Choice Power

My contention is
Man is a CHOICE driven Animal !
Our delusion and illusion is that we are driven by Hunger ,Ambition ,Love , Hate, Lust and the hundreds of other names we can coin but fundamentally , in the final analysis , the path and it's outcome  is dependent on  a choice we made freely ( there can be coercion - but we have the Choice to Resist or Succumb )
We Chose not to stay connected with certain people
We Chose to connect with some
We Chose Our government
We Chose  to be efficient or inefficient
We Chose to believe in God or follow Atheism
and there is nothing wrong in this !
At every moment we are given this liberty to exercise our Will and the more informed the Self is the better would prove the outcome of our Choice
We are not restricted or censored by Universal  Law !  That's the beauty of Human Existence
I subscribe to the belief that even the content of our drama of this lifetime is a CHOICE we made , or the Soul did , in the vested interest of undergoing certain experiences considered useful
It's just that we have forgotten this fact and rail against circumstances and blame others , luck , and everything else in sight !
George BernardShaw said somewhere :
" Whenever there is a conflict between self interest and public good the former always takes precedence over the latter "
I agree .We all make Choices according to the above and there is nothing wrong in that . There is no need to feel guilty or mask it !
What I think is wrong is trying to garb natural  self interest, as something else .That in my book is dishonesty.

Salute to Women Folk : Untold story of a Braveheart

Truly history is the account of deeds and situations noticed and often recorded and  reported with the slant given by vested interests . Here is a story that makes us feel proud of our women folk ( if at all such a thing is still needed ! )

Reproduced as received . Must read

DID WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN ABOUT THIS WARRIOR? WHY WE DIDNT TEACH ? TO APPEASE CHRISTIANS AND SIDELINE INDIANS. SEE HOW SECULARS DESTROYED OUR HERITAGE
_Did you Know...._🤔👇🏼⚓

_Frankly, though I have heard of the name, and her achievements, in part, having been associated, in 1991with the Commissioning of CGS Akkadevi..but there is so much more to it..Read on.._⚓

```The year was 1555. India was being clawed and chomped upon by the deceitful colonial cheapskates - on east were the inglorious British while our western flank was violated primarily by the Portuguese.

The Portuguese Colonial power was at its peak in the 1500’s. They destroyed the mighty Zamorins of Calicut. Defeated the Sultan of Bijapur. Took away Daman from the Sultan of Gujarat, Established a colony in Mylapore, Captured Bombay and made Goa as their headquarters. And while they were at it, pretty much unchallenged, they even ruined the ancient Kapaleeswarar Temple to build a Church over it.
Their next target, the super profitable port of Mangalore.
Their only bad luck, just 14 kilometers south of Mangalore was the small settlement of Ullal - ruled then by a feisty 30 year old woman - Abbakka Chowta.

Initially, they took her lightly and sent a few boats and soldiers to capture and bring her back to Goa - Those boats never came back.
Shocked and enraged, they sent a huge fleet of ships this time, under the command of much celebrated Admiral Dom Álvaro da Silveira - The admiral soon returned, badly injured and empty handed.
Thereafter, another Portuguese fleet was sent - only a few injured from the crew managed to make it back.
Then the Portuguese went on to capture the Mangalore port and the fort anyways, perhaps planning to tackle Mrs. Chowta from the convenient distance of the Mangalore fort.
After the successful capture of Mangalore, a huge army under João Peixoto, an experienced Portuguese General was sent to Ullal.
The brief was simple: Subjugate Ullal and capture Abbakka Chowta.
The plan was foolproof- there was no way a 30 year old with a few men could withstand the might of an army of thousands with advanced weapons.
The Portuguese reached Ullal and found it deserted. Abbakka was nowhere in sight. They roamed around, relaxed and thanked their stars - Just when they were about to call it a victory - Mrs Chowta attacked with 200 of her chosen men - there was chaos all around and many portuguese lost their lives even without a fight - General João Peixoto was assassinated, 70 portuguese were captured and the rest just ran away.
So if you’re Abbakka Chowta, who’s just defeated a large army of aggressors, killed a general, captured fighters and defended her city - What will you do? - Rest and enjoy the moment right? - Right? - No!
Rani Abbakka Chowta, rode with her men towards Mangalore that same night, and laid a siege of the Mangalore fort - She not just broke inside the fort successfully - but assassinated Admiral Mascarenhas the Chief of the Portuguese power there and forced the remaining Portuguese to vacate the fort.
She didn’t just stop at this but went on to even capture the Portuguese settlement at Kundapura, a full 100 kms, north of Mangalore - Just to make a point.
The Portuguese finally managed to get back at Abbakka Chowta by convincing her estranged husband, to betray for money. She was arrested and put in the prison where she revolted again and was killed while trying to escape.
Abbakka Chowta was a Jain who fought against the Portuguese with an army comprising of both Hindus and Muslims, a full 300 years before the First War of Indian Independence in 1857.
What did we Indians do to her, as a mark of our respect and gratitude? - We just forgot her.
We didn’t name our girls after her. We didn’t even teach her stories to our kids. Yes we did release a Postal Stamp in her name, named a boat after her and erected 2 statues - yes just 2 statues in the whole of India for someone who should be our national hero.
We might have got to read a chapter about her in our text books, had she been a European or an American.
We Indians are still busy, arguing, if it was actually one of her daughters who fought the battles instead of her. Many talk about her being the last Indian to have the power of the agni-ban. In all this cacophony, our generation has lost a great hero - a great source of inspiration.```
(Google and see it is a true story)

Wisdom of the (S) Ages - Utility of Man

Nothing is Useless
This is a story about being of service to others and the usefulness of things !
           
In olden times, boys used to go to 'Gurukuls' and live there with the Guru for many years for their education. When the pupils had gathered knowledge and wisdom they wanted, they went back home with the Guru's blessings and settled down in life.

Once, two pupils, who were to leave the Gurukul for home,went to Guru and said, "Gurudev, please tell us what gift we may give you as your Gurudakshina?

The Guru was pleased with the pupils' love and gratitude. He too loved them because of their devotion, discipline and sense of duty. He expected nothing more from them. However, he decided to add a little more to his pupils'*
"wisdom."

So, he said to them,"Dear children, go into the forest behind our Gurukul and bring me some dry leaves for which no one has any use."

The pupils wondered why their Guru had asked for this strange gift. But being quite obedient, they left for the forest as their Guru wanted them to do.

As soon as they entered the forest, they came near a small heap of dry leaves beneath a tree. When they were picking up some of them, an old farmer came running to them and said,

"Please put those leaves back into the heap. I have collected them. I am taking them to my field. When I burn them, their ashes will make excellent manure which will enable me to have a rich crop of food grains."
    
The pupils left that heap and went a little further into the forest. There they saw three women collecting dry leaves and putting them into their baskets. "What do you do with these dry leaves?"asked the pupils."

Dear brothers,"said one woman, I use them as fuel to heat water for bath and for washing our clothes."

The second one said," We pin the better leaves together with reed-pins and make patravalis which are used as dinner-plates in ashrams and temples.

" I earn some money thus to feed my children." Said the third one,"I collect dry leaves of this particular tree. My husband who is a Vaidya uses them for preparing some herbal medicines. He cures many ailments."
    
The pupils then went still further into the forest. They saw some dry leaves under a tall tree. As both were looking at them, a big bird swooped down and picking up one leaf, flew away. The pupils watched the bird carrying the leaf to the top of a small tree nearby, where it was building a nest of dry leaves and grass. They did not wish to take away the dry leaves which were useful to the bird.
   
Both the boys decided to go back to the Gurukul. On the way, they saw a small pond in which a big dry leaf was floating on the water." There is a big dry leaf which is of no use to anyone,"said one of them. The pupils went to the pond and picked up the leaf. To their surprise, they saw two big red ants moving on it. As one of the pupils held the leaf in his hand, the ants stopped moving, as though to say,

*"This dry leaf has been our lifeboat. But for it, we would have been drowned in the pond."

The pupils, thereafter, gave up their vain pursuit and returned to the Gurukul. In a sad tone, they said to the Guru,"Gurudev, we found that even dry leaves have so many uses that we could not bring them to you. All the dry leaves we saw were being used for some purpose or other. Please forgive us for not bringing with us the Gurudakshina you had asked for."

"Dear children,"replied the Guru,"I have received the Gurudakshina I wanted. The knowledge you have gathered today is my real Gurudakshina. Even a dry leaf is of great use and help to man, bird and insect. How much more precious, then, should be man's body and use it to make your life as well as the lives of others happy.

Never miss a chance to use it to serve the needy, the sick and the aged or to help the ignorant and the poor. Never forget this great lesson you have learnt today."

PARENTAL GUIDANCE NEEDED

PARENTAL GUIDANCE NEEDED should also mean guidance needed by parents
I am aware that there are others , much more qualified  than me doing this but I need your help to try and make a difference .
This little piece is inspired ,or rather triggered , by the case of a 8th class student who has decided that cooking is his life . He is already attending classes and courses being taken by " Master Chef " category and speaks quite authoritatively on various aspects of the culinary arts .
He of course continues to attend school but because of his passion finds the energy and time to pursue his interest.
He is fortunate that he has the full support of his parents .
My proposition is that many children , in their formative years , have an idea of what fires them up and what they can spend hours doing without tiring BUT
Run up against the prejudice of many parents that education is education and hobbies are hobbies .
Many things like cooking ,dance ,singing , painting , sports , photography etc can only be hobbies and DO NOT represent avenues for prospective careers - ( read PAYING CAREERS )
According to them a hobby does not fit into the template of a career path !
Juxtapose this with the current scenario of the fate  of hundreds and thousands of Engineering and Medical graduates who are floundering 
Thankfully many parents have started seeing the light but are unsure as to how to proceed in helping their children assess whether THE HOBBY IS ACTUALLY A SUSTAINABLE PASSION and therefore , even though they want the happiness of their children (naturally) are  prone to be cautious and vote for The so called " tried and tested " route.
The purpose of my post is to reach out  to those amongst us who agree with the point I am making and would be willing to contribute their ideas and join me in formulating a strategy to work towards this aim of helping students - through their parents .

I look forward to your  responses / comments

Marketing an Image

Here is a story I read which possibly is far fetched but shows what it means to create demand without having the back up .

Sometimes I wonder if we are not trying to create an image of well being and success by playing on the weakness of others who are known to use such yardsticks , such as what we wear ,where we are seen and with whom we are connected on social media

It's like creating a  market for a product which is not tested and ready .

There was a man who decided that he would create a product for well being
He named it ' Elixir of Life '
He did not have a product nor perhaps the foggiest idea of what it would contain .
He did the following
1. Inserted ads in the papers extolling its virtues  - Great content which caught the eye of dispensing store owners
2. Hired a group of young people and sent them by rotation into  the stores asking for ' Elixir of Life ' which made the stores aware of a demand which needed filling
3. Hired some open backed trucks and got these young people to get on their backs with banners of the product
4. Repeated step 2 and 3 for a couple of days
You can imagine how the purchase officers of the stores scrambled to their phones to place orders on the numbers given in the ads !
His order books were full so he got a supply of bottles with requisite labels.
Now came the rub ! What should he put in them ?
He got cases of whisky , gin and other alcoholic beverages , mixed them all up in his bathtub and bottled it as the Elixir of Life !
What the fate of the product or the man was is lost to history

Do  you see a parallel in what is happening in the real world with the help of social  media where there is a growing population of motivators , trainers and mentors ?

One is never alone - a story

This is a story  i read many years ago but have not forgotten .
In a village in Europe there lived a boy who yearned to be a Doctor . It was his inner calling but his environment and family conditions made it difficult.
One day he made a compact with God that if He would help him become a Doctor he would serve humanity without any personal considerations .
Miraculously doors opened for him and he went to college and university to become a Doctor and start his practice in the rural and remote areas .
In some years his attention was called for in remote and outlying villages which he attended to unflinchingly .
One cold blustery day he had just returned from his round and flung off his overcoat and lay down on the bed when he got a message that his presence was required in a village , the path to which lay through a dense forest in which apparently robbers , thieves , murderers and rapists were operating .
He balked at the prospect of going out and was thinking about how it would be better to do it the next morning when he was reminded about his pledge to God.
So he jumped up and set out . On the path it was getting darker by the minute and suddenly a huge shape loomed up in front of him and blocked his path . Fearing the worst the Doctor waited and the man blocking him said " Do you have a light ? "
Not having one , the Doctor said so and the shape dissolved in the dark and he continued his journey .
After attending to the patient he was returning home the same man stopped him , looked menacing , but just asked if knew the time .
After this harmless interaction he proceeded home and rested .
The next morning he learned that the police had caught the dangerous man who had operated in the forest at night and committed a lot of crimes .
Out of curiosity the Doctor went along to the police station and was shown the apprehended criminal whom he recognised as the shape.
He asked him why he had not harmed him when had two opportunities and the man said :
" Yes I did stop you with the intention to rob you BUT THE OTHER PERSON WITH YOU SCARED ME AWAY "
We are never alone and unprotected.

Entreprenreurship: A True Story

This is something for all the budding entrepreneurs out there whom i hope to be able to assist . If this has already been told pardon me for thinking it's an original . Its not my intention to plagiarize

An object case study of successful entrepreneurship and Out-Of-the-box thinking  comes from some centuries ago in the story of Christopher Columbus . He may not have realised he was doing it, as at that time, there weren't all the proponents of smart tags and terms around !

Out of the box thinking  : 

He had an idea which was way out of line with the logic of the times and decided that if he sailed in a particular direction he would reach India. He believed in that idea despite everything and every one !

Planning : He got down to compass and charts and made a Voyage Plan

Marketing : He successfully defended his plan before those that mattered - The Queen , Court and those others who would finance his trip with ships , human resources and money. He got the investment on the basis of the Returns in terms of riches from the East

Risk : With open eyes he accepted the risk of hostile conditions and the vagaries of the Unknown

Outcome : He reached a destination which was completely off the projected result so some may term him as a failure 

End Result :  His enterprise is rated as having produced one of the best products known to mankind " Gods own Country " and he is revered as it's discoverer.

So , my friends , set out with conviction and a good result is assured . Remember he did it without sophisticated equipment and navigational aids or medical support which we have today !
Just GO FOR IT !