Sardi, Khansi, Malaria…………………ya Typhoid

I am back in action - for all those animate souls who read my blog and don’t know me, I have been suffering from Typhoid since 10 days - out of which I have spent 5 magnificent days of my life on a rusted iron bed in a private hospital – (the name obviously which many of you know). This post is from the hospital bed at 11.00 pm on 5th of Feb, 2009.

I am in room # 21.The whole corridor rests in silence, peace and stillness. There is a strange power in silence and stillness. Sometimes, I hate silence because at times - silence makes me think of many aspects of life which I usually do not bother to think about. I am having an acute pain... Ya I am talking of pain...but what is the pain? Is it the pain of being alone in the hospital? No, it should not be that because some time back I have been visited by Didi, Adhvik and all the more Rajiv and Alka also. So what troubles me is the question? Yes - I know….I fear of death and loneliness. I close my eyes and deep down when I reach my slumber I realize that I am no longer a small kid and I should not expect any kid dish treatment meted out to me by any of the elder member in the family. I need to grow and realize my responsibilities.

I am the youngest in the family. Being the baby of the family has both its pros as well as cons. Less is expected of the youngest children.Babies of the family tend to be under less parental scrutiny than the firstborns. Of course these children, would complain that they often have more than one set of parents. Their siblings serve as extra parent figures.The youngest in the family is often known for being charming,affectionate, more carefree – in short, “a people person”.

Being the youngest in the family you are pampered to the core by the rest of the family especially by your sibling. You will be pardoned for your mistake as you are the youngest and still learning.You can go shopping and don't have to pay the bill because your elder brother or sister feels very generous. All these conditions make you a dependent person. You cannot make up your own mind for what is right and what is wrong because from the time you were born you were told to consult your elders for all your decisions. What you eat, what you study, what type of job suits you, how you need to plan for your future, how do you save your income tax, who all you should meet and who all you should like is all governed…yes governed by the elders - WHY because you are the youngest so that makes you incompetent of decision making.

I write this post not to offend any of the elder sibling but to put a food for thought into them. Younger brothers/sisters should not be treated as young, immature or irresponsible all the time, one should give them a chance to grow and prove. Even they can be wise and sapiential.

Abject Failure – Satyam

First, my apologies. It has taken me a while to post some of my articles even after receiving responses from my avid blog readers. Actually, I had not been keeping well. Anyway, I have been following the news for at least a fortnight now and some of things which interest me at present are – Omar Abdullah – the present chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Barack Obama – the US president, Rehman and SATYAM now known as India’s Enron.

SATYAM – can one say it’s an abject failure? Once upon a time the dream company for any graduate - has turned it future from riches to rags. The rise and fall of Satyam can be a big concern for India particularly when the whole world is hit by rescission. Satyam which is India's biggest corporate scandal in memory till date has threatened future foreign investment. It has brought into question the levels of corporate governance in the country and has cast an ugly shadow on the once shining image of Indian industry overseas. Satyam fraud can be the greatest threat to India’s corporate reputation unless handled proficiently.

Everyone associated with Satyam has lost something or the other. Some lost money, some lost their reputation. The big question is, will we learn something from this remorseful episode? It is believed that this fraud was going on for a number of years. During all those years, the auditing companies (one among big fours -PricewaterhouseCoopers) and independent directors did their jobs wonderfully but failed to identify anything. As per Dr Madhav Mehra, President World Council for Corporate Governance,” The biggest challenge for the companies is how to combat the culture of cosines in the board. We need independent directors who are trained to ask awkward difficult questions and have the courage to belch at the dinner table.”

As history has shown us repeatedly those who don't operate in a moral and ethical manner will eventually fail as in the case of Satyam.

What is Ego?

"What is ego? Ego is the deeply felt sense of being separate and superior. Indeed, it is an emotional and psychological compulsion to see and feel the self as being separate from and superior to the other, the world, and the whole universe. It is that locus point where the sense of individuality is also a sense of alienation, where the experience of autonomy is also one of isolation, and where even the experience of freedom is always shadowed, by a deeper sense, at the core of our being, by a sense of bondage, limitation, and hopelessness."

"I believe that for most of us, the only solution to this evolutionary cul-de-sac, the only way to our own higher development, lies in the context of human relationship, relationship based upon a breakthrough to a shared experience and recognition of consciousness beyond ego - a consciousness in which all parties experience simultaneously their own individual and collective transparency while remaining fully and completely themselves. In this higher We consciousness, we recognize, perhaps for the first time, why ego is the only problem, the only obstacle to the fulfillment of our imminent evolutionary potential."

"As long as the fears and desires of the ego remain the fundamental locus of our attention and the impulse to evolve is but a faint murmur in the background of awareness, nothing less than overwhelming force will bring the ego to its knees. The force of what? The force of impersonal absolute love that sees no other and recognizes only itself. In that love, our own higher conscience is awakened and screams relentlessly for our unconditional surrender without compromise. And it will keep on screaming until we all have finally transcended the need to be separate." - Andrew Cohen

It Couldn't be Done - Edger Guest

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't" but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin on his face.
If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, as he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one we know has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That cannot be done, and you'll do it.

Merry Christmas - 2008 and Happy New Year - 2009

First time, we had a Christmas Tree at home. In all these years we never kept one at home...Thanks to Adhvik....here is how we all decorated it our own..So, on this occasion I wish each and everyone a Merry Christmas and hope the new year brings peace, cheer, happiness and prosperity to all of you there. :)

Once again - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - 2009 to all of you :)

Amen!!

What excellence actually means?

After you read the below stuff, look at this picture…once again!!

A man once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up. "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage."Where is the damage?" he asked."There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?." The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not.

"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside.Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and excellence.

Rock of Gibraltar