Social Media Marketing

There were bubbles floating all around. My eyes awakened to very beautiful glimmering rays of the sun. Strangely it was still blurry contrast to the sun one will always get to look at.

I could see clearly the huge ball of fire way above but it looked though as if, it was covered in a filament of thin highlights. As I kept noticing the bubble around me, my feet brushed off against something that felt like plants, reef & coral.

That’s when I realized the clear highlight was the stunning crystal clear ocean water. Yes, I was under this amazingly stunning looking colorfully lit sea.

I do not know how I got there. But I was comfortable. I swam around to reach to the top but oddly the more closer I was trying to get to the top of the ocean the deeper I seemed to be getting & closer to the ocean bed.

I swam around and I saw things that took my breath away.

I saw an amazingly gorgeous coral reef, filled with colours of gold, orange, pink, green and lots of blue.

The tiny leaves springing from it looked more beautiful as a lovely golden brown sea horse danced out from it. It was followed by this gorgeous little plant or flower or fish, I just cant figure out, right behind the sea horse, it came close to me and I could sense it almost breathing. It had transparent petals, it had violet spots on the edges of its base which looked like the base of a lotus as even underwater the ‘thing’ seemed untouched by water. As it swam across my face it made me turn and I just moved myself really fast as this humungous sea turtle floated its worries away.

I was staring at these beauties when suddenly of the darkness of this abyss a sudden gleam hit my face & I was reminded of my life back home. It was the sun, telling me to move up and come back to the light.

I moved up once more just avoiding the snap of a jelly fish which looked totally annoyed with the purple – yellow colored tiny starfish floating around it constantly avoiding touching it.

My smile got more silent as I saw this huge bream of varied fishes of amazing size and colours and unbelievable shapes swimming across. I just gasped and I looked up to see the twinkling eyes of the sea otter staring at me from the rays of the sun which was now shining brightly again. I saw and I pushed and was coming out of the water & just then, my alarm rang.

It was 5:30am. I had to get ready for my exams today. Yeah, that’s right.

I guess I was so overweighed with the thought of exams, I felt deeply pushed underwater again.

But I guess, it told me something beautiful and lovely.

It told me, that even if I was under the ocean, in a place where I did not belong, I would adapt, I would push and I would survive back with lots of experiences and lots of learning and with great beauty even if so, from even the abyss of the ocean bed.

Have a great day!

~~~There’s always hope,
even with chaos around
there’s always beauty
even with guilt that’s found
there’s always a lesson
in the abyss so dark & red
And you will always survive
even in the ocean bed
So,
whenever you feel lost
look up, look up to the shining sun
‘coz then even the blurry hues
are made to fade away and run……

All in a dream…………. Stay with hope!

Image Source: WIKI

‘Be formed my friend, be very formed, as water. Water does not break, nor does it crash. You put it in a jar, it becomes the jar… be free… yet be formed!’ Quoted Bruce Lee.

 It is so true.

 When we feel disturbed not through exertion or excess work but through stagnation or incapacitation, the strongest of the tone and the harshest of words seem to flow as free as water, don’t they?

 Thoughts tremble under the weight of time and voice cracks with every anxious decision. The decisive moments are not the only pensive ones anymore.

 As we dreadfully approach another possible personification of a plan, the feet feel the weight of the head as much as the palms feel the sweat of the brow. But at the end, we still go ahead with it and that’s when the hammer hits the iron ‘hot’.

 So with a strong heart powered by the huge mug of “Black Coffee” we charge ahead and make another, oops, yet another jump to the vexed hands of the listener, we pull it off big time or on the contrary we say, here we go again!

 Dismal behavioral patterns often seem to be a huge face of such extreme rollercoaster lives.

 But the idea is to have that cup of coffee meaning, to get up again desiring that energy, that freshness booster and be formed like water and be ready to accept that one’s “Eureka ideas” might be differently felt by the onlooker.  Like the old saying goes, not every mud thrown gets you in a dump and not all pats in the back land you to the top.

 So this is for a very nice friend of mine, “be formed and always desire the freshness of the coffee. Do it all, but just DON’T GIVE UP!”

 God bless and be well

 Ananth V

 Image Source: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

Team Management Win’s it all!

Being a true Mumbaite, there are only two things that I greedily crave for. One is Vada Pav and the other is the pulse racing game of Cricket.

About 7 weeks ago, I became a great fan of Mr. Lalit Modi who gifted all of us a fantastic product (though said to be ripped off from the Football leagues – Who cares?), the IPL – Indian Premiere League.

A product wherein you get the best from every nation.

It’s like having a Macintosh design (Beautifully packed) on a IBM machine (Brand sells) with windows OS (Love it or hate it… but you can’t ignore it – Everyone owns it)

The IPL brought in adrenaline rushing pulsating anticipation and anxiety to the young and senior players of Cricket as much as it did for the “dumb / struck” audience watching one of the best marketing practices sold right at their face.

And the best part is… the majority bought it and why wouldn’t we? It was a fantastic product with amazingly surprising ingredients, fresh recipe with a dash of rules being cooked in a cauldron of magical glamour.

It had it all and today at the DY Patil stadium at Navi Mumbai where the Underdogs finally did it and Rajasthan Royals bathed in pure glory.

They did it on the grandest stage of them all and with panache and flair. Raw overdue talent like Yusuf Pathan and Tanvir, fabulous findings like Asnodkar and pure all round skill like Shane Watson with the legend like backing and faith of Shane Warne, the match ended gloriously.

As the Chennai Super Kings skipper and his team gave a fabulous fight till the last ball was bowled, the Rajasthan Royals devoured the final ball for the ultimate prize of Glory and of course around 4.8 Crores Rupees.

But everyone loved it and the way the Royals had played it throughout, even the Chennai skipper wouldn’t have ‘minded it’ this time.

It was a great blow to all those who did not believe and kept saying with utmost faith that the underdogs will remain underdogs as they finally watched the most economical team biting the biggest chunk of them all, the biggest prize of them all the worlds most expensive Trophy – The IPL trophy.

More important than the combination of all sorts of skill levels was the beauty to see Muralidharan happy on Jayasurya’s wicket, Sachin rejoicing at Dhoni’s dismissal, Sourav hugging Shoaib and the Aussie Watson as glad with hitting Symond’s ball like never seen before, was that it brought in a lot of team spirit and a never give up attitude amongst all who played and to many who even just watched.

It was a great lesson from Shane Warne’s team that, it is not as important to have the best in the team as it is to give your best to the team.

I would like to end it with just a simple kudos for the legendary performance by the retired Skipper Shane Warne for his team management and to the whole Rajasthan Royals for the consistent performance by adding so much zest and energy to the spirit of the game.

Three cheers to the fact and power behind ‘Team Management’ and a Huge Hurray to Mr.Modi, Mr. Warne and the Rajasthan Royals.

IPL rocked!!!

Be well

Ananth V

Image Source: http://wikimedia.org

Offical Website: http://www.iplt20.com/index.html

As I pondered at the starry sky for the moments that were spent I could plainly see the spills on the carpet and the stains on the mattress. I kept thinking I needed to improvise, a change would be good said my sanely perplexed brain.

Again, the dove flew off like the starry night before. Today, it reminded me of a work of art from one of the famous Italian painters and my mind wandered into one such artists words. He had said that an object that has been assimilated or formed and now needs no addition, no editing and no change is pure beauty…

Thank god for those famous quotes by artists.

That’s what I felt today, at the end of the day… it was beautiful… it was stunning… it was pure and perfect ….. simply because it was “SIMPLE”

My brain came to the present and looked at the wonderful things that were gifted to me till date.

It did not make me overlook the demands and the twinge, but gave me enough nerve to keep fighting, never go down on hope and have a conviction, a stronger faith in myself.

I had a horrible yesterday but had an awesome day today.

Had an amazing and astounding 10 hour sleep (keeping in mind my usual sleep of not more than 4-5 hours), woke up fresh, had a glass of my favorite mixed fruit Tropicana, did some workout and had a stupendous brunch fit for a king with a great friend of mine who also is an important part of my routine, someone from whom I take a lot of advice.

The day ended perfectly with a call from my side to a very kind and sweet relative wishing him on his birthday today which is a huge deal because of the fact that I barely remember even my own birth day.  

At the end of the day, I had good food, great friend, amazing family and an awesome book to read not to mention my grand day with loads of real keeping fit routine and some virtual game plays on my computer.

So, I had grown up a bit today but with zest and loads of energy.

I was responsible for something that was not part of my job, I was with and around those who cared and vice-versa, I put enough energy into my physical and mental training today and after a long time could write a simple post for a blog, not too long and just like my day, could keep it simple.

So I guess, it’s not just the remarkable mind blowing things that make impact on us. It’s also these simple aspects from our everyday that make us cheerful, gives us hope and courage to face life with belief, dedication and optimism.

So….

When things go wrong

And life gets crude

Hang on to the soulful hope

That never keeps you aloof

Kiss her hand and breathe in her heart

Sing a song to the blues

and play your part!

— Ananth V

god bless and be well

Image source: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com

Ananth V

March 11^th, 2008

 Destination: Bapugoan, Dahanu Village, Maharashtra, India

Purpose: Being part of the Documentation shoot about the Warli art and one of its immense talent: Mr.Ramesh Hengadi.

About the Artist: Mr.Ramesh, will soon be reaching out to the world showcasing his skills and bringing India closer in the art front on the international map. He is from Dahanu, India and is a master craftsmen and artist.

His benign behavior and simplicity will take you off your feet when you see his artworks. He has done his MA and has been into Warli art since a very early age.

The Journey:

I left from home at 5:30 am heading towards Churchgate station where I was to meet Mr. Barney Hare Duke and Mr. Jeremy Theophilus and leave for Dahanu.

I touched the meeting place exactly at 6:50 am and the vehicle arrived with the curious and skilled duo Mr.Barney and Mr. Jeremy.  They both are partners of “A FINE LINE” and are project managers at HAT.

This program was being also funded majorly by the Art council UK.

As I learnt more about their work and about their travel around the world, I found something very interesting. They both actually loved art to the core….And instantaneously I knew that the journey would not be long and would be very informative and a great learning experience.

As Mr. Jeremy explained to me about their study on varied cultures, different art forms, distinctly varied media, about the totally unique cultures that each country offered them and the new discoveries about customs, traditions, people that they acquired, made the journey very much interesting for me. Mr. Barney told me about their research plans, documentary shoot about the artists and the art form at Dahanu village.

I then also came to know that I was going to meet the artist Mr.Ramesh in about half an hour, as he had travelled more than half the way so as to direct us to his home.  

As my cellular phone rang and Mr.Ramesh enquired about where we had reached, we finalized on one point of meet and then…. I met the talented to the core artist.

As he got into the vehicle and the questions about his village and art work kept barging, his soft spoken ways and smile eased the pace of questions from our side. We were closer to reaching the destination and as we looked around, we saw my country, India with its beautiful crude beauty. The sceneries around were breathtaking and very picturesque.

In a total of 2 ½ hours, we touched his home and were greeted by his mother with ‘Aarti & red Tilak’.

The whole place looked very neat, clean and was stunningly beautiful. The people there were living a very simple life with limited resources and means, but were living happily.

Why wouldn’t they be, one of their artist was being recognized for his work and was being interviewed and documented on, before he left for UK to showcase his talent.

We went inside his home, met his big and hospitable family and within half an hour or so we were out, for exploring his village, their culture, traditions, their way of life etc. We saw his school, as his brothers, friends and other villagers took us around the whole village. We saw how they grinded wheat, rice etc, and the way the kids were taught to greet the elders and anyone who was new to their homeland.

They explained to us of their faith in the god, “Vagobha” meaning ‘The Tiger’ whom they worshiped in idol and symbolic form. They took us to that temple that was built and has been maintained since generations.

We obviously found dust and mud all around us, but yet, the air was amazingly fresh and there was absolutely no pollution. So, in other words, I was having difficulty breathing the fresh air…. Hmmm…. Only pure oxygen to breathe. Being from the polluted side of the world, I had no idea how to take that in… but I managed and survived.

The village was amazingly clean which reminded me of the media coverage and other hoardings begging our city dwellers to keep the city clean. There were dustbins in the village and the garbage was properly disposed.

It reminded me of the ‘ruffles lays’ packet that was thrown out in the middle of the road by one of the Honda city owners kid while we were leaving in the vehicle for Dahanu today morning. So much for a civilized city, Huh!

As I came out of the horrible flashback, back to the clean and fresh village of Dahanu, Ramesh’s brothers and friends showed us few other houses and the art works and the style in which the house had been designed and coloured, amazed all of us. It was clean, neat, colourfull and had motifs and other different wall paintings on the in and outside of the house walls. They had kept God idols etc hanging from the ceiling, painted the invite to the wedding in the houses where marriages had taken place, the lamps and wedding turbans that were hanging on the nails on the wooden pillars of their houses. Even with so much humidity and heat, the inside of the houses were cool because of the cow dung plastered on their walls.

The massive support that the whole village showered on its talented son, Mr.Ramesh H was something that one could feel so much positively in the air with such strong and happy vibes that were hovering across the whole village.

We then feasted our eyes to the amazing Tarpa dance while the Head Tarpa player (who was easily in his seventies) played the amazing looking musical instrument and the other dancers, performers and singers showed us their skills and brought us closer to the village, people and their art forms. They danced, hopped, twisted and turned greeting us and sang songs of THE GAURI (the God and Goddess) and the harvesting of crops which were very important aspects of the village life.

Later on as we looked at the Warli art, it was very clear that the Tarpa dance, the Tarpa, the harvesting process of crops and the gods, idols, temples, their faith, religion and worship played a massively important role in their upbringing and were vividly seen in their Warli art.

We travelled across to majority of the places and areas learning about Warli art and were gifted to watch the young artists and the master of Warli art at work. As the master craftsmen Mr.Ramesh and the 10 year old Ashish with his friends and elder brothers Rajesh, Ramesh took small pieces of cloth dipped in their soil / mud and cow dung, which had dried up now to look like a great canvas place for their art to be etched or created, they slowly began the magic.

As we watched their undivided attention and focus on their art being converted to shapes, forms, figures we could see that they were actually creating the different dances and performances that we had just seen their today, few hours ago. It looked amazingly alive and breathtakingly beautiful. The flow and the rhythm of the art work were exquisite.

Throughout as Mr.Barney and Mr.Jeremy were shooting the whole thing and taking notes, I had a real blast as I could not only learn about the art of warli, but also meet such sweet, skilled and amazingly talented people and learn so much about my own culture of the village life in India.

By the end of the day after taking rounds of the places where the master artist usually works, where he gets his inspiration from, later on we also caught a glimpse at the various artworks created by his wife on cloth, t-shirts, Ramesh’s unique combination of using the gourd vegetable to be used as pots, moulds and create amazingly exquisite showpieces of Warli art on it, we headed back to the vehicle. Mr. Jeremy treated us to a nice lunch and we then headed back home.

The journey back home was very much different than the way it began.

There was so much curiosity and so many queries when we had started at the crack of dawn, but as we headed back home, I was filled with so much awe of the humbleness, simplicity of their lives and pure art that I could feel rushing inside my head. I rested in the comfortable and BIG Chevrolet and went back home with a day, that was fun, had a huge learning experience, meeting brilliant artists, great people, the partners of A FINE LINE who had shown so much respect and love for the art and Indian culture…..

(For pictures of this whole journey, click on the link below: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com)

The day had ended with the setting sun and I was grateful to a very good friend of mine, Mrs. Neela Shinde for introducing me to the brilliant researchers from UK, was Thankful to both, Jeremy and Barney for such a wonderful journey and humbled by the loving and talented villagers at Dahanu.

God bless art and artists for spreading so much life, culture, love, passion hope and dreams all around us.

Be well

Ananthanarayanan V

http://ananthvclicks.com

http://techdivine.cgsociety.org

http://www.art.in/artists/ananthanarayanan-v.htm

http://stores.lulu.com/techdivine  

March 11^th, 2008

 Destination: Bapugoan, Dahanu Village, Maharashtra, India

Purpose: Being part of the Documentation shoot about the Warli art and one of its immense talent: Mr.Ramesh Hengadi.

About the Artist: Mr.Ramesh, will soon be reaching out to the world showcasing his skills and bringing India closer in the art front on the international map. He is from Dahanu, India and is a master craftsmen and artist.

His benign behavior and simplicity will take you off your feet when you see his artworks. He has done his MA and has been into Warli art since a very early age.

The Journey:

I left from home at 5:30 am heading towards Churchgate station where I was to meet Mr. Barney Hare Duke and Mr. Jeremy Theophilus and leave for Dahanu.

I touched the meeting place exactly at 6:50 am and the vehicle arrived with the curious and skilled duo Mr.Barney and Mr. Jeremy.  They both are partners of “A FINE LINE” and are project managers at HAT.

This program was being also funded majorly by the Art council UK.

As I learnt more about their work and about their travel around the world, I found something very interesting. They both actually loved art to the core….And instantaneously I knew that the journey would not be long and would be very informative and a great learning experience.

As Mr. Jeremy explained to me about their study on varied cultures, different art forms, distinctly varied media, about the totally unique cultures that each country offered them and the new discoveries about customs, traditions, people that they acquired, made the journey very much interesting for me. Mr. Barney told me about their research plans, documentary shoot about the artists and the art form at Dahanu village.

I then also came to know that I was going to meet the artist Mr.Ramesh in about half an hour, as he had travelled more than half the way so as to direct us to his home.  

As my cellular phone rang and Mr.Ramesh enquired about where we had reached, we finalized on one point of meet and then…. I met the talented to the core artist.

As he got into the vehicle and the questions about his village and art work kept barging, his soft spoken ways and smile eased the pace of questions from our side. We were closer to reaching the destination and as we looked around, we saw my country, India with its beautiful crude beauty. The sceneries around were breathtaking and very picturesque.

In a total of 2 ½ hours, we touched his home and were greeted by his mother with ‘Aarti & red Tilak’.

The whole place looked very neat, clean and was stunningly beautiful. The people there were living a very simple life with limited resources and means, but were living happily.

Why wouldn’t they be, one of their artist was being recognized for his work and was being interviewed and documented on, before he left for UK to showcase his talent.

We went inside his home, met his big and hospitable family and within half an hour or so we were out, for exploring his village, their culture, traditions, their way of life etc. We saw his school, as his brothers, friends and other villagers took us around the whole village. We saw how they grinded wheat, rice etc, and the way the kids were taught to greet the elders and anyone who was new to their homeland.

They explained to us of their faith in the god, “Vagobha” meaning ‘The Tiger’ whom they worshiped in idol and symbolic form. They took us to that temple that was built and has been maintained since generations.

We obviously found dust and mud all around us, but yet, the air was amazingly fresh and there was absolutely no pollution. So, in other words, I was having difficulty breathing the fresh air…. Hmmm…. Only pure oxygen to breathe. Being from the polluted side of the world, I had no idea how to take that in… but I managed and survived.

The village was amazingly clean which reminded me of the media coverage and other hoardings begging our city dwellers to keep the city clean. There were dustbins in the village and the garbage was properly disposed.

It reminded me of the ‘ruffles lays’ packet that was thrown out in the middle of the road by one of the Honda city owners kid while we were leaving in the vehicle for Dahanu today morning. So much for a civilized city, Huh!

As I came out of the horrible flashback, back to the clean and fresh village of Dahanu, Ramesh’s brothers and friends showed us few other houses and the art works and the style in which the house had been designed and coloured, amazed all of us. It was clean, neat, colourfull and had motifs and other different wall paintings on the in and outside of the house walls. They had kept God idols etc hanging from the ceiling, painted the invite to the wedding in the houses where marriages had taken place, the lamps and wedding turbans that were hanging on the nails on the wooden pillars of their houses. Even with so much humidity and heat, the inside of the houses were cool because of the cow dung plastered on their walls.

The massive support that the whole village showered on its talented son, Mr.Ramesh H was something that one could feel so much positively in the air with such strong and happy vibes that were hovering across the whole village.

We then feasted our eyes to the amazing Tarpa dance while the Head Tarpa player (who was easily in his seventies) played the amazing looking musical instrument and the other dancers, performers and singers showed us their skills and brought us closer to the village, people and their art forms. They danced, hopped, twisted and turned greeting us and sang songs of THE GAURI (the God and Goddess) and the harvesting of crops which were very important aspects of the village life.

Later on as we looked at the Warli art, it was very clear that the Tarpa dance, the Tarpa, the harvesting process of crops and the gods, idols, temples, their faith, religion and worship played a massively important role in their upbringing and were vividly seen in their Warli art.

We travelled across to majority of the places and areas learning about Warli art and were gifted to watch the young artists and the master of Warli art at work. As the master craftsmen Mr.Ramesh and the 10 year old Ashish with his friends and elder brothers Rajesh, Ramesh took small pieces of cloth dipped in their soil / mud and cow dung, which had dried up now to look like a great canvas place for their art to be etched or created, they slowly began the magic.

As we watched their undivided attention and focus on their art being converted to shapes, forms, figures we could see that they were actually creating the different dances and performances that we had just seen their today, few hours ago. It looked amazingly alive and breathtakingly beautiful. The flow and the rhythm of the art work were exquisite.

Throughout as Mr.Barney and Mr.Jeremy were shooting the whole thing and taking notes, I had a real blast as I could not only learn about the art of warli, but also meet such sweet, skilled and amazingly talented people and learn so much about my own culture of the village life in India.

By the end of the day after taking rounds of the places where the master artist usually works, where he gets his inspiration from, later on we also caught a glimpse at the various artworks created by his wife on cloth, t-shirts, Ramesh’s unique combination of using the gourd vegetable to be used as pots, moulds and create amazingly exquisite showpieces of Warli art on it, we headed back to the vehicle. Mr. Jeremy treated us to a nice lunch and we then headed back home.

The journey back home was very much different than the way it began.

There was so much curiosity and so many queries when we had started at the crack of dawn, but as we headed back home, I was filled with so much awe of the humbleness, simplicity of their lives and pure art that I could feel rushing inside my head. I rested in the comfortable and BIG Chevrolet and went back home with a day, that was fun, had a huge learning experience, meeting brilliant artists, great people, the partners of A FINE LINE who had shown so much respect and love for the art and Indian culture…..

(For pictures of this whole journey, click on the link below: http://ananthvclicks.wordpress.com)

The day had ended with the setting sun and I was grateful to a very good friend of mine, Mrs. Neela Shinde for introducing me to the brilliant researchers from UK, was Thankful to both, Jeremy and Barney for such a wonderful journey and humbled by the loving and talented villagers at Dahanu.

God bless art and artists for spreading so much life, culture, love, passion hope and dreams all around us.

Be well

Ananthanarayanan V

http://ananthvclicks.com

http://techdivine.cgsociety.org

http://www.art.in/artists/ananthanarayanan-v.htm

http://stores.lulu.com/techdivine  

This article is written by a friend of mine and it speaks of an amazing and beautiful personal experience of her and she has asked me to share it with you all:  

The author  Karishma S, is from Mumbai. She is a poet, an Engineer and a software developer by profession….  

 ”Making the moments count by Karishma S“ 

Numbers have become such an integral part of our system today that to assure knowledge and know-how too people term “experience” as a factor today.  Thus, age is often used to count the number of years a person has lived, but I feel that is only a psychologically quantifying factor. The quality of the years is what actually matters.  

I am only 24 years old but I have come across and gone through certain experiences which have made me feel I have lived  one  entire lifetime in those moments .These were the factors which have made me  recognize the significance  of being, I have been gifted with.  

Of those many ups and downs, I recollected one of my visits to the epitome of true pure love and kindness. I had the opportunity to see Mother Teresa’s orphanage where there were small children all below the age of five.  Some of them were only a couple of months old and many just a couple of days old. They were there mostly because they were born to unwed mothers. 

Now they were all alone in the world without a glimpse of an idea of what this world means.  Of course they are looked after in an exceptionally good way. They are given the best of food and toys and all the other care required. But what is missing is the love, the tenderness and softness of the mother’s bosom which the child feels when the mother carries him, the basic feeling of security which a new born baby too would understand. 

They crave attention like any child does. As all these thoughts rushed like the gush of wind to me, I realized, I was only an observer to the scene. I will stand there, think for two minutes about what is missing from the life of these kids, feel sorry for them and go back home and resume my daily chores. It is these kids who will have to face the harsh reality after sometime. It is them who will have to answer the daunting questions of the world.  

They say what you never have you never miss. Maybe these children will never miss not having parents. Their earliest memories might be those of having plentiful brothers and sisters all about the same age as them. Loads and loads of fun playing on the swings, playing with lots of toys and living a life of unknown reality.  

It was then what hit me…. Isn’t everyone entitled to a particular kind of life?  I do believe in destiny and fate, but fail to understand what these little angels have done or not done to be in this moment at this time.

As I walked through the doors of the orphanage I heard a little angel about eight to 9 months old, call out to me from her crib with her arms wide open, telling me to carry her. But I was not allowed to carry her, as the Sisters at Mother Teresa’s have told me that they don’t let you go once you carry them. So no point in making them cry, obviously I understood this.

Anyways I couldn’t help myself from going up to her. I think she did understand that I am not going to carry her. By now she must have been used to this. But I did stand there and play a game of peek-a-boo with her. Said a couple of rhymes and heard her giggle and laughed with her. For those moments I felt time was not there, it never existed. It was just me and the kids there and loads of laughter.

I felt I had lived a very sweet part of my life in those few moments that I was there.  I had understood so many things about my own life and made a couple of silent promises to myself. That day when I walked out of that orphanage I felt grown-up.

I felt a stronger sense of urge, responsibility and reason to exist… to make a difference… to be there for someone when they need… and I hope… I am able to keep my promise and fill in any void of the destiny of fate! 

Thank You! 

Karishma S 

Her blog: http://karishmasinghal.blogspot.com/ 

Image source: www.stanford.edu 

Dare, Dream & Destiny!

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani: “Dhirubhai”

dhirubhai ambani

The saga of dreams and destiny wherein the possibility and ability to challenge every obstacle was literally larger than life, such is the chronicle of the legend who lives perpetually in our minds and hearts, Dhirubhai.

This article is a mark of respect from just one of his billion fans from all over the globe on his 75^th Birth Anniversary on 28^th December 2007!

Dhirubhai, as he was affectionately referred to by his scores of followers and fans from around the world, began his life with scanty means, humble start but with dreams beyond people’s capability to anticipate. He began as a small time delivery boy, rose up as the brightest shining star and became the face of our India.

Dhirubhai became the embodiment of triumph, guts, passion and the guide of one and all who dared to dream, each one who sought life out of the ordinary and was ready to go and pursue it no matter what.

He was someone who not only had implausible industry acumen, but also had remarkable prudence and foresight to seek, conquer roads and paths where no man had ventured or dared to go before. He was a man who could turn a fading dream into a bright and merry dawn with his charisma and his passion to grow like no one ever did.

Dhirubhai defined new scales and set new standards for the common man to grow beyond his own competence. He made everyone become conscious that all you need to grow in a way that would stun the world is just CONVICTION… as in Faith and belief that you would achieve it… and that once you start believing in yourself no matter what, you would reach the pinnacle of success and growth like no other.

His life, his road and his dreams are now shared by billions of individuals and communities all over the globe and his name is a permanent shining star in the midst of the vast and bright blue sky.

Dhirubhai like many other great national leaders, reformers, scientists, geniuses, made our INDIA stand distinct in the global map and taught each of us that it is not good…. But great to dare to dream!

He will always live in our hearts, mind and soul and keep reminding us – IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING!!!

Ananthanarayanan V

image source:http://googling.in

I was seven years old. It was barely seven am as I rubbed my eyes and was still lying on the comfortable bed. As my eyelids leisurely followed the cadence of the twinkling stars and I came back to full yet not so vivid vision of the place around, I looked for immediate comfort. I looked for my folks around.

Now this little kid that was me was getting a little anxious to not see his parents around him as he realized all of a sudden that the place he was waking up was also totally new and unknown to him.

I kept calling for my parents and no one answered.

My eyes opened up wholly and I got up in a jiff. As I looked around, my cry for my mom and dad only got louder as the room that I was looking at was at least about 3000 sq. foot big and there was not a soul around. My feet clamped the flooring and I took to faster steps and scurried around the first door that I found open.

I ran three floors downstairs still calling for my parents and now my voice was getting a little more raucous and whiny than before.

Bang!

I startled and shouted for help as I heard a huge clanking clatter to my left side where there was a huge door that was half open. I stood there motionless, scared and worried. I waited till I heard that noise again and then again.

Strangely though, I was a lot calm now and I slowly moved towards that open door and all I could see were massively humongous machines.The smell in that place was filled with fragrance of flowers. I step by step moved in between the clanking sounds and now a lot more confident as I saw a household face near one such machine.

It was my uncle, Mr. K V Ganesan. He owned that whole factory and as he looked at me and my eyes which had tears rolling down my cheeks from before, he immediately lifted me up and said, “Good morning dear. Let’s go and have something to freshen up your morning.”

Soon enough I was sitting on my dad’s lap and my uncle was narrating of probably what could have caused those tears to roll of my eyes. I was now too secure with my folks to admit it was right, so I just smiled and kept quite.

Ganesan uncle was quick to get that thought in my head as he immediately said, “You are a big boy. You were just curious may be and not afraid right?” and I immediately nodded.

That’s when he told me, “My dear boy, in your life never be afraid to accept your fears. As telling a lie and hiding it would only make it stay with you for a much longer time.” That was said to me almost two decades back and it still rings in my head like I heard it yesterday.

Whenever I had the chance to meet uncle Ganesan, I never missed the opportunity as when I grew up, I came to know that the man who was standing with the labourers that early dawn with the soap and machines working was the man who had built a huge business and won acclaims and accolades from all over the globe.

Ganesan uncle had even won awards / certificates from the then President of India for his contribution in the field of his expertise, for his work towards quality Soap products “Chitra Soap Works” and his loads and loads of contribution to the betterment of labour force in their town and city of Chennai which was then Madras.

He was an industrialist. He was a visionary and a true leader. He was the President of the Small scale soap manufacturers association of South India. He was someone who used to genuinely go down the line and help the less privileged section of society and was unbiased in helping anyone and everyone.

He was someone who always believed, preached and practised that the court of conscience is more supreme than the Supreme Court.

Ganesan uncle was someone who used to tell things as they were. He was a simple, straightforward, no-nonsense man. He always valued others time and was as brilliantly knowledgeable about the Holy book of Gita, the Vedas and the Upanishads, as he was about his flourishing company.

He could predict about people’s lives and he did not do it with anyone and everyone. He used to just talk and all of a sudden say something about someone and keep quiet. And he has always been right.

I do not know how he used to do that but I always still wish that I could have met him few more times and learn more about practicality and life and more importantly, the road to do things your way, your business and your hard work and as he lovingly used to put it, your profits.

He started his life from working in a hotel with a very modest beginning and reached to positions where almost everyone he met was influenced by him to the very core. He had an amazing charisma and optimistic vigor that he carried with him. It was probably this vibe which took him to the pinnacle of accomplishment and showered respect and laurels on him from scores of big shots from around the world.

The story of his never quit attitude sounds mesmerizing as he had told that to me once.

He told me that one day, when he had finished his work in the small time hotel where he was working, he saw that some customer had left a book on the seat. It was about midnight till when he had finished his that days errands and he was about to hit the sack, when something pulled him again towards that book. That book was about making something, something that was supposed to get things clean.

Hmmmmm……. Clean. He said to himself. Clean is good. Let me know more about this, he thought. Various optimistic possibilities flashed across his mind instantaneously. He started reading it page by page and before he looked around, it was already morning and his shift was about to start. He was fascinated by what he had read, but work was very much important to fetch him that day’s food. So he let the book in his small cloth bag that he had and got back to work.

The thought kept ringing in his head again and again.

That night after work he jotted down the things that were said to be required and asked those around, of things he did not understand what they meant. He tried to get as many of those as possible with him and replaced few others with what the people around had told.

He followed what was mentioned in the book and instead of using machines he manually grounded and got a thick paste with him in just few hours. It had no proper smell as he recalls, “I must have missed out on the fragrance part to be added as I did not have anything for that aspect back then.” But whatever he had got, he tried to put them in a box and tried them on the dishes and Woolah! They were clean in a jiff and looked a lot shinier.

He loved the concept and he began his dream and created Chitra Soap works and in the next three decades went global. His products were well known for their quality and cost and as years rolled by, he put scores of people on the job and built his dream neat and clean.But more so, with his intense sense of humor and immense technical knowledge and his pure business instinct, he touched a million lives on the way to the pedestal.

I don’t know why, but I remembered him very much today as I thought about something with respect to accepting my fear about something rather than hide and make it grow. At the end of it when the approach clicked to my advantage and I felt so proud that I had taken a brilliant decision at the end of the day, it just hit me hard as a bar of soap, and I came to my senses touching the fragrance of the whole story.

I was able to recollect something that had happened so long back and I started jotting down all that I recollected him telling me about life, faith, hard work and money.

So that may be, just maybe, someday, I grow up to be at least a third as brilliant, innovative and knowledgeable like him, just May be…. Someday……. As he told me always………. Never give up on your dream, whatever it might be……. Just never give up.

He is someone I always remember in my prayers and someone whom I hope is safe and happy up there in the company of the powerful almighty. 

Be well

—-

Ananthanarayanan V