(Akshay Jaitly is a runner who supports his family by practicing Law)
In 2015, I have decided that I will not "reach out" to anyone. I might get in touch, give someone a call or arrange a meeting but if there is any reaching out to be done, it will either be for my next drink or, in the event that I find myself drowning at sea, perhaps for the paw of a tiger in a life raft.
I am going to skip trying to get a "35,000 feet view" of anything. Partly because, much to the chagrin of my wife, I fall asleep as soon as I slip into an airplane seat. I did manage to stay awake on a recent flight but noticed rather disappointingly that it is actually quite hard to make anything out from that height, unless you know what it is already, which makes the effort pointless. And admit it, hasn't the elevation afforded by a bird's eye view proved more than sufficient in the past?
While talking about being up in the air, I'm not going to do any "blue-sky thinking". Instead, I might just clear my thoughts and try coming up with a new idea or two. At the same time, I'm declaring "grey-sky thinking" to be a thing. Meaning nothing particularly new or earth shattering, just ordinary day-to-day and perhaps even dull or mundane thoughts, such as "I must take the dog for a walk" or "I could put some more salt on that boiled egg" or "that shade of blue is darker than that other shade of blue".
I'm not planning to be "curating" anything. Partly because most things I know about have been curated already and also because I've now put together a decent collection of used running shoes, old wine bottles, and four daughters that I feel quite happy about.
I will not be doing any "demystifying" or "decoding". Not Modi, not the new Coal Ordinance and Rules and not the upcoming Delhi elections. First, I believe that a bit of mystery is a good thing (think Greta Garbo, Mata Hari, even James Bond) and second, I'm not trained to be a cryptologist.
I do not see myself being "edgy" or "quirky" or "whimsical", even though I always tie my left shoelace before my right, don't start anything new on a Wednesday and never cut my fingernails after dark. And, despite the fact that my stubble is very grey and I was born in the late '60s, I have no particular desire to be "vintage". I was briefly tempted to be "bespoke" but was reminded by my wife that I was bespoken for about 20 years ago.
I'm going to try hard not to startle anyone by jumping on a call - or even a plane. I will instead telephone people calmly and politely, and enter aircraft with at most a gentle skipping motion, ensuring that in these fraught, terrorist-infested times, I don't startle any unsuspecting airline security staff.
I also vow not to seek solutions for everything and anything. While at times I do have the need for an IT solution or, at a stretch, even a kitchen solution, before someone advertised "come to us for all your sandwich solutions", I was not aware that meals containing two slices of bread with something in between were actually a problem thereby requiring a solution, other than perhaps for the gluten intolerant.
I'm not particularly hoping to be ubercool, uberchic or or ubersexy. And thanks to a despicable rapist and the Delhi Government, I probably shall not be Ubertransported.
I'm going to try not to start sentences with the word "so". As in "so, I was walking down the street..." I will also promise to avoid the more elaborate and extreme version of this formulation "okay look so I was walking down the street..."
I plan to avoid any "must visit" holiday destination, "must read" book, and "must try" restaurant. On the other hand, I do realize that I must brush my teeth, must take care of my children and must be nice to my wife. I'm being all radical and taking the view that the rest are all voluntary.
I'm not going to be doing anything at all on a "going forward basis". I do hope to be doing some things a bit later or in the future though. I also do not intend to be "onboarding" anyone into my organization. I might hire a couple of new staff though.
Finally, I'm holding my breath fully expecting someone to say, "That Ebola virus has gone viral, hasn't it?".
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