Story of Appreciation

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview; the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score. The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".

The director asked, “Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

When you wake up...

                                                  Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.

              It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle --
when the sun comes up

YOU HAD BETTER BE RUNNING, 

TOP TEN MYTHS ABOUT INTROVERTS...!

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.

This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.

Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Customer is always right ...

One of my close friends, Varun Rao, sent me this mail. This simple mail, gives us a BIG lesson...

Caller  :                     Hi, our printer is not working.
Customer Service :     What is wrong with it?
Caller  :                      Mouse is jammed..

You are what you choose to be...

One of my most favorite observations: "Humans are not rational animals...rather, they are rationalizing animals". And hence the choice that you make, is always right. Because, your mind is always ready to rationalize your chosen option. 

A reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan to a pretty girl seeking a rich husband

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste.  I wish to marry a guy with $500k  annual salary or above.

6 Important Life Lessons

I just came across a very interesting piece of writing, worth sharing with ideas8bottom readers! Here are the 6 Important Life Lessons that one must remember:

Lesson 1: Naked Wife

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.

Finally Binayak is Free; Truth wins!

Today's hearing by Supreme Court of India for granting bail to veteran social activist Dr. Binayak Sen (from tribal areas of Chhattisgarh), represents one of the very few examples that prove the age old saying -'Truth wins'. 

Questions for Problem Finders (in Jan Lokpal bill)

A variety of articles are now pointing out some serious democratic blunders in the proposed Jan Lok Pal bill by Hazare. You can read some of them below:

• At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare
• Why Hazare's protest is very harmful for India in long run

The Two Point War between Anna Hazare and the Govt.

'Anna refuses to bend, Govt refuses to bend', says the latest headline on HT, as the 71 years old, veteran social activist enters into fourth day of his fast-unto death. 

Anna is getting support from all corners of the country. People from all walks of life, whether they are saints, retired judges, social activists, news media channels, bloggers, actors, other intelligentsia, and regular public are shouting their support for the new age mahatma. One of my friends says that, he is Mahatma Gandhi 2.0, because his personality is clean like Mahatma Gandhi, his cause is a noble one, he is getting support from everyone, and he is using the same method of protest that Gandhi used during India's freedom struggle against British Raj...

10 things that you should know about Anna Hazare and Jan Lok Pal Bill

1. Who is Anna Hazare?

A 71 year old, son of a farmer, an ex-army man, fought 1965 Indo-Pak War and a social activist.

2. What's so special about him?

He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahamad Nagar district, Maharashtra & fought for RTI act in India!

3. So what?

Hazare joined by thousands in his fight against corruption...

The veteran social activist, Anna Hazare has upped his fight against corruption by protesting in Delhi in support of Lokpal bill. Lokpal bill is supposed to stop the corruotion by politicians at states and center. After mass scale scams like 2G and CWG, the need of having one such bill is immensely being felt like never before.                                                                        

Bharat Ratna Award for Sachin??

Nothing to get surprised by the title of this post, because Sachin is already a bharat ratna for billions of Indians. But I believe, awarding Sachin the Bharat Ratna award right now doesn't make sense...! 

Against the Principles of Gandhi...

A number of books have been written on Mahatma Gandhi, but the most recent one by Joseph Lelyveld has allegedly given some titillating insights into Mahatma's sexual preferences. People have started demanding a formal (by law) ban on the book, and criminal proceedings on the writer of the book. This post is about to point-out some serious moral dangers behind such an action...

I ask the reader; 'Are we really talking about protecting image of someone who himself had been against any such protection his entire life...?'

India lives the boyhood dream, but...

So finally, the 28 year wait ends for 1.21 billion Indians, India wins its second cricket world cup! I have no doubt that team India (Indian cricket team) played like champions, although they took some time to realize that! But this post in not about how splendid Team India played, but to throw some light on other very important issues that have gone to darkness because of the shadow of this mammoth win! These issues have one thing in common: they affect the common man of this country...

How Cars build Social inequality?

This post is from one of my observations of behaviors of people who own cars (including myself!). Although  the point that I will be making here, has already been made by several journalists and novelists in the past in other forms, but this is more pertinent today, keeping unprecedented burgeoning of cars and social inequalities in societies like India.

Why there is no Looting in Japan?

Japan has seen some of the worst kinds of disasters made by man and nature both. After recent deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant explosions in Japan, the most interesting thing that the world learned about Japan's; is its ability to show resilience and composure after such deadly blows. Nowadays, news columnists around the world are murmuring the same resilience in their respective social circles.

Hight of Patriotism: Indian Passport Dilemma!

Indian Passport Office (PO) with all their corrupt and age old paper work methods, which are designed in such a manner that, nobody who either doesn't have money to fuel a passport agent's propellers or a hands on experience with PO himself, can never be able to see his on face on his own passport without seeing the robust (don't even dream so!) bureaucratic culture of Indian administration. 

Best Plan: Have No Plans!

Why we are always asked to have some plan? Why people regularly face questions like: What do you expect in future? Where do you see yourself in future? The logic is: 'If you have a plan, or at-least a goal in your mind, then your whole life becomes organized and you make right decisions at the right time to achieve that goal. But don't you think that, it's a self fulfilling logic! Because, when you have a goal in mind, then you take all the necessary steps to achieve that goal, and what about other things that you could do if you didn't have that goal in the first place!!!

How do You Celebrate Your Achievements!

I have a very hard stand on this issue of 'how to celebrate an achievement'. I think going overboard in celebrating an achievement is foolish. I have seen many people, including myself committing mistakes when they feel bloated by the sudden jump in excitement level. These mistakes could be in the form of making BIG promises or pardoning BIG mistakes. 

Money $$ -Can buy Everything

Long time, time wasting argument -Can money buy everything. Who cares, as long as you have it! And for those of you who are running charities or couldn't cook your wallet to make some quick bucks, this argument remains alive as a zombie! 

Fake it Until you Make it!

(Reader Discretion is advised: Some of the arguments discussed here may not convince your sub-conscience)

Faking has becoming so common in today's modern society, that, you can't live without it! It's the new mantra of success. If you don't know what you are, what you want, what you know, or what you don't know; just fake it -as if you know/don't know something, and you are through the process. 

To Bribe, or Not to Bribe!

I recently came across a thoughtful discussion in an online forum: Is it possible to do business in India without bribe! This has been a topic of much attraction by many groups discussions in India. 

Some of the arguments in the discussion go like these:

• "If in a Government job...what would you have done...taken a bribe or not?"
• "I've heard of honest govt officials who get sidelined and in some cases even demoted because of their integrity"
• In Sri Lanka, the culture of bribery is not as endemic - you can do business (especially if the government is not a customer) without paying any bribes at all.

Affairs Between Consensus & Decision

In every group, sooner or later, a decision making apparatus must be agreed upon. Whether it be consensus, majority rule, unanimity, or any other method, there must be some modus operandi for the groups to make decision. By consensus, I mean here that every one in the group, regardless of whether or not he individually agrees with it, understands and feels that others understand him. Ordinarily, if the group does not have consensus and a decision goes through, the group pays. For instance : 

How to Fight with Spam 2.0?

Web has changed dramatically during the past decade from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Web 1.0 is a retronym that refers to the state of the World Wide Web, and  website design style used before the advent of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. On the other hand, the term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate interactive communication, interoperability, user-centered content and design, and developing the World Wide Web. 

Crave for Luxury & Get Self interest Free!

|"Build your own legacy by supporting others! Brand You is NOT selfish!!!"  ~Tom Peters
This is a long time debate, that people at higher rungs in the society should also care about those at the bottom of pyramid, and that these people generally don't much care about the holistic social benefit. 

How true is that claim? 

A recent research done by Harvard professor Roy Y.J. Chua and Xi Zou, an assistant professor at London Business School, tries to answer this question. It says that, "luxury goods have an important effect on human behavior". And people who crave for luxury items are more likely to act in their own self interest in their decision making! And I think it goes pretty well when we talk about high-flying executives on Wall Street.

What If You Had to Start Over Again This Year!

Imagine: Your all achievements, relationships, experience and past memories are wiped out. And you are given an opportunity to start it over again. 

Ask yourself following questions:

• What would you do this year?
• How would it be different this year?
• What would you change?

Most people would definitely like to change at least something small, some people might like to change everything. 

I think this scenario gives people a permission to, if just for a moment, disregard the problems that they might face in bringing that change; it might be in the form of a resistance that they might face or the fear of failure.