NARA'S NOTEPAD
VOLUME 10
FEBRUARY 2014
NUMBER 2
Saturday, February 1, 2014
MEMO FROM NARA...
2013 is passed away and 2014 is born. We have seen
the past and we have to see the future in 2014. The past and future were
separated by a very short period of the New Year Eve on 31 December 2013. It
was the minute and hour hands of the clock came together one over the other at
12’O clock – the midnight. As soon as the midnight was passed we entered the
year of 2014 – A New Year. People all over the world irrespective of all kinds
of differences celebrated the solemn occasion.
People make new life-changing resolutions
such as putting a stop to cigarette smoking, drinking liquors, getting up early
in the morning, going for morning walk etc. All these New Year resolutions are
followed religiously for a month or two and forgotten afterwards in most of the
cases. Still it is a custom to take New Year Resolutions to improve one’s
quality of life.
People used to send New Year Greetings
to their dear ones who live in far off places. But nowadays such habit of
sending greeting cards is getting vanished. We just call our friends and
relatives using our mobile or i-phones and wish them New Year greetings. See
the changes we have followed over time! Everyone expects that the New Year will
bring peace and happiness all over the world. Such expectations may happen as
we expected or it may not. Still people expect for a good future. Those who
have faith in God go to temples, churches or mosques to pray for a good future
in the coming year without knowing what they need to do. Unless we change our behaviour and attitude good future cannot
be achieved. That is certain. We may talk about so many things for days
together, but the real progress comes only when we involve ourselves in the
governance. We need to do our duty and follow certain norms to bring about
better surroundings with good understanding of human value.
For India, the parliamentary election
is scheduled in May 2014. A new government is expected. New future for the
country is envisaged. The United Nations has designated 2014 as the
International Year of Family Farming, the International Year of Crystallography
and International Year of Small Island Developing States (or SIDS, who worry
that if the Oceans rise, they could become SUD – Small Underwater Drowned
States). All these three important aspects concern the population of the world.
Agriculture, science and climate change are basically essential for every
individual of the world to consider. Future depends on these three subjects.
I think 2014 will certainly see some
spectacular changes both in our country and in other parts of the world. Let us not see an angry world, but let
us see a peaceful world for the progress of human achievements.
SPONSORS
NARA’S NOTEPAD
thank
Dr. V.V. Ramamurthy, Principal Scientist (Entomology)
and National Coordinator, IARI, New Delhi
for
sponsoring Dec. 2013, Jan. and Feb. 2014 issues.
AND
Dr. A. Appa Rao, Former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya N.
G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad
for
sponsoring March 2014 to Dec. 2014 issues.
KEEP THE SPARK ALIVE...
Explore Yourself: If you are busy finding faults
with your partner, without considering how you may have changed, too, it will
harm the relationship. You make an effort first. Do small things to make your
partner happy.
Grow together: Every phase comes with fresh
excitement and responsibilities. Discuss your inhibitions with each other. At
various stages, you’ll discover different aspects of yourself, your partner and
your relationship. Grow not only as individuals, but even as partners. It’s
important to learn from mistakes and appreciate each other’s strengths.
Expectations create havoc: It’s impossible not to have
expectations, but being a bit realistic and lenient can go a long way. Also,
focus on your partner’s strengths, not weaknesses.
Take time out: Spend time with each other doing
fun things, like you would have done during the initial days of your
relationship. Invest time.
Build intimacy: Touching, holding hands,
cuddling, and kissing help re-build intimacy. Saying ‘I love you,’ ‘I am sorry’
and ‘I miss you’ go a long way. These words, when taken for granted and
unuttered, widen the gap in a relationship.
Blame game: Avoid blame games to resolve
conflicts. On the contrary it worsens the situation.
Comparisons: Don’t compare your relationship
with those of your parents, friends or extended family. Each relationship is
different just as each person is.
Melissa D’CostaDO YOU KNOW?
v The
word ‘almost’ is the longest in the English Language with all the letters in
alphabetical order.
v The
first English Dictionary was written in 1755.
v The
word ‘strengths’ is the longest word with just one vowel.
v ‘Bookkeeper’
and ‘bookkeeping’ are only two words with three consecutive double letters.
v There
are only four words in the English Language which end in ‘dous’ (they are :
hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous)
v The
first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON.
v ‘Skiing’
is the only word with double ‘i.’
v The
least used letter is ‘Q.’
v The
most commonly used letter is ‘E.’
v ‘Dreamt’
is the only word with that ends in ‘mt.’
TO QUOTE...
Sometimes we
have to get really high to see how small we really are. – Felix Baumgartner
To discover
joy is to return to a state of oneness with the universe. –Peggy Jenkins
I owe my
success to listening to the very best advice and then doing the exact opposite.
– G K Chesterton
A man paints
with his brains and not with his hands. -Michelangelo
SIX CARDINAL RULES OF LIFE
1. Make peace
with your past so it won’t disturb your present.
2. What other
people think of you is none of your business.
3. Time heals
almost everything. Give it time.
4. No one is in
charge of your happiness. Except You.
5. Don’t
compare your life to others and don’t judge them. You have no idea what their
journey is all about.
6. Stop
thinking too much. It’s alright not to know the answers. They will come to you
when least expects it.
JUST TO LAUGH...
A doctor vacationing in Switzerland met an old lawyer friend and asked him what
he was doing there. The lawyer replied, “Remember the piece of real estate I
bought? Well, it caught fire, so here I am with the fire insurance proceeds.
What are you doing here?” The doctor answered: “Remember the piece of land I
bought in the country? Well, it got flooded by the river and here I am with the
flood insurance proceeds.” The lawyer looked puzzled, “How did you start the
flood?”
Two lawyers went to a bar and ordered two drinks. Then they took out sandwiches
from their briefcases and started to eat. The waiter marched over and told
them, “You cannot eat your own sandwiches in here!” The lawyers looked at each
other, shrugged and they exchanged sandwiches.
ANGER
ANGER
is an
inescapable human emotion; we all get mad once in a while. But there are ways
to control our anger, and not let it control us. Just like laughter is
transient in nature, so should anger be. A joke will make you laugh again if
you think about it over and over, and anger is no exception, the more you think
about it, the angrier you’ll become. So when you are angry at something or
someone, it’s important you let it die out naturally, don’t continue to feed
it. Think of other things and apply your cognitive resources at things that
make you happy.
Avoid
doing what you know is wrong!
Meet you
next month – March, 2014
Professor
A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP
www.nara.tumblr.com (NARA’S DIGEST)
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
MEMO FROM NARA...
Most people are too preoccupied with
their daily routines to make a major commitment to personal growth and
professional development. They find no time to look around and enjoy what
nature has provided to them. Even they have no time to share and enjoy their
personal growth and professional development with their friends and relatives.
They are so occupied that they are unable to come out of that so-called
‘comfort-zone.’
Everyone works to earn for one’s
healthy and happy life. But in today’s world men and women are put to work by
paying huge sums of money. Yes, Money! In fact money attracts people to go for
any sort of work – hard or soft. During this process, personal growth from a
simple job to chief executive of a company, a teacher to dean of a faculty,
ordinary office clerk to an officer, a secretary to a director and the like
happens. To reach those destinations one has to grow personally and excel in
his/her job. Hard work with intellectual ability or short-cut methods like
influences, corruption, personal contacts – can add water for personal growth.
In order to grow personally one has to put in constant effort forgetting the
personal life itself. Once it is lost one cannot get back. That is what the
spiritual gurus preach to the millions of devotees who surround them to learn
about life and spirituality. The professional development occurs due to
personal growth. Concentrated efforts to bring success to an organization
result in professional development. Every profession is growing day by day in
all possible directions. The development of such professions is necessary for
social change and progress. Persons who are committed to those activities are
regular in their day-to-day routines. Their mind and body are tuned to the
personal growth and professional development.
There are many winners in the world.
They followed certain way of life which is designed and desired by them. The
life is generally not disturbed by any other sort of enjoyment or
entertainment. So they concentrate on their goals – personal growth and
professional development. Those who do not follow such a routine life cannot
and will not be able to attain the height of personal growth and professional
development. Therefore one has to arrive at a balance so that he/she can plan
to allot adequate time for their occupation and enjoyment. Enjoying life is
most important to keep fit with personal growth. For example, health is very
much essential for happiness. So we need to look at our bodily and emotional
health by appropriate means such as exercises, meditation etc. Enjoying life
with family and friends itself, is an essential component of personal growth.
It helps in reducing the stress created by preoccupation of daily routines.
Proper relaxation and rest are also needed to attain personal growth.
In the modern world work wins over all other
activities. Therefore, it is important to think and act on the ways and means
for lessening the preoccupation of daily routines that keep us blind about many
other lifesaving activities.
SPONSORS...
NARA’S NOTEPAD thank
Dr. V.V. Ramamurthy, Principal Scientist (Entomology)
and National Coordinator, IARI, New Delhi
for
sponsoring Dec. 2013, Jan. and Feb. 2014 issues.
AND
Dr. A. Appa Rao, Former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya N.
G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad
for
sponsoring March 2014 to Dec. 2014 issues.
FACINATING PEOPLE OF 2013...
Jumba
Lahiri: Pulitzer Prize winner – Indian-origin American
author.
Angela
Merkel: Elected for a third term as German Chancellor.
Sachin
Tendulkar: Retired cricket legend.
Malala
Yousafzai: Sixteen-year-old Pakistani school student and
women’s rights activist.
Narendra
Modi: Priministrial candidate of BJP.
Nelson
Mandala: Passed away.
Meryl
Streep: American actress; two Academy Awards and 8 Golden
Globe awards.
Hillary
Clinton: U.S Secretary of State; “When women participate in
politics it ripples out to the entire society…women are the world’s most
underused resource.
Edward
Snowden: The whistle-blower is now in Russia and faces
charges of espionage if he returns to the U S.
Arvind
Kejriwal: Created the Aam Admi Party and became the Chief
Minister of Delhi.
THINGS TO REMEMBER IN LIFE...
Do your best instead of worrying about
getting perfect results.
Do not worry too much about other
people’s opinion.
Don’t lose your temper over small
matters.
Work with circumstances instead of
looking for ideal situations.
Stand up for yourself but do not get
unnecessarily over aggressive.
Do not react on any unverified
information.
Do not value others’ opinions beyond a
point.
Think before you speak or act.
Have faith in yourself and don’t
listen to negative people.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
TO QUOTE...
v We accept many
notions because they seem to be the logical answers to our questions. But have
we asked the right questions? – Harold L. Klawans.
v In the West,
you have bigger homes, yet smaller families, you have endless conveniences –
yet you never seem to have any time, you can travel anywhere in the world, yet
you don’t bother to cross the road to meet your neighbours. – Dalai Lama.
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