2010 : Another New Year

Hi,

2010...Another new year with some changes for the better (for me). Anticipating some economic changes in the country and that will not be the same as the pre 2008, the financial industry will be having tighter controls and with that, the trade sector will be improving steadily.

With many of my new year resolutions achieved (except for the story-writing portions), I need to draft out the resolution tonight. One will be the story writing (again). Although many stories are in my mind, I have not been puting it down in writing. So, that is what I must start doing. There are also others that I will nto be able to share here, but things are looking better for me unlike my pre-2007 times (my first half of my life).

This time, it is another ball game.. a more positive one and it is great. Just creating and molding it to the betterment of my progress in career and life.

I am doing good in eating more vegetarian food than non-veg. I only consume egg and fish once in a while and have stopped eating other non-veg food. I have also completely stopped drinking soft-drinks. My body feels much better now. That clean and fresh feeling.. it is great. Hope to maintain it consistently.

I used to be very stingy due to my financial constrains and that trait is still stuck in me. I should loosen alittle and be thrifty than stingy.

I have started reading more books and should continue that too.

I have learnt to set my priorities especially when it involves grassroots volunteerism.

Just keeping in my the importance of time and money and staying in focus with my life's vision that was set by me 10 years ago.

Hope this new year will be a great one for the country as a whole :)

Best regards.

Kumaran RN

My Poems

Hi,

The following are some poems written by me :-


























Best regards.
Kumaran RN

A Thought Provoking Speech by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Hi,

The following is a thoght proving speech by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam (former President of India) who delivered it in Hyderabad, South India. I feel all Indian (from India) should read this speech and think about it and hopefully change for the better :-

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Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan .

Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.
When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.
Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalam
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Best regards.
Kumaran RN

Interesting Definitions

Hi,

I recently received an email from a friend that contained some interesting definitions that were (and still is) thought provoking. The following are the ones :-

CIGARETTE:
A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end and a fool at the other!

MARRIAGE:
It's an agreement wherein a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her master

LECTURE:
An art of transmitting Information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of students without passing through the minds of either

CONFERENCE:
The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present

COMPROMISE:
The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece

TEARS:
The hydraulic force by which masculine will power is defeated by feminine water-power!

DICTIONARY:
A place where divorce comes before marriage

CONFERENCE ROOM:
A place where everybody talks, nobody listens and everybody disagrees later on

ECSTASY:
A feeling when you feel you are going to feel a feeling you have never felt before

CLASSIC:
A book which people praise, but never read

OFFICE:
A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life

YAWN:
The only time when some married men ever get to open their mouth

ETC:
A sign to make others believe that you know more than you actually do

COMMITTEE:
Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together

EXPERIENCE:
The name men give to their Mistakes

ATOM BOMB:
An invention to bring an end to all inventions

PHILOSOPHER:
A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead

DIPLOMAT:
A person who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward
to the trip

OPPORTUNIST:
A person who starts taking bath if he accidentally falls into a river

OPTIMIST:
A person who while falling from EIFFEL TOWER says in midway "SEE I AM NOT INJURED YET!"

PESSIMIST:
A person who says that O is the last letter in ZERO, instead of the first letter
in OPPORTUNITY

MISER:
A person who lives poor so that he can die RICH!

FATHER:
A banker provided by nature

CRIMINAL:
A guy no different from the other, unless he gets caught

BOSS:
Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early

POLITICIAN:
One who shakes your hand before elections and your Confidence later

DOCTOR:
A person who kills your ills by pills, and kills you by his bills!

Best regards.
Kumaran RN

Towards Progress

Hi,

After tiring Deepavali preparations and celebrations, and continuing heavy workload, I managed to find some time now to air out my thoughts.

Deepavali comes and goes. When I was a single living with my parents, I used to just spend the deepavali holiday at home watching TV and doing my own things (after the usual morning prayers and family breakfast). After marriage, I started to travel to visit my parents, parents-in-law, and sisters.. all in a day. This was the same thing too for the three years now, but this year there has been a slight improvement.

After last year's deepavali, I stared to increase my vegetarian food intake and reduce my non-vegetarian food intake drastically. I have stopped eating chicken and mutton. I do take egg and fish, not often but once in a while. It has been a year since and I feel great physically and internally. I have also started to do regular meditation and improving my spiritual involvement.

As a result, I am able to find more answers and get realisations for many happenings. This year onwards I have decided to be on full vegetarian diet every deepavali (no egg or fish intake at all for me). It is nice to get the spiritual connections. The feelings and energy they generate as fantastic.

two weeks ago, I got the blessings of the siththar Dattatreya Siva Baba (http://www.sivababa.org/) when he was visiting Singapore to give some spiritual talks. I wanted to see him live and hear his speech, but I was gifted (unexpected) to get to walk with him so close after the talk to his car. His blessing looks and smile was just awesome. I felt as though I my karmas were gone. Thanks to my god brother Shivakkumar.

At least this year I have reduced my grassroots and volunteer involvement drastically and realigned my live to be more focused on my family, career, spirituality and knowledge seeking. I am still maintaining my membership int he Indian Activites Executive Committee (IAEC) in Punggol Park Community Centre, but a low profile one.

There are still more to do and the progress is encouraging. I am curently planing out my goals/targets to achieve in 2010.

Of course there are slack periods that I do experience sometimes, but it is not as worse as before.

Hope to instill more improvements in my life and in turn help others by creating positive differences in them.

Best regards.

Kumaran RN