Self and Social

THE SCIENCE OF SUCCESS: Nine Things Successful People Do Differently : Cross-posted from the Harvard Business Review Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren...

UN Secretary General's message on UN day : Days from now, the human family will welcome its seven billionth member. Some say our planet is too crowded. I say we are seven billion strong. The world has made remarkable progress since the United Nations was born 66 years ago today. We are living longer. More of our children survive. More and more of us live at peace, under democratic rule of law. As we have seen in this dramatic year, people everywhere are standing up for their rights and human freedoms. And yet … all this progress is under threat. From economic crisis. Rising joblessness and inequality. Climate change. Around the world, too many people live in fear. Too many people believe their governments and the global economy can no longer deliver for them. In these turbulent times, there is only one answer: Unity of purpose. Global problems demand global solutions. They compel all nations to unite in action on an agenda for the world’s people. That is the very mi...

We mark this year’s International Day of Non-Violence in a world dramatically altered since our last commemoration. The powerful engine behind that wave of change – beginning in Tunisia and then spreading across North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere – was none other than a non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights. The individuals – many of them youth – at the helm and heart of these movements toppled long-entrenched governments, delivered a rebuke to those who embrace violence, and emboldened other oppressed peoples to think that the path of non-violence might work for them, too. There is a heavy risk for those who stare down the barrel of a gun armed only with the knowledge that they have right on their side. But courageous individuals who believe in and use non-violence leave oppressors facing what is for them an unpalatable option – crack down harder or negotiate. The former simply reveals the bankruptcy of the systems they are defending; the latter could well s...

1. Akhuratha : One who has Mouse as His Charioteer 2. Alampata : Ever Eternal Lord 3. Amit : Incomparable Lord 4. Anantachidrupamayam : Infinite and Consciousness Personified 5. Avaneesh : Lord of the whole World 6. Avighna : Remover of Obstacles 7. Balaganapati : Beloved and Lovable Child 8. Bhalchandra : Moon-Crested Lord 9. Bheema : Huge and Gigantic 10. Bhupati : Lord of the Gods 11. Bhuvanpati : God of the Gods 12. Buddhinath : God of Wisdom 13. Buddhipriya : Knowledge Bestower 14. Buddhividhata : God of Knowledge 15. Chaturbhuj : One who has Four Arms 16. Devadeva : Lord! of All Lords 17. Devantakanashakarin : Destroyer of Evils and Asuras 18. Devavrata : One who accepts all Penances 19. Devendrashika : Protector of All Gods 20. Dharmik : One who gives Charity 21. Dhoomravarna : Smoke-Hued Lord 22. Durja : Invincible Lord 23. Dvaimatura : One who has two Mothers 24. Ekaakshara : He of the Single Syllable 25. Ekadanta : Single-Tusked Lord 26. Ekadrishta : Single-Tusked...

It takes courage to answer a call It takes courage to give your all It takes courage to risk your name, It takes courage to be true. It takes courage to say, what no other will dare, To be standing alone, one whom no one will own, To be ready to stake, for another man’s sake, It takes courage to be true. It takes courage to say, what you know will not pay, To give each one share, though will be less to spare, To be seeking no more, than the neighbour next door, It takes courage to be true . ( The above poem is from my daughter Shubhra’s school Book but it is very much relevant with present movement against corruption in India by ANNA) “ANNA” did it when other Indian could not think about it. It was easier to fight against British rule than to oppose inaction of a democratically elected own govt. on CORRUPTION issue. It is easier to post a “tweet on TWIT...

This story begins when I was a child: I was born poor. Often we hadn’t enough to eat. Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was transferring her rice into my bowl, she would say “Eat this rice, son! I’m not hungry.” This was Mother’s First Lie. As I grew, Mother gave up her spare time to fish in a river near our house; she hoped that from the fish she caught, she could give me a little bit more nutritious food for my growth. Once she had caught just two fish, she would make fish soup. While I was eating the soup, mother would sit beside me and eat the what was still left on the bone of the fish I had eaten, My heart was touched when I saw it. Once I gave the other fish to her on my chopstick but she immediately refused it and said, “Eat this fish, son! I don’t really like fish.” This was Mother’s Second Lie. Then, in order to fund my education, Mother went to a Match Factory to bring home some used matchboxes, which she filled with fresh...

By Marguerite Theophil , The Times of India, Ranchi (Saturday, January 1, 2011) A gift of a bracelet from Ghana at first looks like a series of linked hearts, but on closer inspection i notice a stylised bird. I learn that this is the Sankofa, a mythical bird from their culture that flies forward while looking backward, with an egg held in its mouth. The word Sankofa derives from the Akan people, a West African ethnic group that today resides in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Akan, over centuries, developed a highly artistic and communicative system of ideographic and pictographic symbols, each representing a specific concept, proverb or saying rooted in the Akan experience. These symbols can be found used extensively in indigenous textiles, metal and wood work, jewellery and architecture, too. The older African religions had no sacred texts. Their beliefs were handed down mostly orally through proverbs and stories or through pictorial symbols. A proverb from which the co...