Mama Test

The seven deadly sins according to Mahatma Gandhi are:

1>Wealth without work
2>Pleasure without Conscience
3>Knowledge without Character
4>Commerce without Morality
5>Science without Humanity
6>Religion without Sacrifice
7>Politics without Principle

Each of these perversions reflects a lack of values.

How do you put your value system to the test. I believe there are two tests which are effective. Of these, the ultimate test is the "Mama Test".

Whatever you do at home or at work, alone or with someone- if values are in question-Ask yourself, "If my Mama were to see me doing this, would she be proud of me or would she hang her head in shame. Another test which is similar to this is called "Baba Test". In this test ask yourself "If my children were to see me doing what I am doing, would I want them to see it or would I be embarrassed.

I wonder how long these tests will continue to be effective

Cricket Ka Bukhar

Three reasons why I celebrate the defeat of Indian Cricket Team in big matches.Firstly, after the defeat, the coverage of Cricket news in electronic and print media is reduced considerably thereby giving space for other news to appear. Secondly, the popularity of highly overrated cricket players is waned. Thirdly, the craze of cricket in India gets diminished with each defeat. The so called Cricket ka Bukhar has reached a dangerous level. Only successive defeats can diminish the craze from the minds of Indian public. Other sports in India are suffering on account of this madness. Even Gold medalists of the like of Abhinav Bindra are not facilitated as much as our so called cricket Gods and demi Gods. Perhaps there is no other country in the world which is as much Cricket crazy as India is. Even in the popularity chart, the most popular sport in the world is football and not cricket. India’s own hockey which was ruling the world in the past several years, and which is considered it’s national sport has been relegated to the background thanks to Cricket. Hockey is slowing dying here and so are other sports. Sports ministry is doing nothing to promote other sports including gymnastics. India’s dismal record in Olympics is the proof of sheer madness towards one single sport. Forget other sports. Even in Cricket, Indian team’s record is not good considering number of wins and losses against each country. You can check back the statistics. Players like Tendulkar and Gavaskar have scored maximum number of centuries in ODI and Test Cricket. Yet, when it comes to winning the match, their records are not very impressive. What ultimately counts is whether the team wins or loses the match not how many centuries X,Y or Z in the team has scored. Another point to be noted is whenever there is a defeat, it is always the bowlers who are the prime targets. It looks like as if cricket is all about batting only. All our cricket icons are batsmen. Pakistan wins the match on the strength of bowling. New Zealand wins the match on the strength of fielding. Fielding and Bowling are the other departments which also contribute a lot in winning a match. Cricket matches are not won by analyzing treadbare in which position Gautam Gambhir or Sahwag should come to bat but by rigorous match practice and hard work by the players on the ground backed by sound strategy. Our batsmen are more interested in learning Bollywood dances, participating in reality shows rather than sweating on the field.

Space exploration

India’s Chandrayan-1 has achieved a major milestone in space science, discovery of water on the moon. There are no lakes or oceans on the moon. Only water molecules are found in moon's soil.It is a matter of great pride for all Indians. Presence of water on a celestial body other than earth is a clear indication that life in some form may exist in other planets in the universe. Water can remain in liquid form between 1 degree and 100 degree farenheight. If the planet is too hot, water will be vapourised, if it is too cold, water will be frozen into ice. U.S has launched a satellite in space to explore the planets in universe which supports life. There are billions of stars in our galaxy. Like our milky way, there are billions of galaxies in the universe. Even if it is proven that life supporting planets exist in universe, the distance between our earth and these planets would be so great that it will be humanly impossible to get in touch with civilisations living in such planets. Science has made tremendous progress in the last 50 years. Today, we have built very powerful telescopes which can detect even small planets circling a distant star. Yet, we are still far behind when it comes to inter planetary space travel. Inter planetary space travel is possible only if we have techinque through which we can travel at the speed of light. There is no physical object which can travel at the speed of light. Vastness of space can be gauged from the fact that some of the stars are thousands of light years away from earth which means even radio signals will take thousands of years to reach a distant star. Nearest star is one light year away from earth.Hypothetically, if human being could transform himself into energy and then travel space in energy form at the speed of light, it is possible to reach a life supporting planet circling the nearest star in one year. Will it be possible in future, it is difficult to say.

Wake up

We, Indians are basically self centered. We are most concerned with our own well being. Family comes next in our priority list. The concept of family means wife and children only. Parents do not come in family. Country comes at the end. Our love towards the country can be seen only on the cricket field . You can see Tricolor waved by Indian spectators all over the stadium whenever Sachin scores a boundary or a six. We are more concerned with how many runs Sachin Tendular has scored rather than how many Jawans have lost their lives fighting terrorists. What do our brave soldiers get in exchange of supreme sacrifice they make for the country. Their families are made to suffer for the rest of their lives. There is no monetary compensation at all from the government. Coming to civic sense, we have developed extreme apathy towards the filth and dirt littered all over. There is no sense of hygiene anywhere. People can be seen squatting, urinating by the roadside. We have irresponsible government installed at the state and central level who is only interested in collecting taxes from honest taxpayers. The hard earned money of tax payers are being used in maintaining lavish lifestyles of corrupt beaurocrats and politicians. Crores of rupees are spent in their airtravel overseas every year. They are used to travel in business class, stay in 5 star hotels, use the most expensive cars for their personal use,live in palatial Bunglows. They are provided with Z class security by the ministry which again is at the expense of taxpayers money. There is no accountability whatsoever. Indian roads are dirty, full of potholes, probably the worst in the whole world. There is no footpaths for pedestrians. Whereever there are, they are occupied by roadside vendors. They are allowed to use footpaths because they pay Haftas to traffic police. Padestrians have no option but to walk on the main road risking their lives. Half of the traffic signals are not working. The number of deaths in road accidents in India are among the highest in the world. But who cares. Our civic administration is doing nothing. The corrupt officers of Bombay Municipal Corporation are only interested in filling their own pockets. Why can’t we display our patriotism in eradicating injustice, corruption rather than displaying it on cricket field. Have we become so insensitive as not to think beyond our own personal gains and pleasures. Bollywood is another nuisance which is ruining our culture and tradition. Bollywood actors have become the icons of young school children thanks to electronic and print media who have made them larger than life. Our taste has downgraded to such an extent that we are not in a position to differentiate between a good film and a bad film. So called reality shows on T.V. are exploiting young minds to increase their TRP. News channels are reduced to spreading rumours and propaganda. The contents of news channels are third grade. News such as lessons from Priyanka Chopra on “How to patao a ladki” with live demonstration is not only silly, stupid but also cheap,vulgar and demeaning. We are reconciled to shabby treatments meted out to us in hospitals, Banks, Airlines, Railways, Hotels etc. We are used to racial discrimination not only overseas but even in our own country. There is no protest whatsoever. I tell you public protest works. Look at what happened post 26/11.Common people went to the streets and protested for lack of security with the result two high profile incompetent ministers of Maharashtra were forced to give resignation. Our tolerance level is quite high which needs to be lowered for our own good. If we tolerate exploitation, injustice meted out to us, we are as much guilty as the perpetrators of crime. If a girl is raped in public, and if we stand and watch helplessly, we are as much guilty as the rapist. Our mindset has to change. We will have to come out of our comfort zone and fight for justice. British rulers did not give us freedom on a platter. We had to struggle and fight for it. Young boys and girls are looking up for role models. Unfortunately, there is no role model today whom they can emulate. People have forgotten Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters who were great leaders in their times. Teachers and Parents need to inculcate right values in young minds, else when they grow up, they will develop the same mindset as what I have written in the beginning of this post.

Goal Setting

Most of us who are busy from morning to evening will be shocked to learn that 80% of what we do, does not contribute to even 20% of what we want to achieve. We are busy doing nothing. We, as human beings have to perform multiple roles. These roles are not confined to workplace only but extends to our personal life and social life also. If we fail to perform any of these roles, we will become unhappy. If our personal relationship with our spouse is not good, it will get reflected in our performance at workplace which will effect our career ultimately. Conversely, if we spend too much time in our workplace, we will be left with little time to spare for our spouse at home with the result, our relationship with spouse will get effected. This is a vicious circle. We have only 24 hours at our disposal. The point is how smartly we invest this time in doing multiple activities. Broadly, speaking, if you draw a full circle and call it as the wheel of life and divide the circle into various segments, each segment representing a particular sphere of activity say Career, Personal life, spiritual life, social life, Healthcare etc with you at the centre, you will note that if you try to expand any one segment across the wheel, it will cause shrinkage to another segment automatically . What is required therefore is not to lean too much on one particular sphere of activity at the cost of another but to do balancing act and give equal importance to each sphere of activities . Goal setting is the first thing that should be done because that will give you the sense of direction. If you do any activity without setting the goal, you will soon lose the interest and will never be able to complete it. You must set at least 5 goals in each sphere of activities. The goals set must be SMART goals meaning they should be S(pecific), M(easurable), A(ttainable), R(ealistic),T(imebound). After the goals are set, you define major milestones with list of activities under each milestone. Milestones will help you in knowing whether you are right on track or you have gone off the track and hence will give you an opportunity to correct yourself before it is too late. Having done that, you list down the obstacles that will come in your way hindering the progress of work and how you are going to overcome the obstacles. Now, you are ready with complete roadmap on how you are going to achieve the goals. On a day to day basis, you will be doing many other activities which do not contribute anything to achieving short term or long term goals as defined by you. These activities are not priority areas for you and can be delegated to somebody down the line. Prepare ‘to do list’ on a daily basis which is in line with goals set and check at the end of the day how many of them you have completed. If any of the activity is left unfinished, try to complete it on the following day. This habit of yours will focus on doing core activities which will ultimately lead to achieving the goals set. Working smartly rather than working hard will give you cutting edge over others. You don’t need to be miles ahead of others in competitive environment. The winning horse in a jackpot is only a fraction of a second ahead of the horse who comes second.

Solution of last mathematical puzzle

The correct answer of the previous puzzle is

"Write box no on top of each box. Since there are 10 boxes, write box no 1 for the 1st box,box no 2 for the second box, box no 3 for the third box and so on. Now, take out one ball from the 1st box, 2 balls from the second box, 3 balls from the 3rd box and so on. Put all balls which will be 55 in numbers on one side of the weighing scale and put weights on the other side to balance the weight on both sides. Count the total weight. Deduct the total weight from 550. The difference is the box number. If the difference is 6, the balls weighing 9 grams is in box no 6. If the difference is 8, the balls weighing 9 grams are in box no 8."

Puzzle

Those of you who are good in solving mathematical puzzle, here is an interesting one.

"There are 10 boxes. Each box contains 10 balls of identical shape , size and color.
Balls in 9 out of 10 boxes weighs 10 grams each. Only one of the boxes contains balls weighing 9 grams each instead of 10 grams. You have to identify the box which contains balls weighing 9 grams only. You are provided with a weighing balance with weights of 10 grams and 1 grams only. The only condition is that once you put number of balls on the weighing balance, you cannot change it. You are however, allowed to change the weights"