New Normal - Never Normal

'New Normal' ??? That is the most intriguing contemporary  antithesis I have come across.

Times are abnormal. The world has barely been through the crisis as the third wave of Delta mutation is looming large. Desire to kick start normalcy, makes us believe that we have scared the virus with our unresearched Vaccinations which have an effective shelf-life of 6 months at the most. The booster shots look like a pharmaceutical  marketing gimmick.

Ideas of Management thought provocaters is racing fast . They are propounding a concept called  - The New Normal in the 'lock-off' times.  In their imagination, everything  opposite and different from that what prevailed before, now falls into the agenda of what they call - the new normal. Supposedly, everything anti thesis of the old normal is the new normal.

Let me destroy the myth. I think the only thing normal is the fact that there will be no new normal ! New situations, contrarian context and bewildering circumstances in a space that is undefined and untested will need to be traversed. Normal is unsustainable. It is going to be times which will Never have any normal.

New is finding its feet in the unnchanted terrain  .... taking slow & cautious steps forward in a blind alley,  feeling its way up. 

Should our vulnerability scare us out? What will it take for us to lead, manage expectations and win this game to the new destination ? Rightly says the poet ....

"Manzil to dhoond hi lengey

 Bichhad ke he sahee ;

  Gumrah to woh hotey hai

   Jo ghar se nikalte he nahee"

The prestigious NIPM 2021 Naval Tata Memorial lecture is organised on the theme 'Never Normal' on September 3 (5pm) by Shekhar Bhandari - President - Kotak Mahindra Bank. There couldn't be anyone better and more erudite than Shekhar to share his path- breaking thoughts on this  theme.

You should listen to him...it will provide a new wayforward of thoughts to the watershed times that lie ahead.