Power of Choices

I was amazed at the amount of choices that I have to respond to any event.





I am currently engaged with a social community whose leader and subordinate are 'hot head' people. The subordinate is very old and the Secretary is of my age group. The leader takes (self-) pride in all that he does but does not get enough recognition from the community. He is a combination of his old age, experience leading a group in some factory, religious (not spiritual - yes, there is a difference), and dominating leadership but forward thinking mindset. The subordinate engages and disengages and is an unpredictable personality.



Yesterday, we got into a verbal dispute and thanks to various tools and mechanisms I have, I was under control. They are:





a) The Secret scroll  that begins with "I promise myself, that nothing can disturb my peace of mind"

b) The belief that I am an "Inverse Paranoid"

c) A powerful strategy - Never React, But Respond



The leader was screaming but I was calm. After the meeting, I left the place quiet.



The first thing I did was recalled the incident and wrote a long mail, edited and reworded clarifying that the statements / opinions of the leader were not necessarily meaningful.  The email was so neat and I was able to express in a very authentic way all that I wanted to explain. I was very happy about that.



The incident did not leave my mind, I was trying to reframe (a NLP Technique) the situation. I had some revelations about it. My mind was wavering on what I need to do next. Here is the list of choices that was revealing itself one after the other throughout the day.



a) Write a letter to subordinate explaining how the Secret Scroll helped me

b) Write a letter to subordinate explaining all that I have accomplished so far and also attach the "Thanks, Bye" letter

c) Attend the next meeting and submit the "Thanks, Bye" letter in presence of everyone

d) Visit the leader's house directly, speak in a friendly manner, and after a chit-chat, give him the "Thanks, Bye" letter

e) The MOST EMPOWERING ONE - Continue to do what I was doing.  Because, there are only limited number of people in the community leadership to support the initiative. I will complete my term which ends in next year April.



Another conviction I have is "Be the change, before asking for the change". Being an Inverse Paranoid, I am handling this so-called-negative-situation in a more empowering way. I dont think otherwise will do it in the same way as mine. That way, I am unique. I am really moved by the power of choices I have.

Inverse Paranoid

Today I have learnt this new phrase "Inverse Paranoid" - such a powerful term and much more meaning it has. A paranoid is one who fears that everything is happening for his bad. An Inverse Paranoid is one who believes that "the world is conspiring to make his life good". What an Idea, What a powerful belief this can be. 



Some how as we grew, we forgot that our natural state of mind is happiness. But when we are grown, we think we have to do something to be happy. Instead of 'being happy', we keep doing something 'to become happy'.



So, tell yourself that you are an 'inverse paranoid' and have the conviction that everything is happening for your good.

3 books from Flipkart

I have ordered 3 books from FlipKart, the first two I have received:

• Connect The Dots


• Dont Sprint The Marathon


• Bite of the Mango

Connect The Dots is a sequel to the Indian writing bestseller "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish".  This book covers 20 entrepreneurs in our country who does not have an MBA!



Dont Sprint The Marathon focuses on children upbringing without forcing them to too many vocational courses. I have not read it completely. I am yet to get close to the theme.

Bite of the Mango is yet to reach me from Flipkart. It is a biography on Mariatu Kamara who is a UNICEF Special Representative and survivor of the civil war in Sierra Leone. I read about her in Tamil weekly Vikatan's interview and was touched by her story. During her girlhood her hands were cut off by rebels, and was physically abused. She also gave birth to a boy that died after 10 months. She spent some part of her life as beggar and was later rescued by UNICEF. This girl now has "The Mariatu Foundation seeks to provide a much needed refuge for women and children. Through the opening of a home and eventually homes in Sierra Leone, the Mariatu Foundation will offer healing programs and assistance in the resettlement and reintegration of abused women and children into loving and supportive communities."



When I read Mariatu's story, I could feel the pain in my hands. I felt like saying "Sorry" to her on behalf of this world for the injustice. Somehow, I am reminded of Bhopal tragedy court verdict that is nothing for a penalty or punishment. I think we as a society should be saying Sorry to many.

Nemo having fun

This morning, our home pet "Nemo" was having fun in the aquarium by playing with his reflection. 



I often wonder what is in a fish's brain? What do they think through out the day and night?  The TV is exactly opposite to him. Will his behaviour be very different if I had let him in a running water (river or sea)?



Hey great, I googled (who else would I ask) for these answeres. Some say, fish have brain and their memory last for 3 seconds. Some say they can feel the pain also. If so, why do we kill the fishes?!



This website (link) has created a java program to animate and show how the world looks like above the water surface as seen by a fish!

Black and Red

I am very much fascinated by Black and Red combination these days. Its a lethal combination and serves as an inspiration for me. After this whatever I saw was black-and-red.

I bought a pen recently from Staples which of this combination.  I had a new glass frame which is also of this combination.

World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day!



The world has been witnessing the erratic climatic changes periodically. We also witness different weather moods through the day. The recent Laila storm had its impact on Andhra, Tamilnadu and also partially in Karnataka too.



Dad said it was raining through out night. When we left for the railway station at 5.30 am, the entire city was "wet". The breeze was very pleasant. While returning from I decided to stop at Lalbagh. Lalbagh was green and wet where health freaks were flocking the entire landscape. But it was very scenic and have a panoramic view of Lalbagh. There is a free distribution of sapling in Lalbagh at 10.30 am. I only wish Bangalore gets more beautiful with colourful trees planted in an organized way.



Morning Times of India was a eco-friendly paper with news printed on recycled paper. The whitish paper with a green tint was a treat to read.





Few things put me off when I go around the streets:



a) The pourakiramas (garbage collectors) set off fire for dry leaves, papers etc to minimize their 'work' load

b) Garbage and debris dumped in vacant lands. The land owner should be levied penalty for spoiling the environment



c) Hanging flags, loose advertisement posters, banners



d) Construction materials dumped along the platforms for months



e) There is no implementation of the ban on plastic bags. Its only on paper. Any garbage dump you see, you would find atleast 70% of them comprise the plastic bags.



Through this blog, I recall Mr.Theerthagiri with whom some of us worked wiith 15 years back. He was a rubber stamp maker, an asthma patient, a thin framed personality. He was very good at heart, and always wanted to help less privileged. He was also part of Arivoli Iyakkam (அறிவொளி இயக்கம்), a literary movement in Tamilnadu.We were part of one of the June 5th World Environment Day celebrations.