Friday, January 06, 2012
88. Top 10 things to teach the next Generation - as Poems - #10: Save the world
Greenhouse gases released by power plants are bleeding mother earth,
feeding the dead & depleting our plant’s worth
So shall I teach children –
our planet is lovelier like mother’s womb, and sacred than the holiest tomb
To treat Animals with Just,
before we ravage against one another and turn Kingdoms to dust
To stop throwing litter and Waste,
to retain the wonderful dew drops and taste
To glance beyond the stars, to know where we are.

And in return asking from our children a oath,
To teach one another beyond their reach, back and forth
That - “Only if you forget the negative remnants of the past , And pass on the positive influences fast,
Shall our mother Earth rest in peace at last”

Labels:

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 1:19 PM | 4 comments
Saturday, June 25, 2011

87. When son becomes father, father becomes son




Life changes so narrowly in time, its beeeeen a loooooooooong time since I stepped into the world of blogs for so many reasons - upswing in career, change in family lines and a simple yet undeniable fact - boredom of unwanted repeated extravaganza flowing down the blogs these days. It is so right that you dont look at the world the way it its, you look at it the way you are, your memories and thoughts reflect on how the world swirls around you. There are many so many instances that make you stand out with pride:


As a Toddler - When you first started riding a bicycle, then maybe a motorcycle, when u secured your very first rank, when you had the very first crush on the cute girl/boy next your door, your very first manly/womanly dress from boy to girl, your first moustache, your first job, your first promotion, your marriage ---- all of these has been you, yours,mine kinda pride and then the arrival of a little one in your family changes all of that - the adage saying of superman "When a father becomes a son, the son becomes a father". It is no longer you, its your family now!. The rest of post below will continue in tamil for a poem that I wrote for my baby @ the wee hours of early morning, longing his for arrival from my inlaws home after his birth.


எப்பொழுது குட்டி நீ என்னருகில் வருவாய்,


என் கண்களுக்கு உறக்கம் தருவாய்,


மணியோ அதிகாலை மூணு,


நீதான் என் வாழ்வின் தூணு,


அழகு திருமகன் உன்னை பெற்றெடுத்த உன் அன்னையின் ராசியோ சித்திரை


உன் அழகு கரம்பிடித்து உன்னோடு அவள் இங்கு வந்தால்தான் இனி எனக்கு நித்திரை,


இந்த அதிகாலை வேளையில் ஆயிரம் சத்தம்,


என்னிதயமோ ஏங்குகிறது உன் மழலை குரலுக்காக நித்தம்,


வாழ்நாள் முழுவதும் நீ தருவாய் எனக்கு வசந்தம் அள்ளி,


வாழ்ந்த பின்னும் என் கட்டை வேக தருவாய் கொள்ளி,


மூன்றெழுத்தில் என் மூச்சிருக்கும் என்றார் ஒரு தந்தை,


"தமிழ்" தானே என நான் கேட்க, இல்லை என் "குலம்" என்னும் மூன்றெழுத்தை, "வளம்" பெற வாழவைக்கும் என் "மகன்" என்ற மூன்றெழுத்தில் என் மூச்சிருக்கும்!!!

Labels:

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 12:13 PM | 3 comments
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

87. Pursuit Of Happyness

This is short recap of what my compnay's CIO shared with us after attending the CIO Magazine CIO 100 Conference and awards in Colorado Springs a few weeks back. It was a 2 day conference that had the usual line-up of highly credentialed speakers, speaking on topics such as leadership, innovation, IT-Business alignment, and preparing for the next big wave in IT. These speakers all had important things to say, but the best session had about nothing to do with IT. There was a talk given by Chris Gardner, whose story was made famous by the movie (based on his book) called “In Pursuit of Happyness”, starring Will Smith. This is the real-life story of a man who through a series of misfortunes ended up homeless, and how he came out of homelessness to get a career on Wall Street as a stock broker. Today Chris is CEO of his own institutional brokerage, Gardner Rich LLC.
Chris is a fabulous speaker and was very dynamic and entertaining. First, he told the story of how he became homeless. While he originally wanted to be a doctor, he met his wife and ended up having a child (the young boy in the movie). In order to support his family, he had to quit school and began selling medical devices to doctors. He drove all over San Francisco and in the process, amassed many parking tickets, which he was not able to pay for. He then got accepted into an unpaid internship with the brokerage firm Dean Witter, which he saw as his chance to break out of his current near-poverty levels. One night, he and his wife got in an argument over money and neighbors in the apartment called the police. When they came to investigate, they checked his name against police records, and finding all the parking tickets, put him in jail. As a result, his wife left him, and he eventually ended up caring for his son. He had no income, could not pay rent, and soon, they were evicted from their apartment and were homeless, the two of them living on the streets and in the shelters of San Francisco. He spoke about the fact that there are many millions of invisible homeless families in America that we don’t see out on the streets panhandling – they live in cars and move from shelter to shelter, and often work jobs for meager pay during the days. He explained that once you become homeless, it’s very hard to get break out of it, since nobody wants to rent to you. Many families impacted by the sub-prime loan tactics are finding themselves in this situation.
Chris grew up without a father, who he never knew. He says “I made up my mind as a young kid that when I had children they were going to know who their father is, and that he isn't going anywhere." He wanted to break the cycle that occurs in many poor families: boys who grow up without fathers have a tendency to leave their families as adults. He said one of the most anguishing things about the night he spent in prison was that he was worried that his son would think he had left him, and he could not tell him otherwise. In the movie, you see Chris caring for his son, getting him ready for day-care in the morning, picking him up in the afternoon, finding food and places to sleep, and protecting him at night on the streets and in homeless shelters. He said that in the movie, they chose a 4 year old boy to play his son so they could have dialogue, but in reality his son was only 18 months old when they were homeless. It’s hard to imagine living homeless in San Francisco with an 18 month old child. But Chris refused to give in, committed to keep his promise to himself to be there for his son.
It is so impressive as to how tenacious Chris was in pursuing his goal to become a stock broker, despite not having an MBA or even a college degree. While homeless, he studied long hours for the exam he needed to take to make it out of the internship and get a paid position. He told of the countless hours he would cold-call prospects, just hoping for a single break. He said he had to work harder than the others since he had to end sharply at 5 PM in order to get his son from daycare in time to find a spot in one of the homeless shelters, which filled up fast. If he was late, they might end up sleeping on the streets, or in a bathroom in the train station, a scene depicted in the movie.
He shared the story of how he got a break with a wealthy Texas oil-man, partly because Chris had a southern accent and when he called the oilman, they were able to understand each other, whereas his upscale, well-educated peers had trouble communicating to the Oilman with his thick Texas accent. The oilman used to tell Chris racial jokes over the phone, not realizing that Chris was African American. Chris simply laughed along with the jokes, since at the end of joke the oilman would always tell Chris he wanted to buy shares in whatever stock Chris was recommending that day. Chris told how when asked if he felt he was the victim of racism, he would say “no, but that he was a victim of place-ism”. He did not feel he was denied opportunities because of the color of his skin, but was treated differently since he did not have a college degree, had an accent, did not dress as others on Wall Street, etc. He said he was out of place in the business world, and that was a disadvantage he had to overcome.
The most lasting impression Chris made was in his closing comments. Chris has many accomplishments in his life: rising out of poverty and homelessness to become a stock broker, becoming one of Bear Stearns highest producing brokers, starting his own company, and authoring the book that lead to the blockbuster movie. He has involved himself in numerous philanthropies, focused around things such as improving the well-being of children through positive paternal involvement, reducing homelessness, and helping the poor in Africa. Yet he said the thing he was most proud of in his life was the fact that he honored his personal commitment to be a good father to his son and that he had broken the cycle of misfortune that is often passed through generations of children who grow up without fathers. He said this was his proudest accomplishment and said that he was sure there were others in the audience who had broken their own cycles of misfortune in their families.
At that moment, Chris made us realize this is probably one of the greatest accomplishments, one for which everyone should feel very proud. For that, I thank you, Chris Gardner. You are an inspiration.
A successful company is made up of high-performing individuals. It’s easy for all of us to get caught up in our careers, our business success, winning the next deal, or competing for that next promotion. It is important for all of us to pause once in a while and realize that our most important accomplishments are those which require us to break historic cycles of negative behavior, and carry forward only positive influences to the next generation.

Labels:

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 12:47 PM | 6 comments
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
86. Why we love Kids!
There are so many reasons as to why we love kids. They are cute, innocent and sometimes way too hilarious. Most of us would have had experiences reading some kind of funny article about kids. Given below are from test papers and essays submitted by kids, as usual read it thru with my comments and have fun!
1. "When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire." - Wah Wah!
2. "H3O is hot water, and CO3 is cold water" - very nice now i will forget my Chemistry
3. "To collect fumes of sulphur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube"
4. "When you smell an oderless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide"
5. "Nitrogen is not found in Ireland because it is not found in a free state"
6. "Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes and caterpillars."
7. "Blood flows down one leg and up the other."
8. "Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration, and then expectoration."
9. "The moon is a planet just like the earth, only it is even deader."
10. "Artifical insemination is when the farmer does it to the cow instead of the bull." - :) Ultimate one!
11. "Dew is formed on leaves when the sun shines down on them and makes them perspire."
12. "A super-saturated solution is one that holds more than it can hold."
13. "Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas."
14. "The body consists of three parts—the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains the bowls, of which there are five—a, e, i, o, and u." - Excellent, now this is how a vowel becomes a bow(e)l
15. "The pistol of a flower is its only protections agenst insects."
16. "The alimentary canal is located in the northern part of Indiana."
17. "The skeleton is what is left after the insides have been taken out and the outsides have ben taken off. The purpose of the skeleton is something to hitch meat to."
18. "A permanent set of teeth consists of eight canines, eight cuspids, two molars, and eight cuspidors."
19. "The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in his fight." - Awesome , even I've had similar confusions
20. "A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is."
21. "Many women belive that an alcoholic binge will have no ill effects on the unborn fetus, but that is a large misconception."
22. "Equator: A managerie lion running around the Earth through Africa."
23. "Germinate: To become a naturalized German." - And terminate is to become a naturalized turkey?? :)
24. "Liter: A nest of young puppies."
25. "Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat."
26. "Momentum: What you give a person when they are going away."
27. "Planet: A body of Earth surrounded by sky."
28. "Rhubarb: A kind of celery gone bloodshot."
29. "Vacumm: A large, empty space where the pope lives."
30. "Before giving a blood transfusion, find out if the blood is affirmative or negative."
31. "To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose."
32. "For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower then the body until the heart stops."
33. "For drowning: Climb on top of the person and move up and down to make artifical perspiration."
34. "For fainting: Rub the person’s chest or, if a lady, rub her arm above the hand instead or put the head between the knees of the nearest medical doctor." - Ultimate one
35. "For dog bite: put the dog away for sevral days. If he has not recovered, then kill it." - Excellent Idea
36. "For asphyxiation: Apply artificial respiration until the patient is dead."
37. "To prevent contraception: wear a condominium." - very nice, I can understand the trouble in understanding a condom and codominium
38. "For head cold: use an agonizer to spray the nose untill it drops in your throat."
39. "To keep milk from turning sour: Keep it in the cow
." - And to Keep the cow alive, put it in Fridge?? :-)

Labels:

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 6:08 PM | 3 comments
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
85. Ahhhh! Is that you
How many occasion's have you been through when you recognized someone who you'vent met or seen or heard of for quite some time. And why am I bringing this out, just another lame excuse for me to let you all know that I've disappeared again. Reasons ranging from frequent travel, to busy work schedules, to shooting on TV - shooting?? Yes, all about it at the end of this post.

Here are a few points that I could think of which reminds you when you've lost contact for sometime.
1. An old photo album - Or a group photo which you dust out from you shelf or archives that you might see accidentally or show it to your family which reminds you of your friends whose names you would've actually forgotten.
2. A sudden phone call - From your friends or relatives out of the blue one day that brings in you a sweet lush of memories.
3. An accidental meet - maybe in the middle of the road, or a shop or at the beach. Again half the time I've the trouble in remembering the name of the person that the entire meet goes in wildly searching the back of my brain trying to remember him or her.
4. An email - out of the blue the blurts a sudden happy birthday after 45 years or how are you after eons.
5. A mention in media - newspapers or TV, when you hear about your friends who have become famous and appear in TV or have done something great that there is a reference in the local newspaper.
So what are the other things that you can think of, that reminds you of people? Finally, to the TV show I was mentioning at the start of the post, I did a debate show in SUN TV's Kalyanamaalai that is to be telecast from 16th (every Sunday between 8-8.30) for the next couple of weeks. I maybe speaking in any of the following weeks, do watch if you get time!

Labels: , ,

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 12:19 PM | 3 comments
Friday, August 29, 2008
84. What's your Story?

Have you ever had the experience of people boring you to death, when in the pretext of story telling they just nag on and on forever. So whats the best way to escape from the clutches of these goofy boredoms? Though I'm adpet (or maybe I'm not) at story telling myself here are some ways I can think of to escape in these situations:

1. The moment someone starts a story, act sneezing over and over again. Tell them its not a good omen to speak now!
2. Start Laughing hysterically even before they start talking and tell "that was hilarious man! I cant take any more"
3. Invite them for a lunch saying "My wife is out of town and I cooked this new special dish for you" forget abt talking you neighbour will be miles away.
4. Start digging your nose (like this one below), and mention you got a flu thats not very contagious!

5. Make some gargling noises like farting with your mouth, and then ask your neighbour "Hey! was that you" or tell him your tummy is really upset


6. Pretend as if you had selective deafness (like selective amnesia) and keep asking a frikking thousand times "Cant hear you! Can you say that again".
7. Give your neigbhour a cold blank twsited stare and tell him "Is something wrong in your face?"

Ok enuf of intended funs, here is what happenned as a part of monthly team activity at my office last month. We were randomly given a group of 10 words and a time limit 3 minutes to come up with a story and stage enacting. Here are the 10 words that I got.
1. Mercury 2.Java 3.Alien 4.Projector 5. Navarathiri 6.Gangster 7.Euphoria 8.Pantene 9.Semiconductor 10. Video Camera
The only rule for this game was that all 10 words needs to be used in the enacting. Here is the modified version of the story that I did with my group.
"A Gangster of Aliens in the form of humans join our company as trainees. They were inducted to Java training class for a months period, after which they were posted onto a project. The project was a part of the "New Technology" division dealing with the best in science and aviation. The project lead, the ever wistful cheerful girl she was welcomed this Gangster of 3 folks heartily and talked passionately about the dual life of of both fun and work. As a mark of spirit, she invited these folks to her home for the Navarthiri puja a festival of fun and color where different statues of gods and godesses, toys are arranged in a 9 step staircase. The 3 new joinees went to her home and helped her in arranging the toys. As apart of these arragements she found a newly wrapped doll, which was not a part of her collection. Upon inspecting these she found it be the semiconductor device that her project had recently developed for Time travel. Suspicious that this has been stolen by these new folks, she records this in a Video Camera and immediately contacts the CIA. She uses a Projector to project the video she had taken to the members of CIA, who after some investigation find that the 3 new joinees were indeed Aliens from the planet Mercury. The CIA immediatly attack and kill the Aliens and the planet is saved. Needless to say, the lead was in a state of euphoria as she was able to save the planet."
So lets see how good you guys are "whats your story" - here are some words for you, do write your story in comments-
1. Myth 2.Hollywood 3. Island 4.TN 07 1435 5.Hanuman 6.Alaska 7.Grapevine 8.Mantle 9.Chant
10. Bartender

Labels: , ,

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 9:35 AM | 2 comments
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

83. தகவல் தொழில்நுட்பமும் வாழ்வின் தேவையும்

ஐ.டி. (தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப) துறையில் பணி புரிபவன் நான். என்னைப் போன்றோருக்கு தரும் அறிவுரை?
நீங்கள் கூடுதல் புத்திசாலிகள்- கெட்டிக்காரர்கள். எந்த ஒரு விஷயத்தையும் பளிச்சென்று பிடித்துக் கொள்ளும் கூர்மதி உங்களுடையது. வெற்றி என்பது உங்களுக்கு ஒரு விளையாட்டுப் பொருள். வாழ்க!
பணம் மட்டுமே வாழ்க்கை அல்ல! உங்களின் பெற்றோர் தங்களது பணிக் காலத்தின் இறுதியில் வாங்கும் ஊதியத் தொகையை, நீங்கள் முதல் மாதமே வாங்கி விடலாம். அதற்காக, அவர்களை விடவும் நீங்கள் அதிபுத்திசாலி என்றோ, திறமையாளர் என்றோ, பெரிய மனிதராகவோ எண்ண வேண்டாம்.
உறவினர்களை அற்ப ஜந்துக்கள் போல நினைக்க வேண்டாம். தம்பி- தங்கைகளைப் படிக்க வைக்க நிறைய செலவு செய்யுங்கள். குடும்பத்தின் பந்த- பாசத்தை, இணைய தளத்தில் டௌன் லோட் செய்ய முடியாது!
வெளிநாட்டுப் பணம் வரலாம்... வெளிநாட்டுப் பண்பாடு வரலாமா? பிற மனிதர்கள் எல்லோருமே நாம் பயன்படுத்திக் கொள்ள மட்டும் அல்ல!
பத்து ரூபாய் கூடுதல் சம்பளம் என்றதும் கம்பெனியைக் கைகழுவுவது கொஞ்ச காலம் பெருமையாகத் தெரியலாம். ஆனால், ஒரு நாள்... இந்தத் துறையின் செயல்பாடே இதனால் ஸ்தம்பிக்க வாய்ப்பிருக்கிறது.
உணவு, உறக்கம், ஓய்வு, காலா காலத்தில் இல்லாதபடி உடம்பை- மனதைச் சீர்குலைத்தால், 40 வயதுக்குப் பிறகு உயிர் வாழ்வதே பிரச்னையாகி விடும். யோசியுங்கள்.
எப்போதும் ஏ.ஸி-யில் இருப்பதால், உங்களுக்கு வியர்வையே வருவதில்லை. அது, உடலுக்குக் கெடுதல். உடலை வியர்க்க விடுங்கள். தண்ணீர்த் தாகம் எடுக்காத போதும் நீர் அருந்துங்கள். கண்ட கண்ட குளிர்பானங்கள் குடிப்பதை விட்டு விட்டு, எலுமிச்சை, ஆரஞ்சு, ஆப்பிள், திராட்சை சாறு அருந்துங்கள். பார்லியும் சேர்த்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள். கண்களிலும் கவனம் வையுங்கள்.
உட்கார்ந்தே இருப்பதால் எடை கூடும்; சர்க்கரை அதிகரிக்கும். கொலஸ்ட்ராலும் பழுத்துக் கிடக்கும். மூளைக்கு வேலை என்பதால் ரத்த அழுத்தமும், சக்கைப் போடு போடும். எல்லாவற்றையும் எதிர்பார்த்து வெற்றி கொள்ளுங்கள்.
காதலிக்கும்போது அல்லது திருமணத்துக்குப் பெண் தேடும் போது... சம்பளம், வேலைவாய்ப்பு, செலவழிக்கும் இயல்பு போன்றவற்றை இரண்டாம்பட்சமாக வைத்துக் கொண்டு, ஒழுக்கம், குணம், பண்பாடான குடும்பம் ஆகிய விஷயங்களுக்கு முன்னுரிமை கொடுங்கள்.
'இன்று போலவே என்றும் சம்பளம் வரும்' என்று கனவு காணாதீர்கள். சிக்கனமாக செலவழிக்கப் பழகுங்கள். உங்களால் அதிகம் செலவழிக்க முடியும் என்பதற்காக, சிரமப்பட்டு சம்பாதிப்பவர்களது மனம் புண்படும்படி ஜம்பம் அடிக்காதீர்கள். அந்நிய நாட்டின் தயவில் அதிகம் சம்பாதிப்பவர்களாகிய பலரும் இந்த நாட்டு வெற்றிக்கு உழைப்பவரை இளக்காரமாக நினைக்காதீர்கள்.
வெளிநாடுகளில் வேலை பார்த்துவிட்டு ஊருக்குத் திரும்பும் போது, ஓட்டல்களில் தங்கிக் கொண்டு... உறவினர்களை- அம்மா- அப்பாவை, ''என்னால் வர முடியாது. இங்கு வந்து பார்... ஆட்டோவுக்கு வேண்டுமானால் காசு தருகிறேன்!'' என்று கூறி அசிங்கப்படுத்தாதீர்கள். பணத்தை விட ரத்தம் கனமானது.
வெளிநாடுகளில் பிறந்து வளரும் குழந்தைகளுக்கு எதிர்ப்புச் சக்தி குறைவு என்பது உண்மைதான். என்றாலும் சிறிது நேரமாவது தாத்தா- பாட்டி... அதாவது உங்களின் பெற்றோர், உங்கள் பிள்ளையைக் கொஞ்சுவதற்கு- உணவு ஊட்டு வதற்கு அனுமதி கொடுங்கள்.
ஆலமரமாய் உங்கள் பெருமையும் புகழும் பரவினாலும்,
ஜார்ஜ் புஷ்ஷின் மகளாய் இருந்தாலும், எதிர் வீட்டு மனிதரின் நட்பும், சக தொழிலாளியின் சிரிப்புமில்லாமலிருந்தால், பட்டமரமாய் வேரருந்து வீழ்வீர்கள்,
கானல் நீர் கோரைப்புல்லாயிருந்தாலும் பண்போடு தண்மையாயிருந்தால் பேரலையாய் துன்பமிருப்பினும்,
தோள்கொடுத்து நிலைநிறுத்த ஓர் உறவிருக்கும்!

நிலவாசலை திறங்கள் ,
வீடே வெளிச்சமாகும்!
மனவாசலை திறங்கள்
வாழ்வே வசந்தமாகும்!

Labels:

 
posted by Prasanna Parameswaran at 9:51 AM | 0 comments