tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79388582024-03-08T08:23:15.894+05:30HE-MAN BAT-MAN SUPER-MAN VIKRAMANI am not a poet to write about blooming buds or beautiful sun rise. I appear when the buds don't bloom and the sun doesn't rise.vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-70173876537744605962010-09-03T07:14:00.005+05:302010-09-03T07:49:31.804+05:30Foundation course<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW473l7HZestdNGTMLc6LUB9XbCnHUFtqYTsz-id7BvbBBNyZbqZws45Fp8Yv5j65mClc91vDPhceb0BYEC1YfXn7P1XbtDcvT06bdoZrgcyI7sjzus64cqFEdka4apeidpQ-/s1600/P8310472.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwW473l7HZestdNGTMLc6LUB9XbCnHUFtqYTsz-id7BvbBBNyZbqZws45Fp8Yv5j65mClc91vDPhceb0BYEC1YfXn7P1XbtDcvT06bdoZrgcyI7sjzus64cqFEdka4apeidpQ-/s320/P8310472.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512506074321375330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />The foundation course for the 85th batch of IAS/IPS/IFS/IFos started at Lal bahadur shastri academy of administration, Mussorie on 31st August 2010. Her excellency Margaret Alva, governor of uttrakhand had come to inaugurate the course. I am fortunate to undergo the course along with some of the most intelligent and compassionate youngmen and women of our country.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I must say that each of my batchmates here have something unique about them and are a source of inspiration. I would like to write about a gentleman with whom I had gone for a sightseeing trip around mussorie. He hails from a small village and had started his career as a sub-inspector. However, he always had a burning desire to crack civil services. Despite his hectic schedule of 12 hours of taxing duty, he would come home and prepare for the exam. He cracked the exam in his very first attempt hitting the bulls eye and is now an IAS officer. He will remain a source of inspiration to me and for many people for a long time to come.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqaaw5qlIBOXwXEg6nyRCcbCfXNxgS_8lMDWGLDKsOLsSRqxCgBOp93uBTEqPd-baOJPvd_ioBFc0h_LhCzTb_tfyO56knA3NaPQSfDhFyPtEY8nXuGmacs6-4lPY1X76VcvD/s1600/P8310482.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSqaaw5qlIBOXwXEg6nyRCcbCfXNxgS_8lMDWGLDKsOLsSRqxCgBOp93uBTEqPd-baOJPvd_ioBFc0h_LhCzTb_tfyO56knA3NaPQSfDhFyPtEY8nXuGmacs6-4lPY1X76VcvD/s320/P8310482.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512505527943488482" border="0" /></a>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-14600699540349407952010-08-12T23:26:00.004+05:302010-08-12T23:46:44.067+05:30A new journey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6rF9bNFZ_G4LlpblkX-72M1gN5tcG6EyPrI-sq3yROtKis0IvYuk7ZCN6h9bcD6zSQKUtjR4BrOkxHsKgFGX769l-OZuL9PDNf5oVK0f5ly4aX2vxF5WJghHno6uVCYqJIkr/s1600/200px-Police_cap%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504584643333091938" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 258px; height: 249px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6rF9bNFZ_G4LlpblkX-72M1gN5tcG6EyPrI-sq3yROtKis0IvYuk7ZCN6h9bcD6zSQKUtjR4BrOkxHsKgFGX769l-OZuL9PDNf5oVK0f5ly4aX2vxF5WJghHno6uVCYqJIkr/s320/200px-Police_cap%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><p align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60-nEP3oLZkvzDKZj0SiJTbMxZbCx2nym3WK_Tct2KFYiygR32VxIsXckv7J-22WMZ17yPdsTcFcZV5m_DvRN23g6cRCJGIeocTr7D4qKAAKFCy3VXDrNwHYz1m8w63PMjCVV/s1600/Indiaflag_18283.jpg"></a></p><br /><br /><div align="left"><br /></div><br /><br /><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">Finally, after having cleared the civil services exam 2009 with all India rank 84, I have got my service allocation today. I have got into the Indian Police Service, which was my first choice. I decided to enter the civil services in 2005 after an incident involving my mother. A gang of robbers had broken into my house and looted everything after assaulting my mother. Although they were caught by the police and were punished in the court, I felt the police could have been much more efficient. I wanted to do more than just being cynical about our system and resigned my lucrative job to prepare for the civil services. I followed the Mahatma's saying <strong>"Be the change you want to see in this world".</strong></div><div align="left"><strong></strong> </div><div align="left">In retrospect, I feel happy that my hardwork has paid off. However, this is just the beginning. There is no end to what an IPS officer, or for that matter any civil servant, can do to bring in a positive change to this society. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">I hope this journey would be a fulfilling experience for me and for the people I serve. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">V. Vikraman I.P.S.,</div></div>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-10233078279247439702010-04-26T22:25:00.006+05:302010-04-26T23:18:00.241+05:30Personal effectiveness scaleWe had a training session on "accepting ownership" at my <a href="http://cdac.in/">office</a>. we were asked to fill a sheet as a part of that training, I felt I should post it for everyone's benefit.<div><br /></div><div>The instrument is for your own benefit, so be frank in your responses. </div><div>Read each statement below and indicate how much it is true of your behaviour, by using the following guidelines.</div><div><br /></div><div>Write 4: If it is most characteristic of you, or if you always or most often behave or feel this way.</div><div>Write 3: If it is fairly true of you, or you quite often behave or feel this way.</div><div>Write 2: If it is somewhat true in your case.</div><div>Write 1: If it is not true of you, or if you only occasionally feel or behave this way.</div><div>Write 0: If it is not at all characteristic of you, or you seldom feel or behave this way.</div><div><br /></div><div>1. I find it difficult to be frank with people unless I know them very well.</div><div>2. I listen carefully to others' opinions about my behaviour. </div><div>3. I tend to say things that turn out to be out to place.</div><div>4. Generally, I hesitate to express my feelings to others.</div><div>5. When someone directly tells me how he feels about my behaviour, I tend to close up and stop listening.</div><div>6. On hindsight, I regret why i said something tactlessly.</div><div>7. I express my opinions in a group or to a person without hesitation.</div><div>8. I take steps to find out how my behaviour has been perceived by the person with whom I have been interacting.</div><div>9. I deliberately observe how a person will take what I am going to tell him, and accordingly communicate to him.</div><div>10. When someone discusses his problems, I do not spontaneously share my experiences and personal problems, of a similar nature with him. </div><div>11. If someone criticizes me, I hear him at that time but- do not bother myself about it later.</div><div>12. I fail to pick up cues about others' feelings and reactions when i am involved in an argument or conversation.</div><div>13. I enjoy talking with others about my personal concerns and matters.</div><div>14. I value what people have to say about my style, behaviour etc</div><div>15. I am often surprised to discover (or told) that people were put off, bored or annoyed when I thought they were enjoying interacting with me. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> Score sheet</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>For the questions that have Star(*) symbol in the <b>response table</b> below, use the table to reverse your response. For example, if you had originally indicated '4' as your response, look at the table and put '0' beside it. For other questions (non starred) simply write the number you had originally indicated as response to that question. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>TABLE</b></div><div><b><table class="MsoTableGrid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;border:none;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Original responses<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Reversed responses<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">0<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">4<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">1<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">3<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">2<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">2<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">3<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">1<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">4<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="319" valign="top" style="width:239.4pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">0<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr></tbody></table></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><br /></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre">N</span>ow, lets go to the <b>response table</b>. Write your response and calculate the totals for each response column.</div><div><b><table class="MsoTableGrid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;border:none;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Item<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Response<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Item<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Response<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Item <o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Response<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*1<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">2<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*3<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*4<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*5<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*6<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">7<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">8<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">9<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*10<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*11<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*12<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">13<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">14<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">*15<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:6"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Total<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:7;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Self disclosure<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Openness to feedback<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </td> <td width="106" valign="top" style="width:79.8pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Perceptiveness<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr></tbody></table></b></div><div><br /></div><div>B. Write Low(L) or High(H) for each of these three total scores; If the score is 11 or below, write L; if the score is over 11 write H.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mark one category out of the eight given below, based on the combination of your totals. This is your effectiveness type.</div><div><br /></div><div><table class="MsoTableGrid" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;border:none;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-yfti-tbllook:1184;mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b>Category</b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Self-disclosure</span></b></span><b></b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">openness to feedback</span></b></span><b></b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-left:none;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Perceptiveness</span></b></span><b></b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Effective</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Insensitive</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Egocentric</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Dogmatic</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Secretive</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:6"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Task-obsessed</span></b></span><b></b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:7"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Lonely Empathic</span></b></span><b></b><o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">High<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:8;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border:solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-themecolor:text1;border-top:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333">Ineffective</span></b></span><span class="apple-tab-span"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"; color:#333333"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"></span><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> <td width="160" valign="top" style="width:119.7pt;border-top:none;border-left: none;border-bottom:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-themecolor:text1; border-right:solid black 1.0pt;mso-border-right-themecolor:text1;mso-border-top-alt: solid black .5pt;mso-border-top-themecolor:text1;mso-border-left-alt:solid black .5pt; mso-border-left-themecolor:text1;mso-border-alt:solid black .5pt;mso-border-themecolor: text1;padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal">Low<o:p></o:p></p> </td> </tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">In the table where you have filled in values (after reversing), prepare an action plan for scores equal to or below 2 to improve your behaviour and become more effective.</span></b></span></b></div><div><div><br /></div></div>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-64316213578759502632010-01-14T22:21:00.004+05:302010-01-16T12:07:49.341+05:30Is India really a 'soft' state?<p class="MsoNormal">One of my friends sent me an email which had compared the military prowess of China with that of India. The email tried to prove that India is not prepared to face a threat emanating from Beijing, and this is evident from India’s ‘soft pedaling’ every issue of strategic importance. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>There have been many instances in the past which are quoted to say that India is a ‘soft’ state which hesitates to take stern action even when its interests are at stake. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The exchange of terrorists for the hostages of the hijacked Indian plane in 1999, muted response towards Pakistan in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks where some prominent persons wanted India to go in for an all out war against Pakistan and ‘finish them off’, the recent LTTE episode when India did not take sides are shown as some examples of the ‘spinelessness’ of the Indian establishment.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">However, in my opinion nothing can be farther from truth. India has shown exemplary bravery and heroism in the International affairs where it really mattered. The following arguments would prove the point.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">India and NAM<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">During the cold war era, when country after country was aligning with either USA or USSR, it required a lot of guts from a third world country to stay away from any of these groups. Not only did India stay away from either of the camps, it was the founding member of the NAM (Non-aligned movement) where it sought to bring together a third non-aligned world. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">India and the Bangladesh liberation war<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">India has not only protected her interests – such as during the kargil conflict, but has also protected the interests of her neighbours. It is a known fact that the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had been treated like second class citizens in their own country. For instance, When the Awami league (a major party in east pakistan) led by sheikh mujibur rahman won a landslide victory in the national elections of 1970, he was not allowed to form the government and the elections were cancelled. Not only this, the Pakistani army launched large scale genocide against its own people in East Pakistan (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Searchlight">operation searchlite</a>). </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Despite the weighing international opinion against India to do anything ‘adventurous’, India did intervene and liberated her brothers in East Pakistan from the tyranny and thus was born the state of Bangladesh.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">India and Afghanistan<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After the ‘war against terror’ launched in 2001 by the United States, Afghanistan has turned into a hot bed for terrorism with most terrorist attacks around the world being planned there. Many developed countries such as Australia, Canada, and Germany to name a few, which had initially sent their armies to fight the Taliban have pulled out of Afghanistan because the situation is getting too dangerous for their armies!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">India on the other hand, has sought to strengthen the nascent democracy that has replaced the Taliban by building crucial infrastructure facilities. For instance, India is building the parliamentary complex of Afghanistan, it has built many schools. The crucial <u><a href="http://news.oneindia.in/2008/08/05/india-completes-zaranj-delaram-highway-in-afghanistan-1217929584.html">delaram-zaranj highway</a></u> (also known as the Garland highway) which will serve as the life line of Afghanistan has been built by India and dedicated to the people of Afghanistan. However, it is not without the loss of lives and property that India has accomplished this feat. Many of our engineers and workers were kidnapped by the Taliban and beheaded. There were attacks against the Indian embassy at Kabul which resulted in the killing of two Indian diplomats. These attacks were made to warn India not to proceed with these projects. However, India stood by its resolve to help the people of Afghanistan. India has always been decisive where it matters.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Nuclear testing</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If India were really a ‘soft’ state, it would have accepted the dictates of the west and stayed away from testing nuclear bombs. India considered that testing the nukes was in the best interests of its national security, considering the stockpiling of nuclear bombs by her neighbouring china. This is why it went ahead, despite the whole world crying foul, and tested not once but twice during 1974 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha">Operation smiling budhdha</a>) and in 1998 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II">Operation shakti</a>). Is this an act of bravery or cowardice?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">NPT regime</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The<u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group"> </a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group">NSG (Nuclear suppliers group</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group">)</a></u> which was formed soon after India tested a nuclear bomb in 1974, sought to ‘contain’ India’s rise in the domain of nuclear self-sufficiency. The NPT (nuclear non proliferation treaty) was prepared exclusively to keep many developing countries in their ‘cage’. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Although initially many countries resisted this attempt, they could not hold on for long. India is among the three countries of the entire world which has not signed the NPT.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">India has recently got an exemption from the NSG which was largely facilitated by the <u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-US_civilian_nuclear_agreement">123 agreement</a> </u>it signed with USA. It must be remembered that India is the ONLY country in the world which has been given this full exemption. This means that India can get nuclear fuel without having to accept debilitating conditions which would come along with signing the NPT. Is this not a victory for our diplomacy? Isn’t this steadfast attitude to preserve our sovereignty an example of our courage?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">G20 and WTO<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since the inception of WTO, the developed countries have been forcing the developing block to open up their agriculture market for imports. However, this would mean destruction of the livelihoods of many poor farmers in the developing block. India has led the G20 forum in the WTO and has successfully voiced the concerns of the developing nations, even if it meant rubbing the developed nations in the wrong way. In fact it is largely through India’s efforts in the Doha development round of 2001 that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">special and differential treatment</i> (S&DT) was given to <i>least developed nations</i> (LDCs). This S&DT clause provides the LDCs with the allowance of exporting their produces to the rich nations without any upper limit. Also, their exports would be exempt from duties or would be nominal. This shows that India not only has the capacity to safeguard itself, but also provide leadership to other nations. <b>India’s leadership to the poor nations proves that a hundred cows led by a lion is better than a hundred lions led by a cow. </b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Military strength<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">India has successfully crossed many technology denials. USA stopped Russia from exporting cryogenic engine technology to India in 1993. USA expected India to fall in line and open up its markets. However India took the challenge and has successfully developed its own indigenous cryogenic engine. It took almost 10 years to develop the technology, but then nothing is as important as protecting our national interests. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">India has successfully developed the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile along with Russia, which is the fastest missile in the world. Recently, India inducted the <u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arihant_class_submarine">Arihant</a> </u><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>nuclear powered submarine and entered the elite list of nations possessing this technology. Creating a miniaturized nuclear reactor and running it in deep water were not easy, especially because the technology had to be developed indigenously. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Representation to the voiceless<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Incidents such as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989">Tiennamen square incident of 1989</a> remind us how governments can turn against its own people. However, India has always sought to provide representation to its people. When the west was contemplating on providing voting rights to its women, India stunned the world in 1947 with the declaration of universal adult franchise. Democracy was considered a joke with a teeming population of poor and illiterate people. However till this day, our democracy is alive and vibrant. Do china and Pakistan have true democracy? Is the media free in these countries? Does it not require more guts to provide people with freedom than to take it away from them?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>India’s very first constitutional amendment act was aimed at providing representation to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Compare this with other countries which have sought to eliminate their minorities and the oppressed. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">India has been maintaining its true identity in the world. India does not openly flex muscles and try to show its prowess like china. However,<b> our non-violence is not that of a coward, but of the strong</b>. Despite the legacy of colonialism, burden of poverty, scar of partition, India will remain committed to non-violence and therein lays our strength.</p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-48886383226282771532010-01-02T23:15:00.002+05:302010-01-02T23:39:57.374+05:30Affordable Indian Marriages<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><div>Dear Reader,</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, I have decided to do the same mistake many men have committed over many centuries - Marry. Yet, I would like to do my small bit in changing the present system of getting married in our country. Every system requires overhauling, and I think it's time certain irrelevant practices in our wedding ceremonies were changed for better.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have created a document which I plan to give along with my wedding invitation. The idea was to write a simple, short, yet effective write-up of the evil that surrounds our Indian weddings. I had already shared this with my close set of friends and with their inputs i believe this document has become a lot better. Now i plan to keep it in the public domain so that i can hear your comments as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>Instead of giving printouts along with invitation, i plan to provide hand-written copies. This way we can provide a sense of participation to those who are convinced by this idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the link <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddvnqzsv_4hmst3dff">http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddvnqzsv_4hmst3dff</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Regards</div><div>Vikraman</div></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-84367328447791665922009-11-29T02:54:00.002+05:302009-11-29T02:58:57.649+05:30Likes and Dislikes – Bagavad gita and love marriages<p class="MsoNormal">As a sequel to my post on Bagavad <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Gita, I thought I would extend the discussion on looking beyond the ephemeral body, to human relationships. In an era of consumerism we find people developing strong likes and dislikes, but likes and dislikes are themselves false. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Consider for example cigarette smoking –people who love to smoke enjoy the habit, while there are others who can’t stand its nauseating smell. How is it that the same cigarette induces happiness in some and misery in others? Similarly, we find many divorcees remarrying, how is it that someone hated this person so much to warrant a divorce while someone else wanted to tie the nuptial knot? This clearly shows that likes and dislikes are born out of our senses and thus have nothing to do with the object that is being liked or disliked. Like our senses they are also temporary and are subject to change over time. What we like today, we may hate tomorrow. Therefore, likes and dislikes are attributes of an immature mind.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">However, we find in the modern times that people have been increasing their baggage of likes and dislikes. It is very common find people waiting for someone with “similar tastes (likes)” to marry.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If they do find such a person with a similar baggage of likes and dislikes they feel excited in finding a ‘true’ life partner. But since this association rests on a false foundation, it crumbles soon and the relationship ends. This is perhaps why majority of the marriages in western nations fail, as they are founded on false reasons such as ‘similar tastes’, ‘my kind of person’ etc.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I think the arranged marriage system in India must be rooted in the gita. In this system, you marry a person chosen by elders, sometimes without even speaking a word before marriage. Marriage in Indian culture is more out of the need to perform one’s karma yoga – that of being a ‘grahastha’( raising a family ) than out of living ‘happily ever after’ with a person of similar likes and dislikes - That’s probably why it didn’t matter whom they married. However since the situation is changing now with more ‘love’ (similar likes) marriages, the number of divorce cases are also increasing. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of my friends, member of a certain spiritual organization, told me about a unique way of getting married in his society. The boys and girls who want to get married are randomly chosen and their marriage is performed immediately afterwards. Surprisingly, the success rate of this system of marriage is phenomenally high. Though I was astonished then, somehow it is all starting to make sense now – the ‘unique’ system is after all our arranged marriage system with a different name.</p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-85593093810773663482009-11-24T23:50:00.006+05:302009-11-25T00:18:31.127+05:30Dr Jayprakash Narayan - RTC on parlimanetary affairsHi all,<div>I felt i had to post this video series in my blog. Dr J.P is a man of substance, and has pragmatic solutions to most problems affecting the Indian polity. He has had 16 years of experience in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He quit his prestigious job and founded the <a href="http://www.loksatta.org/">Loksatta </a>organisation which fights for reforms in politics. Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruna_Roy">Aruna Roy</a> who fought for bringing in the RTI act, Dr J.P's organisation can be credited with making the declaration of assets by politicians compulsory. </div><div><br /></div><div>Presently Dr J.P is an MLA from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukatpally">Kukatpally</a> constituency in Andhra Pradesh. I'm happy to find people of his caliber entering politics. </div><div><br /></div><div>Here are the videos..</div><div><br /></div><b>Part 1<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></b><div><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><object width="200" height="162"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="200" height="162"></embed></object></div><div><br /></div><b>Part 2</b><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span><object width="200" height="162"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="200" height="162"></embed></object><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Part 3</b></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><object width="200" height="162"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gODbPwD3OhM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="200" height="162"></embed></object></div><br /><br /><div><b>Part 4</b></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><object width="200" height="162"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vk3hpk55Hos&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vk3hpk55Hos&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="200" height="162"></embed></object></div>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-50051165451307180612009-11-04T12:09:00.001+05:302009-11-04T12:10:23.106+05:30Power of Language<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; "><p align="center"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"><b>Former President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam on “Power of Language”</b></span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">I remember my dad teaching me the power of language at a very young age. Not only did he understand that specific words affect our mental pictures, but he also understood words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success. </span> </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">One particularly interesting event occurred when I was eight. As a kid, I was always hyper-active - climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">So, it came to no surprise for my dad to find me at the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. My little eight-year-old brain didn't realize that the branch could break and I could get hurt. I just thought it was fun to be up so high.</span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">My cousin was also hanging upside down from another branch of the same tree, at about ten feet below me. Her mother also noticed us at the same time my dad did.</span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">About that time a strong gust of wind came over the tree. I could hear the leaves starting to rattle and the tree beginning to sway heavily. I remember my dad's voice over the wind yell, "Hey, hold on tightly." So I did. The next thing I know, I heard my cousin screaming at the top of her lungs, and the next moment lying flat on the ground. She had fallen out of the tree. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">My dad later told me why she fell and I did not. Apparently, when her mother felt the gust of wind, she yelled out, "Tammy, don't fall!" And she did fall.</span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">My dad then explained to me that the mind will have a very difficult time processing a negative image. In order for my cousin to process the command of not falling, her nine-year-old brain had to first imagine falling, then try to tell the brain not to do what it just imagined. Whereas, my eight-year-old brain instantly had an internal image of me hanging on tightly. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">This concept is especially useful when you are attempting to break a habit or set a goal. You can't visualize not doing something. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">When I was thirteen years old, I played for my junior high school football team. I tried so hard to be good, but I just couldn't get it together at that age. I remember hearing the words run through my head as I was running out for a pass, "Don't drop it!" Naturally, I dropped the ball. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">My coaches were not skilled enough to teach us proper "self-talk." They just thought some kids could catch and others couldn't. I'll never make it pro, but I'm now a pretty good Sunday afternoon football player, because all my internal dialogue is positive and encourages me to win. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Here is a very easy demonstration to teach your kids and your friends the power of a toxic vocabulary. Ask them to hold a pen or pencil. Hand it to them. Now, say to them, "Okay, try to drop the pencil." Observe what they do. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Most would release their hands and watch the pencil hit the floor. You respond, "You weren't paying attention. I said “try” to drop the pencil. Now please do it again." Now they would pick up the pencil and seem to be in excruciating pain while their hand tries but fails to drop the pencil. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">The point is made. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">If you tell your brain you will "give it a try," you are actually telling your brain “to fail”. I have a "no try" rule in my house and with everyone I interact with. Either people will do it or they won't. You will never hear the words "I'll try" come out of my mouth unless I'm teaching this concept. So remove the word "try" from your vocabulary. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">My dad also told me that psychologists claim it takes seventeen positive statements to offset one negative statement. I have no idea if it is true, but the logic holds true. </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Ask yourself how many compliments you give yourself daily versus how many criticisms. I know you are talking to yourself all day long. We all have internal voices that give us direction. So, are you giving yourself the 17:1 ratio or are you short-charging yourself with toxic self-talk like, "I'm fat. Nobody likes me. I'll try this diet. I'm not good enough. I'm so stupid. I'm broke, etc. etc." </span><br /></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Here is a list of toxic vocabulary words. Watch out when you or other people use them.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">But: Negates any words that are stated before it.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Try: Presupposes failure.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">If: Presupposes that you may not.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Might: It does nothing definite. It leaves options for your listener.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Would have / Should have: Draws attention to things that didn't actually happen.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Could Have: Draws attention to things that didn't actually happen but the person tries to take credit as if it did happen.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:100%;">Can't / Don't: These words force the listener to focus on exactly the opposite of what you want. This is a classic mistake that parents and coaches make without knowing the damage this linguistic error can cause.</span></p></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-36977884947835788402009-07-08T23:53:00.003+05:302009-07-14T10:58:22.965+05:30Karma Yoga -The art of doing action<p class="MsoNormal">I attended <a href="http://www.vedantaworld.org/">Swami Parthasarthy’s</a> lecture on chapter V of the Bagavad Gita on <b>Karma yoga and Gnyana Yoga -“The yoga of action and renunciation”</b>. I feel it is my duty to write a summary of the four days of lecture for the benefit of all. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>Kindly read my previous post on the <a href="http://vikraman.blogspot.com/2009/07/bagavad-gitas-take-on-idol-worship.html">Significance of idol worship</a> before you read this one.</o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Atma- Body difference</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As I mentioned in my previous post, most people do not understand the difference between Atma and body. Atma is permanent while the body is perishable. Atma is what enables the eye to see but it cannot be seen, it enables the ear to hear but it cannot be heard, it enables the mind to conceive but it cannot be conceived. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Atma is a dispassionate witness to all our actions</b>. It is the cause and not the effect. It is like the petrol in a car- the petrol causes the car to move, but it can neither be blamed for the accident nor praised for the safe arrival of the car. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bagavad gita says the entire purpose of one’s life is to understand the atma and concentrate on it always. One must derive all happiness from inside (from the atma), than from the outside (the external environment). Bagavad gita goes on to say that the happiness one derives from touch, smell, sight, and through other sensory perceptions are nothing but <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">wombs of sorrow</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The reason is not hard to see, for the happiness one derives from the outside is not permanent. As an example, let’s say someone starts smoking a cigarette for happiness. The first cigarette one smokes no doubt gives him happiness, yet the next day in order to get the same level of happiness he may have to smoke two cigarettes instead of one. This slowly increases in number and finally the person finds himself smoking one whole packet. After reaching this stage, the person smokes not because it gives him happiness, but because he feels miserable if he does not smoke. At this point the person is said to have become <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">neutralised</b> to smoking. This is the characteristic of all things that cause addiction. Consuming an addictive substance does not give happiness, but abstaining from it results in sorrow.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">If I ask someone whether he enjoys breathing oxygen he would think I’m being stupid, but if I forcibly close the nostrils and suffocate him, he wouldn’t mind giving me his entire wealth just for drawing some air. Similarly we do not enjoy seeing normal things, but we would feel miserable when our eyes are tied even for a minute. You can see for yourself that our senses have the same characteristic of an addictive substance. Any enjoyment derived out of these senses, cannot be permanent and soon you’d get neutralised to that object that is causing you happiness. This is why you must derive your happiness from within and not from outside.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">How do we attain the knowledge of the atma ?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bagavad Gita prescribes two ways of realising the atma –Karma yoga (through action) and Gnyana yoga (through renunciation). Among the two the first one, Karma yoga is simple and can be followed by everyone. Gnyana yoga requires one to control the senses before attempting to realise the atma. In fact, Lord Krishna himself prescribes Karma yoga to Arjuna, to realise his atma.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Karma Yoga – The art of doing action</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The nature has given the animals a blue print which they follow without fail. You do not find one tiger in nature that eats grass, nor do you find a cow that eats meat. Animals in the forest are neither overweight nor underweight. Human beings on the contrary have the power to make choices. But on what basis do we make those choices? Karma yoga clarifies this doubt. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">All actions can be classified into three categories –Selfish, unselfish, and selfless. Those actions which are done for our selves are called selfish actions, while those that are done for others are called unselfish actions. Bagavad gita says that the best form of action is neither of these two - It prescribes Selfless action. Selfless actions are those that are performed neither for us nor for others. Selfless action is performed when we don’t think of the benefactor. Can any action be performed that way? You’d be surprised to know that all actions in nature are selfless actions. The Nightingale sings neither for itself nor for you. Similarly the sun shines neither for itself nor for you.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You can be a plumber, carpenter, Engineer, or a Doctor, whoever you are, if you can do your action without thinking of who is going to benefit from it, you’re a Karma Yogi. Doing action for the sake of action is the message of Karma yoga. If action is performed in this way, it results in excellence and more importantly it relives the Karma yogi from the bondages of this world. This type of action enables him to realise his atma and attain eternal happiness.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Most of the problems in this world are caused because of searching for happiness from outside. Instead of thinking of the evenness in objects, we’re worrying more on the differences between objects. A small car may seem incomparable to the grandeur of a sedan, but if one realises it is the same fuel that drives both, then it would be easy to see the evenness in both. Likewise, if one understands that all living beings are made of atma, it would be far easier to see through the perishable body and appreciate the evenness. One who sees the evenness in all objects and sees success and failure pass by without being bothered by them, the Gita says, stops going through the cycle of birth and death. He is the one who has realised his atma. </p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-41492102841497558342009-07-05T21:59:00.005+05:302009-07-14T10:59:07.620+05:30Significance of Idol Worship - from Bagavad Gita<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>I’m listening to Shri Velukudi Krishnan’s upanyasam (commentary) on Bagavad Gita. I am thoroughly enjoying the experience. I started listening to Bagavad gita to find out for myself whether our Hindu culture is really as backward in thinking as the present generation makes it out to be. For instance, I believe that life is short and each minute is precious, that’s why this moment is called “present”. Is it correct to brand certain times as “good” and certain others as “bad”? Bagavad Gita has answered most of my doubts and now I know that these irrational things being said in the name of culture or religion have no sanction of the ‘Gita’. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In fact I feel Bagavad Gita is a practical cook book for youngsters like us. It is a philosophy for the strong, not for the weak.</o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">On Idol worship</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Right from the time a man wakes up in the morning till the time he retires to sleep, he performs such acts that satisfy his senses – Eating, working for money in order to buy things, studying for sharpening his mind etc. However the senses which are part of the human body are bound to die one day or the other. A life which is entirely devoted to satisfying senses, which will perish someday, cannot be meaningful.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Such a person slowly forgets that ‘atma’ and body are different. The Gita says that atma has no death. Atma takes a body and when the body dies, the atma takes another one- Atma is eternal while the body is ephemeral.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In order to understand the atma-body distinction, one has to reduce the addiction to senses. If the senses are muted, then one would be able to give ample time to contemplate on the atma.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Senses can be controlled if they are focused on an object. If you can keep all your senses on an object and enjoy the object and nothing else in this world, your senses will automatically be controlled. Bagavad Gita says that such an object which has the power to control your senses in the lords ‘deham’ (idol).</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>Why can’t other objects serve the same purpose? </b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bagavad Gita says that all men and objects in this world have 3 qualities attached with them – Satva, Rajas, Tamas. The satva quality is the best of all. This quality enables a man to work with the highest order of intellect without wanting anything for himself. The selfless action is the hall mark of the satva quality. The Rajas quality signifies intelligence but with some degree of selfishness. People with Rajas quality don’t involve themselves in any action, if there is nothing in it for them. The Tamas quality signifies low intellect, people with this quality can’t think and act on their own and need to be told what to do. Among the above three qualities Satva is the most desirable.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">However, all objects in this world have all of the above qualities in varying amounts. This is why when you keep your senses on these worldly objects, your senses don’t get controlled for although they have a percentage of the Satva quality, the Rajas and Tamas qualities associated with them prevent your senses from being controlled. Only the God’s deham (idol) is entirely made of satva quality, and it is the only one which has the power to control your senses and make you understand the distinction between atma and body.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once a man understands the distinction between atma and body, he becomes fearless for he does not care for his body anymore. Neither does he care for the results of his action for he knows that the atma does not care whether you succeed or fail in your action. For example, for an atma that would occupy the body of a cow later, it does not matter whether the body that it occupies now passes or fails an examination. The person who has understood the distinction between body and atma lives like a lotus in a pond. The lotus is born in the pond, it lives in the pond and dies in the pond, but it does not get attached with even a drop of water. Likewise, a man may be born in this world, live in this world, and die in this world, yet if he understands the distinction between atma and body, he can live without being bonded with it. Their in lies eternal happiness –Bliss.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once it is understood that one’s action should not be directed at satisfying the body and that the atma is not affected by the results of one’s action, it is logical to study how to act in the first place. In my next post, I will discuss <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Karma yoga – The art of doing action.</b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-62905425836569499492009-07-04T17:42:00.002+05:302009-07-14T10:59:49.977+05:30Candle light vigil for our heores, at chennai -videocheck out the video we shot at Marina Beach on December 7,2008.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_Dnc2G8g7w&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_Dnc2G8g7w&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-34132357043869611802009-03-20T00:00:00.011+05:302009-07-14T11:00:24.289+05:30Candle light vigil for our heores, at chennaiWe had a candle light vigil for our security men who put down their lives to save us during the Mumbai terror attack. These are some pictures from the event. The vigil was organised on December 7, 2008 at Marina beach. I'm posting the photos a little late, but better late than never. <div><br /></div><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes1.jpg" border="0" alt="HeroesBanner" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/mumbaiattacks1.jpg" border="0" alt="karthikMe" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/mumbaiattacks2.jpg" border="0" alt="poem" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/mumbaiattacks3.jpg" border="0" alt="displayposter" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes5.jpg" border="0" alt="Heroes" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes4.jpg" border="0" alt="HeroesSong" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes7.jpg" border="0" alt="HeroesFlag" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes8.jpg" border="0" alt="heroes" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/heroes6.jpg" border="0" alt="heroesroses" /><br /><img height="240" width="400" src="http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/vikraman_v/CandleLightVigil/mumbaiattacks4.jpg" border="0" alt="pledge" />vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-54024559650125277682009-02-24T00:47:00.007+05:302009-02-24T13:35:34.695+05:30Steps to tackle Terrorism<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Finally, </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> has agreed that it’s ‘soil was used’ in planning the Mumbai attack. I’m sure they will ultimately agree that it was planned and executed from Pakistan. Absolving itself from the terrorist attack was stupid in the first place. It is like farting in a swimming pool and denying it, though you may not agree, the evidence is there for all to see. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Notwithstanding the wishes of many nations around the world, </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> cannot be asked to stop all its terrorism related activities at once. For Terrorism contributes significantly to </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">’s GDP. Under the ‘Terrorism sector’ come some vital components such as – foreign exchange earnt through illegal export of technology (nuclear and other), foreign exchange through Al-qaeda’s operations in its western border, money earnt through illegal sale of opium trade by Taliban which has its new base in NWFP(North West Frontier Province in Pakistan), remittances from Pakistani terrorists abroad etc.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Managing the international border with such a neighbour is no joke. A clever tactic needs to be employed by our politicians and diplomats. War is definitely not the solution – not just because it leads to collateral damage, but such a threat would fail to scare them. War mongers don’t get scared by a threat of war, in fact they become happy. If they can plan the ‘Mumbai attack’ before finding the assassins of their ex-prime minister, what else are they?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I didn’t intend to make this post sound sarcastic, but I couldn’t help it. We (Indians) are anguished by the Mumbai terror attack. The kind of public response that followed must have convinced everyone that Indians hadn’t forgotten to unite at the time of crisis –something our grandfathers learnt while fighting the British. The public response was spontaneous, widespread, and included all sections of the society. By the way, it also ended the careers of some politicians in the country</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of today poses a big threat to the peace and tranquility of all nations around the world. The state has accepted the Taliban’s hold in the swat valley and has given them the control of judiciary. From now, terrorists will dispense justice to people, instead of the government. Ever heard of such a thing? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Why does </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> want our </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Kashmir</span></span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> valley, so that they can convert it to another swat valley?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If we have to examine why </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> has reached where it has, we have to go back to the pre-independence era to analyse the circumstances that justified its creation. </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> was conceptualized on a false premise that the political and economic interests of Hindus and Muslims were separate. This notion is unscientific because religion cannot be the basis of political and economic interests or of political groupings.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><b><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><b><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mohammed Ali jinnah</span></span></span></span></b><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in his maiden presidential address to the constituent assembly of Pakistan said </span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“</span></span></span></i></span><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">…I</span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">f you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be on end to the progress you will make</span></span></span></span></span></i><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span></span></span></i></span><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">” Basically, he was trying to put back the genie into the bottle, which he had helped to let out earlier. It was the same man who had earlier remarked “</span></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I alone with the help of my secretary and type-writer won </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> for </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Muslims</span></span></span></b></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">”.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><st1:country-region st="on"><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></st1:country-region></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><st1:country-region st="on"><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></span></st1:country-region><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> has the 3</span></span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">rd</span></span></span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> largest Muslim population in the world – after </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Indonesia</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. I can say with confidence that Muslims in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> are much more secure (we don’t attack our girls attending schools with acid) and prosperous than the citizens of </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. It is ironical because </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> was founded to further the interests of Muslims, as it was felt that it could not be done in a Hindu majority country. </span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, we have always hailed our citizens for their good work –without any bias for their religion. Many of our citizens who happen to be Muslims have reached highest constitutional positions in our country. Examples are plenty, from Maulana abul kalam azad (our noted education minister) to APJ Abdul kalam (our ex-president). At the time of composing this post, entire </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is jubilant and in a celebration mode for the oscar award that our musician AR Rahman has won. In fact even in a fanatic sport like cricket, we have had many Muslim cricketers who have led </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> – such as Mansoor ali khan pataudi, Mohammed Azharuddin. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How does </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> treat its minorities (Hindus in Pakistan)? The percentage of minorities has been declining in </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> since its independence, as they are being forcibly converted to the state religion of Islam. On the other hand, in </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> the percentage of Hindus (the majority religion) has been declining. This clearly shows that Indian society is much more liberal and tolerant than that of </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Indians are free to convert and profess any religion they want.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">However critics may point out the Babri masjid demolition as an example of religious intolerance in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. No doubt, demolition of the Masjid is a black mark on the Hindu-Muslim unity in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. I really hope some government in the future constructs a new mosque in the site. However it is also true that destruction of temples in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is an every-day event. The destruction of Ramna kali mandir and Dhakeswari temple are glaring examples. In 2006, a hindu temple in </span></span></span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Lahore</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> was demolished to make way for a multi-storied commercial building. As far as religious intolerance is concerned, </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">what is exception in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is the norm in </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span style=" ;color:black;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Having said all this, I still consider Pakistanis as my brothers who had severed their relations with us because of some misunderstanding. Indians can equate themselves more with Pakistanis than with the British or Americans even today. Our lives had evolved together since the times of </span></span></span><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Indus</span></span></span></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> valley civilization, Mughal rule, and continued till the occupation of the British. It was the clever “divide and rule” policy of the British that we succumbed to. We had been naïve not to have understood the implications of certain poisonous acts of the British -such as the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_Bengal_(1905)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Partition of Begal in 1905</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> which created a Muslims majority province of East Bengal, and the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_India_Act_1909"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Morley-Minto Act of 1909</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> which provided separate electorates for Muslims. I dream of the day when </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">India</span></span></span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and </span></span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pakistan</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> would again become one-nation. That day, with our combined strength, we will crush our common enemies. We could make Taliban-juice and fertilise our dry lands.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-16353575488885424812009-02-11T02:05:00.006+05:302009-07-14T21:39:34.635+05:30Being Gay<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">After reading the following post, you might conclude that I could have avoided this controversial title. Yet, if you acknowledge the fact that making people visit your blog requires some advertisement, you wouldn’t complain. : - )</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This post is about the growing ‘pink slips’ being given to employees of private organization due to the economic recession which is evidenced worldwide. If we were to analyze where the “global meltdown” started, we might point our fingers to the bankruptcy of some of the premier financial institutions, much more fundamental reason would be the sub-prime crisis. These financial institutions failed miserably because they had invested huge sums of money and bought the sub-prime mortgage loans. More concrete than that would be the stupidity of the banks in lending huge sums of money to people who had no means to return them, in the hope of increasing their profits with their money which was lying idle. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">If we have to sum up all of this and say it in one word, we have to choose “Greed” to describe it rightly.</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">One of the immediate consequences of an economic slowdown is layoffs. The person who is shown the door may not be responsible for the plight of the company, in most cases like the recent crisis he may not even know the cause completely, yet he is asked to go! What could be the rationale behind the indiscriminate firing adopted by the companies whenever even the slightest of economic troubles crop up? We can accept layoffs as a last minute resort under unavoidable circumstances, but one cannot understand why they are being used as the first method to deal with financial instabilities.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The reason is not hard to find out. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">These companies don’t think they are dealing with human beings, for them you’re a “human resource”</span>. You’re one of the most dispensable of the resources available to a company, unlike the physical resources like buildings, land etc. The “human resources” in a private company don’t form workers’ union and it becomes so easy to get them out without fearing a backlash. Also, when good times come and if it is required to acquire some of these “resources” to make more money, they are easily available in the market. This is the understanding that the companies have of a warm blooded human being like you and me.<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once hired, maximum ‘throughput’ has to be obtained from the “resource”. This can be done only when the “resource” is engaged for 12-14 hours a day (sometimes even longer). But how does this affect the human being? <st1:city st="on">Bangalore</st1:city> may be the software capital of <st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region>, but did you know it is also the divorce capital and the suicide capital of <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>? The city has got this distinction only after it witnessed the software boom. The work conditions in a private company are not different from the ones that existed in the days of Industrial revolution in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Plainly put, it is extortion. The glittery office cubicles, swimming pools, gym, that these companies show to prove their commitment to the workforce are in reality a clever idea designed in some management book to motivate the “human resources” in order to obtain maximum throughput. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">It is like playing music to a milch cow to make it yield more milk.</span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Most software companies in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> resorted to “preemptive” firing because they wanted to meet their financial targets for the year set by their board. It is a fact that most of the companies that resorted to layoffs posted profits. What does it indicate? It shows desperation on the part of the companies to keep the investors (share holders) happy. Unless the investors are happy, the share prices will not remain high in the stock exchanges. Thus the companies are ready to keep the unseen and ever-changing investor happy (since the shares change hands frequently) , by<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>resorting to cost cutting by removing the “human resources” who have worked for long hours every day, without complaining and at the cost of their own personal lives. However, the companies know that they have to conceal this opportunism and turn GAY. They fire their resources citing “under performance”, this reason cannot be contested in any court and is highly subjective, which makes it easy for the companies to get rid of an employee. If it is true that suddenly so many “resources” have turned under performers then shouldn’t the HR department be sacked en masse for recruiting them? Was it hatching eggs when the said underperformers were hired, made permanent after the initial period, being given an increment in their salaries, given promotions, given merit certificates appreciating their good work?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This forces us to analyse some philosophical issues. Why do we need development and to whom should it be directed? Is it for giving means to people so that they will be empowered, or is it simply for acquiring more wealth for the sake of wealth? What is the point in making money by pushing people into poverty? It is like winning wars by killing lakhs of men and pushing thousands of families into sorrow. What is the point in denying hundreds of human beings their happiness, and design an electronic gadget that promises its holders exactly the same?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Though many of us feel strongly about these issues, we hold back and don’t express them because of the fear of being prosecuted. We must know the rights guaranteed to us by our constitution. I know that I enjoy the ‘Right to freedom of speech and expression’ guaranteed under Article 19-1(a) of my constitution. If someone asks me to shut up, I know I can directly approach the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, under Article 32, for the infringment of my Fundamental Right. Most of us may be professional graduates, yet when it comes to knowing our rights and fighting the bully, we are no different from the people who were subjugated to slavery. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">“Our lives begin to end the day, when we remain silent about things that matter” </i>– <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Martin Luther king</i>.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">The day we know our rights, we will turn human beings from human resources.</span><br /></p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-30687818256454912282008-11-10T22:23:00.007+05:302008-11-13T00:16:40.002+05:30Politics for dummies<p class="MsoNormal"> I have given the wannabe politicians of this country, who must be in their mid-twenties and thirties, a list of ideas which have provided their earnest followers with rich dividends. If you want to climb to the top of the political hierarchy, you must diligently follow one approach and you shall be rightly rewarded in the ballot box. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><br /> Before I give you the list, here are a few things you must know about the electorate and in general about the people of this country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><b style=""> 1. They are down right selfish</b>, what else do you expect in a resource constrained environment? They praise you when you give them concessions and hate you when you don’t. (Didn’t you see Mr.Bainsla - the gujjar head, who spoke so much against Ms Vasundhara Raje saluting her when she announced concessions to his community?)</p> <b style=""> 2. People Identify themselves more with their language, religion, caste</b>, and other such groupings. The Indian identity is reserved for India-Pakistan cricket match.<br /><br /><b style=""> 3. People don’t understand economics</b>. They can’t appreciate when you fix the <span style="font-style: italic;">budget deficit, fiscal deficit </span> of the country or set right the <span style="font-style: italic;">Balance of payment</span> there by putting the economy back on rails. They respond better when you give them free TVs, free electricity, fertilizer, waive their loans etc<br /><br /><b style=""> 4.They are emotional</b>. This is an unique characteristic of the Indian population. They vote for you if you lose someone in your family or meet with an accident. Many elections are announced when such mishaps happen –<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr.Chandrababu naidu</span> knows it better.<br /><br /><br />If you understand the above concepts, it will not be tough to lap up the following <b style="">recommendations to attract the electorate.</b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"> </p><span style="font-weight: bold;">1.</span> <b style="">Pro-linguistic drama. <o:p></o:p></b> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">a)</span> You could be a person who cannot pronounce many words right in your language (forget the writing part). Yet, you must send your party men (rowdies) and threaten the commercial establishments to <b style="">replace their name boards from English</b> to local language within a given time. It may make your already tourist-unfriendly state worse but don’t worry, foreigners don’t vote in our elections.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p></o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">b)</span> You can conduct a one-day fast to “pressurise” the centre to recognize your language as a <b style="">classical language. </b>You don’t need to know what that status means for your language, but be sure to rush before someone else takes it up.</p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> c)</span> <b style="">Thackeryism.</b> This is a proven strategy wherein you ask people who don’t speak your language in your region to get out so that the <i style="">sons of the soil</i> can get that job. Though the very jobs you want “your people” to get are themselves snatched from sons of the foreign soil, no one will question you about it. People can’t think that far. </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p><br /><b style="">2. Pro-culture drama</b><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">a)</span> Suddenly, you can appoint yourself the custodian of our Indian culture. Ask the bar-dancers to stop or risk being prosecuted, close down the bars by 11pm, give the police an additional job of moral policing, and you’ll surely strike a chord with the majority. You can email <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr.R.R.Patil (Home minister of </span><st1:place style="font-weight: bold;" st="on">Maharashtra</st1:place><span style="font-weight: bold;">)</span> to understand the nuances better.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">b) </span><b style="">Anti-Love. </b>Select such men and women in the society who couldn’t find a person in the opposite sex to have fun or the ones who have a skewed opinion about the opposite sex, love and life in general. Recruit them into your party and these guys will “protect the culture” really well by chasing away couples from parks during Lovers day and by damaging the shops that sell greeting cards for lovers. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><o:p> </o:p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.</span> <b style="">Anti-Muslim/ Pro Muslim</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;">Look, the society is made of many fools who cannot see the virtues of the secular values enshrined in our constitution. Interestingly, though sacred texts like the “Bagavad Gita” asks its followers to see only god in all things -living and non-living, <span style=""> </span>and enunciates the concept of ‘oneness’ in all beings, there are many misguided youngsters in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> (both Hindu and Muslim), who miss this truth. You can harness this to your advantage depending on whether Muslims are in majority/minority in your region. Accordingly, you can ask them to “go to their country”, or give them reservations and appoint a worthless committee for their upliftment (like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachar_Committee"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rajinder Sachar committee</span></a>).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><b style="">4. Anti-Industrialisation (pseudo pro-farmer)</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;">You can threaten the industrialist who invests in your region with dire consequences if he doesn’t do “justice” for the farmers and block him from doing business. You don’t even have to tell him what will amount to doing justice. If you’re forced, then you could ask for something impossible which will eventually send the poor guy packing. Though the people of that town may dislike you or even hate you, you can be sure of votes in the larger level. This brand of politics off late is also knows as <b style="">“MamataLitics”</b>. More commonly this is the strategy followed by Indian communists who seek to achieve equality in the society by bringing the rich to the level of the poor.</p><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 5 .</span><b style="">Support for strikes<br /><br /></b> When a bunch of government employees go on a strike, usually in protest of being asked to move their lazy bums and do some work, you could “be with them” and support their rightful demands. Though it has the risk of inviting the public ire, you can trust the public memory for being short. Moreover it can win you chunks of votes from trade unions.<br /><br />I hope with that, I have sown the seeds of the next generation of politicians in this country ;) I invite my visitors to give more ideas to the budding leaders.vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-35590509934421072042008-07-04T23:45:00.003+05:302009-07-14T21:40:24.061+05:30DARE TO THINK BEYOND MEDIOCRITY?<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It is irritating to see full page advertisements of management schools wooing prospective candidates to join their institutes. Everyone, including the person who occupies half the page of the advertisement, knows its all for the money. Why then drag premier institutes like IIMs and IITs into it?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">First of all these institutes don’t have any entrance examination worth the name. Anybody who can pay the fee they demand can secure a seat in these institutes - and they have the audacity to ask you to “dare to think beyond the IIMs and IITs”!<br /><o:p> </o:p><br />Tell that sick looking man in the ad that an institute doesn’t become famous by promising free laptops to students – by the way those “free” laptops are charged through “invisible” components in the fee structure. Also add to the invisible component charges for “free” trips to <st1:place st="on">Europe</st1:place>.<br /><o:p> </o:p><br />It is sad that advertisements should rely on women from shaving blades to management institutes. Showing cute women working on laptops, girls and guys playing basketball and hugging each other are aggressive marketing strategies targeting the male crowd.<br /><o:p> </o:p><br /><span style=""></span>To satisfy the middle aged parent about the “high standards” of the institute there is a write-up on current national events at the bottom of the advertisement. Such articles are written knowing completely that they won’t be read by anyone. It is this confidence that gives the writer the strength to write whatever he feels like. At best some bored soul may skim through them – yet they find a place in the ad to convey the “seriousness” of the institute in imparting sound education.<br /><o:p> </o:p><br /><span style=""></span>It is sad that education should be advertised like a commodity, and I’m not sure if it’s the case with developed countries too. Such advertisements show the failure of the state to regulate the quality of education and provide enough opportunities for students to study. People who brag about the power of privatization, free market policy to solve the problems of the bygone era should learn from this.</span></p>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-43740426429959549442008-06-13T00:10:00.003+05:302009-07-14T21:42:49.076+05:30World 2050<div align="left"> I have presented a critique of the world order in the year 2050A.D. This might hurt you more than just a bit if you stand for capitalism, nuclear non-proliferation, market controlled economy and other evil things on earth.<br /></div><div align="left"><em>An article from a leading daily in the year 2050 A.D…</em></div><div align="left"><em></em><br /><strong>Sub-Prime Marriage Crisis rocks the world….(11.06.2050)<br /></strong>Sub-Prime Marriage is a highly complex financial instrument which had entered the stock markets recently. The sub-prime marriage loans were widely given to Americans who wanted to get married without having enough cash on hands to ring their wedding bells. The couples agreed to pay a fixed interest to the bank as long as they stayed in the marriage without getting divorced. However the problem started when the banks lent these loans to unscrupulous couples who had no intention of staying together for long. The banks started making heavy losses when most of the marriages ended in divorce prematurely. This forced the clever banks to shift their losses to the people and markets by making complex instruments called Credit derivative obligations (CDO) out of the pre nuptial agreements. </div><div align="left"><br />These ‘sub-prime’ loans were unfortunately given ‘AAA’ (the best rating possible) by the credit rating agencies like the Poor &Very Poor, MoodyRaters and others without reading their recklessly written pre-nuptial agreements. Thus many investors believing them to be promising investments invested their hard earned cash. When the marriage-linked financial instrument started failing, the markets went bearish and the economy went into recession. The Central bank chief Mr. Bumbake urged Americans to stay in their marriage for long to help their country bail out of recession.<br /><br />The chief of Banks’ association who did not admit that sub-prime Marriage stocks were an example of the failure of Capitalism retorted angrily that it was in fact a different form of socialism in which the ‘profits are privatized while the losses are socialised’.<br /><br /><strong>US prez replies to subprime- Marriage Crisis ( 12.06.2050)<br /></strong> ... Uncle Sam blamed the developing nations - especially India and China for the present recession in the world. He pointed out how the people of these two nations were eating a lot which resulted in spiraling of world prices. He also pointed out that the world must learn to live like his countrymen who use minimum resources for their living. When a reporter interrupted the president and informed him that it was his honorable country men who used papers right from sneezing to shitting which caused enormous pressure on the tress of the world, the president cut the reporter short by saying “Those trees are got from Africa where dragons fly and humans don’t live anyway”. He was greeted by a wide round of applause.<br /></div><div align="left">The President continued his speech by saying that the hike in world prices of oil is due to the uranium enrichment programme carried out in the ‘secret establishments’ of the oil-and-gas-rich-yet-impoverished state of Mamalia in the sub-saharan Africa. He said Mamalia was posing a grave threat to humanity and it must immediately discontinue its uranium enrichment program. It is pertinent to note that the UN has released its <strong>AYCR</strong> (<strong>A</strong>s if <strong>Y</strong>ou <strong>C</strong>are to <strong>R</strong>ead) document promptly to condemn USA’s intention. The President however asked his army to be ready to save the motherland from the enemy.<br /><br /><strong>Mamalia’s Response (13.06.2050)<br /></strong>The oil-and-gas-rich-yet-impoverished state of Mamalia had replied that its top bureaucrats had heard of the name ‘Uranium’ only once before the US President had accused Mamalia of enriching it -in a spielberg movie. The Mamalian president who had recently won an election without even participating in it angrily shot back at USA by saying ‘USA will bite dust if they war with us’. He admitted that if Mamalia had enough money to buy uranium its citizens would give themselves a good shave everyday.<br /></div><div align="left">The Mamalian president replied irritatingly to a question on how he won the election without competing in it by saying “Mamalia has its own form of democracy in which the opponents to the ruling party lose everytime.” </div>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-46030199395430663992007-11-07T10:55:00.001+05:302009-07-14T21:43:08.828+05:30Emergency in PakistanPakistan has been dragged into an emergency by yet another dictator. That’s not much news, considering the fact that the country's citizens have largely not seen what democracy is after its cessation from India.<br />However I wouldn't call it a "failed state" or anything like that, because it’s quite simple to write off a country but it’s difficult to set things right. I firmly believe many of Pakistan’s problems such as the Talibanisation of its North West Frontier Province, tribal warlords of Balochistan have solution not in the military might but by enforcing the voter's right.<br /><br /><strong>Emergency: What is it?<br /></strong> I'm not sure when Emergency option was last used for the "right" reason. Let’s first analyse what we mean by Emergency and its effect on the country at large.<br />Emergency leads to<br />1. Cancellation of a citizen's Fundamental Rights such as - Right to freedom of expression, to assemble peacefully, to choose a profession of any choice etc<br />2. It gives ultimate power to the president/head of the executive.<br />3. Bills are passed without consultation in the legislature.<br />4. None of the rights can be enforced in the court of law.<br /><br /><strong>Why does a state need this provision?</strong><br />Emergency is a “necessary evil” for any country. Consider India for example. Being a large country (7th largest in the world) it is divided into states for administrative convenience. All its citizens, irrespective of which state they belong, enjoy the <strong>Fundamental rights (articles 13 - 21) </strong>as mentioned above modeled along the lines of<strong> Bill of Rights of USA</strong>. The Indian constitution is common to all, except for J&K which has its <em>Ranbir constitution</em>. However the framers of our constitution felt that there were some contingencies which warranted the country to behave like a unitary state and to restrict the rights given to its citizens. For instance during an Emergency, the state can virtually issue “fatwas” or directions to a citizen. A car manufacturer for example could be forced to produce jeeps which will be more useful to the military, though it is unconstitutional during normal times.<br /><br />In India emergencies were declared thrice - 1962 war with china, 1971 Bangladesh war, the infamous emergency declared by Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977 for which the congress is paying a price to this day. Infact during the emergencies even the Right to life (article 21) was denied to citizens. This means that if a person was shot dead, it could not be heard in any court of law. It was the Janata Government which passed the <strong>44th constitutional amendment act </strong>which made Right to life mandatory even during emergencies.<br /><br /><strong>Pakistan’s situation</strong><br />The military plays a big role in Pakistan. The military has taken to itself even developmental administration. In Pakistan, bridges, roads and other civil establishments are constructed by the military. Military plays the role of a “businessman” without restricting itself to protecting the borders. This situation exists, unfortunately, in many countries of the world say – Fiji, Thailand, Myanmar. In Myanmar the military even calls itself<strong> SPDC (state peace development council) </strong>and has been ruling since 1990 when it cancelled the elections in which <em>Aung san suu kyi</em> won.<br /><br />In a country where military has such a pronounced role, coups is only a natural phenomenon. In the countries mentioned above too there have been many coups and are presently ruled by military heads. In such countries a mere change of a military head receives so much attention as compared to large democracies – for instance how many people even took notice of the fact that <em>Gen.Deepak Kapoor</em> replaced <em>Gen.JJ Singh</em> as the new chief of army staff in India? I was happy to see that this news occupied only an insignificant place in the front page of newspapers. That’s how it ought to be.<br /><br />Democracy is the only weapon with which we can fight the evils of terrorism, social inequalities and other maladies. It is by giving representation and not by gagging the citizen that development can be achieved. Development without democracy is like the comb in the hands of a bald man. Simply useless!vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-11665482448826638932007-08-02T00:19:00.001+05:302009-07-14T21:45:01.662+05:30Theres nothing 'Public' about 'Public Administration'<span style="font-family:verdana;">I am presently studying "Public Administration" (pubAd) for my Civil Service Examinations. The subject is very interesting for those who have an inclination towards management and administration (not the excel sheet variety of management ofcourse).<br /><br />I figured out that the macro level theories of PubAd fit perfectly at micro level too - that is at the family administration level. Consider the spirit of Public Administration, it reads </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><blockquote><b>"Authority without responsibility leads to authoritarianism; while<br />responsibility without authority leads to anarchy(lack of order)".</b><br /></blockquote><br />How profound is that. I tried applying this to families and found it to fit perfectly. The Indian families of yesteryears could be termed as Authoritarian to say the least. The head honcho of the family (the father) decided all important decisions and it was his nod that enabled us to go ahead with our decisions. In many cases the father even decided his offspring's career! The mother's job was confined to the kitchen and even here her authority was checked in terms of the approval for buying groceries by the head of the family. Clearly in many ways we find that fathers enjoyed real authority without much responsibility (he never actually got the groceries himself). Certainly that was an authoritarian setup with no room for equality.<br /><br />The families of today, on the other hand, can be seen to tread in an entirely new route which quite untested. These families generally constitute a husband and wife of similar qualification and income. They have certainly broken all barriers of the conventional authoritarian regime that is characteristic of a typical Indian household by espousing the 'virtue' of Anarchy – a complete lack of order in the house.<br /><br />It is not uncommon to hear of stories about the husband and wife having a 50-50 <em>'work sharing agreement' </em>back at home – the wife cooks breakfast while the husband cooks the lunch. Other 'deals' could be that each of them make breakfast every alternate day. - it follows the paradigm “I toast a slice of bread and you toast another”. I wonder whether the binding force in this relationship could be love, i would bet it is more a case of practical room sharing agreement due to space and money constraints that one has with his/her room mate.<br /><br />The relationship is built on the false premise that in a family there is no need for a person to act as the final deciding authority. However the truth is that no organization can survive without a leader. Even the most flat hierarchic of the organizations such as a startup software development company needs a department head. <strong>An headless creature and a two headed demon are both expected not to survive long.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br />In this type of relationship there is no one in the family who calls the shots. This indecisiveness could soon eat away the air of 'equality' that once formed the basis of the relationship 'deals' or <em>prenuptial Agreements</em>(soon expected to arrive at the Indian Matriominal scene).<br /><br />The authoritarian family setup is indeed bad. But <strong>anarchy is not the answer to authoritarianism</strong>. We have to find an alternate middle path.<br /><br /></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-34421689379293633192007-06-08T16:47:00.001+05:302009-07-14T21:45:49.874+05:30Come Lets Patent<span style="font-family:verdana;">That the USA has denied reports of trying to patent yoga postures comes as a relief to many Indians around the world. Many ardent yogis who wonder how the US got the right to decide whether it would patent or not a divine exercise which has it roots deeply planted in India, fail to realise that India had to fight a legal battle in the WTO to safeguard her interest when USA patented <em><strong>turmeric and Basmati rice</strong></em> both of which are associated with India since time immemorial.<br /><br />It is a known fact that America either beats or buys talent and from history we know that they have been more successful in buying out talent. Lakhs of Indian engineers, doctors and other technocrats who are serving in US holding their precious dollars close to their chest stand a testimony to this. USA dominates every nation using its borrowed talent and it becomes important to patent every piece of research to save itself from defection. The issue of evergreening the patents (continue to provide royalty forever) given to life saving drugs is only the tip of the ice berg. USA with its <em><strong>Super 501 and special 501</strong></em> clauses threatens LDCs(least developed countries) to approve evergreening of such drugs so that these drug companies can continue to extract high profits from these poor nations. India was recently forced to amend her Intellectual property rights Act to fall in line. India had to budge as USA threatened to stop all import of Indian generic drugs which have a good market in the US.<br /><br />Aren't patents unfair beyond a point? How can obsolete technology be patented beyond 20 years? How can obvious 'inventions' be patented? For instance, the mother of redundant patents, Microsoft has patented the <em><strong>radio button</strong></em> which lets you select one choice among the given alternatives. With the growing competition between the nations, it wouldn't be a surprise if the US ends up patenting our <em><strong>Kamasutra</strong></em>. You'd then be required to fix a camera in your bedroom and perform only those acts (postures) for which you have paid money. If you're found to venture into other 'unpaid' acts during your moments of intimacy, you'd be fined along with the relevant video showing your violation.<br /><br />India can try her luck too by patenting <strong><em>Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism</em></strong> as they originated from our country. We could then charge people a nominal fee for practicing it. We could also get royalty from Srilanka, South East Asia as they have been 'using' our invention without paying. Those who continue to hold their dollars close to their chest could feel that this is a wonderful idea.<br /></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-69440250591901531382007-05-22T17:09:00.000+05:302007-05-22T17:42:57.230+05:30How insignificant is the human race?One of the best ways to understand the relation between the earth and all that exists on it is to imagine that the earth is 46 years old. And when we write her life history, we find that we know nothing about the first seven years of her life, but the deeds of her later childhood are to be seen in the old rocks.<br /><br />Most of what we recognise on earth, including all substantial life is the product of the last six years of its life(i.e 600 m.y). She flowered, in her middle age. Her continents were quite bare of its life till she was almost 42 and flowering plants did not appear until she was 45 - just a year ago. At that time the great reptiles, including the dinosaurs, came into existence and the breakup of the last supercontinent was in progress.<br /><br />The dinosaurs passed away eight months ago and the early mammal replaced them. In the middle of last week, in Africa, some manlike apes developed into apelike man and at the weekend mother earth began shivering with the latest series of extremely cold ice-ages. Just over four hours have elapsed since a new species HomoSapiens came into existence and in the last hour it invented agriculture and settled down.Just about 30 minutes back the pre-harappan and early harappan cultures started developing. Just about 14 minutes back, Buddha delivered his first sermon at sarnath, and the Mauryan empire flourished 12 minutes back. Harsha gave all, whatever he had, the religious assembly at prayag about 7 minutes back, and Akbar made a pilgrimage to sufi saint Salim Chisti just about 2 minutes back. India became a proud independent nation hardly two seconds back.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:78%;color:#c0c0c0;">Source: XIth standard Ancient india NCERT book.</span><br /></span><span style="color:#c0c0c0;"></span><br /><span style="color:#000000;">Would you give me a soft loan of 1 lakh? i'll return it in one day :)</span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-1170962568345113962007-02-09T00:42:00.001+05:302009-07-14T21:47:50.896+05:30A report on earth<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Prologue:<br />[Cartosat II of ISRO (Indian satellite research organisation) picks up weird signals while in orbit around earth. It carefully records these cryptic messages and sends it back to the ground station. After much labour, the message is deciphered and here it is for your readership]<br /><br />Beep Beep. Sending a summary about the third rock from this obscure star (the earthlings call it sun). Our intuition is right! There is some form of primitive life form in this small rock earth.<br />Presently this habitat can be seen to be dominated by a species which is addressed to as the mankind. This species is spread all around the rock though not uniformly distributed. Since the star (sun) heats up the surface of this planet differently at different places, it can be seen that the species is differently burnt. The ones occupying the centre of the rock are burnt more than the ones living on the fringes. It is evident that the ones that are not as burnt as the ones living near the equator (centre of the planet) have a sense of superiority over the partially and the completely burnt ones.<br /><br />Presently this species which has taken control of earth can be seen to convert all forms of life to its own self for no obvious reasons. But it has been quite successful in this mission – their numbers have grown close to 7 billion. The reason behind this cannot be attributed to a possible attack on our establishments near andromeda considering its technological backwardness. For example, this species has fixed an upper bound on the velocity of its vehicles at the speed of light and it considers taking a few snaps of itself from some distance from its surface a great achievement. Some sections of this species are however against such a ruthless conversion exercise. This group is also against consumption of other creatures and advocate on the dependence on green leaves and other such support mechanisms instead. Chief among the reasons for this insistence is that they argue that other forms of life have something called “emotions”. However an overwhelming majority of these creatures that preach this principle can be seen to be wearing accessories made out of skin of other thick skinned creatures that are not active after the skin is taken away from them. Perhaps these thick skinned creatures don’t have afore mentioned “emotions”.<br /><br /><br />The species is divided into two primary groups- one of them can be seen to go behind the other for an instant personal gratification. It requires a pair (one from each group) to produce another creature of the same species. About one of the groups, it can be clearly seen, the best way to reach its heart (organ of satisfaction) is through its stomach. The process is slightly complex for the other- it requires mining of rare metals, careful enrichment of their ores must precede melting and casting them into different shapes.<br /><br />This mankind depends on dark rocks and fluid substance found beneath its surface to fuel its vehicles and some smoking chimneys (which are known as ‘factories’ among the earth folk). This act of mankind has upset the normal working of the system of earth. It has destroyed the protective covering of gas around the planet which is known as the ‘Atmosphere’. Some groups of this species have raised their opposition against this unscrupulous activity which could endanger its own sustenance in this planet. Some of these influential groups have been successful in preventing the setting up of smoking chimneys in some of the darker sections of the earth. It is an irony that these groups are based out of the same place on earth which causes maximum destruction to earth’s atmosphere. The reason behind using such a suicidal method of obtaining fuel is not known given the fact that sun (an infinite source of energy) is less than half a light year’s distance from this place.<br /><br />About its culture, it can be seen that the whole mankind celebrates an event called the ‘new year’ by assembling at a common place and shaking itself to curious angles and gulping down fermented liquid. This ‘new year’ is celebrated on account of the earth successfully completing a lap around the sun and starting the next round. However it’s a surprise again as to how this species found the starting and ending point of an elliptical closed plane which has no beginning or end.<br />Mankind has been giving many paradoxes for our mission control to solve. However the Holocene phenomena could be predicted not to last for long to pose a threat to us since they are not even half as powerful and imposing as their Jurrasic counterparts that once dominated the same surface. Its genetic system is also corrupted with self destructing tendencies and hence will not cause much harm to us. However the only scope for its survival depends much on a person who presently lives in a place which hosts 1/6th of the mankind. This person is seen to be busy preparing for some examination presently.</span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-1142166110007126112006-03-12T17:29:00.000+05:302006-03-12T17:55:12.336+05:30A letter from a S/w Engineer to his momDear mom,<br />Pranams. Did the money-order i sent reach you on time? You will be happy to know that i am not working late these days. Infact, I come home early by 10. I cannot believe that i have time to shave, eat dinner, and sleep everyday. Not everyone has the same luck as i have. My collegues are jealous of me . I know its all because of your <span style="font-style: italic;">Aashirvaad</span>.<br /><br />However, I will be put into a new assignment shortly and it will be the same old schedule of coming back home at 2 in the morning. A couple of months backm, while i was walking back home late, i accidentally stepped over two dogs that were busy mating. They didnt spare me ..ouch it hurts even now :(<br /><br />Shanthi called me this evening. I know you would hate to even hear the name of your daughter-in -law who deserted me. I gave everything to her - the best home, comfort, a lot of money to spend, yet she kept finding fault with me. Its been two years since that fateful midnight when she picked up a quarrel with me for coming home late and decided to separate.<br /><br />She called me up to inform that she's pregnant. Isn't that a happy news mom? I feel very happy. Your prayers have been answered. Our <span style="font-style: italic;">parampara</span> will grow. I wish papa were alive to hear this good news.<br /><br />I read a piece of news this morning which greatly upset me. A man who was always found in the company of children, used them to satisfy his sexual needs. He gave chocolates to tempt them to yield.<br />It's very depressing to know that such cruel exploitations exist in the world even today.<br /><br />Before i forget, I've been chosen to lead the team to work on a new assignment. This is a very demanding work and i would be required to stay for days together at office. My manager personally called me into his room to announce my pay hike. I feel so happy and elated. My company is the best in recognising talent. They've recognised mine so many times. :)<br /><br />This extra money that i earn will be helpful in buying my new home at 'sava- pura'. I was lucky to get the last apartment before it was taken up by someone else. Once i buy the apartment, you can come and stay with me. I hope all this will come to frution in five years.<br /> Take care of yourself mom. You're the only one i have and you're aging. I will try to come and meet you soon.<br /><br />Your son<br />Chintu<br />Project leader,<br />XYZ software Systems<br />with 500 branches in 400 countries.<br />No.1 in software solutionsvikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-1132858797313335652005-11-25T00:15:00.000+05:302005-11-25T00:29:57.360+05:30Sexual harassment - the other side<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">One of the main reasons that make a professional stay in the same job is the notice period that he will have to serve if he opts to quit. Imagine sitting in your desk imagining about your next job when you're asked to work on some boring project. I believe every company has such projects exclusively reserved for those employees serving their notice period. Such projects typically require as much effort as a yukozona or a sumo wrestler would require crushing a mosquito to death. But if you're bent upon stretching it to 30 days, you could make use of an illiterate blind guy without his 2 limbs to work on the coding part. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br />But then every thing has its own benefits. Shouldn't we be eternal optimists? An optimist is a person who likes the donut for its smell and taste while a pessimist looks at the hole in it. The guy in American Pie, who put the innocent donut to good use, must be an opportunist.<br /><br />Lets get back to the issue on hand.<br /><br />There are many ways to get out of the company soon. Some of them are<br /><strong> 1. Damaging company's resource(s).<br /></strong>Although this might seem to be the easiest way out, it has its own repercussions. You might get into legal issues or if you had damaged some sensitive server, you could be 'treated' by the company employed goondas.<br /><br /><strong>2. Email the CEO telling him that he doesn't have the balls to fire you.<br /></strong>Again, a very effective method to make a quick exit. The CEO would certainly fire you to show his authority over you. But the problem is that you'd soon become the laughing stock of the entire company. The news will reach the other companies (courtesy: Free pool). The CEO will invariably point you as an example when he talks to new recruits.<br /><br /><strong>3. You can be highly unproductive. </strong><br />Imagine you're given a dead line tomorrow and you go to your Project Manager and coolly ask him/her to go with you for a cup of tea. Although a lot of guys have been show the door for doing it, you stand the risk of being sent to training sessions for attitude change! The chances are more if you work for big companies where employees are transported into the company using trucks. Worse still, what would you do if your PM agrees to go with you for a cup of tea ;)<br /><br /><em>Sexual harassment</em>, therefore, seems to be the only way to a safe and quick exit. Its one method that's hassle free and time tested. Perhaps, Phaneesh murthy only wanted to join Iflex a little early. But then, what if the person whom you harass sexually co-operates! Isn't it a win-win situation anyway ?;) <br /></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938858.post-1125124521464208462005-08-27T12:01:00.000+05:302005-08-27T12:05:21.470+05:30Café au lait<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">P</span></strong>erhaps there is no other beverage equivalent to a hot cup of steaming madras filter coffee (pronounced in most homes here as kaapi). I haven’t tried marijuana yet, and am not planning to.<br /><br />An average madrasi wakes up listening to MS subbalakshmi’s Suprabharatham and sits to read the morning daily with a hot cup of coffee by his side. It feels like your sleepy senses are hit by a base ball bat with every sip of this divine drink.<br /><br />Among other uses, coffee has certain medicinal values as well. It is the best <em>download accelerator</em> ever invented by man. The tenth minute after drinking a cuppa coffee, you’d find yourself in Mother Nature’s lap answering her call promptly. Many people believe that this property of coffee is the reason behind naming the programming language JAVA (JAVA in Hebrew means coffee). Haven’t you heard people saying that JAVA scares the shit out of them?<br /><br />Although not proven, coffee increases your will power and determination. There are references to prove that the Iron man of India, Sardar vallabhai patel, drank two cups of it every day. Patel was once arguing in the court when the news of the sudden demise of his wife reached him. He maintained his cool and continued with the case. An ordinary soul wouldn’t have been able to contain the excitement and joy and must have started celebrating thereby attracting the contempt of the court.<br /><br />Instant coffee is another variety which can be used alternately for hair dyeing. Prolonged consumption of it turns your hair white. Jokes apart, we must restrict ourselves to not more than two cups of coffee per day. The ‘cups’ you get in coffee day or other such places fall under a differenet category called bathtubs. A cup is strictly any vessel that can hold not more than 250 ml of liquid and doesn’t pose a threat for anyone to trip and fall into it.</span></span>vikramanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00466609980505366474noreply@blogger.com2