CHENNAI: The final day of the International Kindness Festival saw speakers like Rajiv Lochan, Director, Sundaram Finance, performance storyteller Vikram Sridhar and Bollywood actor and producer Abhishek Bachchan. In his session titled, ‘Parent, Mentor, Friend and Guide: The Many Roles of a Modern Man’, Abhishek Bachchan spoke about the role of a parent in the modern world.
“Respect and humility are two very important values to teach our children. But humility is sometimes taken too far. Children shouldn’t be rewarded just for participation because the world wouldn’t do so. Instil values like hard work and perseverance. Teach them to develop a hard shell to repel the negativity that comes their way,” Bachchan stated.
Among the earlier speakers during the day, Rajiv Lochan spoke to Suresh Venkat about his experience with truth-telling. Reflecting back on his days at American Express and McKinsey & Company, Lochan elucidated how he prioritised truth over everything else. “We were raised with ‘honesty is the best policy’. It is hardwired in our DNA to always speak to the truth,” he stated.
Lochan also spoke about the values Indian companies should adopt to keep up with the developing world.
“Truth and honesty are non-negotiable values and every Indian organisation should build itself on it. The country is maturing as a democracy and economy,” he said. Lochan also spoke about why there is a lack of trust for media, corporates and other organisations. He said, “With the proliferation of media and especially social media, everyone knows everything about everything.
All of us are journalists, doctors, firefighters and social media has also polarised views,” he said. He also spoke about how youngsters should demonstrate patience and perseverance and not resort to white lies in order to land on their feet. In his talk, titled ‘Volunteering: From the self to selfless of being kind’, Vikram Sridhar spoke about how volunteering at children homes, dog shelters and various other places across Chennai, helped him overcome his anger and frustration and started him on a path of self-healing. “Every time I would come back home from volunteering, I would be so tired. The tiredness helped me to overcome the feeling of anger and frustration and prevented me from hurting myself or someone else,” he said.