Happy 10th Anniversary Hubby!

Its our 10th anniversary and I really don't know what to gift you my dear hubby...here I take a little walk down the memory lane and wish to take you along. Ten years have actually been a wink! If I look at our lives I feel I have been given the greatest gift... the gift of your your love! You being a part of my life has been the biggest blessing.

This day takes me back to when we met. Way back 2004, I guess it was November, we had a brief time just talking to each other in front of our parents and the little privacy that we were granted. We were two very head strong individuals. The eldest children of our respective parents. We were used to being pampered silly. Used to being treated the best by all, thought to be absolutely responsible and we took pride in the reputation we carried at our places of work and in the social circles. We were equal in every sphere. As they say its difficult for two very strong individuals to live together, may be that's why there were no sparks that flew at that moment. But that meeting did have a great impact in our lives though, we understood where we came from and understood what lives were all about.... we had walked a similar journey till then. Nevertheless subconsciously we did take a bit of each other with us. As it is so rightly said by Rajesh Khanna, in the movie Rajput."Mere sang sang aaya teri yadoon ka mela" .

With April setting in, we decided we wanted each other in our lives strange but true!!.... perhaps we missed each other. The event led to us getting engaged after just a meeting a few months ago. 24th April 2005, we got engaged. That bond got us to know each other and  learn about each other, we became great friends. Courtship was one of the best times. Especially when fiance is a mariner and its long distance emails, phone calls and messages. We grew closer with every email and every message. I remember writing down every sms and message in my diary as those days we didn't have smart phones and my Nokia 3315 had a very limited memory. Sailor came home and I met a very dear friend in him. Four months apart got us an eternity of togetherness. We understood each other better than  we knew our own selves. November came by and our wedding was fixed .... 14 December 2005 was the D day.

It was an experience in itself to plan , finalise the events and to even go shopping  together. You prepared me to be a part of your home, I knew all about you and your family. When I walked in the Todiwan household as a bride, everything looked so familiar. It was as simple as walking in my second home. I shall always be grateful to you my dear husband for such a easy and beautiful transition that you created for me.
You allowed me to choose the place for our honeymoon, keeping me and my choice always ahead ... that was the begging of things to come. I remember we met an elderly lady on that trip and she told you to always keep me like a queen and you've done just that, probably even more. I am your princess, is certainly not an exaggeration. Arnnav made us proud parents, just nine months into the marriage and my world being so complete, it was just sinking in. You did miss meeting your son as he arrived into this world and your sign off got delayed, some perks that come with the life of a Shippy. But it was Arnnav who greeted his dad returning home from the ship, all of 18 days! A very cheerful child made his dad's heart melt and love flowed through his eyes. A vision and  memory of father and son so fresh that its etched in my heart for ever.

You have been an exceptional father taking care of the child and helping me again with another transition, being a mother and a professional. I was able to handle the same all because of you hubby! Life went on a roll and we were blessed the second time as parents with arrival of Abhinav in July 2009. That warmed our home and our hearts, completed our family. You helped me yet again to manage the new phase in my life. Now two smart active boys and a full time professional. When you were home I was at ease and when you were away on work you kept me calm and at peace with my self all through the sat phone calls and emails.

All is not fine if there are no fights.... isn't it? We have had our share of fights, sleepless nights, self induced stress and a little mess that came along. We sailed through and I give the credit to you.... you just allowed me to be. We have been through thick and thin, being each others strength no matter what.You allowed me to not grow beyond being a little girl at heart, I will always love you for that, my Prince Charming.

You have grown even more special with every passing day.  You bring so much happiness just by being my side, and create memories that are priceless. Ten years have been a roller coaster ride and I am loving every moment of it! I know I have been the chosen one and absolutely lucky at that. Thank you Thank you Tank you!

Happy Tin Anniversary Hubby!

Can work colleagues be your friends?

I started my professional journey in 1997 when I joined the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, India; now called the Taj Palace and Tower.  It was my first job and how a 21 years old would take it, I am sure anyone can imagine. I was super excited and carried enormous dreams and aspirations for a fulfilling career.  That’s what I wanted from the job…. A satisfying and fulfilling career!

Today when I look back, I guess that’s how it has been... 18 years and counting. To me work place has always been sacred. I had seen how the older colleagues especially the ones in the ranks, at the Taj would enter the work place,  as if it was some temple! It would bring a few smiles then but now I understand their sentiments.

My peers and colleagues inspire me.

~Robin Chase

An individual spends more waking hours at workplace and with colleagues than at home and with his own family. A job provides for the financial stability and gives the power to an individual to be in control of his life and provide for his loved ones. Everyone who is on a job works just for this. If not everyone at least the majority, is there to fulfill this. That's on one hand, on the other , in the personal or the emotional front, (after all we are all humans and have that side to us!) we look for much more in work colleagues... friends is the least of that all. We are comrades, united by common Vision and Mission of the organisation. Also working towards the same goal which is the goal the organisation to be steered to achieve. Once that everyone is on target and meet the common goal, its win- win for all. Both on personal and professional front. 

To me my work place has been the second home and work colleagues my extended family. Always took them like that. I am on my third work assignment,  worked with 3 different organisations. Each having a great place in my mind, thoughts and surely in my heart too. Today if I wish to go back to the organisations that I was once a part of, it'll be a pleasant experience for me and I can say for sure that the organisations will welcome me with open arms. The functions that I still get invited to by them is an indication of the same. I always try my best to honour the invites whenever possible. Each organisation has helped me immensely in making the person that I am today. I shall always be grateful!

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

At Taj I learnt a lot, really, tricks of the hospitality trade, at IHM Mumbai my second assignment fulfilled my desire to embark on a journey of a teacher/ trainer. I enjoyed it and continue to do so. In my present role at the Apeejay Institute of Hospitality; I do what I really love, the best of hospitality education and hotel training. On one hand there are students who are preparing themselves for the roles they'd occupy in the industry and on the other there are professionals right from top management down. Its exciting and involves a lot of learning too. I have made some great friends at work place,  friendships that'll stay life long. 

We have such emotional connect with the workplace, its certainly not the pay check at the end of the month. Initial years that may matter but not after spending years working.

The organisation's culture does play a very important role. The workplace should nurture the employees the same way the employee puts in his or her best efforts. The atmosphere should be friendly, non threatening, caring, that has scope for disagreements and a platform to vent.  This helps in fulfilling the organisations goals together. The walls, office cubicles and the central cooling doesn't make an organisation.... its the people! And the very same people are responsible for cultivating the organisations culture. Some organisations have great work culture and happy employees creating great employee and customer engagements. They are great brands to associate with. Everyone wants to work for them. At times personal jealousy, narrow mindedness and lack of empathy can lead to adverse or negative organisational culture. Once we allow such things to breed, its very difficult to clear the unwanted and undesirable mess. When so many people from diverse backgrounds work together there are bound to be differences of opinions. There should be a good mechanism to address and solve them. 

Each individual should want a solution and each should have a heart big enough to apologise. "Sorry" is certainly a magic word that can set a lot of things straight. But it also needs a lot of courage and strength of character to say so.  Only people who do not have bloated egos can do that, it's difficult for petty thinking individuals to ever even attempt it. They will always look for opportunities to put others in  bad light and try and focus all the lime light on them. But does this really work?..... To each their own!

It may work or may not. But does winning like this look like a victory at all? It doesn't. Work colleagues have much bigger roles to play, roles that are not mentioned in their job descriptions and are not a part of their KRAs. Roles of being friends, making the workplace fun and exciting, creating happy atmosphere, being a guide, mentor or a role model to the juniors, stepping in for colleagues and helping the organisation to become strong. Afterall being an employee is only a small part of an individual. He or she is much bigger 'Human Resource'! 

Rightly said by Josie Loren, 

"God has blessed me with an amazing family, friends and work colleagues that have been my joy, my support, and my sanity. I don't know what I'd do without them".

PS: Pictures are taken from Google for illustrations, with due credits, if anyone has any objection, kindly let me know they'll be removed promptly.

The story of a new venture Spectrum Academy

I am the one who writes and is more expressive than my husband... bottom line is I am the one who makes the noise!! Capt. Todiwan is a man of a few words. He believes in action rather than words. As a couple I am the one who starts an argument or a fight, I am also the one who'll then not talk and finally when I get sick of not talking to him, I am the person who starts the conversation again.

Capt. Todiwan has set up his Maritime, Hospitality and Travel academy with his partner Vibhor Rastogi and finally the work of 9 months have given birth to the brand new venture Spectrum Academy. I am an advisor to him whether he needs my advise or not. Like most wives I too think its my birth right to educate my husband on a lot of aspects. When the website was up I was the first outsider to see it and I noticed a word press blog attached with it and I was thrilled to read what my dear husband had written as I know him not writing anything long. When I write long emails to him he would reply with an SMS. You can understand my excitement! I have picked up both the posts and have shared them here. 

It gives me happiness all the way to the moon and back!

The first post!

The launch of Spectrum Academy

I have been a part of the maritime industry for over two decades. My job involved me travelling across the globe. Staying in hotels at the port of joining and also at cities I signed off from. Every country and every hotel group had something unique on their platter to offer to the discerning traveler or their guests as referred to in the hotel industry.  That always amused me and attracted my appreciation. When I got married to a hotelier, I learnt so much more about the hotels and the services that they offer.  It gave me another angle to look at things and understand them which used to unnoticed earlier. In fact my wife asked me for specific information and what to observe while I stayed at different hotels, I became a reporter to her. She said that information helped her in her classes and training sessions as she could speak about trends around the globe with specific examples. I was glad she liked what was sent to her.

When I got in touch with my partner Vibhor Rastogi, a Chef trainer and an entrepreneur. I shared with him what I intended to do and the vision that I carried. We clicked on the idea and that lead to the foundation of Spectrum Academy. Hospitality is something that you do from the heart. What really touches the guests is a service that’s good, personalized and that creates ‘Wow’ for him or her. At the academy we would like to share this passion and coach the new professionals that’ll help them take their careers on a fast forward mode. My core industry shipping also needs the finer nuances of hospitality; the shippies especially staff working in the galleys and dining areas also need to upgrade their skills in cookery, bakery, F and B Service and food presentation. At Spectrum we’ll be able to do that. We have designed a few courses and capsule modules that are in demand but not offered at colleges and large training institutes. I am sure this will certainly be of help to the budding professionals and the people who want to learn the basics or some finer nuances of the hospitality profession.

Welcome onboard,

Best Regards

Capt. Rajesh Todiwan

The second post!

Greetings of the day!

It’s my privilege to finally launch the Spectrum Academy website.  It gives us immense pleasure to welcome each one of you here. Partner Chef Vibhor and I intended to host the website and make it running last month itself, but I had to travel on work. It was a prestigious assignment and I had to take it up. It dealt with things that are close to my heart; training the seafarers. I was onboard a foreign vessel. The gist of the whole story is that the assignment was successful and I am happy with the outcome. Now that I am back at the academy and Vibhor has been putting the website together, we are ready to upload the website. We have tried our best to fulfill meaningful and necessary training needs of our valued clients and provide certifications at the same time we’d love to hear from you. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Do get in touch with us at the Spectrum Academy.

I thank all of you for visiting us and look forward to fruitful interactions and learning.

Welcome onboard,

Best Regards

Capt. Rajesh Todiwan

This is very special to me as I know my husband as a man, son, husband, father, master mariner, a true professional. Now I am getting to see another side of him the trainer and an entrepreneur. Wishing Spectrum Academy all the success.

Visit the website:

http://www.spectrumacademy.in/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spectrum-Academy/1648112828742977?fref=ts

How a modern man complements his lady

“This is a woman’s job! Men can’t be doing it….” How often have you heard this? I am sure a lot of times. There are stereotype roles for both men and women. Women take care of the home, bring up children and manage the kitchen. Men on the other hand earn and provide for the family. They are supposed to run the outdoor errands. This has been the role-play traditionally followed; probably it came from times when the man was a hunter. Times have changed and roles have followed a drastic alteration from the ancient times. Have we really moved on and adapted to the changes?  Needless to say traditional gender role model may work for some couples but mostly with both the partners having their careers, especially talking about urban areas; it’s not the best option. Villages have their own set of issues. I have seen the women there stretch themselves beyond all boundaries. They manage their home, children, families and also take up something to supplement the family income. All praises for them but it’d be so much easier if they got the due support especially from their better halves. I may not be correct here but it has been an observation.

Just the other day, I met an old student of mine, who is a young mother and has a full time demanding job too. I asked her how she was doing and how was life at this juncture. She had lost a lot of weight and looked much older than her age. She shared her daily routine with me and how managing the home, young child and career was a huge challenge for her. She did everything from preparing breakfast, keeping things ready for the child for the entire day, going to work, coming back home in the evening, preparing dinner and finally calling it a day after doing the dishes and everyone had gone to sleep. This was the story the entire week. When asked about getting help at home, she said that she had a very loving husband but he didn’t contribute to any household chores, not even taking the child out to play. She also said that the decision to have a career was all hers so she had to deal with it. I could identify with what she said, that’s the story of a lot of career women. It also saddened me with their plight.

I am so blessed to have a supporting family for which I shall always be very grateful. Coming to think of it, I guess families create cultures that they operate in. My mother in law is a very strong lady; she believes in doing her own things rather than depending on others. She inculcated in her children, especially her sons the need to help around, even doing the household chores. She had work given to everyone, the results of that kind of upbringing are clear to see. All help is there from my husband when he is home, we work like equals and we are a team!

It is important in all relationships to balance things out and share responsibilities. No one feels taken for granted. When we value each other, it is shown through the little things that we do for each other. Helping around preparing a meal, getting the children ready for school, making the beds, setting the washing machine or getting that cup of tea after a long day of work really goes a long way. Such gestures not only show that the husband values you as an individual but also makes the bond of love stronger. These little things that we share do proclaim love, caring and appreciation for one another.

Relationships are to be cherished, what better way than finding happiness in creating that respect and dependability.