A MISSION WITH A VISION

Questioning is the key to human development. In fact every invention and discovery in this world is a result of a questioning mind. Questioning is a powerful technique, which triggers the mind to find a solution. Every question is prefixed by one the following elements which is shortly called as “5W and 1H”, i.e What, When, Where, Who, Why and How. The mind has a unique way of working and it is triggered to work, when questions are posed against itself.

All Social Reforms takes one of the following route. Political route, Economical route and Educational route.

The Political route is about using power and law to bring in the needed reforms, which is perhaps the easiest of all. However the limitation is that there is a lot of vested interest in the decision making process and therefore social justice is not fully achieved. The Economic route is about using money, in the form of builiding infrastructure or doing charity to combat many social issues. In a developing country like India, with a massive population and with mixed priorities of the Govt, the money needed is often found inadequate.

Stephen Covey, talks about “Circle of Influence” Vs “Circle of Concern”. There are so many things happening around us that come under our circle of concern. For example, Poverty, Illiteracy, Beggary, Joblessness, Physical or mental handicap, Corruption, Road Safety, Theft, Crime, Unclean surrounding,  Environmental pollutions and hazards, so on and so forth. Though we talk a lot about it and have our expert opinion of how this situation could be tackled by political leaders, we have our own limitations in doing something about it.

Blaming what is wrong or who is wrong is one part of the story. Finding a way to fix the problems is the PALMS Story

At PALMS we work within the Circle of influence. We try to empower people and organisations, with the knowledege, skills and attitude needed to thrive in this competitive world. Our motto is, “Exploring Potential, Enriching Lives”. With this single minded goal, we work with a cross section of the society, ranging from Corporate houses to School Students.

At this major milestone of the PALMS mission, I wish to thank the patronizers, faculty members, corporate clients, members, and the general public for bestowing their trust upon us.

I express my heartfelt thanks to my friends and teammates, who have supported me in this mission,  the whole way through.

I am sure this special issue of PALMS PLUS, with more articles is a treat, for you to enjoy and relish.

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan

Article Dated Nov 2010

Let us Agree to Disagree

One fine day, Akbar and Birbal were walking in the Garden. Akbar pointed his fingers at a crow and said, look Birbal that crow is white in colour. Birbal replied, “Yes, your majesty that crow is white in colour”. Akbar was puzzled by Birbal’s reply, because this crow like any other crow was black in colour. However, Akbar decided not to react on the first day. The next day, again they walked in the garden and Akbar again pointed out to the crow and said, look Birbal, that crow is black in colour. Birbal replied, “Yes, your majesty that crow is black in colour”. Akbar got angry with Birbal and asked Birbal, “Yesterday when I pointed out to the crow and said it is white in colour, you said, yes it is white. Today, when I point out to the same crow and tell it is black in colour, you again say it is black. Are you trying to fool around with me?”

For which wise Birbal replied, “My Majesty, I am fully aware that all crows are black in colour. But the point here is, I work for you and not the crow.  Moreover,  I don’t gain anything by pleasing the crow, but there is a chance I may get something by pleasing you”. Akbar laughed at Birbal’s sense of wit.

Like in the above story, many of us, are comfortable only, with people who agree to whatever we say.  As long as people agree with what we say, we like them. The moment they contradict our views we tend to dislike them. We are not concerned over, what is right rather we are concerned who is right.

Of all the human desire one of man’s most dominating desire is to make people accept what he says. Whether it is among family members, friends or business associates, we try hard to convince someone to accept our idea or thought. We argue hard to make our point accepted by others. We try to justify our point, using logical inferences such as citing examples, giving proof’s and even go to the extent of emotional coercion such as making  our voice loud or even intimidating somebody in order for our point to be taken. Is it not true?

Why is that we always want others to accept our point of view. Why is that we do not give the others, their right to their opinion. No two human beings are same and therefore it is impossible for two people to think alike. A person’s ideologies, beliefs and thoughts are shaped by his cultural background, his environment, his experiences, his perceptions, his learnings, his attitude and so many factors.  As we do not have these factors in common, we are different from each other. In every relationship, we find there are some areas where we get along with a particular person and in some areas we don’t agree at all.  It is this variety, that in fact makes a relationship beautiful. Infosys, Chief Mentor Mr.Naryanamoorthy, once said, “If two people in an organisation think the same, then there is no need for one of them”.

In a gathering when ideas are sought and you express your idea, and if your idea is mocked by someone, we tend to take it too personal.  An idea is a product of our imagination and when our idea is rejected, we feel rejected. What we need to understand is that, rejection of an idea does not mean rejection of the person. Our thinking determines our individuality. It is normal for us to have thoughts and ideas that are different from others. We don’t have to feel guilty about it, no matter who the other person is. It may be your parents, your siblings, your spouse, your boss, or your friend. We have the right to think differently.

With this ‘right to think differently’ being intact on both sides, how do we tide over problems in which we are not able to arrive at a consensus. Here is where, the concept of, “Agree to disagree” comes in.  By using this approach, we learn to alienate the issue from the relationship and argue only the issue, without causing any damage to the relationship. Whenever there is an issue and you need to sort out, you could define the issue in hand and then say – “You think that way, I think this way and so we have a difference of opinion. This difference of opinion is about a specific issue and not about us. So, let this in no way affect our relationship.”

To agree to disagree is a model of a matured mind. It is a sign of a healthy relationship. There is no need to get into a consensus, always. Let us make our relationships, thrive amidst our differences. 

Happy Reading,

D. Senthil Kannan

Article Dated Oct 2010

A Language, A Culture

The “Ulaga Tamil Chemozhi Manadu” - World Tamil Conference 2010, which was organised with huge pomp and glory at Coimbatore between 23^rd and 27^th June, drew a huge crowd of Tamil speaking population, from across the globe. Being a native speaker of Tamil, I too was one among the many curious visitors, who wanted to have a feel of the event and therefore went on a post event trip to see the exhibition and displays of this mega event.

The displays in the exhibitions showcased the antiquity of the language and the strength of Tamil literature. There was an impressive display of 40 decorated rathas, titled “Iniyavai Naapathu” which carried a model of a story or theme related to Tamil culture. The exhibition had a number of displays on how the Tamil language has evolved. While there are mixed findings on dating the origin of this language, it is undoubtedly atleast 2000 years old.  The olden day script called “Tamil brami” carved on stones, brass strips and palm leaves, and the later evolved “Vatta ezhuthu” which was totally unrecognizable to me, were among the many displays. It was a great experience for me to gain a better insight of my mother tongue and it certainly made me feel proud, to be a native speaker of this ancient language.

A search in wikepedia reveals that Tamil is among the top 20 most popular spoken language in the world. The first 5 being, Mandarin (Chinese), English,  Spanish,  Hindi and Russian respectively. 

One of the greatest challenges of each language is its sustainability. I am happy to find that a lot of appreciatable work is happening in the scope of sustaining Tamil, as a living language of the world. A lot of Tamil literary work has been computerized and is now available as online content. Softwares with Tamil interface are being developed. Tamil stories and poems are created in animated formats and made available on CD for children to learn. Even, the English movies are now voice dubbed in Tamil. Though it looks funny to see the foreign actors, speaking in Tamil, the good part is it becomes understandable and a delightful experience to the common man.

A language will continue to live, as long as it has a written script, which could be documented for the future generations to read and relate to. Languages that have lost their script but still exist as an oral langauge will soon die or perish. A classical example is the Egyptian language, which became extinct because it lost the script.

Similarly, languages that are not adaptable to changes will perish. For example: The invention of computer and internet has brought into use a set of terminologies, which does not find a matching word in another language. In these situations, words need to be created in that language. The entire list of computer terminologies is now available in Tamil, though the day to day usage of the same is minimal. 

With the advent of the western culture and more and more number of people speaking in English the usage of the mother tongue has decreased. Our chilldren find it hard to spell words rightly, in Tamil. The SMS and Online Chat culture among college students is about writing Tamil in English. For example, to ask, “Where are you”, they type “enga irukka” using English alphabets. Well, it certainly makes life easy. It certainly sounds more sensible to call coffee as coffee and not to search for the equivalent Tamil word for cofee.

Every language has its own sweetness. For example a poem or song written in Tamil, will have its unique flavour, which the translation of the same, cannot deliver. There is a rich knowledge base found in Tamil literature, right from the age old Thirukural to the inspiring songs of Bharthiyar. Even today there are a many insightful novelists, writers and poets who are making great contributions in Tamil language. So along side getting our children educated learning in English schools, let us encourage our children to also read stories, novel and poetry in Tamil. Let them develop a taste and liking to their mother tongue, by reading what they like to read, and not just the academics.

Remember, there is a close affinity between a language and a culture. If we are interested in preserving our culture we also need to preserve our language.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article Dated Sep'10

Mobile Nuisance

Other than the Television and Internet, one more modern invention which could make it to the debate of boon or bane, is the mobile phones. Well as we all know, the entry of mobile communication has largely changed or influenced our lifestyle. Gone or the days when we needed to be glued to an office chair, in order to be able to communicate. Mobile phones have given us the freedom to move places yet be connected with business, family and friends. At the same time it has given way for unhealthy intrusion into our private time.

Mobile phones have become hardly a part of our life since 2000, but all of a sudden we feel a sense of being lost in this world, without it. Is it not, true?

The purpose of communication is to enhance understanding, but looking at how mobile phone usage has evolved, it looks like it seems to cause more misunderstandings, than understanding. Well, just read the below sentences and see if it sounds as a familiar complaint, in the recent days.

1. I tried to contact you a number of times, but you did not pick up the phone. (in a frustrated tone).
2. I hoped you will see my number and call me back, but you didn’t. ( in a accusing tone)
3. Are you so busy that you don’t even have the time to attend my phone call or return my phone call? (in a cynical tone).
4. I called you, but you cut my call (in a disappointed tone)

Now, let us take a quick look at the possible reasons why people don’t attend to calls or do not return calls.

• The person was taking a bath or using the restroom.
• He was in his meditation or prayer.
• He had gone for his morning walk or exercise.
• He was having his meal.
• He was driving.
• He had left the mobile phone in another room and was sitting elsewhere.
• He was in a meeting with a client.
• He was in a social occasion, where the external noise was so loud that he could not attend the phone or felt uncomfortable to do so.
• He was upset over some personal problem and was not in a mood to pick up the phone.
• The person thought he would call you back, but then totally forgot about it in his busy day’s work.
• He was focused on some important project that he did not want to get diverted by the phone call.

The reasons could be many and there is no obligation for the person to confess to us every time, why he did not pick up the call.  Now, it is not fair to expect someone to attend our call, irrespective of his preoccupations. We need to respect their privacy.

Well, very often in the above situations, we too would not pick up a call, but when we take the other side, we tend to get irritated. When exercising judgment, the benefit of doubt should always be in favour of the opponent. We need to understand that no one is under any compulsion or obligation to attend to our call. Just because someone did not pick up our call, we do not have the right to condemn them. If we do so, it just means that, we are spoiling a relationship.

We all know, that mobile phone has taken away quality family time.  People are finding it more and more difficult to cope up with official pressure which is due to the mobile intrusion in unofficial hours and vice versa. It really annoys me, when someone finds my mobile number in my business website and gives me a call at 9.00pm and asks me for some business information. Life has to be a balance of work, family and personal interests. If we are really interested in achieving this balance, we need to be ready to make some life style changes.

What I am about to suggest may look a little difficult to practice, but this can save us a lot of undue pressure. You can avoid giving your mobile numbers to everyone you come across. Limit your mobile phone acquaintances to a close circle of people whom you know. To start with, you can avoid printing your mobile number on your business cards.  Request your office secretary and spouse, to take a message from any caller who calls your land line number and not to give your mobile phone number to someone, unless the person who is calling or the situation on hand, is very important.

While mobile phone has given us the luxury of staying connected irrespective of where we are, let it not take away the freedom of allowing us to do what we want to do.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated Aug'10

The Transition Person

In one of my flights back from Kuala lumpur, I met a person, whose story made me feel some pain.  He was sitting next to me and he seemed so excited and so impatient about when he would reach Trichy airport.

With a little curiosity over his anxiety, I initiated a casual conversation with him. He told me that he is a native of a village near Madurai and that he is now working as a labour in an OIL PALM plantation in Malaysia. He is coming home for a holiday after 3 years, to see his family.  I asked him, what made him to seek a job in Malaysia, leaving his family and children in India. His reply was what I expected.  He said,” I earn good money here. I earn about 900 Ringgits a month”. Converted to Indian money, it is around Rs.12,500/-. He added, “I spend just about 1/4^th of my salary for my personal needs and the balance money, I send it to my family in India. I have 3 sons and I want all of them to study well and go to some nice jobs. I don’t want them to suffer like me.” I enquired about his job and he said that, from morning to evening they work in the plantation. They are allotted labour quarters which is shared by 4 to 5 workers. In the evening they come to their quarters, prepare food, wash their clothes, have dinner, watch TV for some time and go to rest. Their life is monotonous, every day except for Friday, when it is a holiday.  On Friday, when they go out they call their family and talk to them. Other than that there is no entertainment. Their life is confined to work and taking care of their personal chores. 

Of what he said, something touched me a lot. He said, if the next generation has to live a comfortable life, one generation has to suffer.

When we talk about the life style of Indians who have migrated abroad, we tend to think only of the doctors, engineers and IT professionals who have made it big in life. But the vast majority of the people who have migrated have taken the less aspired path. They are into  jobs, like road construction, carrying heavy loads, mechanics, nursing and cleaning jobs. No matter how uncomfortable it is for them, they have decided to take the brunt, keeping in mind the needs of their family.

Don’t we see similar sort of factory workers migrating to Tamilnadu, from Orissa & Bihar in search of such odd jobs. It is because of the extreme level of poverty in the other parts of the country that they have decided to find a source of living elsewhere to support their family.

One of the recent tamil movies, “Angadi theru” was a emotionally powerful portrayal of the hardships of labour who migrate from rural parts of the country to fend their family.  Not being judgmental of the extent of truth, as shown in the movie, what we undoubtedly know is, it is an echo of a crying voice, somewhere.

All these people have one thing in common. They have decided to be the “positive transition person” in their family.  They are trying to get their family out of deep doldrums. They have taken personal responsibility to uplift their future generation, by providing them with the best education and making available the best opportunities to come up in life.

If we look behind our own story, we will find someone in our family, who was a positive transition person. It may be our father, mother, grandfather, grandmother or great grandparents.  If not for their hard work and sacrifice we would not be where we are today.

We too will be the transition person to our future generation, to whom we are morally accountable. We have a huge responsibility to our future generation.  We can be the transition person, who is able to raise the level of our family, our society and our world, one step ahead.

It is not about saving big amounts of money so that our children can inherit, lead a lavish lifestyle and get recklessly spoiled. It is about being the transition person, who makes sure that you give your children the best education he/ she aspires for, give them a good exposure to the world, impart them good values by being a living role model of good virtues and lead an exemplary lifestyle, so  that they can follow path.

Talk to doctors and they would say that most of our diseases, behavioral patterns, temperaments are genetic in nature. And the good news, in many cases, you can act as shield between your past generation and future generation, if you make a conscious change in your lifestyle.

 A Native American proverb says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”.  Each of us has a responsibility to keep ‘Our World Green’ for the future generations and this is possible only if each individual contribute our little efforts. You can be a transition person in leaving this earth a little greener.  As a positive transition person, you can leave the world a much better place, for the future generation to live in.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated July 2010

My visit to an ancient world

Egypt, being one of the most ancient civilizations of the world has captured the imaginations of many. The ancient wonder of the world – the Great Pyramids of Giza, the world’s longest river Nile and the recent archaeological findings of innumerable treasures of the Tut Ankh Amun’s Tomb has triggered the interest of tourist across the globe. I and my family were no exception. We had been dreaming for quiet some years of going to this mysterious land and this summer, our dream became a reality. We went on a 10 day full scale trip of Egypt. We cruised the Nile, railed the tracks and wheeled the roads, along the Nile to cover the stretch of over 1800kms, right from the Southern tip, called Abu Simbel (A UNESCO Heritage site) which is just 50kms away from the Sudan border, upto the Northern tip, of  Alexandria, which is the coastline of the  Mediterranean sea.

The journey helped us discover many new things about Egypt, which made our trip even more interesting. In Egyptian language, ‘Nile’ means ‘River’ and ‘Sahara’ means desert, which stands as the meaning by itself, though we have learnt to call it as Nile River and Sahara Desert. We got so engrossed in understanding the Egyptian history which dates back to 4000BC. Great pyramids, hieroglyphs, elaborately decorated underground burial chambers, mummies, sprawling temple complexes, and statues combining human and animal forms are only a few of the many remains that survive from ancient Egypt. These relics of an extinct world raised numerous questions during the centuries after the civilization died out. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in the early 19th century, by a young French scholar, Jean Champollion was a major milestone. It helped him to decipher the hieroglyphs and reconstruct the ancient Egyptian language, which breathed a new leash of life to the Egyptian History.

The Great Pyramid which has been built as early as 2500BC is undoubtedly the world’s biggest marvel of human labour. The great pyramid of Giza, has been built with 2.3 million, large blocks of granite stones, lime stone, sand stone, weighing an average of 2.5MT each.

The work of quarrying, sculpting, transporting the rocks through Nile and moving them on the land surface by forming long stretches of sandy slopes to build the Great Pyramid which touches a height of about 480ft, was accomplished by thousands of  skilled and unskilled workers. It is estimated that 1 lakh workers took 20 years to complete this herculean task. And there are 3 of such, close to each other. Even to imagine of such a human feat is mind boggling. Though it is the pyramids that is commonly known, there are other noteworthy spectaculars like the Abu Simbel,  Philae Temple, Karnak Temple, Kom Omdo Temple and Luxor Temple, which are mighty works of the Egyptians.

Egypt shares a lot of similarities with India. The ancient Egyptian religion is very much similar to Hindu religion, where we have many Gods and many mythological stories. They too believed in the concept of life after death. The mummification process which is popular in Egypt is a result of this belief. Egypt too has been invaded by many foreign rulers, like India.  If we were to ask ourselves, what an invasion can do, we as Indians, have some answers from our own experience.  A visit to Egypt, could open up more shocking realities. What was striking to me, more than the political invasion, was the cultural invasion.  An invasion can kill a culture. It can kill a religion. The religion of the Ancient Egyptians is dead and gone. There are no more spiritual practices in the Egyptian temples.  The culture of ancient Egypt has been lost. With invaders from different nations, Egypt has lost its true identity. Luckily, in India Hinduism is still a living religion. The invasions have not uprooted our religion or our culture.   

If not for these huge stone monuments, which serves as a testimony of the age old Egyptian civilization that existed and if not for the discovery of the Rosetta stone, which helped archeologist decipher the ancient Egyptian language, Egypt would have lost all its glorious history.

This trip helped me realize, that taking a few steps backward in time, can give us a better clarity and understanding of the human evolution.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated June 2010

Driving re-orientation for the Indian Drivers

One of the appreciable developments this country is witnessing in the recent years, is the changing face of the Indian Roads. We see long stretches of  4 track and 6 track highways being laid, throughout the length and breadth of the country, facilitating a lot of road traffic.

With every boon, comes a curse. Similarly, the curse behind the boon of good roads is rash and speed driving. No doubts great roads are built for the sake of enhancing commuting speed, but what we cannot afford to ignore is the safety aspect. As the highways are getting constructed, the unclear ‘take diversion’ boards and uncompleted roads, by itself pose a threat to the traveller’s safety. The highways are not yet insulated from pedestrians, cyclist and cattle’s. At the type of speeds you can do on these roads, the probability of someone surviving a road accident is minimal. While bye-pass flyovers have been built over many towns, there is still a lot of areas we see human intrusion. 

Another frightening reality of the highways is the pilgrims who go on “Paadha yatra” to temples, walking on the highways. Especially in night, they are almost invisible owing to heavy lights penetrating our eyes from the opposite direction.  Though it can hurt the religious sentiments, of a few, I think a strict rule should be enforced not permitting pedestrians to use the highway. This is in view of their own safety. Just like a rule of wearing helmet and seat belt is introduced for the traveller’s safety, if a rule like this is introduced, it can take care of the pedestrian safety.

One of the strange signals, I often notice is that the drivers put on the right indicator, as a sign of allowing the vehicle behind to overtake. This is in total contrast to what we have been taught - use your right indicator, when you are going to turn right and use your left indicator when you are going to turn left. I don’t know from where these drivers learnt this wrong signaling. Somehow it has got messed up and what is more disheartening is as days go by, more and more people are following the same trend. If these mistakes are not corrected, people will tend to assume it is the right behavior and continue to do so. And at some point of time, this may become the default rule.

My friend Prabu, told me that there is a simple thumb rule to using indicators, while driving and that is, as a driver you are expected to just indicate what you are going to do, and not indicate what you want others to do. If people can remember this thumb rule, I think a lot of confusion could be saved.

In short, the roads look like a jungle, where every encounter is threatening. There is absolutely no peace of mind, for the traveller.  Every moment on the highway, looks risky. So how do we get over this dangerous phase of transition? Well, I guess the only way could be by re-educating the road users, i.e the drivers.

When computers were introduced in India 15 years back, it was totally new and not many people knew how to operate it. The government had to take great effort in educating people, as to how computers should be used to enhance work efficiency.  Similarly, now that the new multi track highways are constructed, there is need to educate the drivers how to use these roads. The Indian driver is not used to these types of roads, and it is obvious that he does not know how to use it. So, I think it is the duty of the Government, to educate the people, how to drive in these highways, through the many RTO’s located in each city.

The drivers need to be educated that, on a four track road, you need to always keep left and overtake in the right.  On a six track or a futuristic eight track road, every track  becomes a different speed lane and you need to stick to the lane based on the speed at which you are driving.  Now that the drivers are not aware, they seem to be happily using the plenty of available road space, as they wish. There is no system followed in maintaining lanes or overtaking, which could be dangerous and prove fatal.

In my opinion, I think the RTO should call for a revalidation of all existing driving licenses. In the process of revalidating the license, the license holder/driver has to be taught how to use the new type of roads, for his safety and for the safety of fellow road users. They not only need to be updated on these information, but also taught to develop a caring and friendly attitude towards fellow road users.

Let us not pray, but work, for road safety.

Happy Reading,

D.Senthil Kannan

Article dated May 2010