Remember your worth

A speaker was addressing a room of hundred people and asked, holding aloft a Rs 1000 note,

"Who would like this Rs 1000 note?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this Rs 1000 to one of you but first, let me do this"

He proceeded to crumple up the Rs 1000 note.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well", he replied, "What if I do this?"

And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

"Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rs 1000. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. You are special - "Don't EVER forget it."
-adapted from www

We are not poor

I have always taken exception when foreigners hold the perception that India is a poor country.

How can a Country that was home to one of the three oldest civilization in the World be poor?

India was always in the forefront of philosophical thoughts, mathematics and science. It gave the world the concept of zero, the upanishads, chanakya soothra, and bhagavat gita. Poor? Definitely not.

Intellectually and morally we were far superior than other races. We practiced secularism and religious tolerence centuries before others even thought about it.

We gave the world the wonderful concept of 'Adhithi Devo Bhava' and embraced whoever landed in our soil with love and affection. Despite being stabbed in the back, we still held fast to our value system. Can anyone then call us poor?

India always was culturally vibrant. We had our own diverse music and dance forms ranging from Hindustani to Carnatic to Ghazals to Thumris and Kathakali to Kathak to Bharathanatyam to Odissi to Fold dances. This was the country that gave to the world the great sculptures seen in Ellora or the paintings in Ajantha. The world was stunned at the originality of Thanjavur paintings, the uniqueness of Aranmula Kannadi, the finely woven silk from Benares and the riot of colours. And we poor? What a ridiculous idea!!

We gave to the world the concept of 'Ahimsa' when the whole world was in the grip of 'Himsa'. We dared to think different. Our thoughts were pristine and noble. We boast of the largest democracy in the world and we have never attacked another country in our history. No sirs! We are not poor.

Poverty should not be measured in Per Capita Income but rather in Per Thought Income. And development should not be measured in Gross Domestic Product, but in Gross Domestic Intellectual Product.

Then we are richer than the richest nation in this Planet.

Never be apologetic and defensive when talking about your country. Garv se kaho, 'Mera Bharath Mahan'

Those fine presentations and speeches

Here are some presentation/public speaking tips to make you really effective

Write down the main points
Write down the main points of your speech, but try not to read from it. If you have written it down - if you dry up, you will beable to pick it back up again

Passion is the key
When you speak -try to speak with passion and enthusiasm. If you speak passionately it will make up for many other shortcomings. Your enthusiasm should be contagious.

Use pauses
Pause - the power of pausing in a presentation can be very profound. It will also give you a chance to catch your breath. Audience will eagerly wait for your next point. Their anticipation can be leveraged for maximum impact.

Don't leave it to the last minute
Don't leave it to the very last minute to work on your presentation. When you know you have to give a presentation - make sure that you leave yourself real time to present - and this is more than half a day the night before. You will be standing up in front of a lot of people - you want to to go well. Plan at least 8 hours over the week before.

Prepare the room in advance
Make sure that you have spent time in the presentation room before your presentation. get to know the room and run through your slides beforehand to ensure that everything is working smoothly. Always doubte check and triple check the equipments like computer, projector, audio system etc. It is wise to remember the Murphy's law "If anything can go wrong, it will". I have personal experience of this. I never leave anything to chance.

Always leave handouts.
You have gone to a lot of effort to produce your presentation. Leaving handouts will reinforce your messages, and will help them to remember your presentation when they look at them again. Always include your contact details so that the audience can contact you. It will also ensure that the audience has something tangible with them which is very important as the presentation is essentially intangible in nature.

Be natural
Be natural. Do not try to be what you are not. If humour doesnt come to you naturally, do not even try. Let your personality come out during the speech. You will be more comfortable.

If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see. People think that they can just walk in and start speaking. But in reality those who appear to be speaking extempore are often very well prepared.

It takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Off the cuff should mean well planned. Professional speakers plan meticulously. So should you.

Grab any opportunity that you get to make a presentation or speech
Giving a presentation or making a speech requires special skills. These skills have to be developed like any other soft skills. The best way to do is to make as many presentations and speeches as possible. Skills have to be honed to perfection. Remember! It takes hard work over a period of 3-4 years to become a good speaker.

- Adapted from web

Where to invest now?

Have not commented on the state of the country for a while. Mainly because I am plain disgusted with what is happening. No one cares for the common man. In the hurry to jockey for political positions, the politicians have forgotten about factors that affect the nation - inflation.

Inflation has touched 11.89% and even the master spinners in the Financial ministry has conceded that it is likely to break the 12% mark and might even touch 13%. We have been given assurances that inflation is likely to come down by mid september.

Not many people know that this mid-september magic is keeping in mind a bountiful monsoon. Here lies the catch. The monsoon has failed miserably. Country is in serious trouble with agriculture production and energy production seriously affected. History has shown that whenever monsoon has failed, GDP growth has been affected and inflation has gone up. This year the scenario is grim in view of the global food and energy crisis. We are in for a rough ride.

So with inflation hitting the roof, where should you invest.

Stock market is down to 13000. This is likely to touch 12000 but in one year expected to maintain the 18000 range. This is a nice time to buy shares as most of the blue chips are underpriced. Recommendation is to buy shares of companies who have excellent management.

Gold - Never underestimate Gold. It has outperformed other investments in recent times. Invest in gold but as usual the caveat - don't go in for ornament gold. Investment should be in gold bonds, futures or solid 24 carat gold bars or biscuits.

I won't recommend Bank Fixed Deposits, Mutual Funds or even Real Estate at this stage.

Have a diverse portfolio with 50% in equity shares, 40% in gold and 10% in cash or liquid investments.

Words and Thoughts

The period was early 1980's. One of my brother's close friend was in search of a bride. As is the custom in Kerala, the family identified a suitable girl and he went to see her. After the initial introductions were over, others withdrew to allow the boy and the girl to talk to each other for a few minutes.

Incidently, they got married and the girl became very close to our family. She had a fine sense of humour and much later she used to narrate the experience in a witty manner. The dialogue as it happened is reproduced, with what her actual thoughts/or what she actually wanted to say in italics and in brackets.

Boy: So.................... your name is xxxx
Girl (coyly): ummmmm (Asshole, you don't even know my name, and you want to marry me?)
Boy: I see that you have passed B Sc
Girl: Yes (At least you know that. So you are not as dumb as you look)
Boy: Then why didn't you join for M Sc
Girl: Um.. ah.....no special reason. Just like that (Fathead. Any idiot knows if I have the marks I would have joined M Sc. I didn't because I was not good in studies. Also my parents thought it fit for me not to study further as they want to marry me off to a slob like you)
Boy: What are your hobbies?
Girl: Reading, listening to music......... (Well really dressing up and parading in front of prospective boys like you and answering stupid questions like these)
Boy: Can you cook north indian and south indian (dishes)?
Girl: Of course ( He he. I can definitely cook a north indian and a south indian if they will only allow me)
Boy: So do you like me. Will you marry me?
Girl: Ummm ( Stupid. I am the last of 7 children, 4 girls and 3 boys. Do I have a choice?. Of course I have to marry you and God help me!)

What man, you know

English is a funny language.

The antonym of 'Sufficient' is 'Insufficient'

So by the same logic 'Inflammable' should mean 'not flammable'!!! But.............

An English man got into a taxi cab in Mumbai. The driver reached a T-end in the road where he has to either take left or right. He asked the passenger,

"I presume I should be taking left"

"Right" said the passenger.

Now, what did he mean by that? Is it that the cab driver should turn right or whether what the driver said regarding taking left was right (correct).

Bernard Shaw, once asked to spell FISH, spelt it as 'GHOTI'

Queried he asked the questioner to pronounce the 'GH' in TOUGH, 'O' in WOMEN, and 'TI' in TUITION.

And then there are the Indian Convent educated girls, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, who use the words 'what man' and 'you know' dozen times in every sentence to convey a range of meanings. It has always been a source of amazement to me.

This is a quick post. Shall catch up with you all later

Cloning through over coaching

I have been watching Wimbledon for the last quarter of a century. I have watched players switch over from Wooden racquets to steel to carbon graphite to composite racquets. Players have become bigger and fitter. The hitting harder and longer.

It suddenly dawned on me this Wimbledon, when during a break for rain, there was an aerial shot of the venue and on all the Courts the wear and tear was only in the baseline and never within the service box. This indicated clearly that hardly any serve and volleying is happening.

Over the years, the Wimbledon courts have become slower and the balls harder. This has killed the serve and volleyer. And when I look around, there are hardly any serve and volleyers in the game today. Roger Federer does have a fine volley, but his basic inclination is still to stay back and use his powerful ground strokes. Where have the McEnroes, Roscoe Tanners, Boris Beckers, Stefan Edbergs, Goran Ivanisevics gone? You can't see a single serve and volleyer in the top 50 of the game in the true sense of the game.

It also has something to do with over coaching at the junior level. Todays top players are products of Tennis Academies that are run on hard courts and follow a specific pattern of training. The wards are asked to belt the hell out of the tennis balls from the baseline irrespective of his/her natural talent and inclination. Result is mass production of similar tennis players. The pioneer in this was Nick Bollitteri.

Same is true of Cricket. You will notice that almost all the modern players play the same type of game. Whether batting or bowling.Batsmen are virtual clones of one another. Look at Australian team. Is there any difference between Matt Hayden, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke or Simon Katich? Of the English team. Barring Peterson, every one else is identical. Even India. When did we last see a natural talent bloom in India after Sachin? Maybe Sehwag. In bowling? Is there not a sameness to all our pace bowlers? This again has to do with all the coaching academies children attend at a young age. It is also why it is such a pleasure when someone like Ajantha Mendis slips through the system and makes it big. What a delight to watch him bamboozle the batsmen!

Management also faces the same problem due to the sameness in the syllabus taught in the Business Schools. They dont teach you enterpreneurship at the Business School nor do they encourage it. So much the pity. But we shall discuss that topic through this blog another day.