Think about this. When you were a child still learning how to walk, how many times did you fall before learning to stand straight? How many times did you fall before being able to ride your bicycle for more than a minute without falling? If you had opted not to fall, could you have still opted to stand or to ride the bicycle?
Sorry, there are no shortcuts to success. You learn swimming by swimming only. And making mistakes is a part and parcel of the process of learning. Making mistakes is nothing but finding out ways which simply dont work. When Edison's initial 10000 experiments failed before he finally succeeded in inventing the electric bulb, instead of calling them failures he said, "I have simply found 10000 ways which wont work".
And hence, DO NOT look at failure as a failure, instead look at it as a step towards success. Infact a success itself is not an end either. Each success is a milestone. There is always a next milestone to be reached. And there are steps of about a mile long between two successes. These steps are nothing but failures. So there is no shortcut to success. Infact there is no shortcut to any place worth going!
What is the difference between a mistake and a failure? Well, mistake is what you do - the cause, and failure is the outcome of that mistake - the effect. But at the same time it is the failure which many a times, infact most of the times is the cause for another well sought after effect - success.
So what do you need to convert your failure into success. Simple. Learn from it. For there are no mistakes made in life, there are only lessons learnt, provided you dont repeat your mistakes. Atleast repeat it differently. Life does not give a second chance many a times. At least not when skydiving. If you dont succeed in the first attempt, then skydiving is definitely not for you :)
Did any of your friends tell you that they haven't done any mistake at all? Well, yes it is possible, provided they have never tried anything new. If you have done no mistakes in the past 2 years, then you have wasted two precious years of your life. Now be cautious, making a mistake is not the same as making a crime. Mistake is what you make without knowing that you are making a mistake. You are not aware of the outcome and are trying out an action whose outcome goes against your expectations, and then it becomes a mistake. Where as a crime is making a mistake, very well knowing about it.
So if I dont know that a person will be hurt if I slap him, then is that a crime or a mistake? Well, by the definition of law it is a crime, but if you are so novice that you need a law to tell you that it is a mistake, then you are simply not fit to make any mistakes. For your mistakes will be too costly for you :)
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Now there is so much to learn in this world that I will need a hundred lives to make all the mistakes on my own and learn from them! So please do learn from others mistakes also. The best place to learn this would be to read autobiographies of great, the not so great, of all kind of personalities. Because, each autobiography contains details of a life term of mistakes in it! Autobiographies of people like Adolf Hitler - Mein Kempf - contain mistakes that didnt work - a billion people suffered from that. Autobiographies of people like Mahatma Gandhi - My Experiments with Truth - contains mistakes that did work - that made a billion people follow commands of a single man - a man who was half naked and had nothing except for the stick in his hand.
Did somebody tell you that his views about the world have not changed in the past twenty years? Then, either he has experienced every damn thing in this world 20 years ago, or he has never learnt anything new in the past 20 years. The former is a rare case, and most possibly it is the latter. As we gain more experience in life, so do our views keep changing. In fact changing would be an inappropriate term for that. In reality our views would be upgrading or updating, for better or worse depending on our surroundings - friends and family - and the events that we encounter. A misguided youth might become a terrorist from an innocent teenager - or the same person might become a well known scientist - all depending on what happened to him and how he reacted to what happened to him.
But again, ideology is different from our views. We can stick to our ideology without changing it, and that is definitely possible. I can stick for my lifetime to an ideology of saving this beautiful nature from man-made pollution and to prevent the life on this planet from becoming extinct due to man-made havocs. But my views on how to achieve that will keep changing constantly as the scope of my experience widens.
So mistakes are like a feedback loop. They give feedback about our actions that are not worth being repeated. It is a process of learning - learning now not to walk by walking incorrectly, learning how not to ride by driving wrongly, learning how not to solve a calculus problem by using a wrong formulae, and in the process of making mistakes, understanding how things function. There are no experts on this planets who havent made mistakes. And the greatest experts on this planet are those who have made the largest number of mistakes, and hence have become experts by knowing all those ways which do not work, and hence which they will not try again. A Gary Kasporov or a Vishwanathan Anand became world chess champions by making almost all those wrong moves prior to achieving that title.
When we are born our brain is an empty database. And it is the mistakes that we make that enable us to gather the information that we feed into our brain. Mistakes are not just limited to a single person. A family, a society, a country, all learn from their mistakes. The reason we brush in the morning, the reason we take bath, the reason we follow traffic rules, the reason our country has an army, the reason we use passwords, the reason we have a democratic system, the reason stock market goes down, the reason for a powercut, the reason UN came into existence, each of these have a history of past lessons which the generations, people, societies, nations have learnt from their past mistakes. History hence, should not be merely treated as just the past, but should be looked upon as lessons from the past. And it applies not just for human history, but for individual history as well.
While your success shows you your strength. Your failures reveal your weakness to you. And hence recognize your weakness from your failures. Its more important than knowing your strength.
Larry Ellison had no hesitation in admitting that he lacked the necessary skills to run a large sales force and a large service organization. When he saw that his weakness in administrating Oracle's sales force resulted in Oracle losing $12 million in 1991, he simply appointed Ray Lane (whom he discovered with the help of head hunters) as the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Oracle in 1992 and handed over to him all the responsibilities of reorganizing Oracle's sales force, rebuilding the service operations and introducing strict management processes in Oracle. Larry Ellison limited himself to what he knew he was really good at - to build new products and to articulate the company's vision. The result - Oracle has not looked back since then.
Steve Jobbs, the Apple CEO, had no hesitation that Apple's success needed its arch rival Microsoft's cooperation, and hence by saying "Apple has to move beyond the point of view that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose" Jobs invited Bill Gates without hesitation to acquire $150 million stake in Apple and to enter its Board of Directors. Not everybody can do that. You should be really brave to give up on your false egos. Giving up on our false ego is the best way to correct our mistakes without having to make them in the first place. Even though SAP and Oracle are fierce competitors in the ERP space, SAP still uses Oracle's database as the backend for its enterprise suite. And that's because SAP knows its strength and where to concentrate. It has no business building databases. Its simply not their pie. False egos prevent us from realising our weakness and from utilising our strengths.
It is not the number of failures that we should be worried about. It should be the quality of our attempts that we should be looking at irrespective of whether we fail or succeed. Look at a spider. No matter how many times we destroy its web, it doesnt get angry, it doesnt cry, it doesnt give up, it simply starts building a new web again from scratch. Now that has a great lesson in it. Never give up and always be prepared to start your life from scratch. Which is why Abraham Lincoln, the great American president succeeded in entering the white house, inspite of all his past failures.
Getting to the top is not difficult, what is really difficult is continuing to be at the top. And to be there you should be aware of your strengths and weaknesses equally, and should be willing to give up your false ego and take calculated risks.
And again finally, please dont mistake a crime to be a mistake. When you know that what you are doing is wrong ,and yet do it, then it is no mistake, it is simply a crime, irrespective of whether legally it is a crime or not. Nobody knows you better than your self. Be answerable to your self and you will succeed in life. You dont have to be answerable to anybody else.
All the mistakes are waiting to be made. Good Luck.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
| Manmohan Singh inaugurates Indian Institute of Space and Technology | |||
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PROPERTY OF TIRUMALA TIRUPATI
The richest shrine in India, perhaps even the world, the Balaji temple in Tirumala is an abode of abundant wealth. India Today's G. Rajasuka makes a rough estimate.
According to a centuries-old belief, Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth, gave a huge amount as a loan to Balaji or Venkateswara Swamy when he was marrying goddess Padmavathi. Balaji promised Kubera that in return, the offerings made by his devotees would go to him. If one were to estimate the the wealth of Balaji in Tirumala, it would not be wrong to conclude that all the sues have not only been paid in full, but in far excess as well.
Even a rough estimation of the assets or properties of Lord Balaji put the total value at anywhere between Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 75,000 crore. This includes fixed assets like lands, buildings, jewellery and Hundi collections and donations.
The Hindu scriptures say the idol of Balaji emerged here on its own.
Vijayanagar King Krishna Devaraya built two prakarams or outer walls to the shrine. He visited the temple whenever he had to wage a war. And everytime he won a war, he attributed his success to the blessings of Balaji.
The 9th century temple is the jewel in the crown of Hinduism. Lying 3,200 feet above sea level and having an area of about 10.33 square miles, it is the world's most active religious destination attracting more than 55,000 pilgrims from all over the world every day.
"Before the 90s, a majority of the devotees were from the southern states. Now because of globalisation, devotees come from all over,"
says Dr A.V. Ramama Deekshitulu, the chief priest of the temple.
Every year, more than 1.80 crore devotees offer money and gold to make Tirumala the richest Hindu shrine. This year, the temple's earnings have already crossed Rs 900 crore. Last year, it was Rs 675 crore.
Total collections from Hundi offerings alone are Rs 360 crore till now, while Rs 226 crore accrues annually from bank deposits. "Even three years ago, we used to clear the Hundi only once or twice in a day. Now we have to do it at least 10 times in a day," says Deekshitulu.
Comprising the lion's share of the wealth are the jewellery and the fixed assets. Interestingly, several medieval Muslim rulers and Christian colonial rulers have made rich donations in this respect. For instance, Mughal ruler Shahjahan donated an eight-layered gold chain that weighs over 100 kg. Jehangir too donated gold ornaments studded with valuable stones. Later, King George and Queen Victoria also donated several gold ornaments embossing their names on them.
"Traditionally, we have been using these ornaments during annual Brahmotsavams every year," says Seshadri Swamy, the Par Pattedar (Custodian of Jewellery) of the Devasthanam.
According to sources in the Finance Department, the value of the gold ornaments donated by King george and Queen Victoria could be more than Rs 30,000 crore. There are five diamond crowns for the lord. And there are already two sets of gold ornaments adorn the idol from top to toe.
Although the Devasthanam does not accept silver ornaments, devotees still drop hundreds of kilos of silver in the Hundi every year, says Seshadri.
The Gold and Diamond Treasury of the Lord is getting fuller by the day. "More than Rs 10 crore worth of jewellery gets added up every year," says Anitha Shah Aakella, the financial advisor and chief accounts officer of the Devasthanam. "We get various types of jewellery, even from designers from all over the country," says Shah.
Not less than 100 Niluvu Dopidees take place every day. Niluvu Dopidee is a ritual in which devotees giving away all the ornaments on their body at the Hundi. Devotees promise to the lord that they would drop all their ornaments in the Hundi if their wishes are fulfilled. It was said that both Jaya Bachchan and Tinu Ambani offered the Niluvu Dopidee to the Lord. Amitabh Bachchan offered Rs 11 crore worth of ornaments when he recovered from his illness.
Interestingly, all the assets are in the name of lord Balaji only. Even the Tirumala belongs to Balaji. Since centuries, devotees have been donating valuable land to Balaji. They simply drop land documents in the Hundi. Officials of Hundi keep them safely in the lockers. Some devotees have donated hundreds of acres of their land, an assessment of which is not possible. "One life time is not enough to put the documents in order, let alone assessing the value of lands," says A.P.V.N. Sarma, the executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. "We have sold out some of the lands which were in far off places and deposited the money in banks. But we have not completed the task of documenting all these papers," he added.
According to Devasthanam sources, the value of the few known and identified lands is worth more than Rs 10,000 crore.
The TTD keeps all its money in SBI, Andhra and Vijaya Banks.
The schemes started by the Deva
According to a centuries-old belief, Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth, gave a huge amount as a loan to Balaji or Venkateswara Swamy when he was marrying goddess Padmavathi. Balaji promised Kubera that in return, the offerings made by his devotees would go to him. If one were to estimate the the wealth of Balaji in Tirumala, it would not be wrong to conclude that all the sues have not only been paid in full, but in far excess as well.
Even a rough estimation of the assets or properties of Lord Balaji put the total value at anywhere between Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 75,000 crore. This includes fixed assets like lands, buildings, jewellery and Hundi collections and donations.
The Hindu scriptures say the idol of Balaji emerged here on its own.
Vijayanagar King Krishna Devaraya built two prakarams or outer walls to the shrine. He visited the temple whenever he had to wage a war. And everytime he won a war, he attributed his success to the blessings of Balaji.
The 9th century temple is the jewel in the crown of Hinduism. Lying 3,200 feet above sea level and having an area of about 10.33 square miles, it is the world's most active religious destination attracting more than 55,000 pilgrims from all over the world every day.
"Before the 90s, a majority of the devotees were from the southern states. Now because of globalisation, devotees come from all over,"
says Dr A.V. Ramama Deekshitulu, the chief priest of the temple.
Every year, more than 1.80 crore devotees offer money and gold to make Tirumala the richest Hindu shrine. This year, the temple's earnings have already crossed Rs 900 crore. Last year, it was Rs 675 crore.
Total collections from Hundi offerings alone are Rs 360 crore till now, while Rs 226 crore accrues annually from bank deposits. "Even three years ago, we used to clear the Hundi only once or twice in a day. Now we have to do it at least 10 times in a day," says Deekshitulu.
Comprising the lion's share of the wealth are the jewellery and the fixed assets. Interestingly, several medieval Muslim rulers and Christian colonial rulers have made rich donations in this respect. For instance, Mughal ruler Shahjahan donated an eight-layered gold chain that weighs over 100 kg. Jehangir too donated gold ornaments studded with valuable stones. Later, King George and Queen Victoria also donated several gold ornaments embossing their names on them.
"Traditionally, we have been using these ornaments during annual Brahmotsavams every year," says Seshadri Swamy, the Par Pattedar (Custodian of Jewellery) of the Devasthanam.
According to sources in the Finance Department, the value of the gold ornaments donated by King george and Queen Victoria could be more than Rs 30,000 crore. There are five diamond crowns for the lord. And there are already two sets of gold ornaments adorn the idol from top to toe.
Although the Devasthanam does not accept silver ornaments, devotees still drop hundreds of kilos of silver in the Hundi every year, says Seshadri.
The Gold and Diamond Treasury of the Lord is getting fuller by the day. "More than Rs 10 crore worth of jewellery gets added up every year," says Anitha Shah Aakella, the financial advisor and chief accounts officer of the Devasthanam. "We get various types of jewellery, even from designers from all over the country," says Shah.
Not less than 100 Niluvu Dopidees take place every day. Niluvu Dopidee is a ritual in which devotees giving away all the ornaments on their body at the Hundi. Devotees promise to the lord that they would drop all their ornaments in the Hundi if their wishes are fulfilled. It was said that both Jaya Bachchan and Tinu Ambani offered the Niluvu Dopidee to the Lord. Amitabh Bachchan offered Rs 11 crore worth of ornaments when he recovered from his illness.
Interestingly, all the assets are in the name of lord Balaji only. Even the Tirumala belongs to Balaji. Since centuries, devotees have been donating valuable land to Balaji. They simply drop land documents in the Hundi. Officials of Hundi keep them safely in the lockers. Some devotees have donated hundreds of acres of their land, an assessment of which is not possible. "One life time is not enough to put the documents in order, let alone assessing the value of lands," says A.P.V.N. Sarma, the executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. "We have sold out some of the lands which were in far off places and deposited the money in banks. But we have not completed the task of documenting all these papers," he added.
According to Devasthanam sources, the value of the few known and identified lands is worth more than Rs 10,000 crore.
The TTD keeps all its money in SBI, Andhra and Vijaya Banks.
The schemes started by the Deva
SWINE FLU
Swine flu and homoeopathyAt a time when swine flu has been the subject of much 'Breaking News' all over, we, being literate and responsible Indians should be ultra-careful in tackling the issue. Very few among us know that the long-term remedy is available in India.
Boeing 787 to make first flight
 The Dreamliner project has been hit by a number of delays |
The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will take place by the end of 2009, the company has announced.
Boeing also said it hoped to deliver the first plane for service in the last quarter of 2010.
There have been a series of delays in the development of the aircraft, and it is now running almost two years behind its original schedule.
Boeing chairman Jim McNerney said the extra time would enable the remaining work to be completed.
"The design details and implementation plan are nearly complete, and the team is preparing airplanes for modification and testing," he said.
Write-off
The delay was partly caused by an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft which needed to be reinforced, Boeing added.
The latest delay in the project, announced in June this year, was the fifth time the launch had been put back.
The company estimated that the cost of the first three test planes, which have no commercial value, would be $2.5bn. This, it said, would be included as a one-off charge in its July to September results.
"This charge will have no impact on the company's cash outlook going forward," Boeing said.
The company hopes to be making 10 of the 787 planes a month by the end of 2013.
Last month, the firm said it already had 850 orders.
It also revealed that it had received 13 new orders for 787s between April and June, but that airlines had cancelled 41 others.
The 787 Dreamliner is a hugely important plane for US-based Boeing in its long standing rivalry with Europe's Airbus.
It was the first unveiled in July 2007 and is the firm's first all-new jet since 1995.
It is designed to make use of carbon fibre to make it much lighter and more fuel efficient than traditional aluminium planes.
TIRUMALA HILLS
Climbing Tirumala hills
R Appa Rao (b April 5, 1946), a Venkateswara devotee climbed the seven hills of Tirupati 108 times between Dec 9, 2003 to April 8, 2004 covering 972 km while climbing 3,83,400 steps. The total number of rest days came to 14.
R Appa Rao (b April 5, 1946), a Venkateswara devotee climbed the seven hills of Tirupati 108 times between Dec 9, 2003 to April 8, 2004 covering 972 km while climbing 3,83,400 steps. The total number of rest days came to 14.
SATELLITE EDUCATION
First satellite for educational sector
A Rs 90 crore Edusat satellite was the first of the thematic satellites built exclusively for the educational sector. The satellite, which connects schools, colleges and institutes of higher learning, was launched in October 2004 from Sriharikota.
A Rs 90 crore Edusat satellite was the first of the thematic satellites built exclusively for the educational sector. The satellite, which connects schools, colleges and institutes of higher learning, was launched in October 2004 from Sriharikota.
Prehistoric Rock Art
Cave 3, Bhimbetka
The "caves" (actually, deep overhangs) of Bhimbetka, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, were decorated with art beginning in the Neolithic period (approximately 8000 BC) and continuing in some caves into historic times. According to a local guide, the paintings in Cave 3 date to 5,000 BC. All Bhimbetka dates in the following pages are quoted as they were recited by this guide, who may have been speaking by rote.
INDIAN MONEY
Black money in Swiss banks -- Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:
Top five
India---- $1456 billion
Russia---$ 470 billion
UK-------$390 billion
Ukraine- $100 billion
China-----$ 96 billion
Now do the maths - India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947: Can we bring back our money? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen. The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear.
What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ’Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.
In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich.
In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe. The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens
Top five
India---- $1456 billion
Russia---$ 470 billion
UK-------$390 billion
Ukraine- $100 billion
China-----$ 96 billion
Now do the maths - India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947: Can we bring back our money? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen. The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear.
What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ’Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.
In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich.
In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe. The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens
HI EVERYBODY
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