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Goodbye wordpress !

Dear Readers, Friends, And all of you that care to drop over and read my thoughts,

This will be my last post on WordPress . I have been trying to set up a more permanent home on the Internet and over the weekend i managed to do so. I have migrated my blog to www.sureshnair.net . My new post will appear shortly on the new site. For those of you who find it difficult to keep abreast with the many blogs that you follow, I suggest Netvibes or any other RSS feed readers like Google Reader. I use Netvibes but i have heard that most others are also good. Make an account on one of those and subscribe to RSS feeds from the blogs you like by clicking on the Feed button like the one you see on the top right hand corner at my new site.

Bidding goodbye only to meet you again at another locale.  Please drop by and say hi !

May life be good to you ,

Suresh

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Motivation and Inspiration : As you like it !

In his play “As you like it“, Shakespeare gives us one of his oft discussed poems that i am sure most of you would have studied at some or the other point in your academic life.

The first few lines are like :

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts .

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts …

Being players in the theatre of life what is it that motivates us to enact our role every day ? Have you thought why some people are better performers and some are not. Is there a difference which you cannot unravel ? Why do some people excel at their roles and are ultimately better actors here? A blog is too small a space to answer these questions which have riddled me for a long time but i want to put together those traits that i have been able to clearly distinguish.  To keep it simple i note bullet points here.

1. These people have a definite sense of purpose. They are very clear what they want and how they can get what they want.

—<> Learning: Be definite and have clear goals.

2. They work hard. By hard work i mean that, these people do not procrastinate, they seize the moment and follow plan with decisive action.

—<> Learning: Tirelessly execute your plans. carpe diem.

3. They find motivation in adversity , in simple terms every failure kicks them to bounce back with more fire in their bellies.

—<> Learning: Use failure as an excuse to come roaring back. Read the (Fabulous Failures of Successful People)

4. They have high levels of self belief. This means that they trust the sanctity of their dreams and keep reaffirming to themselves , ” I can do it”

—<> Learning: Believe that if you can dream it , you can do it.

5. They imagine their success and live it everyday. When you imagine you have achieved your goals, you reinforce your resolve to be true to your goals. Living your dream moulds your thinking pattern such that your energies are channelled towards executing the plans which you have drawn.

—<> Learning: Imagine yourself having achieved your goals.

One fact these pointers prove is that there is really no secret to good performance on the stage of life, the point is that not every one is willing.

Note: There are several other factors which create standout performers but the ones i listed are the ones i have seen proven by empirical data 🙂

Happy Teachers Day

Teachers day is around the corner. It is true that though i did not like school I liked some of my teachers and remember them years afterwards.  As indicated in one of my previous blog entries I was really the Average Joe in class, there should have been no good reason for any teacher to show any sort of special interest in my upbringing. But that was not true :-). There were teachers in school and college who reposed some faith in me. This teachers day i want to make a sincere vote of thanks to those different teachers.

Sr. Marion , IBMV, She was one class teacher who thought that after all i was not “one good for nothing boy” . She motivated me to excel in Literature and Sports. Even i could not believe myself when i got the highest marks in English and the first prize in 100mts dash, ball throwing, and second in cycling. I even did better in Maths and Science that year , why ? She made me believe in myself. That’s what a teacher must do. Wherever she is today, i am sure she is inspiring some Average Joe to excel. !

Mrs. Rajeev : My teacher in primary school, again one teacher who thought that a kid liking History for a subject is not abnormal ! Till date my interest for historical studies is intact and i silently pursue that interest.

Mr. Kini :  My Maths sir at tuition class. For whatever reason known best only to God , he was one person whose way of teaching maths made me feel that maths was just another subject that could also be studied.

There were many other teachers whom i liked a lot in later years of my academic pursuit, but the reason why the above three are outstanding is because they believed in me when no one else did.   This teachers day i want to thanks them and wish them good health.

Those were the teachers who made a difference to my otherwise dull school life. Do you remember the teachers who changed your life? Comments are welcome !

Happy ONAM 2009 :-)

To all those who know me and all those who dont know me,

Along with my family i wish all of you a very warm and peaceful Onam that brings prosperity and joy to one and all.

In our Apartment complex we are planning to come together and celebrate Onam on the 12th of September. We will have Pookkalam, Ona Sadhya, Thiruvathira Kali and a whole host of entertainment lined up for the day. Oh! i am waiting to have a lot of fun. I will post pictures of the celebration later on.

Born Again…

After the second hiatus in postings here i am back with thoughts and ideas that i want to share with the world. I have found renewed inspiration to write again thanks to several reasons. In this much mechanical clock driven life all of us aim to be liberated, liberated from worry, stress, questions, responsibilities, expectations and duties. I also feel no different. Sometimes the brain knows that I must be grounded in duties and realities of existential struggle but the heart wants to rise up and fly into the blue heavens takings in fresh air and flapping the wings of a new found freedom. Soaring into the clouds and dancing with the stars …………. I just remembered lyrics of one of my favorite songs from the Sound of Music .

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

What are the best moments in life ?

My first blog entry of this year has to be one filled with positive expectations and sweet memories.  While i was recollecting those moments of the good life i thought why not list them here . So without much prose here is the bulleted list leading to the best moment in my life…

• Lying in bed on Saturday morning and the sun sneaking in through the window

• Opening a surprise gift

• Getting postal mail

• Waking up from a bad dream and realizing it was only a dream

• Reaching home just seconds before the rain starts, then enjoy the rain with a cup of hot tea

• Listening through a friend in bad times

• Cruising along a road flanked by green paddy fields and trees

• Meeting and spending time with friends

• Seeing my young son run through the house making funny sounds

• Falling in love

Whats your list ?

Achieving your full potential…

I am no authority on Success Mantras , so this blog is not a shortcut recipe for a successful life :-). What i wanted to write today is what i have learnt from my experience of the past years from School, College and thereafter the Industry. What are pre-requisites if you want to be achieve your full potential (on the road to a successful life)in life. Lets not discuss what success means to each one of , i believe that everyone has an understanding of what success means to them and i think my thoughts are very generic to accommodate to any definition of success. So coming straight to the point.

#1. Good Health: I think this is the real number 1 pre req. Many a times we take our health for granted and when suddenly we fall sick (like my back problem of last year) we start realizing how important it is to take care of the gift of good health. In an earlier post last year i had written much about this. Actually I feel much better and alive throughout the day at office after i started my daily Gym Routine.

#2. Determination : Whatever is your definition of success and whatever you want to achieve, determination to see yourself through is more than a pre requisite. You must not fall down defeated, there will be tests and there will be failures. Opportunities will come in the form of adversity, you must just have the right determination that you have to do it. Trust me this is easier said than done.

#3. Good support system at home : This point is a little debatable and may not really mean the same to all of us.  But for the average family centered human being it is important to have the right Eco system at home where there is trust, love and understanding which really propels your determination to succeed.  It is also important to balance the time and attention towards the family to be able to live a life which is also more meaningful at the end of the day.

After reading these points some of you might ask , “What about Luck ? “. Well i feel that to have 1, 2 and 3 on your side is the real luck. Everything else you can achieve. Do you have other views from your experience ?

Yes we can

Barack Obama is the new president elect of the USA. I heard snippets of his Chicago victory speech and (the lover of good speeches that i am ) I think it was a very firm and confident Obama delivering the message of change and inspiring a vision of a new America on which the world so much today depends for a stable economic order.

Barack Obama- President elect of the USA

Being a citizen of the worlds largest democracy and observing the election results of the worlds oldest democracy I realized some unusual differences between the two.

1. Most Americans have a strong emotional connection with their president elect. I wonder how many of us here think the same way about our Prime Minister or President. The closest to this feeling was when i read or heard Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam when he was our President. He was different.

2. The post victory speech of Obama has a positive message for all be it his republican competitor, be it his heroes of the gone days, be it an ordinary 106 year old voter, be it the people who voted for McCain, be it the other Nations of the world or be it the environment. Being positive and thinking simple good things indicates his affirmative plan of action. I wish him very well.

3. The grace with which the loser surrendered was also remarkable for a man of McCains stature , he only grew larger in everyone’s eyes by acknowledging his defeat with the same mark of respect. I have still to see this elegance in the political class of my country. Honestly we are not anywhere near.

4. Finally the whole idea of a junior Senator running an intense and hard campaign to become the youngest President of the worlds most powerful country not withstanding his race or color not shrouded by political game play makes a really prolific and inspiring journey. To say the least i am amazed. Think about such possibilities here ?

This election has been a watershed in more ways than one not only for America but for the whole world order.  It reflects the massive change in mindset of the average American who has voted this little known black Senator from Illinois into becoming the 44th President of the United States of America. From the other side of the world we sincerely hope that he delivers what he promised.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there. – Barack Obama

After a really long time…

So dear fiends, where have i been , why am i not blogging all these have been asked and to tell you i was just around but a little more than normally busy. In the meantime a lot of things happened around. There is heightened terrorism activity and some blasts shook our own garden city, the financial world is dreading the reality of a meltdown which looks more menacing everyday, the stock markets are reacting painfully to this reality, i realized that money can also evaporate like camphor, India has sent a mission to the moon, Raj Thakeray(RT) is spitting fire against immigrants and challenging the social fabric of our country …. Some of the main happenings.

Lets not talk about the economic meltdown , its a cycle which will come and go. Those who are using this as an excuse to resurrect Marx and communist philosophies will not make much out of this exercise.

Lets talk about something that i read today in the papers. Some activists stormed into a FM radio station here and ransacked the place because they were broadcasting Hindi songs on Kannada Rajyotsava Day. This is no better than what is happening in Maharashtra under the able guidance of RT. Regional chauvinism is the new style among us all. Why are we Indians working to divide our communities ? Why don’t we act in accordance with our rich heritage of peaceful co-existence that has been sighted as exemplary through centuries ? It pains to hear that people are intolerable of other citizens from our own country. What do we want to prove : that we are intolerable narrow minded blokes ? Let us not indulge in this dangerous trend, let us not find ways and means to split our democracy, let us unite and remain as peace loving Indians – that is what strengthens our democracy and makes us stand out proud with honor.

Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.
–Mahatma Gandhi