My Journal-6:

Due to health and other problems, I have not been able to keep my journal up to date.  My reading has also declined.  I have a lot of backlog to cover.  Probably concentration and willpower also have declined.  But I have not given up.  I am still fighting.  I am recording here a few passages from my reading which impressed me and which I thought should find a place in my journal.
===================

“… Both countries (Pakistan and India) know the dollars are not aid, but charity.  And now, it is a bribe to let the CIA and private military contractors operate on Pakistan soil….

… most of Pakistan’s ministers, MPs and judges don’t pay taxes.  On an average, a Pakistani MP is worth $9,00,000.  The assets of its richest MP, Mahboobullah Jan of the ruling PPP, is worth $37 million, according to Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.  Nawaz Sharif paid no income tax last year.  The International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland, states Zardari and Benazir looted $1.5 billion from the national exchequer…. $200 billion of Pakistan’s black money is stashed away in Swiss banks…

…This is the Pakistan the US views as key to stability in the subcontinent.  The butchers of 26/11 are roaming free in Pakistan, though many of Kasab’s victims were Americans…. Unlike India, Pakistan is a parasite without pride.  The trouble is, parasites are known to destroy the host after sucking it dry.”

– From “Pragmatic Parasite” by Ravi Shankar in The New Sunday Express (Madurai) of April 15, 2012.

===================

“… An Israeli company, already under CBI probe, won a Rs.10,000-crore contract in 2009 by bribing an Indian middleman who, too, had fallen foul of the law and had fled India.  Obviously, Indian blacklisting is a joke to operators functioning from the shadows. When bribes determine things, preparedness becomes secondary….

…

Think of the irony.  We have a Prime Minister who is Mr.Clean.  We have a Defence Minister who is Mr.Clean.  We have an Army Chief who, despite the age controversy, is Mr.Clean.  This confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati should have given us a rare historical opportunity to cleanse the system and be truly prepared for any challenge.  Instead, the weaknesses of the politicians and the cunningness of the bureaucrats have combined to rob the country of a singular opportunity…”

– From “What did We gain by washing the Army’s Dirty Linen in Public? We Lost Much” by TJS George in The New Sunday Express (Madurai) of April 15, 2012.

===============================

“…By definition, the political leadership is required to take risks and deliver.  The UPA has fine-tuned shifting of accountability and shirking of responsibility into a fine art.  Whether it is the state of defence preparedness or the state of the economy, the regime has no answers.  Governments are mandated to plan progress and resolve crises….”

– From “Who is afraid of the Economic Slowdown?  Not the UPA!” by Shankar Aiyar in The New Sunday Express of April 15, 2012.

===============================

“…The reality is that the good, the bad and the ugly exist in all fields, including the media.  The important thing is the system should be strong enough to ensure that the good prevails over the bad and the ugly!…”

– From “Leaked Letter Row is a Reality Check for Media” by Arun Nehru in The New Sunday Express of April 15, 2012.

====================

“….It is a tragedy that political leaders are now taking democratic mandate as an unconditional licence to silence their critics and promote cronyism in their political outfits.  They expect others to either fall in line or fall by the wayside.  They will use any pretence in the dirty tricks department to destroy, defame and derail those who question their wily wisdom and baneful brilliance….”

– From “The Arrogance of a Few Leaders Threatens the Democracy of All” by Prabhu Chawla in The New Sunday Express of April 15, 2012.

===========

“…In the UK, there is a “three strikes” rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the Internet if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement three times.”

– From “The United Kingdom of Surveillance” – “Centrepiece” in The New Sunday Express of April 15, 2012.

===============

Grateful thanks to Mr.Ravi Shankar, Mr.TJS George, Mr.Shankar Aiyar, Mr.Arun Nehru, Mr.Prabhu Chawla and The New Sunday Express.

My Journal-5: Death of Shri RR

Today morning I was reading an article entitled, “You only live twice!” by Vinita Dawra Nangia from Time Life of Feb.5, 2012.  The title reminded of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel of the same title. I had not only read the book and but also had seen the movie. So I became interested in the article and started reading it.  It was a good article.  Reading the first few lines, I was reminded of the death of Shri RR, who passed away last month. Let me first excerpt those few lines:

“The untimely death of a colleague, someone with whom you interacted, exchanged pleasantries and indulged in healthy competition, is bound to leave you regretful and reflective about the uncertainty of life. … you wonder what went through the person’s mind in the days and weeks before the end.”

Well, I cannot call the death of Shri RR as untimely.  He should have been at least 75 and obviously was ailing for sometime.  He was my boss and I was his steno for a few years.  He was heading the Engg Services Division. He was widely read and some at our institution would call him a genius. His advice was much sought after not on just engineering matters but also on a wide range of subjects by the different Directors who were heading the institution from time to time.  Then I got transferred to some other division.  But as both of us were living in Kottaiyur and I had to pass his house daily on my way to and back from office, I was in touch with him.  His daughters were studying in the same school with my sisters.  So he knew all about my family background.  He would lend me books and ask me to read. He himself was a voracious reader and knew that I was a booklover and book-collector.  When he weeded out books from his house, he presented some very good books.  When a new Director came, he was entrusted with many responsibilities (some 7 sections came under him); he met the Director and asked for a good PA as his work load had increased suddenly.  I was his choice;  it was a little flattering and moved back to his division as his PA.

After a few years, the Director who elevated him retired and a new Director from outside came. Probably he did not think much of Shri RR or was influenced by others. Many felt that he had unnecessarily got a bad name in taking decisions on civil engg matters, of which, according to them, he was not an expert.  So when anything went wrong with regard to buildings, he was blamed.  Shri RR was relieved of some of his  responsibilities.  I was shifted to the Head of Administration’s office.  Still I did not lose his contact.  Then he retired from service.  If remember correct, he went on voluntary retirement.  All his children were well-placed and he sold his house and moved to Coimbatore.  After that I did not see him for a long time.

When the person who was his deputy in the Engg Services Division, became Director, he made a courtesy call on him at his office.  By then I was PA to Director and while he was waiting for his appointment, we were exchanging pleasantries and he was happy that I was occupying an important position.  While leaving, he casually invited me to visit him at his house in Coimbatore, if I happen to visit that place.  That was the last time I saw him.

I voluntarily retired from service in 2007.  During January 2012, one of my friends who is still in service, told me that Shri RR was unwell and wanted to talk to me.  Unfortunately, I did not have Shri RR’s phone number and requested my friend to get it.  My friend promised to get it.  When I met him next time, he told me again that Shri RR expressed a desire to talk to me.  But again my friend was not able to provide me Shri RR’s phone number and I must admit, I also did not make any other effort to get it.  

In February, one day my friend informed that Shri RR had passed away.  A communication to that effect had been received in the office from the bereaved family.  That night I remembered many events involving Shri RR.  I felt sorry and was wondering what he wanted to talk to me:  something in general or something specific he had on his mind.  Well, I would never know now.  It makes one feel very sad that a small desire of a dying man could not be fulfilled.

Now I can only pray for him.  Let Shri RR’s soul rest in peace! 

Grateful thanks to Vinita Dawra Nangia and The Times of India. 

My Journal-4: July 1, 2010, Thursday

I feel terribly guilty and sorry.  When I started this journal, I thought that I would write every day about what I did, what I read and my impressions of various things.  Unfortunately, the last entry was in February and now we are in June!  If I call it writer’s block that would be insulting all writers.  So let me say that there was some block – plain laziness or something else for which I am yet to find a suitable name.

Now I decide that it would be good enough if I make one or two entries every week.  Let us see.

Got up today at 4.30 a.m.  Walked 1000 steps (subsequently, another 4000 steps; still, short of the target of 10,000-steps-a-day), did some exercise and asanas.  Meditated and did some japa.  Then read a chapter (The Plus Factor and Two Magic Words)  from Dr Norman Vincent Peale’s wonderful book, “Power of the Plus Factor”; another chapter (The Crown Jewels of Grand Children) from  another great book, “Wisdom to Live By” by Henry Gariepy.

I am a great admirer of Dr Norman Vincent Peale and have read most of his books.  The book under reference I got from my dear brother, Nellaiyappan (God bless him!) and it  is about the Power within each of us which can revolutionize our life, provided we know how to manifest it.  The author has very kindly tells us how to do it.  So far I have covered 36 inspiring pages and savour every page, every word of it.   A few inspiring excerpts from the First Chapter of this book, which will give you a clear idea about the book:

…there is a power within you that can revolutionize your life.  A power that is invisible, intangible, but completely real.

A power that can transform you so dramatically that under its influence and guidance you can become an entirely new person, stronger, more confident, better balanced, more energetic, more resilient, more capable of coping with the ever-increasing complexity of modern living.

…this remarkable force could lift you from failure to success, from illness to health, from self-doubt to self-assurance. 

…it could help you find congenial friends, solve problems, break out of stale habits, fairly explode into a world totally different from the world you have known before, a world of enthusiasm and exhilaration and understanding and joy…

I feel everybody should read this book and benefit by it. 

The second book I picked up from Moore Market during my last visit to Chennai.  It is an inspiring work, consisting of 100 devotional expositions from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs.  The author has selected representative key passages from each, exploring their central truths.  My being not a Christian, does not in any way lessen the impact of the book, as it contains universal truths.  So this is another book which I would recommend to everybody.

Yesterday I got a brand new HP scanner and today morning I have scanning and saving some interesting materials from today’s newspapers.  

After a brief nap in the afternoon, I took up an old issue of The Reader’s Digest.  It is a magazine I love with all my heart.  Limitations of space and other problems forced me to discard many old books and magazines from my collection.  I did so with a heavy heart for collecting many of them required a lot of effort and personal sacrifice.  However, I could never bring myself to discard my collection of The Reader’s Digest.  Let me honestly admit that I have not been able to read all my collections.  At a pick I may get about a dozen books and magazines and before I could complete a few of them, I would buy another lot.  It has been going on like that and as a result I have many books which I am yet to read.  So I decided to give the old books/magazines also a chance.  That is how I ended up today with The Reader’s Digest of August 1964.

I read a moving article by Edith Guttmann about her dad, Morris Strauss – a gem of a man and a role model.  I liked it immensely.  I had time to read a condensed book in the feature supplement: THE REAL LAWRENCE OF ARABIA by Lowell Thomas.  I have read about T.E.Lawrence from many sources (like ‘Great Contemporaries’ by Winston Churchill) but had only a vague memory about him, in spite of the fact that I saw the moview, Lawrence of Arabia on TV some years back.  Today I could learn more about the enigmatic Lawrence and a great personality by any standard.  

I took my Neurobion and homeo medicine, Calcarea Carb 0/3.  Also I could attend to my household chore today. So I am happy today.  Let me hope that I advance step by step towards my goals in the coming days.

Thank you and all the best!

For a detailed article on Dr Norman Vincent Peale from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale

For a detailed article on T.E.Lawrence:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Arabia

For more on Henry Gariepy, the author of Wisdom to Live By:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Gariepy 


Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

My Journal-3: February 13, 2010, Saturday

Got up at 5 a.m. Prolonged illness and depressed mind have kept me away from my journal for quite long.

Switched on my PC and open the mailbox. First to catch my attention was the Self-improvement Newsletter from Self-Growth.com. There was a video on “Goal Setting” by David Riklan. Though I have read many articles on Goal Setting and the Importance of Goal Setting, this video very much impressed me, especially the acronym, SMART, which stands for Special Goals, Measurable Goals, Achievable Goals, Relevant Goals and Time Frame for achieving the goals. In the space of less than 7 minutes, he beautifully summed up goal setting by his lucid talk, making my morning pleasant and instilling faith and hope in my mind.

From that, I went to his video talk, “12 Goal Setting Mistakes in Five Minutes or Less” (which supplemented the first video talk) and “Great Health in 5 Minutes or Less”. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these videos and found them highly useful. I should pick up the ideas and implement them in my life, so help me God!

Further, his invitation to visit SelfGrowth.com where 62,000 articles on Self-Improvement by 9653 experts can be read freely. I intend to visit this site and read the articles that interest me.

Also I would very much like to get hold of Riklan’s book, “101 Greatest Ways to Improve Your Health”.

In case you are interested, you can also visit their website, SelfGrowth.com:
http://www.selfgrowth.com

My grateful thanks to David Riklan and SelfGrowth.com.

My Journal-2: January 21, 2010

Got up at 4.40 a.m.

Read two chapters from the book, “A Better India, A Better World” by N.R.Narayana Murty. The first one is “Succeeding in the Contemporary World”, commencement address delivered by him at INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France, on December 18, 2008 and the second, “Succeeding in a Globalized Corporation”, convocation address delivered by him at IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain on May 9, 2008. Clarity of thought and beautiful style mark both the addresses. My admiration for him keeps on growing. India needs more Narayana Murtys. May God bless him!

First one deals with globalization, global warming and laissex-faire capitalism and the second is full of best advice for the youth.

After coffee, switched on my PC and opened my mailbox. From the mailbox, a few selected highlights:

First, American Scientist E-Newsletter of Jan 20, 2010:

Bisphenol A or simply BPA used to line cans of most food and beverages could be dangerous. It has been found in the urine of 93% Americans tested! It could affect brain and behaviour. The chemical’s link to breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and reproductive failures. The Food and Drug Administration of USA find themselves powerless to regulate BPA because of a quirk in rules. For the detailed article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/81901927.html

Second, The Robin Sharma Report Newsletter:

He calls 2010 as the Decade of Leadership and says anyone can lead in 2010. The next part is 21 Ways to make 2010 Your Best Year yet. Next come, “Monthly Big Ideas on Leadership” and “What is New at Robin Sharma Leadership International”. All very inspiring and interesting. To read them, you will have to go to robinsharma.com and subscribe to his newsletter. As I have said elsewhere, he is one of my heroes. May God bless him!

Third, Earth Science Picture of the Day:

Phil Dombrowski came upon a dinosaur track in Berlin, Connecticut, which has photographed. It also has a summary from him. If you are interested:
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/01/dinosaur-track-in-berlin-connecticut.html

Fourth, BloomingWriter:

This email update is from jodi DeLong, Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is, in her own words: “a writer, editor, photographer, word nerd and very compulsive gardener in Nova Scotia” Cats, Books and Plants, as she calls them, her three bad habits. Her blog is lively and interesting. You can see for yourself:
http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com

Read a chapter from “Thousand Windows” by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev and “Lessons from Experience” by Sudha Murty of Infosys Foundation, both in Tamil.

10 am to 12 noon – Power Cut.

Sudoku.

Read a chapter from The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Gandhiji and Talks on the Gita by Vinobaji. Gandhiji freely and frankly talks about His Experiements in Dietetics while he was a student in England. Vinobaji discusses “Swadharma” in detail.

In the afternoon watched TV. Saw ‘Tiruppavai”, a Tamil serial.

After lunch, rest.

Afternoon nap.

Read some pages from “Food and Beverages”, a Tamil book, based on Ayurveda, by Si.Ve.Radhakrishna Sastri. Picked up many useful info. I have the third edition published in 2000 by VKN Enterprises, Chennai and it is priced at Rs.48/-.

All the best – See you tomorrow!

Grateful thanks to all concerned.

My Journal-1: January 20, 2010

January 20, 2010, Wednesday. Due to frequent disturbance in sleep, could get up only around 6 a.m. Eagerly await the arrival of summer.

After morning coffee, switched on my PC. Opened my mailbox.

First, an email alert from Library@KVPattom:

I have been a subscriber to the Email Alert Service of Kendriya Vidyalaya Library, Pattom, Kerala (They also provide SMS Alert!). I have never been a student of KV; but both my kids were KV students. Further, when I visited their blog, I was so much impressed, I signed their email alert service. A school in India running a wonderful blog, which contains a lot of useful services for the students and is updated regularly (Unlike some government portals which are updated once in six months or a year or sometimes never, with the result you see the names of retired and dead persons still on roll! Service-orientation is an uknown thing to these govt portals) is something very novel.

The first thing that caught my eye in the blog was the list of New Arrivals. They have a very good collection of books and keep on adding to them. They display the cover page of recent additions of books and journals.

They welcome the visitors in a very friendly way to get a complete picture of all offline and online sources and services from the Library. It is all very impressive and one should be really lucky to have been a student of KV, Pattom!

Then I saw I was visitor number 619,095! So popular a blog!

Next there was the Online Network of Library – LIBRARY JUNCTION.

They have sample question papers for Classes X and XII on their downloads page, in addition to Question Banks.

They have Tutorials for different subjects.

Their index page gives you an idea of what you can see from the archives. For example, they have Karan Thapar Interviews. You have Links to useful portals like NASA videos, Aids to Netsearch, Educational Portals, Libraries Online, Online TV. Ebooks and Ejournals.

Mr.S.L.Faisal is the Librarian. Kudos to him and the school authorities for their exemplary service. One wishes that other schools and colleges emulate them and provide such commendable services to their students.

You can take a look at the blog for yourself:
http://librarykvpattom.wordpress.com

Second, Harper’s Weekly Review of January 19, 2010:

The one item that impressed me from this weekly review has been:

Scientists find that watching four hours of television a day raises the risk of fatal heart disease by 80 percent.

Third, the official newsletter of Jan 20, 2010 from Sierra Club, devoted to exploring, enjoying and protecting the planet:

It links to an interesting article assessing the first 365 days of Obama in office and how much of his clean-energy agenda he has been able to accomplish from San Jose Mercury News by Paul Rogers and an entry in Sierra Club blog by Carl Pope, Sierra Club’s Executive Director ((http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_14218053?nclick_check=1)http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2010/01/the-invisible-environmental-president.html). The Paul Rogers article lists specific achievements. The conclusion is Obama Administration has undone many damages of the past eight years and and the best year on the environment by any President. Highlight was the announcement of the Obama Admn of Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits of $2.3 billion to 183 clean-energy manufacturing projects. Great!

Fourth, Botany Photo of the day from Daniel Mosquin, University of British Columbia:

Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia. The January 19, 2010 photo is Coryphantha scheeri var. robustispina. (http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2010/01/coryphantha_scheeri_var_robustispina.php). A write-up of useful info about this rare plant.

Fifth, Internet Evolution Update Newsletter from United Business Media, New York:

The link provided to an article by Tom Nolle, software engineer and founder of CIMI Corp., on “How Gadgets could change the Internet” interested me. It discusses how the increasing number of wireless and personal gadgets like smart phones and ebook readers are replacing browsers for Internet access, and their repercussions.
( http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?doc_id=186829&f_src=ieupdate)

Sixth, email from Sasha Xarrian ( sashax@outrageousmastery.com) :

I got some interesting statistics from the mail:

Facebook has 350 Million Members.

Youtube visitors are viewing 13 Billion Videos a month.

Linkedin has over 15 Million Business people networking.

Twitter is growing at over 40% a month.

Digg and Delicious are driving millions of visitors to websites every month.

Thank you Sasha!

Seventh, email from Sierra Club.org –

Daily Ray of Hope: Your images and inspirational words from the Sierra Club.

I get an inspiring quote from Sierra Club. Thank you, Sierra Club!

Eighth, Newsletter from PoemHunter.com:

I get daily an interesting poem from them. Today I got a poem, “Sea Fever” by John Masefield. I felt Priya may like it and hence forwarded it to her. Thank you, PoemHunter.com.

Ninth, Google Alert for Books:

I set up an Alert for Books in Google and hence I get from them daily alerting me about books. Thank you, Google!

Tenth, mail from TED:

As a member of the TED Global Community, I receive mails from them about updates. Today’s mail is about TEDMED, a new partnership of TED. This is the beginning of TED’s reach into the vital realm of medicine and wellness. The first talk is by David Blaine, How I held my breath for 17 min. Thank you, TED!

Eleventh, Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, the newsletter from American Public Media.org
(newsletter@americanpublicmedia.org): Today’s mail has a poem, “Hitchhiker” by Galway Kinnell (audio version of the poem is also available!) and intimation about the Birthdays of filmmaker Federico Fellini and novelist Susan Vreeland. It also provides links to know more about these two. Thank you, American Public Media!

Still there were some mails. But I had to stop as I had other pressing duties.

After bath and breakfast, posted:

a picture and a quote in my blog, SURiMOUNT (http://surimount.blogspot.com/)
a devotional song about The Holy Ash and a Quote, both in Tamil in my Tamil blog, SURIYODAYAM TAMIL (http://suriyodayamtamil.blogspot.com/).
About Library, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom in my blog, IDEAL EDUCATION (http://surimounteducation.blogspot.com/) (under the caption, Blog of the day. Actually the first part of this journal reproduced as a separate post there).

10 am to 12 noon – Power Cut.

Read a chapter each from ‘Thousand Windows” by Sathguru Jaggi Vasudev and “Lessons from Experience” by Sutha Murty of Infosys Foundation (both in Tamil).

Then went to Bank to withdraw some money from ATM and to BSNL Office to pay the Telephone bill. Got some periodicals from the Bus Stand Bookstall.

Watched TV Programs.

After lunch, some rest.

Downloaded books from World Public Library Association of which I am a paid member, mostly pertaining to literature and education.

Afternoon, nap.

Finished the journal of the day and now you have it here in my blog, SURiMOUNT.

Post Script:

After posting, I watched the video from TEDMED mentioned above. Wow! What a wonderful experience! I sat glued to the monitor for 20 minutes watching the video. I am sure you would also enjoy it. Here is the link:
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_blaine_how_i_held_my_breath_for_17_min.html