NARA'S NOTEPAD
VOLUME 17
AUGUST 2021
NUMBER 8
Monday, August 2, 2021
NO TOBACCO DAY
On Saturday night I was with two of my friends in a small stuffy French pub where men and women smoked, drunk and danced all night. We also participated in those activities and enjoyed the night. It was at 3 am, my friends dropped me at my apartment. Somehow I could open the door and entered the room. After smoking a cigarette, I slept.
The puffing in the pub by so many people stuffed the smoke into every one dress, body including the exposed hair of the head. I never realized the harmful nature of tobacco smoke, but I thought it was fun and enjoyable.
It was when I left for France, 40 years ago; I started smoking foreign cigarettes to start with. Later when I came back to India, the habit continued till 1996. When I used to travel in train, I used to smoke without any respect for the co-passengers - men, women or children.
I was deriving a kind of pleasure in taking out a cigarette from the pack and light it either with a lighter which I brought from France or later with a match stick made in Sivakasi. I left smoking three times on the eves of New Year. It hardly lasted for a month or two. During this period I used to have good apatite and put on weight. I read somewhere one of the consequences of quitting smoking is an increase in body weight.
In spite of the advice of my wife, sons and daughter, I could not quit smoking. In 1996, one fine morning, I decided myself with great determination and willpower ‘not to smoke’ from that day. Fortunately, it continues to date. When I travel later in trains, I could smell the cigarette or beedi smoke coming from a long distance. When I used to smoke in those days, I never could smell the smoke coming out of my cigarette. Now I have become so sensitive to the bad smell of cigarette smoke. I realized how harmful I was to those who travelled with me in those days. Also, I felt sorry that how much displeasure I would have caused to those men, women and children who never asked me to stop smoking. What a shameful life I lived making others uncomfortable. They would have cursed me in their mind.
Two years ago when I was travelling on the train, a middle-aged man was smoking in the compartment as I used to do earlier. I saw a young lady, came to him and requested him to stop smoking. The man who was smoking felt very bad and extinguished the bit of burning cigarette and threw it out. I was happy that such an incident did not happen to me in those days! Everyone has the freedom to express themselves to safeguard public health. That was what that young lady did boldly.
Tobacco consumption in whatever form is harmful for health. It appears that China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco. There are 350 million smokers in China according to an article published in a newspaper. It is a common ritual in Chinese weddings it adds. Banning tobacco cultivation itself is one way of putting off puffing. Increasing the cost of cigarettes and their associates by imposing taxes is another measure many Governments took.
The Finance Minister in every year budget speech made it a point to add tax for cigarettes and tobacco products in the past. The Government gave the statutory warning in cigarette packets itself saying cigarette smoking is injurious to health to create awareness. One of the health ministers of the Government of India brought a rule that smoking scenes should not be shown in cinema. These are measures to create awareness among the public not to smoke.
The tobacco business is the biggest money earner in many countries. Millions of people are employed in both production and processing of tobacco. Considering the economic importance of income and the creation of employment for countrymen and women, it becomes a sensitive issue for governments to bring strict rules to abolish the use of tobacco. However, health consciousness among the public has brought down smoking to a considerable extent. It is a good sign; even without imposing hard rules, people themselves change for the best. We hope the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May every year will remind people to wind up the bad habit of smoking and other ways of consuming tobacco. – NARA
(Written some years ago on the No Tobacco Day)
YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS -IF YOU STAY PERSISTENT.
Try a different approach.
Be willing to learn something new.
Don't accept that you know
everything even if you think you're going through a familiar process - you may
discover something new.
Be open to any and all possibilities.
Instruct your
subconscious mind to help you find all options to help you succeed.
Get started
today
GETTING YOUR ACT TOGETHER
Be happy.
Like yourself.
Shed your baggage.
Be first to break the ice and introduce yourself.
Try not to seem self-conscious.
Be engrossed (caught up) in an activity you find interesting.
Get involved in an activity others are already doing, or something you like to do or are good at.
Don’t frighten people off by trying too hard or moving too fast to make a friend out of an acquaintance.
Minimize your solo activities like watching TV and surfing the Web.
Do activities where you interact with others; don’t just be in the same place all the time.
Appear approachable. Smile and make eye contact. When introduced to others, ask about their work or favourite activity to help you remember them.
If the other person can’t remember your name, he might avoid you. Occasionally mention your name again (as if you wouldn’t expect the other person to remember it).
Ask a few questions that are light, fun and impersonal to show you are friendly and feel comfortable around the person.
Act as if you are going to be liked.
Be patient and enjoy the other person’s comments.
Encourage the other person to open up, and they will be unaware of whether you are nervous.
Act naturally. Expect a few goofs along the way as you improve this skill.
Never complain, exaggerate, brag or speak poorly of another person.
Practice on everyone you meet.
SIX LITTLE STORIES WITH MEANINGS
Once all villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer, all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That is faith.
2. When you throw babies in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That is true.
3. Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still, we set the alarms to wake up. That is hope.
4. We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence.
5. We see the world suffering, but still, we get married and have children. That is love.
6. On an old man’s shirt was written a sentence ‘I am not 80 years old; I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience. That is attitude.
Have a happy day and live your life like these six stories. Remember – Good friends are the rare jewels of life, difficult to find and impossible to replace.
TO QUOTE
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. – Pablo Picasso
Experience
is a master teacher, even when it’s not our own. – Gina Greenlee
JUST TO LAUGH
The future of "I give" is "I take."
The parts of speech are lungs and air.
The inhabitants of
Moscow is called Mosquitoes.
A census taker is a man
who goes from house to house increasing the population.
A virgin forest is a
forest where the hand of man has never set foot.
The general direction
of the Alps is straight up.
A city purifies its
water supply by filtering the water then forcing it through an aviator.
Most of the houses in
France is made of plaster of Paris.
The spinal column is
a long bunch of bones. The head sits on the top and you sit on the bottom.
LINES I LIKED
- Ø Learn the art of feeling good.
- Ø Learn the rules, and
then break some.
- Ø
Learn to accept that
which you cannot change.
- Ø
Learn to accept the
behaviour of others that doesn’t fit your opinions.
- Ø
Learn to avoid blaming.
- Ø
Learn to be a keen
observer.
- Ø
Learn to be flexible
in life.
Learn new skills that can replace bad habits.
Meet you next month –2021
Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP
SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO:
E-mail: arumugakannu@gmail.com
Ph :
0422 4393017 Mobile: 75399 15614
(NARA’S
NOTEPAD)
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Everyone has a name and everything has a name too.
These names are given by us only. Human beings give a name to their children as
soon as they are born or a few days afterwards. In fact, names are given to
identify the person or things. Without a name, it is impossible to find out who
is who and what is what? Therefore humans while evolving learned to name people
and things.
The name of the male is distinctly different from that
of a female. Before a child is born the parents choose some attractive and
fashionable name for their son or daughter. It has become a custom all over the
world. In olden days, mostly the name of the grandparents are given to the
grandchildren in order to keep the family names alive. Even now in some
families, such customs prevail. In fact, my name Narayanan is that of my
grandfather. Many parents prefer to give their children the name of Gods and
Goddesses. In India, for example, the names of Shiva, Vishnu, Vinayaka, Rama,
Sita, Lakshmi, Saraswathi are commonly given. Naming a child is a family
function celebrated with family members and friends at home or in a hotel. One
thing my friend told me that almost all female names in India end either in “a”
or “i” or “e”. It’s a good observation. Think over…
The recent trend is
choosing a short name like Nila, Kala, Maha. Even if there is a very long name
like Ramachandran, it is shortened as Ram or Ramu or Chandran for easy calling.
But in a record, the original long name will be there. There are first, second
and third names too. It’s common in Western Countries. In India also we do find
such practice in some States. The first name is generally the name of the
village where he or she is born, the second name will be the name of the father
and the third would be the actual new name. It’s interesting to note that the
mother’s name is not added as the second name. Generally, the first two names
will be abbreviated as the initials only. In many cases, the last name
indicates the caste as Rao, Reddy, Iyer, Pillai, etc. However, adding a caste
name is slowly, very slowly vanishing nowadays.
Moreover, while talking to others we
use many names that the other person also knows. Thus it becomes easier for
communicating our thoughts. So the names are the key to knowing people or
things in our world. Plants are named, places are named, streets are named, and
cities are named. If you start writing the names you know in a notebook, it
will run into millions of pages. I don’t think anyone has tried this exercise.
If you don’t have anything to do, better start writing the names of whatever
you know. It would be a wonderful exercise indeed! - NARA
OWN YOUR AMAZING SELF
1.
Be original
2.
Understand
what motivates you.
3.
Rise up to
new challenges.
4.
Concentrate
on your strengths.
5.
Don’t
compare.
6.
Speak up
when you need to.
7.
Find new
ways of doing things.
8. Live with integrity.
9. Accept your self-sovereignty.
10. Do your duty.
SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW
1. All polar
bears are left-handed.
2. American
Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served
in first-class.
3.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
4. Elephants are the only animals that can't
jump.
5. In the last 4000 years, no new animals
have been domesticated.
6. On average, people fear spiders more than
they do death.
7. Shakespeare invented the word
'assassination' and 'bump'.
8.
Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
9. The ant always falls over on its right
side when intoxicated.
10. The electric chair was invented by a
dentist.
11. The human heart creates enough pressure
when it pumps out to the
body to
squirt blood 30 feet.
12. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18
months, two rats could have over million descendants.
13. Wearing headphones for just an hour will
increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
YOU ARE AFRAID OF
You’re afraid you’re too fat. (I don’t
know what this has to do with creativity, exactly, but experience has taught me
that most of us are afraid we’re too fat, so let’s just put that on the anxiety
list, for good measure.)
You’re afraid of being exposed as a hack,
or a fool, or a dilettante, or a narcissist.
You’re afraid of upsetting your family
with what you may reveal.
You’re afraid of what your peers and
co-workers will say if you express your personal truth aloud.
You’re afraid of unleashing your innermost
demons, and you really don’t want to encounter your innermost demons.
You’re afraid your best work is behind
you.
You’re afraid you never had any best work
to begin with.
You’re afraid you neglected your
creativity for so long that now you can never get it back.
You’re afraid you’re too old to start.
You’re afraid you’re too young to start.
You’re afraid because something went well
in your life once, so obviously nothing can ever go well again.
You’re afraid because nothing has ever
gone well in your life, so why bother trying?
You’re afraid of being a one-hit wonder.
TO STIMULATE CREATIVE THINKING
1.
Why must it be done this way?
2.
What is the root problem?
3.
What are the underlying issues?
4.
What does this remind me of?
5.
What is the opposite?
6.
What metaphor or symbol helps to explain it?
7.
Why is it important?
8.
What is the hardest or most expensive way to do it?
9.
Who has a different perspective on this?
10.
What happens if we don’t do it at all?
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