EJJI'S ARTICLES 2

This page is in continuation of my earlier page "EJJI'S ARTICLES 1" as there is no space there to add new ones. Take a read. As usual, your comments welcome please.

How many times have you experienced the nauseating procedure of calling or messaging someone to remind them of the e-mail you sent that did not elicit a response for days on end. You message them. Nothing happens. You call them, and then they say, “Oh! I did not see it!” This shows that they want to reassure you that if they had seen it, they would have responded. (Salt shaker wanted here!) If the recipient indeed was busy, they could have left an automatic responder saying that there will be some delay in their response. No reason necessary. Or if the person was busy enough just to open your mail, but had no time to reply, they could probably key in the words “Thanks. Will respond” or just put in a smiley, even if the smiley was a devil’s face! There are others who do not add your name and mail id to their address book, sending your mail to their Spam Box. And they are the ‘geniuses’ who empty the Spam Box by hitting the “Delete All” button, without knowing which of the mails there would be genuine ones. The other type is the one to whom you send a mail wanting answers to four questions, or requiring four opinions. They are very prompt in their response. But you get just one answer or opinion in return! You mail them again, asking them what the responses to the missed queries are. Some may answer. Most will think you have hit the send button again for the same old mail by mistake, and they just delete this mail! E mail etiquette I find is as absent as honesty in politics. Maybe very soon, following good email etiquette will be seen as distinctly old fashioned as a lady using a bourdaloue while entertaining guests in her boudoir. And most of those I know who hardly have any semblance of email etiquette, are connoisseurs of exquisite wines, whose names they can never pronounce properly, and who assume they have arrived at the pinnacle of the social circle, just because they only drink extremely rare single malts!

This post is dedicated to all my male friends, lady friends, girl friends (past and present), undecided/unidentified gender friends, critics, enemies, those still undecided to be my friend or enemy, those whose envy and jealousy were enhanced by me, those who stabbed me behind my back, and those I have not yet met or known but who happened to pass by my life unnoticed, and of course all those who helped me to become what I am today.Most important, my family who accepted and tolerated me! Te saludo!!

Today is 31st July, 2016. Memorable date. I walked out of the office of “EJJI MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS” & “EJJI DOMESTIC SERVICES” on the 31st of July 1991. While “EJJI MAINTENANCE SERVICES” (India’s first janitorial and contract cleaning services company) was closed on that date, my partner Bhamini Shankar, ran “EJJI DOMESTIC SERVICES”, (a copy of the now defunct website is available at  http://www.angelfire.com/un/ejjidomesticservices/  ) who closed it for good on October 31, 2005, that being her 20th year of working for a living. This was an on-call, mobile, technical services company for breakdowns and maintenance of buildings, with plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bore well, water heater, motor/ pump mechanics who were our full time employees- we were not an agency. We coined the nomenclature “Domestic Services” which is now an accepted generic phrase. Many thought we were mad. (May be!) Others wondered why we did not sell the companies. (We know why!) We believe that India is a land of opportunity with no takers. There is no unemployment in India. Only unwillingness to be employed and a large population of Indians are unemployable!
I had started the businesses on the 31st of July 1971, with the singular aim of being the pioneer of janitorial and building repair services in India, and to earn a living for exactly 365 x 20 years. I achieved it, not a day too early, not a day too late. It was spot on! And on this same date, 31st July, in 1991, I started using a calling card that mentioned my profession as “Rat Race Runner (Retd.)”. My friend Avis Viswanathan commented, “Though you have left the rat race, Ejji you still remain a rat!” (http://avisviswanathan.blogspot.in/…/it-is-sinful-to-waste-…) One lady in Turkey asked me when I was in training for Formula One management, if I was racing rats in India! 
Before I started the business, I am proud to have been a person who had never attended a full day’s class in school or college. I worked as a garbage collector in the Boat Club Area (http://www.mediafire.com/file/tqfbqpe6rkjsptl/Boat_Club_Article.docx/file), as a toilet cleaner, was graduated to toilet supervisor, then to housekeeping supervisor, ending up as housekeeping and maintenance contractor in Safire Theater. The family of Veecumsee, formed the foundation of my business life. There were many others who helped me in my growth. Take a look at https://ejji6t.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/ejjis-22222-living-days-party/ to know who they are.
This is my life’s theme song. Take a view. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXWX6qg0y4
Do take a look at these links.
Website 

Blog 1

Blog 2

Highwaytoswades 

Photo gallery 

Hand phone + 91 99406 35547

Given half a chance, I would love to relive my life with warts, faults, mistakes and all just the same way, but surely made richer by the presence and interaction with each one of you. Thank you for being part of my life. Variety might be said to be the spice of life. But each one of you has made my life spicier and juicier. What a wonderful journey it’s been.
Let me have your opinions and comments to this post either on FB or on my mail id. Rotten tomatoes and addled eggs welcome! Thanks once again!

Dateline 13th Sept. 2013.

I met a wonderful person at the Buddh International Formula One Race Track, India, today, Sonia Jain, who is with a two wheeler manufacturing company in Delhi. She had a tattoo on her left arm in Japanese. I asked her what it meant. She translated it as, “In a prejudiced world, I dare to be different.” Something that I have always considered my leitmotif. I Googled to find out the origin of these wonderful words. Nothing turned up. While doing so, I stumbled on this very nice article, which I dedicate to “Daringly Different” Sonia Jain and the meaning of her Japanese tattoo!

(This motivation speech was written for presentation at a Toastmasters club meeting.)

“If you want to get what everyone is getting, do what everyone is doing.”

Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen, my speech tonight is not simply about me, but also about being different. I have chosen this topic because it is something that is very dear to me and something I have made a personal philosophy and which I endeavor to live by.

THE WALK

I think it all started when I was 18 years old and in my first year at campus. That was about the time that I started to observe people’s behavior and just to think about life. I was taking a walk with two friends and was in deep thought. They were chatting, but I was not paying attention to what they were saying. Then suddenly I said

“You know guys; I am pretty disappointed with the adult world.”

One of them asked me why and I explained that when I was going to campus I expected a lot of change and difference in the behavior of the people around me. After all, they were adults. I always thought being an “adult” was a lot different from being a kid. However I felt after being on campus for a few months that the adult world was not what I had expected.

Everyone just seemed to behave like they were still teenagers. Nobody seemed to be outstanding in any way. There was no distinction, as far as I could see, between the 18 year old and the 50 year old apart from their age! Where was the wisdom and excellence I had come to expect. There was no change!

I did not know it then, but over the years I have come to see that the reason people don’t change is simply that they do not dare to be different.

WHAT DOES BEING DIFFERENT MEAN?

Being different means:- Not being afraid to challenge the norm.- Being willing to take a chance.- Asking why.- Making your own track, not just following the well trodden path.- Charting your own course and destiny.- Being the person that you were meant to be.

I believe that everyone is born unique. But through the years we work very hard to be like everyone else. We conform to society’s so-called “common-sense.” Unfortunately it is just that – “common sense.” That does not mean its “good sense.”

THE FOLLY OF EDUCATION.

If I were to take just the people in this room, it is likely that most of you have spent anything from 15 to 20 years getting an education so you can get the jobs you have. Doesn’t it strike you as irresponsible that one can spend so much time getting an education and yet so many people don’t make any deliberate effort to develop their greatest asset – themselves!

Most people think once they have a qualification that’s it. They have arrived. Is it any wonder they don’t grow? They are stagnant. Stuck at 18!

Most of us won’t even read unless there’s an exam in sight. But you know what? Everyday of your life is an exam. Everyday you either pass or fail the test of life. Everyday is an opportunity to grow beyond your present barriers and circumstances. Everyday is a chance to become a better person.

The saddest part is most of people don’t realize this. If they had to be graded at the end of their lives you know what they’d get? D, D and more D’s. And yet they thought they were doing very well. They let society’s “common sense” grade them.

MY ADVICE?

If I can leave you with one piece of advice it would be this: READ

Society celebrates mediocrity so much that it does not take much to set yourself above the rest. Doing that one thing regularly will put you way above the rest. Read books that challenge you and that make you think.

I have decided to read at least one book every month. I’m already amazed at the results.

MY FINAL WORDS

In closing I’d like to say to those of you that are skeptics out there, those of you that are saying “oh, he is just drink with the omnipotence of youth. He’ll get over it, and then he’ll be just like everyone else.”

My words to you are:

“I ain’t going out like that. I know that I have an abundance of potential within me and I will bring it out to fruition. Why?”

“Because…I’M DIFFERENT!”