India Against Corruption! Let's act now!!

Corruption is happening every minute and at almost every possible level of the system in India right now. Together, we have the power to remove it from its roots, and make India the starting point of action against corruption across the world. But to make that possible, we need to ask ourselves the following 3 questions…

1. Why is corruption happening?

It's happening because of poor laws and policies in the government, which keep changing according to the whims and fancies of politicians and get mended according to what suits them best.

H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, "it's happening because of lack of belongingness and the only obvious cure is Spirituality which can bring back the Human Values. Corruption happens because people don't feel that they belong to each other. "apne hi hai sab log". No one would want a bribe from his own family member, would they? Every action arises out of our own thought, and self purification is the cure. To feel that belongingness, Self purification is required. Yoga, Pranayama, Meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, Seva, Satsang, Silence and Grace can bring about that transformation in an individual and hence in society".

2. Is there any solution to corruption?

Yes!

The first thing is to eliminate corruption at your own level. Say no to bribes; join hands to fight corruption through marches, awareness campaigns and mass vote. For the India Against Corruption movement, the solution is to lay strict Anti Corruption rules by the formation of the Jan Lokpal Bill by the citizens.

What is and What could be...

3. What can I do? How do I contribute to this movement?

a. Join the India Against Corruption movement, by giving a missed call to 022 61550789 (we need at least 25 Lakh missed calls, around 5 Lakh are done so far). We will SMS you a message from Anna and others, on what you can do today, and every day.

b. Stay in touch with minute-by-minute progress, join us on facebook.

c. Spread this message. Write on your facebook walls, publish this article on your blog. Print it out and stick it in your lifts and office notice boards. Do whatever it takes to get it to the public at large. Invite people to join Anna at the Jantar Mantar Event. Do anything and everything in your capacity! Our nation needs LAKHS to join Anna at Jantar Mantar!

For any suggestions/queries: – write to: iac.noida@gmail.com

Our Nation needs responsible, empowered people right now, so let's help our India, our Bharat Mata in every possible way we are capable of!

Another of Sri Sri's quotes to end with: "When you come out of your personal comfort zone and take a higher responsibility, you will find that whatever you want gets magically taken care of!"

Do you need Residential Program?

The idea behind residential program at a college is to impart quality education and co-curricular activities to our students. The hostel system incorporates in the students the art of peaceful co-existence and belongingness for one another. Students are also expected to pick up vital lessons on responsibility, duty and discipline.

The hostel should be a home away from home. It should help in the physical, psychological and emotional development of our students. I’m sure you agree with me in the saying “Life is a big challenge”. In today’s competitive world, those who boldly face the challenges of life will have a higher chance to win. The hostel could be considered as a mini-university of life where guys from different backgrounds stay together. They learn a lot of life skills being in the hostel… self-reliance, care for others, team work, interpersonal communication, self-respect, confidence, etc.

However, you need a disciplined atmosphere in the hostel to have a smooth running of the program. When I said discipline I meant, “consistent” “enforcement” of the rules and guidelines. Otherwise, you will be facing further challenges in managing the system. It is equally important to keep the students engaged with assignments/projects, so that they are kept busy with “useful” works. Instead, if they get a lot of free-time, they are likely to get attracted and engaged in useless, time-consuming and perhaps potentially dangerous activities.

Bright students will surely find intellectual engagement with others of similar abilities and will discover that they are fortunate to be together. They would also get support “round-the-clock” from Faculty who reside in the hostel and other facilities available to them. Ideally, the match between the college and the student will be mutually beneficial, and the experience will allow him or her to grow intellectually (Head) and emotionally (Heart) as a person.

With a good system of discipline in place, and facilities available for students, I’m sure you could be successful in implementing the residential program!

Save The Planet! Go Vegetarian!!

Studies by North Carolina State University and United Poultry Concerns (U.S) literature reveals us this alarming mathematics. A person's non-vegetarian diet is aggravating global warming by adding 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide every time he has a meal. These studies have also shown that if Americans consume just one less hamburger everyweek, they will already start making a difference to global warming. A British e-mail recently leaked to the press has revealed plans by the government to encourage the United Kingdom to give up eating meat. The surprising fact in this is not the initiative itself, but the reasons behind it — it’s not for health reasons that the government wants the British to stop eating roast beef, but to prevent global warming.

According to a report by the University of Chicago, a vegetarian diet can do more to counter global warming than switching from a regular car to a hybrid model. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation states that the international meat industry generates more greenhouses gases than all transportation methods of the world combined. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tonnes of methane a year and about 85 per cent of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock worldwide releasing methane is enormous.

Shifts in diet, lowers greenhouse gas emissions much more quickly than shifts away from the fossil-fuel-burning technologies that emit carbon dioxide. Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the UN report on meat-free

diet said: "Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels."

Cattle consume much needed non-renewable resources which are used for the maintenance, upkeep, transport, selling, buying, storing, cooking, etc. As it turns out, a vegetarian diet is not only healthier for all of us, but it is also more energy efficient. In independent studies, 5 types of diets were compared and the veggie one was the least harmful for global warming.

So the question that is in everyone’s mind is – can I really make that much of a difference to global warming just by changing my diet?

Check you ecological footprint today @ http://www.myfootprint.org/en/visitor_information/ . If you are a non-vegetarian, you could find for yourself how much of incremental increase you make in the ecological footprintfigure by continuing as a non-vegetarian.

The most dangerous greenhouse gas is methane (more than carbon dioxide). The #1 producer of methane all over the world are animals, specifically those reared for producing red meat. If you don’t stop eating meat, you will help double meat production and consumption in just another 40 odd years. Which means you are specifically contributing towards global warming with every bite of meat you take?

As a conclusion, isn’t it much easier for you and me to just stop eating meat– than to get our vehicles off the roads, blame governments, organise committees, penalise corporates, organise international eco-summits, keep global warming watchdogs and so on?!

Let’s GO GREEN and SAVE EARTH!!!

7 Ways to Achieve Inner Peace and Prosperity in the New Year! :)

Happiness, peace and prosperity are wished for by every lip on New Year, but do we really know what they mean? Peace lies within us and we know it too. As we move beyond a year and enter another new year, lets all take a resolution to become aware of this peace inside and allow our smiles to reflect the true sign of the prosperity that lies inside us. Here we go with seven simple ways to do it (Not meant for casual reading, okay? :)).

1. Give divine a chance, be grateful

This year, let the devotion flower to its fullest and give it a chance to work. Our love, faith & belief should be deep rooted, and then everything else moves on its own. The feeling that "I'm blessed" can help you overcome any failure. Once you realise that you are blessed, then all the complaints & grumbling disappear, all the insecurities disappear & you become grateful, contented and peaceful.

2. Take out time for yourself

Everyday you are engaged in only gathering information and you do not take out time for yourself to think and reflect. Then you feel dull & tired. A few quiet moments are sources for creativity. Silence heals and rejuvenates and gives you depth and stability. Some time during the day, sit for a few minutes, get into the cave of your heart, eyes closed, and kick the world away like a ball. Taking out some time for yourself improves the quality of your life.

3. Know life’s impermanence

See the impermanence in this life. Millions of years have passed & millions will come and pass. Nothing is permanent. What is your life? It is not even a drop in the ocean. Just open your eyes & ask; who am I? How am I on this planet? What is my lifetime? Awareness dawns & you will stop worrying about little things. All smallness will simply drop & you will be able to live every moment of your life. If you review the context of your life, the quality of your life improves.

4. Do random acts of kindness

Make a commitment to make this world a better place to live. Do some acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Service alone can bring contentment in life. It creates a sense of belongingness. When you bring some relief to someone through selfless service, good vibrations come to you. When you show kindness, your true nature which is love & peace comes to play.

5. Make your smile cheaper

Every day, every morning, look at the mirror and give a good smile to yourself. Don't let your smile be snatched away by anybody! Usually, you give your anger freely and smile rarely as though a smile is costly. Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive! When you smile all the muscles in your face get relaxed. The nerves in your brain get relaxed and you become peaceful within. It gives you the confidence, courage & energy to move on in life.

6. Make meditation a part of life

When we have higher goals in life it leads to stress & restlessness which can only be released through a few minutes of meditation & introspection. Meditation gives you deep rest. Deeper you are able to rest, dynamic you will be in activity. What is meditation?
• Mind without agitation is meditation.
• Mind in the present moment is meditation.
• Mind that has no hesitation, no anticipation is meditation.
• Mind that comes back home to the source which is peace & joy is meditation.

7. Be a Student always

Know that you are a student forever. Do not underestimate anybody. Knowledge may come to you from any corner. Each occasion teaches you & each person teaches you. The world is your teacher. When you are always looking to learn, you will stop underestimating others. Humility will dawn in your life.

Simple, yet profound?! These are excerpts from a speech by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (spiritual & humanitarian leader and the founder of The Art of Living Foundation) on the occasion of new year.

Are you a young Professional?! Then, Go! Kiss this Book!!

I mean, you MUST go and read Subroto Bagchi's (Founder CEO of Mindtree) book - "GO KISS THE WORLD!!"

"Go Kiss the World" is what Subroto’s mother told him when she was on her deathbed. And that inspired him to write this book.

This autobiography has three parts.

1st Part talks about his childhood days, his first job as a clerk in Government of Orissa service and then his first private sector corporate job in DCM.

2nd Part is about his career with a few IT companies including a 10 year spell in Wipro.

3rd Part deals with the evolution of MindTree and he shares his views on management, leadership, life etc here.

The book contains lot of lessons for any professional or entrepreneur though it is subtitled as "Life Lessons for the Young Professional".

There is a description of an instance where he and his sales guy being crushed by a Fortune 500 US company during a presentation. The pain he experienced from that incident made him try harder when Mindtree was still a little start up...

Here are some inspiring quotes from the book visit:

• Passion is what passion does: Too many people know what is wrong with the world. Their knowledge and intensity do not matter. What matters is making a small but real difference. That is why the Mahatma said, "Be the change you want to see".

• To get, you must first give: We need to believe that there is more in it for everyone if everyone is involved and benefits. Leaders must develop a mindset of abundance, not scarcity, as they build their organizational vision.

• The marginal person is important: Trying to please your boss is not beneficial in the long run. If you are considerate towards your juniors you will be remembered for a lifetime.

• It's all in the mind: Everything we achieve begins in our mind.
  
  

• Connect with people: When a leader connects at the level of feelings, he can get his people to aspire to dizzying heights and create in them the will and ability to scale them.

• The key to happiness is not money: You can acquire any amount of material success you want, but do not expect that to be the source of your happiness. This does not mean you should give up the desire to earn, but in doing so, keep low expectations on its ability to give you happiness. Money is important in life but not the source of any lasting happiness.

• Life is constant negotiation: Such is the dynamic nature of the world that we need to face an emergent situation with an even temperament and look for the most beneficial outcome for all concerned, given the new set of circumstances. Leaders must look at things as they are, not as we wish they should have been.

• Real men say sorry: Great leaders are people who can quickly and genuinely say that they are sorry. By saying sorry, you do not become weak. You shorten the path from the head to the heart.

• In life, one must learn to forgive others and, sometimes oneself.
  
  

Happy reading and wish you get bosses like him in your corporate career rather than most of the superficial, self-absorbed, incorrigible, bloviators that you see around!

(Footnote: Most of the above statements/learnings are taken directly from the book)

Are you the 4th Idiot?

Last weekend, I watched the movie 3 idiots for the third time in two weeks. I always get fascinated by relating movies with real life and exploring relevant messages and lessons from them. When I saw 3 idiots the first time, I knew that I’m at it again! So I watched the movie again and again and here are some of the lessons and messages that could be applicable to a lot of us in academia…. (or...stay as you are and become the 4th idiot!).

1. Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Life is need base not want base. Our desires have no limits. Simplicity is way of life and our Indian culture highly stresses on simple living and high thinking, and this is the way of life: ‘Deepen your roots and broaden your vision’.

2. Follow Passionately and Reach the Heights of Excellence

When you follow your passion, you’ll surely become great in that profession. When your leisure pursuit becomes your profession and follow it with passion, you will be able to excel in the life. You derive pleasure from it and the outcome would be job satisfaction, love and joy..

3. Life Is Not Just Intelligence Management, But Emotion Management

Regular studies and memory skills are important and it helps you in leading a successful life. You’ll be able to survive even if you can make some mark in the path of the life. By artificial means you may be able to taste short-term success, but it cannot replace how skillfully you manage crisis situations.

4. Power of Words in Communication

Every word we use has certain impact and value in communication. One mistake in using a word or wrongly emphasizing wrongly or pausing at a wrong place in communication it creates undesirable effect. This is very well illustrated in this film.

5. Celebrate Life!

Don’t live a dead life. Life is for enjoying and celebrating every moment to the fullest. Sign of life is enthusiasm and happiness.

6. Out of the box thinking

Sheer need puts you under pressure and compels you to invent something or to come out with some innovation. In this movie, Aamir Khan, makes use of the vacuum pump at the last moment and demonstrates this principle.

7. Learning Is Very Simple

You learn every moment and this is very simple. Those who teach might fail; but Learners seldom fail. Learning is simple; it’s never a complicated or difficult phenomenon.

8. Leadership Styles

The Dean of the institute in 3 idiots is characterized with a very distinctive leadership style. He follows his own ideology, principles, belief systems and values, and therefore he leads the entire institute in that manner. Institutional leadership is all about this. In the present scenario, many institutes are entangled in Square thinking. What we need is, perhaps a Spherical thinking.

9. Love is Beyond the Dimensions and Scope of Time or Space

Love is the universal truth. It is not time bound or space bound. Love is boundary free, time free and space free as was in the many cases from the mythology – Laila and Majnu, Meera and Krishna, etc.

10. Learning should be Pleasurable

The present system of education that we follow is creating and accumulating stress on students’ mind. Regulatory systems and University framework are necessary but can these be at the cost of the life?

...there could be some more lessons that are not addressed above... those who find any..are welcome to add 'em to this blog...

Global Village With Just 100 People

These are some starking facts that I stumbled upon while browsing for something else. Thought I should share this with all!

"If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

• The village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from male, 49 would be female


• 82 would be the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific


• 51 would benon-white; 18 white


• 67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian


• 80 would live in substandard housing


• 67 would be unable to read


• 50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation


• 33 would be without access to a safe water supply


• 39 would lack access to improved sanitation


• 24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)


• 7 people would have access to the Internet


• 1 would have a college education


• 1 would have HIV 2 would be near birth; 1 near death


• 5 would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth; all 5 would be US citizens


• 33 would be receiving—and attempting to live on—only 3% of the income of “the village”


• 7 people would have access to the Internet"

If you take a look at the world from this condensed perspective,the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes evident. Think of it!

If you woke up this morning with more health than sickness,you are luckier than the million that will not survive this week.

If there is a meal in your refrigerator, if you are dressed and have got shoes, if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off, than 75% of people in this world.

This is our World!
And we are able to make changes!
Hasten to do good works!
Think of it!

Someone has told once:
"Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
Dance like nobody's watching,
Sing like nobody's listening,
Be surprised, like you were born yesterday,
Tell the truth and you don't have to remember anything,
Live like it's Heaven on Earth".

Footnotes on the above statistics:
The original version of the STATE OF THE VILLAGE REPORT by Donella H. Meadows was published in 1990 as "Who lives in the Global Village?" and updated in 2005.

The initial report was based on a village of 1000. David Copeland, a surveyor and environmental activist, revised the report to reflect a village of 100, and distributed 50,000 copies of a Value Earth poster at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Sources: Research for many of the facts for this 2005 update was done by Donella H. Meadows’ think tank: the Sustainability Institute. (See www.odt.org/pop.htm for further details.) The rest come from a variety of sources including David Smith’s children’s book: If the World Were a Village, the CIA World Factbook 2001 (age, birth, death, internet), 2001 World Development Indicators, World Bank (HIV), Adherents 2001 (religion) Bread for the World (malnourishment), United Nations Population Fund (food security) The Global Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report (improved water, improved sanitation)With so many new reports and constantly changing statistics, please view the above presentation as general and not meant to be totally accurate. It is more for the purpose of fostering understanding, so that we might better dialogue and understand the different cultures of our world.