Jinnah - Sardar Patel - Jaswant Singh - BJP - My views

I feel - a book is a book - we may agree with the authors point of view or disagree. If we disagree we should share reason of disagreement. I have not see any facts coming out of BJP in this case against the point of view of Jaswant Singh - that shows the lack of intellect in BJP.

I am a great fan of Ghandhi - that does not mean that he has never done/said anything wrong. I may also disagree with some of his views / actions. After-all, he was also an human being and can make mistakes.

Saying Jinnah has never done anything good or all his view were wrong is totally wrong. If somebody praises something good about him, we should welcome that in that context. Same is true about Sardar Patel or any other leader / person.

If an organization take away the power of speech from its people - nobody can save them. I wish BJP takes corrective action immediately and allow its member to maintain and individuality also. They may claim in the media that these are not party views - and that it.

Shahrukh Khan at Newwark Airport

I think there is nothing wrong in the reaction of Shahrukh Khan to what happened to him at the Newark Airport. This is what is expected from him - if he would not have reacted like this, that is unlike him. This is very natural of him.

I being a Sikh and from Asia have gone through this during all my visits to US / Europe. The customer officers see us differently and it is very normal of them to go through another round of checking. I do not blame them at all for this.

They(US) do not invite us - we choose to go there - so we need to follow their processes. By such reaction we are only doing bad to our image. If US feel that their is particual religion / country which they need to be cautious of they have every right to perform all security checks - and they have been very clear about that for last 6-7 years. If we feel we do not agree with their approach - let us not go USA.

I cannot believe that a regular visitor like Shahrukh Khan is not aware / heard of these process of US custom and passport control office.

I would strongly recommend Indian Custom and Passport control office to follow such practices.

If a celebrity has done done any act of terrorism till date, this does not mean that no celebrity would perform such act in future also.

So when it comes to national security ------ ALL ARE EQUAL.

My first trip to South India - by Vijayta Jain

Since a long time I was planning to put my thoughts into words for this forum. But, don't know where I was busy. Surely not in the office:). All my way back to home, I was deeply thinking where to start from. The dilemma is from where to start rather than what to start.

Everyone's heart is filled with lot of cherish memories but mine is pretty fresh because I just left my spinsterhood :) I could gather each and every moment of summer of '07 when I joined my first job. As a fresh graduate I was eagerly waiting for my joining letter. My eagerness was not about to know my take home or to know allowances or to know the joining date. My only concern was my joining location. I was flexible enough to accept any location except Chennai. I had all reasons to stay in delhi , die hard fan of pune, happening life of bangalore and Hyderabad could prove to be a career jackpot.

But life is never the bed of roses.I didn't wish to go to Chennai, so I was the only one from my college to join the Chennai center. Goddamn it, It was the shock of my life. I took hours to digest... me ... Why only me...... May be because they came to know the secret that I love south Indian food. Friends gave me all fundas to console me by saying you got the best technology or all R&D happens in this center or may be you will get on site soon. Ya, I was directly posted to onsite... just next to Sri Lanka. But, sooner or later I have to face the music so, I was mentally prepared to stay there for next 2 years and choose the biggest suitcase(almost immovable) and all set to go.

The minute I landed the station I could find nothing fishy about that fish smell. I said to myself.... "Welcome to chennai". The first things I remember about chennai is the autowalas.... They all are rajnikants in their own way. A number plate can be missing on their autos but a rajnikant's poster will not be. They have there own rates, speed, traffic rules and you are obliging them by seating in their autos. Even I also learned to deal with them before reaching chennai. "What anna .... u think m new........ T-nagar near na anna.... working IT 6 years chennai... only 100Rs". Don't dare use verb,adverb ,only keywords and hand movements. The minute you argue with them they can blame you for tearing their seat covers.

I could smell the fragrance of that white and orange flowers in every street of chennai.Its a ritual that all males bring flowers to their wives while returning back from office (how filmi). You can get the best filter coffee even on a small hawker. That is the bestest coffee one can ever experience. I felt relived by all the troubles loaded by this city when I walk along the Marina beach and watching sunset and sunrise from the beach is a fascinating experience. My all time favourite was Murugun Idli(may be equivalent to haldiram or bikaner here). This shop was always overcrowded serving coffee and pure ghee dosas and idli on banana leaf. I became expert in eating by covering palm and hands together. I really appreciate this city for preserving and nurturing their culture and traditions so tactfully.People are pretty professional and polite in these cities.There are smart enough people like Kishore Biyani who got inspired by Sarvana store of Chennai and launched Big Bazar.

There is so much to see and experience in South India. Be it Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Kodai, Madurai or Rameshwaram. I was fortunate enough to discover all because I am a travel bug who who likes to travel & feels "at home" all over the world !!!. I just believe one should shop,eat and enjoy in the cities commonest places to enjoy the heart of the city. Chennai is a fantablous place and there are innumerable positive aspects to watch out rather than crip about the weather, sambar, idli or language difference.

You Can Help Fight Global Warming - by Amit Kataria

Many efforts are being made by various nations to cut down the rate of global warming. One such effort is the Kyoto agreement that has been made between various nations to reduce the emissions of various green house gases. Also many non profit organizations are working for the cause. Al Gore was one of the foremost U.S. politicians to heave an alarm about the hazards of global warming. He has produced a significantly acclaimed documentary movie called "An Inconvenient Truth, ‘Must Watch’ " and written a book that archives his advice that Earth is dashing toward an immensely warmer future. Al Gore, the former vice president of United States has given various speeches to raise an awareness of global warming. He has warned people about the ill effects of Global warming and its remedies.

But an interesting side of the global warming episode is that there are people who do not consider global warming as something that is creating a problem. Skeptics of global warming think that global warming is not an ecological trouble. According to the global warming skeptics, the recent enhancement in the earth's average temperature is no reason for alarm. According to them earth's coastlines and polar ice caps are not at a risk of vanishing. Global warming skeptics consider that the weather models used to establish global warming and to forecast its impacts are distorted. According to the models, if calculations are made the last few decades must have been much worse as compared to actually happened to be. Most of the global warming skeptics believe that the global warming is not actually occurring. They stress on the fact the climatic conditions vary because of volcanism, the obliquity cycle, changes in solar output, and internal variability. Also the warming can be due to the variation in cloud cover, which in turn is responsible for the temperatures on the earth. The variations are also a result of cosmic ray flux that is modulated by the solar magnetic cycles.

Note:- This article is from www.globalwarming.org.in

I will continue to write on this TOPIC.....

Life!!

Life's like having a cup of tea. You sit by the window, lift the cup and take a careless sip only to realize that you got no sugar. Too lazy to go for it, you some how struggle through the sugarless cup till you discover un-dissolved sugar crystals lying at the bottom. That is LIFE! All the sweetness is there, all you need to do is stir it up a little.

What is a Team? - by Vivek Kumar

A well functioning team

• Trusts team members
• Holds unfiltered debates
• Holds each other accountable
• Commits to decisions and plans of action
• Focuses on achievement of common goal
• Work in concert to produce the goals
• Share common rewards
• Willing to set aside personal needs to achieve the common goals

Otherwise, you do not have a team

• Just.. a bunch of people who do isolated execution (either centrally defined or individually)

Five Dysfunctions

Coping With Stress

Stress is an issue and can result in serious illnesses. What can you do about it?
Here's what you can to do about it

Identify
One of the top things to do in coping with stress is to identify the cause of your stress. Is it a word, action, thought, person, condition, food, relationship? Identify the source and you're halfway finished. Once a cause is identified the stress may often disappear.

Get used to it
People try earnestly to get away from what causes the stresses in their life. Why? These are the causes of it so why get away from them? They may well be the answers to removing the stress in your life or at least you might end up with ways to escape the stressful conditions.

Then adapt yourself by offering a different response to it. By adapting to stressful things once in awhile you will gain confidence that you are in control of your life, which is an important step in helping cope with stress.

Feelings buried alive never die. So bottling up your stress responses is not going to make matters any better. Remember how good it felt to tell someone you love and trust what's going on? It is only natural for us to keep our problems inside, but you may be able to benefit from the practical suggestions of a friend as well as bring yourself emotional relief.

Finding Balance
Where is balance in coping with stress? We have to find it. Even too much of sweet stress can cause more stress in your life, so it is very important to go find balance in your life.

Take a few moments to relieve stress of work. Stretching or walking around the room, can relieve tension in your muscles and joints.

Make certain that your lifeline is not dominated by any one thing. Keep track of yourself and your reactions. Make sure you make time for relaxation -- things you enjoy doing need to be done. Do you have a hobby that you enjoy that you haven't been to in a while? It might be time to get back to it.

Do write your comments on What else could you do to cope with your stressful life?

The Power of Positive Thinking - by Nirbhay Shekhar

The Power of Positive Thinking:

Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.

How to turn the mind toward the positive:

Always visualize only favorable and beneficial situations. Use positive words in your inner dialogues or when talking with others. Smile a little more, as this helps to think positively. Disregard any feelings of laziness or a desire to quit. If you persevere, you will transform the way your mind thinks.

Once a negative thought enters your mind, you have to be aware of it and endeavor to replace it with a constructive one. The negative thought will try again to enter your mind, and then you have to replace it again with a positive one. It is as if there are two pictures in front of you, and you choose to look at one of them and disregard the other. Persistence will eventually teach your mind to think positively and ignore negative thoughts.

In case you feel any inner resistance when replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, do not give up, but keep looking only at the beneficial, good and happy thoughts in your mind.

It does not matter what your circumstances are at the present moment. Think positively, expect only favorable results and situations, and circumstances will change accordingly. It may take some time for the changes to take place, but eventually they do.

Communication - Interaction - Personality Development

Dear All,

I would like all of you to read what information you get on Johari Windows on the net. I had an opportunity to go through this around 15 years back and this has impacted me significantly.

I am putting below a summary of the concept, but would encourage all of you to read more about this and discuss among each other.

The basic of this concept are as below:

1. That individuals can build trust between themselves by disclosing information about themselves; and
2. That they can learn about themselves and come to terms with personal issues with the help of feedback from others.

The four quadrants of human personality / interactions are:

Quadrant 1: Open Area

What is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others.

Quadrant 2: Blind Area, or "Blind Spot"

What is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know. This can be simple information, or can involve deep issues (for example, feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, unworthiness, rejection) which are difficult for individuals to face directly, and yet can be seen by others.

Quadrant 3: Hidden or Avoided Area

What the person knows about him/herself that others do not.

Quadrant 4: Unknown Area

What is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others.

In summary you can significantly improve your interaction if "OPEN AREA" is the largest area in the four quadrants.

I am sure this will be useful and is you are able to implement this well in your daily life, it will significantly improve your interaction with family, friend and all.