Musing # 35

Hi,

Today is Christmas.............. It's not only a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ but also a day to become a better person by adhering to His preachings also. One of His preaching is that , "The pleasure in giving is greater than getting."

I hap penned to experience this a few years back at a foreign shore.

It was 24th Dec. 2005 night at an hotel in Pattaya at Thailand.

There was a banquet dinner organised by the hotel for all the guests and a lucky dip coupon was given to all as part of this banquet dinner with prizes for the lucky winners.

I also got a coupon ending with a serial no. bearing last two digits 13.

Seeing that no. itself I knew, as usual I did not have a chance of winning any prize as it was a pitiful combination of an eternal unlucky person with an eternal unlucky number.

The draws were being made and the first prize was announced a costly hand set and as usual a pompous guy came and collected the prize.

The second prize was announced and nobody was coming forward. The number was being announced repeatedly which was ending with the number 13.

Suddenly I remembered about my coupon and checked up the number and............ Oh Gosh! I couldn't believe it. The number being announced was tallying with the coupon I was holding.

I rushed immediately to the stage with my coupon and I was given an envelope. I accepted it and as if I had just won the Oscars gave my speech about how the most unluckiest person till now, became the luckiest person at Pattaya. It was 10.30 pm in the night.

With all back slapping from all my friends I opened the envelope to find out what was in it.

It contained a voucher for free spa treatment in the same hotel within next 24hrs.

Suddenly all my euphoria was getting evaporated as next day morning by 8.30AM we have to check out from the hotel to catch a flight back to India.

I rushed to the spa and found it was locked. I went to the reception and enquired and they told me that the spa promptly closes by 10.30PM and it will open only next day by 10.30AM.

Here I was floating in the clouds for having won a lucky dip, first time in my life ,that too in a foreign shore and the reality sunk that, Will not be in a position to really enjoy the fruit of my luck.

For a moment I thought that this is a cruel joke being played upon me by............. whatever.

I came back to the reception and was giving my sob story to the receptionist.

In order to console myself, I asked her how good is that spa treatment.

She replied, " Sir, honestly I do not know, as with my salary I can't even dare to think of entering the spa in my life time."

This stirred something in me and I gave the coupon to her endorsing on her name and asked her to get the spa treatment done on the Christmas day and said it is the present from someone who Knows who deserves what.

The radiant smile on her face was much more than what a spa treatment could have done to my soul. All my disappointments of missing out on a lucky dip prize, vanished into thin air and I felt an immense satisfaction engulfing me and I was feeling light, rejuvenated and in a state of tranquility and peace which no spa treatment ever would have given me.

This was God's way of giving me a very valuable message on Christmas eve that the happiness and pleasure what you get in giving is ten folds higher than what you get.

Nature is always rich because it keeps giving..... giving.......giving...................and.........giving.

A Merry and Happy Christmas to all of you.

mentor mohan

Antulay's Rendezvous

Musing # 34

Hi,

Immediately after the Mumbai mayhem an SMS was going around with the message " We can tackle the people who came by boats but how to tackle the people who have come by votes".

At that juncture I thought that this is a ridiculous message and a sick joke.

But after being witness to Mr. Antulay's antics regarding his conspiracy theory regarding the slaying of Mr. Hemanth Karkare by the terrorists, I'm seeing now how apt is that message. It's not just one opportunistic politicians stray remark that is disturbing the spirit of true Indians but the unabashed approval of this by the party to which he belongs and which is known to play the minority card for it's vote- bank politics.

He unashamedly admits in the interview given to Lakshmi Iyer in Mumbai Mirror " I have been flooded with adulations from across the country. Previously, no one use to take note of me when I went to the mosque , now everyone comes and hug me."

Yes, Mr. Antulay you will get plenty of adulation even from across the border and lot of people are eagerly awaiting to hug you also from there.

Mr. M. J. Akbar who is the voice of all patriotic muslims has rightly commented in today's column of his in TOI that Mr. Antulay is Ms. Simi Garewal of Indian politics in his context. I concur with him but in my own context that, She resurrected her sagging Carrier with her "Rendezvous" show with living celebrities and Mr. Antulay has even outsmarted her with his " Rendezvous " show with a slain martyr.

Now, coming back to that SMS,

We blame the intrusion of the undesired elements through boats as " Intelligence failure".

Then can we call the intrusion of undesired politicians like Mr. ARA through votes as the "Intelligentsia failure" ?

mentor mohan

Members of Pseudoism

Musing# 33

Two news items of contradicting values made me feel very nauseated as if I had gulped wrong cocktail, They were...................

1. Chief of Army staff General Deepak Kapoor said on the occasion of passing out parade at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) " Hundreds of Sandeeps were getting ready to protect our country."......... Sandeep unnikrishnan an NSG commando , sacrificed his life while battling the terrorists in Mumbai last month.............. Period.

2. M.P. 's (Members of Parliament) give a miss to the function marking the seventh anniversary of the terror attack on parliament. Not even dozen MP's were present to pay homage to the security people who laid down their lives to protect our honourable MPs............... Period.

What will be the take home message for all the youths of this country who have read both these messages........... ?

If our honourable MPs' who are representing our Mother India are so ungrateful and/or forgetful............... then only God can save us.

As long as we( aam admi) are going to be the passive lambs meant for the slaughter house, this tamasha will go on and on and on ................

This is what I referred to as the " Condom Culture" in my previous blog which is all pervading in our Political & Corporate circles.

If you have been already a victim of this culture............. then you are welcome to the club.

If you are not............. then you are in the long queue.

mentor mohan

" Hume Jeene Do"

Musing # 32
I'm sipping the french wine in the famous Taj Hotel and something hits me.........................................,

I'm in the queue and worried about my reservation for my family in CST for the next month's train to Patna and something hits me........................................................................,

This is my first date and we are just canoodling in Marine drive and something hits both of us............................................,

Leopold cafe became so popular because of " Shanta ram " book and as a tribute to that time less land mark I was celebrating my birth day there with my friend and something hits me .........................................

For two months my husband had not taken me for movie and ultimately we went for a movie in Metro cinema and as we were coming out some thing hits my husband........................

All the people who were hit by the terrorist were killed in fraction of a second......... but the agony and grief for their loved ones is going to haunt them throughout their life....................
All these people and many more like Tyagis' Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte & Vijay Salaskar who sacrificed their lives to protect valuable human lives and also their country's honour will be in the news for a few days and later on every one will forget them, the media, the politicians and even the public.
This is what is called the typical "Condom Culture".
Our finance minister made a statement recently that our economy is insulated to all the disaster that the global market is besieged with.............. as a lay man I do not know what's the insulation used here, but as a true and honest citizens of this country our near and dear ones hoarse cry is,

"What's the insulation that is being provided to us from the rabid wild boars called terrorists.
We are least thrilled about crash landing a container of our national flag on the surface of moon thousands of miles away from us, spending a whooping sum of Rs. 385 crores of rupees. But, We will be thrilled to proudly hold our national flag and wave it year after year on Independence and Republic days if you can just ensure we are alive.
I hope you understand we are not asking for the moon..........................
Your promises of Roti, Kapada, Makhan, sadak, bijli aur pani can be taken as a joke but what one demand we want you to fulfill with all seriousness is
"Hume jeene do"

mentor mohan

Un conditional love

Hi,

Musing#31

Love is the axis of life. With love the life goes on, and with out love the life comes to stand still. This is the reason, may be people go to the extreme, even giving up their life just because they failed to get their love solemnised. But are they doing the right thing?

A girl today threw herself in front of a train and lost her life just because she was scared that her love for someone outside her community is going to be the cause for her ostracization outside her community and may result in the loss of her family's reputation.

It's very saddening to read such news items in the paper day in and day out. If you can have the courage to fall in love, why don't you have the courage to fight against all the odds and get your love solemnised in the right royal way. May be this is the reason it is always said that you FALL in love. All FALL in love in their life, some time or the other but only a few rise in their love by overcoming all obstacles and objections and get their love fructified. What's called for ,is the moral courage to convince oneself and also convince all others that you have made a choice and that it is going to stay that way irrespective of other's opinions and views.

Loss of life is sad............. and more so if it is young lives............ and worst if the loss is self inflicted.

Young people take away their own life just because they feel,

that they have failed in their exams,

that they have failed in their love life,

that they are not happy with their life,(personal/professional)

But when old people also take their own life (due to neglect and despondency) as it's hap penning now then the only conclusion is that humanity is decaying and the stink is going to get only worst.

When the hopes of young are asphyxiated and the patience of old are stretched to beyond repair,let's intervene and oxygenate the hopes of the young and reward the patience of the old, with the only remedy that is UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

It's easier said than done or practiced. To simplify let's choose one young and one old person for ourselves on whom we will shower that UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and be the cause for happiness in their life.

Regds

mentor mohan

Celebrating team work

Hi,

Musing#30

At the outset " A very Happy Diwali to all of you ". Diwali traditionally is celebrated as the "festival of lights". This is because Diwali is always celebrated on a New moon day when there is total darkness. By the lighting of all the diyas, the darkness is dispelled and there is lights galore for every one to enjoy the festival of lights. But New moon comes every month, so what is so great about this New moon. Diwali according to me is the festival to celebrate the spirit of team work. Because on this New moon day as part of team work every body is expected to light their house with diyas and the collective brightness of all the diyas put together is so bright that it exhibits the beauty of team work and that is the out come of the festival of lights. That is why as part of team work all close relatives where ever they are ,they try to come together and celebrate this festival of joy,being together. Also friends who might not have been in touch with each other, make it a point to get in touch with each other if not physically at least through other means by sending wishes through greetings on earlier days and now by SMS and e-greetings.

Like how all the diyas burning together can dispel all the darkness same way if all of us come together for a cause we can dispel all the darkness called despair,doom and distrust and be the cause for all the happiness and joy for us and all our near and near ones.

Let's hence celebrate this festival of lights in the true spirits.

Happy diwali!

mentor mohan

Sons of the soil and the soiled sons

Hi,

Musing #29

Once again life in Mumbai is paralysed....................

I think we are paying a heavy price for the blunder of dividing the country on linguistic basis and formation of regional states.A country which was already divided due to prevailing caste ism and religion, this further division on linguistic basis has only further weakened the fabric of our country. It has completed the vote bank politics suite, for the opportunistic politicians. The much acclaimed slogan of "Unity in diversity" is sounding very hollow with the attacks by,

A rrogant Upper caste on backward class,

A cerbic religious fanatics on religious minorities and

A ntipathetic linguistic fanatics on the other linguistic minorities.

With the above three Aces up their sleeves, the opportunistic politicians are gambling with the lives and properties of hard working and honest citizens.

Coming to the "Sons of the soil" theory advocated by these politicians citing unemployment in their state, the moot question is why don't they motivate these unemployed youths to join the defence services where according to a recent report thousands of vacancies are existing and they are having dearth of people to fill up these vacancies right from ranks to officer's level. They won't do it because then who will do their street fights ,get injured and killed to become losing martyrs rather than fighting the real enemy in the frontiers and become true heroes.

The only remedy for this is every patriotic Indian should value his vote and exercise his/her franchise in the election taking care to shun these opportunistic politicians and their parties.With this affirmative action these pathogenic politicians will become non-entities politically and are purged out of our political system.

To quote the well made awareness advt. of A tea brand shown in the TV regularly in this regard JAGOzzzzzzzzzzzz INDIAzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz JAGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mentor mohan

Kick the butt or kicks in the butt?

Hi,

Musing#28

Our health minister's campaign against smoking which was confined to reel life for a long time has got into real life also, with the ban on smoking in public places. This has literally thrown the smokers to the street, as other than his home in all other places he will be kicked out if he lights a cigarette. But what about those smokers who smoke on the sly with out the knowledge of their near and dear ones, like youngsters without the knowledge of their parents and yes some of those husbands without the knowledge of their wives. They have to be compulsorily on the streets for their quota of puffs. Some activist sooner or later is going to file a PIL and request the courts to pass an order declaring that streets are also public places and hence the smoking ban to be enforced in the streets also, and if that happens there won't be any place left for the smokers other than their own houses ,and who knows the maid servants may also complain that it is their place of work and hence smoking to be banned at their work place also. The only salvation for the smoker is to KTB(Kick the butt).

After having been a smoker for 36yrs, at the right time I've KTB and saved myself not only all these humiliations and botheration's but also started saving a bit of money. Having been a long time smoker, I understand the difficulty in quitting smoking, but the rewards are King size for KTB.

I'm listing 'The Eight Steps to KTB mission"(Adopted by me and am patenting the same with this blog) for all those smokers who are serious about KTB.

Step 1: Make a commitment to yourself about your mission KTB and also rope in your near and dear ones , by making a commitment to them about your seriousness in KTB and seek their full support to put up with your initial mood swings.

Step2: Create a change of enviornment by taking a break and go to a resort or health spa where you will stay for a minimum period of 15 days, where you will not have access to tobacco and also alcohol as many smokers who also drink find it very difficult to refrain from smoking while having drinks.

Step3:Go for brisk walk everyday morning minimum for 30mts. and also in the evening one hour work out in a gym.

Step4: Do not go for substitutes like nicotine patch or gum or even mints and supari. Because nothing will come near to the Nicotine queen and you will feel frustrated and depressed. On the contrary go into mourning for the death of your nicotine queen and like any mourning you get over it after 10 days. You can also as a diversion do other activities which you enjoy most like playing games either indoor or outdoor, watching your favourite movies, reading those novels you wanted to read or the gardening you were enjoying but due to work pressure had given it up or even cooking if you enjoy the heat of kitchen like the heat of burning butt.

Step 5: After having successfully KTB during this period, when you return back to your old enviornment keep on telling every Tom, Dick and Harry proudly that you have KTB and you also feel proud that you have achieved something great in your life, like having won the KBC. This reinforcement is very much necessary for the next 15 days as then only the important threshold of one month will be crossed over and any habit which is not carried out for a period of one month invariably ceases to be a habit. Mind you even medically speaking smoking is just a habit formation and not an addiction like drugs etc. Hence the so called withdrawal symptoms are more psychological than physiological.

Step 6: You open a RD account in your bank and whatever was your monthly spend on cigarettes the same amount you put in your RD every month and as the savings swells up month after month your will power also will swell up and the wills power will diminish and vanish ultimately.

Step 7 :Post the following slogan prominently at home and at the place of work

" Kick the butt early and not kick the bucket early".

Step 8 : After you have KTB successfully take it upon yourself to cause a difference to your close friend or colleague who is a smoker and motivate him and influence him also to KTB. Whether you are going to be successful or not but it will make you to be a strong advocate against smoking and if you succeed it will be a double whammy for you.

All the best for those smokers who are influence ed by this blog and are going to have their "Mission KTB".

The other smokers who are still not influenced and are not launching their "Mission KTB", please be warned you are going to get lots of Kicks in your butt from all and sundry and your life is going to be miserable.

mentor mohan

Highly qualified vs Highly educated

Hi,

Musing #27

In my musing # 24 I had exposed the charlatans in the financial fiefdom who gamble with other's money most of their time, drawing fat salaries for the same. Surprisingly no comments were posted about this blog. Was it because I was adding salt to the wound or many of you felt that you were not affected by these charlatans. If these charlatans are not going to be exposed, take it from me they will metastasize and spread the malignancy all over and every one will have to face the trauma.

Today's victim of this cancer, Mr. Karthik Rajaram, a B.Tech from IIT-chennai and an MBA from UCLA, an NRI based at Los Angles shot his three grown up sons, his wife and his aged mother-in-law because he not only lost his job, but became bankrupt because of losing his life's savings. What use was his qualifications if it did not,

1. make him a strong man first and foremost to face adversaries,

2. make him more knowledgeable about "risk management".

3. make him learn that "failure is not the end of the road but a diversion to be taken to reach the destination called success".

4.That he can play God and decide that his near and dear one's also will be cowards like him and that in his absence they can not survive and will perish and hence it is better now, by his own hands rather than later so that he can die peacefully(sic).

It is high time that our so called educators re- evaluate our education system, ignoring the pseudo concepts floated by the arm- chair gurus who are theoretical, and get the education system revamped by practicing managers who have slogged and come out successfully like the pure Gold that is purified by it's ordeal with fire.

People may acquire all sorts of fancy qualifications from many hyped up institutions, but the moot question is did they acquire only qualification to serve as appendage after their glorious names or they really got educated to face all stark realities of life and acquire the common sense and resilience to go through the ordeal by fire so that their problem solving skills do not take recourse to pulling the trigger on them and, Oh God! on their near and dear ones also.

I'm quoting here my Guru Mahatma Gandhi on "The Roots of violence" and am giving live examples to illustrate how valid his timeless teachings are ,even in today's context,

1. " Wealth without work"- Trying senSEX to get rich overnight and ending up with another kind of killer AIDS( Aggravated Investment Death Syndrome).

2. "Pleasure without conscience"- Abusing the body with all substances for momentary pleasure and ultimately killing their and other's life.

3."Knowledge without character"- All those educated terrorists who use their knowledge only to cause murder and mayhem.

4."Commerce without morality"- All those chemists and druggists who sell addictive drugs to youngsters knowing very well that they are ruining the lives of these youngsters. Also credit card companies luring gullible people with their cards and trapping these people in a deadly debt trap.

5."Science without humanity"- All those international scientists who blew up billions of dollars to recreate the supposed to be "Big Bang theory of formation of our mother earth "(LHC experiment) and the Indian scientists who are blowing up crores of rupees in chandrayan when the same money could have been used to set right so many humanitarian issues plaguing our earth like hunger, sickness, terrorism, suicides , illiteracy etc. etc.

6. "Worship without sacrifice"- All those spiritual leaders who do not fore go their comforts to transform the life of down trodden and suppressed people in their own religion but cry hoarse and even instigate violence when some one from their religion chooses different faith to seek his salvation. This in spite of their religious teaching "Vasudeve Kutumbakam" IE. irrespective of which religion anyone is following the whole world is one big family.(Hindus attack on Christians in Orissa & Karnataka)

7." Politics without principle"- Examples are plenty for this, but the latest example was witnessed in West Bengal where due to one selfish woman's vote bank politics she misguided many, resulting in lots of violence and death and also ultimately TATA said Tata to all those eager workers seeking employment in TATA's NANO factory and moved to Gujarat. There is some poetic justice in this because the communists got the taste of their own medicine that is "agitation for agitation sake , and don't care who suffers in my agitation"

In all the above seven "Roots of violence" cases all the perpetrators are/were highly qualified but unfortunately their costly and time consuming qualifications did not give them their due education. Let us appeal in unison to,

Teachers prepare your students by educating them to face life and not just examinations.

Students acquire education not just qualifications.

Parents get your children acquire education and not just qualifications

Would be brides and grooms check out how well your would be is educated and not qualified

Employers assess not only how well the candidates whom you want to recruit are qualified but also assess how well their qualification has educated them.

Bosses evaluate your subordinates based on their educated contribution to the long term benefits of the team and the organisation rather than going by the alphabets added as suffix to their names. Don't get carried away by their fancy theories and jargon's which they throw up only to hoodwink the system and when the collapse is in the horizon they will be the first to desert like the proverbial rats.

To set right the distinction,

Managers are always highly Qualified

But

Leaders are always highly Educated.

Unfortunately we have plenty of managers in our midst today and only handful of leaders.

mentor mohan

Bankruptcy hits Hollywood

Hi,

Musing#26

I just happened to watch this Hollywood movie "Wanted" starring Angelina, Freeman et al. I was really amused, as I felt I have gone back in the time machine and watching one of those Vittalacharya Telugu movies of 70's. For those of you who are not aware about Vittalacharya movies, he used to produce all super natural movies involving maya jaal, aliens, freak creatures etc. Many of his movies use to be successful and later on such genre produced by others also used to be referred to as Vittalacharya type of movies. In his movies the arrows shot in the battle between the hero and the villain used to collide in the mid-air and the fighting scene would continue with fresh shooting of arrows. Those of you who have watched the serials like Ramayan and Mahabharat would have viewed such battle scenes. In this movie "wanted" the bullets fired by two people collide in the mid-air like the arrows(Baans) and not only that in one scene the laws of physics are further defied as a bullet after firing travels not in a straight line but in a circular path killing more people. Ironically they call these movies as science fiction movies. People usually blame that our guys copy Hollywood but it seems that the tide is changing and Hollywood is now copying Tollywood(Telugu film industry). Like how financial bankruptcy has hit the American economy, similarly creative bankruptcy has hit Hollywood and is making a mockery of present day Hollywood movies. Who can forget the great movies of yest er years from Hollywood like...... The sound of music, My fair lady, Benhur, Cleopatra, Mckenna's gold, Hello Dolly etc.

One of the reasons for the standard going down is the way the Oscar committee function with a myopic view. However bad the Hollywood movies have been in a year still they search desperately to find some mediocre Hollywood movies to be given the Oscar awards there by making the Hollywood producers complacent and smug in their audacity that only Hollywood movies deserve awards. The Oscar juries should wake up and dump the Hollywood movies to the trash can this year and start looking beyond Hollywood.

Last time Lagaan missed out the Oscars because Cricket as a game was not understood by many juries. This time Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par" has been selected as Indian nominee for the Oscars. This movie in all earnest should get the Oscar award for the best movie. I have watched all the recent past Hollywood movies and none of them come anywhere near to TZP. The juries might have got away last time by ignoring Lagaan with the pretext of ignorance about the game of cricket. This time they can not show their ignorance about dyslexia.

Dyslexia means difficulty in learning and if TZP is deprived of the Oscar this time then it is high time we question the learning abilities and the integrity of the Oscar juries.

mentor mohan

Honest Human Interactions

Hi,

Musing#25

When dealing in the purchase of items/articles all are very particular that the article they are buying is genuine and repeatedly they reconfirm from the seller about the genuineness of the item. Nothing wrong in that as anyone would like to ensure that they get a good deal and also get value for their money. But why the same yard stick is not applied when it comes to dealings with their own fellow human beings. Most of the time they are not genuine in dealing with their own kith and kin, colleagues,peers and even friends. They think by this behaviour they are outsmarting others or they are being very tactical not to get into any obligation or a good way to shirk their responsibility. They may be patting themselves for being clever this way. But like how any fake item does not last long, same way the relations with such people also don't last long. But they cause immense disharmony in their families, create mistrust in their team and are the root cause for the team to become dysfunctional in their organisation. The flip side is there are some people who willingly become a party and get along with such pseudo characters for their own personal benefit. Like how in dealing of fake goods there are buyers for it similarly there are people to patronise these pseudo characters as it benefits them at others cost. But in the long run these dealings catch up with them and they ultimately end up as emotional cripples.

This is the story of a car mechanic who buys fake parts and fits it to the cars given to him for repairs and charges the owners the cost of genuine parts. But ultimately he falls victim to his own misdeeds as one day he takes one of these cars for a test ride and the defective brake part gives away and he crashes and becomes a life long cripple.

We look for the ISI mark in an item to ascertain the genuineness of the item while buying. Same way let us look for the HHI(Honest Human Interactions) while dealing with people.

While buying lifeless articles we are so particular about genuineness, then why same genuineness element can not get into human interactions....................?

mentor mohan

The business school charlatans

Hi,

Musing #24

Like the regular feature of bomb blasts the financial markets have bombed once again. I read in the news paper about some people having committed suicide because they lost all their money due to this crash. Now my question is what is the difference between those ignorant terrorists who cause loss of life due to their physical destructive activities and these supposed to be financial experts who are no better than these terrorists by squandering away the hard earned money of gullible investors with their reckless financial wisdom and causing economic destruction. Mind you, all these supposed to be financial wizards pass out from premier business schools and are recruited by many of these financial institutions offering obscene salaries to them. During my six month stint in IIM-A as part of my company sponsored Management education programme, as part of interaction programme between the industry and practicing managers, I had occasions to interact with many of these students and I could find most of them only bothered about how they can land up with plum jobs and their learning from the course was only theoretical and they were very hollow. One of my bosses also happened to be a product of this institution and I found him to be totally hollow and lacking even basic human relationship skills. Basically all of them were lacking in that common commodity called common sense which was uncommon in these elite group. You look at all those business leaders like Kirloskars, Ambanis, Mittals, Bill gates, Narayan murthys,Birlas and Tatas, they never had an appendage of a business school degree after their name but they were the most successful business leaders and have created enormous wealth. Why leave out the often ridiculed our lalluji. he turned around the railways in a big way and he drove some gyan into the skull of these wizards at the famed business schools. But these charlatans who pass out from these fancy business schools have only been wealth destroyers than wealth creators. But still industry across the board want to pamper them as if they are the messiahs of prosperity. My advice to all of you who want invest their hard earned money is that do not put your money in the following,

1) Share markets

2) any mutual fund schemes

3) any private company's fixed deposits

My investment guide to you is, spread your investment across the following,

1) 40% of your savings in bank fixed deposits(nationalised) with short term investment where you are assured of 10% return and payment of monthly interest.

2) 30% of your savings in gold ( of course to be kept in locker)

3)30% of your savings in post office monthly investment plan.

As per the time old sayings" do not put all your eggs in one basket". Do not succumb to greed and invest in these mutual funds and other investment plans which are linked to the crazy sensex. Recklessness in sex and succumbing to those luring and enticing sex workers, can give you AIDS and similarly greediness about sensex and succumbing to those luring and enticing sensex specialists( they call them as financial experts in management parlance) can also give you a different kind of AIDS(Am in dire straits).

With sensex history keeps repeating itself, whether it is the great U.S.A. or the now supposed to be emerging economy like India. In the U.S.A. if it was the junk bonds then and the ridiculous scheme of sub prime mortgage now, in India it was market manipulators like Harshad mehta then and recently Ketan parikh. During my recent visit to the U.S., I happened to witness the tamasha at the wall street when the market was closing for the day. Skimpily clad girls who were supposed to be erstwhile Miss. America were shaking their booty because the market got bigger that day and this was being telecast live by Fox news.

I may be a conservative who believes in the dictum " A rupee saved( wisely) is a rupee earned".

But I'm happy with this policy of mine because of which I am not affected by these ups and downs of the sensex. The U.S. government is squandering tax payer's money to ride overe this economic crisis brought about by these charlatans who acted intemperately for a number of years in squandering the public money which was given to them in all faith and for which they were being paid obscene salaries.This is going to become only more and more disastrous due to the vicious cycle created by all these nincompoops.

mentor mohan

Hinduism a way of life

Hi,

Musing#23

The recent incidents of attack on the christians at Orissa and Mangalore by Some Hindu fundamentalist is highly deplorable and shameful. Who are these self proclaimed protectors of Hindu religion, who by these dreadful acts have exhibited only their shallow knowledge about the religion they are supposed to be following and protecting. Like in my previous blog through this blog I'm writing an open letter to drill some sense and understanding into all those misguided souls who claim to be Hindus and indulge in senseless violence and show scant respect for followers of other faith.

An Open letter to the ignorant and misguided Hindu bretherns

Hello brother,

Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan our past president and a great philosopher had said "Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life". Yes, this is the absolute truth. A true Hindu is one who believes in the dictum "Vasudeve Kutumbakam". That is the whole world is one family. Hence all human beings irrespective of race, religion or nation are related to each other. Then how can we be intolerant of our own brothers just because their beliefs are different or they want to change their belief and follow different faith.

The great Sankaracharya propounded the truth that there is only One reality, which is Sat Chit Ananda. This is an indivisible, all pervasive conscious Supreme Power that is seen in multifarious forms(Ekam eva advitiyam).In Upasana(worship) of the forms of the Divine there are bound to be variations. This is the reason why in Hinduism God is in different forms and worshipped in different names. Even your perception of Krishna will be different from mine because our conditioning(vasanas) is different. But in Jnana, the ultimate Reality is identical for all of us..... (Tattvaloka 07/08).

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told one of his follower that it doesn't matter in which form we worship God but with what sincerity we worship. He showed him a pair of sandals and told him that even he can worship the sandal but with all sincerity and that would be equivalent to worshipping Him.( Recollect Ramayana where Bharath worships the sandal of Sri Ram and carries it on his head). Sanatana Dharma the tenet on which Hinduism is understood stands for full faith in God and not on rituals.

The practice of all religions is in the pursuit of Truth. Each individual has the right to pursue the Truth the way he wants and that is what is Free will is all about. Some one does not believe in allopathy so he switches over to homeopathy. Does he require anyone's sanction for this? We believe in so many Avatar Purush. Why not accept Jesus Christ also as one among them.

All these years there was no issue of people following whichever faith they wanted to follow in our country. Mixing religion with politics is a deadly and explosive combination and I appeal to all my bretherns not to fall prey into the hands of selfish politicians who always exploit religion for their personal benefit. Awake and don't become puppets in the hands of vile politicians.

Ultimately all rivers have to merge with the ocean in the end even if they had follwed different courses on their way. Like how a river in spate can cause destruction and misery, similarly a religion in spate also will cause only destruction and misery.

mentor mohan

p.s. Pl. also go through my blog #19 to get still a better understanding

An Open Letter to the misguided souls

Hi,

Musing#22

An Open letter to the misguided souls

One more serial blast.... Someone lost a grown up son, someone lost a husband.... may be the only bread winner for the family, some young child lost his father and the sad thing is the gravity of the loss also he can not understand. It is heart wrenching-distressing and disgusting. What for? Who gains with the loss of these innocent lives and in split second the lives of the near and dear ones of these departed souls are shattered. My anguish and agony I am venting out with this open letter to the perpetrators of these dastardly acts. They may or may not read this letter. But my appeal to all those who go through this is to forward this open letter to as many people as possible so that it has a cascading effect and may be read by one of these troubled souls or at least prevent more vulnerable souls to join this deadly bandwagon.

Hello Misguided souls,

Yet again you have usurped the role of God and caused death and destruction. Devout Muslims believe that everything should happen as per God's wish(Insha Allah) which is right. To give life or to take life is on His mercy, then what right you have to take the lives of innocent people that too in the name of God. This is the Holy month for the devout Muslims and only good deeds are expected to be carried out so that the Lord is pleased and the soul goes to Heaven. All devout Muslims are observing this Holy Month in a pious way by prayers and good deeds and getting the blessings of Allah The Merciful. But with these unholy acts, misguided people like you are gathering only more and more of His Wrath. If you are under the impression that by these acts, you are indulging in noble acts, and you are going to be accepted in Heaven with open arms ,you are totally misguided and mistaken.

It is aptly said that terrorists don't have any religion. In the name of religion these dastardly acts carried out by you is only creating more and more problems to your own honest brethren and many youngsters are totally confused about their religious beliefs. Instead of strengthening their faith you are only making them to get more and more alienated.

In the name of Allah The Merciful ,I and all the peace loving people appeal to you not to get misguided and indulge in these deadly acts which is only causing misery to innocent families.

I stay near a mosque and I keep listening to the soulful call for the prayers(Azaan) five times a day which is making me also pray from my house for the good of one and all. In my prayers I will now pray to Allah The Merciful that He guides you properly so that you do not indulge in these Ungodly acts.

ALLAH...... O............AKBAR.

mentor mohan

Life worth living--- Ikigai

Hi,

Musing#21

We all know how having an high I.Q.(Intelligence quotient) benefits people in their profession and enhances their earning potential substantially. But did you know that high I.Q. also enhances people's life span substantially. This I.Q. is different. This is called Ikigai quotient.

Ikigai in Japanese means "joy and a sense of well-being from being alive".

A study was done at Tohoku university graduate school of medicine-Sendai in Japan, where in 43391 men and women(age 40-79 years) were asked "Do they have ikigai in their life?". Their responses were recorded and regular follow up was done over a period of seven years. The findings were that people with no sense of ikigai were 50% more likely to die earlier due to cardio vascular diseases, stroke and other external causes like suicides. On the contrary people who responded that they are having Ikigai in their life were more healthy and were likely to increase their life span by 9 years.

"We make a Living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." This saying of Sir Winston Churchill carries lot of meaning. Many in today's world feel that their life is empty and meaningless because they are unhappy with what they are getting, whether in terms of money, love, recognition etc. But if they can only introspect what they can give to others, not only in terms of money but also in terms of their affection, love, help, acknowledgement etc. and start giving, then their whole life will undergo a transformation. They will realise now that their life is full and meaningful.

Look at those trees, they are having Ikigai in abundance because they keep giving in many ways like shade, flowers, fruits, oxygen, wood and that's the reason the trees live longer.

Happiness and Joy, in giving creates a virtuous cycle. We can be happy only if our neighbours are happy. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start giving whatever you can and enhance your I.Q.(Ikigai quotient) and live healthy and long.

mentor mohan.

Mother of all religions..........(Humanity).... contd

Hi,

Musing#20

Many devout religious persons claim they are 'very God fearing persons'. When God is Himself Embodiment of all pervading love, then why anybody should be fearing God? On the contrary, only 'God loving persons' should be referred to as very devout 'bhakt' of God. God loving people love all the creations of God-flora, fauna and also all the fellow human beings. They take utmost care to protect and nurture all God's creations. In fact in every creation of His they see Him in His full glory. All those atheist who keep shouting from the roof tops that there is no God are actually blind to their surroundings and are not able to perceive Him through all His creations. They see only the beast in the beauty around, rather than seeing the beauty in the beasts also. Let them first ensure that they have seen and experienced all His creations spread across the nook and corner of our world and then come and give their opinion about God.

May be because of this only in one religion He is worshipped in different forms as manifestation of His own creations or may be because of this only in another religion He is worshipped as devoid of any form as He can not be depicted completely in all His splendour.

Hence every religion mean the same in the final analysis.

There may be one hundred billion creations in this universe but the Creator is Only One.

Some worship Him as Ram and some others worship Him as Rahim,

Some worship Him as Krishna and some others worship Him as Christ.

Some see Him in the Sun and some others see Him in the Moon,

Some see Him in the Cross and some others see Him in the Trident.

Some get to be pious by reading the Gita and some others by reading the Granth,

Some get to be pious by reading the Holy Bible and some others by reading the Holy Koran.

some end the Prayer by saying Amen and some others with Aameen and still some others start their prayers by reciting Om.(Phonetically all are similar).

If every one realises this truth, then they are deemed to be liberated. As it is said in the Holy Bible "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"(John8:32). To know the truth what is essential is The Brahman IE. knowledge. Brahman(knowledge) is what the Upanishads have been preaching from the time immemorial. The pursuit of knowledge opens the doors to many truths and that is when the revelations come one after the other. Hence,

God is Truth

To sum it up,

God is Love and Love is God

God is Truth and Truth is God.

mentor mohan

Mother of all religions

Hi,

Musing#19

Like me, many humanitarians worth his/her salt must be really disheartened and saddened by the senseless killings which are taking place in the name of religion.

We have progressed scientifically to reach the fathoms of the sea like the great whales(with submarines ) and soar in the sky Putting the high flying eagles also to shame(with rockets ),but we have regressed spiritually to such an extent that even we are not living as good human beings on this Terra fir ma. All because of religious intolerance.

God created this world. But he did not create these religions. You take any religion and any sane person will agree that religions are creation of mankind over a period of time. God created so many lovely living species, beautiful flowers with enchanting fragrances, seasons, planets, etc. etc.

We will notice that all the creations of God are full of life or they are life sustaining. Whereas man made religions have only snuffed out more lives and they are life threatening.

Religions are similar to the brands created by the marketing honchos. Like every detergent brand claims that by using that brand the clothes will be washed of all dirt and the clothes will reach their ultimate Nirvana by becoming dazzling white. Similarly all the religious bigots claim that by following their religion only every one will be washed of their sins and they will get their ultimate salvation.

In the marketing war fare they go to the extent of belittling the other brands by showing how the clothes washed with other brands become dull or get damaged and still remain dirty whereas clothes rinsed with their brands shine bright, last longer and devoid of all dirt. This we can take even with handful of salt as part of aggressive marketing as this does not cause any great damage to our fellow beings. But adopting the same aggressive method to propagate religion and trying to show one religion as superior to others is causing immense damage and destruction all over. The only thing common in the aggressive marketing of brands and religion is that there is lot of money to be made in both the cases.

We find people following all religions go through the same cycle of birth, misery, happiness, sickness and death then how any one religion can be superior to others.Like all detergents are made up of the same ingredients, similarly all religions also have the same tenets.It is only the religious fanatics who are misleading the faithfuls to fore go the good in their religion and indulge in acts which are contrary to the preaching and practices of their religion.

Let us all get converted back to our original religion called HUMANITY which is the religion of the God who is the manifestation of LOVE.

Let there be only one GOD ....................Love

and only one RELIGION .................................HUMANITY.

To be contd.................

mentor mohan

Long life............. with lots of wives?

Hi,
Musing#18
"Polygamy can aid longevity"
The above catch line is the heading of a news item(TOI,21/8) I came across the other day. As per the details given there, Virpi Lummaa an ecologist and his associate at the university of Sheffield, U.K., has done research on the longevity of polygamous men spread across 140 countries and their finding is that polygamous men on an average lived 12% longer than monogamous ones.But in the case of women their longevity is directly proportional to the number of the grand children they have. The more longer they live, more are the chances of having grand children which further increases their life span. It appears that doting on and pampering the grand children aids their longevity. This they have labelled as the "grand mother effect". But the research did not reveal such "grand father effect" in the case of men, but fathering more kids with more wives leads to increased male longevity as per their research.
My immediate reaction to this was that this is yet another cranky research by a crazy scientist and I was about to trash it when another news item caught my eyes(TOI, dt.23/8) regarding one Mr.Abubakar from Nigeria who is 84 years old and has 86 wives and 170 children(no mention about grand children, may be he lost the count). In this case he has been admonished by the religious authority that as per their law he can have only 4 wives and hence he has to choose only 4 and relinquish the balance and also give his repentance, and if he fails to comply he will face the death penalty.
Two paradoxical things emerged out of this, one may be more wives ensured he became an octogenarian and still going strong and the other is that this may prove to be his nemesis also as if he doesn't comply to this diktat it may cut short his life also.
On a serious note if we really analyse what sustains any life, not just human alone,then only one common factor becomes crystal clear that it is all pervading LOVE.
It is not that with more wives one gets more LOVE. Many a men who had more wives have come to grief, take the case of King Dasarath who got only more misery and his life was cut short .It is not in the quantity but in the quality. Lots of monogamous men also have lived long when they were besotted with loving wives and children.
It has also been proved that people who were advised to keep a pet after recovering from serious illness recovered faster and lived a longer life. The pets Love and affection rejuvenates them. Lonely people who do gardening with lots of love,they also live longer as they can experience the response of the plants to their loving and nurturing care by their beautiful flowering and the fragrance they spread.
In fact we know that our mother earth is revolving around an axis, and that axis is nothing but the axis of LOVE. If the whole world becomes devoid of any LOVE, who knows even the Mother Earth will stop revolving and the whole world will come to a standstill.
That's why it is said,
God is Love and Love is God
mentor mohan

Health is Wealth

Hi ,
Musing#17
All of us are familiar with the good -old adage "Health is Wealth". But does everyone take it seriously and follow a life style which guarantees good health. Unfortunately this is not the case. The prevalence of life style diseases like hypertension(B.P.), diabetes, coronary heart diseases,asthma,cancer etc. are on the rise at an alarming rate affecting the present generation.This, in spite of them ,having a better health care cover compared to the older generation. The older generation followed the dictum of "Prevention is better than the cure" and accordingly led a life style which protected them against these life style diseases. That is the reason many of our parents and grand parents lived past the age of eighty healthily.
By adhering to the following four Good Living Practices(GLP's) as advocated by many health care specialists one can, to a great extent ensure a healthy and long life.
1.Good Nutrition
"We are what we eat". This is a standard cliche, but it is very valid.
By eating right we can ensure good nutrition. Right eating first and foremost means"eat to live"and not "live to eat". As per the level of physical activity we carry out, to eat accordingly and also not to eat to one's heart's content ,if we have to ensure the health of our dear heart.
Avoid........ Red meat, hydrogenated oil(vanaspati),junk food
Restrict.........Meat, eggs, ghee, butter, sweets,desserts,fried food,chillies,salt
Add............. Plenty of vegetables(more fibrous the better),fruits,nuts(Walnut,almonds),yogurt(curds)
2. Good Hygiene
However nutritious our food may be but if our personal hygieneand surrounding hygiene is not good, then also we can not ensure good health.
The following practices are as part of good personal hygiene:
a)Emptying the bowels in the morning everyday is good personal hygiene as otherwise it leads to chronic constipation which is proved to be the triggering factor for many ailments.
b)Having a bath in the morning not only cleanses up and freshens us up, it also induces appetite and improves circulation.
c)"Cleanliness is next to Godliness", hence keep the surrounding clean not only at home or where we live in but in all the places where we spend time like school,offices,etc.
3.Good Habits
In Habit if you remove "H" ........ abit stays,
if you remove "A"also......bit stays,
if you remove "B" also......... it stays.
So, whether good or bad, habits once you cultivate "it" stays.
Hence it is better to cultivate only good habits which will keep us healthy till the end.
Avoid............. smoking in any form, gutka, snuff, binge drinking, pill popping
Restrict.......... alcohol,analgesics(pain killers)
Add........... 30mts. of walking/jogging, 15mts.of yoga, 6hrs. of sound sleep everyday.
If one is committed one can kick any bad habit, like 'yours truly' kicked the but after 36 years of smoking.
4.Good Psyche(Mind/Thoughts)
"A healthy mind is a healthy body". Very true, we may have the most nutritious food, very good hygiene, very good habits but if the mind is restless, agitated,corrupted, depressed or overall unhappy we can not be healthy.
Good mind is entirely due to the thought process of ours. If we have good,positive thoughts the mind is in a state of calmness and it helps all the cells in the body to remain healthy and function properly. On the contrary all the bad and negative thoughts kills large number of the cells in the body and makes the live cells also to malfunction.
Our thoughts are nothing but the constant conversations we keep on having with our own psyche(mind). As good and healthy conversations between people brings about only congeniality and happiness to one and all, similarly good and positive conversations with our own mind will bring about tranquility and happiness to our body thereby all the cells will function healthily and healthy regeneration of cells also will take place regularly.
Avoid............. anger, jealousy,hatred,being spiteful,arrogance,greediness
Have............... empathy,compassion,love,contentment,generosity.
Pass on this four cardinal principles of "Good Living Practices" to all your near and dear ones to see them in good health always.
mentor mohan

Persevarance pays

Hi,
Musing#16
The power of perseverance is such that it can move mountains too. The indomitable spirit paves the way to achieve the impossible also many a times in any walk of life.
Here is a story on a lighter vein to emphasise this.
"My good-old friend Subbu considers himself very intelligent and shrewd. Once he went to a temple wearing a new pair of sandals.As that temple was not only famous for the deity but also for the sandal/shoe thieves (who are always on the look out for brand new sandals), he shrewdly left one sandal in the left corner of the temple and another one in the extreme right corner of the temple. His logic was that as a single sandal will not tempt the thief to steal ,as he can not sell it to any one and as the thieves are usually of lazy nature they will not go in search of the other sandal. He happily went inside the temple patting himself for his shrewdness.
As Subbu was busy praying inside, a thief was surveying outside the temple for a good pair of sandals. His eyes fell upon the brand new sandal of Subbu. He picked up the sandal of left leg and started searching for the right one which was not to be seen. He started wondering about this, even getting a doubt whether the owner of this sandal is a one-legged fellow.He did not want to give it up as the new sandal was very tempting. He wrapped the sandal with an old news paper and put it inside his bag and hid behind a tree waiting to see the owner of this sandal.
After some time Subbu came out of the temple and went to the left corner and to his shock found his new sandal vanished into thin air. He searched desperately in and arond the corner for no avail. This was now being watched by the thief also and he was eagerly waiting for the next move of Subbu. Subbu rushed to the right corner and to his partial relief found his one sandal in its pristine newness lying there waiting for him. He also started wondering whether the thief was a one-legged fellow as otherwise what use a single sandal will be of use to the thief.
Now, the thief was certain that the owner of the sandal will throw away the single sandal as he can not wear a sandal on a single leg and walk around, however new the sandal is.
To his surprise and astonishment the thief saw Subbu also wrapping the single sandal with an old news paper, keeping it under his arm and walking briskly towards the market. The thief followed Subbu and saw him approaching a cobbler. He went very near Subbu and heard Subbu telling the cobbler that he has lost his one pair of sandal of the left leg and asks whether a replica of the same can be made with the help of the right one which he showed to the cobbler. The cobbler studied the single sandal and told that he can make it, but it will cost him Rs 100/- and he will need two days to mke it. Subbu again patted himself for his shrewdness as instead of losing a new sandal worth Rs.600/-, he could with just an addititonl cost of only hundred rupees could wear again the new sandal. He happily leaves the right sandal along with hundred rupees to the cobbler telling him he will come after two days.
The thief listened to the entire transaction between Subbu and the cobbler. The thief cuts across the road to the tea shop and orders a tea and keeps sipping the tea and trying to work out a plan to get the other sandal from the cobbler. An idea suddenly strikes him and he runs across to the cobbler shop and shows to the cobbler the other pair of sandal removing it from his bag and tells the cobbler that he is the servant of the gentleman who has given the cobbler the single sandal and hundred rupees to make a replica sandal for the other leg and as his boss could locate his mis-placed sandal he has sent him to collect back the sandal and also the hundred rupees which was given towards the order.
Seeing the other sandal and the convincing way of the thief the cobbler believes him and gives back the sandal and also the hundre rupees. The thief thanks him and goes away with a new pair of sandals and added to that a reward of hundred rupees for his perseverance".
So, perseverance definitely PAYS.
If you are all keen to know what happenned to my friend Subbu and the cobbler after two days, that is another day and another story.
mentor mohan.

Everything happens for the good

Hi,

Musing#15

Many a times things don't go according to our plan or we have to face sometimes untoward incidents also. At this juncture invariably everybody keeps rueing over their bad luck or misfortune and while away their brooding.

How about taking everything as it comes and consider that whatever happens, happens for the good only.

This message is brought out very well in the following story.

"Once a king and his well learned minister go for hunting in the forest.

While hunting, accidently the right thumb of king gets severed from his hand and he gets

very depressed as he can not shoot arrows from his bow due to loss of his thumb.

His minister in order to console him tells him that whatever has happenned has

happenned for the good only. This infuriates the king very much and in his anger he asks

his soldiers to take the minister back and put him in the prison. For this also the minister

says that this is also happenning for his good only. King thinks his minister has lost his

mental balance.

The king keeps going further alone into the forest to continue his hunting expedition.

Suddenly he comes across a group of cannibals who capture him and they start preparing

to stew the king in a big vessel. As part of the ritual they start examining the king

minutely to rule out any deformity as they can not consume any deformed men, as per

their custom. Then they notice that the king's right hand is deformed without his thumb.

Hence they set him free.

On the way back the king is thankful of his good fortune and recollects his minister's words

that his losing bhis thumb was for his good. After reaching his palace he goes straight to

the prison and releases the minister telling him the incidence with the cannibal.

Also the king asks the minister why he told that imprisoning the minister was for the

minister's good, for which the minister replies that if he was not imprisoned he would have

accompanied the king further into the forest and would have been caught by the

cannibals and would have become their meal as he was not having any deformity.

From that time onwards the king also accepted this philosophy of "Everything that happen

happens fo the good only" .

Hope you all got the message.

mentor mohan

Close encounters of the last kind

Hi,
Musing#14
Recently Kerrang radio of U.K. did an interview with Dr.Edgar Mitchell and it has created quite a furore. In the interview he was asked whether our Mother Earth is being visited by Aliens and his response was an affirmative to this question.
For those of you who are not familiar with Dr. Edgar Mitchell here is his profile.
He Was part of Apollo 14 mission and he commandeered the lunar module and he was the sixth man to set his foot on the moon. He is now 77 years old.
In this radio interview to a question asked "whether he vouches for presence of aliens residing in other galaxies and do they visit our planet earth," his answer was in the affirmative.
We can't dismiss this as some blabbering of a senile man as he is also a doctorate from MIT.
He also holds the record for the longest walk on the lunar surface. (6 hrs plus).
He was also asked whether these aliens are hostile, for which his reply was in the negative and his explanation was that if they are hostile ,by this time they would have conquered our planet and would have been ruling us.
My take on this entire thing is as follows,
1. Yes. We were being visited by aliens regularly and these close encounters were going on for sometime.
2.They were not prepared to move into planet Earth because they found it,not a worthwhile place to move in.(Which residence of Almount Road will move into Dharavi slums in Mumbai or from Shantinagar to Tilaknagar in Delhi)
3.They are baffled by the senseless killing of fellow beings in the name of religion which is beyond their comprehension as they know no religi0n but know only God.
4.They are alarmed at the rate of decaying of this planet,that they have just lost their interest on our planet.
5. They are fed up with all those fake reality shows and the sickening saas-bahu /Desperate Housewife serials as entertaintment in the TV.
6.They are put-off by all the Jittery talks about Collapsing "top lines" and "bottom lines" by the executives whose middle lines ( waist lines) are Ever expanding.
7. They are not able to make any sense of the plummetting and the piking of the "Sensex" and also the controversy BEHIND marriage between the same sexes.
There could be many more reasons for them to shun us and treat us as very backward.
May be we can appeal to God on this ground of backwardness and request for some reservation in heaven for all the earthlings so that at least in heaven all of us will be equal and happy.
God will pose a question to us, as the seats are limited in Heaven by accommodating all of us in heaven , He will be compelled to put all the Aliens in the hell and they will be not pleased with that.
We earthlings will convince Him that, this need not worry Him as after sometime we will ensure that Aliens will have nothing to complain about as there won't be any difference between Heaven and hell due to the socialistic practices of ours that will bring Heaven on par with hell.
Let me close this with a thought provoking quote,
" Every body wants to go to Heaven, but no body wants to die for it."
mentor mohan.

The American way

Hi,
Musing#13
Am Back from my sabbatical, after spending two months in the U.S. Before going on this sabbatical had committed to myself (after goading from many of my well wishers) to give up smoking and lose some weight.
I'm happy I could fulfill both these commitments. I've not smoked for the past two months and also I've lost 8kgs in my weight, which has made me very fit and given me a slim and trim look.
I am thankful to my family and my friend who motivated me and inspired me to achieve this.

I am listing below some of the etiquettes to be observed in the U.S. Which will be useful for all the first time visitors.
1.Hold the door for the people following you.
2.Thank if someone has done this to you or as general courtesy.
3.Mention "you are welcome" if you are thanked.
4.When someone wishes you good day respond by saying "you too".
5. When you enter a restaurant wait to be seated even if the restaurant is empty.
6.In a buffet not to take already used plate but every time to take a fresh plate.
7. Minimum 10% of bill to be given as tip in a restaurant
8. While driving give preference to pedestrians by stopping and allowing them to cross road.
9. Do not honk, it is considered offensive gesture.
10.Do not cut a line in a queue.

I'm also giving below the right words/phrases to be used there.

1. You don't get into a lift to go up but into an elevator.
2. You don't walk on the foot path but on the side-walk.
3.You don't greet people asking "How are you" but "How you're doing".
4.You don't ask for the toilet but for the Rest room.
5.You don't put your baggage in the dicky of the car but in the trunk of the car.
6.You don't ask for take away in restaurant but ask for "to go".
7. You don't fill petrol into your car but fill gas.
8.You don't calculate mileage by Km per litre. but by miles per gallon.
9. You won't be given a challan for over speeding but given a ticket.
10. You refer to black people as African American.

I hope all these will be useful for all those first time visitors to the U.S.
mentor mohan

colour blind

Hi,
Musing#12
Came across a shocking news item today that a woman in Kolkotta was murdered by her husband because she was dark in complexion. An immediate but not a rightful thought came to my mind-was he blind at the time of marrying her?
This fairness(complexion) fixation is all pervading in India. This has been well exploited by all the cosmetic manufacturers by coming out with creams which are supposed to transform the dark complexioned ,distressed females into fair complexioned sought after fairies. As part of their market expansion strategy they have included the male species also into this fairness trap by coming out with a separate fairness cream for men. What happened to the ilk of "tall,dark and lean"Mills and Boons heroes supposed to be sought after by the most beautiful females. The ad agencies further propagate this fairness fixation by coming out with commercials in which dark complexioned girls are rejected in marriage proposals and in job market.
The irony is that fair complexioned Caucasian(white) females are sick of their deathly white complexion and they go to a great extent to get their skin tanned by basking in the Sun for hours together, even ending up with sun burns. The cosmetic manufacturers market creams for these females which when applied gives a tanned look to their skin even without getting tanned in the Sun. Different folks- different strokes?
When will we overcome this fairness fixation and get the wisdom that colour of the skin is part of our genetic inheritance and that can not be changed. On the contrary let us cultivate -fairness fixation-in all our dealings with people ,by being fair to one and all. This will make our world a fair place to live in.
mentor mohan

The State of affairs

Hi,
Musing#11
One interesting observation I noticed from the licence plates of automobiles in the U.S.
The license plates were bearing slogan/tag line of their state of registration. Listing a few of them here.
State Tag line (Remarks)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Massachusetts Spirit of America (American independence movement started here )

New York Empire state (Empire state building is here )

Florida Sunshine state ( Throughout the year it is sunny here )

Rhode island Ocean state ( surrounded by ocean )

Michigan World's automobile capital (Ford, GM & Chrysler are here )

Washington Evergreen state (no idea)

Minnesota 10000 lakes ( may be there)

Connecticut Constitution state (constitution was drafted here)

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On the same lines if we have to come out with apt tag lines for our sates in India, how will that Be? As I can recollect only Kerala has a tag line which is "God's own country". This is used more for tourism promotion than signifying anything else. I've racked up my brain enough and have come out with some tag lines for some of our states. Some are serious, some are funny and some are whacky tag lines. I would welcome your comments and improved tag lines also.
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State Tag line (Remarks )
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Jammu & Kashmir Guns & Roses state (Bullets sprayed in beautiful rose gardens )

Punjab The tandoor state (Tandoori roti and tandoori chicken )

Haryana The only Male state ( female infanticide galore )

H.P. The Honeymoon state (Becoz of Shimla )

Delhi The tomb state ( full of tombs )

U.P. The destiny of India ( Coz this state decides who will rule the
Indian govt.at centre )

West Bengal The Only Red state ( Coz only state ruled continuously by
the communists )

Rajasthan The Royal state ( Full of palaces & Royalty)

M.P. The heart of India (coz in the centre )

Gujarat The only Dry state ( Officially ofcourse)

Maharashtra The Misal state (coz combination of so many diverse cultures and difficult to describe like the famous and tasty Misal.)

Karnataka The capitation state (The first state to start capitation fees in professional colleges )

Tamil nadu The temple state (full of temples )

A.P. World's chilli capital ( Maximum chilli consumption)

Orissa The cyclone state (Cyclone prone state)

Goa The Rave state (Maximum rave parties here )

Pondicherry The French connection (Was a french colony earlier)

Bihar The hostage state (coz lot of kidnappings here)
Jharkand The steel state (coz of Tisco being here )
North eastern states They are such small seven states in the remote corner with an
already existing tag line of seven sisters, hence the same can continue.
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Expecting your comments and tag lines
mentor mohan












Expecting your comments and tag lines.
mentor mohan

Carbon tracks

Hi,
Musing#10
The burning issue(pun intended) of today, affecting the economy of all the countries is the soaring price of crude oil which has shot through the stratosphere. This is the vicious cycle effect of demand-supply gap. On one hand the natural gas is getting depleted and on the other hand the demand is increasing in geometrical proportion to increased automobile population and increased mobility of people. This can not be avoided as it is part of economical growth.But what can be avoided is unnecessary burning of this scarce commodity like in motor rallies and motor racing.Has anyone bothered to calculate the amount of fuel burnt in practice for rallies and races and also in actual races and rallies. Enough is being written about carbon foot prints, but nothing is being either talked or written about these "carbon tracks". Will the global leaders give a serious thought to ban these rallies and races in the larger interest of capping the gas prices. This will benefit the automobile manufacturers also even though many of them are the sponsors of these events as the demand for vehicles which is affected due to escalating gas prices will be pegged.
Appeal to youths all over the globe who indulge in drag races for the thrill of it, is to stop it. This will be their contribution to lessen the carbon tracks and this may save more lives and limbs also.
Let us as responsible citizen of this planet earth ,also resolve to save every drop of oil by avoiding purposeless wandering in vehicles which will bring down not only the demand for the oil but also bring down the pollution to a great extent.
This is the least we can do for the future generation.
mentor mohan

The Love-hate paradox about the U.S.A.

Musing#9
Hi! I am back from a tour to New york & Washington.D.C.
I read an intriguing report of a survey published by the "European council on foreign relations." In this survey conducted in the year 2007--- 57000 people from 52 countries were asked about the country they love the most and the country they hate the most. According to this survey people from 28 countries out of the 52, opined U.S.A. as the country they hate the most.Prominent countries among these are South Korea,Hong kong,Malaysia,Italy,Japan,India,U.K.,Canada. It is really paradoxical that some of these countries depend so much on the U.S.A. with regards to their trade, economy and job oppurtunities and still this country figures in their hate list.
Is this because they are jealous or insecure and threatened by the might of this super power?
Or is this the love- hate relationship that is usually discussed at length by the psychologists?
Whatever may be the case the American people must be really intrigued like me about the finding of this survey.
The Indians as per the survey have put India as the country they love the most. Yes. "I love my India ". The other countries which have listed India as the country they love most are, Bolivia, Dominican Republic and the U.K.
Like the Indians the Americans also have put their own country in th love list and do you know which is the country figuring in their hate list, for obvious reasons it is Iran.
The clear winner in the most loved category is the European Union with 24 out of the 52 countries voting for them and again most of them are from the EU, which goes to prove the dictum that there is strength in number always.
mentor mohan.

The caloric imbalance

Musing#8
I just happenned to read a book with the title "Skinny bitch" written by two women Ms. Rory Freedman and Ms.Kim Barnouin. Before anyone gets any wrong ideas, let me clarify that this is not any sleazy book but it is a book recommending the Americans what to eat and what not ,to remain slim, trim and healthy. Obesity is plaguing the American population in a huge way and I could physically witness it wherever I went. These authors are advocating people to give up meat, diary products in any form and also avoid sugar like poison. On the other hand they are recommending lots of fresh vegetables, fruits that too the organically farmed ones. Being a vegetarian myself I can definitely vouch for the benefits of being a vegetarian.
Taking a leaf out of this book I am concerned about the changing food habits of Indian children especially in the metroes and 'A' class cities and the resultant obesity we are witnessing in this demography. They are getting addicted to the same junk foods on which the American population have grown up obese. Added to this they are burning less calories by becoming more and more of the couche potatoe types. As part of responsible parenting the Indian parents should take it upon themselves to correct this Caloric imbalance in their children by ensuring the right type of calories are fed to them and right type of caloric burning habits are cultivated in them so that they grow up as tomorrow's healthy Indian citizens.
The Americans are also concerned about the growing obesity in their children as per a recent article in the TIME magazine.

Dasavatharam Darshan in Boston

Musing#7
Hi Folks,
This is my experience of viewing the much awaited movie Dasavatharam of Kamalhasan on first day first show , that too at Boston. It costed $15 dollars to sit in a small rundown theatre at Belmont and the show was housefull. As soon as the titles started the crowd(representing nook and corner of TN) which was sober till then went bersek with hooting, whistling and shouting creating the atmosphere of watching the movie in TN heartland. This vouches for the often repeated cliche that you can take an Indian out of India but you just can not take the indianess out of him, wherever he is..... Now something about the movie,
Mr. Kamalhasan has been conferred the title of Universal hero in the movie titles, you have to give it to the people of Kollywood to come out with whacky titles for their heroes. Mr.Hasan dons ten roles which has never been done by any hero sofar in any "wood". He dons the roles of hero, comedian, villain, character artiste, plays cameo roles but mercifully spares the role of heroine which is played by the lissome Asin. Among all the roles played by Mr. Hasan the role 0f Balram naidu stands out. Nothing to gloat about story, which is like watching Indian version of a Bond movie with a cocktail of mythology, spirituality, microbiology, conspiracy, tsunami fully stirred not shaken like the martini of Mr. Bond.
Worth watching once...... but does not match the hype.
mentor mohan