I Love You. MCO 3.0 Lockdown

Missing nature. More than people.

Today is the first day of another nation-wide 'lockdown'. 

Everyone agrees this is a necessary move to limit the free movement of our people, who otherwise would be visiting friends & relatives in the tradition of Hari Raya. It is due to this that Hari Raya clusters were started, sending unprecedented Covid-19 cases and casualties through the roof. 

Prior to this lockdown, there was a previous one which was too lax and taken too lightly by the masses.

Nevertheless the last MCO 3.0 prompted me to write a poem about my missing the forest. 

It was in late April during the start of the South West monsoons. (I was keeping it in the desperate hope that it'll age better like fine Burgundy)

Missing the Forest not the Trees

Thunderstorms & Rain, Days & Weeks on end.

Missed the outdoors & the trees.

Addicted to solitude in my cave, I yearn to walk in the forest 

Rain & wetness grows incessant.

Saw a window of evening sky free of rain.

Still wet from day long drizzle, the twilight inviting

Pulled my pants and my spirit on & out the door and onto the premises I went

How I have missed the road, trees, and flowers waning in the muted twilight

I am once again one with nature bathed in the swaying embrace of the trees 

Lining the perimeter they all reach out to greet me, shower me, swathing me.

Forests too far, the nearby trees I take for granted, beckon & cheer me on.

Hugged & kissed by the shrubbery, the rows of majestic pines, the phalanx of erect ashokas.

All along the walkway they line, as if for the first time, I walk with new strides.

Blessed & thankful. I am.

Lockdowns and lessons from the past can now help us be more aware of our situation. 

We know how to take responsibility for our selves and our loved ones. 

We know that by avoiding unnecessary travel and contact with others can help flatten the curve. 

With vaccination efforts being scaled up nationwide, we should reach herd immunity by August. 

Now that is truly something for all of us to look forward to.

Have a Happy two weeks of Lockdown everyone. I'm enjoying it already. 

I love you. My MCO

I love you. Covid-19 Lockdown 

If not for the lockdown, I may not have started writing again. So it's only apt that I write about my MCO.

Picture by PineForest

First I must apologise to my reader/s for not having written for so long. I hope you didn't miss my writing too much.

It's just that I have been busy doing something even more important - Nothing. Or perhaps more accurately, trying to do nothing. Staying true to what I preach, I have in all earnesty been doing or trying to do nothing. 

My aim.

The talk I had going for everyone from the start was to do NOTHING during the lock down. 

My result?

In all honesty I think I managed about an hour of that in an average day. Hence a quote comes to mind;  "give meditation an hour and get 23 back."
The hour was invested in two sessions of meditation each day. These are my top thirteen results;

My learnings.

1. I don't need company. I'm comfortable enjoying my own company. 

Living alone truly allows me to get to know and understand myself a lot better. Something I have neglected doing all my life; getting to know myself truly, deeply, intimately. 

2. I think talk is totally unnecessary. Talk and chatter is just noise from the mind. 

Sitting in silence include silencing the mind. 

*Pico Iyer comes to mind here. In one podcast, he mentioned a practice for him & his Japanese wife living together for 26 years in Kyoto that; Everything is left unsaid. "The less I say to you, the more I respect you". 

Words are weapons, smokescreens. Words get in the way, taint, delude. Unnecessary. 

3. I prefer to be alone than with people unless they are people I choose to spend time with. And even if I do, it's only for a while. Then it's back to being alone again. 

4. I think work is mainly done in the mind wherever we are. Once we get our inside right, things will be alright. 

By tapping into pure intelligence unsullied by memory I explore endless possibilities. Deep reflections and focus on values and adding value, prevent unnecessary worry and work.

5. When it comes to nature, intervention is never a good idea. We merely plan and manage then step back and allow nature to work its blossom through you. Nature executes according to the cosmos.

*Sadhguru comes in here- if it's mangoes you want you must nurture the soil. 

As well as *Paulo Coelho- "How can we so arrogant? The planet is, was and always will be stronger than us. We can't destroy it; if we overstep the mark the planet will simply erase us from it's surface."

6. If you want to get things done ask your friends. If they can't do it they will ask their friends.

Build relationships, be human, be inclusive. Everybody wants to help they just need someone who they can trust to help them help. And they get tremendous value in return.

7. I have green hands. I have become an amateur botanist. My balcony plants and herbs are thriving. Topped off by the very spectacular raising of the midnight flower aka harum sundal malam aka tuber rose aka Rajnigandha that bloomed throughout the weeks, releasing fragrant stardust on my balcony seductively wafting into my rooms.

8. I keep pretty good house. I cook decent pasta and make great sandwiches. My breakfast bowls and my midnite snacks are legendary. I dread cleaning up of any kind but I endured like a Nanjing call girl during the Japanese occupation.

9. I get to see that I am mad. And that the whole world is mad. Fortunately for the mco we are forced to stop doing whatever our minds have convinced us to do on a daily basis and realise hopefully that if we don't know ourselves deeply and truly, why are we doing what we are doing and to what end? 

If we are not spending our time doing things that truly matter to us then what are we doing?

 
"How long are we going to delay to be wise?" *AC Grayling's Good Book keeps me on even keel here.

10. I dance and do uppa yoga very diligently on my magic Pakistani carpet in my living room. No one is watching.

11. I found my voice in writing. I came to finally make sense of myself enough to define it in words. I wrote shitloads in my blog, my note pads on both my iPhones and Keep Notes on my Oppo. All sorts, thoughts, ramblings, rantings, poems and love notes of yearning. Some would make ppl blush, laugh and cry. 

12. I sit crying on my balcony every night. Tears of love and loss. Mostly tears of joy. I will never know what I will experience or have experienced each night on my balcony. It's simply because I have no memory of previous experiences but feelings of bliss. That's the beauty of being fully present in the moment. Time doesn't exist. The moment NOW is all there is. *Eckhart Tolle's books cut me up and laid me bare here.

On my balcony, I once again for countless nights embark on whatsoever my experiences and bliss I will encounter when I travel on my balcony. And what wondrous sights my night journeys take me. I know it's crazy but words cannot describe. Period. I also have to qualify that little or no weed was used during the mco.

13. I discovered a fine writer in Gurcharan Das* that it's not difficult to be good. Because I learnt from the Mahabharata that Dharma is subtle. The mind, ever sneaky and devious, wants answers, labels and solid conclusions. 

Dharma is a moving river. "Do a task not for the fruits but for the act of doing it to your best". #nishkama #karma

It's easy just pay attention to everything you're doing. Enjoy. #joy 

*The Difficulty of Being Good. This is a book I want with me on a desert island.

Honourable mentions (that didn't make it to the top 13)

A. I took a course in Ancient Philosophy of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and their successors from Penn State University on Coursera. I learnt that human intelligence & enlightenment today hasn't progressed much from then 500-937BCE. In fact we've gone backwards. Can you imagine going back beyond 500BCE? Primitive isn't it? 

B. I read Greek mythology from delightful books Heroes & Mythos written by Stephen Fry. a fine example of writing to make sense of the complex in simple ways such that a 6 year, a 16 year old and a PhD student would enjoy. Now I am aware of how religions and belief systems evolve from the Greco-Roman era. 

Stephen Fry has got to be naturally the smartest person of our age.  At his behest I was compelled to read De Profundis by another literary giant...

C. Oscar Wilde. The man I oft quoted in my life was himself a man most misunderstood in his lifetime (1854-1900). 

A highly intelligent & enlightened writer, he was sentenced to 2 years of solitary confinement in Reading Goal for buggery. While in incarceration he wrote that painful but beautiful De Profundis. 

D. Rudyard Kipling blew me away with his depth of knowledge & imagination on display in Jungle Book. The most profound lines he wrote that moved me was when Mowgli was forced to leave the wolf pack. He says; "These two things fight together in me as the snakes fight in the spring. The water comes out of my eyes; yet I laugh while it falls. Why?" 

E. George Orwell, David Henry Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson taught me how to write. All of whom spent time in deep solitude. I think it's highly recommended because it helps us realise that we are mad. Every one of us. 

It's just at varying degrees. Mad nonetheless. And broken.

E. My online presence has been nurtured, honed and tempered further, the seeds for my blog, twitter (except Instagram) accounts have been sowed more than a decade ago. I chose twitter to pacify an angry world, Instagram to enhance it and my blog to document them. Now I shall enhance my life through my profiles, painting my story with words and the occasional photo. Of people, places and things that I experience in my life. We're just budding.

F. Just like the farm. It's my most favourite place in all the world right now. My ground team has performed admirably during the mco in keeping it thriving abundantly. I shall stop here. Because when I start I shall never end. The only downside is that I don't yet have my music set-up there.

G.The music that I have listened to in solitude almost every night transports me. Most recently to thoughts and questions as to the origins and history of music. I developed a yearning to find out what, why and how music can connect all of us. Then I found a quote by Victor Hugo: "Music is the sound of emotions", and I decided to follow that quote and enrolled in a course on Music History from Yale. I am halfway through.

H. I found true friends and old friends and new friends and cemented more relationships than ever before. I found that family is not about blood but in brothers from a different mother who grew up together who are always there for us. 

I. And finally, I have found my freedom. From myself. 

Healing but still wonderfully mad.

I'd like to end by saying that I have been very blessed by the MCO. The end of it is a timely topping-off to my exile, pilgrimage, journey of self-imposed solitude, and incarceration (a must needed one). 

I have emerged conscious after almost two years of living alone. Just as the nation is emerging once again from 83 days of staying at home order. 

It's the new normal, my new normal. I hope everyone embraces this new normal and not look for what's no longer there. 

Let's Move on. Let's #Live. #Love. #Life. #Conscious. 

Come join me? 

Who knows what the morrow will bring? 

Stay happy. Stay tuned. Literally.

I love you. Business of Branding.

The Business of Branding. 
Covid-19 Lockdown D44.

Let me attempt to explain the business of branding and the branding of business in as short a way as I possibly can.

I have often described good communication of any subject has to be made so simple that a six-year old, a sixteen-year old and a PhD student can understand.


A Business is defined as the process of Acquiring and Keeping Customers.

1. Acquiring Customers is the equation of :  LG x C = Customer 

which means: Lead Generation multiplied by Conversion equals Customer.

This is the Business funnel equation that all businesses undergo whether they know it or not.
A lead is a prospective* customer, so generating leads is the process of getting attention through the various channels to convert prospects into customers.
So how and what attention do you get for your business? This is the first step of Branding.

*A prospect is someone who wants and can afford your product or service.


2. Keeping Customers, as the sentence implies is about ensuring your converted customers don't leave you unless they no longer need, want or can no longer afford your product or service.
What is the key to keeping customers? It is about building and maintaining relationships.
How far and how deep you want to build that relationship depends on how long or how big you decide to build your business.

The Business Landscape

Most businesses start with a "Build it and they will come" / "Take it or leave it" business model or attitude. Few start with the end in mind.
Yes. It is sheer arrogance. It started in the good old days and still is the business mentality today.
Can't blame them, for it is in our nature to be proud of our intelligence, talent, and craft.

However, this is short term thinking. No matter how good, intelligent, talented, there are always others who are as talented and as intelligent as well. And there will always be people or products that will be better than yours. The "build a better mouse trap" strategy will work until somebody else builds an "even better mouse trap". Then you lose your customers because they are just that; a customer. This is short term success.

Business with Heart

With all things being somewhat equal, meaning good basic hygiene in place; your product lives up to expectations, your pricing is reasonable with clear value propositions, your business is consistent all round. Then you can start building your business on the pillars of strong and good relationships.

Make the customer your friend. Because it is always better to buy from a friend and it is also difficult not to buy from a friend. Keep maintaining that friendship and not give reasons for a friend to leave you. Be honest, be generous, share good things with your friends and you will have die-hard loyal friends and raving fans.
Give great value to your customers so they can't resist being your friends. Friends buy from friends. Friends recommend other friends. Friends are also quick to forgive friends.

There is no secret sauce really. Building a good business is not only about secret formulas, fancy gimmicks or bold claims. It is also not about transactions between a 'business' and a 'customer'.
When human beings go into business by labels and roles, they tend to get too serious and you get to hear things like; 'I'm running a business here you know...?""..Not a charity!"

That is when we forget that businesses are conducted between human beings.
And as we all know; human beings are living, breathing entities with feelings.
How you make them feel determines how well you succeed doing business with them. Make them feel appreciated, comfortable, important and informed, they will have no reason to leave you.
But what if they do?

4 Reasons Why Customers Leave

1. They no longer need, want or can afford your product.

They could exit the market due to trading-up or down, death, obsolescence, affordability or unavailability. Nothing much you can do here except to stay relevant and stay in touch.


2. They are unhappy with your price.

Price is what the customer pays. Value is what the customer gets.
Some businesses resort to price-cutting when the problem is customer service.
A PWC Study details that customers are willing to pay a 7-16% premium for good customer service experience. In fact 65% of customers interviewed find a positive customer experience to be more influential than great advertising.


3. They are Unhappy with your product.

People are seldom unhappy with products but with product claims. Stick with your product truths. Only make promises that you can keep. Nobody is forcing you to make a promise. So don't make a promise unless you can keep it. This is true with all relationships as well.
Angry or dissatisfied customers are likely to share their disappointment with friends on social media.


4. They are unhappy with the way they are treated.

This is where you should pay special attention.
73% of all customers point to customer experience (CX) as an important factor in their purchasing decision.
Another survey done by McKinsey reveals that; over 90% of customers who are dissatisfied with customer experience will- rather than telling you what's wrong and how you can improve it - just not come back. You have not just lost a customer but also valuable data on why they left.

The Bottom Line

So while it's clear that Customer Service, more specifically Customer Experience is key to keeping customers happy and coming back, how do we create positive customer experiences?

So what is Branding? Branding is Experience.

So while Business is the process of acquiring and keeping customers, Branding is the business of finding, and uncovering your unique customer experience. That is the second step in Branding.

It's that simple. Don't agree? Call me.

I love you. For paying attention.

Paying attention during Covid-19 is a matter of survival.
Covid-19 Lockdown D25





For the first time the world is paying attention like no other time on no other subject than death. Or avoiding death.
Mankind is finally confronted en masse with our mortality.

Knowing that we will die, suddenly jolts us, at least the majority of us, to consciousness. To conscious compliance.

That is exactly what the world needs now. Consciousness. And of course love. 
In this case, self love.

We are not only paying attention to death numbers globally but we are paying attention to every communication on the pandemic and to everything and everyone else around us.
We pay attention to the people on the streets, in the grocery stores, in the public areas.
We are finally forced to be present. We no longer walk with our faces buried in our devices, we are more aware of our surroundings. The way it was supposed to be when we live among human beings. Although we're looking at others with cautiousness we're looking at each other nonetheless. Something we rarely, if never do.
People are connecting in ways never before thought possible. We have even honed our peripheral vision to an art. Hardly anything or anyone nearby escapes our attention.

People in organisations are also paying attention to output not process and discovering that working from home or off-site has multiple benefits. 
It increases productivity and lowers costs. Travelling time and costs, office space and staff expenses. Plus other hidden costs that impacts bottom line.

For the conscious, we begin to notice the things we take for granted like the sky, how blue it is, the clouds, how white they are, the trees, how majestic they stand, the finer details of nature,  the flowers bloom brighter, even the grass look greener in our own backyard. Due to much lower levels of noise, the birds seem to sing a lot louder and sweeter.

Families get closer, friends renew friendships and memories, forging new bonds, and fresh meaning. Now's the time to discover new things about old friends, pay attention to family and spouses when we aren't in a hurry. 
Lesson to learn is; to slow down to the speed of life. 

Nature is showing us the follies of mankind's mad rush to destruction and that man like nature can heal and blossom just the same. All we have to do is slow down and pay attention to everything and everyone in our presence. And live. 

With this new consciousness we also learn, see and experience new insights & perspectives from around the world during this pause.

1. That the next world war is not about sophisticated nuclear weapons or atomic bombs, it's about how we fight and contain an invisible little protein called a virus.

2. The superiority of the West is discovered to be deeply steeped in arrogance and ignorance. Not to mention misogynistic and racist.

3. Religions and religious leaders have no answers to the pandemic. Most of their sacred rituals for an abundant after life have been abandoned for basic survival in this life. Activities deemed to be sacrosanct or prohibited are declared acceptable in times like these, like using pure alcohol hand sanitisers and not attending worship service on specific days of the week. 

4. Health Professionals are the true heroes of our world. They are definitely worth more than politicians. These are the brave individuals who run towards danger to help, to comfort, to heal. 

5. Oil is worthless in society with no consumption. Investments in renewable energy will pay off.

6. We now know how animals in captivity feel, while we ourselves are kept in quarantine. 

7. The earth can heal and regenerate without human intervention. Even better without humans. 

8. Most of us can easily work from home. It has produced amazing results in the past few weeks. 

9. Cooking is an amazing skill to learn, experience and experiment. Men can do it as well. 

10. Sting said it; How Fragile we are. So please handle with tender loving care.


This is my list of 10 things based on my observations till now. What's yours?

Stay tuned. Literally.