We are in search of happiness for a long time, but happiness was never more desirable than now owing to the precarious times. The pandemic has challenged India, and its citizens, both physically and mentally. However, in the Gandhian spirit highlighted in the quote mentioned above, this festival shared some deep insights on happiness in Mumbai to boost participants immunity and maintain calm and keep hope. The fund received towards registration will be donated to relief work for the coronavirus.
The forum had two keynote addresses – one from an authority on Indian management and ancient wisdom, and one from the leading and well-known happiness researcher in India, and three-panel discussions from industry leaders, for workplace happiness, the role of CSR in happiness, and the role of media and entertainment on happiness.
The festival started with a keynote by the leading researcher on Happiness in India, Prof Rajesh Pillania, MDI, Gurgaon and Chief Advisor, Happiness Strategy Foundation. He shared five research-based happiness tips, including making happiness a choice, getting our beliefs right on happiness, gratitude, forgiveness and staying away from negative people.
It was followed by a panel discussion on workplace happiness from the leading industry stalwarts like Kaushik Shaparia, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Ltd.; Marzin R. Shroff, MD & CEO Eureka Forbes; Dinesh Deo, CEO, Marsh Mclennan Global Services India; Ramakrishnan Ramamurthi, Ex-Chief Executive, Polycab India Ltd; and Chandan Agarwal, CEO, Eternia, a venture of Hindalco. They discussed how employees' mental health and happiness could be a critical business issue to the employer and how intrinsic is it to the job. They discussed various strategies to keep the workplace a happy space. They shared their experiences of doing town hall meetings, as well as some one-to-one phone calls, for keeping the morale of the people high and to providing support in the COVID times.
Next, in the panel discussion on the role of CSR in spreading happiness, insights and experiences were the main essences of the panel discussion consisting of industry leaders, namely, Rakesh Makkar, CEO – Grihashakti Fullerton India Home Finance Co. Ltd., Nixon Joseph, President & Chief Operating Officer, SBI Foundation, Deepak Arora, Vice President – Public Affairs (Head – CSR), Nayara Energy, and Prof. Kiran Momaya, Professor, SJMSOM, IIT Mumbai. The industry leaders and Prof Momaya shared a lot of interesting insights on the value CSR adds to a workplace and also shared their personal happiness strategies and learning.
The special keynote was delivered by an Indian Management Stalwart and Pioneer of the Indian Management Movement, Dharm Pracharak and Padma Bhushan Dr Mrityunjay B. Athreya, PhD (Harvard). The Ex-Professor of London Business School & of IIM-Calcutta imparted knowledge on happiness through dharma, artha, kama and moksha and discussed the sync between these. He shared his own life experience for making people from all strata of society happy. His life itself is a message of happiness. However, he very diligently explained each link categorically, saying what should one do and why in order to pursue happiness. He ended by saying in order to be truly happy; we need to pursue it consciously.
The last panel was on the role of entertainment and media in inducing happiness, especially in these precarious times. The panel consisted of stalwarts from the entertainment industry like Claudia Ciesla, well known Celebrity & Actress; Komal Nahta, Editor in Chief, Film Information and a top-rated TV Show Host; and quite experienced and always happy Priyadarshan Garg, Head News, ZEE5. Prof. Pillania moderated this panel, and the discussion was full of fun and frolic, and of course, the panel’s experience on spreading cheer and happiness came out in a big way. They stressed the need to stay positive, maintain fitness, and be passionate about the work to enjoy it.
The event was a balanced mix of deep insights on happiness and some fun moments. Participants asked a lot of questions, including some tricky ones. The panellists lauded the idea of the festival and wished its huge success for next year.
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