By Lee Wei Ling
The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute and Lee Kuan Yew's daughter(Lee Kuan Yew is the former Prime Minister of Singapore).
In 2007, in an end-of-year message to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, I wrote: 'Whilst boom time in the public sector is never as booming as in the private sector, let us not forget that boom time is eventually followed by slump time. Slump time in the public sector is always less painful compared to the private sector.' Slump time has arrived with a bang.
While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life. Decades of the good life have made us soft. The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore, have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities.
A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.
A Mercedes-Benz is no longer adequate as a status symbol. For millionaires who wish to show the world they have taste, a Ferrari or a Porsche is deemed more appropriate.
The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.
The media encourages and amplifies this ostentatious consumption. Perhaps it is good to encourage people to spend more because this will prevent the recession from getting worse. I am not an economist, but wasn't that the root cause of the current crisis - Americans spending more than they could afford to?
I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don't believe in the supernatural and I don't think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me: 'Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.'
My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal. My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today's standards, but it is simple - in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.
Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a home we have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison.
Most of the world and much of Singapore will lament the economic downturn. We have been told to tighten our belts. There will undoubtedly be suffering, which we must try our best to ameliorate. But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970 who have never lived through difficult times. No matter how poor you are in Singapore, the authorities and social groups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore.
Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so, even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottle to $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.
Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy. Enjoying the fruits of one's own labour is one's prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously.
But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?
Neither an Aston Martin nor a Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.
When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than we found it?
We know which is the correct choice - and it is within our power to make that choice.
In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely.
To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly.
Courtesy - Thanks to my Mentor, who has circulated this mail from his end, worth emulating some good practices in our life for a better society.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Managing Career & Expectations - R. Gopalakrishnan - Executive Director, Tata Sons.
Managing Career & Expectations:
Talk at IIM
(These are the personal views of Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director - Tata Sons)
Great Stuff from a great ex-HLL manager. A Story on how to manage your career & your expectations by R. Gopalakrishnan
There is a Thai saying that experience is a comb which Nature gives to man after he is bald. As I grow bald, I would like to share my comb with you.
1. Seek out grassroots level experience
I studied Physics and Engineering at University. A few months before graduation, I appeared for an HLL interview for Computer Traineeship. When asked whether I would consider Marketing instead of Computers, I responded negatively : an engineer to visit grocery shops to sell Dalda or Lifebuoy? Gosh, no way. After I joined the Company and a couple of comfortable weeks in the swanky Head Office, I was given a train ticket to go to Nasik. Would I please meet Mr. Kelkar to whom I would be attached for the next two months? He would teach me to work as a salesman in his territory, which included staying in Kopargaon and Pimpalgaon among other small towns. I was most upset. In a town called Ozhar, I was moving around from shop to shop with a bullock cart full of products and a salesman's folder in my hand. Imagine my embarrassment when an IIT friend appeared in front of me in Ozhar, believe it or not! And exclaimed, "Gopal, I thought you joined as a Management Trainee in Computers". I could have died a thousand deaths. After this leveling experience, I was less embarrassed to work as a Dispatch Clerk in the Company Depot and an Invoice Clerk in the Accounts Department. Several years later, I realised the value of such grassroots level experience. It is fantastic. I would advise young people to seek out nail-dirtying, collar-soiling, shoe-wearing tasks. That is how you learn about organizations, about the true nature of work, and the dignity of the many, many tasks that go into building great enterprises.
2. Deserve before you desire
At one stage, I was appointed as the Brand Manager for Lifebuoy and Pears soap, the company's most popular-priced and most premium soaps. And what was a Brand Manager? "A mini-businessman, responsible for the production, sales and profits of the brand, accountable for its long-term growth, etc., etc. I had read those statements, I believed them and here I was, at 27,"in charge of everything". But very soon, I found I could not move a pin without checking with my seniors. One evening, after turning the Facit machine handle through various calculations, I sat in front of the Marketing Director. I expressed my frustration and gently asked whether I could not be given total charge. He smiled benignly and said, "The perception and reality are both right. You will get total charge when you know more about the brand than anyone else in this company about its formulation, the raw materials, the production costs, the consumer's perception, the distribution and so on. How long do you think that it will take?" "Maybe, ten years", I replied, "and I don't expect to be the Lifebuoy and Pears Brand Manager for so long"! And then suddenly, the lesson was clear. I was desiring total control, long before I deserved it. This happens to us all the time - in terms of responsibilities, in terms of postings and promotions, it happens all the time that there is a gap between our perception of what we deserve and the reality of what we get. It helps to deserve before we desire.
3. Play to win but win with fairness
Life is competitive and of course, you play to win. But think about the balance. Will you do anything, to win? Perhaps not. Think deeply about how and where you draw the line. Each person draws it differently, and in doing so, it helps to think about values. Winning without values provides dubious fulfillment. The leaders who have contributed the most are the ones with a set of universal values! Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King for example. Napoleon inspired a ragged, mutinous and half-starved army to fight and seize power. This brought him name and fame for twenty years. But all the while, he was driven forward by a selfish and evil ambition, and not in pursuit of a great ideal. He finally fell because of his selfish ambition. I am fond of referring to the Pierre de Coubertin Fair Play Trophy. It was instituted in 1964 by the founder of the modern Olympic Games and here are two examples of winners. A Hungarian tennis player who pleaded with the umpire to give his opponent some more time to recover from a cramp. A British kayak team who were trailing the Danish kayak team. They then stopped to help the Danish team whose boat was stuck. The Danes went on to beat the British by one second in a three hour event! What wonderful examples of sportsmanship! Play to Win, but with Fairness.
4. Enjoy whatever you do
Sir Thomas Lipton is credited with the statement, "There is no greater fun than hard work". You usually excel in fields, which you truly enjoy. Ask any person what it is that interferes with his enjoyment of existence. He will say, "The struggle for life". What he probably means is the struggle for success. Unless a person has learnt what to do with success after getting it, the very achievement of it must lead him to unhappiness. Aristotle wrote, "Humans seek happiness as an end in itself, not as a means to something else". But if you think about it, we should not work for happiness. We should work as happy people. In organizational life, people get busy doing something to be happy. The more you try to be happy, the more unhappy you can get. Your work and career is all about you’re reaching your full potential. Working at one's full potential, whether it is the office boy or the Chairman, leads to enjoyment and fulfillment. A last point about enjoyment. Keep a sense of humor about yourself. Too many people are in danger of taking themselves far too seriously. As General Joe Stilwell is reported to have said, "Keep smiling. The higher the monkey climbs, the more you can see of his backside".
5. Be Passionate about your health
Of course, as you get older, you would have a slight paunch, graying of hair or loss of it and so on. But it is in the first 5 - 7 years after the working career begins that the greatest neglect of youthful health occurs. Sportsmen stop playing sports, non drinkers drink alcohol, light smokers smoke more, active people sit on chairs, and starving inmates of hostels eat rich food in good hotels and so on. These are the years to watch. Do not, I repeat do not, convince yourself that you are too busy, or that you do not have access to facilities, or worst of all, that you do this to relieve the stresses of a professional career. A professional career is indeed very stressful. There is only one person who can help you to cope with the tension, avoid the doctor's scalpel, and to feel good each morning - and that is yourself. God has given us as good a health as He has, a bit like a credit balance in the bank. Grow it, maintain it, but do not allow its value destruction. The penalty is very high in later years.
6. Direction is more important than distance
Every golfer tries to drive the ball to a very long distance. In the process, all sorts of mistakes occur because the game involves the masterly co-ordination of several movements simultaneously. The golf coach always advises that direction is more important than distance. So it is with life. Despite one's best attempts, there will be ups and downs. It is relationships and friendships that enable a person to navigate the choppy waters that the ship of life will encounter. When I was young, there was a memorable film by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Dona Reed, and named IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is about a man who is about to commit suicide because he thinks he is a failure. An angel is sent to rescue him. The bottom line of the film is that "No Man is a Failure Who Has Friends".
Conclusion:
My generation will never be twenty again, but when you are older, you can and should be different from my generation. Ours is a great and wonderful country, and realising her true potential in the global arena depends ever so much on the quality and persistence of our young people.
Good luck in your journey, my young friends, and God be with you.
Courtesy:This article posted in my blog is a forward that I have received from my Corporate circle. Inspiring & worth sharing -It's posted with the intention to spread such good messages to one and all.
Talk at IIM
(These are the personal views of Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director - Tata Sons)
Great Stuff from a great ex-HLL manager. A Story on how to manage your career & your expectations by R. Gopalakrishnan
There is a Thai saying that experience is a comb which Nature gives to man after he is bald. As I grow bald, I would like to share my comb with you.
1. Seek out grassroots level experience
I studied Physics and Engineering at University. A few months before graduation, I appeared for an HLL interview for Computer Traineeship. When asked whether I would consider Marketing instead of Computers, I responded negatively : an engineer to visit grocery shops to sell Dalda or Lifebuoy? Gosh, no way. After I joined the Company and a couple of comfortable weeks in the swanky Head Office, I was given a train ticket to go to Nasik. Would I please meet Mr. Kelkar to whom I would be attached for the next two months? He would teach me to work as a salesman in his territory, which included staying in Kopargaon and Pimpalgaon among other small towns. I was most upset. In a town called Ozhar, I was moving around from shop to shop with a bullock cart full of products and a salesman's folder in my hand. Imagine my embarrassment when an IIT friend appeared in front of me in Ozhar, believe it or not! And exclaimed, "Gopal, I thought you joined as a Management Trainee in Computers". I could have died a thousand deaths. After this leveling experience, I was less embarrassed to work as a Dispatch Clerk in the Company Depot and an Invoice Clerk in the Accounts Department. Several years later, I realised the value of such grassroots level experience. It is fantastic. I would advise young people to seek out nail-dirtying, collar-soiling, shoe-wearing tasks. That is how you learn about organizations, about the true nature of work, and the dignity of the many, many tasks that go into building great enterprises.
2. Deserve before you desire
At one stage, I was appointed as the Brand Manager for Lifebuoy and Pears soap, the company's most popular-priced and most premium soaps. And what was a Brand Manager? "A mini-businessman, responsible for the production, sales and profits of the brand, accountable for its long-term growth, etc., etc. I had read those statements, I believed them and here I was, at 27,"in charge of everything". But very soon, I found I could not move a pin without checking with my seniors. One evening, after turning the Facit machine handle through various calculations, I sat in front of the Marketing Director. I expressed my frustration and gently asked whether I could not be given total charge. He smiled benignly and said, "The perception and reality are both right. You will get total charge when you know more about the brand than anyone else in this company about its formulation, the raw materials, the production costs, the consumer's perception, the distribution and so on. How long do you think that it will take?" "Maybe, ten years", I replied, "and I don't expect to be the Lifebuoy and Pears Brand Manager for so long"! And then suddenly, the lesson was clear. I was desiring total control, long before I deserved it. This happens to us all the time - in terms of responsibilities, in terms of postings and promotions, it happens all the time that there is a gap between our perception of what we deserve and the reality of what we get. It helps to deserve before we desire.
3. Play to win but win with fairness
Life is competitive and of course, you play to win. But think about the balance. Will you do anything, to win? Perhaps not. Think deeply about how and where you draw the line. Each person draws it differently, and in doing so, it helps to think about values. Winning without values provides dubious fulfillment. The leaders who have contributed the most are the ones with a set of universal values! Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King for example. Napoleon inspired a ragged, mutinous and half-starved army to fight and seize power. This brought him name and fame for twenty years. But all the while, he was driven forward by a selfish and evil ambition, and not in pursuit of a great ideal. He finally fell because of his selfish ambition. I am fond of referring to the Pierre de Coubertin Fair Play Trophy. It was instituted in 1964 by the founder of the modern Olympic Games and here are two examples of winners. A Hungarian tennis player who pleaded with the umpire to give his opponent some more time to recover from a cramp. A British kayak team who were trailing the Danish kayak team. They then stopped to help the Danish team whose boat was stuck. The Danes went on to beat the British by one second in a three hour event! What wonderful examples of sportsmanship! Play to Win, but with Fairness.
4. Enjoy whatever you do
Sir Thomas Lipton is credited with the statement, "There is no greater fun than hard work". You usually excel in fields, which you truly enjoy. Ask any person what it is that interferes with his enjoyment of existence. He will say, "The struggle for life". What he probably means is the struggle for success. Unless a person has learnt what to do with success after getting it, the very achievement of it must lead him to unhappiness. Aristotle wrote, "Humans seek happiness as an end in itself, not as a means to something else". But if you think about it, we should not work for happiness. We should work as happy people. In organizational life, people get busy doing something to be happy. The more you try to be happy, the more unhappy you can get. Your work and career is all about you’re reaching your full potential. Working at one's full potential, whether it is the office boy or the Chairman, leads to enjoyment and fulfillment. A last point about enjoyment. Keep a sense of humor about yourself. Too many people are in danger of taking themselves far too seriously. As General Joe Stilwell is reported to have said, "Keep smiling. The higher the monkey climbs, the more you can see of his backside".
5. Be Passionate about your health
Of course, as you get older, you would have a slight paunch, graying of hair or loss of it and so on. But it is in the first 5 - 7 years after the working career begins that the greatest neglect of youthful health occurs. Sportsmen stop playing sports, non drinkers drink alcohol, light smokers smoke more, active people sit on chairs, and starving inmates of hostels eat rich food in good hotels and so on. These are the years to watch. Do not, I repeat do not, convince yourself that you are too busy, or that you do not have access to facilities, or worst of all, that you do this to relieve the stresses of a professional career. A professional career is indeed very stressful. There is only one person who can help you to cope with the tension, avoid the doctor's scalpel, and to feel good each morning - and that is yourself. God has given us as good a health as He has, a bit like a credit balance in the bank. Grow it, maintain it, but do not allow its value destruction. The penalty is very high in later years.
6. Direction is more important than distance
Every golfer tries to drive the ball to a very long distance. In the process, all sorts of mistakes occur because the game involves the masterly co-ordination of several movements simultaneously. The golf coach always advises that direction is more important than distance. So it is with life. Despite one's best attempts, there will be ups and downs. It is relationships and friendships that enable a person to navigate the choppy waters that the ship of life will encounter. When I was young, there was a memorable film by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Dona Reed, and named IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. It is about a man who is about to commit suicide because he thinks he is a failure. An angel is sent to rescue him. The bottom line of the film is that "No Man is a Failure Who Has Friends".
Conclusion:
My generation will never be twenty again, but when you are older, you can and should be different from my generation. Ours is a great and wonderful country, and realising her true potential in the global arena depends ever so much on the quality and persistence of our young people.
Good luck in your journey, my young friends, and God be with you.
Courtesy:This article posted in my blog is a forward that I have received from my Corporate circle. Inspiring & worth sharing -It's posted with the intention to spread such good messages to one and all.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
January 2009
January 2009
"Here we are in a month named after the Roman god Janus, an appropriate personification of the start of the new year. This particular Roman god had two faces so that he could look ahead toward the future and back at the past at the same time. As we get rid of an old year and look forward to a new one, we all try to be a little like Janus. We know through experience what we did wrong and what we did right, and hope to do better this year. Some people make ambitious new year's resolutions; others just take a deep breath and hope for the best.…"
(Courtesy - World Wide Web)
At the India Gate,New Delhi, Jan 2, 2009,bhupesh balakrishnan
Jan is my friendly month…is infact my month. I have many reasons to feel great…for Jan makes me feel always special! With the first day being the New year, then exactly after seven days,arrives my birthday, which I share along 
with Elvis Presley. I had the privilege to have my dinner along with two Members of the Indian Parliament- one in the Lok Sabha, a Veteran Leader and the other person, a Member of the Rajya Sabha, on the First of January 2009.For me the dinner was special, since, after almost a two week long stay in Delhi, having my dinner all alone, i was happy to have my dinner that day along with some known friendly faces.So, for me the joy of having the dinner along with known faces made me happy, than the feeling,that, am having it along with two M.P.s of the Indian Parliament.
January also marked the entry of me as a "Lecturer", delivering my first guest lecture in a leading Management Institution in Chennai City. Delivering my guest lecture to a class of Second years, i dwelt upon the topic called, Customer Relationship Marketing and what it really and simply means to, and should mean to Organizations.End of the lecture, i had lot of their thoughts to carry back along with me, to--find out ways and means on how to execute those simplest of Customer Strategies to my brand.
Year 2008 was in many ways a life learning experience for everyone in this World. With the arrival of the global tsunami, the modern fight against terror –the Mumbai mayhem, the rising inequality between the haves and the have-nots, 2008 shook the world in many ways. It questioned the very basic path taken by our capitalistic friends across the World and the future of after-impacts arising due to post-globalization scenario.
Has globalization failed? Too early to comment and criticize. Interestingly, when I was in my last campus visit for my executive education programme in Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta a year back, we were requesting our Prof. Ashok Banerjee to recommend a good book to read. And, he suggested “The Olive and the Lexus Tree” by Thomas Friedman.
And, I started reading the book last year February 2008, and it was a co-incidence, when the first shake started happening in the financial markets across America. By the time I understood how Thomas was explaining about the benefits and necessary for Countries to get into their “Golden Straightjacket”, here, I was seeing Countries zipped out of their “so-called-golden straightjackets”. Incidentally, Thomas started writing this book after the last major financial crisis in 1997.
The book released in the year 1999, is now a witness to the next crisis, in a matter of just ten years.
I now started questioning the wisdom of Thomas Friedman. Obviously Thomas Friedman is a well-traveled New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, has seen more and heard more and experienced more than me. I do strongly agree with Thomas that the future shall belong to Countries who can make no mistake in establishing their Lexus as well as protecting their Olive tree. But, the way the so-called supermarkets and supercenters have become power centers, dictating and ruling the markets globally is what I question. And, 2008 exactly cleared me those doubts –that, they aren’t the ones to dictate the World markets. The tumbling of global financial powerhouses like a pack of cards falling down, has only justified my thoughts. What has happened has forced powerful economies like America and Britain to take a more Communistic approach. Bailout and take hold of their financial houses – nationalize their business houses and close their economy. India has been a country much criticized for its so-called protective economic approach- whereas what has protected India in both the 1997 crisis and the 2008 crisis is balanced approach…in the free market economy.
2008 Crisis has not insulated India since India has become part of the wired global financial and technological system. We are feeling the heat too.
What may save India to some extent, is its Agrarian economy and its nationalized banking system-which is regulated. Still, India will also have to pay its share of prices to having been part of the global market system. Being Greed is bad is the new lesson from the global markets. And, there cannot be a one-sided growth in the world. It has to be balanced. It has to be inclusive.
And, so let’s watch the way the so-called developed economies and emerging economies are going to battle this war.
January 2009 also marked the much-hyped and over-reacted event in the Political history of the West. The winning of Barack Obama as the first Afro-Amercian President in its history.
Let us welcome the new President of the United States of America.
Congratulations to you Mr. President of United States of America!
With the 24-hour news channels constantly getting fed with information’s round the World and beaming the same to one’s bedroom, it is humanly not possible to move away our eyes without focusing and paying attention to such big events. I am talking about the American Presidential Oath taking ceremony. I have always been a fan of History and so-was hooked to the event on that night as usual. But, what also wondered me was, are we Indians, up there watching the same ceremony of the Indian Prime Minister and President in our Country? I doubt that. People may say, that they aren’t not so inspiring. But, are we as Citizens of the Republic of India living as its true Citizen. How many of us do watch the Flag hoisting on Republic day and Independence Day in our Country. Let’s stop taking the same approach what many here took for showing their reactions to the movie, the SlumDog Millionaire. Let’s introspect and be candid. In Japan, when their leader come to speak to his people, people wear their military attire to sit attentively to listen to what their leader has to say. It could well be a thing of past even there…
I should consider myself lucky to develop this habit due to my family surroundings and my early serving in the N.C.C-being a National Cadet Corps for five years…during my school days and college days.
I am proud to be part of the Indian Army….as having served in its Junior Army Division. But, then, people are not asked to join Army…but, do their basic duty as the Citizens of this great Republic. Somehow, we come short there. Our TV anchors were going ga-ga on the who is India’s Barack Obama. It really irked me…the wrong question….India’s has given so-called revolutionary leaders aplenty in the past….and they will keep coming.Why should we need barrack Obama? Maybe, they need more Gandhi and Other Indian leaders.
Let we people not forget that Barack and Rosa Parks are recent achievements in American history. India has many more such people, well before what America and other nations could throw outside to the World.
Mahatma Gandhi is not still much understood and appreciated by we Indians unfortunately. Whereas, he has been an inspirational figure to Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and today’s Barack Obama.
The Asian Countries, including India has had in the past and present Women as Head of the State and First Citizen of this Country. It has happened in this Republic India. India has many women as great freedom fighters…as early as in the eighteenth Century.
Bhima Bai Holkar, Rani Channama, Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Aruna asaf ali, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Sucheta Kripalani, Sister Nivedita are are all few but among many other notable Women leaders the Country has given to the World.
Dr.Ambedkar, the Chief Architect of the Indian Constitution, was born in the –those days, so-called untouchable family. He has risen from abject situations of denial to be India’s first Law Minister. He is a Produce of this great Republic of India. Unfortunately, we Indian’s take a break, lazing on their Birthdays, given to recall them, has become Public Holidays to watch the new movie release of the month. Commercialization of everything has made us know no bounds on what we do in today’s World.
Two things are widely debated and spoken in the Year 2008 in India. One is the global Recession.
Let me reproduce the words written by Lee Wei Ling, the Director of the National Neuroscience Institute and Lee Kuan Yew's daughter( Lee Kuan Yew is the Former Prime Minister of Singapore) ….Lee writes…. . I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.
She continues further…. But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?
Neither an Aston Martin nor a Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye….
In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely. To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly….
The second thing is Freedom to do what one wants in India.
The Republic of India has given so much of Freedom-so much that we abuse the same using the same freedom given to us by our own constitution. The biggest freedom we have is our Rights to Vote and elect our Government. Those who have been to or read about Countries where Democracy does not exists-can appreciate what it means to enjoy to Vote and elect one’s own Government. We are acting as mere critics and not as agents of Change.
We should start acting as good and sensible citizen of this Country. Democracy also bring along with -its own challenges which we need to tackle. Let’s not forget, that well-established monarchies with great governing patterns have governed states of India in the past-centuries before the rest of the World came to coin the World, called, Democracy. Indian History will explain us what great a nation we have been in the past..
Rather than criticizing, lets salute our own achievement. We Indians have plenty to feel proud about like any other nations. Not less, if at all, only more to feel proud about. A peace loving nation, India with all its cultural diversity is a lesson for any other nation to become Democratic.
At the India Gate,New Delhi, Jan 2, 2009,bhupesh balakrishnan
Amidst all our failures, we continue to script our own success. This land has plenty to offer to the rest of the World, including the great Western nations.
Concluding, am happy to note that there is one President in U.S, who speaks and makes sense about what he speaks about. He promises a lot. I strongly believe that at the end of the day, the President of U.S will act as its President and not so different. Interest of America is the key to him.
But, no more can an American President be successful by trying to bring to global table his agenda of Uni -polarizing the World-for no more can that bring laurels to America and save it. It will destroy the great nation. So, Obama has started well. He has also admitted to having screwed up in his staff appointments. This shows his accountability. So, he can be trusted. He has to be trusted. For there is no other choice. But, what we all have to realize is What is Good for America can no more be good for the rest of the World. But, is bad for America can well be bad to rest of the World. And, here am, specifically talking about the mindless capitalistic approach of the Americans.
Let’s welcome the next phase of globalization with a human face!
(Other Photos Courtesy : Google)
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