Little Things That Matter

Learn From The Past, Live The Present and Have An Open Mind to Face Tomorrow

Archives for April 2010

Leadership & Women

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We Often hear that Women shy away from the limelight and many a time it is because of their cultural background.  I read in a Tweet today that the thought of stepping into a leadership role often intimidates women. Is Leadership only about Showing Up, Speaking Up and Stepping  Up??

Here is a Woman, Elham Al Qasimi, who has shown not only mental & physical courage but also set out to achieve what she had set her mind on.   Qasimi, a former investment banker who was born in Dubai but lived in the Unites States until she was 12, is believed to be the first Arab woman to set foot on the North Pole.

As Qasimi says “Women in the Middle East are half the population, They’re half the human capital, and they’re half that hasn’t been invested in properly.”

Qualities that makes Qasimi a leader, notwithstanding her expedition raising money for PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) and the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, are

*Clear Cut Vision of the future.

*Will to prepare and a methodical plan to achieve her vision

*Commitment in-spite of the odds & challenges she faced along the way.

*Empowering herself to do what she had set out to achieve. Translating words to action.

*She strived to achieve something that was greater than herself and for the greater good.

For the full article read CNN.COM

Related Posts

Why are we so fickle?

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I’ve often wondered why we go out of our way to please, impress & flatter people we barely know. I’ve met many people in my life who try to form a relationship & when you do get to know them, they trash you – basic nature being to Hook & Trash !!!

Even on Twitter many fancy false followers & feel thrilled that they have crossed 2k or 14k or what have you. There are very few who actually make an effort to engage in a conversation & make an effort to form a relationship.

While there is nothing wrong with getting to know someone or networking, don’t we need to look for deeper relationships rather than make every relationship a business deal??

Once a relationship is formed, one needs to maintain & treasure it. Relationships needs to be nurtured & caressed with love just like a plant that needs to be watered & looked after on a daily basis.

The following quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox summarizes the fickle world we live in,

“There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west –
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.” ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this …….

Arise then Women of this Day

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I was looking for a quote on life & happened to find one of Julia Ward Howe’s quote which I have tweeted.

Julia Ward Howe, was a 19th century social reformer & the first woman elected to the National Institute of Arts & Letters. I wanted to learn more about this woman & in that quest came across this poem. This is a great message to every woman & a message of peace & humanity.

I drew a similar analogy in a message that is conveyed by Kavita Ramdas, a woman, I hold a lot of awe & inspiration for, in the following video,

http://on.ted.com/8Ha1

Message is very simple, no matter what your background, color or race is and even if there are many times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, we as humans & as a woman must never fail to protest & fight for injustice.

Hope you enjoy this poem!

“Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.”

Water..

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“Water has no taste, no color, no odor; it cannot be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself. It fills us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.”ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

Recently published data reports that some one billion people are chronically undernourished and 100,000 people die of starvation every day, 16,000 of whom are children.  Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse! With a projected 50% increase in our global population within the next 40 years, 80% of whom will be living in or near urban areas, we must take steps now to plan for future generations.  As a result, increasing global awareness of land and water use has become front page news & something which each of us need to address and take steps

I have grown up in India, having lived most of my years in Bombay. I lived 2 years in Madras (Chennai) where there is a perennial water shortage.  When water  is available  24*7  we rarely realize the value of water and take it for granted.

In my two years in Madras, I realized the importance of saving water, and the pain of storing water and rationing its use.  In many parts of India, including Bombay, there are houses and condominiums that get water from a water truck (tankers as they are called in Bombay) on a daily basis since there is no regular supply of water. Clearly there is a huge water shortage & with the growing population things can only get worse.

It is a common site  in India to watch people fighting in the streets and/or queuing for access to fresh water, which is in limited supply.  Conservation of water is of utmost importance and More so for countries like India, which battles with ever-growing population and faces the fear of drought with lack of monsoons.

What the Water Crisis Really Means for You & The Planet

We know we’re using too much water and depleting our ground water sources. But by how much? And exactly where is it going? And which steps improve water use? In these ways, accounting for water consumption is much like trying to account for carbon emissions—we ask the same questions about how we account for it, so that we can know how to measure it, so that we can know how to cut back and if the cut-back measures are effective. While the accounting may seem difficult, we know we have to do it because—as we noted when we discussed sustainability earlier this month—we know we aren’t being sustainable with our water consumption and we know we have to change. For full article please read Planet Green.

For, How can each of us make a difference, please read my Article on Earth Hour.

Inspirational

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I find this song from Wake Up Sid inspirational. It’s a song about following one’s dreams, new avenues, new oaths, to dare to change, & to leave something beyond your life time.

Lyrics

Aaj kal zindagi
Mujhse hai keh rahi
Tu jo meri maane toh chal deewane
Sapnon ki rahoon mein tu
Saari khusboon ko
Saari roshni ko le le in bahoon mein tu
Ab hai tu jahaan
Din raat saare naye hai
Arzoo jawaan
Jazbaat saare naye hai
Naye rastein hai tere vaaste
Toh rahe kyun panahoon mein tu
Ohhoo tere liye
Nayi hai zameen naya aasmaan
Likh de hawaaon mein koi nayi dastaan..
Tere liye
Nayi hai zameen naya aasmaan
Likh de hawaaon mein koi nayi dastaan..
Zindagi ne (zindagi ne)
Dastak di toh (dastak di toh)
Dil ki sab khidkiyaan… khul gayi
Haan khul gayi
Hotoon pe jo (hotoon pe jo)
Jami thi woh (jami thi woh)
Saari khamoshiyaan ghul gayi
Haan ghul gayi
Kitne lamhoon ne
Mujhko ho jaise hairaan kiya
Kitni batoon ne
Dil ko aake hai chuu liya
Chahatein kayi
Hai dil mein ab jagmagaye
Rahatein kayi
Hai mujhse kehne ko aayi
Pehchaan saari muskaane
Saari bhar le nigaahon mein tu
Ohhoo tere liye
Nayi hai zameen naya aasmaan
Likh de hawaaon mein koi nayi dastaan..
Tere liye
Nayi hai zameen naya aasmaan
Likh de hawaaon mein koi nayi dastaan..

Forgive !

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* “We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate — thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising.”– Maya Angelou

We have often heard and probably told ourselves many a time that Forgiving is all about letting go – of the anger, resentment, sorrow and the victim feeling.

This You Tube is an extract from the Hindi movie Paa (Father).

Apologies I could not get hold of a You Tube with English subtitles. However, I would request you to watch this & continue on till a little girl appears on the scene. Towards the end of her conversation, she makes a profound statement which keeps ringing in my ear, ever since I have watched the movie. It moved me to tears & I wept …

Background- This girl comes to visit Auro in the hospital. She says she is sorry to have hurt him by screaming & running away, when she bumped into Auro the first time. She says she is really sorry for her behavior & that she tried several times to say sorry, but Auro kept avoiding her. I am sorry Auro. Auro understand….Jo galti karta hai, woh galti karney wale se jyaada hurt hota hai”

The translation of the above quote is “Somebody who has done a wrong thing hurts more than the person who has been a victim of this mistake.”

Many a time in life between friends, sister, brother, parents & between a husband & wife, one party commits a mistake and she or he makes a lot of effort to say sorry. Give them a chance- we live once, no matter how hard it may be to forgive the mistakes, do so especially if the person is genuinely sorry.

I think this girl said it all !

Forgive, let go, because I have learnt that no matter how agonizing it may be to be hurt, it is worse to carry that over in your mind and suffer.

Earth Hour.. What does it Mean, What Can each of us do?

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“There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.” Mother Theresa

I have had some interesting discussions in office as well on Twitter re: Earth Hour, after the Earth Hour , Power Shutdown voluntarily, on Mar 27. Most of these discussions were with people who thought Earth Hour was a waste of time, it achieved nothing & the whole thing was a farce. Bottom-line message from most of these discussions was that 1 hour of Earth Hour is not going to achieve anything nor save this planet. Some others in India had a grouse that there is a daily power cut for several hours and they have an automatic & forced Earth Hour… so what is the big deal of this 1 hour “show” annually??

To all these discussions my response was a simple message. ” Rome was not built in a day” and ” Every drop in the Ocean counts”.  Here are some simple things which we all can do. This list is by no means exhaustive and most of these are based on what  I try to do on a daily basis. I am still trying to add to this list as each day progresses….

1. Close the tap when you are brushing your teeth. There is no necessity to keep the tap open and let the water run till one finishes brushing their teeth. The same applies to whilst one is having a shower or washing dishes or  food.

2. Put off the light or fan or air-conditioner or TV and music system if you step out of the room, even if you intend to return within couple of minutes.

3. Do not order food more than you need and if you happen to make that mistake or sometimes unable to judge each one’s eating capacity amongst colleagues or friends, doggy bag the left over and make use of it.  This applies to cooking food at home as well.

4. Don’t  leave the engine of your car on, whilst waiting for somebody.

5. Wherever and whenever possible make it a point to walk or take the public transport rather than use one’s car.

It is not possible to feed every mouth, or donate to every charity or cause that seeks to bring food to the hungry, clean water to every village in India or to every affected part in Haiti.  But what we can seek to do is to conserve resources while using the same. Unfortunately nature’s resources is not a bottomless pit.

In my view all that Earth Hour tries to do every year, for the past 3 years or so is to create awareness re: nature’s resources, and how every person’s effort counts. Imagine if each of us conserved resources in our own small ways, and saved 1 hour’s worth of water, energy and food on a daily basis…. millions of people could be saved from the lack of these basic necessities.

Think!! and Please Act. Every effort, no matter how small counts and we can save our Earth and our Planet.

Is Mother Nature revolting… there have been one too many natural calamities this year ??? High time I, you and us started doing something…

Elephants, A lot to learn from

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Elephant is an animal I have so adored as a child and I have been lucky to have touched them , fondled  and fed them. I have also taken a ride on an elephant, whilst I was in Thailand,which I did not enjoy, because I felt bad for the elephant, and decided to get off the elephant after a span of 2 minutes.

I have admired elephants for they are so gentle inspite of their power. They are so wise, loving & caring. Their eyes are full of compassion and love. They protect their herd so well that men can learn many a thing about life from these darling animals. They are so cute inspite of being so large.

This article in THE HINDU which talks about how elephant calves are treated as children touched my heart. One every so often hears about animals being harmed and poached. It is heart warming to hear and read about people who take care of these elephants, as if it were their own children. God Bless them.

Some Facts About Elephants

The elephant is the largest animal that lives on land. Some male elephants can grow to be thirteen feet tall. That’s more than twice as tall as many human adults.Elephants can weigh as much as a school bus—between ten and fourteen thousand pounds! Elephants smell, drink, eat, and wash themselves with their long trunks. They have tusks—long teeth made of ivory—that help them get food and carry heavy objects. The most obvious characteristic of elephants, besides their massive size, is their trunk.  The trunk is nothing more than an elongation of their nose and upper lip.   Besides being used for breathing and smelling it is also used as an appendage, much like an arm or hand.  Elephants are capable of pulling up to 11.5 liters (3 gallons) of water into the trunk to be sprayed into the mouth for drinking or onto the back for bathing. For more information go to Elephants & Elephants1

Some of my Up, Close & Personal Moments with Elephants in Thailand.

Never Underestimate the Memory of an Elephant

A. This Article from BBC News is worth a read re: Why Elephants don’t forget.

B. Watch this clip from BBC Wildlife documentary re: Elephants never forgets.

What a song

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This is one of my favorite songs for various reasons, Some of them being it is sung by Bruce Springstein, absolute fantastic voice & a prodigy, deep meaning in the song…. Lyrics. Mind blowing. And all in the memory of 9/11. Amen!

………..

There’s a blood red circle
on the cold dark ground
and the rain is falling down
The church doors blown open
I can hear the organ’s song
But the congregation’s gone

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet veils of mercy
drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
like scattered leaves
The boarded up windows
The hustlers and thieves
While my brother’s down on his knees

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!

Now there’s tears on the pillow
darling where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Now tell me how do I begin again?

My city’s in ruins
My city’s in ruins

Now with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands

Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Rise up

What’s in a Name

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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.” W. Shakespeare.

Surely Shakespeare did not realize the confusion & hassle a name change would create among human beings! Why does a Woman have to change her surname after marriage when a marriage involves a man & a woman?
In some communities in India, the woman is required to change her first name as well after her marriage. Shocking!!

I find it strange that many women have no issues with a name change & the most common reason I have heard is that they don’t want to confuse the identity of their child/ren.

Is the surname the sole form of identity. Why can we not have birth certificate with the mother’s & father’s name. A child should be known by her or his name & not by the surname.

A School, which is a learning center, still follows this antiquated method of insisting on a surname. We are in the 21st century & why can we not think outside the box & do away with the unnecessary?

Does the surname really show a form of respect. Surely a woman can be addressed as Ms or Madam, in front of her first name, if one wants to address her with respect.

The following article from the Hindu eloquently brings out some issues with changes on surname, & use of middle name. Definitely worth a read.

http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article387414.ece