Pen Shots

Gandhi and Freedom - The factors to reevaluate

2013-01-31T03:01:00.001-08:00

The content of this blog has been taken from other websites. You are free to disagree with the article contents.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have gone through different sources and worked out on “Karam Chand Gandhi and his journey to 1950”, “British empire and history – including the Second World War”. The sources include Google, blogs, discovery channel, BBC – British history and other source of their history. And here is what I got to know about our independence and role of respective leaders of India and rest of the world.

I must start with a statement – “we must not forget the role of the revolutionaries in the freedom movement of India has called for a re-examination of the role of Mahatma Gandhi and his Satyagraha.”

Satyagraha means non-co-operation and civil resistance, are nothing but new name for the law of suffering. Let’s watch what it did:

Satyagraha 1

Gandhi started his Satyagraha from South Africa when he been there to serve Gujrati merchants as barrister and to entertain Europeans in 1890s. He finally founded the Natal Indian Congress organization for rich and the empire loyalists.

Gandhi visited India couple of times to get the support from Indian politicians / leaders to redress Indians in South Africa. In 1901-02, he met G K Gokhale, a loyalist to the British. Gokhle was also against any opposition to Britishers and the idea of the freedom movement by Lal, Bal, Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Tilak and Vipin Chand Pal). Gandhi joined Gokhale as an empire loyalist camp within congress. It was his first political movement.

Gandhi then went back to South Africa and started his first so called Satyagraha by dramatically burning the passes. These passes were in law for the Asians, Arabs etc. to carry it with them and that was not a big issue as in most of the countries even today, a foreigner has to carry such document anyway. Gandhi was doing all this stating “for the honor of the motherland”, but which motherland – it was not specified by him. Burning the passes and this Satyagraha did not help Indians but it was negative impact on them. They were rounded up, beaten, Jailed and deported in many cases.

When General Smut met Gandhi, it was made very clear to stop immigration of Indians to SA. Passes were withdrawn. Loads of restrictions applied and finally a legal racial discrimination started as a result of the movement. So it was a failure of Gandhi there in SA but still English Language media propagate him as a winner against the racist govt of British origin for whom Gandhi had worked as a ‘ward assistance’ in the war against the Dutch settlers in SA. Gandhi had no contact with the Africans and their liberal movement but he helped white minority to rule in SA through such divisive segregationist policies. They enforced racial segregation and differential policies, no matter what Satyagraha says, and attempted to degrade Indians against Africans by giving the status as coolies.

Gandhi was back to Indian in 1914 as nothing was left for him in SA. His impact had no significant in African movement. African Nation Congress was not at all influenced with Gandhi’s Satyagraha but in-fact was strongly influenced with the neighbors (Mozambiqueand Angola) who were strongly supported by the Soviet Union with finance and being armed. In 1964, Nelson Mandela also pointed out that he and his mates have decided to organize underground and armed resistance against the govt (So No PEACE).

Returning to India in 1914, Gandhi served twice for the British in First World War in France and then to in Mesopotamia because he had convinced himself that he owed the empire that sacrifice in return for its military protection (stated in Martin Green, Gandhi: Voice of a New Age Revolutionary).

Satyagraha 2

With an extraordinary good fortune, Gandhi in an extraordinary political coup was elected himself (its English they wanted him there) as the president of the All-India Home Rule League after the deaths of Tilak by September 1920. He steered a resolution as Non-Cooperation to preserve the Khilafat bypassing the freedom movement in the Congress session in Calcutta. Later all the important leaders of the Congress, Bipin Pal, Surendranath Banerjee, Ajit Singh were either expelled or neutralized by Gandhi. Tilak had gathered huge money about Rs.10 lakhs, to finance his freedom movement and Gandhi used that up to please the followers of Turkish Khalifa, who was defied by the Muslims in the Turkish occupied Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and in Turkey itself by the reforming leader Kamal Attaturk. Gandhi and the Muslim leaders of India were ignorant about these political developments in the Middle East.

This agitation was initiated by Khilafat leadership and not by Congress. As usual, Gandhi pick those issues without consulting the other leaders (Nathuram Godse expressed his anger on such decisions and that happened at times) and started his programm of peaceful non co-operation with the British included boycotts of British goods and institutions to protect the Turkish Sultan, leading to arrests of thousands of the people for defying British laws. This was nothing to do with Freedom movement of India.

The Khilafat movement went wrong and Muslims restored a massive violence to slaughter the Hindus in Kerala and Mysore. Gandhi called off the Khilafat movement after the Chauri Chaura violence without even consulting his Muslim allies. Gandhi’s decision created deep confusion in Congress circles.

Subhas Chandra Bose wrote: To sound the order of retreat just when public enthusiasm was reaching the boiling point was nothing short of a national disaster. The principal lieutenants of the Mahatma, Deshbandhu Das, Pandit Motilal Nehru and Lala Lajpat Rai, who were all in prison, shared the popular resentment. I was with the Deshbandu at the time, and I could see that he was beside himself with anger and sorrow.(Quoted from Indian Struggle by Subhas Chandra Bose)

The jailed leaders sent from prison, long and indignant letters to Gandhi protesting at his decision to which Gandhi replied that men in prison were civilly dead and had no claim to any say in policy. In March 1922, Gandhi was sentenced to six years imprisonment. He was released after two years, but by then the political landscape had changed dramatically. Bose, who resigned from ICS in 1921, was now in his activities. Also the Congress Party had split and Hindu-Muslim unity had disintegrated. Sri Aurobindo said: When Gandhi’s movement was started, I said that this movement would lead either to a fiasco or to great confusion. And I see no reason to change my opinion. Only I would like to add that it has led to both.

Satyagraha 3

Gandhi was loosing the hold on Congress for sometime… so something he was looking for to take himself out of the wardrobe. He found a day in Dec 1928 during Culcutta Congress where he demanded dominion (ruling and controlling) status for India while Srinivas Iyenger, Subhas Bose and other leaders were looking for complete freedom. Gandhi never looked for complete freedom and so Iyenger that time and later, same reasons, Bose in 1939 with other 200 leaders were expelled from Congress. Everyone who had approaching a strong hold for any movement where Gandhi is absent, was expelled at times. Gandhi was always backed by British as they had no trouble handling him.

In March 1930, Dandi yatra launched to break the law (I would say to be in lime light) and to make own salt while it was symbolic for Indians as they never used to make salt in anyway. This movement came to be known as Civil Disobedience Movement. Within a few weeks about a hundred thousand men and women, thinking mistakenly that it was the beginning of the freedom movement, were in jail, throwing mighty machinery of the British Government out of gear. Gandhi was arrested in May 1930. This could be right time to fight as it was spread countrywide and people were out on the road for freedom BUT Gandhi withdrew his name from the movement and sacrifice of the people was in vain. Why that movement happened? The end result was – British never withdraw tax on salt.

Then Gandhi-Irwin pact came in picture with end of the Congress's civil disobedience. There were some points agreed by British Govt but on what cost – 23^rd March 1931. This had to happen only if Govt agrees on his terms. None of them were to get freedom. One of them was - Gandhi been to London to represent INC but that could not happen and he came back to India empty handed and decided to go for civil disobedience again in 1932. The viceroy Lord Willingdon outlawed Congress and due to other circumstances, Gandhi completely suspended it in 1934. Thus, Gandhi’s third Satyagraha also could not achieve anything much because Gandhi as usual refused to continue it. That was Gandhi¹s last and the only Satyagraha as a mass political movement for the freedom movement.

While this all going, Bose was all set to scrap the INC as he thought its history and he need a full fledge party with 10 clear and strong points to rule and rebuild India with full freedom. Why he was so sure to be free from British rule? He was building a base to bring people with him for this movement. Nehru called him Fascism and Nazi, but for the betterment of India, Bose was happy to be like that as he was clear with his movements and in thoughts that British enemies are Indian friends. Throughout his political career, India's liberation from British rule remained Bose's foremost political goal; indeed, it was a lifelong obsession. As he explained in his most important work, The Indian Struggle, the political party he envisioned "will stand for the complete political and economic liberation of the Indian people”. He was forced to resign from INC in 1939 as Gandhi didn’t like his fame.

Quit India movement (Not a Satyagraha – read the definition at top please)

Andman and Nikobar was liberated by Japanese in 1942 and Bose hoisted Indian flag there. Free India government in exile or Azad Hind Government was recognized by the Soviet Union, Japan, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Imperial China. Indian national army and Imperial Japanese army was on the doorstep of the British India. Gandhi refused to be outsmarted by Netaji and started his last mass movement, which was not a Satyagraha. This all can be easily learnt from the historic channels broadcasting the truth of World War 2. Hitler was making the trouble in Europe, Japanes shook hands with Bose coming close to India routing from Burma. The Second WW was a terrible experience for British on the economic conditions too. Indians in the British army were now with Bose.

In a radio address broadcast from Berlin on March 1, 1943, Bose exclaimed that Britain's demise was near, and predicted that it would be “India's privilege to end that Satanic Empire.” The fundamental principle of his foreign policy, Bose declared in a May 1945 speech in Bangkok, is that "Britain's enemy is India's friend."

Gandhi was loosing the pride again so planned Quit India Movement in 1942 but no plan to execute it. Congress passed resolution with the help of UN to end the British Rule in India. British were already in a bad shape in Europe so they have to gain the power back at home instead. Next day the resolution was passed, all congress leaders were arrested including Gandhi and that provoked the violent demonstration which was not a Satyagraha of-course.British still not ready to accept all this and they used full force to end this and they succeeded. As usual Gandhi already withdrew himself from that movement within a few days after it has started. All the Satyagraha were failed inclusive this because of mistakes and non wide leadership plan. People were mistaken as they thought these all are freedom movements but got nothing in the end.

In other occasions, Gandhi fasted for Ahmadabad Mill to bring mill owners to be responsible for any death in the mill, they compromised but went back to their initial thoughts once they found the situation back to normal. Same happened in Africa. Once he is back, the situations worsen for the Indians. – Sri Aurobindo.

Since 1942, Gandhi was busy making plans to partition India to create Pakistan, the idea of which Gandhi has accepted even in 1940, according to both B.R.Ambedkar and Sri Aurobindo. Nehru and Patel as representative of Gandhi were in regular consultations with the Vice-Roy of India on how best to help the British war efforts against Japan and the Azad Hind Fauz. Freedom movement was not in their mind.

Indian soldiers of the Royal Indian Navy have started their revolt at Bombay harbour on 18 February 1946 in association with the growing unrest in India when the British had started mass executions of the members of the Azad Hind Fauz, as reported in The Hindustan Times, 2 November 1945. From the initial flashpoint in Bombay, the mutiny spread and found support all over India, from Karachi to Calcutta and involved 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 soldiers. Industrial workers in Bombay area joined in. In Madrasand Pune the British garrisons had to face revolts within the ranks of the Indian army.However, both the Congress and the Muslim League betrayed that revolt. Although both Gandhi and Jinnah condemned it, but it had a decisive role for the independence ofIndia by forcing the British to realize they cannot depend on the Indian in the army, navy or in the air force.

It is a common belief in India and in the Western world that Gandhi, through his non-violence Satyagraha has gave India independence from the British rule. The truth is somehow very different.

According to the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, during whose regime India became free, the creation of the INA (Indian National Army) and mutiny the RIN (Royal Indian Navy) of February 1823, 1946 made the British realise that their time was up in India. An extract from a letter written by P.V. Chuckraborty, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, on March 30 1976, reads thus:

When I was acting as Governor of West Bengal in 1956, Lord Clement Attlee, who as the British Prime Minister in post war years was responsible for India's freedom, visited India and stayed in Raj Bhavan
Calcutta for two days. I put it straight to him like this: "The Quit India Movement of Gandhi practically died out long before 1947 and there was nothing in the Indian situation at that time which made it necessary for the British to leave India in a hurry.

Why then did they do so? In reply Attlee cited several reasons, the most important of which were the INA activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which weakened the very foundation of the British Empire in India, and the RIN Mutiny which made the British realize that the Indian armed forces could no longer be trusted to prop up the British. When asked about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi¹s 1942 movement, Attlee’s lips widened in smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, “Minimal”.

To add on what P.V. Chuckraborty mention about Attlee In reply Attlee cited several reasons, another major reason was: Britain was in crisis after First World War with 900 million GBP in debt to US, his worldwide investments wiped out, cotton and coal export market was collapsed. That was the underlying reality for Britain and they could no longer afford to build the bases or ships to defend its empire as it had before 1914. 1929, it was Wall Street collapse and US stopped aid to Europe. Hitler came to the power in 1933 and he did the rest. Bose shook hands with Germans and Italian to overcome.

Lord Mountbatten had described India in 1946 as a burning ship in the mid-ocean.

Famous historian Ramesh Chadra Majumdar dismissed the contribution of Satyagraha to the eventual independence of India. He said, “The campaigns of Gandhi came to an ignoble end about fourteen years before India achieved independence. In particular, the revelations made by the INA trial, and the reaction it produced in India, made it quite plain to the British, already exhausted by the war, that they could no longer depend upon the loyalty of the sepoys for maintaining their authority in India. This had probably the greatest influence upon their final decision to quit India.
(Majumdar, R.C., Three Phases of Indias Struggle for Freedom, Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan).

According to BBC history page which reads:
“But the greatest cloud on the horizon was Nazi Germany, which in 1938 seized Austria and Czechoslovakia. The late 1930s are often known as the 'age of appeasement', for Britain found any excuse not to fight a war, though it had reluctantly begun to re-arm.”
Also“It took World War Two and the Japanese take-over of Burma to extract Britain's assurance of post-war independence, failing which India threatened to welcome in Japanese troops to 'liberate' them.”
British were in no mood of leaving India till mid of 30’s as it was major economic resource for them and that’s why they build such a beautiful area in Delhi called them India Gate, Rastrapati and Sansad bhawan. Not for any Gandhi or Nehru. Nehru was already enjoying his life with English people.

Thus, one should not just believe in the official version of the recent Indian history, which has propagated that only Gandhi and Nehru through the Satyagraha has brought freedom to India. The reality is quite
different, but was hidden so far due the massive state power to advertise Satyagraha, which as a mass movement has failed everywhere whether in India or in South Africa.

FW: Non Biz | Club Mahindra Membership is - biggest Financial Mistake

2012-10-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs I read regularly, had this article on Club Mahindra. Hence thought of sharing this is for the benefit of those who are contemplating to take this membership. You could read this blog and analyze before taking it.

- http://www.tflguide.com/2012/07/club-mahindra-membership-fees-review.html

*********************************************************************************

Club Mahindra Membership is my biggest Financial Mistake

by Hemant Beniwal

Upfront I am accepting that buying Club Mahindra Membership was my biggest financial mistake. Readers may be thinking “biggest is a comparative word – that means there must be few more”. Yes Why not. I am also a human and allowed to make some mistakes. Each day one takes 4-5 financial decisions and if not more, there is a fair chance that few of them will prove to be wrong. Sometime money involved can be small for eg going for new released movie. If your family likes the movie – than fine. But what if opposite happens? (If decision was wrong – cost Rs 1500-2000 if tickets bought in Royale or Rs 500-1000 if bought tickets for Executive class and additional loss of Rs 200-300 if buying Pepsi or eatables – even choosing large or small Pepsi is a financial decision – impact Rs 100 on budget)

Let me also share that one decision which is blunder for one person can be a small mistake for other & for third person it may also prove to be right – again financial planner’s favorite line “it depends on person to person”. So why I am saying Club Mahindra Membership is MY biggest mistake (in short) – because:

Amount & time involved is huge.
It doesn’t suite my type of person, who doesn’t want to sit & enjoy – I want to explore the places in & around the city that I am visiting.
It was mis-sold – lots of things were hidden & misrepresented.
I am frugal when it comes to food on a trip & they charge me bomb for that
There is big difference between what Club Mahindra promise, what people expect & what they deliver.

Club Mahindra Holidays Membership Features

If you want to know about membership, quickly glance through the presentation. Its bit old but hardly there are some changes – one important change is now bookings can be made in 6 months advance. [Note: Its not lifetime its for 25 years - earlier it was for 33 years]

Please click on this link for the presentation - http://www.tflguide.com/2012/07/club-mahindra-membership-fees-review.html

Club Mahindra Membership Fees

Before looking at the Club Mahindra Holidays Membership Fees we have to understand – criteria on what this fee is based on.

First is type of Rooms

Studio Apartment – is a room for 3 adults or 2 adults & 2 kids.
1 Bed Room (BR) – room for 4 adults
2 BR – room for 6 adults

Second is Type of Seasons

Club Mahindra has divided 52 weeks in 4 Seasons/Colors. (Check Season chart here)

Purple: This is period like New Year, summer holidays or Diwali holidays.
Red: Its second best category which covers all major long holidays & peak season for a particular location.
White: Normal Season
Blue: It’s off season

Membership is also divided in these categories where you can utilize holiday in your season or lower. So Purple Members can have holidays in any season but white can only go for White & Blue. Holiday in higher season is also possible but there are limitations like bookings can only be made 15 days in advance & you can jump only one season so White can think of going in red but not in purple.

Onetime Club Mahindra Membership Fees (2010-11)

No data is available about Club Mahindra Membership latest Fees. But in December 2011 I got a mail from them, which quoted these prices.

Red Studio - Rs. 389855
Purple Studio – Rs. 592908

Club Mahindra Membership Annual Subscription Fees (ASF)

Club Mahindra Claims their membership is Inflation Free but other than one time fees members have to pay annual subscription fees (irrespective of usage), depending on type of room they own. They charge ASF on type on rooms so Studio will pay lowest ASF & 2 Bed Room will pay highest. But at the time of booking you can choose any room so I am having Studio but can book 2 BR & pay 50% less ASF. (You people will be feeling pity about me & I am feeling same for people who have bought 1 BR & 2 BR) This fees is not fixed – it increase every year according to urban inflation numbers.

ASF Charges in 2010-11 (including service tax)

Studio Rs 8,994
1 BR Rs 12,629
2 BR Rs 17,717

Club Mahindra Membership Cancellation Policy

They have a very transparent membership cancellation policy that there is 10 days free-look period – where the whole amount can be refunded but I was not allowed to use that. After 10 days you can cancel the membership but there will be no refund – sounds similar to our favorite endowment plans. But after that if you want you can sell your membership in open market – but there are no buyers. Check sites like Quikr or Olx and you will find lot of sellers but no buyers.

In last financial year there were 4000 membership cancellation – I assume that as they don’t have proper cancellation policy, these are the people who have not paid Annual Subscription Fees (ASF) & there membership was automatically cancelled.

44% members are not utilizing their holidays

Club Mahindra Holidays can advertise “Happy Families” but truth is 44% of members are not availing their holidays. Why?

First & biggest reason is there is a gap between number of members & inventory (number of units) available in the resorts. They proudly say that there membership is increased by 26% Compounded annualized growth rate but their Inventory was not able to keep pace & just grown by 22%. Gap was 9% in 2005, which has now grown to 26%. (You can check the below table – Club Mahindra Members Vs Inventory)

Second, Club Mahindra gives resorts on rental to nonmembers, even in the peak season. So members compete with nonmembers. There annual report show earning of Rs 15 Cr from rental they have received from nonmembers. If I assume Rs 4000 per night room rent – it turns to 3% of the total available inventory.

Third, when there is big gap in available inventory & some competition from nonmembers; few people will definitely be disappointed because they will not get what they desire. Club Mahindra expect that people should plan there holidays 6 months in advance – I think I can do it but it’s not possible for people who are in jobs. There annual report shows that occupancy was at 77% & if we adjust even 2% that was utilsed by nonmembers so member occupancy is at 75%. If we compare that with number of members, it turns out to be 44%. (check below graph – Club Mahindra Yearly Membership Unutilised)

I don’t think I again have to tell you that Club Mahindra charges Annual Subscription Fees (ASF) irrespective of you go for holidays or not. In addition they don’t allow members to accumulate more than 3 years (21 days) holidays. If member don’t pay ASF, his membership will seize.

My Story

I am passionate about traveling – I bought Club Mahindra Red Studio in Feb 2008. Just after my sisters marriage we were having some cash in our account & coincidentally we were also planning to buy LCD TV. Then came THE SUNDAY & I saw advertisement in local newspaper, where Club Mahindra also shared about FREE Sony Bravia TV. My mind stopped working something similar to when people see emotional ads of child plans. I called up the number & executive reached my door step in 2 hours. In next 5 days we finished all formalities & were part of Club Mahindra roller coaster rides.

There are lot of bitter experience with Club Mahindra – starting from purchasing to doing bookings to services in resorts to checkouts but I must appreciate they have good properties.

My Mistakes – from which you should learn

They say “Learning from your mistakes is smart, learning from the mistakes of others is wise.” But learning from own mistake is really expensive….

I have not analysed my requirement: I am passionate about travelling but they have resorts at limited locations. When I go to some place I try to explore other good places which are close to that city – I don’t like sitting on pool side throughout the day. 31^st Dec 2010 I visited Jim Corbett – I had bookings for 4 nights. You won’t believe we spent very little time in resort – we were more interested in visiting Nanital & Ranikhet. Even we spent one night in some other hotel because we thought rather than going back to resort to sleep let’s directly go from Nanital to Ranikhet. : (

I have not researched the product before buying: I have not researched the product & matching it with my requirement. I believed on brand Mahindra, limited information that was shared by executive & my gut feeling. After buying the product I started searching about how existing members feel about it & I was shocked. But that was too late.

I agreed for the things that were not documented – I was interested in Red Studio because that was most flexible in usage as I can go in Red, White or Blue & even purple if there is some chance in last 15 days (purple weeks were not available at that time for purchase). I can choose any type of room & that too with lower ASF.

But the executive said FREE TV is only available with 1 BR so first you buy White 1 BR & we can later convert it in Red Studio. It took me 7 months in conversion & that too after lot of threatening calls & what not.

There are lot more things to share about Club Mahindra Membership but I will try to share that in comment section. If you are member of any such time share resort or planning to buy one or approached by someone, please share your views in comment section.

A cold winter - A Share Market analogy !

2012-09-27T22:01:00.002-07:00

It was autumn, and the Red Indians asked their New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was a Red Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his Tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?'

'It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed,' the weather man responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood. A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Is it going to be a very cold winter?'

'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'It's definitely going to be a very cold winter.'

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.

Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again.

'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?'

'Absolutely,' The man replied. 'It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'

'How can you be so sure?' the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, 'The Red Indians are collecting wood like crazy.'

This is how stock markets work!!!

Wooden Bowl

2012-08-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.

"We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor." So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

Care and love your Parents as you would expect your children to love and care for you.

Remember, as you sow, so shall you reap, and regardless of your relationship with your Parents, you will miss them when they are gone.

The 4 Wives

2012-07-11T04:56:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a Prince who had four wives.

He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with expensive clothes, and treated her most delicately. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much. She was very beautiful and he always enjoyed showing her off to his friends, but was always afraid that she may run away with some other men.

He loved his 2nd wife too. She was very considerate and patient. Whenever he faced any problems, she would always help him out.

His 1st wife was very loyal and contributed a great deal towards his success and also took care of the household. However he never paid much attention to her although she loved him deeply.

One day he fell sick and was finally on his death-bed. He thought that although he had 4 wives but when he dies, he will be all alone. So he asked his 4th wife, ' I loved you the most, gave you the finest clothes and took great care of you. Now I am dying, will you follow me and keep me company.' The 4th wife replied 'No way" and walked off without any further word.

In came the 3rd wife and he asked her ' I loved you so much all my life. Now that I am dying, will you follow me and keep me company.' She also replied 'No way', and further remarked that life was so good that she would re-marry after he dies.

He then asked the 2nd wife, ' You always helped me with my problems, I need your help again for one last time. I am dying, will you follow me and keep me company.' The 2nd wife replied that I am sorry but this time I cannot help you, at the most I can go up to your grave.

Then he suddenly heard the voice of his 4th wife saying that I will go with you and keep you company. As he looked up he realized that she was so skinny as if due to malnutrition. He told her with great sorrow in his heart that I should have taken better care of you while I could have.

The fact is that we all have 4 wives in our lives.

The 4th wife is our body: No matter how much time and effort we devote in making it looking good, it will leave us when we die.

The 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth: When we die they all go to others.

The 2nd wife is our family and friends: No matter how close they had been to us when we were alive, the furthest they can go is up to the grave.

The 1st wife which we cannot see is our soul itself: We often neglect it in our pursuit of material wealth and sensual pleasures, but it is the only thing which follows us wherever we go. So it won't be a bad idea at all to cultivate and strengthen it now, taking better care of it while we can with good noble deeds, than to wait until we are on our death-bed!!!

Barefoot - The other side of life

2012-07-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Can anyone really live on Rs. 26 a day, the income of the officially poor in rural India? Two youngsters try it out.

Late last year, two young men decided to live a month of their lives on the income of an average poor Indian. One of them, Tushar, the son of a police officer in Haryana, studied at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for three years as an investment banker in the US and Singapore. The other, Matt, migrated as a teenager to the States with his parents, and studied in MIT. Both decided at different points to return to India, joined the UID Project in Bengaluru, came to share a flat, and became close friends.

The idea suddenly struck them one day. Both had returned to India in the vague hope that they could be of use to their country. But they knew the people of this land so little. Tushar suggested one evening — “Let us try to understand an ‘average Indian', by living on an ‘average income'.” His friend Matt was immediately captured by the idea. They began a journey which would change them forever.

To begin with, what was the average income of an Indian? They calculated that India's Mean National Income was Rs. 4,500 a month, or Rs. 150 a day. Globally people spend about a third of their incomes on rent. Excluding rent, they decided to spend Rs. 100 each a day. They realised that this did not make them poor, only average. Seventy-five per cent Indians live on less than this average.

The young men moved into the tiny apartment of their domestic help, much to her bemusement. What changed for them was that they spent a large part of their day planning and organising their food. Eating out was out of the question; even dhabas were too expensive. Milk and yoghurt were expensive and therefore used sparingly, meat was out of bounds, as were processed food like bread. No ghee or butter, only a little refined oil. Both are passionate cooks with healthy appetites. They found soy nuggets a wonder food — affordable and high on proteins, and worked on many recipes. Parle G biscuits again were cheap: 25 paise for 27 calories! They innovated a dessert of fried banana on biscuits. It was their treat each day.

Restricted life

Living on Rs.100 made the circle of their life much smaller. They found that they could not afford to travel by bus more than five km in a day. If they needed to go further, they could only walk. They could afford electricity only five or six hours a day, therefore sparingly used lights and fans. They needed also to charge their mobiles and computers. One Lifebuoy soap cut into two. They passed by shops, gazing at things they could not buy. They could not afford the movies, and hoped they would not fall ill.

However, the bigger challenge remained. Could they live on Rs. 32, the official poverty line, which had become controversial after India's Planning Commission informed the Supreme Court that this was the poverty line for cities (for villages it was even lower, at Rs. 26 per person per day)?

Harrowing experience

For this, they decided to go to Matt's ancestral village Karucachal in Kerala, and live on Rs. 26. They ate parboiled rice, a tuber and banana and drank black tea: a balanced diet was impossible on the Rs. 18 a day which their briefly adopted ‘poverty' permitted. They found themselves thinking of food the whole day. They walked long distances, and saved money even on soap to wash their clothes. They could not afford communication, by mobile and internet. It would have been a disaster if they fell ill. For the two 26-year-olds, the experience of ‘official poverty' was harrowing.

Yet, when their experiment ended with Deepavali, they wrote to their friends: “Wish we could tell you that we are happy to have our ‘normal' lives back. Wish we could say that our sumptuous celebratory feast two nights ago was as satisfying as we had been hoping for throughout our experiment. It probably was one of the best meals we've ever had, packed with massive amounts of love from our hosts. However, each bite was a sad reminder of the harsh reality that there are 400 million people in our country for whom such a meal will remain a dream for quite some time. That we can move on to our comfortable life, but they remain in the battlefield of survival — a life of tough choices and tall constraints. A life where freedom means little and hunger is plenty...

Plenty of questions

It disturbs us to spend money on most of the things that we now consider excesses. Do we really need that hair product or that branded cologne? Is dining out at expensive restaurants necessary for a happy weekend? At a larger level, do we deserve all the riches we have around us? Is it just plain luck that we were born into circumstances that allowed us to build a life of comfort? What makes the other half any less deserving of many of these material possessions, (which many of us consider essential) or, more importantly, tools for self-development (education) or self-preservation (healthcare)?

We don't know the answers to these questions. But we do know the feeling of guilt that is with us now. Guilt that is compounded by the love and generosity we got from people who live on the other side, despite their tough lives. We may have treated them as strangers all our lives, but they surely didn't treat us as that way...”

So what did these two friends learn from their brief encounter with poverty? That hunger can make you angry. That a food law which guarantees adequate nutrition to all is essential. That poverty does not allow you to realise even modest dreams. And above all — in Matt's words — that empathy is essential for democracy.
-------------------------
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/article2882340.ece

If You Don't Prioritize Your Life, Someone Else Will

2012-07-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

A 'no' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." So said Mahatma Gandhi, and we all know how his conviction played out on the world stage. But what is less well known is how this same discipline played out privately with his own grandson, Arun Gandhi.

Arun grew up in South Africa. When he was a young boy, he was beaten up twice: once for being too white and once for being too black. Still angry, Arun was sent to spend time with his grandfather. In an interview with Arun, he told me that his grandfather was in demand from many important people, yet he still prioritized his grandson, spending two hours a day for 18 months just listening to Arun. It proved to be a turning point in Arun's life.

I had the opportunity to apply Gandhi's example of prioritization to my own life, hours before one of my daughters was born. I felt pressure to go to a client meeting the next day. But on this occasion, I knew what to do. It was clearly a time to be there for my wife and child. So, when asked to attend the meeting, I said with all the conviction I could muster...

"Yes."

To my shame, while my wife lay in the hospital with my hours-old baby, I went to the meeting. Afterward, my colleague said, "The client will respect you for making the decision to be here." But the look on the clients' faces mirrored how I felt. What was I doing there?! I had not lived true to Gandhi's saying. I had said "yes" to please.

As it turned out, exactly nothing came of the client meeting. And even if the client had respected my choice, and key business opportunities had resulted, I would still have struck a fool's bargain. My wife supported me and trusted me to make the right choice under the circumstances, and I had opted to deprioritize her and my child.

Why did I do it? I have two confessions:

First, I allowed social awkwardness to trump making the right decision. I wasn't forced to attend the meeting. Instead, I was so anxious to please that even awkward silent pauses on the phone were too much for me. In order to stop the social pain, I said "yes" when I knew the answer should be "no."

Second, I believed that "I had to make this work." Logically, I knew I had a choice, but emotionally, I felt that I had no choice. That one corrupted assumption psychologically removed many of the actual choices available to me.

What can you do to avoid the mistake of saying "yes" when you know the answer should be "no"?

First, separate the decision from the relationship. Sometimes these seem so interconnected, we forget there are two different questions we need to answer. By deliberately dividing these questions, we can make a more conscious choice. Answer the question, "What is the right decision?" and then "How can I communicate this as kindly as possible?"

Second, watch your language. Every time we say, "I have to take this call" or "I have to send this piece of work off" or "I have to go to this client meeting," we are assuming that previous commitments are nonnegotiable. Every time you use the phrase "I have to" over the next week, stop and replace it with "I choose to." It can feel a little odd at first — and in some cases it can even be gut-wrenching (if we are choosing the wrong priority). But ultimately, using this language reminds us that we are making choices, which enables us to make a different choice.

Third, avoid working for or with people who don't respect your priorities. It may sound simplistic, but this is a truly liberating rule! There are people who share your values and as a result make it natural to live your priorities. It may take a while to find an employment situation like this, but you can set your course to that destination immediately.

Saying "yes" when we should be saying "no" can seem like a small thing in the moment. But over time, such compromises can create a life of regrets. Indeed, an Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last 12 weeks of their lives, recorded the most often-discussed regrets. At the top of the list: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." Next on the list: "I wish I hadn't worked so hard" and "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings."

We may not develop Gandhian levels of courage immediately, but surely we can do better than having to look back on our lives and regret that we lived by someone else's priorities.

Is Bottled Water really that good?

2012-07-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Educators.. Nice one

2012-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the world a certain private school was facing a unique problem...

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done.

She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.
(You can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers ... and then there are educators.

Investing / Warren Buffett

2012-03-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Only invest what you can afford to lose and for most people (9/10, I  think) a low cost tracker fund is probably the best vehicle for them.  For others who want to invest for the long term themselves, Warren  Buffett is a very good guide. He writes in his 2007 shareholder letter:

“Charlie [Munger] and I [Warrren Buffett] look for companies that  have a) a business we understand; b) favorable long-term  economics; c)  able and trustworthy management; and d) a sensible price tag.  We like  to buy the whole  business or, if management is our partner, at least  80%.  When control-type purchases of quality aren’t  available, though,  we are also happy to simply buy small portions of great businesses by  way of stock-market purchases.  It’s better to have a part interest in  the Hope Diamond than to own all of a rhinestone.

A truly great business must have an enduring “moat” that protects  excellent returns on invested capital.  The dynamics of capitalism  guarantee that competitors will repeatedly assault any business “castle”  that is earning high returns.  Therefore a formidable barrier such as a  company’s being the low-cost producer (GEICO, Costco) or possessing a  powerful world-wide brand (Coca-Cola, Gillette, American Express) is  essential for sustained success.  Business history is filled with “Roman  Candles,” companies whose moats proved illusory and were soon crossed.

Our criterion of “enduring” causes us to rule out companies in  industries prone to rapid and continuous change.  Though capitalism’s  “creative destruction” is highly beneficial for society, it precludes  investment certainty.  A moat that must be continuously rebuilt will  eventually be no moat at all.

Additionally, this criterion eliminates the business whose success  depends on having a great manager.  Of course, a terrific CEO is a huge  asset for any enterprise, and at Berkshire we have an abundance of these  managers.  Their abilities have created billions of dollars of value  that would never have materialized if typical CEOs had been running  their businesses.

But if a business requires a superstar to produce great results, the  business itself cannot be deemed great.  A medical partnership led by  your area’s premier brain surgeon may enjoy outsized and growing  earnings, but that tells little about its future.  The partnership’s  moat will go when the surgeon goes.  You can count, though, on the moat  of the Mayo Clinic to endure, even though you can’t name its CEO.

Long-term competitive advantage in a stable industry is what we seek  in a business.  If that comes with rapid organic growth, great.  But  even without organic growth, such a business is rewarding.  We will  simply take the lush earnings of the business and use them to buy  similar businesses elsewhere.  There’s no rule that you have to invest  money where you’ve earned it.  Indeed, it’s often a mistake to do so:  Truly great businesses, earning huge returns on tangible assets, can’t  for any extended period reinvest a large portion of their earnings  internally at high rates of return. …”

Strangely (although perhaps not so strangely if you look at incentive  structures in the industry) few money managers who purport to invest  for the long term, actually manage to or manage money anything close to  what Buffett advises…

Why some people have all the luck

2012-03-20T00:21:00.003-07:00

Why some people have all the luck

RICHARD WISEMAN

Why do some people have all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

I set out to examine luck, 10 years ago. Why are some people always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune? I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, have been interviewed by me. I have monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: 'Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50'.

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, i had found the elusive 'luck factor'. Here are four top tips for becoming lucky:

1) Listen to your gut instincts ^ they are normally right.

2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.

3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.

4) Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

Have a Lucky day and work for it.

The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.

The author of `The Luck Factor' teaches at the University of Hertfordshire.

Obstacles helped these men earn MEGA success .. From Yahoo Campus

2012-03-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

AT age 10, Julio was a little Spanish boy with a dream. He wanted to play football for his favourite club – Real Madrid! He played all day, practised hard and became a very good goalkeeper.
By the time he was 20, the childhood dream was beginning to come true. He was signed up to play for Real Madrid. And most football pundits were predicting that young Julio would soon become Spain’s No.1 goalkeeper.
One evening in 1963, Julio and his friends set out in a car for a night of fun. It turned out to be a night of horror, as the car they were travelling in met with a terrible accident. And young Julio – soon-to-be star goalkeeper of Real Madrid and Spain – found himself in hospital, paralysed from the waist downwards. Doctors were unsure if he’d ever be able to walk again. They were pretty sure he would never play football again.
The road to recovery was long and painful. Julio spent the night thinking about what might have been. His mind was filled with sorrow, anger, regret. To lessen the pain, he took to writing songs and poems at night, with a tear in his eye and a pen in his hand. And to increase the dexterity in his hand, a nurse gave him a guitar. He had never touched a guitar in his life! But soon Julio began strumming the guitar and also singing the songs that he had been writing.
After being bed-ridden for 18 months, Julio gradually picked up the pieces of his life. Five years after the accident, Julio entered a singing competition – and won the first prize - singing a song called “Life goes on the same!”
He never played football again. But with a guitar in hand and a song on his lips, Julio Iglesias went on to become one of the top ten singers in the history of music, selling over 300 million albums. Just imagine. If not for that accident, Julio Iglesias would have probably been just another goalkeeper in Europe!
What happened to Julio that evening in 1963 could happen to any of us. A setback or an accident – or failure - can often appear to be the end of the road. But it seldom is. When one door shuts, usually another one opens. It’s just that we get so busy staring at the closed door and banging our head against it that we fail to spot the other door opening. Learning to cope with failure is often the first – and most critical step – towards success.
Never let failure impact your sense of self-belief. You are a star, with unique talents. Didn’t clear the entrance exam to engineering college? Maybe you weren’t meant to be an engineer. That’s all.
Even Albert Einstein didn’t clear the entrance exam to join a polytechnic. But he didn’t do too badly, did he? Maybe there is a better, brighter career waiting for you. The trick is to move on and like Julio, tell yourself that “Life goes on the same”.
Several years ago, a bright little boy in a government school in Kerala had a dream. He wanted to be a doctor. He did well in school, and everybody was convinced that this little boy would someday become a fine doctor. He wrote the entrance exam – but failed to make the cut! He was devastated.
His parents were shocked. He went on to do a BSc then a Masters degree, worked with an IT firm – and later went on to found Infosys. His name? Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys. Just imagine. Had Kris not failed the medical entrance, he may have been in some little town in Kerala today, prescribing antibiotics for a runny nose or a nagging flu. Imagine!
Good lesson to learn from Julio. And from Kris. When one door shuts, another one opens. Just believe in yourself. Next time you are faced with a failure or a setback, look out for the other door. Push it open. And go find your place in the sun!

Cracked pot: Dont be afraid of your flaws.

2012-02-26T21:06:00.001-08:00

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father's table. Don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and allow Him to take advantage of them, and you, too, can be the cause of beauty in his pathway.

David Hare: writing tips

2012-02-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

1 Write only when you have something to say.

2 Never take advice from anyone with no investment in the outcome.

3 Style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.

4 If nobody will put your play on, put it on yourself.

5 Jokes are like hands and feet for a painter. They  may not be what you want to end up doing but you have to master them in  the meanwhile.

6 Theatre primarily belongs to the young.

7 No one has ever achieved consistency as a screenwriter.

8 Never go to a TV personality festival masquerading as a literary festival.

9 Never complain of being misunderstood. You can choose to be understood, or you can choose not to.

10 The two most depressing words in the English language are “literary fiction”.

An Excerpt from Goals...The 10 Rules for Achieving Success

2012-01-31T21:51:00.000-08:00

Success is the intentional, pre-meditated use of choice and decision. Unless you choose-with certainty-what it is you want, you accept table scraps by default!

The world is plump with opportunity. With boldness and conviction, stick a fork into the goals you want by being decisive.

You are born with great capabilities, but you will not achieve your potential until you call upon yourself to fulfill it. You will rise to the occasion when it presents itself; yet, to assure self-fulfillment, you must provide occasions to rise to. Clearly defined goals allow you to travel toward another horizon that represents the end of one experience and the transition to a new and better existence. The objective is to choose the right goals, and then to create the necessary causes-the effects will follow!

The difference between what one person and another achieves depends more on goal choices than on abilities.

The profound differences between successful people and others are the goals they choose to pursue. Individuals with similar talents, intelligence, and abilities will achieve different results because they select and pursue different goals.

Each decision affects what you become. We form our decisions and our decisions form us.

There is no escaping this; the smallest choices are important because-over time-their cumulative effect is enormous.

Never overlook the obvious: The nature and direction of your life change the instant you decide what goals you want to pursue.

Once you make a decision you start down a path to a new destination. At the moment the decision is made, your decision to pursue a goal alters what you are becoming. A single choice can alter your life, your destiny, your legacy.

Think about it-your goal decisions represent and express your individuality. You seal your fate with the choices you make.

You define yourself by your decisions.

Your dialog with success is ultimately a solo one. Decisions and goals made must be your own if you are to call your life a success.

Always establish the best goals you can. Goals are the seeds of success-you become only what you plant. The quality of your harvest is a direct reflection of the quality of your seeds...your decisions!

Indecision is the big eraser of opportunity and potential. Risks and costs accompany every decision; however, the price of decision is far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction. When it comes to decisiveness, squatters have no rights.

Everyone has an official wish list of things they think are "reasonable." What about the unofficial wish list? The one that common sense tells you to ignore? The list that exists deep in your mind, the list that keeps you up at night, the that makes your toes wiggle when you think of it? Why not choose that list for a change?

How long have you dreamed of being, having, and doing what you really want? Think big, as when it comes to your goals, the size of your ambition does matter.

A decision to lose weight and keep it off must be remade every time you feel hungry.

A decision is never made only once.

What is Incredible India : A true critic

2011-02-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

What is Incredible India - Its Sad but true
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. A Nation where Pizza reaches home Faster then Ambulance and Police!

2. A nation where you get Car Loan @ 6% but Education Loan @ 12%

3. A nation where Rice is Rs.40 but Sim card is Rs.10

4. A nation where people standing at tea stall reading an article in newspaper about child labour and saying "Yaar bacho se kaam krwane walo ko to faansi pe chada dena chahiye" and then they shout "Oye CHOTU 3 chai la!" That's INDIA our Incredible INDIA.

Adarsh Scam : A black spot on us .. FOREVER

2011-02-16T05:36:00.000-08:00

Please forward to everyone you can. Do not expect that you will win a million dollars by doing that, or bill gates is going to pay you for each forward, or, you are going to get bad luck if you don’t forward. But, there needs to be a an increased common of pain and anger among us if want a better system for ourselves and our children in future.

Being in IT, we can not underestimate the power of this media. If Asmaa Mafouz can trigger a revolution which led to end a 30 year old regime in Egypt, just by writing “People, I am going to Tahrir Square”, we can too.

When is someone going to write on Facebook, “People: I am going to India Gate” and we will change this corrupt system .

Now read this forward:

Brilliantly written with passion by a Retired Colonel........

The method of Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scamsters of Mumbai was disarmingly simple. They simply co-opted in their scam whoever looked like standing in the way. If we judge the strategy by its results, it was spectacularly successful. It indeed disarmed everybody. From just 30-odd members, the eventual group grew to more than a hundred. Each new entrant not only removed a roadblock on the way but also increased the size of the cake.

Thus, someone got the land title, someone the extra FSI. Someone got clearances, someone else made the Army and the Navy objections softer. They all became members.

The scary bit about the scam is not that it happened. It is that in the entire chain, there was not one man (or woman) who refused to compromise himself (or herself). There was not one person whose integrity stood its ground in face of temptation. Right from the lowly collector, to the officials in urban development department and the MMRDA, to the ministers and chief minister, everybody proved over-eager to do his bit. About the bureaucrats and the ministers, we always knew. The really sickening part is that it went on all the way to at least three service chiefs.

They all sold their souls. No whistle-blower in the entire system. Nobody thought something very gross was under way and he should put his foot down.

And for what? A sea-facing apartment in Mumbai, worth perhaps Rs 8 crore. So there, folks, you have the price of this country. For a combined booty of no more than Rs 800 crore, you could buy the entire system. Our enemies reading about this can now rest their weapons. The message they get is that if they face the mighty Indian Army they only need to wave the allotment letters of a plush apartment.

And lo! The battle is won. If the chiefs go for 1000 sq ft of Mumbai real estate, how much should the poor battlefield commander go for? A Shanghai penthouse, or a cottage in Murree?

I would hate to be a soldier in our armed forces at this moment. The fellow has just seen Lt Generals being prosecuted for land scam. Now, an admiral and two generals are part of a housing scam. He is expected to die on their orders.

If, after this, a soldier winces at such an order, can he be faulted? The former chiefs have now graciously offered to return the flats, professing ignorance about the fact that land was meant for martyrs' families. As if that is the only thing wrong about the deal. It was stinking from start to finish and if the chiefs could not smell any of it, the forces have a lot to answer for the kind of persons they select for their top most posts.

No, gentlemen, you have let down the proud institutions you headed. You have let down your colleagues who must suffer the suspicions you have aroused. You have let down your country that decorated you so much. Worst of all, you have let down that soldier who saluted you day in and day out. You owe him an apology,

not just a glib explanation. About others, the less said the better. They occupy some of the most plum posts and yet possess all the integrity of a pickpocket.

It is no wonder India has climbed further in corruption ladder. Merely dispossessing these scamsters of their ill-gotten apartment would be no punishment. They need to be dismissed from service and prosecuted for being unworthy custodians of our trust ......

The Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions

2010-11-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

Often in our day to day life we face many problems and although no one wish to have them; but we have to solve them.

Problems are generally like a tree; with very small root and lots of branches; hence very small & strong root and superficially very big.

But the problems, may not be as big as they seems... Before going ahead let me present you with two simple cases (part of an email forwarded by my friend)

--------------------------------------
Case 1

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...?? They used a Pencil!!!

Case 2

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan 's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department.

For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution………………He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

---------------------------------------
Most people, when encountered with problems gets trapped in the branches and loose the root; from where it can be solved in the most simplest way.

So, our primary goal should be identifying the root cause, before going into much implications of the issue and

Always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

choose your way!!
Do not worry about the current phase, it will fade away soon till then think to reduce your overhead expenditures.

Shortest Speech by CEO of Coca Cola : Must Read

2010-10-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CV, RESUME and BIODATA

2010-10-25T00:03:00.001-07:00

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CV, RESUME and BIODATA

People use the words RESUME, C.V., and BIO-DATA interchangeably for the document highlighting skills, education, and experience that a candidate submits when applying for a job. On the surface level, all the three mean the same. However, there are intricate differences.

RESUME

Resume Is a French word meaning "summary", and true to the word meaning, signifies a summary of one's employment, education, and other skills, used in applying for a new position. A resume seldom exceeds one side of an A4 sheet, and at the most two sides. They do not list out all the education and qualifications, but only highlight specific skills customized to target the job profile in question. A resume is usually broken into bullets and written in the third person to appear objective and formal. A good resume starts with a brief Summary of Qualifications, followed by Areas of Strength or Industry Expertise in keywords, followed by Professional Experience in reverse chronological order. Focus is on the most recent experiences, and prior experiences summarized. The content aims at providing the reader a balance of responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. After Work experience come Professional Affiliations, Computer Skills, and Education.

C.V CURRICULUM VITAE

C.V Is a Latin word meaning "course of life". Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) is therefore a regular or particular course of study pertaining to education and life. A C.V. is more detailed than a resume, usually 2 to 3 pages, but can run even longer as per the requirement. A C.V. generally lists out every skills, jobs, degrees, and professional affiliations the applicant has acquired, usually in chronological order. A C.V. displays general talent rather than specific skills for any specific positions.

BIO-DATA

Bio Data the short form for Biographical Data, is the old-fashioned terminology for Resume or C.V. The emphasis in a bio data is on personal particulars like date of birth, religion, sex, race, nationality, residence, martial status, and the like. Next comes a chronological listing of education and experience. The things normally found in a resume, that is specific skills for the job in question comes last, and are seldom included. Bio-data also includes applications made in

specified formats as required by the company.

A resume is ideally suited when applying for middle and senior level positions, where experience and specific skills rather than education is important. A C.V., on the other hand is the preferred option for fresh graduates, people looking for a career change, and those applying for academic positions. The term bio-data is mostly used in India while applying to government jobs, or when applying for research grants and other situations where one has to submit descriptive essays.

Resumes present a summary of highlights and allow the prospective employer to scan through the document visually or electronically, to see if your skills match their available positions. A good resume can do that very effectively, while a C.V. cannot. A bio-data could still perform this role, especially if the format happens to be the one recommended by the employer.

Personal information such as age, sex, religion and others, and hobbies are never mentioned in a resume. Many people include such particulars in the C.V.

Business Etiquette : Replying to Invitations

2010-09-16T00:09:00.000-07:00

The French came up with the first formal request for replying to invitations. The words "Répondez s'il vous plaît", meaning “please reply”, were soon abbreviated to “RSVP” which is recognized worldwide. Whether an event is social or business in nature, the host or planner, for obvious reasons, needs to know who will be attending.

The Wipro online invite system is simple, direct and user-friendly. There is no need to write a formal reply, make a phone call or craft an e-mail response. All that is necessary is to open the message, read the details regarding who issued the invitation, the purpose of the event, the date, the time and the place. Your required actions are to check your availability immediately, move to the top of the screen and check one the following: Accept, Decline, Tentative or Propose New Time. One click and you’re done. If you checked “Tentative,” you must get back to your host as soon as you have a definite answer.

It does not matter if the invite is for a meeting, a workshop, or a meal function, a response is required. Failure to do so is discourteous and disrespectful.

Finally do what you say you will. If you accept, show up. If you decline, stay away. If your plans change at the last minute, make a phone call.

Genetically modified food : How Indian companies are responding to this threat?

2010-09-08T20:32:00.001-07:00

Genetically modified food : How Indian companies are responding to this threat?
----------------------------
Here is a message from GreenPeace India, which is not a forwarded email for Fun, rather a serious concern. Please read the message and be careful at what you are eating.

44,426 letters and all the calls to Sonia Gandhi had some impact on the Government. The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill did not make it to the Parliament. The bill in its current form plans to create an autocratic body to allow genetically modified (GM) food into our country.

To take one more step towards safe food, Greenpeace has now launched the second edition of the Safe Food Guide. This guide ranks major food manufacturers on the basis of the stance they have taken on GM food.

With the help of this guide you can check where the manufacturer of your favourite food brand stands on keeping food safe. The Safe Food Guide can be accessed online.

Check out the Safe Food Guide 2.0 to see where your favourite food manufacturer stands.

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/safe-food-guide/

You can also SMS Food to 56070 to find out where its manufacturer ranks in the guide. The brand name will give you the most accurate result.

The Safe Food Guide tries to make food manufacturers answerable to the consumer. As consumers we need to question the badly ranked companies about the safety of the products they produce for us.

The companies are categorised into red, green and yellow based on their current and long-term policies on the use of GM food, willingness to inform their position to consumers and pro-activeness in ensuring a labelling and liability regime on foods derived from GM crops.

Some brands, which were ranked high in the first version of the guide have been ranked lower in the new version. This is mainly because the first guide focused on companies’ current policy on the use of GM food and the second one has extended its parameters to include future long-term policies on the use of GM foods. Their lack of willingness to be transparent and to ensure a GM free market for Indian consumers is also responsible for the low ranking.

Find out where your favourite food manufacturer stands in this guide:

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/safe-food-guide/

or

SMS Food to 56070.

Thanks a billion!

Shivani Shah
Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner
Greenpeace India

Business Etiquette : Conference Call Courtesy

2010-08-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Conference calls - love them or hate them, with today's geographically dispersed teams, travel restrictions and global business connections, conference call etiquette is a key part of any professional’s skill set. Follow the rules for making these multi-person, worldwide conversations efficient, effective and courteous.

Be on time.  A conference call is like any other meeting—arriving late is rude.  And don’t take up everyone else’s valuable time with your long-winded excuse.

Start the meeting on time. Take a roll call so everyone knows who else is present. Say your name before you speak. Others may not recognize your voice. 

No lurking is allowed on conference calls.  Always announce yourself when you come on the line. For the sake of propriety, courtesy and confidentiality, advise the others that you are present.

Finally, if you were not invited, don’t show up.

Business Etiquette: Speaker Phones

2010-08-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

Business Etiquette: 'Speaker Phones’

International Business Etiquette Expert and Executive Coach

Speaker phones are a great tool in business for making conference calls, but they can also be an incredible nuisance. Be considerate of people around you when using yours. In today’s world of offices without walls or doors, speaker phones should only be used behind closed doors.  

The speaker phone function is not intended for your convenience so you can engage in a variety of activities while talking on the phone.  Think of the effect on the people who are trying to work in adjacent cubicles and consider the privacy of the person on the other end of the line.  Then schedule a conference room or borrow someone else’s private office before you dial. 

A(H1N1): Basic Hygiene Procedures and Important Precautions

2010-08-03T23:42:00.001-07:00

Worldwide, overall H1N1 and seasonal influenza/flu activity remains low. In places where the winter season is in progress, current influenza/flu activity is at variable levels. World Health Organization (WHO) is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic (H1N1) and is in frequent consultations with different countries.

With the monsoon season and heavy rains in several parts of the country, there have been cases of A(H1N1) viral infection detected in the second phase of the pandemic. Health experts have indicated the possibility of surge in the cases in coming days with faster transmission of the virus in this season. Hence, it is advisable that all of us follow basic health & safety measures to protect ourselves.

The symptoms of A(H1N1) are similar to normal seasonal flu. Wipro advises employees to consult a general physician/ a family doctor immediately in case of any flu like symptoms. Further, A(H1N 1) confirmation tests should be done only at the advice of general physician/ family doctor. These tests are done at the designated hospitals (select government and private hospitals). The updated Pandemic Advisory and list of hospitals is available at the Channel W link given at the end of this mailer.

It is possible to protect yourself and others from A(H1N1) by observing simple hygiene measures and taking appropriate medication in case of illness.

Basic Hygiene Procedures:

• Wash hands with soap and water more often and thoroughly

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it and wash your hands. The tissue is disposable hence preferable to use over a handkerchief

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth to prevent the spread of germs

• Try to avoid close contact with infected people

• Drink lots of fluid and eat nutritious food

• If you have flu symptoms stay home and avoid crowds to prevent spread of

Infection

• Do not take any medicines without consulting doctors

Be safe, healthy and happy....