Are You MAD?

Someone said one should not wait for the opportunity; we must go and grab it! However, sometimes we do not even know whether it’s an opportunity or just another passing cloud! If you are someone who is ready to act at least when given an opportunity at your hand, then this post is for you! Others please excuse!

Before you proceed reading further, let me ask you one question? It might sound weird :-)

Are you MAD? (I am not teasing you) If you accept BIG YES then let’s discuss further! By the way, I will let you know the answer for this question at the end of this post.

Now again, if your answer to my below simple questions are YES, YES then you the person who can make a difference! 

1. Do you want to do littlething if not big thing?
2. Are you ready to make someone happy?
3. Do you agree being kind is being human?

If you accept the above questions continue reading further! Here are the few facts about people:

• The World Bank estimates that 456 million Indians (41.6% of the total Indian population) now live under the global poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day (PPP).
• India currently adds approx. 40 million people to its middle class every year.
• India has the highest number of malnourished people, at 230 million!
• 94th of 119 in the world hunger index.
• Number of malnourished children (43% of India's children under 5 are underweight (BMI<18.5), the highest in the world) as of 2008[45].
• According to the New York Times, is estimated that about 42.5% of the children in India suffer from malnutrition
• The World Bank, citing estimates made by the World Health Organization, states "that about 49 per cent of the world's underweight children, 34 per cent of the world's stunted children and 46 per cent of the world's wasted children, live in India." (above source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_India)

Does your ass moved out of chair! Need some appetizer to digest these hard but real facts. (relax now and the very reason I am telling this is you are going to help change the above figures over a period of time! )

 

Already thinking of doing something? Do you feel you’re left alone to make this change! Then I tell YOU ARE NOT! Do not worry about you do not have time, energy and opportunity! As I claimed in the beginning

first time an Opportunity is coming at your place and it is through Akshaya Patra.

 

The Akshaya Patra starts with a story of compassion. Looking out of a window one day in Mayapur, a village near Calcutta, a common man saw a group of children fighting with street dogs over scraps of food. From this simple, yet heart breaking incident, came the determination that: No one within a ten mile radius of our center should go hungry. It is his inspiration which helped to create The Akshaya Patra Foundation as it is today. The message of the foundation is very simple and crystal clear ““No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.”

 

In June 2000, the foundation started thier mid-day meal program in Bangalore by feeding 1500 children in 5 schools and after various forms of growth, currently the institution is reaching out to 1.2 million children everyday!

 

Now, how you can be part of this. There are many ways. One of the ways is by becoming their volunteer and provide your service provided if you have time and energy! But, in this busy world, we need everything QUICK! If you are at my side, then, just contribute through their online donation campaign and be sure that you have reduced a 0.0001% from that hard facts you have seen just few minutes back! And proudly tell the whole world that YOU ARE MAD!

 

Yes, YOU ARE Making A Difference to India and World!

 

Select the link to Be The Change for a Cause 

Now you having done your job go and tell people what a difference just one meal can make in the life of a child. It is possible to make a change for good. YOU can do it.

 

Select this link to Be The Change for a Cause
 

For more information visit to: Akshayapatra

 

Jain Hind!

SMS#1 – Father & Son!

Oooh!.. Wait. Wait..I know most of you will be busy snatching your head to know what SMS means here right!. For few, (Thanks to the mobile word), the moment we read the acronym SMS, our brain automatically uncovers as ‘Short Messaging Service.’ But relax!, the SMS here nothing relates to any of that!!.

SMS is your FootPaths’ new series of posts named- Short Message Stories. These are short stories that I read and embraced a positive impact.

Recently, I read an article which talked about Story Telling. The message it conveyed was loud and clear - …’Story Telling is going to be the future mantra of Management concept.’ Even many management experts believe this is true. When I say Story, it means the RIGHT STORY worth sharing! (Others please excuse!)

Story telling is not new. We all used to hear stories right from our childhood. For many, the stories we listened during the bed time, shared by our Grannies’ still remain afresh. Most importantly, the moral we learnt (at least for me many times…) guide us during many cirumstances. And the best part about the story is not about telling it. But, it’s about mixing the right story, its rhythm and the timing that all counts.

Here is one such Short Message Story received through an email chain. It goes as below…

“A man was polishing his new car; his 4 yr old son picked up a stone & scratched on the side of the car. In anger, the furious Man took his child’s hand & hit it many times, not realizing that he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, doctors informed, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. When the child saw his father....with painful eyes he asked ’Dad when will my fingers grow back?' The father was deeply hurt and speechless.

Tempestuous Father went back to the car and kicked it many times. Devastated by his own actions, sitting in front of the car, he looked at the scratches and was surprised to see His Son had written 'LOVE YOU DAD.'

Ashamed of his action, the Next day the Father committed suicide...!!"
Message
Even though many moral can be derived from the above story, a message is crystal clear. Don't ASSUME things and always ASK what is the real INTENTION instead of getting furious.

$.1 pencil point is:
It’s not the Action that counts, but, practice looking at the Intention that triggered the action!. The deep intention of the boy in the above story is to express Love towards his Father!.

Just by trying to understand the intention we can choose our furture steps creating a positive environment.
Your thoughts are welcome!

More SMS’s to come…

Special thanks to my colleague Praveen Babu for sharing this short story!

Thought for the Day!

Recently, I came across wonderful lines which touched me personally and wanted to share with you all. Many times be it in our professional career or personal life, we always just wanted to have immediate result and focus all our energy towards it, rather than looking at the BIG PICTURE! Here is a citation that is very simple to read,but, the message it conveys makes a lot difference to ourselves if digested to the fullest. (Reference - Tim Sanders Blog)

"...You need to get out of your Comfort Zone,Think Bigger about your future and get involved with something Bigger than Yourself..."

My $.1 simple question - How often we sacrifice our comfort zone and volunteer to take distinct challenges that would make difference not only to ourself, but also to others?

Few of us might already practice this,but, for the rest it's the time to flip-flop and move forward!

Let’s start Communicating!

The way we create a connection with the people is by using communication.
Communication forms as a powerful channel for two people to express their thoughts and share opinions. For many of us, the moment we say Communication, a picture of big iceberg forms into our mind. Then,breaking the ice becomes a difficult task. We create within ourselves an unimagined fear thinking of the past failures. Next time when we try to communicate, this past fear forms as a barrier for our communication. The result is we become cautious and march five steps backward for every single step forward.

A famous quote says, “Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life.” The only way we can talk with the other people is through communication. We do not communicate properly because;

We feel during communication our character will be revealed!
We feel we need to accept the others opinion!
We feel we might loss in conversation!
We feel we might end up in arguing!
We feel the other party is too small to communicate!
We feel the other side is always blue!
We feel our status quo will be lost!
We feel fear of ending relationships!
We feel we can’t think!
We feel our secret is revealed!
We feel fear of misunderstood!
We feel fear of rejection!
… And so on…

If Opacity is the measure of Transparency then, Acceptance is the measure of Communication. 100% Opacity signifies the sate of complete see through. In the similar fashion, the kernel of communication is our ability to practice judgeless acceptance. By being acceptable, you extend yourself to think from others point of view and start listening. We must listen to the people instead of listening to what we wanted to listen.

Rather thinking of breaking the ice, let’s practice Acceptance and start Communicating effectively with free mind and without fear.

Have a Great Week ahead!

Your thoughts and comments are welcomed…

Let's Chase the Change with Cheese!

Last day, I was reading the book “Who Moved my Cheese.”And wanted to share, the following note on how to change ourselves with Change!

If one thing is constant in this world, it’s nothing but Change. Yes, we hear this often, but, seldom know how to keep track of the change that is happening at rocketing velocity and speed. Here are the 7 simple day-to-day principles that we can adopt to bring in back our life on track and keep moving in the right direction with change.

1. They Keep Moving The Cheese: CHANGE HAPPENS
2. Get Ready for the Cheese to Move: ANTICIPATE CHANGE
3. Smell The Cheese Often So We Know When It Is Getting Old: MONITOR CHANGE
4. The Quicker We Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese: ADAPT TO CHANGE QUICKLY
5. Move With the Cheese: CHANGE
6. Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!: ENJOY CHANGE!
7. They Keep Moving The Cheese: BE READY TO CHANGE QUICKLY AND ENJOY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN

If we consider Change as a Rollercoaster which spins 360 degrees at any given time then, let everone of us be our own Engineer to bring back the Rollercoaster to control.

Let’s Chase the Change with Cheers to move our own Cheese!

Happy Sunday!