Thursday, 15 March 2012

Doubts and Parents Responsibility, an article by Yandamoori

Doubts and Parents Responsibility

Why fires go upwards? What is the difference between aroma and fragrance? Why we wake up with bad breath? Why women weep more openly? Why sometimes we find sand in the newly purchased imported blue jeans?

When children raise these doubts, parents normally shut their enthusiasm with a standard remark “Don’t ask silly questions”. In Telugu they are called ‘choppadantu prasnalu’. Elders should never kill the eagerness of a child.

Here is an example from my life experience.

Ravan the movie:

Abhishek Bachhan kidnaps the wife of in the police station. When I read the synopsis of this film, I recalled my childhood doubt. a police officer to take revenge for his innocent sister’s rape and death.

This story is inspired from the greatest all-time epic Ramayana but the director deviates from the original with regard to hero’s sister character. In Ramayana her name is Surpanaka, who is neither raped nor killed. In fact she gets punished for expressing her love.

When I was twelve years old I was confused. Why a person like Laxmana with such high ethical standards, should slash Surpanaka’s ears and nose? My father also could not clarify but later found the answer from “Ramayana Kalpavrisham” by Jnanpeet awardee Viswanadha Satyanarayana.

When the demon lady proposes, Laxmana asks how he, being a normal human, can feed her giant belly and massive hunger. She says, “Don’t worry. I have special virtues. From any distance my ears can sense the footstep sounds of any animal. My nose is so powerful that when I take deep breath, those creatures either rabbit or elephant fly and fall before me.”

Laxamana reveals: “There is a purpose for our stay in the forest for past thirteen years. It is to save innocent animals and holy Saints from evil forces like you. Being a lady I don’t kill you but relieve you from your powers” and slashes her ears and nose.

I still remember after fifty years how my father enquired, found and clarified, instead of calling it a ‘choppadantu prasna’. Some of the children’s doubts may be silly but many of them have scientific or logical reasoning. We may not find answers for all but no harm in trying through Google etc. It enhances our knowledge

100 Tips to Get a RANK, an article by Yandamoori

TUNING THE BRAIN

The word meditation sounds big, when you do not understand the real meaning. Meditation means enjoying the current experience in depth, both mentally and physically. Concentrate on hair while combing, relish the taste of food while eating and enjoy the lesson while reading.
Anger, Laziness, Sensitiveness. Fear, Tension, Inferiority complex, Insecurity about future, Failure to speak public, Lack of Attention and Memory are the problems normally faced by students.
Look at the last again. Are they problems or weaknesses? Suppose a student meets with an accident before his exam. It's a problem. Loosing hall ticket one day before the theory test is a problem. Problems many not be solved, but weaknesses can be fought upon.

MOOD CONTROL
Be careful of what you do just before your studies. Don't get involved in gossip, arguments, phone conservations and long discussions prior to your studies. This may launch you on the course to daydreaming.
Ask your friends not to ring up after six in the evening. Request your parents not to invite guests during your study hours.
If your mind wanders, don't sit at your desk starting into a book and mumbling about your poor self-control. Stand up and go away from your books. Take a breath of fresh air. Never talk to friends on phone or with family members during these intervals. Don't even try to look in the direction of TV.. not even for a second.
Before you start your study, stand for a few moments before your study table ( or mat ) silently. Close your eyes and try to think of nothing. This is called CLEANING the SLATE. In the beginning, you may find it impracticable. It tests your patience. Many give up at this stage. After practicing for three to four weeks, you would begin to enjoy the results.

FOOD, LAZINESS AND SLEEP
Laziness is of two types, Physical and Mental. Tiredness of body called 'fatigue'. Mental laziness is 'boredom'. Don't confuse fatigue with boredom.
Do you eat to live or live to eat? Eat to live for six days and live to eat for one day. Normally you require 2500 calories per day. It is unpleasant to know that a hundred grams chips packet, butter cookies and a chocolate bar give you 450, 480, 300 calories respectively. Idly is good with 50 calories but a tea spoon of coconut or groundnut chutney adds up another 50 calories.
There are 22 amino acids of which body cannot produce nine and are to be supported from outside. Soya bean is a highly recommended food for students. Add it to your chapattis. You can mix Soya powder in water, fruit juices or buttermilk and drink twice a day.
Soon after eating a heavy meal you feel sleepy, as the intestines drains more blood and oxygen from the brain. Reduce the volume of your lunch and dinner to 25% and have large breakfast and evening snacks. Lunch, Evening snacks and Dinner in the ration of 30:25:20:25 keeps your alertness constant throughout the day.
Normally people eat rice for lunch and chapattis for dinner. It is advised the other way around. Chapattis keep you fit and light for the entire day and though easily digestible, rice is heavy on stomach.
Hypersomnia means early to bed and late to rise. It includes excessive daytime sleep and napping at inappropriate times. To fight hypersomnia, perform some sort of physical activity for ten minutes in the morning. Throw a Frisbee with your friends or just go for a jog. It eases your hypersomnia.
After dinner, walk 'alone' for ten minutes in the night and return to studies. Sandwich the uninteresting subject between two interesting subjects while studying in the nights.
Saturday Night Fever: Never watch late night movies on Saturday and compensate your sleep on Sunday afternoons. The effect continues on Monday also, disturbing the biological clock.

TIME MAPPING

The main reasons for unsuccessful time management are incapability of arranging the tasks in preferential order, getting attracted by more powerful unbeneficial deeds, irregular habits like excessive sleeping, and unnecessary gossiping and late night-outs.

Look at the right lower part of the table. A student in the month of June feels that there is a lot of time to begin his studies. He is unconscious about the urgency and importance of the exams. Slowly, as the half-yearly examinations approach, he feels the urgency, but he is not yet interested to start, as he thinks it is not that important. With that over-confidence, he ignores the subject and becomes lazy. Later as the examination date advances, he settles down to his studies. At this juncture, he finds certain subjects difficult and tough. He gets confused. He postpones studying those subjects. In March, suddenly, everything becomes important and urgent. In other words, as flood water from all small streams join to make a hell out of it, all works flow to the left upper block of he above table (Urgent and Important), creating tension to the student.

Maintain a fixed time for 'eat-intervals' in case you cannot hold your hunger for two or three hours. Don't visit the Kitchen in between. Keep some fruits or other eatables near your study table, but never eat there. Treat it as a holy place not be disgraced.
Developing speed with which you should read is also an art. It depends on whether you are reading a lesson or a non-detail. Again, first reading should be slow to underlining, revision should be fast. It is not important how fast you read and complete a lesson, but how you retain it is.
You should be able to say 'no' to any person who demands your time unnecessarily. You can learn to stop people, who are your time killers. They are the persons who pop into your study room for a chat. You have every right to politely postpone the conversation (unless you like it and nobody can help you then).
Next time when you talk to your friend on phone, ask one of your family members to record it without your knowledge. Note down how many urgent and important points that you have discussed in that one-hour conversation whom you are any way going to meet the next day. There will be none.
Arrange all necessary items like books, water, etc., before settling for studies. Don't waste your precious early morning time, searching for the above.
Start your study every day exactly at a given time and according to a timetable. If you examine your day carefully, you'll find that you tend to lunch and dine at predictable times. 'Time controlled behaviour' is fairly easy to start.

KEY NOTING

While studying (or listening to the lecture), note down the points in your own simple language. This is called keynoting. Suppose you are studying (or teacher is explaining) Ramayana. You should note that the key points like Ram - wife - kidnap - War.
You should be able to expand the entire Ramayana by holding these four words in your active neurons. All other incidents and names like Lakshmana, Vibhishana, Ravana etc., should be kept in passive neurons. At a later stage when you try to recollect the subject, the active neurons wake up the passive neurons.
Condense the entire subject to simple keywords. Use diagrams and colour pens, whenever necessary. Expand the subject in your words, with the help of the keywords.
Compare your script with the original notes. If the variation is more, try to write it again.
Original text books and notes contain much unnecessary matter. Your keynoting filters it. At the time of revision you need not choose between important and unimportant sentences. You are not straining the brain with unnecessary pulp matter.
You are not straining your eyes with the stereotyped letters of printing. You love your hand writing. Studying your own script reduces the strain of the eye.
The entire syllabus of ALL the subjects can be condensed into a 100-page notebook just by keynoting. Once you are thorough with this, then you will not.. be afraid of the dooms day i.e., examinations, spend sleepless nights in March and experience sweating while entering the examination hall.

DEVELOPING CONCENTRATION

A Student lacks concentration due to tow reasons: Having no interest in his studies or.. more interest in other things. Conquer your unwanted desires that take your time and come out of your magnetic fields.
Hunger, noise, visuals, sounds and odour are the five disturbances to our five sensory organs respectively. Ask your elders to watch TV with low volume.
Loud reading certainly helps you to concentrate better, but silent reading is advisable particularly when you are in a hostel or at a postgraduate level.
If you are in the habit of reading with some audio on, go for mono instrumental music. Never go for songs with lyrics.
Don't discuss your next day's interesting programs like going for a movie or sight seeing or picnic, just before starting your evening studies.
Set aside a fixed place for study and nothing but study. After a while, study becomes part of your behaviour and whenever you sit down in that particular place, you'll feel like going straight to work.
Some students have the habit of studying while resting on the bed or even in the kitchen. Never change your place of study. At times, when you feel for a change, you may go to an open place like upstairs, balcony or garden in front of your house, but never study in your bedroom or in kitchen.
Cultivate the habit of reading in libraries. Get habituated to reading alone. Combined study is normally not suggested, for it may promote unnecessary gossiping.
When you shift from one subject to another, allow yourself a five-minute interval. When you are bored with a dry subject, change to mathematics or any other favorite subject of yours.. or begin writing.
Desire control is the best mantra to develop concentration. Suppose your friends invited you to your most favourite hero's movie. Say 'no' to it or postpone it. Same way, control your urge to talk.
Place your most favourite sweet on your study table and read. Plan to eat it after completing your day's studies. After completing your studies, put it back in the jar without tasting it. Difficult, but when you practice it, an are able to win over 'you', the kind of confidence you gain gives you more satisfaction than yielding to your sensory organs.
Avoid falling in love at your age. Infatuations are common but a little effort, you can avoid. There is lot of life further for a better choice.

CONTROLLING THE SENSORY ORGANS

EYES: Face the wall to avoid distraction. Never sit facing the open window. Read under a table light and keep the other part of the room dark, to help create soft surrounding and elevate your mood. It is always advisable to keep the entire room dark, even in daytime, by closing the windows and reading before a table light.
Use tube light for your table light. This way you can avoid the unnoticeable flicker of a normal bulb and consequent damage to your eyes. Arrange the light in such a way that the rays don't fall directly on your eyes.
Use 'Yellow' coloured table cloth. If you are used to sitting on a mat and read, use yellow cloth on your mat. Your eyes are more comfortable with a yeallow backdrop.
Your attention deteriorates after an hour's study. Never read for more than one hour at a stretch. Take ten minutes rest in between. This concept is called Mind Holiday.
Keep a bowl of water and a cloth near your study table. In the first interval of ten minutes, sit erect and raise your head slightly upwards. Cover your eyes with the wet cloth. Close your left nostril and breathe through your right nostril and release it slowly from your left nostril. Continue the exercise in reverse for another five minutes. This exercise eliminates the residual carbon (dioxide) from your lungs and you notice the freshness, newly generated energy and the difference.
Between second and third hours of study, go to our balcony or an open space, or stand near your window, close your eyes and feel the fresh air. During the ten minutes interval, try to recollect what you have studied during the previous two hours.
If you feel sleepy and tired on a particular day, go to sleep. Don't force yourself to stick on the schedule. If you feel eyes getting strained, place cucumber (keera) or wet cotton.
MOUTH: It is your first enemy as far as your studies are concerned. To keep your mouth engaged, place a clove or cardamom (Elaichi) in your cheek. Whenever your concentration lapses bite it once.
Drink as much water as you can while studying. It constantly keeps you fresh. For 'every' one-hour have a glass of buttermilk or carrot or orange juice or water with Soya powder.
When you consume negative foods like chocolates and coke, simple carbohydrates are immediately being released into the bloodstream. Mirchi bujji, Pav-bhai and Pani poori have a chemical called Capsocysin. Burning them and conversion into glucose requires heavy amounts of oxygen and it leades sleapiness. Never eat the above items before or while studying. It is also better if you can reduce eating these products a month before exams.
If you are a non-vegetarian eat fish instead of mutton. The adrenaline released in the body of a dying animal is harmful to your body and mind.
NOSE: Sit in cool and fairly fragrant room and study, and you will find the difference in your concentration level.
Before preparing for study, smell 'mint' (Pudhina) for a few seconds. The aroma of mint increases your attentivenes.
Light an incense stick near your table while you study. Associate your studies with the smell of an incense stick.
If you are allergic to the smoke, apply any one of the following powder/paste near your neck: Kasturi, Punugu, Goroochanai, Javvadhi, Aragatha and Athar. Tehy are available in any grocery market. Their smell is differently pleasant being spicy, warm, slightly camphor based or sweet and penetrating. Choose one of them according to your taste. Apply them only when you study.
SKIN: Cultivate the habit of taking a mildly hot or cold-water bath before you start studying in the evening. It will make you feel fresh and new. For better results, steam your face for few minutes with turmeric water. It revitalises, refreshes and keeps you young.
EARS: Some students are habituated to read while the music is on. Try to get out of that habit. Classical music is supposed to aid learning in some cases, but music other than that tends to be distracting.
To avoid external disturbances consider using earplugs or cotton. If possible, record the lesson on a tape and listen to your own voice by keeping it by your bedside as you go to sleep.
Immediately on waking up from the bed, put on Surprabhata (or Bhoopala Raaga) and go ahead with your daily routine. In other snese, once you complete your dairy routine. In other sense, once you complete your studies in the night, try to minimise your talking till you take your bath. It enables you to be in the meditaion mood. This strengthens your neuron bonds and what you studied the previous night becomes permanent.
GENERAL: After completion of reading one subject, don't jump to another. Give a gap of 5 minutes.
After completion of your studies, move out of your house or go upstairs of your flat for five minutes to enjoy the quietness of the night. It refreshes you and ensures good sleep. The feeling that you are awake when the entire world is sleeping makes you feel 'on the top of the world'.
Never read during late nights. Never use drugs to stay awake. Before sleeping, try to recall the keynotes prepared by you.
Keep discussing your subject with your parents and friends. Get your doubts clarified immediately. When you don't understand a particular point, never hesitate to ask your teacher/parent.
Read daily. Even if you are on a holiday.. or at your grand pa's village.. or uncle's house.. read at least for half an hour.
Read the above once more. Before starting your studies.. bathing, lighting an incense stick, applying Javvadi and finally, the two minutes pray.. You have created a temple atmosphere in your study room. This preparation is the best to achieve concentration.

MEMORY

Memory is the link (bond) between various active and passive neurons. When more space is provided for unnecessary bonds, valuable neurons pertaining to education go to the passive part of the brain and that is called 'Mind Decay'. Total destruction of these neurons is called 'Forgetting'.
Lack of memory and Forgetting are different. Unless you are suffering with Alzheimer's disease, you cannot say that you have insufficient memory.
You can talk, chat or watch TV but complete everything before you start your studies. Never watch TV in between or after studies. It unsettles your neuron bonds. It is called 'Memory overload'.
After completion of your studies go to bed immediately, without talking or watching TV, not even for ten minutes.
If you plan to go to a movie or see a favourite programme on TV, you can never concentrate on your study, unconsciously looking forward to the forth-coming event.
While talking, the electro magnetic pathways vibrate ten times more than in 'silent mode' and during arguments they are up by fifty times, leading to loss of memory. When an issue is discussed, disputed and argued. (say.. whether a particular movie is good or bad) you recall some points to strengthen your argument and stimulate the unnecessary neuron bonds, thus asking the brain to provide much garbage space. Hence never argue.
After an exciting conversation with friends or a heated argument at home, when you begin to study again, those over-riding neurons, with the support of already released adrenaline, dominates the attentiveness. This disturbs the study. This is called 'lack of concentration'.
Never gossip either in person or on phone at bedtime. The electro-magnetic pathways are comparatively still and passive during your sleep and this would help the bonds grow stronger.

THE PRE-EXAMS REVISION

It is not the load that breaks you down, it is the way you carry it. During the preparatory holidays, sleep for half an hour in the afternoon, take a bath, close the doors and create an 'artificial dawn'. Read before a table light though it is the evening time. This is called 'one day-two dawn theory'.
As examinations approach, you spend twelve hours on reviewing and still feel that there is a lot to study. Don't get tensed up. No person in the world feels hundred percent prepared for his exams.
Never try to revise one subject for too long at any one time. One hour is just enough. But note that revision means not just reading a chapter and vaguely remembering a few sentences immediately afterwards.
During revision, you may surprisingly find some of the subject matter missed your attention completely. Don't panic. You might have some-how missed it. Glance through it and decide whether it is necessary to read it at the eleventh hour. More particularly don't try to do last minute cramming standing outside the exam room.
Some of your friends may be telling you that they stay awake till the crack of dawn. Don't be depressed. It may work out to them. Stick on to your healthy habit of sleeping before midnight and ensure that you are fit physically and mentally.
Avoid sweets, oily foods and cool drinks a month before exams. If you do not have a regular coffee/tea habit, don't make it a habit now to stay late hours.
After completion of your studies in the night, don't get tempted to call on your friend even for few minutes to know about his studies. Your intentions are good but the late night conversations won't stop there.

FIVE 'D' TECHNIQUES

Tranquility : After completing your studies go to bed, turn to a side and close your ears and eyes with a pillow. By sealing two important sensory organs, you are being engulfed into a stage of quietness. Feel that your mind is transforming into calmness. Watch your breath for a minute. It's like cleaning the slate before writing. Now adjust your pillow and settle in your habituated comfortable position. Slip into sleep while recollecting what you studied that day. This is called 'Recall'.
The early morning proceedings : As you wake up, stay on bed for another few minutes to continue the following exercises: Think of the mistakes that you have done during last twenty-four hours! Have you quarrelled with your brother or sister over a particular TV channel of your choice? Have you thrown the food plate accusing your mother? This daily evaluation and self - criticism helps you to develop better personality.
Scheduling : Before rising from the bed, divide your day into small compartments and plan your timetable, even though it is a holiday. How much time are you going to watch TV in the evening? Which Channel? It is called Time Management (TM). Once you are habituated to TM, the word 'busy' would wither away from your dictionary. Instead of chatting for one hour at lunch time, plan to cut it to half and take rest in library, to conserve your energy for the next lecture session. Choosing your friend for lunch also matters. Vagabonds sit with vagabonds.
Compare and Consume : As you are resting with a blanket, over ten million children of your age in this country are already on their work. A ten-year-old boy is serving tea to lorry drivers on the roadside dhabas, a small girl of tender age is sweeping your house, and a twelve-year boy is climbing the up-hill on his cycle to give you the morning newspaper. Think how fortunate you are compared to them. God has given you some clothes, food, health and above all 'parents'. This gives you a feeling of compassion and positive thinking towards life.
Look at you in the mirror and smile for a few seconds. Looks funny but neurotransmitters like Dopamine (pleasure) and Serotonin (feel good) in turns stimulate your Acetylcholine, which is the source for your attention, learning and memory.
Exercise : After brushing the teeth, bend ten times touching your toes with your fingertips. The blood circulation to the brain converts the short time memory into semantic memory. If you have no neck problem, spend a minute staying topsy-turvy (Seershasana) by the side of wall for another minute.

Let suprabhata continue while you are doing the above exercises.

Can we fight fear? Certainly yes if you know the Four Noble Truths sermonised by Buddha philosophy, first being the Reality (of the problem), Second the Cause (for the problem), Third the Effect (by the problem) and lastly the Solution (to the problem). It is as simple as that. In physician's terms, it would be like: Disease, the Cause of disease (Diagnosis), the Treatment (Prognosis) and the relief (solution)
There are six stages of tension before exams. One: Three months prior to the actual exams certain sense of unease, a sense of lonely feeling, insecurity, catch you up. Two: One fine morning you wake up and suddenly reminded of your exams. Three: A week prior to the exams, it gradually turns into anxiety. Suddenly from nowhere the worry erupts. Anxiety causes troubled sleep, depression. You begin to fear the worst and indulge in unnecessary thinking. Four: The day before exams you are almost panicky. Panic includes sweaty palms, shivering fingers. Slowly you cease to grin and smile. Five: As you receive the question paper, your 'tension' peaks. Your memory fails you. You experience lapses in your thinking process and mental blocks. Six : The nervousness peaks during the exam. Rapid heartbeats, loosing self-confidence are the indicators at this stage Uneasiness continues for sometime even after exam.
Stay relaxed and confident before answering. Spend the first 2 minutes previewing the question paper. Allocate time in proportion to the marks. Just because you know the answer in detail, don't write beyond the requirement.
Have the entire picture of the answer. Determine the length, time to be spent answering depending on the marks allotted to it.
Focus on how to start, elaborate, reach a climax and end it. The answers should be brief but should cover all the points.
Before starting, close your eyes for 30 seconds, take a deep breath, calm down and be pleasant and start answering.
Improve on your grammar and spellings. Think in English while writing in English. Don't write 'Rama Ravana killed' which may be be correct in your colloquial language. Say 'Ram killed Ravana'.
Be careful with construction of sentences and particularly with pronouns. If you write, 'Rama killed Ravana as his wife was kidnapped by him', the examiner confuses to understand who kidnapped whose wife. If you write, 'Ravans kidnapped Sita and then got killed by Rama', it gives a meaning that RAvana made Rama to kill his wife.
Don't get confused with words like 'accept/except/expect', 'affect/effect', 'its/it's' etc.,
Avoid repeating the same words in a sentence or paragraph. Know exactly when to use a simple or a compound sentence. Don't use more commas. Divide paragraphs correctly.
Last but not least.. Write to communicate. Not to electrify. Comprehend a fact.
Finally the exams come and the exams go, you will be there, sane, smiling and ready to enjoy the summer. Cheer up.
Did you ever realise that life would not have been so cheerful for some people in this world including your parents, had you not been there and 'you' made that difference? Who knows? You may be the person who would change the history of the country..world..er..univese! Implement at least 50 percent of the above, you will be in the process!! I promise.. And I challenge!!!

C’s of communication, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

C’s of communication

When I was referring Dandi march by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930 A.D. my lecture was interrupted by a seventh class student, “Sir, what do we mean by A.D?” she asked. After my clarification, she came out with another doubt, “A person was born when Jesus Christ was thirteen year old. Does he belong to A.D or B.C?”

I was taken back, confessed my ignorance and on return verified to know my mistake. A.D. does not mean “after death,” as many people (including me) suppose. It stands for a Latin phrase: anno domini (the year Jesus was born). I sent her the correct answer through mail.

Correct and concise:

There are five C’s of communication, foremost being Correctness of ‘fact’ and its ‘presentation’. Never speak unless you are sure of its truth. Present it without grammatical mistakes and wrong usage of words like “I like to administrate (administer) disinterested (uninterested) people and invaluable (valueless) products…” Same way, never confuse with identical words with different meaning like “affect and effect”, “substitute and replace”. Suppose a person asks you, “Why don't you replace the sugar for honey?” how do you understand it, if he actually means ‘substituting honey for the sugar’?

“Conciseness” is the second key to effective communication. You said, “I turned around 360 degrees to see who was standing behind me.” When you turn 360 degrees you would complete a circle and are back to the original. This is first mistake. The usage of word ‘turn-around’ itself denotes what you want to say. The word ‘180 degrees’ is redundant. Don’t use long phases when they can be replaced by shorter ones. Practice brevity. Rewrite the following letter in two sentences avoiding irrelevant details. “Dad..! I don’t want to give more details of my expenditure. I am in need of money. Send me some amount before this weekend. Send me at least five hundred rupees. Don’t send cheque. It takes more than three days for collection. Hence I will be happy to receive the draft.” We will discuss other elements of communication next week.

... ... ... ...

We were discussing six C’s of communication, first two being Correctness and Conciseness. Next two elements are “Clarity” and “Completeness’. Give full information including your intentions, purpose of writing (or talking). Keep in mind the I.Q. of the opposite person. A sentence from an eighth class science book: “The epidermis, the dermis, and subcutaneous layer are three layers of which, a layer of dead skin cells makes up the epidermis that forms the body's shield against the world” could have been written with more clarity as: “The skin consists of three layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous. The epidermis layer is formed by dead skin cells and acts as a protective shield between body and the outer world”.

Your communication need to be articulate, effective and above all, “clear”. While narrating Ramayana, if you say, “Rama, Lakshmana and his wife Sita went to forest” the listener confuses as to whose wife is Sita. The purpose of communication is to let others know your intent and not your authenticity over knowledge. But some times you should add passion to your talk. Instead of speaking with a submissive voice, “Is it wrong to kill a terrorist?” if you expressively yell, “Is it wrong to kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” audience would emotionally applause.

Conversational style:

Flow from one sentence to the next through smooth transition is “coherence”. Developing own way of writing that has a “conversational tone is the best. Read loud what you wrote and correct those words and sentences which sound stiff and tongue-tied.

Thinking in colloquial language and translating it to English is a problem for many students. “I saw a person yesterday wearing red shirt” would be “yesterday I red shirt had man saw” in Telugu. Using adjectives at wrong places also sounds funny. Don’t you find something odd when your friend says, “The girl smiled at me with beautiful hair”?

Nucleus of a problem, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

Nucleus of a problem

To assess Pandavas what they learnt under his guidance, their guru Drona sent Dharma Raja to a village amidst thick forest across the mountains. A horde of tigers, headed by a ferocious jaguar were attacking the villagers and their cattle. People were terrorised and prepared to vacate their hamlets.

Dharma Raja waited patiently till the predators’ next attack; chased the tigers into the woods and killed their leader. On his return, his guru complimented “Good work”.

Within a month, the beasts came again, this time in a bigger group. Drona sent Bheema the warrior, who is second to none in mace wielding (Gatha-aayudham). The mace is the best weapon to crush opponents, break their armor, wreck chariots and kill elephants, but lacks quick reflexes. Hence he could not fight a bunch of fast and sharp wild cats. Arjuna was rushed to meet the crisis. With his expertise with arrows he killed almost all of them and rescued his brother. The guru complimented him “Very good work”.

The catastrophe did not end there. After a couple of months of peace, the attack was more brutal and wild. Now the last two, Nakula and Sahadeva were sent. They had done all the homework before going there, studied the topography of the village, involved the villagers to dig craters and assisted them to construct strong fencings. They induced courage and taught the villagers the skill of fighting the wild animals. On return, the guru said, “Best and outstanding work”.

Crisis management:

This story provides three clues for trouble administration. Cutting superfluous branches does not solve unless you destroy the root cause of the problem. Asking a child to improve concentration by studying two hours more does not help unless the reasons for lack of attention (like excess TV watching, friends and internet chat) are traced and eliminated.

Secondly your weapon, how sharp it may be, must suit to fight the situation. A famous Chinese quote says, “When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade”. Insisting a genius maths student to study medicine is like sending Bheema to fight the tigers. Final lesson from the above story is: a problem is half solved, if it is seen in the correct direction.

PRINCIPLE-CENTERED PEOPLE, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

PRINCIPLE-CENTERED PEOPLE

Stephen R. Covey describes few characteristics of effective people in his book “Principle-Centred Leadership”. These principles can be applied to students also.
Effective people keep learning. They read, speak, listen to others and expand their skill set. Continuous learning does not mean forgetting previous years’ syllabus. Remembering poems from vernacular language, recollecting mathematical theorems, scientific principles like Newton’s laws of motion, Einstein theory of relativity, basic difference between vertebrates and invertebrates, an animal and a plant etc… enables the student to face the examinations and interviews with confidence.
Most important precept of self-growth is your capacity to overcome your deficiencies. Make small promises to yourself and be strong enough to fulfil them. Suppose the thought of your close friend is often disturbing you when you are studying, leading to lack of concentration, let him/her understand the same and both of you part temporarily for a period of six months and see the change. Same way if you are often disturbed by cricket, keep distance from the game and its discussions for a few months. As you do this, you will be amazed to see the results. Your sense of personal worth, self confidence and sense of self-mastery will enhance.
When you are speaking you are a lawyer; and when you listen you are a judge. “Silence helps me to introspect” said Gandhi. If you have difficulty in remembering your lessons, be silent for an hour every day in the lunch time and just listen to your friends gossiping in the canteen. You will realise why you lack concentration, and the relationship between excess talk and memory.
Positive energy:
Second character of ‘principle-centred people’ is that they are cheerful, pleasant, optimistic and upbeat, radiating positive energy. The moods and mental states of highly motivated people are contagious. They can awaken in us the desire to be like them. In the middle of confusion or contention or negative energy, the effective people strive to be peacemakers, harmonisers to undo or reverse the destructive energy. “Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice, better than knowledge is belongingness to the job, but better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows ultimate peace” says Bhagavad-Gita. A student, who realises the effect of adrenaline releasing habits and time consuming vices and who can destroy those attachments, can taste the real beauty of success, and continue to be happy throughout his life.
Positive outlook means believing that the key to growth is in ourselves and not elsewhere outside. Realising that every person has his own strengths, weaknesses and limitations; positive people don’t dominate, control, use their authority or exercise undue influence. They also don’t overreact to the negative behavior of their adversaries or baseless comments of the detractors. They are able to laugh at themselves rather than at others.

Positive outlook also includes intellectually being active, maintaining a wide variety of interests, observing everything and learning from everyone, reading the good literature, keeping up on current events, and above all being physically active. Positive thinkers do not divide everything into two parts as good or bad. They have the power to discriminate, to sense the similarities and differences in each situation. They are not extremists, religious zealots, workaholics, political fanatics or pleasure addicts.
Gifting ourselves:
The fourth character is service orientation. Gifting is the best gift you can give to yourself. In fact, research shows that those who demonstrate more altruistic social interest tend to enjoy higher levels of mental health. A Swedish proverb says, “Eyes that do not have tears cannot see.”
The best way for a person who has a nagging feeling that something is missing in his life, is visiting the old people home or serving underprivileged cancer patients one day in a month.
“I noticed a woman and her two boys at a shopping center laden with bags. On a random impulse, I asked if they would like a ride till the bus stop. “Yes” was their excited reaction. They boys piled into the front seat and chattered away telling me about themselves. I decided to take them one further mile to their home, since I had time and they had bundles. I felt so good to know that I could make a big difference to a tired mother with such a small effort. Incidentally this was also special for me because, as a handicapped person I'm often on the receiving end of help and now know how good to be useful”, wrote Franklin Roosevelt, former President of United States, who was stricken with polio attack that left him severely crippled.

Treating life as an adventure is the next quality of successful people. A person’s security lies not in his comfort zone, but in his initiative, creativity and courage. Effective people don’t label others from their past success or failure, but rediscover each time they meet them. These people are not overawed by top celebrities, cine personalities and Sadhus. They may like the principles and follow their preaching, but resist becoming their blind disciples.
Synergy:
Synergy means, being united for more productivity. Winning people are excellent team players to take part in the process of creative problem-solving. They are skillful at balancing their strengths and weaknesses with others and let others discover their sincerity.
The final character of victorious people is exercising the four dimensions of life i.e., physical, mental, emotional and enthusiastic. Physical fitness comprises balanced exercises for being healthy, adjusting to necessary life styles to reduce physical stress.
Mental exercise includes reading, writing, creative problem solving, all with a sense of play rather than obligation.
Emotional exercise comprises of empathy, love, unconditional acceptance of responsibility and effort to be patient.
Being enthusiastic towards life is the most important quality that includes planning, fixing (goals) and entertaining. No other single hour of your day will return as much dividends as the hour you invest in sharpening your saw… that is, in exercising these four dimensions of your personality. They take some time in the beginning, but saves much time in the long run” concludes the author.
Some people complain that they don’t have time. “I plan a book while I do the dishes” said Agatha Christie, who has all time gunnies record of best-selling books along with Shakespeare and whose play “Mousetrap”, being opened in 1952 and still running in London, holds the record 0f 25,000 shows.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranth

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

It was seven o’clock in the evening but was totally dark and the temperature was nearing ten degrees Centigrade. The cool breeze outside was so severe that the car heater could barely maintain the internal warmth. I was driving from Hudson north of Albany towards Paulson bay in outskirts of New York. Hearing a ‘thud’ sound behind my car and noticing that somebody stoned my car breaking its rear glass, I stopped my vehicle with a creaking sound of brakes and got down.
I found a boy standing at the right side of the road with another stone in his hand. To my surprise he was not trying to run away. I caught hold of his shoulder and yelled furiously why he had done it. “Nobody is stopping the car. What should I do?” was his answer.
On the right side of the main highway, there was a narrow pedestrian path for evening walkers at four-foot height. The boy showed me an old man on the other side. Spotting the wheel-chair, I could make out that the old man has accidentally slipped down from the road.
“I tried to pull him up but couldn’t” the boy said “and was trying for help since past two hours, but nobody stopped” he explained for his drastic action. I had nothing to argue. I knew how “busy” people are. I helped him to put the elderly man back on wheels and chair on the track.
“You should be proud of your grandson” I said, “for two hours he stayed in this chilly weather and courageously took a decision to stop my car.”
Pushing his chair in the opposite direction from us the aged man said, “I am certainly very proud of him, but is not my grand son. He is a traveller like you.”
Quoting this incident, Abraham Lincoln says in his book, “I still keep the stone with me as a symbol of selfless love. Love is when you take away the relation, passion and romance, but still care for the other person.”

Knowledge and wisdom, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

Knowledge and wisdom

Acquiring knowledge is not ‘wisdom’. Applying it is..! State of enlightenment is not like building a block, brick by brick. It is like peeling off of an onion. A diamond is not painted to make it glitter. When the dust is wiped off and the rough edges are cut, it starts sparkling. Enlightenment is also similar. It is letting go off the negatives (like vices and harmful emotions) with acquired knowledge and Jnana. If this is done, already enlightened soul starts glowing.
Damayanti, a young princess loved a charming king called Nala and was about to garland him in the swayamvara arranged by her father. Swayamvara is an ancient method of a girl choosing her husband, from among other sitters keen to marry her.
On the day of selection, matters were not as easy as the princess thought. Two demi-gods, Yama and Varuna, the God of death and the God of rain were also in love with her. These Gods have the power to transform into any form of their choice and change their ‘avatar’.
As the princess approached her lover, she was shocked to see three persons looking precisely identical. She listened to a voice, but could not recognise whose it was. The voice said, “Princess...! Here is a test for you. One of us tells you the truth, and the other one lies. Ofcourse your lover always is truthful. By asking each of us just one question, find your lover. If you can, we leave him to you and if not, you have to marry one among the other two”.
Logical inference:
The princess smiled and asked the first person “What is the name of the person sitting in the middle chair?” He said “Nala”. The girl went to the second one and asked, “What is your name?” He hesitated a bit and said, “Yama”. There was anxiety in the last one’s eyes. He was getting ready to answer, but the princess garlanded him without asking the third question.
Write your answers within two days to the address given below. How could she do away with it without the third question? Each of the three winners would be awarded with four motivational books written by the author for the students. This is a simple question, answer is easy and hence the selection would be on the basis of brevity and better expression. Only students should participate.

RELATIONSHIPS

On the eve of New Year, let us discuss how to strengthen the bonds of relationships. Here are a few tips:
Nature gave no other creature on earth except human beings, as many ways and modes of expressing love. Even if you are a medico or engineer or a post graduate, scissoring father’s nails, Mehandi to Mother’s hands, ironing sister’s cloths or combing grandmother’s hair… all are expressions of love.
Love is confidence and not jealousy. When your companion’s phone is continuously engaged, a frustrated feeling that “How my beloved can be happy in other’s company” is jealousy. Believing that “his/her phone may be out of order” is confidence.
By earning a thousand per day you may become a millionaire in terms of money in ten years, but by spending ‘productively’ with your child one hour per day makes the kid a millionaire in terms of wisdom.
Suppose you are a ten year-old kid and your friend tells you that his elder brother sent him a cycle from America on his birth day. If you think that “how nice it would have been if I too had a brother in America” it is a natural feeling. But if you imagine, “How nice it would be if I go soon to America and send a cycle to my younger brother”, it is love.
Understanding feelings, sharing sorrows, taking solace on other’s shoulders, going together to movies, gossiping, sending messages, internet chat etc is normally considered as friendship. Not bothering the friend with your sorrows that have no salvations, not giving impractical solutions, correcting when the other person is going in a wrong path, let your friend know the value of time and cutting down gossip etc is love.
People say, “Love does not demand anything in return”. But if we think truthfully, there are many expectations from others. To make the bond stronger, always think what you are giving rather than what you are expecting. (To be continued)
Last week’s puzzle:

By identifying the middle person as “Nala”, the first demi-god proves to be a liar. Hence the other two are truth tellers. As the middle person confesses that he is Yama, obviously the third one is Nala.

BONDS OF LOVE, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

BONDS OF LOVE

Last week we were discussing about strengthening the bonds of relationships. There are five types of viruses that make a relationship unhealthy: anger, misunderstanding, jealousy, stubbornness and inflexibility. More dangerous bacteria to destroy a good rapport are: money and selfishness.

Having someone worried ‘where you are’ when you don't come home at night, is a very basic human need. In the initial days of marriage, criticism and counter-arguments destroy the flavour of companionship. Words can construct either bridges or walls. The first lesson to be known in any relationship is: the fault you see in your companion is a denied weakness of yours.
The bondage between the couple for first few days is desire and infatuation. With proper understanding, the intimacy transforms into affection and if stays with the same intensity till the end, it is real ‘love’. Otherwise it would become an adjustment to live together.

Durgabai Deshmukh once said, “When we were playing with my father, my mother came out to say, ‘you are destroying the grass’ and my father replied, “We are raising kids, not the grass.”
It is easy to construct a house, but difficult to build a home. If the atmosphere at the house is healthy, wherein the mother is caring, father is friendly, brothers and sisters are affectionate; teenagers don’t hasten for outside undesirable love.
Are you a good friend?

“Some people touch our lives to leave a mark in our hearts and we are never ever the same” said a philosopher. Other than watching movies, gossiping and arguing, think whether any of your associates has been benefited by your friendship? Could you influence any friend to come out of a bad habit or change for a better future or concentrate more on studies?

Of all the bonds, your relationship with you is of prime importance. Develop the habit of enjoying a stage play or a live match or a paint exhibition. Your relationship with nature, birds and plants keep you young and mentally healthy.
Same way, your affiliation with the society is also as important as your bondage with friends. Never forget your responsibility to the society and don’t lose your logical senses. The agitating leader with selfish mottos encourages you to break the glass windows of buses. When government increases the fares to realise the losses, he calls on you to break the glasses again. Introspect whether you want to be a constructor or destroyer.

ANSWERING IN HASTE, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

ANSWERING IN HASTE

While I was conducting a seminar on “How to make mathematics interesting” at Shimoga, an eighth standard boy asked me at the tea-break, “Uncle! You said that our brain sharpens while solving intelligent mathematical problems and once we build up the taste, it would be more interesting than watching TV. Isn’t it?” and without waiting for my affirmative head-nod, continued “Please help me solve a riddle. To wrap around the earth along the equator, we require 40,000 km length ribbon. To tie another ribbon around the same globe at one meter height, how much more length do we require? Is it more than thousand Km or less than 10 Km.?”

Without a second-thought I answered, “More than thousand kilometres”. He thoughtfully asked, “Suppose we tie the ribbon on an ant’s waist. What extra length we require to tie it’s waist one meter lose?”

Never answer in haste:

“I require some time to calculate” I said and proceeded to continue the next session. At the guest house in the evening I started working on the kid’s question: Suppose the radius of ant’s waist is ‘r’ meters, the required length of the ribbon would be 2Π r. To tie another ribbon with 1 meter difference, we require 2Π (r+1) meters. The difference would be 2Π (1) meters i.e. 6.3 approximately.
Suddenly I realised that I made a blunder. Whether we wrap the ribbon around earth or around waist of an ant... the difference would be the same 6.3 meters only.
I recollected the mischievous smile on the faces of the kids when I was telling them “In the examination hall, don’t rush to answer immediately. You have two hours to write. Take two minutes to settle down. Take deep breath, close your eyes and let your tensions come down”.
I am now sure those lively naughty kids know the answer before asking me and just wanted to tease me. I remembered the Turkish proverb: “He bites his tongue who speaks in haste”. Many of us preach but not practice.
Riddle: If snail walks at 0.01 km per hour to go to its relative’s pit, how fast should it crawl back to its own pit to accomplish an average speed of 0.02 km per hour? Ten winners would be awarded a book on ‘developing intelligence’ basing on the brevity of the answer. Answer to the address below.

THREE TYPES OF PROBLEMS

“Fortune knocks your door only once” says an old proverb. But unless a door (opportunity) is provided, how can luck knock it? Some people do not look for opportunities as they are always busy with problems and in the process of solving them, lose time, interest and enthusiasm in life. Successful people see opportunity in a problem. They also understand that many of the problems are self-made. Troubles arise in three ways.

By us for us:
A student, who could not reply to a question due to tension in an interview in spite of knowing the answer, should blame nobody but himself for not practicing public speaking and developing communication skills during his college days. A person creates his own problem of procrastination due to overweight and repents but never controls his food habits.

This type of problem includes fear, tension, insecurity feeling, laziness, lack of communication etc. These are not problems but our weaknesses that in turn create problems to us. A crisis may not be avoidable, but a weakness certainly can be fought upon and defeated. If this simple fact is known, half the battle is won.

By others to us:
When you want to say ‘no’ but say ‘yes’, sometimes it creates problems. A friend calls on a newly married couple without prior appointment, notices that the couple are about to go out for a movie, but still engages in conversation. The husband is unable to tell him to leave or at least about their programme. It is called “gentleman’s syndrome”. A person is said to be suffering from this disorder, when he wants to be good to everybody, works for their appreciation and seeks other’s approval for his deeds at the cost of his own unhappiness. Other examples of this syndrome are: Signing the surety bonds unwillingly, obeying other’s demands reluctantly etc.

By us to others:
A person misplaces an important file at the office. He comes home irritated and scolds his son for not keeping the room tidy. The sensitive son fails in the exam the next day. In another example, a person never sticks to his schedules and wastes others’ time. This category includes lack of time management, anger, selfishness etc which cause trouble to others but in many cases boomerang to create personal loss to us.

Perceptions, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

Perceptions

Ramesh was shocked when he was told by his soul-mate Latha that her parents fixed an alliance with a doctor. After a brief conversation she told him how her parents forced her to accept the alliance and all he could mutter was “Congratulations”.

She raged in anger and frustration, “I never expected this from you. I thought you would hold my hand and say, ‘Nobody on earth can separate us'. I hate myself for being in love with a coward like you” and went away crying.

After a few years he fell in love with another woman and one day she told him that her elders fixed her marriage with an I.A.S officer. He pulled her towards him and yelled, “Nobody can separate us in this world. Let heavens fall, we will marry”.

She looked at him with disgust. “When my life is going to be rich and beautiful, are you jealous of it?” she said with hatred, “I am sorry for loving such a selfish person like you.”

After three years, Latha met him with new born baby in her hands. She apologised, “My married life is happy with the doctor. I am sorry for having hurt you. If you had forced me to marry you on that day, the story would have been different. Thank you for your decision.”

Few months later, his second woman came to him. “My husband is a drunkard, gambler and had already married, but he kept this as a secret. I did a blunder in my life. When you asked me to marry you, I misunderstood you.”

The philosophy:

“There are no good or bad values in this world. Our actions are judged by other people with their own beliefs, ‘benefits' and customs and by the norms fixed by the society, religion etc. You need not do anything for others unless it gives you happiness and satisfaction. You are at liberty to do whatever that pleases you other than those acts that harm you at present (e.g. gambling etc) or in future (smoking etc), and those deeds that harm others (like cheating, theft etc)” writes Ayn Rand, who lived by the said philosophy.

Last week's riddle: The snail cannot attain an average speed of 0.02 mph even if it travels by light's speed. The winners are intimated by mail. They may send their postal address to receive the prizes.

SUCCESS VS FAILURE

As the dispute between two groups of students whether “Athadu” is a better film or “Pokiri” reached a climax, the room vibrated with heated arguments. Blood pressures raised and their top of the voice shouts continued till the lecturer stepped in. They later tried to concentrate but failed.

For this reason psychologists advise students not to involve in fierce arguments before examinations and also “not to talk” one hour before exams.

Argument is a waste of time. Normal people argue, whereas successful people discuss. If you are arguing, you are finding “who” is wrong. If you are discussing, you are finding “what” is wrong.

No student plans to be a failure. He simply fails to plan to be successful. Ordinary people derive pleasure from watching movies and chatting at tea-stalls, whereas winning students get it in creative hobbies like playing chess, music and reading books.

Enjoying a hobby is not wrong but one should realise whether it would help in the future or hinder. Realising that “enjoyment is the same in both types of hobbies” is the first step to success. Some students have a notion that successful people work hard, never smile, spend sleepless nights, wear thick glasses, have no thrill in lives etc. Take the example of Abdul Kalam, Mother Theresa, Manmohan Singh, Sachin etc to realise that this perception is wrong.

A work becomes hard when you are not capable of doing it physically, or not interested to do it mentally. Is studying a hard work? If so, is it physical or mental? A work becomes mentally hard for two reasons. You might not have understood the basics of the subject in the initial stages and developed aversion towards a particular subject or there is a luring interest by your side (such as TV or Cricket) when you are studying.

Our brain can store about one million concepts called bonds. It is up to us to prioritise between the bonds. It can be Arti Agarwal and Mahesh Babu or Archimedes Principle and Mercantile Law.

The Snail’s riddle:

There were two interesting answers to the question “A snail travelled at 0.01 mph while going. At what speed it should crawl back to attain an average speed of 0.02 mph?” The best answer was: It can attain the said speed, if it takes an alternative route that is longer than the original one. The funniest answer was: A snail cannot crawl backwards.

THE SHAPE THEORY, an article by Yandamoori Veerendranath

THE SHAPE THEORY

A student can overcome his shortcomings and deficiencies with the help of a concept called ‘shape’: Self-analysis, Hard-work, Acceptance, Perseverance and Entertainment.

Questioning is the first step to fight failure. The investigation should start from the roots. ‘Why I am not getting good marks? Why I feel embarrassed to speak on a dais? Why am I not able to talk intimately with my father as I earlier used to do? Why am I unable to concentrate? Why I feel sleepy whenever a take a text book into my hands?’ Find out the basic reason first. This is otherwise called self-actualisation or s.w.o.t. study.

Self-analyses:

Suppose your problem is not getting good marks. Question yourself: “Did my problem exist from the beginning of my kindergarten days or is it triggered recently? If existed from the beginning, do I have basic interest in studies or more fascinated towards other activities like games and arts? Or is it because I am a slow learner?”

Suppose you scored good marks in the initial stages and lost the track later. There are two reasons. Firstly, it may be due to fragile foundation in early stages of your education in basics like science and maths and you might have managed good marks with your inborn intelligence. As you go up on the ladder you require more industry and concentration. The second reason for decline in marks may be your latest friends circle, house environment, health and above all... other luring activities.

Some students feel that their family genes influenced their education. May be true to some extent as established by Mendel through his theory of inheritance, but you can also notice children of one family developing different levels of intelligence.

Let us have another example. Suppose your problem is talking in public and stage-fear. Locate the bottom-line reason. It may be fear to face people or failure due to lack of confidence. You lose confidence if you do not have in-depth knowledge of the subject. Everything must have a beginning. For your first speech, write down notes, master the subject, by-heart the speech and deliver it before small crowd to overcome initial jiggles. The claps at the end of your speech give you confidence and it is called ‘break through’.

Thus, every personal weakness has a salvation. Once you diagnose the disease you can find a medicine. Hence ‘analysis’ constitutes greater importance. Next week we discuss the second concept ‘Hard work’.

SHAPE THEORY – 1

We were discussing the concept of ‘SHAPE’ to understand and rise above our various weaknesses. The second letter ‘H’ stands for ‘Hard work’. What is a hard work? When your body and or mind reject to cooperate, a work becomes hard. Even if it your dream to climb Mount Everest barefoot, your body does not oblige. Suppose your mother wants you to accompany her to a mythological film against your wish, your mind does not cooperate. These are the two examples of body and mind refusals.

Now consider whether studying everyday for few hours daily is hard due to mind rejection or body refusal. It is certainly a mental block in ninety percent cases, unless you have an eye or back problem.

Our tastes:

You ordered for soup and noodles and after consuming some portion, the waiter told that by mistake he served special snake-curry in stead of noodles and the soup consisted of rat-meat boiled in bat-wings. Can you finish them? Why you feel like vomiting? Then how the foreigner by your side table eating them?

Our tastes and dislikes depend on how we were taught from our childhood. To make us study when parents use the word ‘hard work’ repeatedly, the auto suggestion influences our mind to reject the same. Many students take education as a responsibility rather than an interesting activity. Parents should make their children feel that ‘there is nothing more fascinating than studying and there is no better thrill than standing class first’.

When your entire family is watching an interesting film on TV, you don’t feel like continuing studies. One side your consciousness says that the rights of the film are purchased by the channel and is sure to be telecasted again in your holidays. But your heart says that it cannot wait till then. If your logical part of thinking can dominate your unhealthy desire, it is called ‘Nirvana’.

In the initial stages you will not be comfortable to come out of your aversion towards education. When the foundation is fragile, you find present syllabus complicated. Start from the beginning. Change your friend circle if you feel that they are disturbing your progress. Change your food habits if you of-late feel lazy and sleepy. Control your over-chatting. Once you start doing these things, you feel you are different from others. And that is the first step to eradicate the concept of ‘hard work’. Next week we shall discuss the third letter ‘A’ which stands for ‘Acceptance’.

SHAPE THEORY – 2

The second letter of ‘shape’ stands for ‘Hard work’. What is hard work? When your body and/ or mind reject to cooperate, a work becomes tough. You love to climb Mount Everest barefoot, but your body does not oblige. Your mother wants you to accompany her to a mythological film against your wish; your mind does not cooperate. These are the two examples of body and mind refusals.

Now consider whether studying everyday for few hours is ‘hard’ due to mind rejection or body refusal. It is certainly a mental block in ninety nine percent cases.

Developing tastes:

You order for soup and noodles. When you are about to finish, the waiter comes to apologise that by mistake he served ‘special snake-curry’ in place of noodles and the soup consisted of rat-meat boiled in bat-wings (that is served in some places for joint pains). How do you feel? Feel like vomiting and nauseating? Then how the foreigner by your side is relishing the same?

Our tastes and dislikes depend on how we were taught from our childhood. To make us study when parents use the word ‘hard work’ repeatedly, the auto suggestion influences our mind to reject the same. Many students take education as a responsibility rather than an interesting activity. Instead of insisting the children to work ‘hard’ Parents should make them feel that there is nothing more fascinating than studying and no better thrill than standing class first.

Conscious and sub-conscious:

When the foundation is fragile, you find present syllabus complicated. Start from the beginning. In the initial stages it is difficult to come out of aversion towards education. Change your friend circle if you feel that they are disturbing your progress. Change your food habits if you of-late feel lazy and sleepy. Control your over-chatting. Once you start doing these things, you feel you are different from others. And that is the first step to eradicate the concept of ‘hard work’. Next week we shall discuss the third letter ‘A’ that stands for ‘Acceptance’.

SHAPE THEORY – 3.

Third letter of ‘shape’ stands for Acceptance. Having failed her tenth class twice, my friend’s daughter requested me to put pressure on her father to let her discontinue studies. “I don’t know fundamentals of mathematics and Science. I won’t pass tenth class. Why people bother me?” she questioned.

“What will you do then? You are hardly sixteen” I asked.

“I enjoy cooking. I like to play indoor games and chat with neighbours. I watch movies and draw rangoli before my home and my neighbours’ houses”.

Controlling my temper I asked, “Who will marry a tenth-failed girl? Now-a-days every boy would like his spouse to be minimum a graduate”.

There came a quick answer. “I marry a farmer. I carry lunch for him to the fields. I serve my in-laws and be a good mother. To tell the truth I am euphoric about seven-day festivals, relatives, new saris and ornaments. I hate 10 to 5 office chores and unwanted responsibilities”.

The debate:

When I quote this, students in my seminars divide. “How can she manage a house without minimum education? What happens if something unexpected happens? It is easy to dream but difficult practically”. But surprisingly more than ninety percent agree. “She is correct. When not interested, why study?” they conclude.

This is what exactly I want them to be aware of. A cricketer, whose profession is cricket feels disappointed if the match is abandoned due to rain. Then what is your profession? How should you feel if your college declares a holiday due to rain?

‘Willingness to accept the responsibility’ is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.

Mind (conscience) and heart (desire) are two different entities. Desire is like a monkey. If you have a class-test next day morning and your favourite hero’s movie on TV tonight, heart says ‘Let us see the movie first and then study’. After watching the movie, it convinces you that you are tired, better to sleep then and wake up at 4 a.m. to study. When the alarm bell rings in the morning, it argues that there is no point in studying for few hours just before exam. On the other hand mind persuades that the film can be seen after fifteen days, as the channel repeats.

Successful accept what mind says and not the heart.

SHAPE THEORY – 4

The fourth letter of ‘shape’ stands for Perseverance, the strain to reach the last step (target), after you get tired of climbing countless steps earlier. But it is not as hard as it sounds.

Some people say that you should work ‘hard’ to reach your goal. Change this perception. No intelligent and practical person sacrifices his ‘present’ for future. Instead... he enjoys present work to reach future goals.

Imagine studying late in the night with the fresh breeze when the entire world is sleeping. The pleasure that you have finished the job as per plan gives you sound sleep. The fulfilment gives you strength to start another job, a more difficult one this time.

Tension, working for long hours and lack of confidence causes apathy towards education, making it a ‘hard job’. Cultivate the hobby of studying daily and it becomes a part of your routine. Studying ten hours a day for last 30 days before examinations is equal to studying one hour per day from ‘day one’.

Wisdom does not engulf overnight. It is like an aroma that settles slowly around you as you go on acquiring knowledge and insight. When a stone splits into two with the 100^th blow, it does not mean that the last blow did it. Although there is no crack showing on it earlier, something went inside.

A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what it is built for. Your journey as a student is to acquire wisdom, fame and luxury. Take inspiration from the postal stamp that sticks till it reaches its destination. But the road to success is dotted with many attractive parking places. Don’t let the luring temptations cost your education.

Conclusion:

The last letter of ‘Shape’ denotes Enjoyment. When education is unavoidable, is it not better to enjoy it (enjoyment does not mean chatting with friends, watching movies etc) rather than taking it as an irritating burden forcibly thrust on you? If you spend fifteen years of lovable student life in agony, when will you enjoy? When will you take pleasure in life? Is it after employment with poor pay packages, or after marriage with worries like children’s education etc or after retirement with health problems and loneliness?

Life is a continuous pleasure, not a futuristic hope. “When I tell that I am writing a book on “Happiness and Education” many responded with some puzzlement that they don’t go together. Indeed they two seem increasingly opposed but both are intimately related. Happiness is the aim of education...” says Nel Noddings, Stanford University, in the preface of his book.

What makes us happy? Previously the answer was left to philosophers. In the last few years, the emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings. It suggests eight scientifically proven strategies for happiness. We will read next week these principles of how a student can make days of education happy.

What makes people happy? Earlier the answer was left to philosophers but now it is dealt by emerging field of positive psychology. It suggests eight scientifically proven strategies:

Take pleasure in every small event. Happier people take time to ‘savour’ ordinary events and enjoy each moment of life. They fight stress more strongly. Take a holiday to go to the riverside or to the hill tops. Watch children playing. Enjoy the fragrance of a rose; aroma of watering dry soil, smell from the papers of an old book, listening to the bird sounds etc.

Avoid Comparisons. Jealousy ruins happiness and self-pity spoils self-esteem. Instead, take inspiration from others’ strong points, identify your weaknesses and focus on your own personal achievement.

Avoid harmful attractions. You never tip over a mountain but it is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. A vice of playing cards is enough to make a successful businessman fall down from the hill of triumph.

Deal with money properly. It is true that money is a must but it is also true that comfort is different from happiness. People who put money high on their priority are more at risk for depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. ‘The more we seek satisfactions in material goods, the less we find them there’ is an old proverb.

Keep smiling. It shows your optimism and positive view. ‘This tumbler is half-empty’ is pessimism, ‘half-full’ is optimism but feeling that ‘the tumbler is too big for the water’ is positive thinking.

Be helpful. Avoid shallow acquaintances. Make it a hobby to say ‘thanks’ at every possible moment even to auto driver or server at a hotel. “Listen to others, pass on your skills, celebrate their success, contribute to their happiness and see the affect in a few days” says Elizabeth Dunn, researcher in positive psychology.

Let exercise be one of your daily chores. Do you know that physical exercise for fifteen minuets is more powerful antidote to mental depression and stress? Start it at the young age so that it becomes a daily routine. It releases positive endorphins, adds to your self confidence and boosts your energy in social gatherings.

And finally: Enjoy your work. Take initiative and work with creativity. A student who memorises a lesson is 5% productive; understands it is 50%; remembers it is 75% and explains it to his friends (or teaches to youngsters) is 100% productive.