Sunday, August 28, 2011

Success & Celebration

A student stood up and put up a question. ‘Sir, what does success mean?’

‘Success means many wonderful, positive things. Success means personal prosperity: a fine home, vacations, travel, new things, financial security, giving your children maximum advantages. Success means winning admiration, leadership, being looked up to by people in your business and social life. Success means freedom: freedom from worries, fears, frustrations, failure and corruption. Success means self-respect, continually finding more real happiness and satisfaction from life, being able to do more for those who depend on you. Success means reaching back to society and doing something for them. And of course for you, success means finishing your education with good grades and getting a job of your dreams’, I said.
‘Success means winning. Success – achievement - is the goal of life.’
‘Every human being wants success. Everybody wants the best this life can deliver. Nobody enjoys crawling and living in mediocrity. No one likes feeling second class and feeling forced to go that way.’
On telling a fact that in India Gross Enrollment Ration (GER) is just 12.4 percent, which means just this many people graduate; a student jumped and said, ‘that clearly means we  are winners and must open bottles of champagne.’ 
‘Yes, we must celebrate but you got to find your own way of celebration', I said.

Celebrate to Succeed More!
The sun rises and celebrates
The sky embraces and celebrates
Winds blow and celebrate
Rivers flow and celebrate
Clouds rain and celebrate
Birds sing and celebrate
Peacocks dance and celebrate
Trees flower and celebrate
Buds blossom and celebrate
How do we human beings celebrate?

'Find your own way of celebration. My acid test in the selection of a way of celebration is: it must be such that your parents, spouse, children and your favorite gods must feel great to join you in the celebration or at least they feel happy to hear.’
‘My company – IBM, completed 100 years of progress in 2011. I am proud to be an IBMer and wanted to celebrate the centennial; I reached back to you and did my bit to guide, motivate and inspire you towards a better tomorrow and it makes me happy. The world's average GER is 26 percent and we are way behind that. We must reach back to awaken interest in education.'

I cherish the brilliant moments spent with students. ‘Thank you so much for illuminating my life, god.’

By the way, ‘How do you celebrate?


Friday, August 5, 2011

Pearls of Wisdom


§ What we think, we become. -Lord Buddha
§ Strength is life, weakness is death. -Vivekananda
§ One today is worth two tomorrows. -Benjamin Franklin
§ Education is the mother of leadership. -Wendell L Willkie
§ Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.  -Carl Sandburg
§ In a gentle way, you can shake the world. -Mahatma Gandhi
§ If you are killing time, it's not murder. It's suicide. -Lou Holtz
§ Be the change you want to see in the world -Mahatma Gandhi
§ He who stops being better, stops being good.    -Oliver Cromwell
§ Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. -Mortimer J Adler
§ Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. -Joseph Addison
§ Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today. -Abraham Lincoln
§ My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil.  -Paul Getty
§ Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.  -Nelson Mandela
§ Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book.  -Charles Kingsley
§ All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.  -Walt Disney
§ If you love your life? Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. -Benjamin Franklin
§ People say that intellect makes a great scientist. They are wrong: It is CHARACTER.  -Albert Einstein
§ People learn only through two things: Reading and association with smarter people-Will Rogers
§ Neither money pays, nor name, nor fame, nor learning; it is CHARACTER that can cleave through adamantine walls of difficulties.   -Vivekananda
§ No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance. -Atwood H Townsend