Bhubaneswar, Oct 22: Week-end farming has emerged as a stress buster for Pradeep Rout, the Odisha Head and CEO of a leading telecom service provider in the state. While Rout agrees that his job is very demanding in terms of business goals, he simultaneously mentions about his two innovative approaches which have helped him to keep work related stress at bay all the time.

He has spent a major part of his three decades long corporate career outside Odisha leading the businesses at top MNCs and brands including Xerox, Tata, Reliance etc. and is now on the mission to connect the hitherto unconnected in the hinterlands of Odisha as the State Business Head and CEO of Reliance Jio in  Odisha.

However, all this success also came none the less with a very demanding work schedule and the so-called work stress. On how he manages to keep his calmness intact even amidst the very challenges the corporate sector throws at him, Pradeep explains his two-pronged innovative strategy of farming and fitness that has helped him to keep away stress while focussing more on his work and building a successful team. 

He shares his interesting experiment of turning to week-end farming in his native village of Koro Mirzapur in Kendrapara district as a crucial stress buster. He has turned nearly one-acre ancestral land in his village into an open farm, cultivating vegetables, medicinal herbs, fruits and flowers within the compound. Whenever he gets time in the weekends, he travels to his native village and engage in farm activities along with motivating village youth for pursuing meaningful career opportunities. The medicinal herbs, especially those related to diabetes management has helped many of the elderly villagers, he adds.

An avid fitness lover, Pradeep says keeping himself fit with regular workouts, running and yoga has also helped in managing stress in everyday life. The open farm in his village also has a beautiful walkway along with a nicely designed gazebo for small meetings of villagers. While Pradeep offers counselling on importance of fitness for leading a successful life, the beautifully paved walkway inside the open farm also had a positive impact on the village youth as well as elderly who often use it for morning or evening walks and for meetings on village development.