What you say is... knowledge.
How you say is... language.
Indifference...the modern day cruelty.
The quest never ends
for truth
for love
for hope
for pain.
The minds never knows
to rest...
The four friends....love, pain, hope and LIFE.
Truth speaks when trust listens...
Every face is a rainbow
revealing colors
of human nature,
having shades of
grey...green...red.
Every moment...a miracle.
CRITICS (or NAYSAYERS): Often, the critics of something/someone selectively forget what it/they were able to achieve but they never ever forget what it/they were not able to achieve...
THE ART OF DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE: An interest in politics should make a person more open minded to all types of thoughts/possibilities /practical ideas that can uplift a society....never ever it should make minds stiff...stiffness in thoughts is the end of a global politician....the ultimate goal of a good political leader is to serve his society, not his own way of thinking/his own way of seeing things/his own visions...he/she should be able to raise his thoughts to a new sky of unlimited possibilities....a limitless sky with unlimited stars of new miracles/breakthroughs in thinking....in short, a political mind should invite the "impossible" thoughts and create a new world of possibilities for his people.
Where there's a way....there's a WILL.
THE FOUR C's of LEADERSHIP: Good leaders are good communicators; they...
Connect with their people,
display Confidence
think with Clarity and
address the Context.
Time writes wrinkles
on the skin.
And thoughts do the same
to the mind,
if they follow the same path
every time....
A NEW SUN SHINES: Good to see post-floods-Kerala being flooded with compassionate thoughts from all across the planet...and here in Kerala too, it's equally gladdening to see people stopping for a moment and helping those in need....Long live this spirit of camaraderie....
Asking/having good questions pays more than knowing all the "answers".
Opportunity doesn't knock twice...so we have teachers.
To err is human, to forgive is humane...
You think the best when you don't think at all....
Escape-ism is running away from questions that are overwhelming.
Giving it all
and letting it go
both need the power
of belief and faith
in a power...
higher and bigger,
stronger and wiser,
more logical and rational
than us.
The myth of Mahabali celebrates the goodness in being an honest, a values-based human being.
One view: Nothing should break our unity...not even tragedies.
Another view: Nothing should bring back our unity....not even tragedies.
Complacency in us makes others...a better version of ourselves.
Stepping stones are better friends than flights of fancy.
A human is more than their thoughts/beliefs/identities....
Rigidity - a part of human NATURE...not MOTHER Nature.
Thoughts express as words/images/feelings.
A fascinating face makes a thought travel faster...farther...
If life is a game...patience is the biggest power.
Every thought has a master thought....if that is understood the mind-game becomes clear....and the motivation-action chain runs smoothly....
You SEE where/for what/how/why/for whom/which aspect/as who/when/in whose interest you LOOK at something.....
Power respects Power...in all life-transactions.
Nature doesn't follow a narrative...to satisfy/suit an intellectual audience.
Nature in its infinite wisdom beckons us...to throw away all those dividing beliefs and give UNITY/ONENESS a chance.
Let us throw away all those thoughts/beliefs that make us rigid in our approach.
Let's be a society having one GOAL/MISSION/PURPOSE....to help everybody in distress...and make our efforts effective in short/long term.
May the Sun of hope shine
within all those fighting,
the toughest battle ever
in their lives....
It's a long night but the
stars twinkling all around,
will show us the way....
When Nature is unfriendly,
humanity becomes a passion
uniting us all....
All that the rain drops are asking/pleading/begging/telling us is....give us/build a PATHWAY...we HAVE TO flow....flowing is our NATURE....don't TRY to stop us....please channelise our good nature/our force to create/construct a beautiful world around you....
So let's gracefully/generously give the force of nature a way/means/mode to create and not destroy....and may the rains be the music in our lives.
And let's not sow the seeds of self-destruction by trying to block this formidable force present in nature....let us listen to the rain drops...and help them to flow in a better way and create a better world....
Gossip works because people are always keen to update their knowledge about others.....especially if they have emotional stakes.
Calling a spade a spade is something that you can never expect from political gamers...since they have an axe to grind in every issue/controversy/problem...
Exploring the possibilities.....of a particular aspect of life to its fullest....and also enriching/empowering lives around in the process....without asserting your role in the events involved....is love/life/peace.
Time means change....and vice versa.
Silence sometimes makes the best conversations....
An effective communication is one that makes an impact over a longer period....it should pass the acid test of TIME...and it's a hard choice to make....whether to make an emotional impact or an intellectual impact....often people fall for the former and don't think of the latter....emotions pass and wisdom lasts...an effective communication should try to connect with the wiser self rather than the emotional self....but at the same time it should have an empathetic mind to understand/engage with the emotions of the audience too.....and that's what makes the combination really EFFECTIVE.
Data....the modern-day-opium.
The silent mind sees the soul...
On the edge of a thought is...CHANGE.
Having the best Business schools...
like IIMs doesn't necessarily make us
good business minds.
A case in point...
is our KSRTC.
Similarly having the best
technolgical institutes
like NITs cannot help
in making our roads safe/sound.
So it is not education
that creates wonders
but...
on the contrary
SOCIAL CHANGE happens
when people PAUSE to think...
and...
APPLY their knowledge
rather than just playing along...
as if they are the most busiest...
having NO time to think at all,
for others...
for the society...
for the disadvantaged.
What is life...?
Without thinking,
correcting our flaws
and changing for better....
That's progress for a society
as a whole.
We judge OTHERS by how WE think about something and not by how they think about the same thing. In a way we want everything in this universe to obey our OWN style of thinking....
ACTUALLY we are not looking for a NEWS but a NARRATIVE that can strengthen our way/manner/pattern of thinking......
THOUGHTS ON MAKING OUR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOLS BETTER: Making all our schools and educational institutions (including those run by govt.) English medium in nature will not be able to create good English language users unless we help our students how to think in English when they have to speak/write/read/interact in English. Moreover education should also impart good thinking skills in a learner's mind and teaching a language gives teachers a great opportunity to broaden the horizons of thought....so a language class should become a training ground to improve and impart good thinking skills.
When you truly understand a thought/view/perspective, you actually stand over it, not under it....you OVER-STAND and not UNDER-STAND....you become deeper/wider than that thought/view point...you go beyond it....you move on.
Using our emotions for bigger purpose...that's one message a movie like Drisyam gives to people. Emotions have great power and if combined with the power of thought, you can beat any big force.
The world is a reflection of our thoughts.
STORY OF ALL HOMES: The rush hour madness begins...from 7 am to 9 am....to be PUNCTUAL and be on the right/safe side of TIME...fighting all odds - the roaring rains, the run down roads and a revolting stomach.
Life is lived in stolen moments of happiness.
All animals are equal...but some are more equal...a 1945 thought...but even now it is a living reality as the law of the land sides with the dominant party.
JUSTICE FOR THE COMMON MAN: Justice should not become a luxury of those with power and influence...the law should be the same for everybody with or without power/influence.
Your language is your biggest power.
There should be a debate on : Text centered education vs Thought centered education and on exams based on memory skills vs original thinking. Are we ready....is the BIG question.
IMPORTANCE OF READING IN THIS VISUAL AGE Reading an intellectual text is actually connecting with a very high level of conscious thinking process...it's a very advanced sort of human faculty...when you are reading you are also testing the new information against your own "accepted" truths related to the subject ie., reading involves active questioning.
Compared to reading, seeing something as a recorded video is a different ball game altogether where the conscious thinking process is blatantly sidelined and the subconscious thought process takes the center stage and thus passive acceptance becomes the norm. There is no thinking, only believing, Seeing is believing as they say.
When pictures and videos dominate the media space, it's no surprise at all that we have almost lost one of our most humanely creative intellectual GIFT, the charm of reading. While inhabiting such a "no-reading, all seeing" living format, the rumours, hearsays, myths and lies are bound to control and condition our response to incidents and this what manifests itself in some extreme cases as POLITICAL/MOB VIOLENCE and also CELEBRITIES/COMMON PEOPLE creating CONTROVERSIES to attract attention.
Instead of an eagerness for grabbing the visual space, human beings should be trying to reclaim OUR THINKING SPACE by debating and contemplating which we seem to be losing very fast...
We live in strange times...Today's politics is all but repulsive, music is everything but soulful, literature is nothing but lifeless, TV programmes are meant only for a cursory glance, movies are anything but engaging....No wonder the world is just drifting without a noble vision for the human race.
Sometimes to think out of the box means...crushing the very box.
The age of a balanced, healthy debate is over....thanks to post-truth voices who contol the thinking space.
You get the best audience when you stand on a stage called RESPECT...
The results and rewards
Attachments and addictions
Pleasure and pain
Expectatiions and sufferings
Oh! these mind games
They keep playing again and again
keeping us in the game....
Always.
Language connects, but too much of it entangles...
When you attend to a thought, the conversation begins.....
DON'T ASK HOW'S & WHY'S: You get when/what/whom you are not looking for...
Self-reflection...Owning Responsibility...Reedeming Yourself...SORRY....not a word but all ACTION.
Since they know things inside out, it would be an unimaginable loss to the nation if our NEWSHOUR ANCHORS are not made Ministers/Chief Ministers/Prime Minister
Our reactions are our ability to respond and also our ability to choose a response.....and the whole game happens in the latter ie., how that choice is made....that's where we think, overthink and even put brakes on thinking.
Experience is the best teacher
but we should be good students too
unlearning n relearning with new experiences
which we seldom do.
THANKS...not just a word but a promise.
We seek in others...what we perceive as adorable.
Every success hides a failure, Every failure hides a success.
Pain...a teacher, philosopher and guide.
Some internalise the pain...some give it a beautiful expression.
To convince a mob is easy, to convince a mind is anything but easy.
Caste was the worst part of our glorious past.
We use words to silence the noise within...
The noise of the world to the silence of the soul.....the journey of life.
WE NEED WELL-EDUCATED MINDS IN MAKING INDIA A DEVELOPED WORLD: Our society to a large extent has been extremely resentful of this kind of stagnant, snail paced infrastructural development pattern where nothing seems to CHANGE...and the ruling dispensation for ages has shown acute bankruptcy in THINKING of ideas to change the SYSTEM....this is why we need educated minds behind the wheels of all govermental machinery in our country and education should be redefined as the ability to think of original/ useful ideas which can USHER into our lives super-good-changes.
We have no power over Mother Nature and Others' Nature....The only power we hold is to work on our thoughts...So let our thoughts be so enterprising that we see any situation as self -empowering / self-motivating.
When there is love/care for something/someone, there is no overthinking/fear....you don't care what's going to happen next....you just listen to what your hearts says.....and the mind is silent...your actions become expressions of joy.
Fortunate are those who get good teachers....real alchemists at work.
Overcommunication/Overselling harms its own cause.
Situations decide what is a strength/weakness.
Perceptions decide what is a threat/opportunity.
I think, I am.....Philiosopher's Quote.
I live, I am...Common people's Quote
I overthink, I am...Politicians' Quote
Success owes a great deal to thought shaking conversations.
World is noise....home is the silence.
Language counts...content matters.
Sometimes there are blessings, and some other times blessings in disguise.
FOR WHOM THE WEB TROLLS: What is trolled on the web...acts of celebrities and their idiosyncrasies...the former is an expression of creativity/pleasure/ happiness and the latter is a part of their true nature....so what is wrong in these two things. In fact the troll makers are also motivated by these two very things ie., they are also expressing their creativity/pleasure/happiness and their real nature. So those who troll and those who are trolled...are made of the same chip.
Often what spoils the mood of a conversation is asking about the why's and when's...
When you are confident/courgeous to the core, intelligence/wisdom comes to the fore.
The PERCEPTION...how something seems/sounds/feels internally ie., to the mind....this subconscious process creates a smokescreen...often clouding the natural conscious thoughts, also called the common sense ..sometimes we are too positive/negative/passionate/faithful to a particular thought that fits well in our world of perceptions....to use our perceptions properly for effective thinking is a higher level of thinking....not easy but possible of course.
The phrase "delivering a speech" makes the task seem like a big ask....re-phrase it to "thinking out loud enough" ....how's that for a change...
Human beings always crave for an identity...identity with something big, something beautiful, something better than their "selves"...in this crazy race for a super identity we often forget to find the I....the inner identity....the real self....the I in LIFE.
NO THINKING PLEASE, WE ARE HUMANS : As a layman, one just wonders...when people hold on to their rigid BELIEFS...beliefs about anything....about a person/place/philosophy/product/profession/passion.... anything....when we are holding on to them 24x7 then...in that case when/how do we ever experience the joy of thinking!....The happiness of discovering a pure thought....!
This happens in our classrooms too...
when students many a time are kept totally "vacuumed" from the boundless beauty/joy of free thinking and we say we are giving them education....
This is why we don't see Newtons/Einsteins emerging among ourselves...all we see around us are prisoners of a particular thought pattern and we call it LIFE...
When people really LIVE, then they should REALLY think too, not just merely believe....
Humanity it seems has travelled far and wide from this rare human gift of thinking without barriers of beliefs/assumptions...so in short, why think...it's complex and outdated, just believe...it's easy and cool and be in tune with the times.
As a model state in state-of the-art healthcare facilities and people endowed with scientific temper and a thirst for real truth/knowledge, Kerala HAS TO emerge victorious in fighting the scaremongering forces WITHIN and show its steely resolve in testing times.
6700 crore Indian Rupees is what a 36-year-old entrepreneur in India has made/earned in around 10 years time and that too starting from the very scratch....from ground zero....between 20007-18 period....and still we have nothing much to think/discuss/understand how such ideas are created/nurtured/realised to their full potential....we spend our time discussing small issues like politics/celebrities/gossip....even our institutions have not much interest in nurturing thinking skills in future citizens....no wonder in India, Sachin Tendulkar is a household name but who is Sachin Bansal ....not many have an answer....even most of our text books teach ideas developed in other parts of the world, totally leaving aside the Indian success stories....if this is what we do, then where is the logic in complaining about lack of opportunities in India ?
The NATURE always communicates ....we get the message according to our own nature.
What is a sentence.....packaging a thought; What is a speech....packaging a train of thoughts; What is a song...packaging an emotion; What is a business presentation...packaging an idea that can be translated into a saleable commodity..
Very often we see, nowdays, people attending calls while driving/riding....even while negotiating sharp bends/curves...as if their whole life depended on that ONE single call....and showing an utterly callous attitude towards the precious life/lives behind the wheels and on the road....life/lives so innocent, so much alive and kicking...so dear to someone....how do we become so inhumane once we get into the driver's seat....beats logic/thinking/everything....
News from other places.....we study holding a microscope, in minute detail.....News from our own place...we view with a telescope as if it's from some other planet/galaxy.
What happens to others - a STORY.....what happens to us - LIFE !
A REAL TEACHER/FRIEND: In the Malayalam movie Udaharnam Sujatha, it's the boy, Sujatha's classmate who uses thinking skills to make her understand Mathemetical concepts in a universal way, and more importantly in her own natural language of thinking....now, this is real teaching skill....he shows the POWER of a teacher, and it's the same boy who leads the way for Sujatha's daughter to realise how much deep is her mother's love for her...he uses suggestive remarks inducing thoughts for self-enquiry, becomes a co-traveller and with a calm temperament takes her near to the truth...this is the POWER of friendship....so he is both... a teacher/friend...and above all a nice HUMAN BEING.
E3 Amusement park at Wayanad....visited yesterday with family...great hospitality....peaceful and silent environment...rich bio-diversity....nice food...time just passed by in this oxygen-rich, cool and calm children friendly-theme-park....also liked the amusing information displaying side-boards....staff also working dedicatedly and in a friendly/caring manner....a nice team/inspiring leadership behind making this park really a fun filling/eventful experience for the people who come in search of a little amusement/entertainment in their life ....well done E3/Wayanad.
WE WANT TO KNOW: At a time when our fuel prices are soon going to touch the three-digit mark.... we wonder...where are our technological/business brains...what happened to the promise of electric vehicles, to be produced on a massive scale and to be sold with attractive offers...where are the hybrid vehicles...
Why can't we have all our two wheelers on the road electrified...this will bring down pollution levels to a safer limit....so the BiG Question now has to be asked to our automobile manufactures...Sir, we, the users are eager to know....WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO UPGRADE OUR VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY....from fossil-fuel-driven to electric-fuel- driven....how long is the wait for a better technology...technology of today, not the yesterday's....the nation wants to know.
Overselling an idea/product/action/possession/thought/ideology/solution or even a personal/professional relationship is a very insecure form of communication....the gaps/space/dots in communication are the sparks in thinking process...the magic happens here...let your communication be just a starting force...the process and its final shape should be left to the person being communicated...that's why communication leaders have to have loads of patience/courage/respect for free will.
What does it mean to communicate in a language....does it mean giving a speech....more than a speech communication is expressing/sharing/witnessing your thoughts...communication is all about connections, it is about creating something new from what you get from others...communication is not speaking from the memory or reading a script...it's all about thinking on your feet and then sending your thoughts back to those who are listening...it's actually thanking the listener, being grateful to the silence within and without....
Teaching is all about helping somebody to learn something....when/how did it become synonymous with comparing/criticising/corrections using punishments....it should be all about sharing the joy of learning and nothing else.
The first and the foremost capital required for an enterprise is a thought, nurtured by passion/compassion towards the fellow beings...the mind which thinks, dreams, talks and plans the complete venture is the first employee of the company.
All ideologies/beliefs create WE and THEY, US and THEM...it becomes easy for the leaders to motivate the followers by playing the VICTIM/VILLAIN card...all ideologies unite/empower communities but they have also created the OTHERS (by de-humanising other communities)...ideologies therefore limit our thoughts, they mentally disempower us by discouraging wholistic
understanding/awareness of issues...motivating people on the basis of any ideology is in a way dividing their minds, thoughts and humane aspect...when our identities become bigger, our minds would naturally broaden the thinking framework thus freeing itself from the clutches of ideological thinking.
Good fortune is like a moon in the night/dark sky...comes and then goes with "great un-expectations"...after blessing our lives a with a few bright thoughts/ shining moments....here is wishing you all a happy Mon-day...and a luck-smiling week ahead.
Election results promised to be a real cliffhanger, every trick in the trade will be at work and nothing is going to be left to chance... and in the end it's going to be a Jo Jeetha Wohi Sikander. Karnataka election drama has just begun folks...let's watch for the rabbits that are going to be pulled out of the hats.
Communication happens when two people find a topic of common interest.
It is absolutely true that we, the citizens of India are paying through our nose for fossil fuels.....but at the same time let's also spare a small thought for the cost that we would pay in the near future in terms of health problems/hazards because of the over-use/excess use of vehicles that contaminate our breathing fuel ie., OXYGEN...the elixir of LIFE....after all Good Health is also Wealth, which cannot be counted in a quantitative manner but can only be experienced in a qualitative form.
Why do our commercials always get away, scot free and then laugh all the way to the bank...by objectifying, commodifying and sexualising the female physique....Isn't it HIGH TIME that WE, the consumers looked for products made by companies that care for us as humans and not as stereotypical men/women.
A conversation is to seek solutions...a conversation can be the solution too.
Indian movies, especially Bollywood potboilers, have always been hand in glove with the sexist culture that had prevailed in the society for decades after independence....today the times are changing and the people are wise enough to call their bluff...thanks to the new awareness among the movie goers, all these sexist entertainers are running for cover...The item numbers, the male machismo, the double entendre dialogues...all these would soon become a thing of the past....Carry on...the torchbearers of meaningful and liberating entertainment, the NEW GENERATION LOVERS OF ART & CINEMA.
THOUGHTS ABOUT MALE CHAUVINISM: Our country has always nurtured and revelled in patriarchal thoughts/mindset, for centuries...Indian society has always been a school of thought of all types of male chauvinist ideologies and beliefs...Even today especially in villages we can see family members pandering to every wish/whim of male kids as if they were born to rule...no effort is made to teach a male child how to OWN responsibility for their mistakes/ misbehaviours...people still think that boys will learn as they grow up, or they don't need to learn...only girls are told to behave well...why this DISCRIMINATION....why don't the families show the courage/guts/spine to teach/correct the male behaviour RIGHT from the very start...why are we afraid of even the small kids...why can't we teach them how to show respect towards the other genders...FAMILY IS THE FIRST SCHOOL OF A CHILD and parents are its FIRST teachers.
And then when the same male child grows up and tends to act irresponsibly, arrogantly and MISOGYNISTICALLY, we very CONVENIENTLY put the whole blame on the state and its laws....
So the BIGGEST QUESTION ought to be asked to the SOCIETIES/ FAMILIES engendering gender injustice....
We find it easy to change everything except out thoughts.
The MOTIVATION behind all actions is a perceived need, a necessity. Necessity, be it emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual or above all to surive is the mother of all initiatives....once the NEED dies, the actions just don't happen, it's like flogging the dead horse...it won't move. Overcoming the need-motivation and doing something just for the heck of it....Is it possible for humans? Well...for some and that too, sometimes....Now that's a different mind-game altogether, of a different level, a kind of not-so-normal..you may be called childish, immature whatsoever when you do things without a conscious/subconscious need...but then that is a kind of celebration...of real freedom. And who decides whether there is a need or not....the action does cater to a need but not percieved by common senses...may be beyond senses, sixth sense or may be a super conscious need....hard to understand....well that's life.
To critic/criticise something means to judge according to its value/quality....it is a skill that requires a detached and wholistic UNDERSTANDING of the idea/thought/act with relation to the entire environment/ecosystem/mileu...criticism therefore demands a careful/contextual reading of the matter at hand and to see it from different perspectives...such a criticism would be never be destructive...it's like a surgeon's knife....cruel to be kind...today's instant/spur of the moment/knee jerk critical practice is not a true criticism by any standards...it is just pre-judging the issue, to survive intellectually....so today's critics can be called as paid-opinion-makers/generators, appealing only to those who can think only in a particular way.
A candid conversation can achieve anything....it is the most potent tool of humanity.
A conversation should be about Empowerment, Empowerment and Empowerment....not about Elitist Indulgences.
Intellectual-ism is also an "ism"... like any other....having its own rules and patterns.
A thought dedicated to all students of Language and Communication : Communication makes us beautiful. Our existence comes alive when we communicate our thoughts/feelings/experiences/follies/struggles and small victories. Communication is being in love with your beautiful self and therefore no one who communicates is less beautiful/powerful/creative in any way. May the world fall in love with your thoughts.
Human motivation for an action follows the pattern of thought binaries like love/hate, loss/gain, friend/foe, fear/desire which is how social conditioning works...and it is the easiest way to motivate someone.....using the thought binaries....it would need an evolution in thinking to leap from the binary thought mode to a mode where you do something because of the true understanding of your inherent human nature....a manifestation of universal thinking which is free from binary motivational ideas and limitations of thought....and where there is oneness in thinking, action and the self....an existence in harmony and not the survival of the fittest.
India is such a rich country in terms of languages, thoughts, sensibilities, history and the mysteries of nature....the diversity of outlook is our mainstay....may the spirit of India smile through all tough times....
Silence is painful and sweet at the same time....painful because you experience the inner struggle and sweet because you explore the inner sea....
The greatness in humans shines when we think of the other.
The world seems to have pressed the self -destruction button....reading/watching news is becoming impossible....human cruelty has exceeded all limits...newspapers/tv channels should issue a warning "THIS NEWS INJURIOUS TO YOUR HEART"
No relationship ever ends...the memories communicate everyday and life goes on...
Language is not just for communication, it's a method of thinking.
Sometimes you need to play the devil's advocate to get to the bottom of the truth...getting emotional is OK, but the way forward is to get to the root-thought that motivates an action; the conditioning, the circumstances, the lack of fear etc...we need to delve deep into the science of thinking that is the master-planner of human actions and inactions...
the biggest resource we have been gifted with by nature to fight with our follies/foes is the power of critical thinking....NOTHING CAN STAND BETWEEN US AND A BETTER WORLD FOR OUR CHILDREN IF WE START THINKING AS HUMAN BEINGS....THAT IS THE ONLY IDENTITY WE NEED IN FUTURE TO LIVE, SURVIVE AND FLOURISH....CAN WE DO THAT ?
Thoughts evolve during an interactive speech/conversational interaction/argumentative discussion and also during a relationship having SPACE for discussions, debates and arguments....without a transformation in thoughts, a relationship will find it hard to explore new grounds, new worlds and new skies....and a transformational relationship can add WINGS to our thoughts to evolve, expand and discover OURSELVES beyond limits.
Idealism is a good idea....for imaginary thinkers.
Interesting thoughts make lives interesting....not Positions, Possessions or acts of Perfecting an action/skill...all these can become quite un-exciting beyond a point in time.
Speaking is a kind of instant gratification act....we have to relate to many things while speaking - the place, time, people, medium, language and also our temperament. Writing is for the long term effect...what you write/read may take years to resonate with your understanding and thoughts, that's why in India students make it a habit of mugging because understanding takes time. What we learn in schools, most of that makes sense only at at a very later stage in our life. And also a very small part of humanity gets a chance to write out their thoughts; writing therefore is A MOST LUXURIOUS FEELING....
A picture reveals/conceals a thousand truths.
Communication doesn't always need a language, just a mind that can U.N.D.E.R.S.T.A.N.D. The mind like a mirror reflects what it understands and those reflections get communicated as actions or words. So communication is just an after-affect of understanding. Using our mindfulness we understand and this understanding translates into thoughts and emotions which produce words or acts.
SHAKESPEARE'S CHARACTERS v/s THINKING AS AN ENTREPRENEUR: In Othello, Shakespeare creates an eponymous character who thinks emotionally...in fact he doesn't think in real terms; in Hamlet the main character is an intellectual thinker, he in fact overthinks and over-analyses, here also thinking is virtually stagnant. So for a person having an interest in doing business/entrepreneurship, there should not be an over-dependence on any kind of thought pattern/process and the mind should be free from any type of thought-traps. Similarly Romeo and Juliet is an example of flaws in interpersonal communication whereas Macbeth struggles with his intrapersonal communication. For a good mind at doing/enjoying business, both interpersonal and intrapersonal communication should be down to earth sensible as well as creatively liberating.
We can live with less of everything....fossil fuels, fast food, food and even water....but what about fresh/pure air....that's one resource which is impossible to compromise on...you need to breathe without any restrictions on quantity and quality...and that is what we should seriously think about reclaiming...our RIGHT TO BREATHE WELL...air pollution is an important issue, for common people.
The world is going very fast, no doubt...the only question is WHERE.
This is not ONLY the time to fix exam related problems like question paper leaks etc....let's take the bull by its horns....Can we transform / revolutionise our education system from exam/marks oriented to society oriented, future oriented and above all HUMANITY ORIENTED...The biggest curse of this country is that we only know to make big noises about small issues...the big
issues go unnoticed...and as always NO ONE SEEKS ANSWERS TO REAL ISSUES like what is the actual standard of Indian education system vis-a-vis the world institutions at present....stupid politically motivated debates and discussions will lead us only to an utterly pessimistic state of thinking....let us CHANGE THE GAME RULES, NOT THE ISSUES REGARDING HOW TO FIX THE
LOOPHOLES.
When communication is assertive, the message is clear and loud and no one takes things for granted....you just UNDERSTAND and don't stand confused....so it's good to clear the air by airing your thoughts......and the bottom line is Communication is a great GAME-CHANGER...
Life is like a poem, it doesn't follow a pattern, in fact patterns follow life, and whatever gets repeated, becomes a fodder for thought and study; but life will always be like a poem, never having a pattern previously created....every moment will be NEW...Never-Ever-Written before....that's life...hard to study but to just adore and admire....let things happen on their own.....
The mindless movies and TV programmes are helping the READING CULTURE to make a slow/steady/strong comeback close on the heels of long walks and small talks, bathing in the blessings of a simple, nature friendly life.
Mind and Time are best friends...to understand mind time is needed and without mind, time has no existence.
To understand happiness, we need to understand what is sadness; To understand what we like, we need to know what we dislike; To understand what we actually want, we need to understand very clearly what we don't want; To understand the best, we need to understand the worst....may be life is like shoes,things come in pairs.
True relationships always make you EMPOWERED to face LIFE on your own, without any dependence...You become love and fight all odds...that's the power of a true relationship...
SOME people are able to find in their lives a marriage of all the three - passion, vocation and mission....life then becomes better than even a FUN VACATION.
India needs to take rapid and GIANT strides in making the lives of Aged and Differently -Abled Citizens secure and safe...at present we are Ages behind in this respect compared to the Developed world....our public transport is not at all comfortable to travel for aged and differently abled...then our public spaces also need to undergo a sea change in making lives easy for these two sections...but above all how is the atmosphere in our FAMILIES....is it good for our senior citizens and those who are differently-abled ? And what are the government and non govt. agencies doing in this regard...do we have any Helplines or Complaint Registering Centers like Childline for these two sections of our vast population...Questions that beg an answer dear friends....
Nowdays since there's a lot of talk going on about the Mahabharatha, it reminds us among many other things the story of Abhimanyu and Arjuna....Abhimanyu is killed...but he goes down FIGHTING. Arjuna wins the battle and becomes an inspiration for generations to come. Abhimanyu, hence teaches humanity HOW TO LOSE and ARJUNA, HOW TO WIN.
A speech has a great power to change and create thoughts....mould and magnify minds...enthuse and empower lives...BUT it should be followed by INTERACTIONS and DISCUSSIONS....Speakers of our times do the opposite....they just speak and then go to their comfort zones...When speakers connect with what the listeners are thinking, they use their great power with great responsibilty and become LEADERS OF A NEW WAVE OF THOUGHT, LEADING SOCIETY FORWARD.
Friendship is all about the freedom of expressing yourself without the burden of expectations. Expectations can sink any friend-ship.
What do soldiers do: They guard the borders of a Nation...and call it DUTY.
What do we do: We guard the borders of our Comfort Zones....and call it LIFE.
EDUCATION is FUN when students are guided/helped to THINK, IMAGINE/WONDER, CREATE and DISCOVER....EDUCATION is a BURDEN when students are made to MEMORISE the SYLLABUS for the sole purpose of WRITING THE EXAMS....and then we start advising our students not to FEAR exams and that EXAMS are a part of life (This advice-giving is now days being glorified by the phrase MOTIVATIONAL TRAINING and by engaging VIPs and celebrities)...Aren't we all making the whole PROCESS/MISSION of education a BIG JOKE ?
God is a poet...that's why we say "poetic justice"...may be.
DO WE EVEN THINK ABOUT OUR FARMERS other than shouting JAI JAWAN JAI KISSAN: Yes, today the most forgotten/undervalued/underestimated section in our country is definitley/without any IOTA of doubt our farming community....Do we have any popular training/skill development centres/courses for our farmers, any good leaders who can read their minds and understand their needs, are we having any research to make their vocation more productive....a mere visit to our Krishi Bhavans will make things as clear as daylight....What has this country done to help and guide our farmers. A soil health card is not even heard of in many parts, farmers' co-operative societies are non existent, do we give any preferences/scholarships/incentives to farmers' children...It's CRUEL to carry on with our day-today lives when such a HUGE part of India lives without any financial security and anybody to hold their hands and tell them that YOU MATTER TO US, WE WANT YOU TO LIVE AND THRIVE...and let us touch our hearts and think....Does our country FEEL when a farmer weeps and cries? No, because they are not VOTE- BANKS....but let us remember that only because of their sweat and toil, the Earth is having at least some shades/stretch of GREEN, even now....and you don't need a Stephen Hawkings to come and tell you that greenery is life...No greenery, then no planet EARTH...so every breath of OXYGEN, every bite of food, that we consume, we owe it to someone in the fields, working for our SURVIVAL and our SMILES, after a good meal.
CHANGE DOESN'T COME BY MEDIA DISCUSSIONS ALONE, YOU NEED ACTIONS: Along with the scientific community all professionals from various fields should take some time off ....from their busy schedules and interact with the students who are pursuing their higher secondary education that is PLUS ONE and PLUS TWO...this will help the society in guiding/igniting our young and MOST dynamic minds towards the path of nation building and social development....
It is easy to oppose the ideas of others....the big question is what is your idea to deal with the situation....the world runs on ideas....not on running down all the ideas....
Life was never fair to Stephen Hawkins....but he made the most if what he had - his mind, thinking skills, spirit of inquiry...a star among world thinkers...will shine bright as ever, inspiring out-of-the-world thoughts in human beings around the world.
Whatever we expect/demand from others, we should have done it first...that' s real courage, to preach by example.
What is the most beautiful thing in this world....to see our tender thoughts writing a great story called LIFE on the sands of TIME.
LET US INSPIRE/IGNITE THE LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL IN OUR FELLOW BEINGS: A good leader is an asset to the society/state/country...Today we are facing a dearth of leaders who have a clear vision and a crystal clear roadmap for building the future India...and that is because of our lack of faith in Gandhian values of truth and non-violence...As citizens of this great nation let us have a rethink and make our society rich in tall leaders like Gandhi, Bose, Bhagat Singh, Patel and Nehru....and most importantly let us follow a culture of LIVE AND LET LIVE...You may strongly disagree with the views and thoughts of a person who has an inborn leadership skill but by SILENCING HIM/HER using VIOLENT MEANS you are making a society leaderless and thus VISION-LESS/VOICE-LESS...such a society will never develop or be peaceful...May good leadership flourish in our society and make us STRONG/SUPERCHARGED with creative/progessive ideas.
In order to experience the thought waves of creativity, we need to experience poverty in some way...the state of poverty is the ground for creativity. In a world of unlimited resources creativity will be just a mirage...hard to find.
Our mistakes give us a chance to write things all over again on a clean slate...so want a clean slate, make mistakes...and have a brand new TOMORROW.
The climax speech in the Indian movie Hinglish Vinglish rendered by Sridevi's character should be shown in all classrooms around the world.....and also during marriage counselling sessions. Sometimes you think our Indian movies are like guiding lights to humanity... for generations to learn... and live with love.
Life if understood with the power of wisdom is a ROLE PLAY.
We all play different roles all the time according to how we percieve the situation we are in. We give names to our roles like students, teachers, friends, parents, siblings, spouse, friend, employer, employee, leader, follower etc. So it's all in the mind, our relations, positions and posessions, obligations etc. And to survive it's important to play roles like an actor does but a human being is above all the roles s/he performs.If you are motivated only by your roles then that motivation won't last long. Soon our life would lose interest as the roles are all temporary.For a person who can observe mind from a distance as a true friend of life, it's all a role play, not to be taken too seriously. Again it's all a matter of choice....how we want to see life. The choice of thought is everything and the best role to play is that of a friend who wants nothing in return, but only wants to keep giving.
LIFE is tough no doubt, but when we have people around us to guide and inspire with their words and deeds like STARS in the night sky, then WE are TOUGHER than life.....Dedicate this thought to the spirit of friendship which is the best thing in life.
What do schools teach....what to learn.
What is a life skill....how to learn, THE ART OF LEARNING.
What do schools teach...how to write answers.
What is a life skill...how to ask questions, THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS.
What do schools teach...how to obey.
What is a life skill...how to change a LIFE SITUATION, THE ART OF BEING THE CHANGE.
We need schools that teach LIFE, not books.
We need schools that emphasize on empathy not on competing with others for marks.
We need schools for humanity, not for creating a rat race among humans.
No ideology, however old/strong/great it might be, has the power to stop one thing....the acceptance of a new IDEA...
Let' s look at the art of learning a language in an empowering way....a language once mastered becomes the best friend of your thoughts as they get a vehicle to express and evolve ....so by upgrading your own language and learning new languages you are becoming your own best friend...Isn't t that what everyone of us should be doing ? ie., trying to UNDERSTAND ourselves.
The way we think makes us a VICTOR
or a VICTIM.
Learning to communicate in a language helps a lot in adding value to our career in any field.....In a class taken two days ago on Career Guidance, for a batch of undergraduate students doing a diploma course in Aviation in an institute in Kerala, it was surprising to see that nobody could introduce themselves in Hindi or English...this shows that our schools should make our children more aware about the power of a language in adding value to their career....In fact with a good language and creative thinking, one can excel in any career....Students of Kerala can make the world appreciate the beauty of God's Own Country by becoming confident in Hindi and English and impressing the global audience with the power of their CREATIVE THOUGHTS....All the best to all...ROCK THE WORLD FOLKS.
We all play games all the time....some play the "blame game"/finding excuses and reasons for not getting something, blaming the world for all the things not going well, they are too busy in this game .....some play "lighting a candle" game, they are too busy in doing things NEW by new thoughts and create new ways of doing things....and the second category people are too few but they alone SUCCEED in the GAME of life.
If you motivate yourself using wrong things/reasons/goals, you will get demotivated also by wrong reasons/things...to get motivated in the right way is the key to remain always action-oriented with a calm/cool mind.
It will take a while for the society in Kerala to overcome the grief caused by Madhu's death which has shattered a million minds....May the humanity find its lost soul.
What is the most difficult thing in this world....to change the way you think.
MAY ALL SCHOOLS DO THIS IN INDIA FOR THEIR CHILDREN'S GUIDANCE : One of the best things on the Internet which can be called as the best GUIDE on LIFE of a great human being is undoubtedly the Farewell speech of Sachin Tendulkar. This is a great gift for all the students in India and also around the world...
"You only miss the SUN when it starts to SNOW". Likewise you understand your parents in a better way when you are a parent yourself...For a parent, a child is never the "you" , he/she for them is always a part of their VERY OWN SELVES. That's why there is no LOVE like that between a parent and a child. It is unparalleled, unchallenged, unchanging...always dependable like the SUN.
WHY THE INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS GETS THE LEADERS IT DESERVES : The middle class in India has always had a very loyal-to -the-core attitude towards the powers that controlled its life....We are ready to live and die, without asking any questions, for those who we think are entitled to rule us...This attitude has always helped our rulers to carry on with scams, violence and a policy of "looking the other way" whenever the masses expect them to address the issues on the ground. And moreover our cultural/literary/media icons will always entertain a POLITICALLY CORRECT opinion on everything as they are also conditioned by a middle class thinking...so in short, everyone fears to CALL A SPADE A SPADE.
Economic Recession in a place is all about people living there becoming less and less productive....this has got a lot to do with infrastructure facilities like good Roads, reliable Public Transport, amenities like good Washroom/Restroom facilities, quality Educational Institutes, Safety of Women and Children, Youth Empowerment Programmes, affordable Healthcare, ease of doing Business, culture of encouraging Creative Ideas, good Public Libraries, citizen friendly centres like AKSHAYA, Health and recreational clubs, Parks for Children, Mobile and Internet services ...Now the question is: What are the govt. and thought leaders doing to help people increase their individual productivities so that RECESSION becomes a reality of the past and not of the PRESENT ? Even bus strikes, political violence, cultural intolerance, corruption in govt. offices, spreading rumours using social media, inefficiency of public/private institutions...all add to making RECESSION a BIG REALITY.
PROVE ME WRONG : Sometimes you think what comes most naturally to us, Indians, is criticism....We have developed a mindset to criticise even a small innovative attempt by a creative mind...This explains why India hasn't been able to produce a single invention (scientific, artistic, philosophical) which has changed the world like those from the western culture. And this CRITICAL culture will ensure the same for centuries to come..
It would be great to grow up in the present times when the parents are so eager to create an environment of original thinking for their child/children....today's children would certainly grow up as ENGINES of thoughts/dreams/desires rather than CARRIERS of thoughts/dreams.So the world in future would be very much REAL...a manifestation of actual thoughts and not inherited thoughts.A parent recently remarked that they never compelled their daughter to study in a particular way, there was no stress to get more marks/grades..And moroever today most of the conversation among people has become children-centric.Politics is not a serious/emotional topic at all for Keralites.Nowdays parents are happily growing up once again with their children...!
There is a yawning gap between a class on Personality Development and that on Self-Exploration/Self-Discovery/Self-Awareness ....Anybody can come and give tons/heaps/loads of advice to those who are ready to sit through and just stare....The real battle starts when the trainer meets a group which knows the difference beween a good class and an Advice-Giving class...That' s when the duel takes place beween the trainers' ideas and the participants' minds...And such classes need A LOT OF ACTIVITIES, GAMES, METHODOLOGIES ,CREATIVE INTERACTIONS, centered around the topic of interest....A class should not just impress, it should be able to change ATTITUDES, and the change should be VISIBLE to all.
In the Malayalam movie Maheshinte Pratikaram the father of Mahesh who is also a photographer like Mahesh says "You can't teach photography to anyone but one can learn how to become a good photographer...." This is true for all the skills. No teacher can teach a skill to anyone, but anybody can learn a skill and sometimes movies are the BEST TEACHERS.
Even a SHERLOCK HOLMES will not be able to decode/understand the reasons behind some of our habitual actions for eg. the way we spit on our roads, some even sitting in a moving bus do this ! the way we stare at strangers as if they were aliens ! the way we show our heartlessness in public transport by not offering seats even to sick and needy ! the way we look the other way when there is someone crying for help on the roads or in a moving train !....and then we take pride in Being Human !
If you have Mastered How to breath well and How to think well then you have figured out L...I..F...E.
The BIGGEST change that has taken place in the last decade is that the WOMEN are now getting more and more TIME to think about THEMSELVES and about OTHERS around them and also about a WORLD that has been moulding them for CENTURIES...And the Things/Times/Thoughts are really CHANGING fast because of this great SOCIAL REVOLUTION...But the most DRAMATIC change is yet to arrive...that of an EQUAL participation of all genders in making the Public places, Political corridors and Power discussions, a true reflection of this great feminine energy which is the very essence, the core and the CRADLE of HUMANITY.
To appreciate science or for that matter anything, you need to have a certain level of innocence and ignorance...
What makes YOU the BEST in the world ?....It's the way you think about the REST in the world.
Nothing in this world can beat the beauty of a smile in the eyes of a child....a priceless pleasure.
Remembering the man who became the change that he wanted to see around...for whom thoughts, words and actions were one and the same...the man who created a new world for his fellow beings...the man who will never die...his thoughts/words/deeds will breathe life into every being who is going to walk upon this beautiful planet... till the very end of TIME his legacy will live on...like a candle in the wind, burning against all odds, beating the might of a brutal force, onslaught of a machine age and the speed of a mindless race in search for more and more...
Many a time, all that is needed to feel like a king is a cup of tea....
What makes a great singer is the way s/he loses his/her own identity in the song....the SINGER becomes the SONG...you don't see/hear/feel the singer in the song, you only experience the SONG, that is singing without self/ego/skill-consciousness, it is pure, self-less, ego-less...you are in a flow, invisible and in a state of oneness with the song....and this is why RAFI, the great Mohd. Rafi stands the TALLEST among all singers. A Rafi song is a PURE JOY for the mind, body, heart and soul...
A prayer is next to silence....it is as good/deep as the silence...in a prayer you can find the "BEST" in you, the "CONSTANT" in you, the "WISE" in you...in fact (it seems) the first word/speech that broke the long/deep stretch of silence was a prayer which came from a bleeding heart.....in a prayer you don't think, you feel.......there is no conversation(questions and answers) in your mind while you pray....in fact there is no "You/I/the Other(he-she-it)" ....you are The Everything.
Every human being is special not because they belong to a particular region/race/gender/community but because each of us has a Unique Thinking Process; there was a time when social conditioning was at its peak till last century, making people conform to society's ideals, only a few people could break these chains of societal manipulations but now society seems to be losing its stranglehold over individual thoughts/preferences and this newfound courage among "Uniquely Thinking Individuals" backed by a newscrazy media is creating waves around the globe....this wave of change is UNSTOPPABLE.
Life is nothing but a journey from nothingness to nothingness.
In this era of fast-updating/evolving/advancing visual technology, the space/scope for human imagination is vanishing faster than ever. Our imaginative abilities have been put in a state of coma. And with the never ending use of TV at homes and a mobile in our hands, the old fashioned face-to-face conversations have also become invisible (or impossible). Now with media-driven debates taking over the mind-space, there are virtually no social discussions also happening anywhere. So what are we left with....No human imagination, No human interaction and No social discussions..May be it is now time to revisit Charlie Chaplin's speech in The Great Dictator, a movie made around seventy years ago....and may be if possible....Re-invent the Human Touch in everything...
Do our leaders think about the famous talisman given by Mahatma Gandhi ie., to think about the poorest/weakest/most backward/most disempowered before making laws that would shape our future? It is always difficult to resist the influence of the powerful social groups who tend to oppose any change in the status quo...As ordinary citizens, we can only hope that our leaders act with compassion, empathy and honesty in matters that have far reaching consequences.
People in this subcontinent have always been identity conscious....in fact we are driven by identities...we always want to be something....we revel in being. We buy products not with the prime desire to use them but to own them and be their owners. We build houses, relationships, work in companies....everything to have a good, a better identity. Life for us is a constant search for a bigger, a more unique identity. For this we use even our limited knowledge of History, Biology, Geography and what not to take pride in our special position in the society. We create groups, communities, organisations and then fight against others who disregard our identities....this game goes on till the very end making everyone a part of our Identity Team.....our children, parents, relatives, friends...and then the BIG irony of all - we blame our political parties for playing IDENTITY POLITICS !
Every individual has ideas. What is needed is an interest to make the ideas work. For that, we need a creative/expressive language and an effective thinking pattern. So what our educational, social, commercial, religious and political institutions can do is to create a culture to nurture/nourish these individual ideas. There should be a space for diverse/different ideas to foster/flourish in our society. Let these diverse ideas get expresssed, manifest/ materialise, empower, transform and enlighten our world. That will lead to inclusive/sustainable development and harmonious/peaceful progress.
A common person in India will never be able to UNDERSTAND our politicians' minds. Are our leaders making citizens' lives simple or intricate ? Let TIME be the judge.
Beginning of a NEW year is a refreshing feeling....may this ENERGY OF NOVELTY be with all of us all the time. Happy New Year to all....with NEW ideas...new endeavours and new conversations...and a dew-fresh- perspective to life situations.
A LANGUAGE carries within itself the collective and condensed WISDOM of a CULTURE. By forgetting a language we deny ourselves and our future generations an easy access to those pearls of age-old-wisdom. EDUCATION and VIDHYABHYASAM are same in meaning...but by not using the word VIDHYABHYSAM as often as EDUCATION we forget what that Malayalam word actually signifies, ie., Practising SKILLS. Similarly COMMUNICATION in Malayalam is AASHAYA-MINIMAYAM which stands for bartering IDEAS !....And VISWASAM means something which is present in every breath. We have travelled far from those beautiful ideas embedded in such glorious words...we should use English language no doubt but staying grounded to our cultural wealth ie., our language is what makes us the true inheritors of our CULTURE. Losing culture means losing the wealth of wisdom of AGES....and that is FOOLISH to say the least.
Any idea which can create a BIG change has to first fight and OVERCOME the biggest idea of all times...the idea of a comfort/control zone.
While taking a class for primary/upper primary students of a govt school in Narikkuni, Kozhikode under a Rotary programme.....it was a revelation to see that our future citizens are eager to bring back the CULTURE of living and caring for NATURE and also of thinking/doing a little for the LESS fortunate...seems like sanity still lives in humanity...
SM Street in Calicut (Kozhikode)Kerala, India is a real delight !...for all - For people from all walks of life, to walk shoulder to shoulder in making our cities healthy, quiet and safe once again as they were in the past....in fact it is an example for others to follow...it actually represents an idea whose time has come.
What is the purpose of a creative art ? Is it to pass on a message to an audience...or is it to provide ideas for a conversation to follow around the topic being discussed (inside the frames/pages/canvas)...A movie or a book can serve as a source of awareness to people for an interesting, intense and intelligent conversational experience . If people are talking about something shown or expressed in a work of art then the purpose has been achieved...So awareness is the message...
Regarding things that are taught in classrooms, one wonders with the curiosity levels of a child, when are our students going to be EMPOWERED with what is learnt. For eg. learning English should help a student to think in an empowering way...to send SMS's in English...speak in English...write about their thoughts in English and above all they should be able to find their own space in this English-friendly world by exploiting fully the power and potential of English language...Are our schools/colleges/other educational institutions also thinking in the same way...or are they even now obsessed with EXAMS, SYLLABUS, CHAPTERS, CERTIFICATE, MARKS etc...and our private institutes even now advertising ideas like SPOKEN ENGLISH, GOOD ENGLISH etc...when the need of the hour is ARTICULATING YOUR CREATIVE IDEAS using English Sentences and CREATING A CHANGE...
Life is BIG... as big as the SCREENS of our Mobiles/TV/Vehicles....and INTERESTING too... as interesting as the VISUALS viewed on these SCREENS.
Today the most common thing to see is people having/showing victim mentality...it has become a comfort zone and also something to imagine yourself as...so like pseudo-secularism we also have pseudo victimhood and the interesting thing is Nobody wants this victim-hood phase to END! It has to be forever.
We think ourselves as a victim because we imagine the extreme...we stretch our imagination to extreme limits and think that the worst is going to happen and this situation is the end of everything...this victim mentality is actually a "paralysis of analysis" and this is proportional to our standard of living.That's why the upper middle class is so insecure. But the BIG question is why doesn't our imagination work in the same way in the other direction ie., while imagining about GOOD things, there we are very poor imaginators ie., while thinking about good things. So if all our material wealth and comforts are going to make us so insecure that we imagine ourselves as VICTIMS of life situations at the drop of a hat then what is the purpose of all this achievements which in the end will be making everyone a "VICTIM" ?
It was told to us by books like Alchemist that having a desire is everything....things will follow after that...and we believed this theory. And then MNCs advertised their products with the taglines like Greed is good and now we find ourselves in a planet which is sorrounded by things we actually don't need....many of our luxuries have become a burden on our living environment...so instead of desire and greed if we had improved our UNDERSTANDING of things we would have created a better world sans poverty and enmity.
It is difficult to understand our obsession with vehicles ...to live you need fresh air and space to walk freely and peacefully ...a vehicle disturbs all the three - the air quality, space and silence...Electric vehicles are still a dream....but the BIG question is - Are we human beings NOTHING without a vehicle...Is travelling in a vehicle a PINNACLE of human success and happiness ?
Taking a good class is like writing a scene for a drama or movie...if the script is interesting anybody can do it...and the credit goes to teachers or actors...what really does the magic is the idea...the template...rest is all going with the tide....and how you get the idea is the crux of every good work...to make a masterpiece once is easy but to make it again is a tough act to follow...difficult even for the masters.
In the backdrop of IFFK at Trivandrum we need to also contemplate on where is our Malayalam cinema heading...leaving aside a Drishyam or a Mahesheshinte
Why's road accidents going up in Kerala, especially in Kozhikode?...Is it because of our "The Show Must Go On" type of culture...Nothing is making us "Pause and Ponder"...not even deaths of our fellow beings...Where are the social thinkers, the think-tank of our society....Sometimes you think, this is an age where everyone is SILENT...Never before has there been such a passive silence on issues of life and death...Life just goes on. We have learnt to take everything in our stride. Change needs disruptive methods to wake us up from our slumber.
We Indians have a lot of ideas to outshine our rivals in cricket but we are showing our real poverty in facing pollution related problems. ...Is thinking about real issues that matter to crores of people, so difficult ? Where are the ideas to solve the issue of pollution in India? Pretending that we are too busy or such a problem doesn' t exist will not help us. We need to DO SOME THING.
Calicut has the best in every field...wherever I have worked I have seen the best minds in the right positions...this city has everything...the place where things, people and ideas combine to create a life calm yet moving , quiet but flowing...
More than Career Guidance what students/people need is Self Awareness....Self Awareness is the beginning of Self Empowerment...In today's fast changing world, career guidance is becoming difficult for any counsellor....so schools and colleges should become centers of Self Awareness for the next generation...Only then we can address the issue of UNEMPLOYMENT.
Empowerment is the awareness of choices...giving/having choices is empowerment...making somebody aware of choices is empowerment...thinking and choosing the best/right action is empowerment.
Only in silence you can have a train of thoughts reaching the right station...even a small interruption derails the train...so to think with satisfaction, silence and support of the environment is necessary...a supportive conversation or a discussion gives you the right environment to think with perfection...
Language teaching offers great joy for teachers as they can guide/shape/mould others' thoughts, career and conversations/relationships and so the whole life...because a language teacher helps a person to see the world in a new way...the world inside a person as well as the outside world...the movie HINGLISH VINGLISH is a good example of this thought.
Work is worship when one's profession becomes a passion....and life is a spiritual and enlightening journey when one's relationships become engaging conversations...what more does a human want ? These two things make everything...
Delhi becomes news because of two reasons...the awareness of the people of Delhi which is very high and also because the awareness about the people of Delhi which is also very high...so whatever happens in Delhi becomes the NEWS for the whole world. Other states are not so fortunate...
Can we dream of an India where students in schools are engaged also in conversations and not only in textbook activities like writing notes and reading them again and again...Conversations which bring clarity and empathy in their thoughts about other individuals, about topics of study and about themselves...But the sad thing is even in language classes like English, Hindi, Malayalam etc. the art of conversations is not even touched or taught ...That 's why the art of listening, the art of reading, even the art of thinking is slowly going away from our midst...education is now creating non-thinkers, non-listeners and non-readers....a world which just moves ahead without a direction...so let's lead the world by changing the way we educate our children by making them more humane, creative , bold enough to ask questions and also conversational in nature.
Let's fight against social evils like corruption, black money and poverty instead of always playing the blame game....let's find solutions by sharing ideas with each other...and let's remember- there is no idea which is fool proof...Improvisation is the name of the game.
Over Thinking kills Thinking....Ideologies kill ideas...and without ideas there is no growth...no growth rate.
THINKING is ACTIING to SEE beyond our long-held be-LIE-fS...it is ACTING to see the T-R-U-T-H.
Ideologies separate us...IDEAS bring us together.
The roads in Kerala it seems are constructed in some places (like Balussery to Karaparamba) in Kozhikode district to make a mockery of our Engineering and technological knowhow and also of our Social commitment. Even a single rainy season (and that too not yet over) can break our roads like a glass vessel makes us appear like big fools who are ready to grin and bear anything. We the people are always at the receiving end while using our roads and those behind the scenes laugh all the way to banks....
Normally the best method to deal with an issue is solution-based-method ie., see things as they really are, analyse and then act.
But for some strange reasons best known only to us, in India we follow another method called create confusion-based-approach. Here in this method we try to impress upon the common folks that it is a very complicated-and-difficult-to-solve-issue/problem and not only this, we even do our best to make things as confusing-and-complicated as possible for years and years.
So thanks to this great,novel,modern,sophisticated and highly intelligent approach to problem solving, issues like accident prone roads and other daily life issues affecting the common folks like price rise never get solved.
And moreover, why solve issues of common people when you have the gift of the gab to make problems seem as confusing as possible, as complicated as possible. After all, people are so simple/so innocent and will hardly change.
What does NEWS mean in politics? An incident that vindicates your ideology (or beliefs or views). It doesn't matter whether that incident takes place in another state or country or planet or even galaxy. Something that happens outside the circle of your worldview is just not news even if it happens in your own neighbourhood.
A country's economic progress lies in the growth of its companies. But its social progress lies in the happiness and harmony of its families. Family is also an institution like any other and it also needs care, concern and communication between its members round the clock. And economic progress has no existence without social progress. Can an artist draw without a proper canvas?
The day when we human beings understand the power of conversations, dialogues, words and verbal expressions rather than force, might, violence in solving interpersonal and international issues would write a new chapter in our evolutionary history.
Wishing you all a very happy INDEPENDENCE day...may our leaders get access to good and creative ideas for making the country free of all problems faced by people in their daily lives...may there be a healthy exchange of ideas across political spectrum, in social space and also across genders....this freedom to exchange IDEAS with anybody would usher in real FREEDOM.
When the spirits are low,
When the day appears dark,
When work becomes monotonous,
When hope hardly seems worth having,
just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin
down the road.......Arthur C Doyle.
It is not doing things right that is important..rather it is seeing things right that makes the vital difference between TRUTH and MYTH...yatha drishti, thatha srishti...and in our MEDIA-DEBATES -DRIVEN -KERALA NOW this quote appears so relevant.
This is the time for the Malayalam Film Industry and the viewers also to self-introspect and self-upgrade. Let's stay calm and wait for better times. Let's stay together like a family and keep our fingers crossed without judging anybody. Humanity is all about dealing with imperfections, not perfections.
Why don't we use plastic waste in road construction and repair work so that our roads become strong and last long...also can't this solve our problem of plastic waste management ?....This is a good idea but i am afraid it will take AGES for this THOUGHT to become a working reality...our govt. machinery will just sit on it , think on it , sleep on it, but will not act on it unless we the citizens, voice our protest against the poverty of ideas in making our roads safe and smooth and also in dealing with the social, health and environmental crisis created by plastic waste mismanagement.
Who is an employeee : A cog in the wheel.
Who is an entrepreneur : The wheel itself.
Yes, the wheel of personal growth and social change....and all the difference lies in making a courageous choice.
Stephen Hawkins says this would be our last century on this beautiful planet....so let us make it a century of great ideas helping people survive and also find happiness.
We lost to Pakistan because our team repeated the same strategy of our earlier games...this repetition is the worst enemy of creativity...being creative is what makes us true winners...
Kochi Metro is a big leap forward in the history of Kerala in making public transport comfortable, dignified and in tune with the times....may such endeavours succeed in more numbers adding happiness in the lives of all.
Saw the movie Bahubali....it's really a good movie...every scene is a dream ....and the person who comes close to Bahubali in real life is MK Gandhi....Gandhi is envied even today by many because of his influence on the masses...the common folks...that was also the real power of Bahubali and many other leaders like him...I request all leaders to see this movie and learn how to connect with their fellow beings and then lead and succeed....
The more the things change, the more we remain the same....Are we Keralites becoming more and more religious and therefore more superstitious....The fear of losing our possessions and relationships is making us search for security in religious traditions, age old customs and primitive forms of worship. Is the clock now going backwards ?
Every person is important(EIP) says our honourable PM....but a visit to our government institutions, even local body offices like panchayat, village etc. make us feel like we the citizens JUST DON'T MATTER to those in seats...making us wait endlessly....
TO BE CONTINUED...
