As I am a bookworm, I was excited to meet Mr. Devdutt Pattanaik on the second day of PRAXIS. Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian author known for his work in mythology and interpretations of ancient Indian scriptures, stories, symbols and rituals.  At PRAXIS, he spoke on reputation and trust.

Welcome “Richa’s Uncle”: He spoke just after actor Richa Chadda. I would like to begin my blog with a funny incident that happened while Richa Chadda was there on stage. Without even knowing who was sitting beside the stage, in the middle of her speech, she suddenly addressed Mr. Pattanaik as “Uncle” and told him not to speak as it was disturbing her speech!! Immediately after her speech was over, Kiruba, the host of PRAXIS8 introduced Mr. Pattanik humoursly as “Richa’s uncle”!

Attaching the Strings of Mythology with Communication: Devdutt Pattanaik wonderfully and hilariously attached the strings of mythology with communication and reputation. According to him, reputation is a stain that can’t be washed away. Reputation is a perception and nothing to do with facts. Though many PR professionals disagreed with him on this particular comment. He said that the difference between Communication and mythology is that: communications was created to tell stories in a simpler way. Some of the mythologies are created to show how complex life is. He said that Ramayana and Mahabharata were created to communicate communications.

Be a Listener First:

He suggested that to be a better communicator, we need to listen first. He said that communication is not about word or language, it’s beyond that. He pointed out that communication happens even with a touch. He connected all our five sensory organs with communication. He said, “Darshan karne se shruti hoti hain” (While you are seeing something, you are actually listening too.) According to him, problem with language is that it’s not just word but sound, texture, feel and intonation too. How we pronounce a word is important because intonation of a same word can communicate different meaning and no Artificial Intelligence will be able to crack it.

Personal Vs Professional:

Mr. Pattanaik nicely differentiated between our ‘personal’ self and ‘professional’ self. We need to question ourselves, are we a ‘person’ first or a ‘professional’ first? Everyone of us wants to be good but good to whom? He gave us the example of  Ram, saying, “Ram had to be to good to Ayodhya or to his wife, Sita?”

Perfect Vs Real:

He advised us to be ‘real’ rather to be ‘perfect’. Because being a PR Professional, we need to be authentic first. He advised “say what people ‘need’ to hear, not what they ‘want’ to hear.

Defining PR’s Job Satirically:

He expressed satire at its best when he defined the job of PR. He said that every Ravan thinks he is Ram. The one who says My way or the Highway is a Ravan. And the job of a PR professional is to turn every Ravan into Ram! He also added that everyone doesn’t need PR. The Brambha is the creator, he creates and disappears. Nobody remembers the Mango tree even if it does PR!

His witty speech entertained all the present audience. After his speech, he was in conversation with Mr. Paresh Chaudhry, the Group President of Adani Group, on trust and reputation. At PRAXIS, 250 copies of his books were given free to the 250 attendees on ‘first come first serve’ basis.

Related Post – https://scoreindia.org/blog/book-review-great-pr-ideas/

—Chandrayee Mukherjee

She is a part of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai. She completed her winter internship with Genesis BCW She is from Konnagar.

She did her Bachelors in English literature and language from Asutosh College, Kolkata. A small town-girl with so many dreams in her eyes, a travel enthusiast, foodie, pluviophile, music-lover, nature-lover, feminist, and an Aspiring PR professional. She loves Reading fiction, Writing poems and blogs, Singing.