“A DELUGE OF GREETINGS SMSes.”

During Deewali festivities, apart from the noisy crackers, and the fumes of the ammunition, fired continuously on roads; there was another menacing onslaught I had to encounter; a perennial stream of SMSes.
Due to the advanced technology, one can mass- transmit the greetings, “mail-merge “; variety. The entire mailing list receives a standard greetings message.
The sender gets a feel that he has done the job, a sort of noblesse oblige.
But he does not realize that the recipient is harassed, and bored stiff to receive the same message from ever so many contacts. Totally counter-productive
What is the alternative?
Write a personal note, it will have the warmth, a personal touch rather than the stereotype mail, sent so very formally, casually, as a ritual.

It is like shaking hands with a robot that is conditioned, to receive the guests and even give them a rose bud. Would you like it? Talking of handshakes, I recall an instance.
Mr. Holck Larsen, who co- founded the engineering giant Larsen and Toubro Limited, in Bombay,( now Mumbai) exuded personal warmth in abundance.
The sapling which was planted in mid 30s, grew into a large company due to his vision and an unstinted, support; from his team, which he sought and got.
A well-knit organization produces quality products. He handpicked his team mates , personally in many cases. A great teamwork, committed workforce, has been the hallmark of this hugely successful company.

Mr. Larsen used to ensure that he would personally stand at the main-gate, on the first day of January, year after year. He would give a warm handshake to each and every employee of the organization.
Till such time as the employee strength was small, it was more a personalized event. However the tradition continued. When the employee strength rose to nearly five thousand, it was still pursued by Mr. Larsen.
I do not know, if you had the experience to shake hands with a hundred odd persons in a meeting. It could be a promotion, transfer, send-off or some such social/official function.
Next day one has to take some muscle relaxant, and a day’s leave.
Mr. Larsen’s hand would be swollen visibly, post this marathon hand-shaking. He would still enjoy the ceremony, though.
The significance, of this warm gesture, and the value attached to this event, by the team-mates, would get highlighted on the next day.

Just outside the cabin of Mr. Larsen, there would be a large crowd of employees, who would insist on a handshake. Due to their absence from work on first Jan, they had missed on this precious memento in their service. Would he confer on them the missed take-away, a handshake.

In spite of the fact that he would be just about able to lift his hand, Mr. Larsen would still oblige.
This is the meaning of the greetings and the warmth it generates, when there is a personal touch to the act. It really helps build relationships, not the mail merge of the e’mail or mass SMSes sent mechanically.



M.S.RANADE
mranade@vsnl.com
UNPUBLISHED