Fitness Fest and my Friends

पापान्निवारयति योजयते हिताय

गुह्यंच गुहति गुणान् प्रगटी करोति।

आपद्गतं न जहाति ददाति काले

सन्मित्र लक्षणमिदं प्रवदन्ति सन्ता: ।।

 भावार्थ ― अपने मित्र को पाप से बचाना, अच्छे कार्य में लगाना, उसकी गोपनीय बातों को छिपाना और अच्छे गुणों को प्रकट करना, दु:ख में मित्र का साथ न छोड़ना, समय पर सहायता करना आदि मित्र के उत्तम लक्षण सन्तों ने बताये हैं।

( Courtesy https://sharekaro.com)

English Translation: A true friend is one who ensures that his friend is free from all vices, makes sure he is engaged in good deeds. A true friend always hides the secrets of a friend and reveals good points . He never leaves his friend in difficult times and always go extra mile to to help him. So said the great sages)

We were told to memorise few Shlokas in class 7 because reproducing the same will fetch you full marks. It was Mathematics and Sanskrit which were highly scoring subjects , therefore I memorised many other shlokas . However this remained my favorite.

 At that tender age, probably I was not able to appreciate the meaning till I came across a group of people called EliteCISOs , who qualified all the attributes of a True Friend mentioned above . All extremely good in their profession, fun loving and with no hidden agenda . Courtesy the group leader ,we all faced the difficult times in Pandemic smilingly and converted the disadvantage to a great advantage for our  professional development , philanthropy , good reading and fitness.

Job of a CISO ( whether in Corporate or in Government) or for that matter any Security personnel  is quite thankless, in the sense that he will ensure the protection of  organisation 364  days out of 365 in a year but his evaluation is done on the basis of one Fateful day.  The old saying of Security "Defender has to be Lucky all the time whereas attacker has to be lucky only once" is easily forgotten. Therefore continuous job pressure doesn't allow him to keep pace with the development on the professional front . The continued stress takes a heavy toll on his/her health . By the time it is realised , it is too late in most of the cases. Good health is  great gift of God to us , but we realise its value only after it is lost. Continuous stress, irregular eating habits ( comes naturally to this profession) are the root cause of the health issues amongst IT professionals . 

Going back to where we started , a true friend created the platform wherein we are  engaged in

1.  Continuous training programme ( through hands on workshops , podcasts, webinars to name a few) , 
2. Book reading 
3. Continuous Fitness regime
4. Lots of Philanthropic work ( donations to orphanage , to NGOs working towards protection of Nature)

With the initiatives mentioned above,  we relearned few things which were forgotten due to most of us got into Rat Race.  Having read a few book on spirituality, I experienced that nothing is coincidental in this life. Nature helps souls seeking the same goal come together and achieve it. 

Knowledge , Fitness and Happiness under same umbrella.

Heil EliteCISOs