TO BE EDUCATED

Aristotle once said that "we are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

Excellence does not come out of education nor even the knowledge which supports it. It is something you believe and repeatedly believe; it becomes a habit. Knowledge from books is vanity, thus said King solomon, it is like chasing the winds.

Introspection within would then be necessary. For our country men who hold the reigns of governance, the word introspection does not exist. They are like the horse which has the blinkers around its eyes.

Every day, we who live in Delhi and NCR are blasted with vivid news of how the pre Common Wealth Games activities are being handled.When I drive down the roads, I find the implementation of the plans made by those who sit in their AC offices is far fetching. It looks like the team which visualised had nothing to do with the team which is implementing on site. There were many glaring examples which are being corrected.

The Hindu of July 14, 2010 carried an article which appeared in The Guardian by Richard Williams who writes about South Africa being left with new hope after the World Cup 2010. I quote from the article:

"The South Africans gave us their vast and spectacular new stadiums, their best shot at building an integrated transport system from scratch and their kindness and consideration at just about every turn."

"In the tradition of gracious hosts, however, they pretended not to notice. Some of the commercial aspects of the tournament were grafting, or worse; from substandard footballs to exorbitant match tickets. Those phenomena, along with the theft of a Portuguese photographer's equipment at gunpoint in the early days of the tournament, were the low points....." The best of those soaring edifices lifted everyone's spirits, even when they were situated miles away from the places where the people who actually play and watch football live. As a public relations job, the 2010 World Cup looks like paying off in the intangible currency of image and reputation. Only blind or the blind drunk or the England football squad - could have spent some of the last month following the tournament at first hand and not recognised that this is still a country in which only half of all black families have flushing toilets, 43% live on about pound 1.50 a day, education is in chaos, public health is a disaster area, an imminent resurgence of the xenophobic violence seen in 2008 is promised, even middle class homes are surrounded by razor wire and CCTV cameras, and the number of private security guards at work some 300,000, is double the manpower of the proper police.

But to South Africans of all kinds, and to their guests, the tournament really was an occasion for the shared enjoyment of a simple pleasure. If the 2010 World Cup had any significance beyond football, it was to show South Africa's visitors - and, perhaps, the country itself - that it has no shortage of intelligent, capable, eager young people upon whom, if they are given the chance, a viable future can be built."

g r e e d

Good Morning, trust this finds you in good health and cheer.

THERE IS ENOUGH FOR EVERYBODY'S NEED;
BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR EVERYBODY'S GREED.


Looks like the entire state of AP is in 'odarpu' mode. Every State in this blessed country is going through acute governance. The greed for possessing has become the anthem. Every one seem to be acquiring knowledge to use this new found freedom and nothing is stopping them dare the age old system. a new way has been found to mean "that I dont care" attitude. From the law makers to implementers, the code is the same; how to fleece the society.

When I see what's happening in Delhi, in the name of the forthcoming games, it reminds me of my childhood. Just before the major festivals, we spruce up our homes, every nook and corner is cleaned and dusted. Some of us make it a point to spend huge sums to get their homes painted. You imagine the local government doing something similar. The city will never be the same. Yet, come monsoons, the streets will flood as it used to some 30 years back. To accommodate the vehicular ever increasing density, the roads are broadened by felling many trees. Progress, my friend, is the bane of this society. We are barking at the wrong tree. Infiltration of human mass in to Delhi has dis balanced the existing infrastructure. Who cares, as long as you convert them to vote banks. Keep on giving lip sync and get away with the day to day issues. Keep spending crores of which a good sum will go into the pockets of anyone who is remotely connected with the games. New opportunists are jumping unto the band wagon.

Unemployed and even well educated are not loosing their guts on daring and robbing and even killing innocent people just by the drop of an hat.

The word 'Honour' has taken a new meaning and families are openly accept to kill their children. They have openly admitted with out any shame that the family's honour is the utmost concern. The police force become murderers, they rob the innocent, find all ways to make money on the sly. The health sector preys upon the needy, so much so, the insurance companies had to withdraw cashless support to some 500 so called reputed hospitals which includes Apollo.

There are volumes to be re-written on the education sector. Some 500 schools will be opened in the country with the private and public participation with an expenditure of Rs. 1500 crores to be spent during the coming 15 years. No guesses to know who will make the money.

While the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is lamenting upon poor harvest, the Food Corporation of India is trying to find ways to put the blame on other frivolous reasons as crores worth of wheat rots in the railway yards and their badly maintained go downs.

Where does this greed end. Well, it has to end in the grave.

I quote from the Old Testament: the book of Zephanaiah ch 3. This is the disdain of the Lord.

<< Zephaniah 3 >> Bible in Basic English 1 Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and unclean, the cruel town! 2 She gave no attention to the voice, she had no use for teaching, she put no faith in the Lord, she did not come near to her God. 3 Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning. 4 Her prophets are good-for-nothing persons, full of deceit: her priests have made the holy place unclean and have gone violently against the law. 5 The Lord in her is upright; he will not do evil; every morning he lets his righteousness be seen, he is unchanging; but the evil-doer has no sense of shame. 6 I have had the nations cut off, their towers are broken down; I have made their streets a waste so that no one goes through them: destruction has overtaken their towns, so that there is no man living in them. 7 I said, Certainly you will go in fear of me, and come under my training, so that whatever I may send on her may not be cut off before her eyes: but they got up early and made all their works evil. 8 For this reason, go on waiting for me, says the Lord, till the day when I come up as a witness: for my purpose is to send for the nations and to get the kingdoms together, so that I may let loose on them my passion, even all my burning wrath: for all the earth will be burned up in the fire of my bitter passion. 9 For then I will give the people a clean language, so that they may all make prayer to the Lord and be his servants with one mind. 10 From over the rivers of Ethiopia, and from the sides of the north, they will come to me with an offering. 11 In that day you will have no shame on account of all the things in which you did evil against me: for then I will take away from among you those who were lifted up in pride, and you will no longer be lifted up with pride in my holy mountain. 12 But I will still have among you a quiet and poor people, and they will put their faith in the name of the Lord. 13 The rest of Israel will do no evil and say no false words; the tongue of deceit will not be seen in their mouth: for they will take their food and their rest, and no one will be a cause of fear to them. 14 Make melody, O daughter of Zion; give a loud cry, O Israel; be glad and let your heart be full of joy, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 The Lord has taken away those who were judging you, he has sent your haters far away: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is among you: you will have no more fear of evil. 16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, Have no fear: O Zion, let not your hands be feeble. 17 The Lord your God is among you, as a strong saviour: he will be glad over you with joy, he will make his love new again, he will make a song of joy over you as in the time of a holy feast. 18 I will take away your troubles, lifting up your shame from off you. 19 See, at that time I will put an end to all who have been troubling you: I will give salvation to her whose steps are uncertain, and get together her who has been sent in flight; and I will make them a cause of praise and an honoured name in all the earth, when I let their fate be changed. 20 At that time I will make you come in, at that time I will get you together: for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth when I let your fate be changed before your eyes, says the Lord.

T A L E N T

Is talent born?, yes, said Issac Stern, the famous violinist. He further said that while talent is born, the musicians are made.

It takes tremendous amount of discipline, hardwork and talent to make a good musician. No matter how great the talent or the field of endevour, unless the individual is personally disciplined much of the potential will remain just that, a potential.

"Discipline is that refining fire by which talent becomes ability"

You will get much more done if you will crack the whip at yourself.

Confronting a problem does not always produce a solution, but untill you confront it there can be no solution.

If you have a weakness, be strong enough to admit it and get some help in whatever area that might be.

false pride and vanity is a very negative quality and one that gets people into a great deal of trouble.

Lets not forget that the "huge door of opportunity often swings open on the tiny hinges of obedience"

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G Y A N

Desire, my friends is like a pair of handcuffs.

Imagine when you are bound by a pair of iron handcuffs; how soon you would like to get rid of them. what if they are replaced by a pair made in Gold. Won't you like to keep them on even at great discomfort.

How true it is with trying to live all through in desiring a better life, plenty of wealth, good position etc., fully knowing that these will only lead to a great discomfort.

Once a businessman was passing through a deep dark forest with his expensive goods. He was met by on the way by three thieves. He was tied to a tree. One of the thieves said to the others that they should finish the businessman off for the fear of being caught if once the business man escapes. The second thief disagreed with the first and said the businessman should be left tied to the tree. However all of them agreed with the second thief. But something was bothering the third thief, he retuned to the forest and let the businessman free and told him to go home as fast as possible. Our desire to be a human being recognising the limitations should be the attitude to be possessed.

The truth of serving is that you can have everything you wanted if you will just help enough other people get what they wanted.

Once a rich man went to Buddha and asked him to teach him the way to serve the society and elevate humanity. Buddha laughed and told him that he should first elevate himself. Psychologists feel that 99% of those who are involved in the social work have problems in their lives. They will not be prepared to get down to the grassroot level, only theorising but never have the attitude to serve.

All of us need to introspect my friends.

********

TEACHING TO CHANGE LIVES

Everyone who is fully trained will be like his Teacher:Luke Ch 6. Vs 40.

Some one said "that truth could be denied; but it could not be avoided".

Then what is the truth?

According to the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurthy; "truth is an pathless land and no organisation or institution can lead to it."

Our life's journey on this earth is to serve others; you cannot exist without dependence. This thought may have philosophical overtones, but the ultimate truth is our existence depends upon this one and only belief; even a hardcore communist will agree to this.

So what else is 'truth'?

"With God all things are permissible; but with God all things are possible"

Can you deny the above statement?!; may be yes, but you cannot avoid it.

The truth is that we may be,

ever seeing but never perceiving;

and ever hearing but never understanding;

and ever talking but never mean anything.

Impact or Result

"Good communication, results in good results and bad communication will result in chaos" Because bad education is a national risk. It is believed that the history of a nation is decided in its class rooms. so the future will be a race between education and catastrophe.

Will durant, the well known philoshopher said "60 years ago I knew everything, now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance"

The question?

Is teaching related to learning or learning related to teaching?

If teaching is what it is, then learning is a direct personal experience no one celse can learn for us. We must discover for ourselves.

Q> What inhibits learning?

Absence of interest, intellectual hunger, motivation, desire and drive.

Q What fires intellectual curiosity?

Having all of the above.

Q How to incite curiosity?

By generating instructional flexibility. "The mind should be free to explore" wrote Tagore.

There are two types of teachers; a) one who is an instructor and b) and the other who is a dictator.

How many of us have become teachers by choice or by compulsion?

All those fortunate people who have chosen to become teachers have one thing in common, that is a passion to communicate.

A Teacher is:

T - Truthful_ inner strength

E - Education - background

A - Action -what you believed in

C - Communication - imparting

H - Heart - Emotive - feelings

E - Encouragement - motivator- self and others

R - Readiness - to give

To all the TEACHERS

"YOU STOP GROWING TODAY, AND YOU STOP TEACHING TOMMOROW".

Because the way people learn determines how you teach.

**********

TO LEAD

Aurther Friedman once said,

"Men of genius are admired,

men of wealth are envied,

men of power are feared, but,

only men of charecter are TRUSTED".

somewhere else I read, that it all boils down to your attitude.

'He who would be the greatest among you must become the servant of all'

the plans of the deligent had surely to plenty, said the proverbs in 21.v 5

where there is love there is no expectation. Love only expects to give and give.

Today's saint is yesterday's sinner. tha man holds many faces within him. He make a friend but any moment the friendship losses its relationship and the enemity takes hold. There is this duality in everything. In this he looses his own self, he fails to recognise his true self. But again what is your true self?

The one who is devoid of all "kapata" (cunningness, pride) become like a child. Jesus told us that to enter His kingdom one has to become like a child. simplicity devoid of all the five senses; the nakedness sof the soul.

Yogi Vemana, naked bard writes, salt and camphor do look alike, but they are different when you tastes them, similarly there are great people among many of us; you will have to taste them to know the different. Tasting here meant to understand or recognise.

Have you come across such men in your life?

The Strength of a Man

Our world is going the same way as it had started ages ago.

All this while 'greed' has been the strength of its mankind.

Imagine the words 'golmal', 'hera pheri', 'ghotala', 'kameenapan' has been the wheel of progress. Imagine the world in the absence of 'greed'. It could be a narrative of the world which is understood in the literature as 'heaven'. Think of it, even 'Ram Rajya' the subjects succumbed to 'greed'.

The first siblings as mentioned in The Bible; Cain & Abel were the victims of this 'greed'. The story of the old testament would have been written diferently if this elment of greed were to be missing.

Let's come back and take a look at the times we are living in. Children are ready to sacrifice their parents, friends turning against friends, men would kill for any reason. Why? Just look around you; from the RWA of your housing complex to any high office in the country, you would conclude a 'ghotala'. From the people in governance in whom you trusted by giving your valuable vote to the people in law enforcement, every where people are powered by 'greed'. If the fence which is entrusted with protecting your land starts swallowing your land, then who will save you.

Democracy is like a delicate carpet, you can hide any thing under it. It has the power to expose any wrong doing, but the power is also misused to cover any right doing.

The most corrupt in this country are the middle class. Because they have no option but to survive. There is no end to one's greed. The strength of existence lies in our ability to manipulate this 'greed'.

Can you imagine action without reaction.
Action is pleasant; the misery is the reaction.
A child putting its hand in fire; that is pleasure; but when the body reacts, then comes the pain of burning. When we can stop that reaction, then we have nothing to fear. This child is godly, pure, innocent, harmless and always firgiving. The moment of truth dawns upon the child when its hand starts burning; that is the knowledge and this knowledge make it to react.
If it had not burned there is no reaction; no knowing of pain and therefore there is no fear. So making sure we understand what our action is all about, then it is easy to stop the reaction.

All Knowing

Knowing is only relative.
We can be God; but never know Him.
Knowledge is a lower state.
Think of Adam, the first man; his fall was when he came to "KNOW". Prior to that he was God, he was truth and purity. We are our own faces; we can only see our reflection. But what is the real you?
We cannot see the outside what we are not inside. Condemnation accomplishes nothing.

MANIPURI DANCE WITH DRUMS

POWER WITH RESPONSIBILITY

Saturday, May 16, 2009
Little Words _ "power with responsibility"

With great power, comes great responsibility, wrote Times of India in its today’s front page edit. From time in memorial, power has been the source of survival. The entire existence on this earth pursued the path of realizing ‘power’. Power meant different things to different people. In our mythology, power to protect was vested in gods, and likewise the demons made penance to grab power from gods to use in destruction of the very creation. The deadly virtues in form of jealousy, greed, lust are the bi products of owing this power.

I spent my day yesterday in front of the TV, watching NDTV 24x7. These guys did a great job of making your drawing room into an extension of their studios. As the sun rose in the east, the lotus started wilting and so did the owners of this flower. The real face of politics will emerge in the days to come, all those masks which covered the ugliness during the pre polls have been pulled down. We the people of this country, I am glad have arrived. We have shown year after year that we are continuously evolving in our nature and attitudes. We proved this time that we no longer are subservient to the whims and fancies of the likes of the saffron brigade, the red brigade and the goonda brigade. All of them are humbled proper and are given the taste of their own tactics.

Did you ever, I repeat ever, imagine Ms. Mayavati as the prime minister of this country? I dared to think of it one day, and all I could see; that people are converted to appear like the statues which were fondly erected allover UP by Ms. Mayavati. By what competence can she even think of the position?

By the way I heard Mr Karat saying in one of his pre poll meetings that the people of this country are living in a fool’s paradise. Indeed, I must say, when we are lead by the fools, certainly we would be living in a fool’s paradise.

Years back I used to think that if there is one State in this country which should not be existing on face this earth was Bihar. If it was so, I would have proved wrong today. Arrogance, another bi-product of holding power brought down many hallowed characters. History is the witness to it. Saddam Hussein, literally had to lick the dust. Beware; any of us can fall in this trap. And so are the great leaders of this State who are apologetic, not because they are humbled, but because they have no other choice. Stripped of the power, they will lick the boots of any one who has that power. Lalu emerged as the fore runner in accepting that he made a mistake. In the neighboring State of UP, the Yadavs and the Singh have over night turned holy, but their arrogance has not left its shade from their hide. They are waiting for a formal invitation from the Congress to help them in forming a stable govt (sic).

I live officially in Ghaziabad, UP, but I enjoy the weather from Delhi. A dirty road separates from the ‘order’. The roads in Vaishali can date back to the pre historic times. Thank to Ms. Mayavati who holds it onto the Yadavs and Singhs.


Finally, we know where we stand and what we deserve. I know for sure that there will be a corporate like order in governance and at least the lunatics are kept at bay. I voted for the continuity and development. I firmly believe that this country will soon be a power to reckon with.

Mr Somnath Chatterjee was so anguished and angered over the behaviour of the so called leaders in the parliament; he cursed them that they will loose in the elections. I don’t know how many of them lost their seats.

I hope the elected will not only behave but use their power with responsibility.

ALL IN THE GAMES

Sunday, May 17, 2009
Delhi before the Games
There is lot of information written on the preparations of the forthcoming commonwealth games being held this year. What does this Games mean to the common man?

What ever is the outcome of the performance of the Indian teams, one thing is very sure; i.e., the blame game has already started and it will virtually take its ugly shape post the games. This has been the trend, going by the attitude of the governance to sports.

Every sports person dreams of achieving a win. They prepare sincerely and give their entire life to the sport they follow. The clamour of being part of the sports administration is another thing. The administration and the sportspersons never come to terms with the goal in sight.

Even before our hardworking athletes take to the coaching camps, the dissolution sets in. The infra structure is an apology and cannot even match the mediocre fecility abroad.

In every aspect of a sports persons life, the administration fails their duty.

I keep reading these days in the papers, about the government's plan to landscape the important roads which lead to the venues keeping in the view of the games. I ask why should they do any good thing only when there is an excuse. Why can't the government plans involve the normal life of the city.

what happens after the games, the maintenance of the feicilities will go back to the condition which they were before?

Thankfully the beautiful bus shelters are in good shape because they are looked after by a private organisation. Leave them to the municipality, and even stray dogs fear to step in them.

I always maintained that coporatisation of the governance is the need of the hour.

Take care.

It was the dream of my wife to start a publication for children. she coined a tag line "Bridging knowledge between school & home". I joioned her in getting her dream fulfilled. Two years back around this time, we printed the dummy edition of Million Words. We liked when the copies appeared on the newsstands. We waited at the stalls to see if people are picking the copies. We were happy to see people started picking up copies and we sold 2000 copies out of 3000 copies printed. Good beginning, we said. Later we brought out Little Words. This title soon became a hit in the market and we started distributing across the country through a network we developed. Soon, the competition started analysing the content and started following the style in many ways. We liked it immensly.

We soon realised that publishing is not for every one. It requires either a strong commitment or strong pockets which can dole out few lacs without even bothering to get it back. We were only committed without the storng pockets.

The content has become a house hold name and parents respond very positively and many are annoyed if the copies do not reach them on time. Schools responded promptly. The reach of these copies is growing in strengths.

The advertisers for some reason fail to recognise the reach of this magazine. I have tried and still hopefully trying to convince few of them.

I look out for working parters who can invest into the magazines and make a killing. There is a great opportunity as children category is wanting good content.

Pure dance forms are and their followers are though in growing numbers, there has been always a great temptation to experiment either by fusing two dance forms or by merely making it abstract.

This one is from the fusion of Indian dance form 'Bharatanatyam' with western ballet. there has been attempts to show the similarities in expressions.

At My Desk

"Never it was this cold", was the SMS I received from my son, who is in London on an official work. Sitting in Delhi, I once agree with him, because Delhi may have seen the worst winters before, but I remember one winter during my visit to Delhi way back in 1973 January. I was living in a camp under tents in a vast open area. Icy winds blowing to make our life miserable. I slept in my uniform, fearing the freeze over night and sleeping under the thick layers of many blankets.

But as I recall that January 1973, I still brace myself to the chill with in the four walls of my home. This is global freezing for you right now.