"Courage is not the absense of fear" quoted by Mark Twain. Later brilliantly rewritten by a writer in a Hollywood movie Princess Diaries- "Courage is not the Absense of Fear, rather the judgement that something else is more improtant than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all". This is an advise given by a father to her daughter when she was confused to make a decision.
When Arjun was confused to take the right decision when he was on the warfield, Krishna had to take control and give him advise " Hatova Prapsyasi Swargam, Jitwa bhokshyasi mahim". If you win the war you will be the King of the Land, if you die fighting you will get upgraded to the Heavens. So, why there is confusion?
I have seen many people never having to face this confusion. Because they have opted for comfort zone. For a middle class boy the choice is clear--Good marks, A respectable degree, a good paying job in a big company, a family and so on. Many have opted for this and living happily(?) Our bollywood films end on the note that the Hero and his love finally married and lived happily. Even I did this.
But I keep questioning my self whether it is alright to stop in the middle of this journey. When I go back and rewind,an interesting phenomena came into view. When I had little, I was least afraid of any thing. The only thing I was bothered was to get a good income so that I could manage my life. But slowly, somewhere down the line, I forgot to even look at the dreams that I planned. I am sure majority are suffering from this crisis.
But, somewhere something needed to be done. Better late than never. As Dr.Abdul Kalam quoted in his book "To make a mark on the sands of history you must stand firmly on your feet". People who have opted to live the life without any disturbances have their own arguments to make. They take the shelter of Religion. Why shall you run in this rat race? What is the goal of life? How much money we need to make?
Why people want to work for large companies? Is it really safe as they think? Sacrificing the dreams for a comfortable living. Giving up the freedom for Subordination. If you observe deeply it is only the people with higher academic qualifications who are running after all these MNCs and large firms. It seems a person less educated is not worth an employment in the large MNCs. Who is courageous? Who is afraid? I have seen it is people who are less educated who are always looking to do something on their own. Putting up a small workshop, car garage, shop, and such small business. Not many highly educated people could venture it out. But whoever did, gained freedom.
But during the last Two decades the trend has changed to some extent and some really courageous educated engieers and other professionals went on their own. I wish this becomes a normally accepted nature of the young generation. It is the need of the nation. In spite of being the 4 the largest economy we are ranked 128th in the per capita calculations. We have miles and miles to go to catch up with other Asian Giants like Japan and China who are ranked 24th and 97. It is the common responsibility of the educated youth to contribute to fasten the growth rate. Achieving the ranks in the class room is onething. And improving the country's ranking is "something". Every small and big addition from micro units will strengthen the economy.
Come let us contribute to improve the ranks. Come let us dream. Come on let us be courageous.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
How to Wakeup someone sleeping?
This is a major dilemma I fall in most of the time. Sleeping is a blessing God has given to all living beings. Otherwise what life will be? Just Imagine.
I love to sleep. And I love the way people sleep. Mostly it appears that almost all people look so innocent while sleeping. Imagine an infant, a kid, a boy or girl, a lady or a man sleeping. How beautiful sight it is. I travel by Indian railways a lot. I get to see people sleeping without anybody asking me questions. How innocent they look? It appears to be the most ideal society. Every human sleeping and looking innocent. If we want no evils in the society pray to God to make everyone sleep.
But, the actual story seems different. In Saudi Arabia the life is very easy. I get almost 16 hours of free time. In 16 hours hardly an hour goes for cooking everyday, half an hour for daily routines, a few minutes for prayer. The remaining time is available for a killing. Either kill it by watching the TV or enjoy sleeping. Most of the time I used it for the obvious. The problem is after sleeping for 8 hours the marginal utility reduces and turns to negative. MY head starts aching as if I had a boozy night before. The back becomes stiff and the body becomes lazy. Then I do not feel like doing anything. So I try to sleep once again. I fell into a vicious cycle.
The Vedas, Bhagwadgita are proclaiming that excess of sleep is the nature of "Tamoguna". Tamoguna does not lead anyone to the God's kingdom. I am sure Bible, Khoran and other religious scriptures tell the same truth. Then what are you advised to do? All Scriptures have recommended that we must use this time for investing wisely. We must Read scriptures to understand the nature of God and his wishes to make this society a happy place to live and make way for our souls to move ahead towards the Kingdom of God. We must use this time to chant the names of god and sing.
In business situations also I have seen this sleeping as a biggest hindrance for growth. I have seen different situations where people opting to sleep are wisely giving their arguments-- like what is the need for too much money, we are happy with what we have, We are very small in front of our competitors, We are straight forward and "seedhe log" etc., In some organizations I had also seen sleeping of different nature. Which we call "Complacency". The management is just complacent about everything and they do not try to change with the times. In fact they do not want to change. And I have seen big companies who are proud of their history, and always talking about thier history. They are not talking of Present and not introspecting anything with an eye on future outlook. They keep doing just what they have been doing. They spend money on many things, hire good people. I have seen that after sometime they get into the old trap again and forget why they have brought these good people. There are many organizations of such kind who are opting to sleep dangerously. There are many examples of Large MNCs falling from grace. And there is no count of Small and Medium organizations. These companies include from different sectors--Engineering, Automobiles, Chemicals, Banking, Investment., Trading etc.,
As a Markeitng Professional, I always preferred to be part of a dynamic environment. I had been part of dynamic environment most of the times. But I also faced the situations sometimes where I was trapped by the environment where dynamism is a taboo. I always played a role of Coach and prefered to guide people towards the right goal. I tried telling different inspirational stories from the Great scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and from Bible and Khoran (I know very little from these two scriptures forgive me for that) and the life stories of various great people from different lives. People listen to these stories in awe and then go back to square one. I tried all the three types of techniques recommended "S~ama, D~ana And Bheda". Unfortunately I never got an oppotunity to use the "Danda". Sometimes in a very rare percentage of people these three techniques work (thankfully) but in most cases the percentage of failure is more. And by using the last mode that 'Danda" you can not make people contribute creatively. Only by inspiring one can achieve creative results.
Hence, it is very clear. You can not really wake up people who are sleeping by choice. However, You can wake up people from sleeping due to lack of knowledge. We have many such examples from Saints like Swami Vivekananda, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swamy who during their times awaken the people from sleep. We have great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jay Prakash Narain who have awaken the people to fight for justice. We have also great business leaders like Dhirubhai who have awaken the people from sleeping. (The names I have mentioned are few and some people may not agree with their philosophy. But that is not the main point here). But we need great leaders with great courage and character with highest degree of belief in their principles to do this job. A tiny Management Professional like me faces great hardships and very little success. But I will keep trying.
I love to sleep. And I love the way people sleep. Mostly it appears that almost all people look so innocent while sleeping. Imagine an infant, a kid, a boy or girl, a lady or a man sleeping. How beautiful sight it is. I travel by Indian railways a lot. I get to see people sleeping without anybody asking me questions. How innocent they look? It appears to be the most ideal society. Every human sleeping and looking innocent. If we want no evils in the society pray to God to make everyone sleep.
But, the actual story seems different. In Saudi Arabia the life is very easy. I get almost 16 hours of free time. In 16 hours hardly an hour goes for cooking everyday, half an hour for daily routines, a few minutes for prayer. The remaining time is available for a killing. Either kill it by watching the TV or enjoy sleeping. Most of the time I used it for the obvious. The problem is after sleeping for 8 hours the marginal utility reduces and turns to negative. MY head starts aching as if I had a boozy night before. The back becomes stiff and the body becomes lazy. Then I do not feel like doing anything. So I try to sleep once again. I fell into a vicious cycle.
The Vedas, Bhagwadgita are proclaiming that excess of sleep is the nature of "Tamoguna". Tamoguna does not lead anyone to the God's kingdom. I am sure Bible, Khoran and other religious scriptures tell the same truth. Then what are you advised to do? All Scriptures have recommended that we must use this time for investing wisely. We must Read scriptures to understand the nature of God and his wishes to make this society a happy place to live and make way for our souls to move ahead towards the Kingdom of God. We must use this time to chant the names of god and sing.
In business situations also I have seen this sleeping as a biggest hindrance for growth. I have seen different situations where people opting to sleep are wisely giving their arguments-- like what is the need for too much money, we are happy with what we have, We are very small in front of our competitors, We are straight forward and "seedhe log" etc., In some organizations I had also seen sleeping of different nature. Which we call "Complacency". The management is just complacent about everything and they do not try to change with the times. In fact they do not want to change. And I have seen big companies who are proud of their history, and always talking about thier history. They are not talking of Present and not introspecting anything with an eye on future outlook. They keep doing just what they have been doing. They spend money on many things, hire good people. I have seen that after sometime they get into the old trap again and forget why they have brought these good people. There are many organizations of such kind who are opting to sleep dangerously. There are many examples of Large MNCs falling from grace. And there is no count of Small and Medium organizations. These companies include from different sectors--Engineering, Automobiles, Chemicals, Banking, Investment., Trading etc.,
As a Markeitng Professional, I always preferred to be part of a dynamic environment. I had been part of dynamic environment most of the times. But I also faced the situations sometimes where I was trapped by the environment where dynamism is a taboo. I always played a role of Coach and prefered to guide people towards the right goal. I tried telling different inspirational stories from the Great scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and from Bible and Khoran (I know very little from these two scriptures forgive me for that) and the life stories of various great people from different lives. People listen to these stories in awe and then go back to square one. I tried all the three types of techniques recommended "S~ama, D~ana And Bheda". Unfortunately I never got an oppotunity to use the "Danda". Sometimes in a very rare percentage of people these three techniques work (thankfully) but in most cases the percentage of failure is more. And by using the last mode that 'Danda" you can not make people contribute creatively. Only by inspiring one can achieve creative results.
Hence, it is very clear. You can not really wake up people who are sleeping by choice. However, You can wake up people from sleeping due to lack of knowledge. We have many such examples from Saints like Swami Vivekananda, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swamy who during their times awaken the people from sleep. We have great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jay Prakash Narain who have awaken the people to fight for justice. We have also great business leaders like Dhirubhai who have awaken the people from sleeping. (The names I have mentioned are few and some people may not agree with their philosophy. But that is not the main point here). But we need great leaders with great courage and character with highest degree of belief in their principles to do this job. A tiny Management Professional like me faces great hardships and very little success. But I will keep trying.
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