Good One

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops-a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well. At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the Back. Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek ? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the one after that,and so forth. This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer,he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!," the driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?" With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass." Moral of the story: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."

Father's Letter to Daughter

This is from http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/jan/19fathers-letter-to-daughter.htm

My Darling daughter Tisha

Since your birth, I have seen you grow up and evolve everyday and the pleasure it gives me cannot be expressed in words. These early years of your life are the foundation that will help you build a strong skyscraper in the world, once you are ready. As your dad, I cannot help but feel anxious that am I not doing enough to help you live a full life.

Hence am taking this opportunity to pen down a few principles in life that will help you make the right choices irrespective of what course you decide to take your life on. Use these as guidelines and I am sure they will give you confidence and faith to do the right thing.

Nature, if studied diligently, abounds with principles that can help us lead a fulfilling life in sync with it. A great example is the process that leads to the formation of diamonds.

Technically, a diamond is made of a single element -- Carbon. Years of intense pressure and hard work converts Carbon from its softer coal version to the precious diamond form. While graphite carbon atoms are bound to each other by only three bonds, in a diamond, they manage to form a fourth bond, which results in the transformation to its glittering form.

The same is true in life as well. To shine and become invaluable, you have to strive and follow the discipline of developing all four bonds. These four bonds are: Physical, Emotional, Mental and Spiritual bonds, which, if strengthened, will give you the strength and luminosity to live a full life.

a) Physical Bond: This concerns our physical body, its material and monetary/economic needs. It includes the need for appreciation from others and other societal achievements. Taking care of this bond would mean being physically fit, being able to fulfill the basic needs for yourself and your family.

b) Mental Bond: This can also be defined as IQ, but needs to be taken in context with knowledge, mental acumen and true education. This is what will help you keep yourself updated in your profession and solve problems.

c) Emotional Bond: This includes the ability to form meaningful and lasting relationships as well as connecting with the society as a whole. It would include ideas about strengthening self esteem, love, appreciation and being able to keep commitments and promises.

d) Spiritual Bond: This is the bond with God, our creator. It is also the basis of something unique to humans -- morality. It is this spiritual bond that leads to a principle-based life.

Thus, while taking any decision, keep in mind the perspective of these four bonds and ensure that none of them are broken. Inevitably, you would have done the right thing. Let me explain this with nine fundamental situations that human beings constantly find themselves.

1. When others mock you or try to drive you down, do not lose heart. Remember not to break the emotional and spiritual bond. Remind yourself that you have to shine like a diamond and not break any of the bonds. Just focus on what you have to do and things will be okay.

2. When doubt creeps in and you feel scared of others and what they will think, don't worry. Just strengthen your physical bond. Revamp your physical appearance and look like you mean business. How you look on the outside is a result of how you feel on the inside.

Let others gauge from how you look that you are indeed a diamond. This will help you put other people in proper perspective. They are also human beings and wonderful creations of God. So why be afraid of someone?

3. When you find yourself being dragged into an argument or a quarrel, strengthen your emotional bond. Think if it is worth it? Ask yourself honestly, is this really important enough to argue about and endanger the emotional bond? Remind yourself that you never gain anything from an argument but you always lose something.

4. When things are not going right and you feel defeated, have faith in the four bonds. Everyone in their lifetime has his/her share of setbacks. Look at them as a learning opportunity to strengthen your mental bond and as a path to forming a brilliant diamond. Toughest of steel goes through the hardest of fire.

Learn from your setbacks. Research them and use the knowledge to propel yourself forward. With the confidence that you are making a diamond, you will have the strength to step back and start afresh with a new approach. There is no reason why it should not work.

5. As you grow up, romance will be a critical part of your life. If you feel it is ebbing away, do not feel insecure. Look at this as an opportunity to strengthen the emotional and spiritual bonds in your life. Look at the good things in the person you want to love and prioritise those over petty little things. Do something special for him and do it often. This will form a strong emotional bond between you two and help you to live a complete life.

6. When your progress in your job is slowing down, don't worry. Strengthen your mental, emotional and spiritual bond with your organisation. Think 'I can do better'. When you think that, ways to do your work better will appear. It will draw on your innate strengths and switch on your creative powers. Strengthen the spiritual bond by putting service first. Other things like money will take care of itself.

7. As a parent, if things are not going right with your family, step back and think what is really bothering you. Is it the fact that your kids are not making the right choices or is it that they are not helping you fulfill your incomplete desires.

Forcing them to make choices to live a life that actually 'you' want is breaking the emotional bond that your children place in you. You need to encourage them and enable them to achieve their true potential.

On the other hand, if they are fundamentally on the wrong path, then you are duty bound to show this fact to them and try to understand why they are choosing that path. You have to tell them how they should act, rather than just snubbing and grounding them. This route might consume a lot of time and effort on your part, but it will definitely strengthen your emotional bond with your children.

8. When you feel lazy to exercise or get tempted to feast on junk food, think of its long-term implications. Doing this is actually having a direct impact on your physical bond which will prevent you from achieving your true potential and becoming a diamond. Just making that bit of extra effort to go for the 30 minute jog or to resist the temptation to eat that piece of burger will not only make you healthy but will also give you confidence in yourself

9. Finally, I have a question for you. Would you do something like badmouthing your friend if you knew with absolute surety that no one would ever come to know and there would be absolutely no harm to anyone at all?

One school of though might say that it is perfectly fine to do so in this scenario, But you will break the spiritual bond that you have with your friend.

Your friend has placed his/her trust in you even if he or she might not be able to know everything that you do or say. Your friendships go beyond the body, mind and heart. It goes to the fourth critical dimension -- the soul. Thus remaining faithful to your friends and family is a critical element to elevate your spiritual connection with them.

I sincerely hope that these principles help you make the right choices in life, wherever destiny takes you. And you must remember, no matter what, your mamma and papa are always there for you.

Love,
Papa dearest!

Courtesy: www.rediff.com

Power of Dream and Persistence

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

N R Narayana Murthy's Interview

N R Narayana Murthy, founding member and chief mentor of Infosys talks about Satyam, Corporate Governance, Value systems and Indian IT industry.

Check below link:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/current-affairs/saw-conflictinterest-as-satyam-member-narayan-murthy/377421

Courtesy: www.moneycontrol.com

My posts in 2008

Happy New Year to All :)

Today, I will like to provide links of blogs posted in 2008:

• Azim Premji on Changing World
• The Laws of Success
• Job Interview - Honest HR Question-Answers
• The Difference between Focusing on Problems and Fo...
• Time Waits for Nobody
• Can engineers be 'Touchy feely'? -- article by che...
• Be careful...about DeaDLinE....plz give ur 2 mnts
• K V Kamath's Intereview on Unstoppable Indians
• Lesson to Remember
• Lateral Thinking
• Murphy's Laws
• 21 Important Advices
• N R Narayana Murthy on Unstoppable Indians
• See your world -- good one
• Corporate Language
• Excellent Conversation
• Quotes by Chanakya
• Why Some People Have All the Luck
• BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE .........
• A. R. Rahman on Unstoppable Indians
• How to Make Work Feel Effortless
• Article on Job Change - By Dr. Gopalakrishnan
• Goal-Free Living
• Power of Positive Talk by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
• Viswanathan Anand's Interview on Unstoppable India...
• Lalu Yadav, the management guru!
• Management gems from Richard Branson
• Peter Drucker's mantras for success
• Commencement address by Steve Jobs
• Ratan Tata's words of inspiration
• 9 great management lessons from Dhirubhai Ambani
• Keep the Spark - Chetan Bhagat
• Oprah's career advice: follow your gut