Dear colleagues & friends, June 04, 2021
Today marks the 100th edition of Friday with Firdosh!
Thirteen years ago, on Friday, March 7, 2008, I penned my first communication to a small number of readers. My idea wasn’t much different from a thousand others who publish newsletters to establish a personal connection with their client-base. I was determined however, not to engage in lengthy, commercially focused writing; instead opting for more personal, anecdotal, and informative content to engage with my peers, colleagues, clients and friends. Moreover, if I was to take up your valuable time, I wanted to keep it brief, interesting and relevant.
I have to confess that I struggled to come up with an appropriate caption for my newsletters. Then, one sunny Tuesday, while driving to the office, I heard about the “Toonie Tuesdays” fundraiser, co-sponsored by the radio station I was listening to (to my non-Canadian readers, we Canadians lovingly refer to our two-dollar coin as a Toonie!). The phrase kept echoing in my head for almost a week when suddenly it dawned on me that by attaching Friday to my name, it had a nice ring to it. And that’s how the title ‘Friday with Firdosh’ got introduced to the world!
In the years since that first FWF rolled out, I did take a hiatus of almost five years due to a few health issues but more importantly because I lost momentum and motivation. During that time, I felt like the king’s elephant in the ancient, Indian story: Battle Drums. This elephant, once so skillful on the battlefield that he never returned without a victory, found that as he aged, he was sent into battle less and less. One day the elephant went to the lake for a drink and his feet got stuck in the mud and he started sinking. As the story goes, no amount of effort by the local villagers could get him out, until one of the king’s ministers suggested they beat the battle drums around the lake. On hearing this call to battle, the elephant found the strength to step back onto dry ground. I suppose it’s fair to credit that the pandemic played those battle drums, infusing me with the mojo to start writing again. I am also grateful to all my readers of FWF and highly appreciative of your comments. You continue to encourage me to express my thoughts freely, good or otherwise. A big THANK YOU to all of you!
Lately, there has been plenty of talk about a new normal; the way that our life and living will become, post-pandemic. Humanity has pinned its hopes on the vaccine roll-outs and I am confident that we will win this battle against the deadly virus. However, mankind has also gained immensely from one of the few positive effects of the pandemic, for today, our planet enjoys record low levels of pollutants, which begs the question whether we as businesses, societies, communities, towns, cities, and countries will be able to find a sensible balance to continue to maintain our fragile ecosystems. Or, will the race towards returning to the pre-pandemic status quo which actually brought about this environmental crisis, take precedence?
I, for one, am not optimistic. As soon as we find ourselves on the other side of the pandemic, businesses are going to throw caution to the wind. And who can blame them, eh? After all, they have suffered monumental losses and need to begin the recovery process quickly. Such recoveries will gather speed rapidly as pent-up demands for things that were forbidden for the past 16 months become attainable again. As far as travel is concerned, I can only hope that environmental commitments come into existence to keep Mother Earth less polluted and her resources at a sustainable level for the benefit of future generations. I also believe that I am allowed to dream, right?
And speaking of travel and dreams, here's my latest idea. I love golf and over the years, I've learned it is a dream-come-true for many amateur players like me to golf at good courses around the globe. Taking this idea to the next level I have partnered with a Canadian professional golf instructor (a great guy, by the way) who will be on hand throughout these tours to help each golfer better their game. I have been busy crafting small group itineraries for golfers, not only to play on great golf courses in, Portugal, Thailand, Italy, Morocco and South Africa, but also explore and enjoy the destinations. For accompanying non-golfers, we will be offering a variety of other activities whilst the golfers are busy with their games. Departures will be in the Canadian fall/winter seasons of 2022 and 2023. If you are interested in presenting these programs to your clients or wish to enjoy golfing in one of the mentioned countries, let me know and I will send the programs to you once they are fully finalized.
Until next time.