Monthly Archives: September 2014

An orator and a leader…

Branding (personal), Politics, ,

modi-fort_650_081514022706

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost all the successful  politicians have one thing in common. An oratory with a style and flourish which is very very difficult to imitate and follow to the tee. As we see, the history is replete with politicians making themselves heard. And it is true, the world listens to them when they talk.

We have been fortunate to have some of the best speakers and orators in our midst. Recently I did mention a Minister’s speech in a post and he was also an excellent orator. The reason why chose this topic is I happened to read a piece wherein the bullet proof glass was taken off from the ramparts of the Red Fort at 2 am on the Independence day for the Prime Minister. He was supposed to hove told the men in black that he would like to speak without the glass wall between the people and the leader.

Here is the best part. This is more psychology than anything else if you ask me. All during the elections he has been credited to be speaking with the masses and that connect was reassuring as he spoke on local issues and used every possible way to connect with them.

The single action of taking the glass off for a speaker or a orator makes it so very easy to communicate with no barrier literally in between him and the listeners. That makes it more engaging and more interesting to listen or may be we think that will help. What ever reasons it would have been odd to see Modi speak within the confines of the Bullet proof glass.

I also read some places where it was told he had a notes in a paper and what he did as an orator was not that great. I wonder if these people ever have done public speaking without notes and especially when you are about to announce schemes that could change the way the country looks at banking or cleanliness.

I have heard that Vaiko is one of the classic orators in Tamil Nadu and that how he rose in the ranks and was patronised by none other than the former chief minister M Karunanidhi. The best part is if an orator get into a leadership position it becomes easy for him to communicate and get things done.

So next time you get a chance to speak in public or be an orator make sure to use it purposefully. These are chances to may be become an orator and leader and who knows it could well be a mass leader.

one post a day 23/30

Picture courtesy:

Its election time here!

Events, Just about it, Politics, , ,

Coimbatore's erstwhile mayor

 

Coimbatore is in the midst of election fever. It a good tidings when its election atleast in this part of the country. The river flows, err the money flows in election expenditure! The citizen will be the most wanted everywhere. He will be pampered to the hilt by all the political parties.

There is song at every corner and there is an auto going around asking everyone to vote for one of the three major parties. Now my question is how many of us have cared to see the manifesto of the candidate or the affidavit he has filed before the election commission. What are the educational qualifications, the industry experience et al.

When we select a candidate for our company how careful are we, right from the way we advertise it in the classifieds or the situations vacant ie appointments section to checking the resumes and shortlisting and then an interview and finally selecting a candidate to the respective position.

A normal exercise of this magnitude for someone to do sales and things like that or may be handle office administration., but when it comes to electing office bearers we are not like this. If each one of us take some time out since the Mayor or an assembly will be for 5 years, would n’t be prudent to check the veracity of claims and ask for proper manifesto and check the last manifesto for a fair appraisal.

Look at the work of the erstwhile Mayor and things like that to decide on who to vote for on that day of election. Th problem with the educated is that they think they don’t have to really look at all this, while they will spend enough time to browse on the timelines of the cine stars and also waste time on other things. And then one fine day exclaim “Oh what has happened to the country? Why are roads like this? I pay taxes!”

If everyone thought their vote wont matter and didnt visit the polling booth, even if one person voted the candidates will be declared elected.  For the record I believe one Mayor has already been elected unopposed already.

And we call ourselves democracy and celebrate that without fulfilling our duty. Anyways if even half of the people took to these measures then there are chances that some new set of selfless people may become our representatives.

So next time when a contestant comes to your locality invite him home, ask him his ideas for your constituency and what you can help to achieve. etc.

Small steps to a vibrant democracy is when we know our roles and responsibilities!

One post a day – 22/30 #

The Public Servant…

General, Just about it, Motivation, Stories/storification, , ,

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As I was riding my bike in the night at around 9.30 pm through the main roads in the city, was surprised to see every signal had a policeman on duty. Fully dressed and with the reflector overalls, cool and gracious looking how the traffic was flowing smooth. IN between I could see them directing those who otherwise would not know the signal in their line of sight.

I wanted to stop and thank them profusely, but practical reason pulled me back. Atleast I should have taken a pic, may be a selfie and post it here on Facebook. Title it as a great service for the people from your own Police force.

We always have had this negative things about the police, not the mention the way they portray them in movies. Imagine Singham with all goody goody policeman, there will be no villain only.

The movies have taught us that police can never be good or kind hearted. Today I was forced to think some very basic questions on those in the line of duty at odd hours.

What time does he go home?
Does he have time to play with his kids?
How far is his home from where he is now directing the traffic.?
Worse how will he react if some moron lost control or if there was a driver who was drunk?

We have been lucky that we can go home at an appointed time. We have the habit of cursing the traffic, never one to help anyone ease it. As I am typing, I was surprised once day sometime back in Mumbai it was a civilian who took charge of an traffic bottle neck and eased the flow with a smile that was around 8.30 in the morning.

Take some time in a day to randomly thank people. Say thanks to everyone who helps you thought it might be their job! You will share a joy that will be remembered for long.

For a change walk down from your car, (please park them on the side of the road) say hello to the cops, shake hands and wish them a great day! Look how you would have enthused an otherwise mundane day for someone  who risks his life so that the traffic goes smooth.

Thank atleast 3 people a day and I am sure those thank you’s will come back to you making you feel elated and happy !

Let me know in case you do any special act of kindness and how it was reciprocated with a smile and how the day was a better day for you.

Cheers!

Senthil

One post a day 21/30

Failure of Entrepreneurship

Branding (personal), Motivation, Stories/storification, Training, ,

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I thought about this because I saw a related story of rising suicides in Tamil Nadu and there was a set of people mentioned as being entrepreneurs who end up committing suicide. There was a detailed summing up of the factors especially when they fail and how they actually end up not having the strength to face the world.

I think this factor is often a result of our education system which only celebrates mediocrity of getting marks and that alone as a yardstick of one’s achievement. No where are we allowed to fail in a sense that we tried and failed. The worst part about the exam is not even the challenge to your brain except muggin up and getting your answers right.

While talking to one of my friend who is a professor, he was surprised to see a set of students had only mugged the answers to a set of questions and they were sure that they examiner is not going to even twist the question. So if they come across a set of four options they knew the answer for sure irrepsective of the question. Like I said the question cannot be changed.

Imagine if Thomas Alva Edison did not continue after numerous failure, would we have been working with electricity and a bulb to shine in the night. It was also very sad to read that people who fail at entrepreneurship take to the drastic step of ending their lives.

The most important trait that we need to instill in our children is the removal of fear of failure especially in terms of what holds for the future. We need to celebrate the idea of entrepreneurship so that people take easy steps to it. I know its easy said than done.

But you got to stand in ovation for all those who chose to be entrepreneurs in their own right. For me every vendor who comes to our door step is an entrepreneur who has a risk attached to his every day livelihood and where there are no paid holidays.

I used to be inspired by those people who carry themselves out of bed so that we can smell the coffee, those who are out of bed so that we can read the newspapers, the drivers who drive night shifts so that the milk would reach the nearest booth for us to have the coffee.

There are in-numerous people who are entrepreneurs who help us in our endeavors. I have come across many people who handle multiple business with ease and also happen to do a lot of good work in their chosen field.

So why do people take hasty decisions when it comes to failure. It may be monetary in a way but thats the way we have been taught perhaps that monetary achievement far exceeds a successful trial of an entrepreneur. We need to instill a sense of achievement for the students to understand the reality and success and failure are two sides of a coin. Then ofcourse make them understand that failure is the stepping stone to success.

To make this happen always make it a point to compliment any entrepreneur you come across in your day to day lives. Entrepreneurs are a rare tribe and if not for them lot of people would lose the jobs.

Cheers

One post a day – 20/30

The importance of a deadline!

General, Motivation, Training, ,

Well that was the easiest I could relate to at this hour. With just 33 minutes left for me to type a post that should be readable, and worth reading, mind you both are two different things in a way, I thought it best to write about the deadline.

Suppose if there was no deadline to any action the word project management would become redundant. Simply because if there is an action it would necessarily be bound by time otherwise the work will never be complete.

Having been in agency where the client wanted every creative or artwork yesterday when the brief is actually given today, I know how important deadline is to any action.

But the best part is how you could use deadline to manage time and make it more productive is your way of working it out. Quite often the deadline has given some of the best works of some of the great writers and journalists we know.

There are some who will wait for deadline so they can finish it off. There is a beautiful saying about time management and how we need to work on Urgent and IMportant and distinguish between them.

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Just look at the chart and you will know how to do things and how to prioritize them.

This also gives a glimpse of how we waste time and more so how we do things which are apparently escape activities. Half the battle is won if we get to slash the Time wasters to something important.

So you can check the first quadrant – Urgent / Important that in itself is self explanatory. You can see the word deadline in there. The second is important / not urgent! The third one is Not Important / urgent like a phone call or an email that you are checking.

The last one is Not Important / Not urgent.  Just imagine how we have scrambled this four quadrants in our life and how the not important and not urgent things have changed quadrants without our knowing.

Just try this quadrant and it should be working fine slowly change the activities from a quadrant to the quadrant where it should belong. That will help working against deadlines may be!

Cheers

Senthilkumar

One post a day – 19/30

60 minutes by Upendra Namburi – a book review

Book Reviews, Books Reading / Read, Management, , , ,

60 Minutes

Publisher Westland
Publication Year 2014 June
ISBN-13 9789384030247
ISBN-10 9384030244
Language English
Edition 1st
Binding Paperback
Number of Pages 372 Pages
Book Type Fiction Book

We all know that Corporate life is a high stakes game, and that is what is presented in the “60 minutes” a fast read by Upendra Namburi. At times makes us wonder if it could be so stark I mean the corporate way of life mixed with manipulation, sex, extra marital affairs and derailment of the adversary.

Sometimes makes you sit and smell the coffee if its ok to be doing whatever you want and achieve the goal. Obviously this is the generation which feels end is the focus no matter what the means. Thats some rant from my side!

The story revolves around two corporate professionals in question, Agastya and Sailesh and how they continue to take personal rivalries to their professional life and sometimes even at the cost of the companies to end up spending crores and crores.

The narrative is very fast as the author sets the time of 60 minutes to go into a press conference for a launch of a product and the every minute makes up for so much of action sometimes its streched but overall he has a hold on the things for the reader and the narrative being interspersed with flash backs make it worthwhile sometimes actually trying to justify the now!

The series of actions and the game of chess, the BlackBerry messenger chats to looking at the tab for the market info all are placed in a way to keep you hooked and add to the flavour of the moment, possibly you will be wondering will there be a message or will the bourses take a hit for Agastya.

It would make for film as good as Corporate if you make one.  The characterizations of the narrative sometimes is so stark and the protrayal of women needs much to be desired. Be it Maithili, Priyanka and the wives of the two men in the story.

As a story it lends itself to mass appeal of corporate culture and the has a alls well that ends well to it, but after a real acrimonious bout of ego clash and personal rivalry.

A fast paced and easy read this is bound to be a best seller. You could do it easily at a single stretch if you want and may be two sitting is all you will need. Since its got only three characters you need to work with its pretty easy to follow the story and I think author has got it pretty right and tight with those characters.

I would like to thank Blogadda for the opportunity to review this book!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Senthilkumar

One post a day  18/30

The advent of smartphones…

digital, Mobile Advertising,

Phones

The last Friday, I was at school my alma mater for a reunion with my schoolmates to be precise. Given that the distance from home to school remains the same, it was walkable say some 2.4 km distance, these days we would be doing the same in a bike or a car. Time changes right.

I can also imagine those days of uninhibited roads without the kind of traffic and you could travel without worrying who would jump in front of you. We used to walk to school get the classmates enroute and the gang would reach there. Better still we would cycle all the way to reach there and not get late for the assembly.

Ok the reason I am writing this is when I went to the ground where the school day was being celebrated, I could see almost everyone  with a phone albeit a smartphone actually, i mean every kid was in conversation or fidgeting with the phone. May be this was a day off for them to use the phone.

Well I travelled back to my school days, we didn’t have a phone like this which we could carry with us. We were introduced to a phone the mobile phone to be precise towards the later 90s when the machine would be really big and you had to pay through your nose to make a call or receive one.

In between we had something called pagers that was the SMS part if you ask me and you had to call a pager service provider to  send an SMS to the person who had a pager. The technology had its failings to be only short circuited by mobile revolution.

Then the big changes had happened with feature phones, then the smart phones in the last 5 years! The phones have now become an additional part of your being. An extension of your personal self. You probably wouldn’t sleep without it beside you.

Its become the mode of communication, the messengers, the whatsapp et al. Whatsapp has become a verb than a noun or a name of a service today. It has percolated at all levels and if you know the best part is the ease of use that is driving the usage.

My point here was to take you to a different line. Has these things ever come in the way of the individual being the real one. Has it diminished the so called innocence factor atleast in out kids. Or we just looking at clicking pictures to post on social networks that we forget to enjoy the happenings of what unfolds in front of us.

As long as you control the machine its fine, when the machine starts to control you we need to pause and think over.

One post a day 17/30

Loving the challenge to post everyday!

Branding (personal), Just about it, Motivation, Training, ,

Life is a cycle you're only halfway through

SO some 30 days ago when I thought that I will write a post everyday, I knew it was a challenge. Its with immense pleasure I look back to see 15 days have gone by and have been fruitful. This is also given a sense of discipline and probably will make it happen with other challenges that I intend to set for myself.

This has also given me an opportunity to write on various things from Usain Bolt to Maha Bali. It also gives a perspective on how the journalists or other bloggers really prepare while writing on whats close to their heart.

Its also a moment to stop and thank the readers who have commented and shared whenever they thought fit apart from the like that’s showered for the posts.

When you know that you are half way through is the most important time to get working so that we go the last mile in our endeavours. So far so good and hope to finish this till day 30.

A very nice aspect is that when we know we have a goal  to achieve we take all the other negative factors out of our purview and dont give them any chance to influence us.

This post is a short one comparing the rest, and actually because its a bit of tiredness and also a bit of festivities that keep the time occupied. A journey of thousand miles starts with a step and a blog of thousand posts will start with one! 🙂

Cheers!

One post a day 16/30

pic courtesy: randomartcreatives.com

 

The Charles Darwins theory of Bhagavatham!

Book Reviews, Just about it, Stories/storification, ,

Vishnu_Avatars

So today evening after my last meeting around 6 and back home got a call from Gopa saying they were at school, our old school at Chinmaya to be precise and wanted me to just join them. With the campus just 10 mins drive from my house I reach there in about 20 minutes and was surprised to see that it was a School day, and well it was also Teachers’s Day if you know!

The air of celebrations was evident when I could see  a lot of kids with make up and also in their dance costumes walking up and down. The get together happened to be an idea by our juniors and have been successful in getting some 13 people to be at the campus.

After the mandatory classroom visits we went to the ground, where the school day celebrations were in full swing.

We had arrived to the show of the Dasavathara of Mahavishnu being made in a song and dance format. The choreography seemed well done and the costumes and the lights have been well orchestrated to get the best of visual impact.

We traversed from the Matsya, Kurma, Varaha avathars of Maha Vishnu and then led to the next set of incarnations.

If you look back at your Biology or Zoology classes these are akin to the Charles Darwins theory of evolution. If you know he had proposed that life started from the water the moved to reptiles before landing up as a mammal on the earth. A close analogy of Matsya the water animal,  Kurma the water and land animal, then Varaha the animal on earth.

As we became evolved according to Charles Darwin we took the form of Narasimha that is half animal half man then we went to dwarf mode to be a Vamana!

Then Maha Vishnu chose to be Parasurama, the fiery brahmin who would go on a killing spree. Something our ancestors also did according to Charles Darwin.

Then it was the time of Rama! A wonderful human being and epitome of whatever was right  morally. May be Charles Darwin had found the perfect human being or may be not.

Then he is followed by Krishna and Gautama Buddha!

I just keep wondering at which stage are we at the present moment, the post Rama Stage or the Buddha stage.

Whichever we need to grow into the next level of Kalki may be!

One post a day – 16/30

The Guru & Mahabali…and Onam

General, Internet, Just about it, Management, Politics, Spirituality, ,

Lord Vamana

With the Teacher’s day and Onam together I thought what better way than share the story of the great Mahabali.

Mahabali was a great ruler, and with the penance and the yagna that he performed, it was going to be sure that he would rule the world. The word ‘Tathasthu’ is the most easily abused word when it came to granting wishes left, right and centre.

So getting back to the story, Mahabali was performing one of the biggest Yagna or sacrifice on earth the Ashwamedha Yagna. Along side was his Guru Sukracharya – the mentor for the asuras as they are known, guiding him and making the rituals all a success.

Whenever these yagnas are held, Indra the king of Gods always has a problem, he knows his time will be limited if the rituals are complete and he would lose Indraloka for sure not to forget the beautiful dancing ladies – Apsara, Menaka and the troupe.

It is also believed that Mahabali was one of the most sincerest of the kings ever on earth. To take you back on history, Mahabali is the grandson of King Prahlada, whose father was Hiranayakasipu! Prahlada is supposed to the one of the greatest devotees of Lord VIshnu.

As the ritual was getting over, it was time for Maha Vishnu to act and so he takes the form of Vamana the dwarfed brahmin. He comes calling on Mahabali at the site of the yagna.

Mahabali has been generous and a bit of pride was evident the way he did his charity, ofcourse that would be the cause of his undoing.

Mahabali welcomed Vamana and told him “Ask oh brahmana!  and that shall be given!” That very moment Sukracharya could sense this Vamana was not an ordinary being. 

Vamana also saluted and said, “Oh the ruler of this earth, I just need three steps of land and that is all I need!”

Mahabali felt odd and said “Is that all oh brahmana, you shall have the three steps as you wish.” This probably was one of the Tathasthu that Mahabali made a mistake.

Sukracharya now knew the game was up and went near Mahabali and told him “Oh Mahabali, please don’t give your word. You would not be able to fulfill them, you can have the luxury of not having to go by your word now.”

Mahabali was a bit taken aback. For the first time he decided to disobey his guru. Probably its there in the bloodline, his grand father Prahlada was the one who disobeyed the father and now here is another person disobeying his guru. Whatever happened to “Mata Pita Guru Deivam” and “Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Guru Devo bhava, Athithi Devo Bhava!”

Then he turned to Vamana and said, “Please take your three steps of land. I shall stand by my word!”

Sukracharya was aghast at this audacity and left the venue. A classic instance of disobeying the teacher!

Well then it was the time for Maha Vishnu to take his form and covered the earth and the sky with two steps and was wondering where would he make his next move.

Mahabali also knew there was only one place. It was his head. So Maha Vishnu, the Vamana placed his feet on Mahabali and pushed him into the kingdom below the earth.

It was then Mahabali felt odd, he loved his people so much and he was going to miss them forever and he asked Maha Vishnu for a boon that he would love to visit his people once a year.

The occasion happens to be Onam! With the onset of Chingam the malayalam month this festivities hold a great significance in the Kerala and for the malayalees worldwide!

PS: Happy Teachers Day! In other words, Mahabali should have listened to his guru! 😛

One post a day! 15/30