Slow Down Now
By V. Subramaniam (Subbu)
Image courtesy: fatboyke
Bangalore is increasingly becoming one more urban-corporate junkyard. Temperatures are rising. Tempers are rising. Incomes are rising. Values, alas, are fast vanishing. The other day I saw a young corporate Turk in his fancy car berating an old couple trying to cross an impossibly chaotic road. All this rudeness for a nanosecond advantage before the next traffic pile-up just a few metres down the road. People are taking themselves way too seriously and always seem to be in a mad rush to nowhere.
People need to slow down. The International Institute of Not Doing Much I came across (courtesy Iain Tait) sometime back is just what the doctor ordered. An excerpt of the lessons follows:
- Drink a cup of tea, put your feet up and stare idly out of the window. (Warning: Do not attempt this while driving.)
- Do one thing at a time. Remember multitasking is a moral weakness (except for women who have superior brain function.)
- Do not be pushed into answering questions. A response is not the same as an answer. Ponder, take your time.
- Learn our Slow Manifesto.
- Yawn often. Medical studies have shown lots of things, and possibly that yawning may be good for you.
- Spend more time in bed. You have a better chance of cultivating your dreams (not your aspirations.)
- Read the slow stories.
- Spend more time in the bathtub. (See letter from Major Smythe-Blunder)
- Practice doing nothing. (Yes this is the difficult one.)
- Avoid too much seriousness. Laugh, because you're live on earth for a limited time only.
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V. Subramaniam (Subbu)
When people ask me what I do, I drop in words like experiment, creative, strategy, technology and intersection. I surely don't know what it means. If you have figured it out, do let me know. I am not complaining though, as I have done some interesting projects for Wipro Technologies and continue to do so for equally interesting clients like Nu Street Technologies, 3dSoc and so on.
In my previous avatar I was an adman, marketing bloke and brand specialist. It so happened that agencies like Ogilvy and JWT were foolish enough to let me handle all kinds of brands - from large ones like Unilever, BP to small local brands. I stumbled into the world of marketing during the internet (dotcom) boom days. If you have reached here, you must be surely curious about me. Why don't you drop in a line?
**Subbu writes blog regularly at http://www.thefreeunion.blogspot.com.
***Views Expressed here are personal. The writer can be reached at subbu@thefreeunion.com