I had been to Hyderabad , one of the places i have developed an instant love,and returned yesterday night.
The reason is purely personal and despite that being a personal visit i was able to do some official work also incidentlaly.
No more suspense:),the visit was intended to spend some time with my son, who had been working like a Robo for the past 4 months to bring his thesis to a shape before the d day..meaning the day of departure to Hongkong.
Let me admit that i am totally naive in so far as his studies and pursuits are concerned. I have infact been a clasic example to vouchsafe for the title of this blog"ignorance is bliss" especially on this count. Perhaps my leaving his path open with out any abstruction is the only contribution, i have made to enable him to reach his goal!!ANy way that is besides the point.
I wanted to be by his side , when he was nearing one of his cherished goals, despite the odds that he had been going thru , exactly an year back.In july 2009, it was not even clear as to how long it will take for him to settle and then to proceed on his pursuits .But as people say, good people and honest people never need to be anxious about the outcome.The Gurus (Ref his mentors from his school life to the life at IFL university), the peers, the collegues and host of his friends had a deep faith in him and faith begets faith.He has not let them down.I am given to understand that once my son submits his thesis, that possibly would be the one completed in the shortest possible time.It does not meant that it lacks in content or quality.the fact that every chapter of his thesis is vetted by one of the authorities on the subject, who is known for his widom, domain knowledge and accepatance at International level , is enough evidence to indicate the quality of the thesis .
Infact i wanted to spend a couple of hours with his mentor at the University , (despite the embarassment that my son was indicating to me , in doing so,) by inviting him for a dinner.But as luck would have it (despite my son inviting him and his agreement in readiness to join for dinner) due to some trouble at the campus site ,his movements were restricted and hence he could not make it. It was my misfortune in not being able to convey that single word "thanks" to him which would have made my trip whole some and complete.
No regrets. I am a firm believer that every thing which happens is for our own good. MAY BE BETTER AND MORE APPROPRIATE TIME, POSSIBLY WOULD BE WHEN MY SON IS CONFERRED PhD and i will wait for that moment to meet the great mentor and guide for my son, during his campus life.
And the days flew fast, as expected. I landed at Hyderabad on a Saturday night and returned back to Chennai on Tuesday night.While Hyderabad welcomed me with cool breeze and a lovely climate, on return Chennai welcomed me with thunderstorm and showers.And when you have been in your best of moods , climates really do not matter. And if the climates are those which you have always liked(I love rains, cool breeze and the streets having a clean look after the thunderstorm)it is a two in one gift/treat from the forces in heaven.
And the day after i landed i was told by my son that his chapters have been given a Green signal, by his mentor. and our joy knew no bounds.We celebrated like kids, going into any hotel/bar that we happened to see, ordering food at random, retiring to bed as and when we feel like, visiting places together (places which we used to frequent in my earlier sojourn in Hyderabad during 2008)viewing TV at odd hours , ordering coffee/tea as and when we liked and so on and so forth. The only thing we did not accoplish was going together to a movie (Not that we had any craze for movies, but only to loosen ourselves to the last bid).that is because the theatre timings did not measure up to our energy levels and expectations!!
And these 72 hours will be etched in memory in golden words,for we know that it is a prelude to the seperation that we are required to handle which is in the offing for the next 720 days, the days he is going to be on his pursuit of another PhD at HONGKONG, another place which has developed me in a positive manner, during my stint in late 90".Like father . like son, is proved again and again.
NOW I LOOK FORWARD TO HIS CROWNING NEW HEIGHTS IN HIS ACADEMIC PURSUITS WITH GREAT MENTAL BALNCE AND WONDERFUL PHYSICAL HEALTH.I AM FOR SURE THAT HIS JOURNEY OF 1000 MILES HAD STARTED WHEN HE LEFT LOYOLA AND AM SURE THAT HIS STINT AT HYDERABAD INDICATES AN INTERVAL TIME.( A TIME TO LOOK AT THE PAST AND A TIME TO GAZE THE FUTURE TO BALANCE HIS JOURNEY) THE CLIMAX OF HAPPINESS AND BLISS AWAITS HIM AT HONGKONG AND WITH WORTHY BLESSINGS OF HIS SUPERIORS AND LOVE AND AFFECTION OF ALL OF US, I AM SURE 720 DAYS WILL PASS LIKE A WINK OF AN EYE.
hip hip hurray, My friend son, i am proud of you and bless you from heart of hearts,
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
MONEY VS HAPPINESS
HI,
I AM JSUT REPRODUCING AN ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT.I LEAVE IT TO INDIVIDUAL SELVES TO DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS.I FOR ONE BELIEVE, THAT MONEY, WHEN ADEQUATE BRINGS HAPPINESS AND WHEN IT IS N ABUNDANCE, BRINGS YOU WORRIES.THE BEAUTY IS THAT MONEY CAN CREATE OR MAR HAPPINESS , NOW CHOOSE YR WAVE LENGTH.
The Economics of Happiness
By John Robbins Research is clear: Money doesn’t buy happiness, reports best-selling author John Robbins. So why do we continue to think that it does?
When I was 21, I told my father that I didn’t want to work with him any longer at the ice cream company he co-founded, Baskin-Robbins, and I didn’t want to depend on his financial achievements. I did not want to have a trust fund or any other access to or dependence on his money. I wanted to discover and live my own values, and I knew that I wasn’t strong enough to do that if I remained tethered, even a little, to my father’s fortune.
I left Baskin-Robbins and the money my father had made selling ice cream because I didn’t want to live a life of affluence based on a product that could harm people’s health. I also recoiled at the idea of inheriting a life of privilege while so many others had to struggle for their basic livelihood.
I didn’t take the steps I did because I thought money is bad. On the contrary, I believe money is good and important. Without it, it’s impossible to thrive in the modern world and difficult even to survive. But money isn’t a god. It’s something to use. Not something to crave or to worship, and certainly not something that should rule our lives.
There seem to be two schools of thought about the relationship between money and happiness: On the one hand, there are those who say money isn’t that important. “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love,” writes Maya Angelou. “Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”
In her camp is the environmental advocate John Muir, who once said that he was better off than the billionaire E. H. Harriman. “I have all the money I want,” Muir explained, “and he hasn’t.”
On the other hand, there are those who say that money is essential, and that there is something spiritually pretentious and elitist about pretending otherwise. It’s not the love of money that is the root of all evil, they would say, but the lack of money.
Maybe money can’t directly buy happiness, but it certainly can buy lots of things that contribute tremendously to happiness. While it is possible to be happy with less, it is far easier to be happy with more. They would argue that those who believe money is not important have probably never watched their children go hungry.
I believe there is truth in both camps. Up to a certain point, money is vital to happiness for almost everyone. It can buy food, clothing, and housing and provide for other basic needs. Once a person’s basic needs are met, though, money takes on a different meaning.
For a family barely scraping by, $500 could be the difference between paying the rent or being evicted—between having a place to sleep and being homeless. To someone more affluent, $500 might simply mean a few hours spent shopping for clothes, or that much more financial security and increased savings.
But what does science tell us about the relationship between money and happiness? A vast amount of research about the question has been conducted globally in the last few decades. As more and more scientists have become involved, the studies, experiments, and forms of research have become increasingly sophisticated. No longer must scientists simply rely on what people tell them. What people say can be verified. Well-being can be assessed by various empirical measures with high consistency, reliability, and validity.
This research has consistently pointed to a conclusion that might surprise some: Money brings happiness only insofar as it lifts people out of poverty. Once that point is clearly passed, the link between monetary wealth and happiness is actually very small.
Why money is like beer
Take, for example, the people of Denmark and Sweden, who have consistently been found to be among the happiest in the world. These prosperous societies score at or near the top of most measures of quality of life, happiness, and social well-being. What makes things interesting, though, is that the people of Costa Rica, according to these same studies, are actually happier, even though the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of Costa Rica is only one-fourth that of Denmark and Sweden.
Similarly, the Guatemalans are happier than people in the United States, despite income levels only a tenth as high. And the people of Honduras are as happy as those of the United Kingdom, even with a per capita GDP that is only 12 percent as great.
In fact, the more you look at the data comparing people’s monetary wealth with their levels of happiness, the harder it is to see any correlation at all once you get past the poverty line. Surveys of the richest Americans, for example, show happiness scores identical to those of the Amish, a people who intentionally live almost entirely without cars or telephones.
Of course, the lowest life-satisfaction scores come from the world’s most destitute people. The happiness numbers for homeless people in Calcutta, India, for example, are among the lowest ever recorded. But, according to research by psychologists Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener, when these people have enough money to move off the street and into a slum, their levels of happiness and satisfaction rise and become nearly equivalent to those of a sample of college students from 47 nations.
Psychologist David Lykken, summarizing his extensive studies on the subject, says that “people who go to work in their overalls and on the bus are just as happy, on the average, as those in suits who drive to work in their own Mercedes.” How about the ultrarich? According to a study by Ed Diener and his colleagues, the Forbes 100 wealthiest Americans are barely happier than the average person. The happiness scores of the richest Americans, in fact, are only slightly higher than those of Masai tribesmen, a semi-nomadic African people who live without electricity or running water.
After analyzing more than 150 studies on wealth and happiness, Diener and his colleague Martin Seligman, two of the world’s top experts on the science of happiness, wrote: “Although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction . . . and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.”
Money, it seems, is a little like beer. Most people like it, but more is not necessarily better. A beer might improve your mood, but drinking 10 beers not only won’t increase your happiness tenfold, it might not increase it at all.
Yet we keep thinking that having more of the things money can buy will make us happier. Despite our current economic problems, we still have bigger homes, more cars, more appliances, and more possessions than any people have ever had at any time in history.
But has acquiring all this stuff been worth the costs? While we’ve been on this multidecade shopping binge, our rates of depression, obesity, heart attacks, divorces, and suicides have skyrocketed. Antidepressants are now the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. As a nation, we consume two-thirds of the global market for drugs prescribed to combat chronic sadness and hopelessness. One study found that today, the average American child experiences higher levels of anxiety than did the average child under psychiatric care in the 1950s. And yet, when Americans were asked in a survey what single factor they believed would most improve the quality of their lives, the most common answer was “more money.”
Maybe we’re caught in ancient fears of not having enough to make it, primal fears of not having what we need to survive. Maybe we’re stuck believing that nothing is ever enough, that true satisfaction is impossible because danger lurks around every corner. Maybe we’ve been bombarded from an early and vulnerable age with the message that money and the things it can buy are our only ticket to happiness. And maybe we’ve been hampered, as a people, by the fact that the primary index we have created to measure our economic well-being is absolutely guaranteed to get everything wrong.
Pointing us in the wrong direction
For the past 75 years, the GDP has been the fundamental measure of a nation’s economic progress. The reason the United States is considered the world’s most prosperous nation is because it has the largest GDP. Economists, politicians, and other leaders take for granted that the higher a nation’s GDP, the better off are its people.
Unfortunately, using the GDP (and its nearly identical twin, the GNP) to measure well-being and genuine progress makes about as much sense as using a fork to eat soup: It’s the wrong tool for the job. Two months before he was assassinated,
Robert F. Kennedy explained why:
Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods, and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm, nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
How can we develop a healthy relationship to wealth and to genuine economic progress when our most fundamental gauge to assess societal well-being is so askew? The GDP, like the GNP, simply adds together all monetary expenditures. The GDP does not care one whit what it is we’re consuming, about how equitably distributed a country’s wealth might be, nor whether the money we spend is ours or is borrowed from future generations. It is entirely possible for the nation with the world’s highest GDP to also have the world’s highest poverty rate and the world’s highest level of national debt.
The GDP rises whenever money changes hands. When families break down and children require foster care, the GDP grows, but not so when parents successfully care for their children. People who max out their credit cards buying things they don’t need make the GDP look good. People who save their money and live sensibly don’t. Seen through such a lens, the most economically productive people are cancer patients in the midst of getting a divorce. Healthy people in happy marriages, in contrast, are economically invisible, and all the more so if they cook at home, walk to work, grow food in a home garden, and don’t smoke.
In recent years, the GDP has gotten substantial boosts from toxic waste spills such as the Exxon Valdez disaster and the boom in prison construction. Meanwhile, natural resources such as rivers and oceans, topsoil and forests, the ozone layer and the atmosphere, are seen as essentially valueless, unless, of course, they are exploited and converted into revenue. But even then, the GDP measures the resulting economic activity in a manner that is fundamentally misleading. As economist
Mark Anielski points out, by counting the depletion of natural resources as current income rather than as the liquidation of assets, the GDP “violates both basic accounting principles and common sense.”
Alternatives to the GDP
One of the reasons the current financial crisis took so many economic experts by surprise is that the systems we use to measure our economic well-being failed us. They did not register that the euphoric growth performance of the world economy prior to the 2008 downturn was, in fact, utterly unsustainable. It is clear now that much of the then-heralded economic growth was a statistical mirage, based on real estate and stock prices that had been grossly inflated by bubbles. If we had had a better measurement system, would we have seen the problems earlier? Would governments have been able to take precautionary measures to avoid or at least minimize the present turmoil?
As long as we continue to rely on the GDP, our leaders will lack a timely and reliable set of wealth accounts—the “balance sheets” of the economy. Fortunately, many efforts are underway to develop economic indexes that are far more reliable measures of genuine wealth and progress than the GDP. Amartya Sen is a Nobel laureate in economics from Harvard who has received more than 80 honorary doctorates for his work in understanding the underlying mechanisms of poverty, famine, and gender inequality. He is also one of many leading economists who recognize that, as he put it in 2008, “the gross domestic product is very misleading and something must be done to get better measures of well-being.” Professor Sen and another Nobel laureate in economics, Joseph Stiglitz, are co-chairmen of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, established in 2008 by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to develop an alternative to the GDP.
The government of China, similarly, is increasingly recognizing that the nation’s torrid economic growth has come at a growing ecological and social cost. Anielski, author of a groundbreaking book on alternatives to the GDP, The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, is working with the Chinese government on how to adopt “green GDP accounting.” The goal is to take quality of life and the environment into account when measuring the country’s economic health.
There are many other alternatives under development, including one being created by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international consortium of 30 countries that are committed to democracy and the market economy.
I’m heartened to see the many efforts under way to develop alternatives to the GDP that take into account the health of our lives, the strength of our communities, and the sustainability of the environment. And yet it is no simple task to develop a monetized system that can measure the real determinants of happiness and well-being and do justice to the vast complexities of modern economic life. It may be that no single alternative index will emerge to entirely replace the GDP, and we will come to rely on a variety of indexes, each with its own perspectives, to provide us with as complete a picture as possible of the real state of our economic affairs and our societal well-being. And then perhaps we will be able to develop policies that lead to our ultimate goal—a sustainable prosperity shared by all.
I AM JSUT REPRODUCING AN ARTICLE ON THE SUBJECT.I LEAVE IT TO INDIVIDUAL SELVES TO DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS.I FOR ONE BELIEVE, THAT MONEY, WHEN ADEQUATE BRINGS HAPPINESS AND WHEN IT IS N ABUNDANCE, BRINGS YOU WORRIES.THE BEAUTY IS THAT MONEY CAN CREATE OR MAR HAPPINESS , NOW CHOOSE YR WAVE LENGTH.
The Economics of Happiness
By John Robbins Research is clear: Money doesn’t buy happiness, reports best-selling author John Robbins. So why do we continue to think that it does?
When I was 21, I told my father that I didn’t want to work with him any longer at the ice cream company he co-founded, Baskin-Robbins, and I didn’t want to depend on his financial achievements. I did not want to have a trust fund or any other access to or dependence on his money. I wanted to discover and live my own values, and I knew that I wasn’t strong enough to do that if I remained tethered, even a little, to my father’s fortune.
I left Baskin-Robbins and the money my father had made selling ice cream because I didn’t want to live a life of affluence based on a product that could harm people’s health. I also recoiled at the idea of inheriting a life of privilege while so many others had to struggle for their basic livelihood.
I didn’t take the steps I did because I thought money is bad. On the contrary, I believe money is good and important. Without it, it’s impossible to thrive in the modern world and difficult even to survive. But money isn’t a god. It’s something to use. Not something to crave or to worship, and certainly not something that should rule our lives.
There seem to be two schools of thought about the relationship between money and happiness: On the one hand, there are those who say money isn’t that important. “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love,” writes Maya Angelou. “Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.”
In her camp is the environmental advocate John Muir, who once said that he was better off than the billionaire E. H. Harriman. “I have all the money I want,” Muir explained, “and he hasn’t.”
On the other hand, there are those who say that money is essential, and that there is something spiritually pretentious and elitist about pretending otherwise. It’s not the love of money that is the root of all evil, they would say, but the lack of money.
Maybe money can’t directly buy happiness, but it certainly can buy lots of things that contribute tremendously to happiness. While it is possible to be happy with less, it is far easier to be happy with more. They would argue that those who believe money is not important have probably never watched their children go hungry.
I believe there is truth in both camps. Up to a certain point, money is vital to happiness for almost everyone. It can buy food, clothing, and housing and provide for other basic needs. Once a person’s basic needs are met, though, money takes on a different meaning.
For a family barely scraping by, $500 could be the difference between paying the rent or being evicted—between having a place to sleep and being homeless. To someone more affluent, $500 might simply mean a few hours spent shopping for clothes, or that much more financial security and increased savings.
But what does science tell us about the relationship between money and happiness? A vast amount of research about the question has been conducted globally in the last few decades. As more and more scientists have become involved, the studies, experiments, and forms of research have become increasingly sophisticated. No longer must scientists simply rely on what people tell them. What people say can be verified. Well-being can be assessed by various empirical measures with high consistency, reliability, and validity.
This research has consistently pointed to a conclusion that might surprise some: Money brings happiness only insofar as it lifts people out of poverty. Once that point is clearly passed, the link between monetary wealth and happiness is actually very small.
Why money is like beer
Take, for example, the people of Denmark and Sweden, who have consistently been found to be among the happiest in the world. These prosperous societies score at or near the top of most measures of quality of life, happiness, and social well-being. What makes things interesting, though, is that the people of Costa Rica, according to these same studies, are actually happier, even though the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of Costa Rica is only one-fourth that of Denmark and Sweden.
Similarly, the Guatemalans are happier than people in the United States, despite income levels only a tenth as high. And the people of Honduras are as happy as those of the United Kingdom, even with a per capita GDP that is only 12 percent as great.
In fact, the more you look at the data comparing people’s monetary wealth with their levels of happiness, the harder it is to see any correlation at all once you get past the poverty line. Surveys of the richest Americans, for example, show happiness scores identical to those of the Amish, a people who intentionally live almost entirely without cars or telephones.
Of course, the lowest life-satisfaction scores come from the world’s most destitute people. The happiness numbers for homeless people in Calcutta, India, for example, are among the lowest ever recorded. But, according to research by psychologists Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener, when these people have enough money to move off the street and into a slum, their levels of happiness and satisfaction rise and become nearly equivalent to those of a sample of college students from 47 nations.
Psychologist David Lykken, summarizing his extensive studies on the subject, says that “people who go to work in their overalls and on the bus are just as happy, on the average, as those in suits who drive to work in their own Mercedes.” How about the ultrarich? According to a study by Ed Diener and his colleagues, the Forbes 100 wealthiest Americans are barely happier than the average person. The happiness scores of the richest Americans, in fact, are only slightly higher than those of Masai tribesmen, a semi-nomadic African people who live without electricity or running water.
After analyzing more than 150 studies on wealth and happiness, Diener and his colleague Martin Seligman, two of the world’s top experts on the science of happiness, wrote: “Although economic output has risen steeply over the past decades, there has been no rise in life satisfaction . . . and there has been a substantial increase in depression and distrust.”
Money, it seems, is a little like beer. Most people like it, but more is not necessarily better. A beer might improve your mood, but drinking 10 beers not only won’t increase your happiness tenfold, it might not increase it at all.
Yet we keep thinking that having more of the things money can buy will make us happier. Despite our current economic problems, we still have bigger homes, more cars, more appliances, and more possessions than any people have ever had at any time in history.
But has acquiring all this stuff been worth the costs? While we’ve been on this multidecade shopping binge, our rates of depression, obesity, heart attacks, divorces, and suicides have skyrocketed. Antidepressants are now the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. As a nation, we consume two-thirds of the global market for drugs prescribed to combat chronic sadness and hopelessness. One study found that today, the average American child experiences higher levels of anxiety than did the average child under psychiatric care in the 1950s. And yet, when Americans were asked in a survey what single factor they believed would most improve the quality of their lives, the most common answer was “more money.”
Maybe we’re caught in ancient fears of not having enough to make it, primal fears of not having what we need to survive. Maybe we’re stuck believing that nothing is ever enough, that true satisfaction is impossible because danger lurks around every corner. Maybe we’ve been bombarded from an early and vulnerable age with the message that money and the things it can buy are our only ticket to happiness. And maybe we’ve been hampered, as a people, by the fact that the primary index we have created to measure our economic well-being is absolutely guaranteed to get everything wrong.
Pointing us in the wrong direction
For the past 75 years, the GDP has been the fundamental measure of a nation’s economic progress. The reason the United States is considered the world’s most prosperous nation is because it has the largest GDP. Economists, politicians, and other leaders take for granted that the higher a nation’s GDP, the better off are its people.
Unfortunately, using the GDP (and its nearly identical twin, the GNP) to measure well-being and genuine progress makes about as much sense as using a fork to eat soup: It’s the wrong tool for the job. Two months before he was assassinated,
Robert F. Kennedy explained why:
Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods, and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm, nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
How can we develop a healthy relationship to wealth and to genuine economic progress when our most fundamental gauge to assess societal well-being is so askew? The GDP, like the GNP, simply adds together all monetary expenditures. The GDP does not care one whit what it is we’re consuming, about how equitably distributed a country’s wealth might be, nor whether the money we spend is ours or is borrowed from future generations. It is entirely possible for the nation with the world’s highest GDP to also have the world’s highest poverty rate and the world’s highest level of national debt.
The GDP rises whenever money changes hands. When families break down and children require foster care, the GDP grows, but not so when parents successfully care for their children. People who max out their credit cards buying things they don’t need make the GDP look good. People who save their money and live sensibly don’t. Seen through such a lens, the most economically productive people are cancer patients in the midst of getting a divorce. Healthy people in happy marriages, in contrast, are economically invisible, and all the more so if they cook at home, walk to work, grow food in a home garden, and don’t smoke.
In recent years, the GDP has gotten substantial boosts from toxic waste spills such as the Exxon Valdez disaster and the boom in prison construction. Meanwhile, natural resources such as rivers and oceans, topsoil and forests, the ozone layer and the atmosphere, are seen as essentially valueless, unless, of course, they are exploited and converted into revenue. But even then, the GDP measures the resulting economic activity in a manner that is fundamentally misleading. As economist
Mark Anielski points out, by counting the depletion of natural resources as current income rather than as the liquidation of assets, the GDP “violates both basic accounting principles and common sense.”
Alternatives to the GDP
One of the reasons the current financial crisis took so many economic experts by surprise is that the systems we use to measure our economic well-being failed us. They did not register that the euphoric growth performance of the world economy prior to the 2008 downturn was, in fact, utterly unsustainable. It is clear now that much of the then-heralded economic growth was a statistical mirage, based on real estate and stock prices that had been grossly inflated by bubbles. If we had had a better measurement system, would we have seen the problems earlier? Would governments have been able to take precautionary measures to avoid or at least minimize the present turmoil?
As long as we continue to rely on the GDP, our leaders will lack a timely and reliable set of wealth accounts—the “balance sheets” of the economy. Fortunately, many efforts are underway to develop economic indexes that are far more reliable measures of genuine wealth and progress than the GDP. Amartya Sen is a Nobel laureate in economics from Harvard who has received more than 80 honorary doctorates for his work in understanding the underlying mechanisms of poverty, famine, and gender inequality. He is also one of many leading economists who recognize that, as he put it in 2008, “the gross domestic product is very misleading and something must be done to get better measures of well-being.” Professor Sen and another Nobel laureate in economics, Joseph Stiglitz, are co-chairmen of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, established in 2008 by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to develop an alternative to the GDP.
The government of China, similarly, is increasingly recognizing that the nation’s torrid economic growth has come at a growing ecological and social cost. Anielski, author of a groundbreaking book on alternatives to the GDP, The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, is working with the Chinese government on how to adopt “green GDP accounting.” The goal is to take quality of life and the environment into account when measuring the country’s economic health.
There are many other alternatives under development, including one being created by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international consortium of 30 countries that are committed to democracy and the market economy.
I’m heartened to see the many efforts under way to develop alternatives to the GDP that take into account the health of our lives, the strength of our communities, and the sustainability of the environment. And yet it is no simple task to develop a monetized system that can measure the real determinants of happiness and well-being and do justice to the vast complexities of modern economic life. It may be that no single alternative index will emerge to entirely replace the GDP, and we will come to rely on a variety of indexes, each with its own perspectives, to provide us with as complete a picture as possible of the real state of our economic affairs and our societal well-being. And then perhaps we will be able to develop policies that lead to our ultimate goal—a sustainable prosperity shared by all.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
DEEPAVALI-PART 2
My earlier blog post on DEEPAVALI dated 4th NOV 2010 was a sort of an appetiser and this post is a follow up of the same.
This year , i did not celebrate Deepavali, as i have lost my beloved elder brother.Besides the little accident that i had , resulting in injuries on forehead and eyes have dampened the spirits further.And the fact that my son was away at Hyderabad(not that he is very fond of celebrating DEEPAVALI-SEE HIS BLOG ENDLESS HORIZONS on his views on the same subject)and the reality that possibly this would be my last occasion to celebrate Deepavali with my daughter (as perhaps next year she might be the worthy DIL of some other house hold)all left a feeling , a mixed one at that.At the end of all those thoghts i was a little puzzled and dazed at the same time as to whether i wanted to celebrate it or not.
And that brought me to my sences and a memory down the lane to recall how many times i have celebrated the festival with passion and how many of them i could really recall at this juncture.
The first memory i could recall with certain amount of certainty was when i was doing my scholling in CHENNAI.My BIL's brother who is no more now and who was such a pleasant and positive personality is the one whom i am reminded of now.He was running a commercial type writing institute in those days in the busy USMAN ROAD, at T.NAGAR. DEEPAVALI's arrival will be known well in advance as he used to run some cracker shops with his friends, more as fun than anything else.So atleast a week in advance the crackers of all sorts will be at home,and to add sweet memories to DEEPAVALI my sisters and the elder sister's daughter (who is my wife now)will all be spending their time in kitchen preparing various sweets and savouries.I still recall how earnestly they used to prepare atleast 3/4 types of sweets and 2/3 types of savouries.Infact what is prepared for Deepavali will last atleast oone month and used to take care of evening snacks' requirements for the next one month.
The chain of sweet shops one sees today are not heard of in those days.Infact neighbours will check with each other to check the sweets and savouries being prepared so that there will be no duplication when the delicacies are exchanged on the eve of deepavali.It was one such deepavali, when the whole family had retired to bed earlyto wake up next day morning(we used to get up at 2-3 am those days so as to claim that we were the first to burn crackers in that street ).It was midnight when there was continuous sound of crackers which was deafening.There was also noice of vessels being thrown about. It took a few minutes for us to realise when and where the sound is coming from.It was from the kitchen where we have kept the crackers on a stove(at low levels of burner) to keep the crakers warm to escape the rainy climate as there would invariably be rains around DEEPAVALI TIME.(This year the rains were delyed by 24 hrs.Ref JAL JAL). Crackers worth Rs 1000 (in those days) were burnt to ashes in no time and along with it all sweets and savouries prepared were all thrown down on the floor. The entire neghbour hood has ssembled in no time (as there used to be atleast 8 tenants in each house in those days).Fortunately the new clothes purchased were saved as they were kept near the pooja room.And the house is probaly really strong to have escaped any major disaster. There was not even a crack in the walls.By the time all of us have cleaned up the whole thing (after reckovering from the initial shocks)and were getting ready to have the GANGA SNANAM , there was the sound of an auto in front of the house. To our utter surprise my BILs brother has arrived , clad in his new garments, (white was his favourite) with another big box of latest variety of crackers, the sweets from the BOMBAY HALWA HOUSE(Only known sweet shop in those days)and the whole atmosphere sudenly changed from sort of gloom to overwhelming brightness and cheers.That was the first deepavali etched in my memory.I was about 12 years old then.
Exactly 13 years later when i turned 25, the scene shifted to Kolkatta, wherein i celebrated deepavali in the company of new find friends and in my latest passion Viz Tamil literary activities.Atleast a minimum of 20 houses would have invited for deepavali and in each house it was a case of warmth and hospitality at its peak. "Sevikku unavillatha pothu, sirithu vayitrukkum eeyappadum" STATEMENT WAS PROVED IN THAT NIGHT OF DEEPAVALI at Kolkatta.
The scene after 10 years , shifted back to Chennai.In the owned house, in the company of beloved son(who is to become the best friend in the later years) deepavali was celebrated taking care to ensure that the sound of crackers were kept minimal so as not to scare way the little child.An year later another joyful addition to the family , in the form of goddess laxmi,arrived and the circle is now complete. Thereafter each DEEPAVALI was an wonderful experience, acting the role of a husband, the role of a son and the role of a father to take care of the little needs of all around me.(ofcourse the major burden was handled by my beloved wife and my role is to say yes to what ever she says:))..
Deepavali after a couple of years in 1996 was noteworthy. That was the time when the news of Hongkong posting has been received. The undersigned flew from Delhi to Chennai to celebrate DEEPAVALI .No crakers, no sweets nothing. It was the closeness and warmth of the family knot, which was the hall mark of this Deepavali. The recognition that the next deepavali to be celebrated will be only after 3 -4 years (as i have decided to go alone to Hongkong due to family compulsions)added to the glitter and glory of the Deepavali, in 1996.
It was a long await thereafter. It was in 2002, when i returned back from Hongkong that we celebrated DEEPAVALI together as a family, after 5 years.The years in Hongkong saw again a repeat of KOLKTA days,the warmth and friendliness and the mantle worn by the undersigned as the President of Hongkong Tamil cultural association, enabled the undersigned to spend days of DEEPAVALI in great moods of happiness, not withstanding the seperation from the family.2002 will be remembered as the year when i celebrated DEEPAVALI with my grown up son and daughter(in their teens) and that was the time when i came to know that as a protest against child labour, my son has stopped burning of crakers.It was a new wisdom to me.
Next couple of years saw my daughter and son drifting away to various places in pursuit of career and thus Deepavali, just came and went year after year with no specific feelings associated with it.AS my son drew reference in his blog, the DEEPAVALI of 2007 was significant in the sence, me and my son were theretogether enjoying the cosy comforts of Hyderabad and its hospitality .
2o08 and 2009, less said the better. Both my son and daughter were away from us on their job compulsions.Personally and shychologically there were many challenges to be faced and conquered.Thus no real chrm in those years.
2010-The expected storm showed mercy and went away to some palce in AP.BUT THE SKY BECAME OVERCAST TO provide the right kind of back drop.AS i indicated in the earlier part of this blog, because of demise of my brother there is no Diwali for us. But atleast 3 new couples(including my cobrother's daughter who got wedded last Novemeber) were celebrating their THALAI DEEPAVALI. And two couples celebrating Thalai deepavali belong to my own street. In the last 25 years of my existence at MADIPAKKAM i have not seen such a DEEPAVALI , CELEBRATED WITH FRENZY AND FAN FARE. What started off as a mild sound of a cracker on Thrusday night became deafening as the night progressed and the entire sky had a colourfullook on the morning hours of Friday.It apapeared as if the entire city was celebrating to compensate for our inability to celebrate.
And at the end of the day when i retired to bed my mind was thinking about 2011 already..where it will be with whom it will be and so on..but the lesson of DEEPAVALI AS THE VICTORY OF GOOD OVER EVIL is already engraved in memory and with those prayers, i retired.
This year , i did not celebrate Deepavali, as i have lost my beloved elder brother.Besides the little accident that i had , resulting in injuries on forehead and eyes have dampened the spirits further.And the fact that my son was away at Hyderabad(not that he is very fond of celebrating DEEPAVALI-SEE HIS BLOG ENDLESS HORIZONS on his views on the same subject)and the reality that possibly this would be my last occasion to celebrate Deepavali with my daughter (as perhaps next year she might be the worthy DIL of some other house hold)all left a feeling , a mixed one at that.At the end of all those thoghts i was a little puzzled and dazed at the same time as to whether i wanted to celebrate it or not.
And that brought me to my sences and a memory down the lane to recall how many times i have celebrated the festival with passion and how many of them i could really recall at this juncture.
The first memory i could recall with certain amount of certainty was when i was doing my scholling in CHENNAI.My BIL's brother who is no more now and who was such a pleasant and positive personality is the one whom i am reminded of now.He was running a commercial type writing institute in those days in the busy USMAN ROAD, at T.NAGAR. DEEPAVALI's arrival will be known well in advance as he used to run some cracker shops with his friends, more as fun than anything else.So atleast a week in advance the crackers of all sorts will be at home,and to add sweet memories to DEEPAVALI my sisters and the elder sister's daughter (who is my wife now)will all be spending their time in kitchen preparing various sweets and savouries.I still recall how earnestly they used to prepare atleast 3/4 types of sweets and 2/3 types of savouries.Infact what is prepared for Deepavali will last atleast oone month and used to take care of evening snacks' requirements for the next one month.
The chain of sweet shops one sees today are not heard of in those days.Infact neighbours will check with each other to check the sweets and savouries being prepared so that there will be no duplication when the delicacies are exchanged on the eve of deepavali.It was one such deepavali, when the whole family had retired to bed earlyto wake up next day morning(we used to get up at 2-3 am those days so as to claim that we were the first to burn crackers in that street ).It was midnight when there was continuous sound of crackers which was deafening.There was also noice of vessels being thrown about. It took a few minutes for us to realise when and where the sound is coming from.It was from the kitchen where we have kept the crackers on a stove(at low levels of burner) to keep the crakers warm to escape the rainy climate as there would invariably be rains around DEEPAVALI TIME.(This year the rains were delyed by 24 hrs.Ref JAL JAL). Crackers worth Rs 1000 (in those days) were burnt to ashes in no time and along with it all sweets and savouries prepared were all thrown down on the floor. The entire neghbour hood has ssembled in no time (as there used to be atleast 8 tenants in each house in those days).Fortunately the new clothes purchased were saved as they were kept near the pooja room.And the house is probaly really strong to have escaped any major disaster. There was not even a crack in the walls.By the time all of us have cleaned up the whole thing (after reckovering from the initial shocks)and were getting ready to have the GANGA SNANAM , there was the sound of an auto in front of the house. To our utter surprise my BILs brother has arrived , clad in his new garments, (white was his favourite) with another big box of latest variety of crackers, the sweets from the BOMBAY HALWA HOUSE(Only known sweet shop in those days)and the whole atmosphere sudenly changed from sort of gloom to overwhelming brightness and cheers.That was the first deepavali etched in my memory.I was about 12 years old then.
Exactly 13 years later when i turned 25, the scene shifted to Kolkatta, wherein i celebrated deepavali in the company of new find friends and in my latest passion Viz Tamil literary activities.Atleast a minimum of 20 houses would have invited for deepavali and in each house it was a case of warmth and hospitality at its peak. "Sevikku unavillatha pothu, sirithu vayitrukkum eeyappadum" STATEMENT WAS PROVED IN THAT NIGHT OF DEEPAVALI at Kolkatta.
The scene after 10 years , shifted back to Chennai.In the owned house, in the company of beloved son(who is to become the best friend in the later years) deepavali was celebrated taking care to ensure that the sound of crackers were kept minimal so as not to scare way the little child.An year later another joyful addition to the family , in the form of goddess laxmi,arrived and the circle is now complete. Thereafter each DEEPAVALI was an wonderful experience, acting the role of a husband, the role of a son and the role of a father to take care of the little needs of all around me.(ofcourse the major burden was handled by my beloved wife and my role is to say yes to what ever she says:))..
Deepavali after a couple of years in 1996 was noteworthy. That was the time when the news of Hongkong posting has been received. The undersigned flew from Delhi to Chennai to celebrate DEEPAVALI .No crakers, no sweets nothing. It was the closeness and warmth of the family knot, which was the hall mark of this Deepavali. The recognition that the next deepavali to be celebrated will be only after 3 -4 years (as i have decided to go alone to Hongkong due to family compulsions)added to the glitter and glory of the Deepavali, in 1996.
It was a long await thereafter. It was in 2002, when i returned back from Hongkong that we celebrated DEEPAVALI together as a family, after 5 years.The years in Hongkong saw again a repeat of KOLKTA days,the warmth and friendliness and the mantle worn by the undersigned as the President of Hongkong Tamil cultural association, enabled the undersigned to spend days of DEEPAVALI in great moods of happiness, not withstanding the seperation from the family.2002 will be remembered as the year when i celebrated DEEPAVALI with my grown up son and daughter(in their teens) and that was the time when i came to know that as a protest against child labour, my son has stopped burning of crakers.It was a new wisdom to me.
Next couple of years saw my daughter and son drifting away to various places in pursuit of career and thus Deepavali, just came and went year after year with no specific feelings associated with it.AS my son drew reference in his blog, the DEEPAVALI of 2007 was significant in the sence, me and my son were theretogether enjoying the cosy comforts of Hyderabad and its hospitality .
2o08 and 2009, less said the better. Both my son and daughter were away from us on their job compulsions.Personally and shychologically there were many challenges to be faced and conquered.Thus no real chrm in those years.
2010-The expected storm showed mercy and went away to some palce in AP.BUT THE SKY BECAME OVERCAST TO provide the right kind of back drop.AS i indicated in the earlier part of this blog, because of demise of my brother there is no Diwali for us. But atleast 3 new couples(including my cobrother's daughter who got wedded last Novemeber) were celebrating their THALAI DEEPAVALI. And two couples celebrating Thalai deepavali belong to my own street. In the last 25 years of my existence at MADIPAKKAM i have not seen such a DEEPAVALI , CELEBRATED WITH FRENZY AND FAN FARE. What started off as a mild sound of a cracker on Thrusday night became deafening as the night progressed and the entire sky had a colourfullook on the morning hours of Friday.It apapeared as if the entire city was celebrating to compensate for our inability to celebrate.
And at the end of the day when i retired to bed my mind was thinking about 2011 already..where it will be with whom it will be and so on..but the lesson of DEEPAVALI AS THE VICTORY OF GOOD OVER EVIL is already engraved in memory and with those prayers, i retired.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
HAPPY DEEPAVALI
Deepavali, the festival of lights . Every one would have seen its beauty and splendour in many forms and some like my son would prefer to keep away from the sound and noice created by it for his own justifyable reasons.BUt the purpose of this post is to establish an instant contact with every one reading this blog, however distant they are (I meant not only distance of places but also distanced hearts), and to make use of the festival,,an alibi!, to wish them good luck and happiness in all endeavours that they are presently in and those that they are going to embark on in days to come/ for rest of their life.
Deepavali has many symbolic messages,Hindus , atleast those in southern INdia , consider it as a victory of Goddess (God took the form of Mohini, the eternal beauty)to avenge on NARAGASWARAN.At the request of Naragarawaran, the god gave the last boon to the dying soul, that his death will not be an occasion for any one to shed tears, but it would be a moment for every one to celebrate and rejoice,for his death symbolically represents the victory of GOOD over EVIL forces.
AND HERE COMES THE WORTHY LESSON. Day in and day out we suffer, we fight, we are challenged,we are overcome and exhausted by evil forces in many ways. Corruption,falling ethics, deterioration in values, dis regard to elders and superiors and so on and so forth. Despite all these odds and the limitations in which we function(the famous author NA PARTHASAEATHY, IN HIS FAMOUS NOVEL PON VILANGU draws a beautiful reference to this state of affairs when he uses the word "SOOZH NILAYIN KAITHI..TRANSLATED AS "PRISONER OF CIRCUMSTANCES"S) at the end of the day when we retire to bed, if wec ould recall the way in which we have spent the day, we will recall how many odds have been overcome and how subtly and how deftly we have conqured many evils (internal and external) at the same time. Thus every day in fact is worth celbrating as Deepavali by those who have steadfastly stood by their goals/karma and did every thing to attain it. AGAIN i did not mean the effect of it, i mean the efforts towards it.AND THAT IS ENOUGH!!
Coming back to the festival perse, it is also called the festival of lights. In fact down south there is a seperate festival of lights, called Karthigai deepam. The famous temple in South called Thiruvannamalai,(Malai neans HILL) willbe the centre of attraction on this day when the HOLY LIGHT willbe spotted on the top of hills when all houses and all temples simultaneously will be litting lights .The whole town will suddenly becomw acity of lights and perhaps the diwinity and unity seen in that moment is GOD himself.
Deepavali is associated in my earlier times(or as per my eraliest memories) with purchase of new clothes, firing of crackers, eating of sweets and more particularly exchanging pleasantries with neighbours, friends and relatives. With communication becoming an explosive force in the currrent century, and with every house hold having atleast as many cell phones as the number of persons in the house..Note..I am yet to possess one:)the visits to homes and to exchange pleasantries have almost stopped.With DIABETES, the silent monster entering every house hold, sweet consumption has also halved. Still the wonder remains as to how so many sweet shops (chain stores at that) are making a merry kill during these festive seasons!!Waht still remains is the arrival o9f rains (almost always around deepavali), slippery streets, the deafening noice of crakers, and the smog created by the fire, smoke and the glloomy sky atleast as far as Chennai is concerned.
My child hood charm of deepavali is identified with new clothes. In those days there was only one occasion(deepavali) when you are assured of atleast a new shirt, if not pants. NEXT CHARM is the visit to elder's houses when you will get lot of things to eat.At home the carm lies with Steaming IDDLIES served with Milagai podi and nallennai. I remember consuming thru out the day , only iddlies, iddlies iddlies in that order.Still, to date, my weakness for the same have not subsided a bit!
Over a period of time, as would normally happen with the widening of knowledge horizon, it has dawned now that the festivals are meant to bring about an econonmic upheaval. Think of the number of shops that survive during these periods by wooing any one and every one with their products.But that is at a macro level At a micro level the festival is intended to bring about a bondage among the family, friends and relatives.With TVs coming to the centre hall of each home, even this bonding is threatened nowadays.
BUT THE BOND OF LOVE AND AFFECTION IS SO STRONG THAT IT WOULD SURVIVE ANY NUMBER OF THREATS.HERE AGAIN IT WOULD BE A SUCCESS OF THE GOOD OVER THE TEST AT THE END.
LET us therfore celebrate deepavali to bring to gether our love and affection and may the world in that process become a better place of peace and prosperity to live in.
Deepavali has many symbolic messages,Hindus , atleast those in southern INdia , consider it as a victory of Goddess (God took the form of Mohini, the eternal beauty)to avenge on NARAGASWARAN.At the request of Naragarawaran, the god gave the last boon to the dying soul, that his death will not be an occasion for any one to shed tears, but it would be a moment for every one to celebrate and rejoice,for his death symbolically represents the victory of GOOD over EVIL forces.
AND HERE COMES THE WORTHY LESSON. Day in and day out we suffer, we fight, we are challenged,we are overcome and exhausted by evil forces in many ways. Corruption,falling ethics, deterioration in values, dis regard to elders and superiors and so on and so forth. Despite all these odds and the limitations in which we function(the famous author NA PARTHASAEATHY, IN HIS FAMOUS NOVEL PON VILANGU draws a beautiful reference to this state of affairs when he uses the word "SOOZH NILAYIN KAITHI..TRANSLATED AS "PRISONER OF CIRCUMSTANCES"S) at the end of the day when we retire to bed, if wec ould recall the way in which we have spent the day, we will recall how many odds have been overcome and how subtly and how deftly we have conqured many evils (internal and external) at the same time. Thus every day in fact is worth celbrating as Deepavali by those who have steadfastly stood by their goals/karma and did every thing to attain it. AGAIN i did not mean the effect of it, i mean the efforts towards it.AND THAT IS ENOUGH!!
Coming back to the festival perse, it is also called the festival of lights. In fact down south there is a seperate festival of lights, called Karthigai deepam. The famous temple in South called Thiruvannamalai,(Malai neans HILL) willbe the centre of attraction on this day when the HOLY LIGHT willbe spotted on the top of hills when all houses and all temples simultaneously will be litting lights .The whole town will suddenly becomw acity of lights and perhaps the diwinity and unity seen in that moment is GOD himself.
Deepavali is associated in my earlier times(or as per my eraliest memories) with purchase of new clothes, firing of crackers, eating of sweets and more particularly exchanging pleasantries with neighbours, friends and relatives. With communication becoming an explosive force in the currrent century, and with every house hold having atleast as many cell phones as the number of persons in the house..Note..I am yet to possess one:)the visits to homes and to exchange pleasantries have almost stopped.With DIABETES, the silent monster entering every house hold, sweet consumption has also halved. Still the wonder remains as to how so many sweet shops (chain stores at that) are making a merry kill during these festive seasons!!Waht still remains is the arrival o9f rains (almost always around deepavali), slippery streets, the deafening noice of crakers, and the smog created by the fire, smoke and the glloomy sky atleast as far as Chennai is concerned.
My child hood charm of deepavali is identified with new clothes. In those days there was only one occasion(deepavali) when you are assured of atleast a new shirt, if not pants. NEXT CHARM is the visit to elder's houses when you will get lot of things to eat.At home the carm lies with Steaming IDDLIES served with Milagai podi and nallennai. I remember consuming thru out the day , only iddlies, iddlies iddlies in that order.Still, to date, my weakness for the same have not subsided a bit!
Over a period of time, as would normally happen with the widening of knowledge horizon, it has dawned now that the festivals are meant to bring about an econonmic upheaval. Think of the number of shops that survive during these periods by wooing any one and every one with their products.But that is at a macro level At a micro level the festival is intended to bring about a bondage among the family, friends and relatives.With TVs coming to the centre hall of each home, even this bonding is threatened nowadays.
BUT THE BOND OF LOVE AND AFFECTION IS SO STRONG THAT IT WOULD SURVIVE ANY NUMBER OF THREATS.HERE AGAIN IT WOULD BE A SUCCESS OF THE GOOD OVER THE TEST AT THE END.
LET us therfore celebrate deepavali to bring to gether our love and affection and may the world in that process become a better place of peace and prosperity to live in.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
THI JANAGIRAMAN...LIFE REVISITED
I look back in awe the years that i have traversed, the challnges that i have faced and the mile stones that i have crossed.And though i would not like to make any comparison at any levels(based on wisdom gained in late forties) still in the heart of hearts , a silent comparison goes on. Your self with your peers, yourself with your superiors and last but not the least your self with your enemies!Hold a moment. At this age and experience i do not want to call any one as my enemy as life has tuaght me that more we are against some one it would onley mean our own inner hurt and injuries and hence better to give them a decent burial and move on.
And coming to talk about the internal hurt and injuries, obviusly one can not miss the external hurt and injuries.And ofcourse the internal hurt (i mean those relating to heart and mind)is a silent killer while the external hurt and injuries(obvious ref is to the phusical well being)are some thing and at most of the times are mangageble by your own lelf with little or nil outside help. Still when the outside atmosphere is one wherein your hurt and pain , whether internal or external, are shared and understood the recovery becomes faster.
My reference is to the none too serious hurt (in retrospect) which i sustained by tripping and falling on a rainy day near the footsteps of my house, resulting in a blood stained shirt and a few deep cuts just above the left eye.And the result is this post and few days of compelled rest and recuperation.
The challenge which i made a reference to in the earlier part of the post and the comparison i drew are with reference to my long innings(32 BALANCE SHEETS.NOT OUT)as an executive of a nationalised bank.After what appeared to be a dream come true of finalisation of accounts, atleast a week before its approval and in really relaxed setting,(possibly letting caution go to the wind, and in that split second, the tripping and falling all at the same moment) , brought back the basic lesson. Be conscious even when you relax.And that resulted in understanding what is happening all around at a more surfaceous level.And it also helped in knowing how much people care and respond to your problems and worries.And with each such sharing the pain eased and with each such inward mail the recovery is becoming faster.Thanks to every one of them who cared...And very often in life, it is this little caring , shown at the appropriate time that can do wonders to the outside world .Let us practice it at every moment as if it is a "THAPAS". More importantly it enabled me to move towards some of my child hood goals , which as an adult i have started attending to with some regular consistency in the recent past.
The goal which i mentioned has got nothing to do with career or ambitions. AS i mentioned once, my pain and my happiness , i know are bound to come and go in circles and i know that it is important to treat them alike to reach the level of utmost inner peace, I feel at times this recognition it self is as good as reaching the goal itself.Still the goal or rather the apt word is the dream, which i have accomplished in these days of compelled rest is to visit the Short story collection of Thi Janagiraman.I have finished almost 800 pages of his book in a span of little over two days and the more i read, the more i feel better and better,Few authors and their writings can have such a beautiful influence on you.
The fact that THI.JA.RA, belongs to the very same soil to which i belong ,(Tanjore) is besides the point.The fact to be appreciated is that once you are with the stories you feel as if you are revisiting your birth place, experiencing the experienc of each character therein and more importantly understanding the subtle messages that are thrown in plenty, in between the lines.Just as variety flowers and their fragrance his characters portray the strength, weakness, success and fall of the human beings .The characters are those whom you meet day in and day out. They belong to you or rather you are what has been portrayed in various shades thru these chracters.And once you finish reading teh same, you hve an immense experience, serene peace within and a charm which lingers within as if it is born along with you.
YES. SOME ONE SAID THAT BEST FRIENDS ARE BOOKS.THI JA RA PROVES THAT POINT .
And the recovery from the accident becomes faster, when you start reading a book like that, when the thick clouds and the drizzle in the sky make a beautiful back drop to the settings.All are possibly intended to make the lesson clear, the life merrier and the experience stronger.
At the nd of it the comparisons vanish, the enmity is overtaken by friendship, love , pure love rules the golden moments.
with that great feeling i sign off,
And coming to talk about the internal hurt and injuries, obviusly one can not miss the external hurt and injuries.And ofcourse the internal hurt (i mean those relating to heart and mind)is a silent killer while the external hurt and injuries(obvious ref is to the phusical well being)are some thing and at most of the times are mangageble by your own lelf with little or nil outside help. Still when the outside atmosphere is one wherein your hurt and pain , whether internal or external, are shared and understood the recovery becomes faster.
My reference is to the none too serious hurt (in retrospect) which i sustained by tripping and falling on a rainy day near the footsteps of my house, resulting in a blood stained shirt and a few deep cuts just above the left eye.And the result is this post and few days of compelled rest and recuperation.
The challenge which i made a reference to in the earlier part of the post and the comparison i drew are with reference to my long innings(32 BALANCE SHEETS.NOT OUT)as an executive of a nationalised bank.After what appeared to be a dream come true of finalisation of accounts, atleast a week before its approval and in really relaxed setting,(possibly letting caution go to the wind, and in that split second, the tripping and falling all at the same moment) , brought back the basic lesson. Be conscious even when you relax.And that resulted in understanding what is happening all around at a more surfaceous level.And it also helped in knowing how much people care and respond to your problems and worries.And with each such sharing the pain eased and with each such inward mail the recovery is becoming faster.Thanks to every one of them who cared...And very often in life, it is this little caring , shown at the appropriate time that can do wonders to the outside world .Let us practice it at every moment as if it is a "THAPAS". More importantly it enabled me to move towards some of my child hood goals , which as an adult i have started attending to with some regular consistency in the recent past.
The goal which i mentioned has got nothing to do with career or ambitions. AS i mentioned once, my pain and my happiness , i know are bound to come and go in circles and i know that it is important to treat them alike to reach the level of utmost inner peace, I feel at times this recognition it self is as good as reaching the goal itself.Still the goal or rather the apt word is the dream, which i have accomplished in these days of compelled rest is to visit the Short story collection of Thi Janagiraman.I have finished almost 800 pages of his book in a span of little over two days and the more i read, the more i feel better and better,Few authors and their writings can have such a beautiful influence on you.
The fact that THI.JA.RA, belongs to the very same soil to which i belong ,(Tanjore) is besides the point.The fact to be appreciated is that once you are with the stories you feel as if you are revisiting your birth place, experiencing the experienc of each character therein and more importantly understanding the subtle messages that are thrown in plenty, in between the lines.Just as variety flowers and their fragrance his characters portray the strength, weakness, success and fall of the human beings .The characters are those whom you meet day in and day out. They belong to you or rather you are what has been portrayed in various shades thru these chracters.And once you finish reading teh same, you hve an immense experience, serene peace within and a charm which lingers within as if it is born along with you.
YES. SOME ONE SAID THAT BEST FRIENDS ARE BOOKS.THI JA RA PROVES THAT POINT .
And the recovery from the accident becomes faster, when you start reading a book like that, when the thick clouds and the drizzle in the sky make a beautiful back drop to the settings.All are possibly intended to make the lesson clear, the life merrier and the experience stronger.
At the nd of it the comparisons vanish, the enmity is overtaken by friendship, love , pure love rules the golden moments.
with that great feeling i sign off,
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