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 |   As the first blog entry got exhausted. My second book |
| Evolution of Love Part 2 |
| Recovery is not only 14 days no... it's 6 or more months, weakness lasts a long time and leaves many post covid problems: forgetfulness, lung hurting, dizziness, tachycardia, more limited vision, compromised hearing and smell , a lot of tiredness, loss of muscle tonicity, and so many other problems that have been discovered little by little. They said not to be alarmed, it was a matter of hygiene, that this was going to make us better people, because it is not.... 😔 some do not know the sadness and powerlessness of going through that or seeing a loved one sick and you not being able to do anything People are treated like a walking bomb Few put themselves in place. It's something I don't wish on anyone In this most difficult time we realize who our ′′ true friends and friends ′′ are or the people who truly appreciate us. Those who fought or still in the fight against COVID don't deserve to be discriminated against. This virus separated families, friends and as a society, it's bringing out the worst in people. Let's not forget that a COVID patient is a human being, who often doesn't even know how he got the virus and is fighting for his life. Understanding with families who are COVID patient, let's not treat like stranger bugs... They are human beings waging a battle. Sadly some click like but don't read until the end because it takes time to read that and when they see it's a little long, they come back. I decided to share this message of support for those who fought, fought and continue to fight, for those who teach us to live everyday as if it were the best day of life! Now I look at those who have time to read this post until the end... Please pay tribute to a family member, or a friend and friend who died, who recovered, or even for those who continue to fight COVID19, copy and paste (without sharing) this text on their page. Then I'll know who read. Please write ′′ done ′′ so we can see the power of unity! For all those and those who lost someone, or are in the battle against COVID19. We are in prayer for all these families. 🏠 ❣️ 😷🙏 Have empathy! Let's keep going Praying for them and all. |
1) *Bonds are for storing wealth and equities are for creation of wealth.* 2) In my opinion, the biggest asset one can have is zero debt. 3) *The greatest discipline in personal finance is living below your means.* 4) As Ben Carlson says, emotions cannot be back tested. That’s why past bear market always looks like opportunities and future ones scary. 5) *Early financial independence and early retirement are completely different. To me, the former is a blessing and the latter is a curse.* 6) Don’t think how it would have been if you’ve started 10 years ago. Start today and visualise how you would feel 10 years from now. 7) The neighbourhood we live determines our life style & spending. Need to be careful in choosing one which matches our goals and personality. 8) Paying minimum balance regularly on credit card is the maximum sign that you’re getting into debt trap. 9) Many are long term investors *till the next bear market.* 10) Don’t take aggressive bets. Take measured risk. Remember one blunder can push you back by a decade or more in terms of wealth. 11) *Big money can be made through high savings, wise investing and lots of patience.* 12) One sign of progress in an individual investor’s portfolio is no churn or very less churn. 13) Trying to get rich fast is a foolproof way to lose what we have. 14) *Losing opportunities is far better than losing money. Don’t invest in fads.* 15) “Making as much money as quickly as possible” is *not* an investment strategy. Unfortunately for most of us that is the strategy. 16) Aggressive strategy cannot be a substitute for high savings. *Save high and take moderate risk than saving less and taking high risk.* 17) The day we realise not losing is as important as winning; we would stop blindly chasing returns. 18) Good periods are more than bad periods. By not timing, though we go through bad periods, do not miss even a single good period. 19) We’ll stop looking for quick money the moment we consider stocks as businesses and realise that our wealth grows in line with business growth. 20) There are periods of high returns, low returns, no returns and negative returns. We need to go through all these to get long term returns. 21) *Listening to market forecasts is not only useless but can be very harmful too; if you start acting on them.* *22) The hard truth is only around 3% of our population are in a position to aspire for financial independence. Don’t waste this rare privilege.* Have Faith in YOU...and Do Something..GREAT📈📊 #Stay Safe #Stay Happy #Keep Learning📊💕 |
I dunked three fingers into my father’s clear, fizzy drink while he chatted with a fellow officer at an army mess in Ambala.. I reached for the small, pale-white, perfectly round onion that sat at the bottom of the glass and it bounced ever so slightly a few times, before I caught it and popped it whole into my mouth. It was tart. Vinegary. A bit salty. Curious, I took a sip of the drink and remember my eyes widening as I licked my lips. What was that! The year was 1994 and I was five. I later learnt it was a gin cocktail, made army-style: 1 peg of gin Half of that volume of lime cordial Soda A pinch of salt Two drops of bitters A cocktail onion or two I never forgot that first taste. I still look for it in every bar I visit, but I’ve only ever found it in an army mess; in fact, I find it every army mess that I visit. Over the years and across the country, I’ve found it in a mess in Baramulla, Delhi, Bhopal, Agra, Bhatinda, Itarsi, Ramban, Jodhpur, Mathura, Simla, Kupwara, Ahmedabad, Mt. Abu, etc. And once at a retired army officer’s home in Agra, even there, made perfectly. As a child, I believed the world operated like an army mess — everything had order, parties have dress codes, different cuisines demand their own cutlery, and gin is drunk with bitters and cocktail onions. While the world may not in truth, work like this, every army mess in the country, reliably, does. I’ve often tried to decode the ‘sameness’ that is present in the army, achieved almost effortlessly. This sameness was most apparent to me in the food that army messes served across stations in the country. I found it both fascinating and comforting that no matter which part of the country I was in, the food in the mess there tasted like food in any army mess anywhere. I began to reason that perhaps, like most things in the army, food is a matter of tradition and precision – neither of which is achieved by introducing change. An army mess, home base for a regiment and its officers, is a magnificent institution whose walls are lined with glimpses of the operations of that unit, photographs of those who lead and serve the regiment, and mementos of valorous victories. An army mess is also where (dining) officers eat and stay. Every mess has dining and non-dining members – the former includes unmarried officers or those whose families are not in the station, while the latter comprises of officers posted in the station with their families. The mess caters for daily breakfast, lunch, evening tea, drinks and dinner for the dining members. On Sundays, breakfast and lunch are replaced by brunch, chhole bhature or ildi-dosa, complete with three types of chutneys and a thick, tangy sambar. The menu in an army mess is set, not à la carte. The everyday menu usually includes two vegetables or a vegetable and meat dish, a dal, chapatis, rice, green salad and dessert or fruits. If it is a continental menu, expect macaroni, roast chicken, baked beans, garlic bread, dinner rolls, Russian salad and pudding. And on the rare days that a fauji will make an à la carte order, it will most certainly be anda bhujiya and paranthas — nothing makes him happier. As a child, before I understood the whys and hows of eating in an army mess, I would ask for my curry to be served in a bowl. The steward was always thrown off; he would pause, restrain his confusion, then return with one that was somehow never the right size. I noticed that nobody else ever asked for a bowl! You see, there is no concept of using a bowl for curry in an army mess. The dals and gravies are a thick-ish consistency on purpose. A no-bowl policy is essentially a no-fuss policy, so one can stand and eat if one needs to socialise, and one always needs to socialise in the army. It also prevents the cacophony of clanging and scraping that children and cutlery almost inevitably produce.. All chefs and stewards in the Indian army receive their training at the Army Service Corps (ASC) Centre in Bangalore. This has been the case for nearly 14 years now, before which the training centre was located in Gaya, Bihar. While there was a shift in the base, there has largely been no change in curriculum. Chefs and stewards go through three levels of training. The 6-month long Level 1 course for chefs teaches them the basics of cooking and hygiene. Those who excel in Level 1 go on to become mess chefs and are immediately enrolled into a 3-month Special Training course where they learn to cook different types of starters, soups, mains and desserts that fall under Indian, Continental and Chinese cuisines. After the completion of the Special Training course, they are ready to return to their respective regiments, and join army messes situated across the country. Sometime between 2-10 years of their tenure as a mess chef, they return to the ASC centre for training at Level 2 and 3. Each of these courses lasts 28 days, and teaches the chefs more about Continental, Chinese and regional Indian cuisines. Nearly every mess chef in the army can turn out dosa, sambar, biryani, noodles, fish curry, kadhi and rajma with the same amount of confidence, if not skill. The stewards, in a similar training drill, are taught skills related to steward duties and responsibilities — how to make basic cocktails and mocktails; the many ways of folding a napkin; knowledge of cutlery and glasses, along with each specific purpose; how to serve beverages (always from the right) and food (from the left); whom to serve first (always the lady); how to set a table for an Indian, Continental or Chinese meal; nuances on the placement of cutlery if an officer wants to be served, is waiting for his senior to finish, or is done eating and hence has ‘closed the plate’, and so on. Some of the most important lessons shared between the chefs, stewards and their instructors are about the formal parties that are organised every so often in an army mess. The quintessential example of elegance, tradition, order and precision, formal parties in the army are all the charm one needs to experience to be mesmerised by this life. The menus for these parties are curated with thought, the dishes named with ingenuity and the tables laid out with skill. The pristine white china is framed with a delicate gold border and, in some cases, stamped with the regiment monogram. The glasses are crystal. The menu is often continental; a tradition that was started during the British rule for the simple reason that it’s the least messy cuisine to eat with cutlery. Everyone closes their plate when the senior most officer is finished eating. And finally, dessert is served. The menu for a formal party holds a special place in most army messes, as they represent craft and knowledge on the part of the mess committee that designs them. Sometimes old menus are referred to, to commemorate victories, recreate a bygone special dinner, or simply to please a guest. The menus are a matter of pride — even keepsakes. It is how most ex-army men and their families keep their memories too, of their time in the Indian Army. My lived experiences as an army kid, my interactions with officers and ladies who are now retired, and my conversations with those who continue to serve the organisation tell me that this sameness in food and otherwise, this consistency, becomes a collective memory. The shared landscape of our nostalgia translates into a sense of belonging so strong, it transcends age and geography. All army personnel and their families carry the same taste and culinary vocabulary. We navigate all the unknowns of a new station by stepping inside the familiarity of the army mess there. And we never quite forget any of it. Not the pineapple-cheese-cherry on a toothpick, not the too-thick rajma, not the sweet cold coffee, not the Tipsy pudding and definitely not the gin with bitters and cocktail onions |
| Not BLOOD But, An ELECTRICIAN, to restore the joyful current between people, who do not speak to each other anymore... An OPTICIAN, to change the outlook of people... An ARTIST, to draw a smile on everyone's face... A CONSTRUCTION WORKER, to build a bridge between neighbours... A GARDENER, to cultivate good thoughts... A PLUMBER, to clear the choked and blocked mindsets... A SCIENTIST to rediscover compassion... A LANGUAGE TEACHER for better communication with each other... And Last but not least, A MATHS TEACHER, for all of us to relearn how to count on each other... *Spread lots of love, positivity and smiles today....* Tomorrow might be too late |
꧁• If you see me leaving this group, please add me again. It's just that I’m so desperate to go out! ꧁• Never in my wildest dreams have I imagined myself entering a bank, wearing a mask, and asking for money. ꧁• Never thought my hands would one day consume more alcohol than my liver... ever! ꧁• Lock down seems like a Netflix series: just when you think it's over, they release the next season. ꧁• I’m starting to like this mask thing. I went to the supermarket yesterday and two people that I owe money to didn’t recognize me. ꧁• Those complaining that we didn’t have enough holidays, what now? ꧁• I need to social distance myself from my fridge; I tested positive for excess weight! ꧁• I’m not planning on adding 2020 to my age. I didn’t even use it! I don't know about 2021. Does it exist? ꧁• We want to publicly apologize to the year 2019 for all the bad things we said about it. ꧁• To all the ladies who were praying for their husbands to spend more time with them — how are you doing? ꧁• My washing machine only accepts pyjamas these days. I put in a pair of jeans and a message popped up : “Stay Home " 2019: Avoid negative people 2020: Avoid positive people 2021: Avoid people because you don’t know if they are positive or negative Can't wait for 2022 🙄🤣🙄🤣🙄🤣🙄🤣🙄🤣 |
| It is possible to practice God's name under the most adverse circumstances. He causes everything to happen and is therefore ever near. The obstinacy of the mind must be curbed with resoluteness. Whether the mind co-operates or not, you must be adamant in your determination to do a certain amount of practice without fail – simply because spiritual discipline is man's real work. For so long you have been accustomed to perform actions that fetter, therefore from sheer force of habit you feel the urge to bind yourself by activity again and again. But if you try hard for some time, you will be able to see for yourself how you are caught in your work, and that the more you engage in practice the quicker will be your advance. By constantly endeavouring to live a life of self-dedication, self-surrender will come about one day. What does self-surrender mean, if not to surrender to one's very own Self! |
| – Grandpa, what you are whispering? – Boy asked his grandfather, after noticing that he was whispering something to himself before going to bed. – I put a thought on the Heart… —grandfather said. Boy was surprised: – What does it mean? Wise grandfather told him: – I do not want to quarrel with a neighbour who let me down, but I do not know how to behave. So I will put a thought on the Heart and go to sleep, and in the morning the Heart will tell me what to do. – And where does the Heart know it from? – The Heart knows everything, I’m learning from it all my life. And I may advise you: when looking for an answer to a difficult question, when something is not clear, put a positive thought before going to bed at the Heart, and next morning the answers will be opened for you. Just do it with faith. |
| I was driving home just now from a short errand at a store. A white bird dived at my car, then swooped over it and back up into the air. It looked intentional. It was a masterpiece of a dive right at my windshield. The bird looked like a dove, but there are no doves in our area. It was a lovely white bird, not a seagull, not a pigeon, of this I am certain. I was driving slowly down a hill, he aimed right for my vision. He came out of nowhere. I knew immediately it was a message from spirit. It was so beautiful, as if to say "there is something deeper for you." I felt Peace, something about Peace coming soon. I told a friend when I got home. I told her there are symbols in the natural world all around us and messages if we just look and listen. She said nothing like that had ever happened to her. But I said I think it has, you must simply be open to it. And for each person, the details of, for instance, what "Peace" is, those are their own in their inner world. The message is really from within I feel, manifesting outwardly. I can only tell you that every single time I have had such an occurrence, it has proven to be ultimately a true message that later manifested, and quite soon. The natural world is indeed a living consciousness. Embrace it, and it will speak to you with great joy. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹💛 |
| The unparalleled work done by the Bombay City Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal to counter / minimize the lethal effects of the Pandemic in Mumbai, is stuff Legends are made of. Here is Mr. Shiv who was the ex CEO of PepsiCo India and now working for the Birla Group conveying his admiration and respect for Mumbai City Commissioner. I'm sure the sentiments expressed by him will evoke positive responses from all Indians.... Dear All You know the pandemic is sweeping across the world and specifically in India. I have seen that whenever there is a crisis or challenge , people tend to externalize and give excuses vs managing what’s in their control. I want to give you the story of Iqbal Singh Chahal, The Bombay city commissioner who started his job on 8 th May 2020, at the start of the pandemic. Mumbai has no parallel, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai come close, crowded cities, breaking at the seams. Here are the lessons: When he took over, his office was getting 15,000 phone calls a day. He broke Mumbai down into 24 wards, and each ward into 10 zones. Each ward was equipped with 10 doctors, 10 ambulances and a 30 line telephone center. He got a dashboard done for each ward, put doctors, ambulances in each ward. He calls this being decentralized and data driven. Mumbai had 180 hospitals, of which 40 were government and 140 were private. He called all the CEOs of the private hospitals for a meeting and told them to handover 80 pc of the beds to him and 100 pc of ICUs to him. He told them that the new rate would be the government rate , i.e. Rs 4000 ( $ 56 per day). He asked them to ensure that their costly doctors were not charging more. Surprisingly, the private CEO hospital CEOs agreed , you know why? He told them that if Mumbai didn’t handle this covid crisis well, then their medical tourism business where Mumbai attracted people from across the world will drop dramatically because MUMBAI REPUTATION will drop. Think about the longer term and the larger picture is his lesson. He then did something which was controversial. He decided that consumers would not get their test reports directly from the labs. Instead the report would come to his office and then that information would go by next morning 8 am to the ward where the consumer lived. The report would then go to the consumer with a doctor if the consumer tested positive. His reason for doing this – to avoid panic, consumers were panicking and going all over the city. This decision was challenged in the supreme court of India but Chahal convinced them that this is a better system. Lesson – challenge the norm and change things. On 16 th April 2021, he had 168 patients who needed oxygen and would die if oxygen didn’t reach time in two hours. This was his darkest night. He them mobilized all the ambulances , got them oxygen , shifted all the 168 patients to a place and saved all 168 lives overnight. He looked at his oxygen requirement, worked with corporates, didn’t add more hospital beds but added oxygen facilities. He ensured that each of the 24 wards had access to their own oxygen. So an oxygen tanker could move to a local ward hospital in 20 minutes. Clarity on critical resources and the ability to mobilize this, break the problem down to the details. He continuously worked with the chief minister, the special task force and his team. He realized he couldn’t do it alone and needed everyone to be aligned. Lesson – in a crisis, lean on your superiors, pick their brains and commitment early, keep listening to the experts and move ahead. When Mumbai had the highest cases, all his batchmates were laughing at him. They told him ‘ you are one of a kind”. When asked what kept him going, he said the expert doctors told him, that this is the start, what Mumbai is seeing today, the rest of the country will get it in a few weeks. He took solace in their advice. Lesson – There are people who can tell you what the future looks like, listen to them. Don’t say I am doing everything, this is tough, you don’t understand my situation. In wave 1 no one thought we needed oxygen, in wave 2 oxygen became important. So look at variables that will unfold in this crisis, new ones will come to the table. After wave 1, most cities dismantled their care facilities, Chahal didn’t do it because he said the experts told him that a second wave could come. He was prepared. Lesson – a crisis is never truly over till it is over. This covid crisis will be with us till at least Middle of 2022. He calculated that he was spending Rs 200 Crores ($ 30 million) per month on running the 11 jumbo hospital facilities he put up. He went to the Chief Minister and said, this pandemic will not go away. Why don’t we float a global tender for vaccines. Since we are spending Rs 600 crores a quarter , it’s better to get the vaccines and vaccinate people , then we can save the money running these hospitals. The Chief Minister agreed, and Chahal floated a global tender, in which he specified the temperature , the cold storage etc. He recognized he had enough cold storage. Wonder of wonders, the central government agreed in 24 hours. Lesson – when you do what’s right for the company or society , people will change the rules to help.( In India, no state government can order vaccines!). Lesson – see how you can use the same resources better, don’t ask for more. He recognized that vaccinating people is key. He has vaccinated 2100 people in the Mumbai high court through mobile vaccination, with a van standing outside the high court and vaccinating them. Mumbai has a 9 million population and he plans to go and vaccinate people direct to home, by getting vans parked in home localities and vaccinate them. He feels he can easily vaccinate 300,000 people a day and in 50 days, he will vaccinate all of Mumbai. That will be a miracle. Lesson – look at the challenge differently, and seek new answers. Last learning, he was asked , what’s his one lesson from this – he said “ In a crisis, stay one step ahead, that way, covid cannot catch you”. Mumbai has started planning for children who could be impacted. Last week the Chief Minister held a zoom call with 625 pediatricians in Maharashtra who warned that children could be next in wave 3. They are developing a standard Operating Procedure to deal with this if it happens and they are circulating this to every doctor in urban and rural Maharashtra. Chahal recognizes that when children come to a hospital, their mothers need to come with them. So, he is converting 40 % of the jumbo facility beds into cubicles so that mother and child can have privacy in the hospital. Think ahead, plan and be ready. He told his team let’s prepare for the worst, if the worst doesn’t happen, that’s luck. So, my colleagues, an individual can make a difference, he has to step ahead and take charge and not offer excuses. People will ridicule you when you do new things, but charting a new path is important in a crisis. What was Chahal’s mode of communication – whats app, he would redirect all message she received within 5 minutes to his person in the right ward. Be responsive, we are in a crisis. Technology of having dashboards and splitting Mumbai into 24 wards and each ward into 10 further dashboards helps because you can address the problem at a micro level and also provide resources at that level. Transparency is key, share everything and people will see the combined benefits. I think Iqbal Singh Chahal will go down in history as someone who saved lives but more important saved the reputation of the IAS community and saved a city and its reputation. Each of us can emulate him in our own area using his lessons in this crisis. Every business is challenged in this crisis, handle it. All the best Feedback welcome |
| "The human being is manifested in the form of want. He thinks of want only. And ends up in want. That is why he should contemplate his real nature. Otherwise: want–inactivity ,,-inertness–misfortune–death (continue). The self within the self. At present, you people are in a state of want, therefore it has become your nature. As when you are hungry you experience a feeling of want. After eating, that feeling of want disappears. Then you have a feeling of sleeplessness. On awakening, you feel the want of going out and gossiping. Accompaniment of wants one after another is there. That is why (you find your existence) in want. That’s what the body calls the natural want. Man has within him the capability to exist in true nature, in true form and true existence. As there is the veil of ignorance there is the doorway to knowledge as well. It is through this door of knowledge man goes back to his own nature and obtains his own state. In this domain of imaginary (world) that which supports your body on one hand on the other hand behind the veil there are actions. You are indeed many, showing forth in different forms and with different feelings. What else is it but the destruction of want of each particular form? In the universe, if it is you who are giving and taking, you who has the feeling of want, and you yourself are of your own nature, then this action is yours indeed. Where you see yourself in everything and strive for the sight of only ‘That’ in whatever existence is seen, then where is the seer different (from the seen)? The purpose of discourse, discussion, and controversy, as also the state of lacking is indeed to obtain that direct cognition. Be awake in your own nature." |
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