthday or to describe a get-together event
▪       Always spoke to and played with kids with eye contact at the same level
▪       Refrained from pointing out spelling, grammar and alignment mistakes 864 times (shall work on reducing the remaining 9,136 times in the coming decade)
▪       Opted to be boring and nice in conversations instead of clever, cute or cutting, succeeded 13 times, lowered target for next year
▪       Made spontaneous gifts of books without occasion at least 7 times, target tripled for 2010
▪       Continued to collect accusations of being incorrigibly overenthusiastic all the time about almost everything
▪       Introduced the treasure trove of TED videos to many colleagues and friends
▪       Completed (within 16 months), almost 50 Strength Workshop sessions to 1,000 participants and 6 day-long creativity workshops to over 150 attendees
▪       Promoted budding writers amongst colleagues on this i-TFTD blog
▪       Let myself be persuaded to accept the post of chairman at my apartment cooperative society
▪       Read every day of this year, started the habit of simultaneously reading multiple books
▪       Though never a video game fan, bought a Nintendo Wii and play regularly on weekends: bowling, tennis and golf
▪       Stopped making perpetually unattained resolutions, fine-tuning along the way with small wins
▪       Broadcast a long overdue message of gratitude to i-TFTD subscribers, naming some special ones, on the occasion of i-TFTD's 4th anniversary
▪       Sent over 100 ILU SMSs to my wife (expectation fallen short by 265 says she, I agree and plan to remedy)
▪       Asked more questions than gave answers or argued against (results satisfactory, should I do more of this?)
▪       Connected with more alumni of my organization, really happy that many who started their careers here are doing extremely well all over the world
▪       Resumed the old habit of writing colorful To Do lists in tiny-sized pads while also using mobile phone and Outlook reminder features
▪       Played vigorous if unskilled TT (ping pong) whenever I saw a table, ditto with carrom
▪       Learnt to shun starting idea discussions with "But…", trained myself to avoid the "either/or" trap and evangelized the Strengths Approach and creativity to almost everyone I know      

Wish you and your near ones a Happy, Healthy and Cheerful New Year 2010,

RG