POINTS Of VIEW

Inspiring Read

Nilofar Saleem’s article last week was very reassuring (Doing it With Numbers, July 11) — probably due to the fact that it had no frills attached and instead provided an outcome.

I was very pleased that a mainstream organisation like Emirates NBD recognised the potential and capability of Nilofar against her ‘disability’. Maybe due to this reason, the article would have read better with a section name such as: ‘Being a Fighter’ or ‘Beating the Odds’ instead of ‘Overcoming Disability’.

As rightly quoted in the end, “We should never judge people on the basis of what they cannot do”. Instead, we must gradually bestow them with power and a sense of trust and belief that they can achieve the impossible. After all, with great power comes great responsibility too.

Taking another example of stay-at-home moms, who are pushed into two extreme zones i.e. either work and have no flexibility or sit at home, as you don’t have the grit to handle the job. (At least, this is the message being sent out.)

I feel it’s high time that organisations opened up real jobs for such moms, as productivity has nothing to do with putting in 8-10 hours of work. Real productivity lies in well-defined tasks, timelines, trust and motivation instead of ambiguity, short deadlines, politics and scepticism.

Coming back to Nilofar’s case, I admire the fighter in her — but I will also greatly admire and laud her family, friends, mentors and Emirates NBD, who provide the gentle nudges she needs to keep her spirits high.

Looking forward to reading more such success stories!

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Constantly ‘ON’

It is indeed a universally acknowledged fact that work-related stress is bad for you (Switch off… or Suffer, July 11). The consequences can run the spectrum from headaches and backaches to depression and divorce. And yet we are unable to get off the bandwagon. Alvin Toffler presciently warned us in his 70s bestseller Future Shock that we were headed for uncharted territories and unless we learned to cope, we would end up on the rocks. The more we know about the risks of leading a stressful life, the more we seem unable to ‘manage’ — the buzzword for solving any problem. Working long hours and carrying work home is not peculiar to the UAE. People all over the world do it, especially now that we live in a global village and might lose our job to someone in another country who is willing to work even longer hours (and carry more work home!).

It is also a universally acknowledged fact that we emotionally yearn to get away for a break when we are at work; but if the break is too long, we itch to get back to work and its daily stresses. It is akin, for some, to a drug addiction.

Often, it is too late before we realise that stress can have life-threatening outcomes. It is important to achieve work-life balance while we are still working. If we ignore the problem and postpone the remedy, it is at our peril, and unfortunately our loved ones will have to pay the price. Unfortunately, the most important lessons in life are also the ones most painfully learnt.

Rasheed Iqbal, Chennai

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So long, indi

When I started reading the Last Laugh last week (July 11), my first reaction was denial, but Indrajit Hazra had his way of leading us to the acceptance phase! For the past two years, whenever I have read wknd., I have made sure to read the last page and have always enjoyed Indrajit’s distinct sense of humour. My husband and I have often laughed our heads off over his random reflections of life and radical metaphors. Honestly not looking forward to wknd. without the Last Laugh... The column will be missed! Wishing him all the best in his future endeavours.

Humaira Kamil, Sharjah

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I was truly disappointed to read the title of my favourite wknd. section, Last Laugh (July 11). Needless to say, Indrajit Hazra has successfully tickled our funny bones for a long time and it’s a shame to see he will not be writing for wknd. anymore. I surely did laugh with him. Amid all the mundane news of world politics, satires are a welcome relief. I will confess that he has been one of my inspirations to pen down and publish a few anecdotes for the sake of others’ smiles and, in a few lucky cases, laughter. Thank you, Mr Hazra for helping me start my weekends with a jolly good laugh, and I hope to come across more features from you in the future. All the very best to you (you’ll need it since you are returning to the ‘evil’ clutches of a day job) — and cheers to a new beginning!

Debjani Ganguli, Abu Dhabi