A white revolution - K.R. Nagarajan, Founder of Ramraj Cotton

K.R. Nagarajan tells the inspiring story of how he transformed the vesthi into a sartorial statement of prestige and power.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/a-white-revolution/article5221439.ece

Money, a house and car give you happiness initially, but it is purity of character that will ensure you sail through the toughest of times

Sachin's statement - A Huge Honour

• “All my life, I have had a dream of playing cricket for India. I have been living this dream every day for the last 24 years. It’s hard for me to imagine a life without playing cricket because it’s all I have ever done since I was 11 years old. “It’s been a huge honour to have represented my country and played all over the world. I look forward to playing my 200th Test Match on home soil, as I call it a day,”

“I thank the BCCI for everything over the years and for permitting me to move on when my heart feels it’s time! I thank my family for their patience and understanding. 

Most of all, I thank my fans and well-wishers who through their prayers and wishes have given me the strength to go out and perform at my best,” 

Source: Tendulkar to retire after 200th Test

Lessons learned from his statement:-

• He is chasing his dream from the age of eleven
• it is a sheer exhibition of deliberate practice, power of passion, focus, concentration
• working always towards delayed gratification in this instant world
• As Alchemist[Paulo Coelho] says "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
• That is why, he is a legend of the legands
• He is a perfect living example of Swami Vivekkananda's quote 

  “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced.”

  • That is why, he is a legend of the legands
  
  
  
  

Never stop doing what you enjoy - Motivational Speaker Brian Tracy

‘Never stop doing what you enjoy’ - Motivational speaker Brian Tracy says this is the key to success

Key insights from "The Hindu" article are:-

• Invest in improving quality, not in ads.
• Successful people have the courage to take action, he said. Move out of the comfort zone.
• Yes, you could make wrong decisions, but you proceed with vision and courage.
• You need integrity to win the trust of people, 
• Accept responsibility for what you do. A truly superior person will not find excuses, he is non-defensive. Learn to be a good communicator. Remember 90 per cent of your worktime goes in communicating with managers, investors, customers, the press, or in making presentations.
• Leaders are always in motion except when they have to do slow thinking
• You need both quick and slow action. It’s impossible to fail when you try anything without fear.
• Insist on excellent work.
• Find new people if workers won’t strive for higher goals.
• You will move towards what comes naturally to you. Never stop doing what you enjoy. “That is the key to success.” Not always possible, I told him. Then do it differently, he offered. “Choose subjects you want to write on.”

Complete article link :-

Author : Geeta Padmanabhan

Source : "The Hindu Metro plus - Chennai"

Title : Never stop doing what you enjoy

Lessons for LIFE - Shah Rukh Khan

Issue Even celebrities fear failure. Actor Shah Rukh Khan tells you how to relish, cherish and learn from it.

Excerpts from "The Hindu" article.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan's Message

• Everyone should taste failure, he declared, pointing out that while success is a wonderful thing, it tends not to teach us anything. We enjoy it, “but we don’t acquire anything from it.” Things happened to him, he said, because he was really scared of failure. As a child, he equated poverty with failure, signed films purely out of fear of failure. The true road to success is not the desire for success, but the fear of failure, he said.
• It is your response to failure that helps to buffer the reverses you experience, he said, listing his own two. First is pragmatism. “I believe if one approach does not work, another might. The second response is fatalism. I fool myself that it was bound to happen, and that I need to move on, and not get caught up in ‘Why me?’ It happened, move on.”
• Failure offers an incentive to harder work, which invariably leads to greater success. If you don’t fail, you will never learn. And if you don’t learn, you will never grow. 
• Failure helps you find out who your real friends are.
• Regular failures taught him to empathize with others, he said. Overcoming failures helps us discover we have a strong will, shores up confidence in our ability to survive. Your failure is a product of your own actions, he said. 

Relish it, cherish it, learn from it. Failure is never fatal. There can be no courage unless you are scared. 

Jeevan Vidya Workshop - LifeSkill workshop

A Jeevan Vidya workshop is an intensive 40-hour learning experience that seeks to bring one’s attention to neglected and subtle facets of life; issues related to interpersonal relations, education, society, environment, aspirations, success are discussed and participants are provided critical tools to help them explore the rich web of connections between seemingly disparate aspects. There is no sermonizing; the facilitator presents sets of proposals, and helps participants bring their attention to bear on the inner workings of their thoughts, fears and aspirations. Gradually one begins to interrogate hidden assumptions and get a sharper, clearer view of the whole intricate fabric of life; one begins to see new possibilities for positive human action. The idea is to trigger an empowering, self-critical inner dialogue that begins with the workshop, but doesn’t end with it…

Here's what Arpita Bohra, a recent participant of this workshop wrote about the experience.


About the prabodhak(Facilitator):- 

Professor Ganesh Bagaria from Manaviya Siksha Sanskar Sansthan (MSSS) Kanpur, will conduct the shivir.  He, besides being an activist from his student days in IIT-Kanpur is a pioneer in combining our tradition and values with education.

He taught electronics and communication at Harcourt Butler Technical Institute (HBTI), Kanpur for a period of 2 decades and took voluntary retirement from service in 2012. He has a deep understanding of Western as well as Indian Philosophy. His research interests apart from theory of electronic communication are (1) understanding of Human being, Human conduct and Human civilization, and (2) commitment to work for its realisation.

He is an admired teacher and has an ardent student following, relating to all aspects of life. His extreme simplicity and remarkable insight makes him a suitable person for conducting the workshop.

When and Where?
It happens in last week of June and Dec every year at IIIT, Hyderabad
It also happens in Kanpur

Links
http://www.jeevanshala.org/events/jeevan-vidya-shivir-iiit-june-2013
Learning To Live

Satyamev Jayate by Aamir Khan

Satyamev Jayate (English: Truth Alone Prevails) is an Indian television talk show that aired on various channels within Star Network along withDoordarshan's DD National.^[1] The first season of the show premiered on 6 May 2012 and marked the television debut of popular Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan.^[2] Work on the second season has begun.^[3]

The show highlights sensitive social issues prevalent in India such as female foeticides, child sexual abuse, dowry, medical malpractice, honor killings, insensitivity towards the physically disabled, domestic violence, overuse of pesticides leading to pesticide poisoning, alcoholism,untouchability, plight of senior citizens and water crisis. While Hindi is the primary language of the show, it was also dubbed and simulcast in other Indian languages such as Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, and subtitled in English.

Satyamev Jayate received an overwhelming positive response and feedback from both the critics as well as the public. The show was widely appreciated by several film and television personalities, politicians and social activists for its research, format, presentation and content.

Links:-

http://www.satyamevjayate.in/#

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyamev_Jayate_(TV_series)

List of Episodes

One village. 60 millionaires. The miracle of Hiware Bazar

Hiware Bazar is a village in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra, India. It is noted for its irrigation system and water conservation program, with which it has fought the drought and drinking water problems.^[1]

History

The village experienced mass exodus during the severe drought in 1972. However the village experienced a turnaround after 1989, Popatrao Baguji Pawar, the only postgraduate in the village contested for the post of gram panchayat sarpanch and won. He managed to get the illicit 22 liquor retail outlets^[2] closed, secure bank loans for famers and started rainwater harvesting, water conservation and management programs, which involved building 52 earthen bunds, percolation tanks, 32 stone bunds and nine check dams. Its development plan was based on village Ralegan Siddhi, 35 km away, also in the same district, turned around by Anna Hazare. By the 1990s, reverse migration started as families started returning home. In 2012, the village with its 235 families and an overall population of 1,250, had a monthly per capita income Rs 30,000, up from Rs. 830 in 1995, plus it had 60 millionaires.^[3][4]

In 2012, the joint state and central government plan was announced to establish a national-level centre for training in panchayati raj system forwatershed development, sanitation and capacity building at the village, to be built at a cost of Rs 12-crore.^[5]

Links

1. One village. 60 millionaires. The miracle of Hiware Bazar
2. The Miracle Water Village, a short film on Hiware Bazar

Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff is a short polemical^[2] animated documentary about the lifecycle of material goods. The documentary is critical of excessiveconsumerism and promotes sustainability.

Filmmaker Annie Leonard wrote and narrated the film, which was funded by Tides Foundation, Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Free Range Studios and other foundations.^[3] Free Range Studios also produced the documentary,^[4] which was first launched online on December 4, 2007.^[5]

The documentary is being used in elementary schools, arts programs, and economics classes as well as places of worship and corporate sustainability trainings.^[2] By February 2009, it had been seen in 228 countries and territories.^[6] According to the Los Angeles Times as of July 2010, the film had been translated into 15 languages and had been viewed by over 12 million people.^[1]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Stuff

Rooftop Restaurant @Bharathi Salai - Triplicane

Greener pasturesFlights of parakeets swoop down on a house on busy Bharathi Salai every morning and evening, like clockwork. C. Sekar, owner of the house, which is just a hop, skip and jump away from Express Avenue mall, leaves grains on the terrace for these rose-ringed parakeets to feed on. As hundreds ofthese birds partake of the feast, a chorus of squawks and squeals inevitably drown the honks and blares of passing vehicles. Sekar began this feeding exerciseone and a half years ago, and the numbers of parakeets have grown by the day. With the parapet now proving inadequate, long grain-filled planks are placed forthe parakeets —Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

The Hindu Link

இவ்ளோ ஜீவன்கள் என்னை நம்பி வருதுங்க. என் பர்ஸில் கடைசி ரூபா இருக்கிறவரைக்கும் நான் என் விருந்தினர்களுக்கு சாப்பாடு கொடுப்பேன் சார்! என்றார் சேகர்.

ஆனந்த விகடன் 25.9.2013 பக்கம் 87