LOVE happens to everyone at every stage of life. You love your parents, you love your first teacher, you love a beautiful girl in your class 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, & 10. When you come to college you love every girl who looks better, you love the girl opposite to your house. When yoou actually become conscious of your beauty and when you start combing your hair yoou love each adn every beauitiful girl or aunty. Similarly I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a small pond, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love." This was how I saw it: As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds. This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet love...they try to posses it, they demand, they expect... and just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you . For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings. Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand. It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime to truly practice. It is the secret to true love. To truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring." Passing thought... Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take; but by the moments that take our breath away.....
Life is beautiful!!! Live it !!!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Eternal Life Insurance!
This may not be a prayer but it is all about prayer; about prayer and faith. Since I have no better way to express my gratitude, I wish to share these words with you:
Many of us have had their doubts. Many of us have had lives with intermittent periods of doubt and faith and in as far as grey cells are responsible for those doubts, intellect - from my perspective - may be a malady rather than a remedy.
For years I have not prayed for many of the things that people often pray for, for I have mainly prayed for more faith. Since faith cannot be purchased, since it has no price and since it is free, I experienced my prayer as humble and as if I wasn’t asking for much...
And so I have prayed for faith. For years and years I have prayed for more faith.
These past few months some incredible events have taken place in my life and all of those events have added immensely to my faith. After years of praying for faith, God has answered my prayers in His very own way, for rather than just sending me that faith, He poured out an overwhelming waterfall of events that gave me that faith whilst in the process fulfilling some of my dearest and most secret wishes that I most certainly would never have dared to pray for.
Whilst many of His gifts are still unfolding to the meanwhile increased perceptiveness that my strengthened faith has given me, I was driving along a highway yesterday whilst thinking about all that.
Suddenly it occurred to me that in giving me all that faith that I had prayed for (and possibly more) God had in fact given me a free eternal life insurance. Can you imagine! Not a life insurance but an Eternal Life Insurance...
And I don’t even have to pay a cent for the policy!
Here I was...all those years...believing that I was praying my most humble prayer and thinking that I was asking for something that was free and that thus I wasn’t asking for much whilst, in fact, I was praying for something that has no price because it is absolutely priceless...
I know that it sounds awfully inadequate but what else can I say but WOW!!
Many of us have had their doubts. Many of us have had lives with intermittent periods of doubt and faith and in as far as grey cells are responsible for those doubts, intellect - from my perspective - may be a malady rather than a remedy.
For years I have not prayed for many of the things that people often pray for, for I have mainly prayed for more faith. Since faith cannot be purchased, since it has no price and since it is free, I experienced my prayer as humble and as if I wasn’t asking for much...
And so I have prayed for faith. For years and years I have prayed for more faith.
These past few months some incredible events have taken place in my life and all of those events have added immensely to my faith. After years of praying for faith, God has answered my prayers in His very own way, for rather than just sending me that faith, He poured out an overwhelming waterfall of events that gave me that faith whilst in the process fulfilling some of my dearest and most secret wishes that I most certainly would never have dared to pray for.
Whilst many of His gifts are still unfolding to the meanwhile increased perceptiveness that my strengthened faith has given me, I was driving along a highway yesterday whilst thinking about all that.
Suddenly it occurred to me that in giving me all that faith that I had prayed for (and possibly more) God had in fact given me a free eternal life insurance. Can you imagine! Not a life insurance but an Eternal Life Insurance...
And I don’t even have to pay a cent for the policy!
Here I was...all those years...believing that I was praying my most humble prayer and thinking that I was asking for something that was free and that thus I wasn’t asking for much whilst, in fact, I was praying for something that has no price because it is absolutely priceless...
I know that it sounds awfully inadequate but what else can I say but WOW!!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Passing away of a Hero: Goodbye Balagopal
Many might feel boring or nor interested to know about this gentleman - but the fact is we all are human brings and it is our right to know about a hero who has helped mankind.
Going into silence is the only way for me to describe how I felt when I heard about Balagopal’s death. Ordinary people leading ordinary lives die of heart attacks. And despite the simplicity with which he led his life and interacted with people, every time one met Balagopal or heard him you always knew you were in the presence of someone extraordinary. Whenever he left after any meeting, Balagopal left you a little scared about whether you would ever see him again. As a result of the position that he took- against the violence of the state as well as the violence of the Maoists, you were always left with the lurching fear that any point of time, you would be given the news that Balagopal had been killed in an encounter.
At the same time it is perhaps not surprising that despite living a life which was scripted towards a violent death, it was only appropriate that his death transcended any partisan act of violence. Film maker Deepa Dhanraj captures the essence of Balagopal when she describes him as a ‘moral force’ whose authority emerged from the integrity with which he led his life and the courage with which he stood by his belief. If Balagopal was a regular anti violent activist or a pacifist, then there would have been nothing surprising about his stance on violence, and to argue for the importance of non violence would hardly be an act of courage. But for someone who had spent a better part of his life in struggles, and in battles against the impunity of the state, the commitment to an ethical position on violence becomes a deeply ethical choice of bravery.
Kandalla Balagopal (10.6.1952 - 8.10.2009) was an uncompromising human rights activist and lawyer who was known for his work on the issue of civil liberties and human rights.He was a staunch civil liberties activist in Andhra Pradesh. He had broken away from the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), with which he was associated since its inception in ‘80’s, on the issue of violence perpetrated by the erstwhile CPI-ML Peoples War. He was a prolific writer on people’s issues and had recently written about the developments on the Maoist front in west Bengal.
About Balagopal Garu
K. Balagopal was the fifth child of Kandalla Parthanatha Sarma and Nagamani. His father’s job in the insurance sector entailed frequent transfers and Balagopal’s education was in several towns of AP, from Nellore to Vizianagaram. After Pre-University education in Kavali and BSc in Tirupati, he took an MSc and PhD in Mathematics from the Regional Engineering College in Warangal before proceeding to Delhi for a post-doctoral at the Indian Statistical Institute. He returned to Warangal in 1981, where he started teaching Maths at the Kakatiya University. This was also the time when he decided on social activism and joined the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee.(www.humanrightsforum.org)
K. Balagopal was a brilliant mathematician, he began his career as a teacher in Warangal but soon turned full-time human rights activist. He was a Mathematics professor at Kakatiya University before quitting in 1985.He did his Phd in Kakatiya University. He chose to become a lawyer much later, after getting fully associated with the human rights movement.
K.Balagopal served as the general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) between 1983 and 1997. Following sharp differences of opinion within the APCLC on how to respond to revolutionary violence he left APCLC and formed the Human Rights Forum.
Over a period of 26 years, he documented and took up cases of thousands of extra-judicial killings by government forces in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. When the erstwhile people’s war cadres resorted to a rash of kidnaps in late ‘80’s, a vigilante organisation ‘Praja Bandhu’ abducted him demanding the release of two policemen from naxalite custody. The ‘Praja Bandhu’ which was suspected to have been floated by the state police had released him only after the abducted policemen were let off.
First introduced to Marxism through reading DD Kosambi, K. Balagopal followed a dialectical Marxist method in scores of articles published in the Economic and Political Weekly until the early 90s. Deeply disturbed by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Balagopal began to explore humanist traditions in Marxism for answers. His articles in the 90s especially in Telugu reflect this shift.
Balagopal founded the Human Rights Forum ([HRF[1]) in Andhra Pradesh.
His public criticism of the acts of violence by Maoists attracted severe criticism from the naxalites. Following his comments on the violence in Lalgarh in West Bengal, Maoist Central Committee member, Mallojula Koteshwar Rao had challenged Balagopal to visit Lalgarh resistance area to know the real picture.
He served as a member of the Expert Group on Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas, set up by Planning Commission of India in 2008.He genuinely believed that human rights are indivisible. He was known for his simple living and his extremely sharp analytical articles that appeared regularly in Economic and Political Weekly.His incisive articles in EPW included issues ranging from the regime of Indira Gandhi, Reservations issue, human rights violations from time to time in different places, the Gujarat riots, Special Economic Zones, land acquisition, sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh, the failure of talks between the YSR Government and the CPI-Maoists and so on. He was a prolific writer in Telugu.
His Telugu essay 'Cheekati Konaalu' was a path-breaking one, in which he directly questioned the violation of human rights by those who claimed that they were working for a radical revolution. After the formation of Human Rights Forum,he expanded his activities and visited areas undergoing intense social turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, West Bengal and Orissa. In Orissa his fact-finding teams visited Rayagada district and documented the perspective of people displaced by Utkal Allumina Project, Jagatsinghpur district in respect of people affected by proposed Posco steel plant and Kandhamal district, which was affected by communal and ethnic clashes in 2007/2008. Not only was he an intellectual giant,but he had his heart for the deprived and down-trodden. He analysed critically and exposed the hypocrisy in the functioning of most of the mainstream political parties.
Also please visit http://balagopal.org/
Let us all pay tribute to this Maha Maha Manishi.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Me in NDTV - Chennai Speaks Out!
Chennai Speaks out - This is Chennai’s first English Talk show that encourages Chennaites to speak out about issues that concern them. The main panelists are well-known from around the city and the issues lined up range from domestic violence to an inadequate school system. So I had a chance to join the show yesterday, hosted by Jennifer Arul - Managing Editor / COO – NDTV Hindu, to get a ringside view of what Chennai is thinking on Autos. I had an opportunity to talk on the show what I felt about Chennai autos and my share my experiences. Addl. Commissioner Of Police & INODA Association Secy., Enchanting Tamilnadu – Tourist Friendly Auto President & Few Auto Drivers were present to address issues. They mainly spoke about auto fares –language barrier – manners – attitude etc. So watch me on NDTV at the following schedule. NDTV - HINDU
Nov 15 - Sunday - 12 noon - 9pm
Nov 16 - Monday - 5pm
Nov 17 - Tuesday - 8am
Nov 18 - Wednesday- 9pm
Please do not miss this show to watch on NDTV, atleast for my sake!! Good Day All!!!
Best Regards,
Prayaga Purushotham
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is Eye opening!!!
Hi All Once again.. I took this book from my friend Alok Upadhyay. I used to travel a lot to my home town to see my wife and daughter when she was away from home for maternity reasons. At last i finished reading this book yesterday and couldnt stop myself from writing this review. I started reading 2 states by Chetan Bhagat and I will come back with a a write up soon..
I haven’t read the Tipping Point (also by Malcolm) so wasn’t familiar with the authors previous work. Blink isn’t your typical book about spirituality or growth that you see recommended in this niche, but is actually about ‘The Power of Thinking without Thinking’.
And if I had to describe it very briefly I would say: “Eye opening”.
I always prefer the authors description of a book as they have mastered it to get to the point:
It’s a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. Well, “Blink” is a book about those two seconds, because I think those instant conclusions that we reach are really powerful and really important and, occasionally, really good.
The book is about those two second and a whole alot more. Malcolm draws on examples from science, advertising, sales, medicine, and popular music to reinforce his ideas. The best example is about an ex-Marine’s victory in a war-game simulation. He may have been out numbered and didn’t have the resources that the opposing team had. However, the ex-marine used his better judgement and ability to thin slice a situation until he came out on top.
The other example that really connected for me was about advertising. The example given was about the snap judgments that people make about food, advertising and if they are going to buy a product. The book went into a bit of detail about how research can aid firms looking to get into the food business and win…. especial if you are in the jam business. In the end the book is really about people and each one of us. The book taught me a bit about myself and how I go about making those choices that effect the world around me. I don’t think I’ll change how I think slice people but I will be even more conscious of it.
The chapters of the book are:
1. The Statue that Didn’t Look Right
2. The Theory of Thin Slices
3. The Locked Door: The Secret Life of Snap Decisions
4. The Warren Harding Error
5. Paul Van Riper’s Big Victory
6. The Right and Wrong Way to Ask People What they Want
7. Seven Seconds in the Bronx
8. Living with Your Eyes
This book is literally jam-packed with interesting stories, studies and observations. Towards the back of the book I particularly found the fact that Pepsi still beats Coke in taste tests to this day very interesting. However, if you are drinking either on a regular basis Coke will be your preferred drink as it isn’t as sweet.
Pick your copy today and start reading it. I will be going to Odyssey or Land Mark to pick a copy of Tipping Point by the same author - I am quite Impressed!!
I haven’t read the Tipping Point (also by Malcolm) so wasn’t familiar with the authors previous work. Blink isn’t your typical book about spirituality or growth that you see recommended in this niche, but is actually about ‘The Power of Thinking without Thinking’.
And if I had to describe it very briefly I would say: “Eye opening”.
I always prefer the authors description of a book as they have mastered it to get to the point:
It’s a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. Well, “Blink” is a book about those two seconds, because I think those instant conclusions that we reach are really powerful and really important and, occasionally, really good.
The book is about those two second and a whole alot more. Malcolm draws on examples from science, advertising, sales, medicine, and popular music to reinforce his ideas. The best example is about an ex-Marine’s victory in a war-game simulation. He may have been out numbered and didn’t have the resources that the opposing team had. However, the ex-marine used his better judgement and ability to thin slice a situation until he came out on top.
The other example that really connected for me was about advertising. The example given was about the snap judgments that people make about food, advertising and if they are going to buy a product. The book went into a bit of detail about how research can aid firms looking to get into the food business and win…. especial if you are in the jam business. In the end the book is really about people and each one of us. The book taught me a bit about myself and how I go about making those choices that effect the world around me. I don’t think I’ll change how I think slice people but I will be even more conscious of it.
The chapters of the book are:
1. The Statue that Didn’t Look Right
2. The Theory of Thin Slices
3. The Locked Door: The Secret Life of Snap Decisions
4. The Warren Harding Error
5. Paul Van Riper’s Big Victory
6. The Right and Wrong Way to Ask People What they Want
7. Seven Seconds in the Bronx
8. Living with Your Eyes
This book is literally jam-packed with interesting stories, studies and observations. Towards the back of the book I particularly found the fact that Pepsi still beats Coke in taste tests to this day very interesting. However, if you are drinking either on a regular basis Coke will be your preferred drink as it isn’t as sweet.
Pick your copy today and start reading it. I will be going to Odyssey or Land Mark to pick a copy of Tipping Point by the same author - I am quite Impressed!!
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