HOPE- A POSITIVE BELIEF

Whenever we do anything,
Whenever we take any decision,
Whenever we try anything new,
We just have one thing with us-'Hope'

We faith in someone,
We believe in something,
We get strength in doing something,
All are paved into us with one thing-'Hope'

Success looks easy to achieve,
Problems look easy to solve,
Money looks easy to earn,
Life looks simple to live,
'Hope' is what makes us do all.

I wondered, Would there be anything without it?
Would there be any positive thoughts without it?
Would there be any patience without it?
Would there be any motivation without it?
Would there be anyone ever, who might ever overcome failure without it?
I m certain, it would not be possible without the 'HOPE'

HOPE is a special word,
Its only essence is positivity.
No one ever hopes for the bad.
HOPE is a feeling,
We feel it to fulfill what we want.
HOPE is a Positive Belief.
So, lets Hope for the best together!!

THANK GOD WE HAVE NEW YEARS

Every year there is a buzz,
There is a lot of happiness,
There is a joy as we approach the Christmas.
Christmas marks the presence of winter,
The festive season, the lights all around,
The gifts and the arrival of the next brand New Year!!

Yes, the New Year is coming.
The New Year comes with a fresh breadth,
The fresh cool breadth of winter!!
Every one has new plans,
Every one wants to end old problems,
And everyone wants to change for the best.

The resolutions are made,
The goals are set,
And the career paths are decided.
Such is the charisma of New Year,
Suddenly we all have a vision for ourselves.

The New Year has become a symbol of new life.
For few who are doing well in life, its about doing better
And for others who are not, its about making it better.
The New Year is like an opportunity to forget the past failures,
And work for the success in the future.

Isn't it amazing that every 366th day
We get a chance to re-evaluate ourselves,
We get a chance to lease a new life,
And we get a change to better the future.
Wow, it’s wonderful!!

Thank God, we have New Years,
A chance, an excuse or a new life,
Whatever it is,
But it’s no less than a blessing.
A blessing in disguise!!

BE CAPABLE OF DOING THINGS AND THE SUCCESS WILL FOLLOW

Just a few days ago, I saw a wonderful Bollywood movie called "3-Idiots". I must say- well made movies always convey a useful message to the mankind and "3-Idiots" was certainly one of them. The movie had lots of interesting things in it, which if noticed can make a lot of difference to the one's life.

Among all the very special things in the movie, there was one message, which I thought had a lot of impact on me. The message was- "We Should Make Ourselves To Be Capable Of Doing Things And The Success Will Follow". I think this is one of the most amazing things if followed.

How many times in Life we have come across this question that- "M I Capable of Doing This Thing?". The question can actually be answered by no one but self. Probably the most important thing to answer that question is to understand that- "Do We Really Want To Do That Thing? Well, the thing I m talking about could be anything like a job or like a study program or may be some hobby etc. but the core to all this is- "Do We Really Wanna Do it?". If we know that we really want to do it then here you are all set to do things in the best possible way but if we aren't sure and we still start doing it because my family is forcing me or my friends are doing it then probably we have just started to live life on others terms i.e. exactly where the downfall has begun.

The point is one can only become capable of doing a thing in the best possible way when one really wants to do it. There is no denying to the fact that if one is fully capable of doing a thing in the best possible way then Success will follow. So, to be Successful in life its really important to be capable of doing your thing in the best possible way and to do the thing in the best possible way its important to understand what we really want to do in life, what really interests us and what we want to be in life by doing any specific things.

On a philosophical note, I would want to conclude here by saying that- We Human-Beings are probably the biggest mystery to ourselves, we raise questions and problems for ourselves, and the truth is only we can answer and solve them i.e. why we are so unique species, a complete unique creation of God.

GOLD WILL NEVER LOSE ITS LUSTER IN INDIA

In 1991, when the government of India shipped around 70 tonnes of Gold to UK under the deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF) for clearing the balance of payment, it was probably considered one of the biggest disgraces of the Gold loving nation but the Indian government has confidently brought back the forgotten pride in style by buying nearly 200 tonnes of Gold from IMF. Certainly, it came as a surprise to the whole country as nobody predicted a move such as this from the government in the present scenario but the government’s surprise move has moved India into the league of top 10 Gold holding nations at 10th spot, moving up from its previous position of 14th.

Historically, Indian Kings and Rulers had treasures, which mainly consisted of the Gold Bullions and Gold Coins but later all the Gold was looted by the foreign powers who ruled on India. Nevertheless, no love was lost for the shining looking metal and Gold never lost its sheen among the people of India. If the statistics from the experts are to be believed India is a Gold crazy nation and if the unofficial figures are to be trusted there is about 60000 tonnes of Gold in the country. Gold is considered to be the favorite gift on various festivals celebrated in the country and thanks to the huge number of festivals celebrated in India because of its multi-cultural and diverse facets. The figures also show that the sale of Gold Coins has always maximum at the time of Diwali Festival as the Hindus will pray the Goddess Laxmi embedded on the coin. One other interesting fact shows that more bullions of the precious metal are sold on the festival of Dhanteras, just before the Diwali festival.

Not only the festivals but also the Gold ornaments being put on by the Indian couples at the time of marriage has always kept the demand of Gold high in the country. Gold has been always considered as a major component in the “dowry”, Oooops….I said the wrong term as it’s called as “the Gifts” since the time dowry has become illegal in India. The Gold prices have almost tripled in last 10-12 years, which have certainly made it clear that Gold prices are here to rise and more people are now seeing the precious metal as a source of investment. Many banks have started attracting the investors with various plans of buying Gold bullion as investment but still the Indian market consists of almost 50% of non-certified Gold. There is still a lack of awareness among the consumer about the original quality of Gold and people have not yet zeroed down there confidence on any particular retailer. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm of Gold buyers is unbeatable in India and it doesn’t stop them from buying Gold bullion in bulk. Certainly, one thing is for sure that the Gold will never lose its luster in India.

COME ON INDIA: WAKE UP

We have showcased ourselves as the most diverse country in the world for long and we have never missed the opportunity to feel proud about the vast multi cultural environment where we live but at the same time, the ground reality is that we have muted ourselves of being probably the most racist people in the world. Yes, I m talking about us- the Indians. We have assumed and accepted, the hypocrisy and the racism like a deaf by closing our ears to what is wrong, unethical and inhumane, and we have acted like a dumb by giving the name of our cultures and religions. I know in India, we have the problem of Hindu-Muslim for more than 65 years but what is more heart breaking is the fact that instead of finding the solutions to the problems, we have encountered more of a same kind such as the Marathi’s placing Maharashtra above the India, the Tamil’s and the Telagana’s demanding a free state, the Sikh’s revenging the 1984 massacre, the Bihari’s doubting the government since Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav left the railways, the Eastern Naxalism, the communists of Kerala and Bengal, and many more. The complete India has been divided into small groups on the basis of caste, religion or region. The country might seems to be doing economically well on world stage but as they say it reality bites. The question is how long India can possibly sustain its development along with all the internal disturbances.

If the statistics from the experts are to be believed the internal disturbances have multiplied in the last two decades in India and if not controlled the situation will soon worsen. Probably, as a country we need to first focus on what is happening inside the country at the grass root levels than any other thing. It’s not that today Indians don’t understand what is happening but the mystery is still we have the support among our own intelligent citizens for all the wrong things happening in the country. No bad thing in this world can evolve until it has some support and i.e. probably we are doing, we are supporting the wrong people and wrong things in the name of our religion, region and caste. We have to STOP IT, enough is enough!!

I have never been out of my country but still I haven’t felt even once when all the citizens of my country united against all the political shit happening. Not only politics but also corruption, we have almost failed in all the departments. Compromise, has become the only word of our lives. We have given the power to run our country in the wrong hands and we have ignored that fact for long. We have ignored all the wrong things happening in front of our eyes like a blind. If its not related to us we have not even tried to get indulge into it, which is probably the mistake we are doing since long by killing our conscience and not doing correct because of the only reason as it wasn’t related to us. For long we haven’t even tried to bring out the sins, which we are committing for so long but we have to start someday. We should try by making a small change in the way we think, we should try think like a human before putting all the constraints like religion, region and culture. Nothing should be considered more important than MANKIND.

I m glad that Shobha De writes so much about the current state of our country and inspires so many people but the inspiration needs to be passed to other people through the people who got inspired, they have to make sure whatever they understood a good thing for the society, which needs to be passed on else it will go waste. I m glad that Sachin Tendulkar mentions that it’s an honor playing for India. I m glad that A.R.Rehman makes patriotic songs. Thank God, we have young and inspiring writers like Chetan Bhagat today who are sending the right messages to the young India by using their genres to the perfection. Chetan Bhagat has been successful in bringing out the untold truths of Indian society in the most polite way.

Don’t say we don’t know how we can spread the awareness and inspire people to do their best, everyone is special and everyone has its own special way just find it out and pass the signal. We have to start from basic, first start by changing what we think. Forget the castism, racism, regionism and think only onething that we are “Human”. Just believe in onething- Mankind and soon we will realize that we have solved probably the most complex puzzle with utmost simplicity. We need to make the best of what we have be it music, be it blogs, be it sports, be it anything, we need to make sure that the purpose is served, that’s it. We need to WAKE UP, WAKE UP INDIA, WAKE UP!!

CRACKING THE COMPLEX LIFE

Happy or Sad, we live it.
Good or Bad, we accept it.
Success or Failure, we work it.
Yes, that's Life.

Just when we want to do something, there are questions poping out.
Just when we want something, there are no options available.
Just when we see everything good, there are problems.
Entangled but that's Life.

Sometimes, we value something so much in life,
yet we suffer the dilemma of selecting the right.
Sometimes, we know something matters so much to us,
yet we cannot do it right.
Sometimes, we want something so important in life,
yet we cannot find it out.
Confused but that's Life.

Complex and complicated, Yes that's Life.
Yet the people who cracked it were never so fright.
They were no spare to Life and had to face the same questions in Life
Yet they handled it well even on the tip of knife.

Life is a fight and never giving up is only right.
Just forget the negative vibes.
The situation is never right but you have to find out the light.
After all, the struggle is what we call as Life !!

LIFE IS A LEARNING CURVE

It’s a well known saying that “Life is a learning curve” and perhaps today, I totally understand the complete meaning behind it. Well, if life would have been straight forward and simple then everyone would have been living in the same manner, the ordinary way and probably, there would not have been anything special about it but certainly i.e. not the case et al. If by chance Life would have been considered straight forward then all of us have learnt the same things without any special efforts and those things might not have been as valuable to us as they are today. One thing is for sure, if Life’s journey would have been considered straight forward and simple, one would have easily completed it with the blindfolded eyes but certainly it’s not.

Having said that “Life is NOT straight forward”, I meant that it is a bag full of twists and turns, where we might sometime just take a wrong step outside our correct assigned path but we learn to get back on the right track again and again after each failure or bad thing happen to us in our lives. The beauty of this whole cycle called Life is that all of us fumble from our correct assigned paths but what is so special about it is that i.e. exactly when we learn to fight back and work ourselves back on the right track. Yes, we all struggle and we keep on doing it until we get back to the correct paths but among all the people who are struggling few decide to give up and settle for what they have got and they put full stop to their life’s growths, which I consider not to be an ideal way of living the life. Au contraire, there are people who have just kept on fighting back again and again after every failure and kept on chasing the dreams of their lives until they achieved them. Yes, that is probably is the main difference between a person who is successful and a person who is not successful.

So, it’s a very basic and simple rule of life that we may have hindrances and troubles in life but we should learn from them and we should always show willingness to learn whatever we might have failed at; the thing is if we keep on learning from our mistakes, we keep on reaching to what we actually want in life and i.e. why its very correct to say that “Life is a learning curve”.

INTERNET SEARCHES ARE SEO RICH THAN ACTUAL RESULTS

Few years back, I never thought that life will be so easy and I never imagined that almost everything I could ever think of will be available on my 15 inch screen, which I have been using for so long for playing games and listening music. Yes, the internet world has revolutionized and it has made everything just a click away. I must confess that I was never as lazy as I m today but Internet has certainly made the life simpler. I know life has got better but there are side-effects associated to almost all great things and Internet is at no spare.

Frankly speaking, the Internet revolution was so exciting and scintillating initially, when almost everyday one or the other service was transforming to the new so called “E-way” (Electronic-way), it triggered the life to completely a new avtar with easy access and less labor but at the same time it also catalyzed the chain reaction, which has made everything available on the Internet in abundance. Yes, as the Internet has grown all these years, the resources on the Internet have multiplied at lightening speeds and that have started causing confusions. Don’t you feel it? Ok, let me just explain you how.

Since, the day I bought my first digital camera I became passionate about photography and more recently, I have realized the need of a new better digital camera and a cell phone (with camera). I decided to search for these items on the Internet so that I can buy them. One fine day, I started searching for my ideal digital camera and a cell phone (with camera) but without any surprise all the searches on the internet gave me far too many results. After surfing through the top 5 results, I realized that none was near to what I was looking for. As I m a bit familiar with the SEO stuff, I soon realized that those searches were showing me the best SEO rich results not the actual best results what I was looking for, preferably shopping site where I can buy those things, this is exactly where Internet has become confusing, I know it has hell lot of links to what I m thinking to shop online but the thing what I preferably want was not SEO rich. Wooof…..what a confusion!!

Anyway, I started surfing back with the blank mind and soon found a website-Shopwiki.com, which was having the stuff I was searching for hours on the Internet. The best part was that it had almost all the electronics stuff including the things I was searching for on a website, which had e-stores listings from all across the internet. This website was showing probably all the stores available on the internet and that too minus the other SEO rich stuff, which a normal search engine query will show, Oh finally it was a relief for me but I also started thinking that since the internet has become so vast that it’s the need of the hour if we can have the bifurcations of some sorts and websites for all other categories similar to what I found for the various items like electronics on Shopwiki.com. Possibly we need more of such websites as a new solution, which could be implemented for the ever extending Internet with so many resources. I hope that we may have more of such websites as it will finally reduce some confusion, and make our life easier and less SEO based.

VOLATILE MIND:THE MOST UNIQUE CREATION

I wonder, how difficult could be a situation when the mind remembers everything permanently whatever it sees. I don't know how it would have dealt with a situation like this where whatever we see in a whole day is saved like a Xerox copy in the mind. I know many people will argue that this is probably the best thing, which could happen to us but I think the volatile nature of mind would rather be considered the biggest gift to human beings. You may be wondering how an ability to remember all the things be bad to us? Well, the whole point is I m not only talking about the ability of mind to distinguish people or things from one another but also its special quality to remember our relations, friends and colleagues. Yes, this is truly a unique quality of our minds, which always help us remember all the people we actually know but forget the ones whom we haven't met or talked and we don't bother about them such as a stranger, whom we might have met in the shopping mall.

Probably, now you may be in a dilemma, which would have made you think again that what is so special about this quality of mind. Obviously, that is the sole fundamental on which a mind functions but what is so special about its "Volatile Nature"? Well, few days ago I also used to think in the same way but then I realized onething very different and I think this is the very reason that makes the Volatility of Mind so very much special. Ok, now lets cut the suspense short and think about a situation. The situation is you are madly and deeply in love with a person and the bad luck is- the person you love so much is cheating on you or lets say that person does not love you et al. So, what will be the normal reaction you have? I m sure you will feel hurt and you may be depressed about the whole situation, and if worst, you may go into depression and keep on thinking about that person but there is a solution to it and we all know how the solution works, its simple we try and convince ourselves that the person we love doesn't deserve our love and we try to convince ourselves that the person whom we loved so much doesn't matter to us anymore.

Once you have convinced yourself or lets say your mind and soon it triggers the real magic of its Volatile Nature, and soon after few days you will realize that you dont even remember that person or don't even bothered to think anything about that person. Yes, that healing up, which resulted from the mind's very own volatility is the most precious feature of human mind. I think due to volatility of mind, we all are able to overcome any mental road block and just flush out everything, which may hinder a person emotionally and mentally. The power to NOT remember is certainly a unique gift, the most unique creation of human mind. Indeed, I have no doubt that beyond intelligence we have a special gift in the form of our "Volatile Mind".

I WILL TRY AGAIN…

Days are not going well and nights are sleepless.
Life seems to be full of questions and the answers are yet not known.
The clock seems to be ticking faster and the time seems to be running away.
All things seem to be stranded in front of a closed door and no where to go.

I have decided to put full stop to it.
I have decided to make my days well and make my nights stress free again.
Only I can answer to all those open questions as only I have raised them.
I have to pace myself by running faster than the time again.

I know this isn’t happening the first time in life
But why m I thinking again?
Yes, I know life isn’t that simple the problem seems to be the same
But the questions are different again.

I know, I can’t live like this anymore
But I have to choose the correct door once again.
I m not going to stop as yet but keep on trying again,
Until I fulfill my aim.

I m not going to give up…
But fight again.
Victory is the only option
Let the enemy fall away.
With no mercy let me try again and I will try again!!

THE FESTIVAL OF DHANTERAS

Dhanteras, when Hindus buy precious metals in the belief it would invoke prosperity, generally accounts for sales of 15-20 tonnes of gold in India. Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day Diwali Festival to follow and when Hindus buy precious metals like gold in the belief it would invoke prosperity. The word Dhanteras, Dhan stands for "WEALTH". On this auspicious day, Goddess Laxmi is worshiped.

Here is a story behind the Dhanteras festival, which says that once the sixteen year old son of King(named as Hima) was doomed to die by a snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage as per his horoscope. On that particular fourth day of his marriage his young wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid all the ornaments and lots of silver coins in a big heap at the entrance their house and lighted in-numerable lamps all over the place. When Yama, the god of Death arrived there as Serpent his eyes got blinded by the dazzle of those brilliant lights and he could not enter the Prince's chamber. Thus the young wife saved her husband from the death. Since then this day of Dhanteras came to be also known by the name-"Yamadeepdaan" and lamps are kept burning throughout the night.

On Dhanteras, Hindus consider it auspicious to purchase gold or silver articles or at least one or two new utensils. It is believed that new “Dhan” or some form of precious metal is a sign of good luck.

THE REAL MAGIC OF RAIN….

I always liked the Rain; there is a feeling of freshness associated to it. The transition of the sky from the bright color to the dark and grey colors is so much heart smoothening. There is a certain mood swing, which occurs in everyone who witnesses the coming rain. There is a buzz in whole environment just before it’s about to pour. The trees, the grass, and the soil, all seem to be shaking in the nature’s fury as if they have being spelled to the voodoo.

What makes it all special is the impact of rain on all of us. I always feel there is a strong connection between the rain and the human beings. I believe there is a sudden excitement about the situation when it’s about to rain. Everyone one of us has some or the other reaction on seeing the grey sky, few of us get into some kind of hurry of reaching to some place, others get into tensions of cancellation of their plans but most of us feel so rejoiced that we feel ourselves taking a plunge into the ocean of joy and excitement. Yes, most of us get into a mood of happiness and that is the true effect of the coming rain.

I have the same beautiful effect on seeing the rain. I may be in the most stressed or in the most emotionally demolished mood of my life but on seeing a droplet of rain falling on the ground changes my whole mood. Especially, the smell of the earth’s soil when the first rain occurs is so good and a true indication of the earth losing its heat and gaining the fresh life.

The buzz is created by the environment and by all of us, when it’s about to pour. The trees and the grasses while shaking in the air make a different sound to welcome the rain, the zooming pleasant sound and they give an excellent fluorescence when the first drop of rain falls on them, a special sight to notice. The doors and the windows bang themselves to gain our attention and let us know that it’s about to rain. The wind blows with the grey clouds floating in the beautiful rainy sky. The whole environment in the locality becomes so chirpy that everyone is just talking about the rain. The children start running either to their homes or to their friend’s place so that they can enjoy the rain in a manner suited to them. The ladies at the homes start taking off the wet clothes hanging in the sunlight for drying. The hawkers on the streets are in a hurry to reach to a shelter. The Traffic Police is taking out their rain-coats so that they can wear them when it rains. People who are at office do not miss the celebration too, they just start seeing outside for a while from the window of their office and to make their whole experience even more better, they will have their favorite cup of coffee or tea to sip with their amazing moods. The elders at the gardens and lawns hit a tea party with some oily snacks along with their mates, yet another way of celebrating the rain.

Finally, when it rains and everybody wants to be exactly at that place, where they are at the time of rain as if everyone has got an excuse to stop and to stay. Everyone enjoys the rain with one’s own style but all have one thing in common among them i.e. the excitement of rain, which has made their mood so jubilant and happy in whatever they are doing and that is the real magic of it.

8 THINGS: AN AMERICAN AND AN INDIAN SHOULD LEARN FROM EACHOTHER

I have worked with the people of both countries-India and USA, and after spending some time in USA I have great regards and few keen observations about the unique American culture. I observed few really interesting characteristics among the both Indians and the Americans, which actually triggered me to write this post. I m really amazed with the fact that how the people are bonded to their cultures across the boundaries and how there is a subtle change in the mind-sets across the different geographies. What I m trying to showcase through this post is how few characteristics of two different cultures are better than the other or lets say 8 things which Americans do it uniquely and Indians should learn from them, and then the other way round, those things which Indians do it uniquely and Americans should learn from them.

THE CAREFREE AMERICANS Vs THE WORRISOME INDIANS: I have no doubt whatsoever about the Americans having the attitude, which is carefree and relaxed; they don’t live with the unwanted and the unnecessary tensions in their minds as the Indians live with. Indians have a tendency to always worry for one or the other thing sometimes it’s about the family, work, girlfriend or money etc. I don’t mean that Americans don’t worry about those things but the point is when they are on a vacations they are going to enjoy the vacations with friends or family rather than worrying about any of those things but Indians are opposite to that even if they are on a vacations they might be talking about the same worries. Indians really don’t live for the moment, they go in their shell and don’t enjoy the life the way Americans do.

THE SUPER SAVER INDIANS Vs THE EASY SPENDING AMERICANS: Indians have the effect of their worrisome attitude over their spendings too, which actually become their boon as they tend to save a lot through out their lives. Indians are very good planners in terms of financial spending, they hardly lose a penny unwontedly. In general an Indian starts saving money for ones own purpose and for it’s family from a very early age. Since, India is a country where parents stay with their children, parents make sure they are saving every possible penny for the better future of their wards. In most of the cases, the whole family lives in the same family home and even after the marriage of the children they will stay in their parent’s home. On the other hand, the Americans are a bit different. They are less concerned about the future as compared to the Indians, and the Americans believe in living for the moment as a result they end up spending more comparatively.

THE BOLD AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS Vs THE COMPROMISING INDIAN PROFESSIONALS: The American professionals are truly a serious professionals, most of them are very punctual and they are always on time but the Indians are most of the time late. Indians are unpunctual and are a severe victim of procrastination. Most of the Americans are into those jobs, which they really like but the Indians are mostly in the jobs just for the sake of earning rather than any interest or desire to work. One more reason is Americans are more content with whatever they are doing, which is exactly opposite to the Indians. Indians can work for several hours, days and nights, going beyond their work hours but the Americans strike a perfect balance between the work life and the personal life. Indians are almost ready to compromise anything and everything for their job by giving low priority to the personal lives. Probably, this is one reason why so much has been outsourced to India, after all we have the workforce, which can be easily exploited on low salaries but it will wrong to blame the Indians as the competition is so intense that they are almost forced to save their jobs by making personal sacrifices.

THE ADAPTABLE INDIANS Vs THE RIGID AMERICANS: The Indians are very adaptable to all sorts of conditions as compared to the Americans. The Indians realize there is a difference between their self (who they are) and their behavior (how they choose to act). By any means I don’t intend to say that Americans are not adaptable but comparatively Indians are more adaptable. They simply change their behavior. Adaptable people consciously decide whether and how to respond to a person, a situation, or an event. Less adaptable people, on the other hand, respond in a more habitual manner, regardless of whether the response is likely to be appropriate or effective. The Americans are a bit picky or choosy about what they want and what they want to do especially when its about their lifestyles or work.

THE SELF-DEPENDENT AMERICANS Vs THE CONFUSED INDIANS: The Americans are very self dependent as they grow up they move out of their parents house and start living on their own, which certainly is a great characteristic of American culture as it really makes one a self dependent candidate for life. Comparatively, Indians are helped by their parents a lot to settle in their life until they are ready to do everything by their own. There is an immense support from parents for their children in the Indian society, which I feel sometimes hampers the self-dependent thing.

THE HARDWORKING INDIAN STUDENTS Vs THE PARTY-GOING AMERICAN STUDENTS: On being the second highest populated country in the world has made the Indian students highly competitive and hardworking. There are few seats in good management institutes or engineering colleges in comparison to the number of candidates applying for them. So, that results in an intense competitive education system forcing Indian students to work really harder. Comparatively, Americans live a easy life and enjoy their education periods with a lot of parties and stuff.

THE PASSIONATE AMERICANS Vs THE BORING INDIANS: Americans have a very special trait in them i.e. to follow one’s passion to the core. An American believes in doing something or the other, which he feels really excites him but as Indians give lots of time to their jobs and studies, they (Indians) hardly pursue anything of such a kind. Americans when they join the university their electives are totally based on their interests but Indians are driven by either their parents or doing the same as everyone else is doing. Americans generally take up only those professions, which they really enjoy but Indians do it just for the sake of earning. Ironically, few Indians spend their whole life thinking what they actually want in life. The Americans enjoy their life to the fullest but Indians live a rather boring life comparatively.

THE INDIAN FAMILY Vs THE AMERICAN FAMILY: Generally, an Indian family is strongly bonded, they mostly stay together in the same house and follow certain rules as per their cultures, like touching the feet of the elder people while greeting them, helping their parents in the best possible way and after marriage the wife makes sure for looking after the in-law’s. Every member of the family is very emotionally attached and they live a happy life together. In America, the families are not as closely bonded with each other. Mostly, the adult children of the family don’t stay with their parents and they visit each others house not so frequently. Though, Americans cares a lot about their families but not like the way Indians stay together.

I TRULY MISS THE GREAT MAHATMA GANDHI

Today the world celebrated the 140th birth anniversary of one of the greatest leaders of the world, known by the name of "Mahatma Gandhi". The word Mahatma is made up of two parts: "Maha" and "Atma". The word "Maha" means "Great" and synonymous to "Maharishi" meaning "Great Sage" in Hindi and Sanskrit languages. The word "Atma" means "Self" or "Soul". In Hindi and Sanskrit this word is used as "Atma-Jnana" meaning knowing or knowledge of the "Self" or "Atma-Svarup", which is the essential nature of the self. Atma is the true self, as opposed to one's body, individuality and personality. This is exactly why Mr.Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is called as "Mahatma Gandhi".

Truly speaking, I haven't been a Gandhi Fan for most part of my life until I really understood this great personality and his impact on the whole world, I was really confused with the term called "Peacemakers" throughout my life and I was always of the belief that there is hardly any concept like this and probably I never witnessed the need of such people. But as I grew and understood the people and the society around me, I came across the most important and terrifying word- "TERRORISM". Especially, when I m spending my life in a country, where terrorist activities have always impacted the daily life of my country-men and where the people almost daily come over the fear of the terrorist attack which has last happened and still continue to live a normal life. All this has made me think about how can we reach a world free of "Terrorists" and full of "Peaceful Life".

I remember, the 9/11 attack on America was one event which I saw on the television soon after it happened and I was so shocked with that it became an eye-opener to me, and i.e. at that time I began searching for PEACE. Before 9/11, there were many such terrorist incidents in India but they never actually impacted me so strongly as did the 9/11. I dont know why it had such a great impact on me, may be I started understanding what is terrorism and I started valuing peace. Then followed by the bomb blasts in London, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad all made me realize the importance of peace and the people who influence the world peace. Soon, after all those events I started looking for the "Peacemakers". One name which came to my mind instantly was no other than "Mahatma Gandhi".

This frail, non-political leader with barely any possesions released India from the occupancy of history' most powerful nation using non-violent resistance and forgiveness. Non-violent and loving end to conflict wasn't his only platform. Gandhi was also a seeker of truths. Truly one of the most remarkable men to ever live. I hate myself for not knowing Mahatma Gandhi's real character for all those years when I was just ignoring him and his impact over the world. I know there are still few young Indians who blame Mahatma Gandhi for the partition of India and Pakistan, which is completely wrong but I still dont understand how can they underestimate his efforts for the freedom of India.

I have not followed Gandhi in my whole life still I have so much respect for him and his true character, which had done so much for the people of India. Today, when whole world is in such a bad condition and where terrorism, discrimination and racism have become a hard truths of our society, I miss people like the great "Mahatma Gandhi", who had that super calming effect on the world, and who spread the peace around the world for the welfare and well being of mankind. I wish Mahatma Gandhi to reincarnate in present world to help us and to guide us all towards the lost PEACE. We surely need a Gandhi to have that peaceful and truthful effect on us. I truly miss him.

WHO IS REALLY INSPIRING?

I have this amazing widget on my blog, which keeps on flashing motivational quotes randomly and today it has something really interesting that triggered me to think about it. Well it says- “If what you're working for really matters, you'll give it all you've got” by Nido Qubein.

Nido Qubein is a motivational speaker and president of High Point University, an accredited undergraduate and graduate institution. What is more interesting about Mr.Qubein is the fact that he had been ranked 6th among the most motivational speaker world wide in 2008. He is chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company. He is an active speaker and consultant addressing more than 100 business and professional groups around the world each year. His books and learning programs have been translated into three dozen languages and are sold across the globe.

You know what I think on knowing so much about Mr.Qubein that he is one really inspiring soul on this earth. Yet I still not convinced with his quote mentioned above. I understand this clearly that its very logical and basic for someone to give one’s best shot at something, which really interests him but this is a very simple thought or let me just say that it’s a very common aspect of one’s personality. It’s like when I like something and it really matters to me, I m going to give my best shot, this is kind of obvious isn’t it? With due respect to Mr.Qubein and with no offense to his opinion instead, I feel this is not at all motivating, probably if that quote, would have given me an advice or mantra through which I could have realized a thing that really matters to me in life would have been worth. I think, we all in our lives want to achieve what really matter but most of us throughout our lives are never clear about it so we keep on trying different things at all times by actually copying the people who have done well rather than doing what would really matter to us. It’s a proven fact that people who are clear about what they want are the one who are successful in their lives. The reason is very simple as they know what exactly they want and in which direction they have to apply themselves, with full force to achieve what they exactly want. So, what I m trying to say is it’s not about if I m doing a thing that really matters to me and I m giving my best in it but it’s about how I realize what thing really matters to me because once I know that it’s almost definite that I m going to give my all to it.

Au contraire, I have another observation, which I would want to share here. There are people with such a character who have a tendency of giving their best at whatever they do. Moreover, they do it despite their intention if it really matters to them but it’s more of their rare pure character. These are actually the people who are true winners because not only they feel satisfied with themselves as they do all the things with full passion but also do it with all they have. Beyond that it really doesn’t matter to them even if it doesn’t reap them any use. For instance, I know a person who works for a MNC. I know that this guy has not received any good hikes for last 2 years or so but yet his passion for his work and zealot at work is commendable. He himself knows that there is no use of working so hard but still he do it for himself. He says that’s his nature or character he feels satisfied in life only after performing something not by cheating himself. Now this is a truly inspiring character because if one knows what really matters to him in life, he would surely going to give his all but here is somebody who is not sure what matters to him and yet giving his all.

INTERNET PLAYING EVIL, CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING

I m a Google fan and I love to search everything I wish to find out on internet via Google but just a few days ago, I found a rather shocking fact i.e. every Google search emits 0.2g of Carbon Dioxide. There was study that took place in Harvard University by Mr. Alex Wissner-Gross and it concluded that the energy consumption levels at Google’s data centers were near to 0.7g CO2 emitted per Google search. Soon after the news came in open, Google’s officials corrected the figures to 0.2g emission per search by posting it on their official blog. The post also said that each server spends a few thousandths of a second processing queries, using 0.0003 kWh of energy - the amount that each person's body burns in ten seconds - in the process.

This news has given me a feeling of self guilt because I m a regular Google user and search minimum ten times per day on it that means 0.2x10= 2g CO2 emission. Now on thinking a bit more, I realize there are thousands of users daily searching something on Google and that too multiple times so this number is going to be a devastating one in terms of total CO2 emission. Since, I m not at all anti-Google guy I m not trying to criticize Google or anybody else here but what I m trying to present is a fact that is so alarming and unknowingly, we are involved in CO2 emissions and playing our part in Global Warming.

Now taking the mathematics of search engines to a next level, we have Yahoo, Bing, AOL, MSN, ASK, and many other small and big search engines available today on the internet but the million dollar question is exactly how many search engines are there? Going by the facts, it’s very clear that other than the major search engines, which I named above, rest all just share near to 10% of the total pie chart. But again the trick is how you are doing your calculations because other than our major search engines we have hundreds of thousands of search engines, which are part of the single website and let me remind you all those search engines are also the part of our so called internet data, which is being stored at data centers, and they play a major role when you query something on the website because that consumes energy and emits CO2.

Now let’s just analyze the information I gave you above. Imagine the number of websites we have on the internet today. Let’s just imagine that how much data could be there on the internet today? Can you imagine that, I know you do but you might be just amazed the same way as I was on observing such staggering numbers. Ok, we all use Emails and we have lots n lots of them, isn’t it? So, you ever thought where all that data is getting stored, well the answer is simple it’s being stored in those data centers only and that too plays a part in CO2 emission.

I know we cannot stop using the internet or we just cannot go back in old age, which would be like taking the internet revolution back, but what is required are the ideas in these fields. We should try and find out answers to all Data Centers emissions and make the green technology revolution a big one. It’s really important that we join the green IT club better sooner than later otherwise, the consequence could be worse and our technology might end up being our biggest curse.

ALCOHOL SANITIZERS TO THE RESCUE AGAINST THE SWINE FLU

Just when the first suspected Swine Flu case was reported in my office, my company took a major precautionary step against it by installing several Alcohol based Sanitizers in the company premises. The clear instruction was to apply the spirit from the Alcohol Sanitizers at a regular interval of say 4-5 hours and it will help us fight against any virus including the Swine Flu.

At first, I thought how could this thing going to make a difference and now here I m after more than a month and no Swine Flu case reported since its installation. Not only that I have seen these Alcohol Sanitizers being installed at various public places like- KFC, Multiplexes and many companies. From my personal experience and observation the Alcohol Sanitizers have done the trick, and they are certainly helping us fight against the Swine Flu.

In fact, there has been an official study about the Alcohol Sanitizers Vs the bacteria and viruses, and the good news is these sanitizers are working in our favor. There have been some studies done over the years and the conclusion is washing our hands using these Alcohol Sanitizers is a good idea. If you are having a busy day and if you find it hard to get to a sink, then carry a bottle of hand sanitizer with you because that will help you fight against any viral infections.

The conclusion is if we apply it (Alcohol Sanitizer) on our hands, they become very noninfectious to viruses. It’s simple if you put it on the hands and the viruses simply won’t be able to cling to them. So, it does reduce the amount of a virus that can cling to our hands but it does not kill it. Alternatively, it also can’t harm us in any way.

Hence, Alcohol Sanitizers can be one major utility, which can help us protect against the Swine Flu and as they say it “Prevention is better than cure”, I see there is no harm in installing such Alcohol based Sanitizers in our premises but make sure you are not an Alcohol addict because then your stock of sanitizer is going to end soon, just kidding. On a serious note, I would say that it has worked for several companies here and I hope it will work for everyone else too.

PS: I M NOT A DOCTOR OR AN ALCOHOL SANITIZERS DEALER, THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST ON THE BASIS OF PERSONAL OBERVATIONS & EXPERIENCES.

IF YOU GIVE UP, THEY GIVE UP: STOP GLOBAL WARMING

I remember there were times in the past when a clear distinction of seasons in a year was visible. There were winters during a certain fixed time in a year then there were rains during another fixed time in a year and similarly, there were summers at another fixed time in a year.

During winters, I used to enjoy the early freezing mornings along with my quilt and as the day used to progress my la-affaire with the sun used to soar high. I would love to see the shining sky and I would most cherish the scene of sunlight spreading everywhere across the surroundings and neutralizing the chilling effects. The rains were like the blessings, like a wave of freshness. The scenes around me in the community, just before the down pore were unforgettable. I always felt the strong buzz in the atmosphere and among the people just before the rain starts. I remember people used to celebrate rains, they used to dance, they used to watch the rains with their open windows and doors, they used to party with their amigos and the whole scene was no less than a special festival. Same joy and a bright beginning were visible during the summers, everyone was so excited about it. The extended days and the daily twilight were the best two things in the summers. We all used to enjoy every season with the utmost pleasure but later the things have changed in the last few years.

Suddenly, the ice started melting in the polar region, the sea levels started rising all across and the water temperatures in the sea and rivers started rising everywhere around the world. The seasons have started being non-periodic, which season starts when has become a dilemma and the worst is their duration is becoming harder to predict. The weather has become so much unpredictable like an ugly boss, whose mood can swing anytime in any direction. One moment I was listening to the news in the television about the draught and its economic effects and just few days past, shockingly, the same news channel started showing the photographs of the same area now being hit by severe rainfalls and got hit by flood. All of a sudden, a rare species of a sea mammal became extinct in the polar region. There is a sharp change in the life of living beings especially in the polar region.

I wonder what happened to the ecosystem of the most beautiful planet in the universe. Most areas of the world are going through long seasons of bright sunshine, which have started irritating us, we no more love the summers since it has became the longest season in the whole year. Due to the complete eco system-misbalance weird things are happening all around the world, few of the diseases which were near to their dead end and about to be eradicated inhaled a new life and spreading like so much pace as it never did before. Thanks to the warm weather, the diseases like Malaria are not eradicated yet. As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. We saw in this in 2004 and 2005. All these uncertainties, the draughts, the floods, the hurricanes, everything is sucking away the economic stability of all the countries around the world and beyond all, it has put question mark over the life of our grand children’s and our great grand children’s.

I still want to ask you- Do you really don’t know the reason to all these mishaps?? Do you still going to shove away from GLOBAL WARMING? Are you still going to ignore the fact that – GLOBAL WARMING is pushing us towards a dead end, the end of life on earth? Please don’t blind fold your self on seeing the word- GLOBAL WARMING. Please don’t give up as easily and rise against it. Take a pledge to save the living beings on this planet and promise to do your bit in fighting against the Global Warming.

Lets stop emitting greenhouse gases(GHGs) today, the Earth would still warm by another degree Fahrenheit or so. But what we do from today forward makes a big difference. We consider ourselves the most intelligent species alive, right? So, how about in finding new ideas and innovative ways to cut the effects of Global Warming. Lets look for energy alternatives, and harness the air in motion, the wind energy to the maximum. Lets support today urging everyone to support a low energy efficiency standard and a high renewable electricity standard. If you still believe that working against the GLOBAL WARMING is just a wasteful of time then I would request you to see the video once again and realize that you just don’t have responsibility of your species but of all the living beings on this planet. Think about it and try doing something to stop the Global Warming, please make an effort.

PS: My Special Thanks To “Quercus” for making the video on Global Warming and making me awake against it.

WHAT WE NEED IS A CHARACTER LIKE 300 SPARTANS

You might have watched the movie “300” and I m sure you might have liked the movie too. I liked it very much and I liked it not just because of the nice graphics in the movie or not just because of the muscular bodies of the 300 Spartans but because of the few other reasons, which I found really interesting. I think if we pay our attention to those interesting things in the movie, it might just turned out to be a life transforming experience for all of us. So, let me just point out those things one by one but before I do that I request you to see this video called “Glory for the 300 Spartans”(press play to watch the video below) then we will continue to our discussion and my special thanks to MVEGGIA, who is also a 300-SPARTA(Spartans) fan, and he is the one who loaded this video to YOUTUBE.



Nice video, isn’t it? Ok but what all things did you notice in this video, anything?
Ok Spartans, their bodies, their weapons, the lightening, alright you did notice many things but other then that anything else? Let me tell you that there were 5 major qualities of the great 300 Spartans being shown in this video; did you notice them?? If you could make them out it’s great but if you couldn’t then don’t worry because I m going to let you know all of them.

BRAVERY: You should not have any doubt about that after watching this video, isn’t it? How brave were those 300 soldiers who took on enemy’s huge army without anybody’s help. Not once they had a fear of loss and they attacked the enemy with full throttle and zealot. What a display of BRAVE character!!

TEAM WORK & UNITY: You know that they were 300, the team of 300 men, the 300 soldiers together united as one team. They have almost proved the exact meaning of the word “TEAM”, which I reckon is T= Together, E=Everyone, A=Achieves, M=More. Yes, the Spartans showed how as a team it becomes so easy to achieve the unachievable. How easy it is to face your task as a team as every single person performs its own task and contributes to the Team’s victory. Now that is one team which I would love to be a part. Here is one more clipping from the movie which showcases the Spartans as a “TEAM”. I request you to roll this video too.



COURAGE: I believe courage and bravery are inter-related. Courage is one thing which help us or make us do the un-doable and when that undoable is done it’s termed as bravery. That is what exactly being depicted by those 300 warriors in the movie. The courage to challenge the toughest of the opponent’s for the freedom of their people. They say- if people have courage to do something that is more important than doing that thing perfectly as courage is the real character, the real thing in a person. It’s the determination of doing the thing, which one wants to achieve, in spite of unfavorable conditions. I salute the courage of those 300 Spartans.

PASSION: Passion is the essence of doing anything, if one doesn’t have a passion of that thing than one cannot do it. Passions drives you towards the things, which you want to in life. Passion has a strong connection to satisfaction and peace. As an individual do something passionately, he enjoys it and loved to do it and most importantly it brings a lot of satisfaction and peace to his soul. You feel happy about doing it. The Spartans had the passion of victory, the passion to defeat their enemies so each battle won brought them satisfaction and peace, and to do better in the next. It gives birth to that drive, which inspires one to pursue something with heart.

SELF-BELIEF & FOCUS: It’s very necessary for an individual to have a strong focus to do anything and most importantly, the self-belief that one can do that task. The video showed the Spartan’s were focused at their goal and they had a strong self-belief that they can win the battle. The self-belief gave them so much confidence that they focused on just one thing called Victory i.e. what focus and self-belief can do to a person. They can make a person achieve the goal and motivates the person to do the undoable.

These were the 5 things, which Spartans have pointed out and that’s the character one should ideally have. The 300 Spartans inspires us to be BRAVE, to be COURAGEOUS, to work as a TEAM, to work with PASSION, and to work with full SELF-BELIEF and FOCUS towards the goals and dreams of our lives. If we do it then I m sure we will achieve whatever we want in our life.

GOING AGAINST THE LAW OF ATTRACTION FOR BETTERMENT

Sometime back I read this very interesting book, named “THE SECRET”. The book is written by Rhonda Byrne. The Secret claims to reveal the most powerful law in the universe. The Secret also claims that with the knowledge of the most powerful law in the universe great men and women at present and in the past, attained glory and accomplishments in their lives. The Secret reveals the natural law that is governing everyone. By applying this law one can change every aspect of his life. The law which I m talking about is the LAW OF ATTRACTION.

They say that the law of attraction is so powerful that an individual can attract anything in his life by properly implementing it. They say this is the secret to prosperity, health, relationships and happiness. This is the secret to life. Rhonda & Co. has launched audio and video prints of the book too and I must confess the movie “The Secret” was really inspiring and influential. But let me just try to give you what “The Secret” has tried to convey, the core message behind “The Secret” or let’s just say, let me try to reveal the secret behind the book, “The Secret”.

The main idea of secret is law of attraction as I have already mentioned so let’s discuss a bit about what is it? They say when an individual wants something or wishes something in life, one has to think about that one thing with utmost passion and feel if this something is going to be one’s own thing soon but the catch is your wish or your demand should be so much intense and pure, along with a little practicality, so that nature attracts that something towards you. They say universe is like a genie, Aladdin’s genie and it works for you in the same way by saying one-thing- “Your Wish is My Command master” and it just brings that thing for you. So, how can one so intensely and passionately attract something in one’s life? Well there are tons of ideas to attain that pure thought of demand to the universe. The book illustrates many examples and one of the core main ideas of the book is that one should always think positive. It says if someone is not happy at job for instance, he will always think about how bad is his job, how bad is the environment, how bad are they paying me, why the hell m I stuck here and many more negative thoughts; hence, it’s a blend of all sorts of negative thoughts, negative vibes and not even a single good peaceful thought afloats our minds. But since we thought in a negative manner and we are only talking negative, our genie, our nature, takes our command and fulfills it in the same manner, the negative manner. As a result, for all the bad thoughts we got more bad thoughts/things we got in return as “Your Wish is Natures Command”. The book illustrates if we think positive and think continuously with passion about the things what we want, those thing will come to us like the way negative things come when we think negative.

I got really influenced by the book and I tried applying this secret. The results were really good, I was able to reach to great motivational levels in my job without even good hikes, due to recession and sometimes because of the corporate politics. I almost gave up all the frustrations I had with the management and reincarnated to a new found enthusiasm. All of a sudden there was a fresh air all across and I felt like working in my first job with full of energy and zealot. I experienced that the positive vibes have really worked and the law of attraction is making me feel happy and in peace at work.

I kept on working and kept on slogging myself with feeling better about myself and yet without monetary gains. One day I realized that some how all these positive vibes, the law of attraction, in me has made me adaptive to the work environment, which I used to think was never conducive as my hard work was never praised but now I was not bothered about it. I worked for self and I worked for myself, which is good as well as bad and when I really tried analyzing it, I realized its actually bad for me as somehow I have compromised to something, which I don’t want. This was the moment of truth for me as a new secret was revealed to me, where until I wont feel really bad about something or I wont feel the discomfort of something, how can I come out of that thing? This new found theory of mine was in clear contradiction to the law of attraction, the positive thing about it and here I was really agrees to the fact that if I keep on thinking positive I may not actually move ahead in life that will give me the unwanted comfort zone, which is actually not making me work out of the bad things. This is why I think sometimes its really important to work against the law of attraction to better your life.

THE FUTURE OF CONSULTING FIRMS

Over the years, the consulting industry has come up with the creative and innovative solutions to the ever changing demands of the clients. It’s a well proven fact that –Consulting companies are inventors and creators of their own markets and their own future. The future of consulting companies has readily shrunk or grew in response to client’s demand. Some of the famous consulting gurus derive an analogy by saying - Consulting is similar to banking. Just as banks provide the financial capital, consulting provides intellectual capital. As inventors and creators of their own markets and future, consulting firms rely on their knowledge base and economic conditions. Yet sometimes, even after being the best in the domain may not fetch the business to a consulting company. Undoubtedly, the future of consulting companies is at client’s mercy. It is a customer focused industry where client is the God.

The real outburst of the success of the consulting companies was clearly visible in the year 2006. The M&A market was suddenly in so much action and the “consulting firms” were the hot cakes for the taking. In fact, 2006 saw a 40 percent increase over 2005 in acquisitions of consulting companies, and the market was more active than it’s ever been. Based on the market research, the average pre-tax profit (EBIT) multiple in 2006 was 10, this compares to an average of 7 over the previous five years. So the market was quite hot for sellers at that time with lots of demand.

Post 2006, the global economy started dipping with the US economy shrinking to its worst by 2009, the world is now clearly suffering from global economic recession and slowdown. The consulting industry is at no spare to the wicked recession. Suddenly, the all competitive industry of “Consulting” became far more competitive to win a business in an adverse situation of crisis like this. Now the clients want greater specialization and a clearer view of what consultants do. The client pressure has become so enormous that the consulting firms are worried about being under priced. Clients are much more interested in getting the most value for the price than anything else.

Though, the competition and the global economic recession are giving the dark pictures of consulting business yet it has opened several doors for it. Now when the world is in economic crisis, the companies across the world are looking for better solutions to not just only sustain the slowdown but to come up with better ideas to grow and again for that reason, the phone-bells are ringing hard at the offices of consulting firms. Yet the clients are not at so much of ease with the consultants. The main reason for this is – Clients worry that consulting firms are trying to sell them things they really don’t need. But this is something which the consulting industry has to take blame for, as with the given competition and greed, consulting firms have tried to sell too many services to client which were not required.
It is a need of an hour that consulting companies provide the specific specialization to the clients with utmost expertise. The client’s who require multiple expertise in various domains are looking for consulting firms who has some similar alliance as partner group. This is a situation which is kind of hard to come in consulting industry because of two reasons:-
1) Due the competition within the consulting firms, they don’t want to work with each other.
2) Even if they are working together, they hardly trust each other and that further creates more problems.

So, in a present scenario it’s very much required that consulting firms having expertise in different domains form an alliance and together provide services to the clients. In the future, this is only going to be a win-win situation for both client and consultancy. In the era of competition and with the need of getting the business, consulting firms are trying to make all its consultants billable. By making a consultant billable it means consultancy is getting money from the client. While doing so, consultancies are over looking the quality and fooling the client’s by placing a consultant with different or no expertise. In the long run such practices are going to cost business to the clients.

It is crystal clear that the future of consulting companies will depend upon its focus on maximizing their clients. Additionally, those firms which are willing to and able to partner with clients in the common interest of both the parties will survive. Today, if the consulting firms keep the momentum of aligning with the other firms providing the complimentary services will boost the business to a good extent. Again, the consulting firms which have set the example for the same are doing well.
It is also very firmly believed that consulting industry is like a one family under a single glass roof and if something has hit the glass then it’s going to affect everybody under it. So, if a single consulting firm is engulfed in a scandal it affects everybody else too. To avoid a situation like this it’s very essential that each consulting firm should try to differentiate itself from the others. In other words, it’s the only possible way by which a consulting firm can put a barrier between their brand and the wider industry brand.

Now the question arises, how a consulting firm can distinguish itself from others in the market? Practically, there can be only one answer for it, which is- the value of work done by the consulting companies. By value of work means it’s the consulting inputs provided to the clients with full innovation and creativity. The core is consulting companies need not do the talking about it but they have to actually provide it.

It’s visible that after the over hype of business and post global recession the consulting business is in phase of reconstruction and restructuring. Since, the industry purely revolves around one word called “Innovation”, it requires a special studies, research and well qualified people to be part of it. It is required to grow deep practices where there is enough market penetration to create an unrivaled critical mass of skills in that area.

This is the time when the large brand names of consulting industry need to buckle-up to avoid loosing business to the mid or small sized companies. The clients are in dilemma whether to have a less experienced resource at low cost with more in numbers or a highly experienced resource at high cost. If a consulting company is able to provide the panacea to the client’s dilemma then it’s their project. Basically, it requires for consulting firms to generate that confidence in client that they can do their business in the best possible way, once this happen the client is not bothered if it’s a big consulting brand or some small consulting firm.

In current global scenario, gone are those days when the team of business consultants will fly to client sites. All clients want to cut the cost incurring in travels but still they want their problems to be resolved at ease. Consulting firms are coming up with new ideas and one such solution is consulting through WEB applications. There are almost all the application and tools available which are vastly helping in consulting in some of most critical areas like – Proposals (tools like BigMachines, Access Commerce), Project Planning and Collaboration ( tools: BaseCamp, QTask, Microsoft Live Meeting, Skype), Research ( tools: Web Harvesters, Mozenda, Fetch, Google Docs), Consulting Methodologies ( Tools: RapidBI, NetMBA) and Presentation Builders ( tools: Presentia, XCelsius, NetXpression).

There was a survey on the European consulting industry a few months ago, which brought in limelight on of the most ignored area of consulting industry called Change Management. The survey revealed that Change Management is a very big market that is inadequately addressed. The clients have shown very serious concerns on consultants leaving them with projects causing the difficulty to the organization in integration and assimilation. The clients want help on a wider scale i.e. with organization wide-change. There are people working in the change too but the numbers are niche. It’s in small scale and consulting firm should try to up their best foot forward in this direction, as it will be very handy for them in the future. This is one area which can bring the fruitful results for the consulting firms in the future.

For securing the future of consulting companies, it’s an essence for companies to invest more in studies and research activities. They have to bench mark their practices and exercises to really prove that consultants are pretty much the part of this Industry and the economy. They have to demonstrate that consultancy really raises the standard and productivity of the economy. Consulting companies need to prove a point that without the consulting firms, the activities like – market analysis, research and solutions will never be at par to what economy demands.
It’s clear that though the economic conditions and global environment is in bleak state but yet there are several doors opened for the consulting companies. Hence, there are several areas which are unaddressed and waiting to be capitalized in the market. The future of consulting companies is for sure in their own hands and its all revolving around how beautifully can the innovation be put into practice. Innovation is the key to prosperity.

BEATBOXING:THE RISING MAIN STREAM MUSICAL ART

Thanks to all the reality shows hitting the Television like a storm as a result every single channel on-air has a reality show of its own. Among all these everyday reality shows there is one called "MTV ROCK ON". The Show is about the nation wide hunt for the ROCK BAND with the DESI(Indian) touch. The show is something really different and the talent is a treat to watch. I really like watching this show and the best part is its increasing my knowledge about the music. The judges are great, singer Kailash Kher is a genius; my reaction to his talent is just “WOW”. Ram Sampat is a great mentor and VJ Nikhil Chinnappa is an awesome entertainer.



Seriously, for the first time I felt that MTV has come up with a show, which is with sheer class. Otherwise, the shows are more or less concentrated on one single thing i.e. negative marketing, which includes politics, cat fights, controversies etc etc. Well this was about the show, which I really did not want to emphasize on because MTV is not paying me for it. But I certainly don’t want to take away the credit from the show as this has introduced me to a new kind of music, which I thought was never existed. Ok lets not create suspense here, I m talking about the BEAT BOX MUSIC.

What is a BEAT BOX? I m sure if you are an Indian you might be really scratching your head just now. Well even I did not know “what is a BEAT BOX?” before I watched a guy performing on this very own desi Rock Band show. Technically, BEAT BOXING is vocal imitation of various instruments by a human being and to my surprise as per sources on the internet- this form of music was originated in India several thousand years ago through the tradition of bol(It is used in Indian music to define the tala, or rhythmic pattern, and is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm) but unfortunately, even though people do practice this art of music they still don’t know that this is classified as separate main stream music called BEAT BOXING. As a result, it’s not practiced by any musician in the country as one’s primary music talent.

BEAT BOXES are human musical instruments and it involves them to produce beats, rhythms and musical sounds from one’s mouth primarily. It may also involve the imitation of singing, vocal simulations and imitations of other things present around us, it could be a sound of horn or sound of birds flying away or anything. This art has no limits or boundaries. It’s about how creative you can be and how many different sounds you can generate to make nice music.

Mostly, DJ’s are the one who primarily consist of the BEAT BOXES major population across the globe. DJ’s are good at simulating the same sounds, which they are able to do with their DJ-ing musical instruments, the sound mixers and the remixes, and that adds to their talent. The Hip-Hop origin of BEAT BOXES is expected to be happened in 1980’s and for records it’s believed that Doug E. Fresh was the first self proclaimed "HUMAN BEAT BOX”. The term "beat-boxing" is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as Beat Boxes.

It’s a fact that the legendry pop star Micheal Jackson who started to add his own sounds to his music in his famous songs “Cry” and “Who is it” did beat-boxing. In 2005 the world championship of beatboxing was organised in Leipzig, Germany and Joel Turner of Australia won the world championship. Few of the famous artists who are making efforts to make this world popular all across the globe are- Rahzel, Kenny Muhammad, and Matisyahu, and they have an official website- http://www.humanbeatbox.com. The BEAT BOXING as a music is vastly popular in Europe and America but in Asia, it is still in very initial stage of converting to a main stream music. Though it is supposed to be originated in India but its never been recognized as a major main stream music.

I hope the BEAT-BOXING becomes more famous because creativity has no limits and I want to enjoy it to the fullest.

A POLITICIAN DIED IN A CHOPPER CRASH AND 120 PEOPLE DIED IN HIS DEATH'S DEPRESSION

Whole country went into mourn when the news of demise of Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh(India) YSR broke. YSR died in a chopper crash. The incident was shocking and unfortunate but beyond it, nobody had ever thought that along with YSR it will also trigger a wave of depressed people (especially farmers) committing suicide or getting heart attacks. Yes, this is true almost 120+ people in the state of Andhra Pradesh either killed themselves or suffered the heart attack on hearing the news of YSR’s death. If the facts are to be believed, this event of a kind being the first to be happened in India in the modern era politics.

Was YSR Reddy one of India's most popular leaders in terms of mass appeal? If the turnout at his funeral, the public display of emotions by the thousands of people and the number of people in Andhra Pradesh who have died of shock or committed suicide is an indication, then the answer is a big yes.

No doubt that YSR was among the main politicians in Congress party as he was continuing his second term consecutively after winning the last elections comprehensively. YSR’s main focus area has always been the people of lower rungs especially the farmers living in the villages of discreet areas of Andhra Pradesh.

After YSR’s death these farmers are apprehensive about their future of getting government subsidies and about their fate of getting free power and medicare, the schemes those were started by YSR. This apprehensiveness has resulted in immense frustration and disappointment among farmers leading them to take bold steps like suicide.

The chances are this death toll may increase in next couple of days as more farmers are finding it tough to swallow the fact that YSR is no more to help them out. The son of late Shri.YSR has already appealed to people to stop this self-killing as this is not what his father has ever wanted.

This expression of frustration and disappointment where people have taken their lives or died of shock is extremely rare in India and not witnessed especially in politics.

10 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR DREAMS ALIVE

Every human being who is living on this planet dreams but there are very few who live up to them. The one who have chased their dreams till the end are probably the most successful or the most satisfied people in their own lives. This feeling of success or satisfaction has come to them after achieving what they have been thinking about all the times before they actually got it. It’s their passion of what they dream and their honesty to cultivate a path to achieve has paid off. On the contrary, we have the others who started off with a similar dream to what they want to be or what they want to achieve but then they settled for a mediocre life as they were too scared to pursue their dreams any further.
Most people end there so called golden chase after they have faced failures multiple times in achieving it. They just suffice themselves by giving some vague justifications of not able to achieve what they actually wanted. A man gets so much frustrated or becomes so clueless of a situation when after trying again and again the dream of his life is not coming true. But the situation is justifiable to an extent, since there is no timeline or sure shot period in which all his dreams will come true. So, the million dollar question arises – “How can one still keep their dream alive? “.
It’s probably, the trickiest of the question to be answered but surely there is an answer to it and that’s the only reason why god has given us this unique and supreme power to dream, isn’t it? So, to live up to what we want, to what we want to be, to live up to our dreams, here are the 10 ways which will help us in achieving our Dream.

VISUALIZE: It’s of utmost importance for a person to visualize his dreams. By visualizing it, you get the clarity of your dream. This will help us analyze, what we will be once our dreams come true and how it will make us change to what I we are before achieving them. It will give us the glimpse of our dreams being achieved, which helps an individual to motivate and plan for them. It inspires us to take actions to fulfill our dreams.

MAKING A WISH LIST: It’s really important to pen down what we want, until we write down our dreams, how can we expect them to be fulfilled in reality. By maintaining a wish list of our dreams, we can keep a track of what we have achieved and what not. It helps us plan for our future in a better way. Be sure that you celebrate and acknowledge your success. If you take for granted any of your moment of success either big or small; chances are it will take you longer to continue reaching your milestones.

PLANNING: Each one of us should plan for how to achieve our dreams. It’s really necessary to plan in a proper manner, until and unless we don’t have a proper planning, it will lead us to diversion from the path of our dreams. Like for every task in our life- we plan, it’s in a same way we should have a master plan for our dreams.

PASSION: You need to be completely passionate about your dreams. Your dream should be such that – You think about it at least once in a day, it should be such that before going to sleep when you are in your bed you are thinking about it, it should be such that when you are talking to someone you at least divert once to bring it in the conversation. You should be so passionate about it that you just want to do all the things perfectly, to achieve it soon.

NEVER GIVE-UP: Seeking a dream is not a cake walk at all, it requires a true character. Even after trying for several times and for many years, if you are not able to achieve it. You are bound to go in a failure mode and giving up on the further attempts to get it filled is but obvious. So, at that moment of time when the chips are down and you don’t know what needs to be done then it’s always better to re-analyze your plan of action and act patiently, towards your dreams. It’s basically like bouncing back from the failure again and again with better preparation than earlier. You work it out without giving up and in spite of several attempt, you will surely get to what you dreamt.

TAKE ACTIONS: Only just by dreaming of better self and better life will never leads to actually achieving it. It requires for an individual to take actions to fulfill the dreams. It will never happen that you just dream a thing today and it gets to you by itself, it requires a strict action from thyself. Remember this fact that – “Dreaming Big Is Not Bad, But NOT WORKING FOR IT, IS THE BIGGEST DISGRACE!!”. So, take appropriate actions towards your dreams.

BE FLEXIBLE: It is a must that you need to be flexible with your approach of attaining your dreams. Sometimes, you are following certain fixed actions to achieve your goals but that is not working. So, it becomes the need of an hour for you to act differently. Make sure you are not following the old orthodox ways but applying your new innovative ideas. Sometimes, you reach to a situation you know that your dream cannot be filled in a way which you might have thought initially so it becomes essential to change your dream a bit to more practical form for achieving it. But that does not mean at all that you are changing them all the times at your will.

MAKING A DREAM BOOK: You can begin today to utilize the law of attraction to help you achieve your goals. Do you actually know what you desire? If you really know what you desire just make an Audio or a Video of the same, watch it. By doing this you are attracting those things towards you. Make a dream book, put the pictures or write about your dreams. It will attract what you want in your life, as if Universe is taking your order for a meal and you are ordering whatever you want to eat. The law of attraction works you can surely try it.

ALWAYS DREAM BIGGER THAN WHAT YOU ARE IN PRESENT: You will loose all the motivation or your dreams will become worthless, if they are lesser in nature to what you are currently. You have to evaluate your dreams on the scale of practicality and how it will change you once you achieve it. To always lighten the passion for your dreams, it is really needed you have significant well evaluated dreams to inspire you to work towards them.

READ ABOUT OTHERS WHO HAVE ACHIEVED THEIR DREAMS: It’s a motivating thing that we read about the people who have achieved their dreams. Not only we get to know how they reached to their dreams but also it let us compare our approach to them and help us fetching useful ideas for our further road towards our dreams. It sometimes helps to be better prepared for what we may be expecting.