Looking Back at 2020

Looking Back at 2020

Dear Friends,

Welcome to 2021 and congratulations for surviving 2020.

The year of many challenges. The year that changed the world.

Through this note, I choose to share with you my personal journey in the past one year.

The beginning of 2020 clearly showed signs that the way ahead was not easy, however the time that it truly hit me was in early March, I was on my way back from Chennai to Delhi and though Covid-19 was not yet declared a pandemic, there were early warnings that this would not see a near end.  I speculated it to be something in the lines of Nipa or swine flu – yes it was dangerous but with precautions we will get through. At the airport, I was surprised to see almost everyone wearing a mask and in the flight the staff and the passengers stressed to wear this piece of cloth that I would soon enough make a part of my daily attire. As I was miles above the ground, mid-air, I did ponder over what to do to ensure employee health and safety, however the mind wanders and soon it drifted to other issues like business, life etc. As I landed in Chennai, I read about the first case reported in Kerala and that did cause a slight panic however not so much. A few days later, our Prime Minister announced a lockdown and that did shake me up a little. The period of lockdown was quite full of mixed emotions – initially it was great quality time with family, not having to worry about business much since we had enough inventory to sustain the period and the sales though lower than usual was not so much effected. Soon enough, we started to feel the heat as the necessary inventory dried up, financial commitments mounted as business started the great fall.  By the month of May, it was clear, the market was collapsing, people were being laid off, my friends who were at the top realms of organisations were forced to quit and the nightmare seemed to see no light at the end of the tunnel.

This was when I truly had a time of reflection, my job as the captain of ESY Ship was to ensure we sail through safely – my employees, customers and the stakeholders had to be made aware that now we are entering rough sea and the voyage will be tougher as it sails through the storm at the centre, but they had to be confident that we will get through this. Fortunately, as soon as the situation was communicated, our employees were committed to face the challenges and assured us that if suffering, we will do this together. Our customers continued to support us by adapting to the new normal and having tolerance of any delay or lapses from our end. Even during the worst of the pandemic, our service team and partners provided the best service within their means. We made use of the time to get in touch with existing customers, spread positivity, learn new things, and spend time on self-learning and introspection. With the beginning of 2021, ESY has sailed through the waves of 2020 and emerged a strong survivor. new products are being added to the portfolio, while ESY has jumped to the next orbit working on software related services and powered a disruptive start-up – Templelinks.

Looking ahead, sea is still rough , pandemic is still on but we have introduced ourselves to an      Inter-Care community and my message to you would be –continue to be the captain of your ship , keep an optimistic compass for the voyage and sail through with confidence.

Good luck!

 

Regards

Dr VP Sajeevan