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it's tough to be positive, when it's far easier to be negative.. but then that's what tests your true mettle .. 










© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

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O moon, surrounded by clouds at night, like you I keep searching my moonlight...
















© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

Creating an Unequal System

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In contrast with Team Annas Janlokpal Bill,the government version doesnt cover corrupt first-contact officials 

by KIRAN BEDI 


The government-drafted Lokpal Bill provides for an unequal and fractured response system to combat corruption : one of corporate corruption and the other common mans bribes.Several reports,studies and opinion polls have explicitly underlined the need to combat corruption,from top to  bottom.Corruption affects every citizen,but maximum are at the bottom of the pyramid.Here are three quick references.First,a recent opinion poll.This reveals that 59% of Delhiites paid bribes to several departments in different proportions with building department topping the list,followed by sales tax and income tax,police and education.Corruption manifested mostly in the form of bribes at 37% and harassment at 42%.Another recent survey conducted on expatriate business executives by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy found that Indian bureaucracy is the worst in Asia.In India,as per the report,politicians frequently promise to reform and revitalise the Indian bureaucracy,but they have been ineffective mainly because civil service is a power centre in its own right.Dealing with them can be the most frustrating experience for any Indian,let alone a foreign investor. The latest edition of India Corruption Study: 2010 produced by Centre for Media Studies after surveying 10,000 rural households in 11 states gathered corruption data in four key sectors impacting the poor: public distribution,school education,water supply and hospital services.It was found that the quality of services is appallingly low and corruption is unacceptably high.Its overall finding is that 95% of the households who are asked to pay bribe end up paying it.This brings out that grievance redressal system continues to be poor with lack of accountability of public service providers,despite claims made by official spokespersons.This is what Team Annas inclusive draft Bill addresses and provides for comprehensively from top to bottom of the ranks.Regrettably,the government of the people draft completely ignores it.Which is why civil society is raising its voice to remedy it.Hopefully,this anomaly may see a substantial course correction through Parliament and its Standing Committee.To be specific,the key difference in the systems approach provided in the governments Lokpal Bill and Janlokpal Bill collectively drafted by Team Anna is in the violation of the commitment made in the proposed Citizens Charter to be written for each department as provided for in both draft Bills.The Janlokpal Bill lays down an accessible and empowered mechanism for an aggrieved citizen to approach the districtlevel Lokpal officer for relief.The Lokpal officer could levy a penalty on the head of the department and compensate the citizen.This is the protection and empowerment an ordinary citizen needs.If the Lokpal officer turns out to be corrupt,the aggrieved person can go to the Independent Complaint Authority at the district level.This mechanism is missing from the official Lokpal Bill.It is primarily because the governments draft Bill only covers Group A services and none below the rank of joint secretary which is limited to corporate corruption only! But all first-contact essential services where central government officials are involved,namely,railways,banks,post and telegraph,communications,civil supplies,etc,have no remedy from the governments Lokpal Bill.As for the state services,the central government is leaving state matters to the state governments.Ironically,while there is nothing for common mans grievances in the government draft Bill,his activism has been covered.All non-profit organisations,registered or not,funded or not,but receiving donation,howsoever small,shall come within the purview of the Lokpal.They too are expected to prepare a Citizens Charter and specify their commitments,have a Public Grievances Redressal Officer and be liable for violations.Hence,the government in its draft Lokpal Bill is proposing to cover only 65,000 class-I officers but excluding the four million central government employees below this.At the same time,it is bringing under the Lokpal Bill millions of small groups that undertake voluntary service or small events like the Ram Lila,Durga Puja,carnivals,fund raising for a festival or an event.Formed groups like the Rotary,Lions,Jaycees and YMAs,resident welfare and market associations,management groups,small and big unions and mandals,and sports groups everyone has been covered.How and for whose welfare has this provision been brought in is a mystery.Perhaps to frighten the weak-hearted.It will certainly limit activism,besides creating scope for harassment.As an illustration: if a patwari commits an act of corruption,the Lokpal will have no jurisdiction,but even if a small cricket group in the same village commits a financial impropriety,it can be hauled up by the Lokpal.Instead of the common man being empowered and facilitated an assured access to an effective anti-corruption system,he has got nothing.Instead,if he is a social activist and wants to do something different,and collects even a small donation,he can be answerable to queries from the Lokpal.The Janlokpal Bill had proposed bringing under the Lokpal only those NGOs that receive substantial government funds.The government is continuing to promise the aam aadmi several schemes with huge public outlays but without an effective anti-corruption delivery mechanism.Without accountable and transparent systems in place,these public funds will continue to get siphoned off and lost.The Janlokpal Bill had even provided for a social audit,besides various other safeguards,which the official Bill excluded.Under a differential,weak anti-corruption system,bribe-giving and bribe-taking for the masses will continue to be a way of life.The message: accept status quo and suffer.It is your Hindu destiny.

(The author is a former DGP and a Magsaysay awardee) 





source: economictimes

dhoondta hoon uske chehre pe kuchh magar, 
sab bhav ukhade milte hain.... 
jo dena chahun kisi aur ko ye dil, aey sitamgar, 
Dil ki jagah sirf tukde milte hain...


© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

Totaram

तोताराम तोताराम , 

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम ! 

गोदामों में सड़ रहे अनाज , 

भ्रष्टों से भर रहा समाज.

महंगाई जाये निगलती राशन, 

जेबों पे कुंडली मारे प्रशासन,

त्राहि त्राहि मचा कोहराम, तोताराम ,

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम !

रोज़ हो रहे दुराचार,

से भरा पड़ा समाचार,

तुम्हें नज़र आए ये खेल, 

और खेलों का हाल है बेमेल,

न चैन बचा ना मिले इनाम, तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम !

खतरे में देश की संप्रभुता, 

खंडित हो रही अखंडता ,

मीनार-ए-पाक औ चीनी दीवार, 

के बीच पनपती नक्सलिता .

ऐसे खतरों के रहते भी कैसे बैठे हो निष्काम,तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में, तुम खाते हो आम!

फूट डालो और राज करो, 

अब इस नीति से तुम बाज आओ,

गरीबी न पूछे जाती पाती वेद-क़ुरान,  

अब तो तुम ये जान जाओ.

खुद तो मस्त त्योहारों इफ्तारों में उड़ाते हो मीट व जाम, तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम !

श्श्श्श... सुना है तुम्हारा भी विदेशों में है बैंक अकाउंट ,

अपनों को बेचीं है तुमने भी ज़मीनें ओउन डिस्काउंट ,

लेकर नाम, जनता का करेंगे बेड़ा पार, 

हर गली नुक्कड़ पर, तुमने खोले दिए हैं बार,

अब और कितना लूटोगे आवाम, तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम !

कहने को जनतांत्रिक देश, 

पूछे कौन जनता का क्लेष,

हर शाख पर उल्लू बैठा, 

धारे है तुम्हारा भेष .

कब तक खाओगे तुम हराम, तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में , तुम खाते हो आम !

खेतों में उग रहे कांक्रिट के जंगल,

सोम या बुद्ध, रहता तुम्हारा मंगल ,

होड़ मची हुक्मरानों में, भ्रष्टाचार का दंगल,

पर जान लो एक दिन टूट पड़ेगा, सब्र का भाकड़ा-नंगल,

फिर तुम दर दर कहते फिरोगे, यह नहीं सभ्यों का काम, तोताराम,

पड़ा देश संकट में, तुम खाते हो आम !

disclaimer : the poem has nothing to do with parrots. Any parrot getting hurt by reading this poem, may ask me for my personal apology to it.

© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

Any life lost is a thing to mourn, all the more when it's lost in terror attack brutally

Why should we do MBA?

by Ravi Bansal, MBA

While busy making preparations for applying for the various MBA Entrance Exams, have you ever stopped and asked yourself this:Why do I want to do MBA? Are more MBAs needed? Ponder over this. And do you know how much monthly salary does an MBA graduate in India get on an average? It’s just about Rs. 10,000! Surprising, isn’t it? Thousands of MBA are without a job and many more are still on a struggle to get base level salaries. Exceptionally, some MBA graduates do get multi crore annual compensations but that doesn’t even make 1% of the 90,000 MBA graduates every year. So, if this is the criteria, please think again. Let me help you in that. Here are four better reasons for you to do an MBA; these could be even helpful for your interviews too.

More than 30 years ago, when our parents began their working careers, the key to success was in Production – Eli Goldratt's Goal was a Bible and every manager with an engineering background was focused on improving quantity as well as quality of factory made products. Today, these processes have been so streamlined and automated that you hardly need an education to man these processes. All you need is on the job training and good experience.

Then began a focus on Finance and Taxation - CAs and Company Secretaries were much in demand...And they worked hard to showcase the company's financial strengths and performance every quarter as well as annually. Today, we have well built software packages to fill in and the taxation laws are getting simpler by the day.

Then came an era of fighting government regulations and getting the necessary sanctions – of course this was a pre liberalization era that I am referring to. It was an art and science on its own! But today, thanks to Manmohan Singh and Narsimha Rao, you and I have never studied that art and things are mostly smooth sailing without government interventions, in fact thanks to their support.

The 80s ushered in an era of MIS – Management Information Systems. And all of senior management were putting their heads together to figure out how to present information and use it to the best of their abilities. Today, MIS technology is enabling management to get maximum results with least time inputs. The 80s also saw an era of foreign collaborations. Every manager would spend his time finding out possible partnerships and then using his creativity to plan it. But today, with the FII inflow raising the stock market back to 20K, foreign collaborators are knocking on Indian doors rather than the other way around. So then managers started spending their time on Planning – a very important function, but one that is now supported by robust SAP like technologies that allow this complex job to be completed with ease.

So you must be wondering by now, that with all this automation, what people really do in 12 hour days! Well, the manager today really has to focus on 2 major functions – Marketing and HR. These have not been automated yet! When I talk of Marketing, it needs to go beyond Sales. It's about creating a value proposition for the clients. And HR is no longer about giving Diwali bonuses or tracking attendance. India as a young country sees people as its biggest resource. Managing people, high performance virtual teams, cross cultural expectations and growth is one of the most important tasks of any good manager. So these are some of the functions that you need to learn the basic conceptual frameworks for as you move ahead. That is reason 1.

Coming to the second reason - When the board of directors is looking for a CEO for their company, do you think they look for just financial abilities, or just a good sales person, or just a good people's manager? No. What they really need is someone who has a 360 degree view of all the functions – and that is what your MBA should provide you with. A full buffet is served and it remains with you for life. You can always refer back to it depending on the situation's requirement.  In fact, have you wondered why people spend 12-14 hours in office when work should ideally not be more than 8-10 hours? Well, research shows that 30% of time is wasted in arguing! Arguing about decisions, analysis, requirements and so much more.. Why? Because people do not know enough about each other's functions! And that's why it's important for those who want to rise to have an all round understanding. 

The third reason to pursue this education is Whole Systems thinking: Understanding the impact of one variable on others. And a non MBA can miss this aspect throughout his 40 year career span. Of course it is true that Ambani didn't have an MBA and neither did various other successful businessmen world over. But, those are the exceptions, not the rule. The rest of them with potential are probably still selling petrol somewhere!

And finally, the world is all about Networking – or peer learning. The one gift your post graduation gives you is an alumni base: networks that you can be in touch with electronically, meet at common gatherings and reach out to as you all grow professionally.

300 of the Fortune 500 companies are already in India, and by the time some of you complete your post graduation, another 200 could be here as well. It's time to gear up to prepare and be ready to receive them. An MBA gives you perspective of Core functions like Marketing and HR; an overall functional view that is necessary to rise; the gift of systems thinking and peer learning and a fabulous network. Do you need any other reason?

source: blogs.siliconindia.com

chand me bhi daag hai, 
iss baat se chandni khafa ho gayi, 
usse manane me beeti sari raat, 
jab talak mani toh subah ho gayi. 


© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

Pani- ek ashaar

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मेरे ज़िस्म से मिलता है तू कोई हबाब जैसे ,

मेरे लबो पे है शोखी तेरी अफ़ताब जैसे ,
पानी तू है कितना शीतल, तृप्त कर दे जल-ओ-थल.


जादू छ रहा है तेरा मुझपे गुलाब जैसे,
है पंखुड़ियों से झड़ रही शबाब जैसे,
पानी तुझ बिन क्या जीवन, क्या फूल-पौधे-ओ-वन.


उड़ती तितलियाँ हो और, कोई सुनहरे ख्वाब जैसे,
चिचिलाती धुप में, मिल जाए रबाब जैसे,
पानी तू तो है अनमोल, आत्मा हो गई गोलम गोल.


मेरे हर पूछे सवाल का हो कोई ज़वाब जैसे,
बिखरी हुई रियासत के इकलौते नवाब जैसे,
पानी बिन न कल/कारखाना, यो है सम्रिध्ही का तहखाना.

ताज़े गोश्त के पकते हुए, शाही कबाब जैसे,

पैमाने में छलकते हुए, ठंडी शराब जैसे,
न हो मय/खाने की धूम, ज्यों हो जाए पानी गुम.


सुलगती शमा पे हो पड़ा, पर्दा-ए-हिजाब जैसे,
परवाने को मिल जाए महजबीं, दहकती आग जैसे,
पानी तूझ बिन सब है सून, नदी नाले-ओ-लागून.

इस अशार का जो समझे लब्जो लुबाब जैसे,

इक क़तात में ही मिल जाए कोई अज़ाब जैसे,
"एक एक क़तरा सोच समझ के बहाओ,
आओ पानी को मिल जुल के बचाओ " :)

SAVE WATER. SAVE LIFE.

index:
हबाब = bubbles, शोखी = lively, आफ़ताब = sun, शबाब = youth, रबाब = pale cloud/cool wind/ flute like musical instrument, हिजाब = veil, महजबीं = beauty, अशार = poem, लब्जो लुबाब = talking point, क़तात = segment, अज़ाब = wonder.


© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

Greater Noida: greater problems faced by farmers in India!

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It's a sad truth of an agricultural nation. Livid farmers fighting for their rights, made helpless, suppressed and targeted merely as political pawns, with ruling govt. paying no heed.  What is a farmer without his land? Govt. argues in the courts that it's acquiring land in public interest, but it's more than evident, that they're doing this in corporate interest. Yamuna Expressway, an another ambitious project of UP CM, is supposed to take a person from Delhi to Agra in merely in 2hrs. But what's so hurry to reach Agra.? Is the destination Agra so developed? Does Agra itself has good roads, amenities and infra.? Answer is plain no.  Then why govt needs to go out of the way to build Yamuna Expressway, unless it wants to add several zeroes preceded by 1, in their cash accounts! Additionally, the plots are also being acquired by govt. for the builders who shall develop skyscrapers, malls, hotels etc along the express way. And who benefits? Of-course not the common people like farmers, who are main voters deciding who rules the roost and is at the helm of the State. The farmers at the first place, don't want to part from their lands, but when so much pressurized by govt. which is snatching the land anyways, all these former want is at-least 80% cost of their land and some also want only 50 % of their land to be taken away. Fine. Govt. should negotiate. But the govt. is haughty customer. They say, whatever money you're getting has been pre-finalized. Go away and settle elesewhere. Trees, crops on the land are being bulldozed, and when protested, govt. say uproot you crops and take them with you, we don't need it.! What a shame! The beneficiaries are the builders, who're given farming plots at prices well-below the market price, in name of development. The Land Acquisition Bill is stuck in the parliament for years, but meanwhile, Nuclear Deal bill was passed in jiffy, as if Rajdhani train needs to be given pass, who cares about poor local trains!


© 2011 SOMYA HARSH,. all rights reserved

She has given birth,cared & nurtured us to stand tall on our feet. 
So not just this be a day, but let every day in our lives, 
we celebrate it as Mothers' Day

My School - a lecture given in America by Rabindranath Tagore

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On his 150th birthday, I just stumbled upon this little piece of gem depicting glimpses of Noble laureate Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's philosphy of education, which I would like to share with all of ya.

By Rabindranath Tagore 

Lecture delivered in America; published in Personality, 
London: MacMillan, 1917

I started a school in Bengal when I was nearing forty.
Certainly this was never expected of me, who had spent
the greater portion of my life in writing, chiefly verses. Therefore 

people naturally thought that as a school it might not be one of the best of its kind, but it was sure to be something outrageously new, being the product of daring inexperience.
 This is one of the reasons why I am often asked
what is the idea upon which my school is based. The question is a very embarrassing one for me,
because to satisfy the expectation of my questioners, I cannot afford to be commonplace in my answer. However, I shall resist the temptation to be original and shall be content with being merely truthful. 

In the first place, I must confess it is difficult for me to say what is the idea which 

underlies my institution. For the idea is not like a fixed foundation upon which a building 

is erected. It is more like a seed which cannot be separated and pointed out directly it 

begins to grow into a plant. And I know what it was to which this school owes its origin. 

It was not any new theory of education, but the memory of my school-days. 

That those days were unhappy ones for me I cannot altogether ascribe to my peculiar 

temperament or to any special demerit of the schools to which I was sent. It may be that 

if I had been a little less sensitive, I could gradually have accommodated myself to the 

pressure and survived long enough to earn my university degrees. But all the same, 

schools are schools, though some are better and some worse, according to their own 

standard. 

The provision has been made for infants to be fed upon their mother’s milk. They find 

their food and their mother at the same time. It is complete nourishment for them, body 

and soul. It is their first introduction to the great truth that man’s true relationship with 

the world is that of personal love and not that of the mechanical law of causation.

Therefore our childhood should be given its full measure of life’s draught, for which it

has an endless thirst. The young mind should be saturated with the idea that it has been 

born in a human world which is in harmony with the world around it. And this is what 

our regular type of school ignores with an air of superior wisdom, severe and disdainful. 

It forcibly snatches away children from a world full of the mystery of God’s own 

handiwork, full of the suggestiveness of personality. It is a mere method of discipline 

which refuses to take into account the individual. It is a manufactory specially designed 

for grinding out uniform results. It follows an imaginary straight line of the average in 

digging its channel of education. But life’s line is not the straight line, for it is fond of 

playing the see-saw with the line of the average, bringing upon its head the rebuke of the 

school. For according to the school, life is perfect when it allows itself to be treated as 

dead, to be cut into symmetrical conveniences. And this was the cause of my suffering 

when I was sent to school. For all of a sudden I found my world vanishing from around 

me, giving place to wooden benches and straight walls staring at me with the blank stare 

of the blind. 

The legend is that eating of the fruit of knowledge is not consonant with dwelling in 

paradise. Therefore men’s children have to be banished from their paradise into a realm 

of death, dominated by the decency of a tailoring department. So my mind had to accept 

the tight-fitting encasement of the school which, being like the shoes of a mandarin 

woman, pinched and bruised my nature on all sides and at every movement. I was 

fortunate enough in extricating myself before insensibility set in. 

Though I did not have to serve the full penal term which men of my position have to 

undergo to find their entrance into cultured society. I am glad that I did not altogether 

escape from its molestation. For it has given me knowledge of the wrong from which the 

children of men suffer. 

The cause of it is this, that man’s intention is going against God’s intention as to how 

children should grow into knowledge. How we should conduct our business is our own 

affair, and therefore in our offices we are free to create in the measure of our special 

purposes. But such office arrangement does not suit God’s creation. And children are 

God’s own creation. We have come to this world to accept it, not merely to know it.
We may become powerful by knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy.
The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life
in harmony with all existence. But we find that this education of sympathy is not only
systematically ignored in schools, but it is severely repressed. From our very childhood,
habits are formed and knowledge is imparted in such a manner that our life is weaned away
from nature, and our mind and the world are set in opposition from the beginning of our days.
Thus the greatest of educations for which we came prepared is neglected,
and we are made to lose our world to find a bagful of information instead.

We rob the child of his earth to teach him geography, of language to teach him grammar.
His hunger is for the Epic, but he is supplied with chronicles of facts and dates.
He was born in the human world, but is banished into the world of living gramophones, to expiate for the original sin of being born in ignorance. Child-nature protests against such calamity with all its power of 

suffering, subdued at last into silence by punishment.  

We all know children are lovers of the dust; their whole body and mind thirst for sunlight 

and air as flowers do. They are never in a mood to refuse the constant invitations to 

establish direct communication which come to their senses from the universe. 

But unfortunately for children their parents, in the pursuit of their profession, in 

conformity to their social traditions, live in their own peculiar world of habits. Much of 

this cannot be helped. For men have to specialize, driven by circumstances and by need 

of social uniformity. 

But our childhood is the period when we have or ought to have more freedom-—freedom 

from the necessity of specialization into the narrow bounds of social and professional

conventionalism. 

I well remember the surprise and annoyance of an experienced headmaster, reputed to be 

a successful disciplinarian, when he saw one of the boys of my school climbing a tree and 

choosing a fork of the branches for settling down to his studies. I had to say to him in 

explanation that ‘childhood is the only period of life when a civilized man can exercise

his choice between the branches of a tree and his drawing-room chair, and should

I deprive this boy of that privilege because I, as a grown-up man, am barred from it?’

What is surprising is to notice the same headmaster’s approbation of the boys’ studying

Botany. He believes in an impersonal knowledge of the tree because that is science, but not in a

personal experience of it. This growth of experience leads to forming instinct, which is 

the result of nature’s own method of instruction. The boys of my school have acquired 

instinctive knowledge of the physiognomy of the tree. By the least touch they know 

where they can find a foothold upon an apparently inhospitable trunk; they know how far 

they can take liberty with the branches, how to distribute their bodies’ weight so as to 

make themselves least burdensome to branchlets. My boys are able to make the best

possible use of the tree in the matter of gathering fruits, taking rest and hiding from 

undesirable pursuers. I myself was brought up in a cultured home in a town, and as far as

my personal behaviour goes, I have been obliged to act all through my life as if I were 

born in a world where there are no trees. Therefore I consider it as a part of education for 

my boys to let them fully realize that they are in a scheme of existence where trees are a 

substantial fact, not merely as generating chlorophyll and taking carbon from the air, but 

as living trees. 

Naturally the soles of our feet are so made that they become the best instruments for us to 

stand upon the earth and to walk with. From the day we commenced to wear shoes we 

minimized the purpose of our feet. With the lessening of their responsibility they have 

lost their dignity, and now they lend themselves to be pampered with socks, slippers and 

shoes of all prices and shapes and misproportions. For us it amounts to a grievance 

against God for not giving us hooves instead of beautifully sensitive soles. 

I am not for banishing footgear altogether from men’s use. But I have no hesitation in 

asserting that the soles of children’s feet should not be deprived of their education, 

provided for them by nature, free of cost. Of all the limbs we have they are the best 

adapted for intimately knowing the earth by their touch. For the earth has her subtle 

modulations of contour which she only offers for the kiss of her true lovers—the feet. 

I have again to confess that I was brought up in a respectable household, and my feet 

from childhood have been carefully saved from all naked contact with the dust. When I 

try to emulate my boys in walking barefoot, I painfully realize what thickness of ignorance

about the earth I carry under my feet. I invariably choose the thorns to tread 

upon in such a manner as to make the thorns exult. My feet have not the instinct to follow 

the lines of least resistance. For even the flattest of earth-surface, has its dimples of 

diminutive hills and dales only discernible by educated feet. I have often wondered at the 

unreasonable zigzag of footpaths across perfectly plain fields. It becomes all the more 

perplexing when you consider that a footpath is not made by the caprice of one 

individual. Unless most of the walkers possessed exactly the same eccentricity such 

obviously inconvenient passages could not have been made. But the real cause lies in the 

subtle suggestions coming from the earth to which our feet unconsciously respond. Those 

for whom such communications have not been cut off can adjust the muscles of their feet 

with great rapidity at the least indication. Therefore, they can save themselves from the 

intrusion of thorns, even while treading upon them, and walk barefooted on a gravelly 

path without the least discomfort. I know that in the practical world shoes will be worn, 

roads will be metalled, cars will be used, but during their period of education, should 

children not be given to know that the world is not all drawing-room, that there is such a 

thing as nature to which their limbs are made beautifully to respond? 

There are men who think that by the simplicity of living, introduced in my school, I 

preach the idealization of poverty which prevailed in the mediaeval age. From the point 

of view of education, should we not admit that poverty is the school in which man had his 

first lessons and his best training? Even a millionaire’s son has to be born helplessly poor 

and to begin his lesson of life from the beginning. He has to learn to walk like the poorest 

of children, though he has means to afford to be without the appendage of legs. Poverty 

brings us into complete touch with life and the world, for living richly is living mostly by 

proxy, and thus living in a world of lesser reality. This may be good for one’s pleasure 

and pride, but not for one’s education. Wealth is a golden cage in which the children of 

the rich are bred into artificial deadening of their powers. Therefore in my school, much 

to the disgust of the people of expensive habits, I had to provide for this great teacher — 

this bareness of furniture and materials — not because it is poverty, but because it leads 

to personal experience of the world. 

What tortured me in my school-days was the fact that the school had not the 

completeness of the world. It was a special arrangement for giving lessons.

It could only be suitable for grown-up people who were conscious of the special need of

such places and therefore ready to accept their teaching at the cost of dissociation from life. But 

children are in love with life, and it is their first love. All its colour and movement attract 

their eager attention. And are we quite sure of our wisdom in stifling this love? Children 

are not born ascetics, fit to enter at once into the monastic discipline of acquiring

knowledge. At first they must gather knowledge through their life, and then they will 

renounce their lives to gain knowledge, and then again they will come back to their fuller 

lives with ripened wisdom. 

But society has made its own arrangements for manipulating men’s minds to fit its 

special patterns. These arrangements are so closely organized that it is difficult to find 

gaps through which to bring in nature. There is a serial adjustment of penalties which 

follows to the end one who ventures to take liberty with some part of the arrangements, 

even to save his soul. Therefore it is one thing to realize truth and another to bring it into 

practice where the whole current of the prevailing system goes against you. This is why, 

when I had to face the problem of my own son’s education, I was at a loss to give it a 

practical solution. The first thing that I did was to take him away from the town 

surroundings into a village and allow him the freedom of primeval nature as far as it is 

available in modern days. He had a river, noted for its danger, where he swam and rowed 

without check from the anxiety of his elders. He spent his time in the fields and on the 

trackless sand-banks, coming late for his meals without being questioned. He had none of 

those luxuries that are not only customary but are held as proper for boys of his 

circumstance. For which privations, I am sure, he was pitied and his parents blamed by 

the people for whom society has blotted out the whole world. But I was certain that 

luxuries are burdens to boys. They are the burdens of other people’s habits, the burdens 

of the vicarious pride and pleasure which parents enjoy through their children. 

Yet, being an individual of limited resources, I could do very little for my son in the way 

of educating him according to my plan. But he had freedom of movement: he had very 

few of the screens of wealth and respectability between himself and the world of nature. 

Thus he had a better opportunity for a real experience of this universe than I ever had. 

But one thing exercised my mind as more important than anything else.

The object of education is to give man the unity of truth. Formerly, when life was simple, 

all the different elements of man were in complete harmony. But when there came the 

separation of the intellect from the spiritual and the physical, the school education put 

entire emphasis on the intellect and the physical side of man. We devote our sole 

attention to giving children information, not knowing that by this emphasis we are 

accentuating a break between the intellectual, physical and the spiritual life. 

I believe in a spiritual world, not as anything separate from this world, but as its 

innermost truth. With the breath we draw, we must always feel this truth, that we are 

living in God. Born in this great world, full of the mystery of the infinite, we cannot 

accept our existence as a momentary outburst of chance, drifting on the current of matter 

towards an eternal nowhere. We cannot look upon our lives as dreams of a dreamer who 

has no awakening in all time. We have a personality to which matter and force are

unmeaning unless related to something infinitely personal, whose nature we have 

discovered, in some measure, in human love, in the greatness of the good, in the 

martyrdom of heroic souls, in the ineffable beauty of nature, which can never be a mere 

physical fact, nor anything but an expression of personality. 

Experience of this spiritual world, whose reality we miss by our incessant habit of 

ignoring it from childhood, has to be gained by children by fully living in it and not 

through the medium of theological instruction. But how this is to be done is a problem 

difficult of solution in the present age. For nowadays men have managed so fully to 

occupy their time that they do not find leisure to know that their activities have only

movement but very little truth, that their soul has not found its world. 

In India we still cherish in our memory the tradition of the forest colonies of great

teachers. These places were neither schools nor monasteries in the modern sense of the 

word. They consisted of homes where with their families lived men whose object was to 

see the world in God and to realize their own life in Him. Though they lived outside 

society, yet they were to society what the sun is to the planets, the centre from which it 

received its life and light. And here boys grew up in an intimate vision of eternal life 

before they were thought fit to enter the state of the householder. Thus in the ancient

India the school was there where was the life itself. There the students 

were brought up, not in the academic atmosphere of scholarship and learning, or in the 

maimed life of monastic seclusion, but in the atmosphere of living aspiration. They took 

the cattle to pasture, collected firewood, gathered fruit, cultivated kindness to all 

creatures, and grew in their spirit with their own teachers’ spiritual growth. This was 

possible because the primary object of these places was not teaching but giving shelter to 

those who lived their life in God. 

That this traditional relationship of the masters and disciples is not a mere romantic 

fiction is proved by the relic we still possess of the indigenous system of education. 

These chaluspathis, which is the Sanskrit name for the university, have not the savour of 

the school about them. The students live in their master’s home like the children of the 

house, without having to pay for their board and lodging or tuition. The teacher 

prosecutes his own study, living a life of simplicity, and helping the students in their 

lessons as a part of his life and not of his profession. This ideal of education through 

sharing a life of high aspiration with one’s master took possession of my mind. Those 

who in other countries are favoured with unlimited expectations of worldly prospects can

fix their purposes of education on those objects. But for us to maintain the self-respect

which we owe to ourselves and to our creator, we must make the purpose of education 

nothing short of the highest purpose of man, the fullest growth and freedom of soul. It is 

pitiful to have to scramble for small pittances of fortune. Only let us have access to the 

life that goes beyond death and rises above all circumstances; let us find our God, let us 

live for that ultimate truth which emancipates us from the bondage of the dust and gives 

us the wealth, not of things but of inner light, not of power but of love. Such 

emancipation of soul we have witnessed in our country among men devoid of book-learning

and living in absolute poverty. In India we have the inheritance of this treasure 

of spiritual wisdom. Let the object of our education be to open it out before us and to give 

us the power to make the true use of it in our life, and offer it to the rest of the world 

when the time comes, as our contribution to its eternal welfare. 

I had been immersed in literary activities when this thought struck my mind with painful 

intensity. I suddenly felt like one groaning under the suffocation of nightmare. It was not 

only my own soul, but the soul of my country that seemed to be struggling for its breath through me.

I felt clearly that what was needed was not any particular material object, not 

wealth or comfort or power, but our awakening to full consciousness in soul freedom, the 

freedom of the life in God, where we have no enmity with those who must fight, no 

competition with those who must make money, where we are beyond all attacks and 

above all insults. 

  * * * * *

In conclusion, I warn my hearers not to carry away with them any false or exaggerated 

picture of this ashram. When ideas are stated in a paper, they appear too simple and 

complete. But in reality their manifestation through the materials that are living and 

varied and ever changing is not so clear and perfect. We have obstacles in human nature

and in outer circumstances. Some of us have a feeble faith in boys’ minds as living 

organisms, and some have the natural propensity of doing good by force. On the other 

hand, the boys have their different degrees of receptivity, and there are a good number of 

inevitable failures. Delinquencies make their appearance unexpectedly, making us 

suspicious as to the efficacy of our own ideals. We pass through dark periods of doubt 

and reaction. But these conflicts and waverings belong to the true aspects of reality. 

Living ideals can never be set into a clockwork arrangement, giving accurate account of 

its every second. And those who have firm faith in their idea have to test its truth in 

discords and failures that are sure to come to tempt them from their path.  

I for my part believe in the principle of life, in the soul of man, more than in methods. I 

believe that the object of education is the freedom of mind which can only be achieved 

through the path of freedom--though freedom has its risk and responsibility as life itself 

has. I know it for certain, though most people seem to have forgotten it, that children are 

living beings -- more living than grown-up people, who have built their shells of habit 

around them. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development 

that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit 

is personal love. It must be an ashram where men have gathered for the highest end of 

life, in the peace of nature; where life is not merely meditative, but fully awake in its 

activities; where boys’ minds are not being perpetually drilled into believing that the 

ideal of the self-idolatry of the nation is the truest ideal for them to accept; where they

are bidden to realize man’s world as God’s Kingdom, to whose citizenship they have to 

aspire; where the sunrise and sunset and the silent glory of stars are not daily ignored; 

where nature’s festivities of flowers and fruit have their joyous recognition from man; 

and where the young and the old, the teacher and the student, sit at the same table to 

partake of their daily food and the food of their eternal life.

:))

Agar khelna ho unke sang gulal, to dil na bujha "harsh"; 
Na rakho dil me koi malal, bana lo isse aar par ka sawaal! :))

Water Saving Tips

Try our top 12 water saving tips Here are 45 More Tips. Which Tip Could You Try Today? Saving Water Indoors: 1. Never pour water down the drain when there may be another use for it such as watering a plant or garden, or for cleaning. 2. Verify that your home is leak free. Many homes have hidden water leaks. Read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak. 3. Repair dripping faucets by replacing washers. If your faucet is dripping at a rate of one drop per second, you can expect to waste 2,700 gallons per year. This adds to the cost of water and sewer utilities, or can strain your septic system. 4. Check for toilet tank leaks by adding food coloring to the tank. If the toilet is leaking, color will appear in the toilet bowl within 30 minutes. Check the toilet for worn out, corroded or bent parts. Most replacement parts are inexpensive, readily available and easily installed. (Flush as soon as test is done, since food coloring may stain tank.) 5. If the toilet handle frequently sticks in the flush position letting water run constantly, replace or adjust it. 6. Place a bucket in the shower to catch excess water and use this to water plants. The same technique can be used when washing dishes or vegetables in the sink. 7. In the shower, turn water on to get wet; turn off to lather up; then turn back on to rinse off. Repeat when washing your hair. 8. Install a toilet dam or displacement device such as a bag or bottle to cut down on the amount of water needed for each flush. Be sure installation does not interfere with the operating parts. 9. Insulate your water pipes. You'll get hot water faster and avoid wasting water while it heats up. 10. Store drinking water in the refrigerator. Don't let the tap run while you are waiting for cool water to flow. 11. Do not use running water to thaw meat or other frozen foods. Defrost food overnight in the refrigerator or use the defrost setting on your microwave. 12. Kitchen sink disposals require lots of water to operate properly. Start a compost pile as an alternate method of disposing of food waste instead of using a garbage disposal. Garbage disposals also can add 50 percent to the volume of solids in a septic tank, which can lead to malfunctions and maintenance problems. 13. Consider installing an instant water heater on your kitchen sink so you don't have to let the water run while it heats up. This will reduce water heating costs for your household. 14. When washing dishes by hand, fill one sink or basin with soapy water. Quickly rinse under a slow-moving stream from the faucet. 15. Never install a water-to-air heat pump or air-conditioning system. Newer air-to-air models are just as efficient and do not waste water. 16. Don't let water run while shaving or washing your face. Brush your teeth first while waiting for water to get hot, then wash or shave after filling the basin. 17. Install water softening systems only when necessary. Save water and salt by running the minimum amount of regenerations necessary to maintain water softness. Turn softeners off while on vacation. 18. If you have a well at home, check your pump periodically. Listen to hear if the pump kicks on and off while water is not being used. If it does, you have a leak. 19. Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. Dispose of tissues, insects and other similar waste in the trash rather than the toilet. Saving Water Outdoors 20. Don't overwater your lawn. As a general rule, lawns only need watering every five to seven days in the summer and every 10 to 14 days in the winter. A hearty rain eliminates the need for watering for up to two weeks. Buy a rain gauge and use it to determine how much rain your yard has received. Most of the year, lawns only need one inch of water per week. 21. Plant it smart. Drought efficient landscaping is a great way to design, install and maintain both your plants and irrigation system. More importantly, it will save time, money and water. 22. Water lawns during the early morning hours when temperatures and wind speed are the lowest. This reduces losses from evaporation. 23. Don't allow sprinklers to water your street, driveway or sidewalk. Position them so water lands on the lawn and shrubs... not the paved areas. 24. Install irrigation devices that are the most water efficient for each use. Micro and drip irrigation and soaker hoses are examples of water efficient irrigation methods. 25. Check sprinkler systems and timing devices regularly to be sure they operate properly. 26. Raise the lawn mower blade to at least three inches or to its highest level. A higher cut encourages grass roots to grow deeper, shades the root system and holds soil moisture better than a closely-clipped lawn. 27. Avoid over fertilizing your lawn. Fertilizer applications increase the need for water. Apply fertilizers which contain slow-release, water-insoluble forms of nitrogen. 28. Use mulch to retain moisture in the soil. Mulch also helps control weeds that compete with landscape plants for water. 29. Plant native and/or drought-tolerant grasses, ground covers, shrubs and trees. Once established, they do not need water as frequently and usually will survive a dry period without watering. Group plants together based on similar water needs. 30. Avoid the installation of ornamental water features (such as fountains) unless the water is recycled. 31. Do not leave sprinklers or hoses unattended. A garden hose can pour out 600 gallons or more in only a few hours. Use a kitchen timer to remind yourself to turn sprinklers off. 32. Avoid purchasing recreational water toys which require a constant stream of water. 33. Consider using a commercial car wash that recycles water. If you wash your own car, park on the grass and use a hose with an automatic shut-off nozzle. 34. Use a shut-off nozzle on your hose which can be adjusted down to a fine spray so that water flows only as needed. When finished, turn it off at the faucet instead of at the nozzle to avoid leaks. Check hose connectors to make sure plastic or rubber washers are in place. Washers prevent leaks. 35. If you have a swimming pool, consider a new water-saving pool filter. A single backflushing with a traditional filter uses 180 to 250 gallons of water. General Water Saving Tips: 36. Get involved in water management issues. Voice your questions and concerns at public meetings conducted by your local government or water management district. 37. Be aware of and follow all water conservation and water shortage rules in effect in your community. Don't assume -- even if you get your water from a private well -- that you need not observe good water use rules. Every drop counts. 38. Encourage your employer to promote water conservation in the workplace. Suggest that water conservation be put in employee orientation and training programs. 39. Patronize businesses which practice and promote water conservation, such as restaurants that only serve water upon request. 40. Report all significant water losses (broken pipes, open hydrants, errant sprinklers, abandoned free-flowing wells, etc.) to the property owner, local authorities or your water agency. 41. Encourage your school system and local government to help develop and promote a water conservation ethic among children and adults. 42. Support projects that will lead to an increased use of reclaimed waste water for irrigation and other uses. 43. Support efforts and programs that create a concern for water conservation among tourists and visitors to our state. Make sure your visitors understand the need for, and benefits of, water conservation. 44. Encourage your friends and neighbors to be part of a water-conscious community. Promote water conservation in community newsletters, on bulletin boards and by example. Encourage your friends, neighbors and co-workers to "do their part." 45. Conserve water because it is the right thing to do. Don't waste water just because someone else is footing the bill, such as when you are staying at a hotel.

source: www.varanasi4u.com

Lost There, Felt Here -- Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Image via Wikipedia

By Peter Seligmann and Deepak Chopra

Now more than ever -- and before it is too late -- we need to see the forest for the trees.
To call attention to the plight of the world's forests and the growing need for us to better protect and manage them, the United Nations declared 2011 the International Year of Forests. But let us not fool ourselves -- in protecting forests, we are doing nothing less than protecting ourselves and our future.

Since time immemorial, when the burning of wood first brought us warmth and light, humanity has relied on trees. They have sheltered us, fed us, and provided us the raw materials to build a modern civilization -- from weapons for hunting and tools for farming to the timbers that built our homes and the ships that allowed us to take to the seas.

Today, forests give us all this and more. We benefit from them directly and materially -- forests not only provide homes to 300 million people and livelihoods to 1.6 billion people worldwide, they are also the source of products that generate more than $327 billion in trade each year -- a figure equivalent to the GDP of Hong Kong.

But the most important gifts we receive from forests are less obvious -- and ones we often take for granted.

Though they cover just 31 percent of the total land area, forests are home to 80 percent of the planet's terrestrial biodiversity -- the rich variety of life including species like the rosy periwinkle, used to create the cancer-fighting drug treatment known as Vincristine.

And take, for example, fresh water -- the essence of life itself. Less than 3 percent of the water on Earth is fresh -- and of that precious amount that sustains us, more than three-fourths of the world's accessible fresh water comes from forested watersheds.

But perhaps the most critical role forests play today -- and one that we continue to undermine at our peril -- lies in stabilizing the global climate. Healthy standing forests are superior stores of carbon, yet they are being destroyed at an alarming rate to make way for pastures and agricultural land, mineral exploitation and urban sprawl. Worse, this deforestation is an increasingly prominent contributor to our growing emissions problem; nearly one-sixth of the total greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation itself. Put another way: Destroying forests releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year than all of the planes, trains, cars, trucks, and ships in the world -- combined.

In so many ways, our human bodies are much like the Earth we come from -- a collection of interconnected organs and systems that must work in harmony to sustain our complete health. If a system fails, the whole suffers.

As they tirelessly cycle carbon dioxide and oxygen, forests are much like the lungs of the planet. But they are in trouble -- and we can no more afford to ignore the failing health of the world's forests than we could to ignore the health of our own lungs. As with our own bodies, when one of the planet's systems is in trouble, others feel the effects. And so it is in matters of conservation, where there is no such thing as near or far. We are all ultimately connected by the vital natural systems that sustain us -- and what is lost there is always, inevitably, felt here.

In this pivotal year, we have teamed up to sound the alarm on the dangers of deforestation and to share the solutions -- because protecting our forests means protecting our very future. This is a critical effort; we hope you will join us on Crowdrise, because each and every one of us has a role to play.

Only when humanity recognizes this -- when we truly see the forest for the trees -- can we forge a brighter future for all life on Earth by valuing and protecting the invaluable, irreplaceable gifts of nature.

source: www.huffingtonpost.com