No News
No News edition 16 – Reflections of Warriors
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 16th issue of No News. In the olden days, it was a tradition for elders to sit with children and tell them stories. Mostly this happened in the evening and a group of 7 to 8 children gather around to listen a story, a short one with a moral ending. In those days, it was the natural formative way to groom the children to a responsible citizen. As we progressed and as the combined families shrunk to single family and single child, this tradition had a slow death. The busy schedule of both working parents and limited opportunities to interact with relatives and friends killed the age old tradition of story telling. Children, where do they go and what do they do to pick up precious pearls of wisdom?. TV cartoons or serials?. The importance of school libraries and regular reading lessons gets prominence at this stage. More libraries and reading opportunities should be made available for our children. A point to ponder.
It is not easy to preach and not at all easy to practise what we preach. I myself had a good experience two days ago. As a strong advocate and follower of traffic and safety rules, I try and make sure to follow the rules. They say, there is always a secret eye watching you and this happened after I parked my car in front of a road side villa. After finishing my work, I was taking my car and there comes a hand stopping me. A traffic warden walked from nowhere and handed over to me a parking violation ticket. He continued, Sir, you have parked in front of a no parking zone!. I looked around and could not locate any no-parking signs. Enquiring a little more about the locality I discovered that previous day, many drivers double parked in that area and created traffic obstructions for the residents and their complaints caused this decision of reinforcing an old no-parking situation in that area. I drove away accepting it as a good source of permanent reminder to stay away from future violations.
Participating recently in a photography competition by Malayala Manorama newspaper gave me an opportunity to experience the intensity associated with all those children taking part in various reality shows and events. Apart from having talent, they and their entire team should have the motivation to sustain their interest and efforts during the period they compete. To generate continuous interest amongst the audience is not an easy task. It is at this challenging time that innovative and inventive creative qualities within a person blossoms. This automatically becomes a grooming ground of future real time man management for the child. A look at the leading participants of any of the major competition will give you an idea about them and their academic skills and added value of extra-curricular talent.
Incidentally, this also brought in front of me another startling factor from a series of music reality shows concluded recently. As many as 5 children belonging to a small community – warrier’s – came to the finals of various regional singing reality shows. Arun Gopan, Mridula V R, Durga Warrier, Parvathy and Rashmi Vijayan. It is nice to see parents promoting children and their talent to blossom along with their academic progress. A new set of real life winners are being groomed and let out to the society to rule the future world of talent. How important is the role of parents here in the success achieved by each one of them? I really applaud them for supporting their children to come out and perform to their best.
On a similar platform, I look at the opportunities available to our children and those left un-explored by them. In our specific case, http://www.talentshare.blogspot.com initiative gives children the perfect platform to expand their non-performing talent. With a small effort of sending a creative work by email in jpg form, a child’s expressive thoughts gets into a history of his/her life. Imagine the feeling he/she gets after sending it across to his favourite uncle or grand parents across the world. Regular participation in it provides a self progress report for the growth of their creative career as they could analyse by themselves the creative efforts before, now and after. Please do not miss this opportunity to groom your child to participate in future at bigger venues whenever it is made available.
Higher education options for children are getting competitive than ever. The current economic scenario world-wide have reprioritised the demand in the field of education. Interests in arts, economics and language have gained back prominence. Specific job oriented courses have come up and even professional courses have direct admission facilities for students to join them straight from their high school. http://www.cbseplus.blogspot.com is dedicated to bring out the best support role for students. Several links with the objective of giving maximum guidance to children have been included in it. Parents, teachers and students are kindly requested to utilise this site to the maximum benefit they could reap from it. Nothing comes easy and free. Here, all the above are free for use. May be that is the reason it does not get the right value expected out of it. This is why each time a parent support his child to participate in the Talent Share objective gets rewarded. Because, without their support, children will never be able to participate in it.
With immense honour, I include a part of the answer provided to the media by H.H.Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Ministre of UAE. On asked about how he juggles his political and non-political roles and what he does for fun, he answered: “The day has 24 hours or 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. For me, this is sufficient time for work, hobbies and sports. It works if you respect time and you know how to organize your schedule. Whoever enjoys his work, it seems that you add five days to your week. I enjoy my work, which is my existence in my life: the service of my homeland and my people. My joy increases when I see the progress and prosperity of my homeland and my people. I do not work alone, I have a team whom I lead and encourage and on whom I rely. Within each human being there is an inexhaustible source of potential, but there is no human being with unlimited capacity. What is important is to know your capacities – and how you should use them. For fun, I spend my time with my family at the beach or in the desert. I love to read. I ride horses. My love for horses is indescribably enormous; it is part of my soul and history.
True words of wisdom from a leader who utilise each minute of his life for himself, his family and the society. Reflection of a true warrior. As do all the others who devote time for their children, family and society. What more one need? See the whole picture, enjoy it’s complete beauty and give your best positive efforts to your life and society around.
God Bless and have a great week ahead.
Ramesh Menon
22042009 / e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News 15th edition – KITs for success
No News 15th edition – KITs for success
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 15th issue of No News. I had an opportunity to attend an international conference a few days ago. It became another opportunity to meet two remarkable personalities.
Immediately after the lunch on day one was a presentation by the CEO of a company based in Washington. We all know it is very tough to get attention of the delegates during the session after lunch. His profile was very impressive as his personality. We noticed in the beginning itself that he was stammering and it was difficulty to speak at a stretch. It did not bother him at all. He took control of the situation and in few minutes gained momentum to give an Xxtra-ordinary presentation. Whenever he was feeling he will get stuck he diverted the attention of the audience by showing the details on the slide and then regained his momentum and continued from thereon. Next was the turn of a physically challenged expert with several Doctorates in her name. It took several minutes for her to reach the podium with the help of her electronic walker. All those limbs with limited movements were not a hindrance at all for her presentation style or content.
It created plenty of thoughts in my mind looking at them and the techniques they employed to reach their destinations till this time. Both were highly placed and if ever they had held themselves to their challenges?. They would not have moved an inch ahead in their life.
I have written here before also. English is not my mother tongue. I try using it in simpler ways to convey messages and thoughts passing by. Several progressive things evolved out during this journey of communication. Some of them have been significant from my point of view and wishfully list them here. They include the quality initiatives and numerous suggestions and write ups generated to create awareness on safety. The effort is a continuous socially conscious process and there are some other ongoing issues for which I am trying my best efforts.
One of them is to reduce the disparity of the salary structure of the school teachers and administrative staff with other government service employees within the country. Teaching is a noble profession and I feel there is lot more to be done in this country for the welfare of teachers and schools. Comprehensive insurance coverage to private and public school staff is one such item submitted and followed up with various TQM bodies of the government.
Another interesting request is to provide free utility services to educational institutions. This includes Water and Electricity and telecommunication services. I feel this will aid the schools and universities in the country to reduce the cost of education and therefore attract more students from abroad and also retain those existing here. There are some other items like introducing a bus stop near to the Bird market and ISCC Abu Dhabi for the convenience of general public visiting these places.
Last but not the least of the items on these suggestive communication is to restore the volcano fountain in to the scheme of developments of the new look Abu Dhabi.
Padmashri Dr. B. R. Shetty was given a felicitation by all the major associations and community groups to honour him for the highest civilian award by India Government. During the function his son Mr. Binay Shetty was asked to say a few words about his father. He quoted his grandmother’s advise to his father. Don’t try to make everybody happy. Try to make 10 people happy and they will in turn try to make another 10 happy and the chain will progress. Padmashri Dr. B. R. Shetty has his own inimitable style of speaking. He speaks from his heart. He pointed out the visit to his mother’s tomb immediately after receiving the honour. It was an act done to dedicate the laurels to her and also to remind himself that blessings from the family and loved ones is the most important thing in life.
Almost the end of this write-up and did you notice a difference?. I have deliberately avoided usage of commas till now. Just tried how much additional effort is required to avoid the usage of commas as Colin Randall said in his write up for THE NATIONAL about the use and misuse of it. The world of communication is changing and it is not an easy task to follow traditional ways as the exchange of communication is getting shorter and shorter. Let us try to do our best efforts for the benefit of our society with the blessings of our parents, teachers and family. As Mrs. Sarah Belhasa rightly said in her interview with Wknd “You don’t need to see the entire staircase to know where it goes. Just take the first step. It will lead somewhere..”
God Bless and have a great week ahead.
Ramesh Menon
02042009 / e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News 15th edition – KITs for success
No News 15th edition – KITs for success
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 15th issue of No News. I had an opportunity to attend an international conference a few days ago. It became another opportunity to meet two remarkable personalities.
Immediately after the lunch on day one was a presentation by the CEO of a company based in Washington. We all know it is very tough to get attention of the delegates during the session after lunch. His profile was very impressive as his personality. We noticed in the beginning itself that he was stammering and it was difficulty to speak at a stretch. It did not bother him at all. He took control of the situation and in few minutes gained momentum to give an Xxtra-ordinary presentation. Whenever he was feeling he will get stuck he diverted the attention of the audience by showing the details on the slide and then regained his momentum and continued from thereon. Next was the turn of a physically challenged expert with several Doctorates in her name. It took several minutes for her to reach the podium with the help of her electronic walker. All those limbs with limited movements were not a hindrance at all for her presentation style or content.
It created plenty of thoughts in my mind looking at them and the techniques they employed to reach their destinations till this time. Both were highly placed and if ever they had held themselves to their challenges?. They would not have moved an inch ahead in their life.
I have written here before also. English is not my mother tongue. I try using it in simpler ways to convey messages and thoughts passing by. Several progressive things evolved out during this journey of communication. Some of them have been significant from my point of view and wishfully list them here. They include the quality initiatives and numerous suggestions and write ups generated to create awareness on safety. The effort is a continuous socially conscious process and there are some other ongoing issues for which I am trying my best efforts.
One of them is to reduce the disparity of the salary structure of the school teachers and administrative staff with other government service employees within the country. Teaching is a noble profession and I feel there is lot more to be done in this country for the welfare of teachers and schools. Comprehensive insurance coverage to private and public school staff is one such item submitted and followed up with various TQM bodies of the government.
Another interesting request is to provide free utility services to educational institutions. This includes Water and Electricity and telecommunication services. I feel this will aid the schools and universities in the country to reduce the cost of education and therefore attract more students from abroad and also retain those existing here. There are some other items like introducing a bus stop near to the Bird market and ISCC Abu Dhabi for the convenience of general public visiting these places.
Last but not the least of the items on these suggestive communication is to restore the volcano fountain in to the scheme of developments of the new look Abu Dhabi.
Padmashri Dr. B. R. Shetty was given a felicitation by all the major associations and community groups to honour him for the highest civilian award by India Government. During the function his son Mr. Binay Shetty was asked to say a few words about his father. He quoted his grandmother’s advise to his father. Don’t try to make everybody happy. Try to make 10 people happy and they will in turn try to make another 10 happy and the chain will progress. Padmashri Dr. B. R. Shetty has his own inimitable style of speaking. He speaks from his heart. He pointed out the visit to his mother’s tomb immediately after receiving the honour. It was an act done to dedicate the laurels to her and also to remind himself that blessings from the family and loved ones is the most important thing in life.
Almost the end of this write-up and did you notice a difference?. I have deliberately avoided usage of commas till now. Just tried how much additional effort is required to avoid the usage of commas as Colin Randall said in his write up for THE NATIONAL about the use and misuse of it. The world of communication is changing and it is not an easy task to follow traditional ways as the exchange of communication is getting shorter and shorter. Let us try to do our best efforts for the benefit of our society with the blessings of our parents, teachers and family. As Mrs. Sarah Belhasa rightly said in her interview with Wknd “You don’t need to see the entire staircase to know where it goes. Just take the first step. It will lead somewhere..”
God Bless and have a great week ahead.
Ramesh Menon
02042009 / e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News edition 14 – My World
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 14th issue of No News. From my childhood printed media has been an obsession for me. Except for the regional newspaper Mathrubhumi, it was rare to get and read variety of news and views. Periodic visit to the local libraries and occasional visitors from outside brought a change to the routine by adding pages of The Hindu or Illustrated Weekly, which was considered for the elite. The quest for reading continued as I grew older. As I moved on, it was happy hunting whenever I travelled to distant parts of India to explore the print media there and the style they released it. It never stopped even after reaching here. Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Gulf Today, and even those smaller editions, some of which died an early death.
Year 2008 saw a remarkable change in the newspaper industry by the release of THE NATIONAL. Print media became much more competitive and what was earlier a quick reading and throwaway task has now become a routine of devotion to complete the pages from start to finish. It is quite a task indeed for those who love to read. Several occasions pages have to be kept aside for week-end readings, which again saw quality output coming in to increase the knowledge power of word. Indeed, word power can be world power and it is one of the reason, I regularly read some columns without ever missing it. Mr. Saleh Al Shaibany was one such writer with Khaleej Times, whose articles brought huge interest amongst readers during his time with KT. Mr. Collin Randall is another journalist who generated literary interest with his commentary on English grammar and it’s usage. Although, very recently he has changed his base from UAE, he has continued his column in THE NATIONAL titled “my word”. As usual he allows debate on definite usage of English language each time. This time it was on the usage of comas and their need while writing.
To be or not to be is a question we ask several times when we write, read or do a thing. It happens in the grammatical usage too. As an advocate of TQM and Positive Thinking thoughts and deeds, I always contemplate for the liberty of right deed towards a right result. No matter whatever you do with orientation towards a positive result for you and the society, do it. In the case of comma too, just like an old person gasping for breadth while running a race as age catches, a comma can be lived with or without in usage styles. It all depends on how you look at things from various angle at different times. For example, if you are in the good books of your management, and you start an activity to control the number of drivers in rotation, it will be projected as brilliant and cost saving. Whereas, if your boss’s wife required a driver and he is not available on time for her due to your cost control measures, you are in line of fire.
Several times what we feel strange may look as necessary for someone and routine for some other. The other day a news item appeared about features of a Toyota Fortuner 4×4 and it’s lady owner who uses it’s ample luggage space for keeping about 40 pairs of her shoes. It was amazing to me. But, when I thought about my own car boot, fitted with a small picnic chair, my own digital camera and video camera kits, tripod, battery chargers, a full fledged First Aid Kit, fire extinguisher set, a pair of cricket bat, stumps, balls, badminton bats and a few bottles of water and a pair of jogging shoes, someone else may think, is he living in his car?.
It is all our on word and world and how we look at things we act up on. Talking about all these accessories, and it’s necessities, it is how we utilise what we have. For me, it is a routine to keep the battery of the photographic equipments fully charged and feel like a solider without his gun if I walk out with my camera battery down. Similar is the case of not carrying a pen, paper and my diary. I believe in the principle that opportunities come only for those who explore it.
An example is the cover page photo which is now an entry competing in the final stages of Malayalamanorama online news photography competition. It was a casual trip to the famous Athirappilli Vazhachaal waterfalls and it was like water and water falls everywhere, but not in a position to drink from anywhere. Splash of water from the falls which formed a stream and resulted in a small collection area was the only source of drinking point for some wild monkeys living in that area. It was his looks in the eyes and the style that captured my attention as he was drinking to save his life from danger of being attacked for fun by the tourists. It came handy now when the newspaper came out with a competition related to the Save Water – Water day on 22nd March. Talking about these competitions also reminds of a sustained effort which is required. A winner will be decided only after continuous online voting opportunities for one month. Contestants have to remain competitive and focussed on the objective of winning to remain in the race.
Winning is not the prime thing but it is to attempt for the win which is significant as far as I am concerned. Life is full of diversities and differentiations for each one of us. However, the space allotted to us is the same each day, i.e. 24hrs x 60 minutes. The weather, job, familial conditions are all in one way or other complemented to cater to our requirements and the resultant achievements signifies how we utilised those precious units.
Take the example of plants in the small balcony my mother maintains at home here. It is the same area for all tenants but we have a huge collection of Thulasi and other flowering plants and now even growing tomatoe, which are ready to harvest. What not?
Coming back to the commas, colons and semis, from the ancient time, “English” and the language has been munificent enough for taking onus to explore the civilisation across and guiding them to peril or prosperity. As in every field, it is how we utilise it each situation. In reality, I believe it is the cause for the true word order or world order which has united distant corner of the universe by it’s singularity and diversity. For me it is always to aim for positive word. I pass it on to you too.
God Bless and have a great week-end.
Ramesh Menon
28032009
http://www.talentshare.blogspot.com
http://www.team1uae.blogspot.com
e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News edition 14 – My World
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 14th issue of No News. From my childhood printed media has been an obsession for me. Except for the regional newspaper Mathrubhumi, it was rare to get and read variety of news and views. Periodic visit to the local libraries and occasional visitors from outside brought a change to the routine by adding pages of The Hindu or Illustrated Weekly, which was considered for the elite. The quest for reading continued as I grew older. As I moved on, it was happy hunting whenever I travelled to distant parts of India to explore the print media there and the style they released it. It never stopped even after reaching here. Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Gulf Today, and even those smaller editions, some of which died an early death.
Year 2008 saw a remarkable change in the newspaper industry by the release of THE NATIONAL. Print media became much more competitive and what was earlier a quick reading and throwaway task has now become a routine of devotion to complete the pages from start to finish. It is quite a task indeed for those who love to read. Several occasions pages have to be kept aside for week-end readings, which again saw quality output coming in to increase the knowledge power of word. Indeed, word power can be world power and it is one of the reason, I regularly read some columns without ever missing it. Mr. Saleh Al Shaibany was one such writer with Khaleej Times, whose articles brought huge interest amongst readers during his time with KT. Mr. Collin Randall is another journalist who generated literary interest with his commentary on English grammar and it’s usage. Although, very recently he has changed his base from UAE, he has continued his column in THE NATIONAL titled “my word”. As usual he allows debate on definite usage of English language each time. This time it was on the usage of comas and their need while writing.
To be or not to be is a question we ask several times when we write, read or do a thing. It happens in the grammatical usage too. As an advocate of TQM and Positive Thinking thoughts and deeds, I always contemplate for the liberty of right deed towards a right result. No matter whatever you do with orientation towards a positive result for you and the society, do it. In the case of comma too, just like an old person gasping for breadth while running a race as age catches, a comma can be lived with or without in usage styles. It all depends on how you look at things from various angle at different times. For example, if you are in the good books of your management, and you start an activity to control the number of drivers in rotation, it will be projected as brilliant and cost saving. Whereas, if your boss’s wife required a driver and he is not available on time for her due to your cost control measures, you are in line of fire.
Several times what we feel strange may look as necessary for someone and routine for some other. The other day a news item appeared about features of a Toyota Fortuner 4×4 and it’s lady owner who uses it’s ample luggage space for keeping about 40 pairs of her shoes. It was amazing to me. But, when I thought about my own car boot, fitted with a small picnic chair, my own digital camera and video camera kits, tripod, battery chargers, a full fledged First Aid Kit, fire extinguisher set, a pair of cricket bat, stumps, balls, badminton bats and a few bottles of water and a pair of jogging shoes, someone else may think, is he living in his car?.
It is all our on word and world and how we look at things we act up on. Talking about all these accessories, and it’s necessities, it is how we utilise what we have. For me, it is a routine to keep the battery of the photographic equipments fully charged and feel like a solider without his gun if I walk out with my camera battery down. Similar is the case of not carrying a pen, paper and my diary. I believe in the principle that opportunities come only for those who explore it.
An example is the cover page photo which is now an entry competing in the final stages of Malayalamanorama online news photography competition. It was a casual trip to the famous Athirappilli Vazhachaal waterfalls and it was like water and water falls everywhere, but not in a position to drink from anywhere. Splash of water from the falls which formed a stream and resulted in a small collection area was the only source of drinking point for some wild monkeys living in that area. It was his looks in the eyes and the style that captured my attention as he was drinking to save his life from danger of being attacked for fun by the tourists. It came handy now when the newspaper came out with a competition related to the Save Water – Water day on 22nd March. Talking about these competitions also reminds of a sustained effort which is required. A winner will be decided only after continuous online voting opportunities for one month. Contestants have to remain competitive and focussed on the objective of winning to remain in the race.
Winning is not the prime thing but it is to attempt for the win which is significant as far as I am concerned. Life is full of diversities and differentiations for each one of us. However, the space allotted to us is the same each day, i.e. 24hrs x 60 minutes. The weather, job, familial conditions are all in one way or other complemented to cater to our requirements and the resultant achievements signifies how we utilised those precious units.
Take the example of plants in the small balcony my mother maintains at home here. It is the same area for all tenants but we have a huge collection of Thulasi and other flowering plants and now even growing tomatoe, which are ready to harvest. What not?
Coming back to the commas, colons and semis, from the ancient time, “English” and the language has been munificent enough for taking onus to explore the civilisation across and guiding them to peril or prosperity. As in every field, it is how we utilise it each situation. In reality, I believe it is the cause for the true word order or world order which has united distant corner of the universe by it’s singularity and diversity. For me it is always to aim for positive word. I pass it on to you too.
God Bless and have a great week-end.
Ramesh Menon
28032009
http://www.talentshare.blogspot.com
http://www.team1uae.blogspot.com
e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News edition 13 – a few Barbaric Thoughts
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 13th issue of No News. It has taken a longer time this time to come out with this issue. The title tries to convey the reason. The thoughts are all there, but it is all mixed up, like the meat coming out of a mincing machine. Activities happening around too does not differ. Day by day, the life and people around getting different. Are we also affected by the global recession? Some months ago, it was the turn of the environmentalists to cry about the global warming. But, the heat is on now with a much higher degree and severity that makes those environmental voices become no cries in the current context.
The week starts and ends at a much higher pace these days and I look forward to the Friday’s as it gives some time to catch up with the leftovers from print media collected over the week. Luckily, these days, the bulk has been reduced and what is available comes out with quality. For some time now, it has been a routine to visit my barber on this free day. The visit has multiple objectives. Muhammad bhai as I call him affectionately is a long timer in Abu Dhabi. With two wives and about 6 children living at his village home in Karachi, he has always some or other story to convey about what has happened during the week in the surrounding locality here and also in his home town. It is a one man show now, as he is waiting for his brother as his reliever to come back from Pakistan and take turn for him to start for his long holiday. However, it seems he has decided not to and Muhammad Bhai is helpless as he finds it difficult for a trustworthy handover. His small saloon is a union for some of his friends, who are now familiar to me and other regulars. One among them is Aslam, who is from Bangladesh. Aslam bhai comes to the shop to watch TV which is situated at one corner of the shop. The moment he enters the shop, Aslam bhai consider it as his own empire and takes possession of his weapon of mass alteration, i.e. the remote control of the TV. From then on, any customer within, will have to watch, one minute Pakistani news, the other minute a Bengali channel and then all the different channels of Zee and in between various Arabic channels. Probably, a problem with his hearing or deliberately not wanting to hear Muhammad bhai’s or others please to stop or reduce the volume, he will continue fiddling on the remote and then finally stops when he gets Sahara channel and the Ramayana or Mahabharata serial playing in it. It doesn’t matter what the previous days episode was, he finds some unknown pleasure in the conversation happening and then we could see him laughing his heart out. In between or at the end, if someone asks him, Aslam bhai, tell us what happened, where are we and what next? He will smile showing all his 20 odd teeth with a gentle answer, If I know, what will happen next, do you think, I will watch it this long? True to him, otherwise, he would have definitely changed the channel.
Many times, the same situation repeated, and I find certain realistic and sincere conversation happening in that Muhammad bhai’s small saloon touching my inner thoughts. While he continues solely with his job, his mobile phone rings repeatedly and looking at the number, he will tell us, this is my first wife and I will call her after I finish your job. He cuts the phone with a short answer in his local dialect. In few minutes again the phone rings and he answer in short sentences, in an altogether different tone for a little longer time with a brighter smile and glowing eyes. Brief but short and he keeps the phone and revert to us saying that it was his younger wife. On one occasion, a channel was showing how various states where getting ready for the forthcoming elections. In some context, they showed the martyrs of the Mumbai attack and among them the neatly cut NSG Commando Sandeep. Seeing him, and with a sigh, he tells me, Ramesh bhai, after certain age, it is only we, barbers, who get to touch the head of a person and pamper him the way ones parents does to a child in his childhood? Probably, he was missing his own children whom he has not seen for a longer time. Definitely, in many ways, Muhammad bhai helped me to open my eyes into un-explored directions each time I visited him.
Life goes on and it’s another bright and sunny morning and it is time to go to school. It is board exam time for my son and to revisit the thoughts of my schooling days and exam times and compare what is happening around now, I didn’t miss this opportunity of dropping my son to his exam centre. Children are the same everywhere, and many of them were seen tensed on the first day and teachers assisting them with last minute doubts and preparations. It was interesting to see many of them seeking blessings from their teachers and parents. With most of the subjects covered, it was the English Exams yesterday, and I found literally all of them very relaxed. What made more interesting thoughts was the conversational style happening around. It seems like most of them are talking in terms of Short Term Memory Loss happening to them, following the recent Hindi movie Gajini.
Wheels of my clock moves faster these days and evening we all gather to watch one particular show these days. It is currently on in the Amrita TV channel and is called Super Talent. Into it’s 3rd round, the show has gained considerable ground in terms of quality approach in presentation by the contestants and the subsequent reviews by elite panel of judges. It is giving it’s worth on time spent before going to bed.
Wining is not always possible. However, if we do not attempt, the probability of a win will be nowhere. In the recent times, I happened to come across two winners in lucky draws. One was a regular e-mail friend, a famous RJ, who won a lucky raffle in the recently concluded DSF draws. Another, happened to be a known person, who won an equally or more amount from a Duty Free Raffle. It is good to see both continuing their life and efforts promoting Positive vibes around. May god bless them to motivate many through their own simple ways.
I am excited to include and inform that quality initiatives are taking a high rate of acceptance from the authorities as well as the news media these days. Government authorities and suggestions sites like http://www.abudhabi.ae, Dubai Municipality Have Your Say programmes, Dubai RTA, Road Transport Authority of Abu Dhabi, and the news media like THE National and GULF NEWS are coming out with many new initiatives to promote participation of general public and to get their views and suggestions for overall improvement in the society around. Why not spare a few minutes and visit these portals and be a part of the society and it’s progress.
My thoughts are getting complex each time I take my car out on the street. Even with all the campaigns happening, stricter fines and points, some are continuing to seek wild pleasure in showing their might on the street. With cigarette on one hand and phone on the other and legs up or even a child on the lap safety doesn’t seem to be nearer. I feel, they will learn only by getting a chance to visit for themselves the casualty departments of hospitals. Spread the word around, follow the speeding rules do not use mobiles while driving and reach home safe be the mantra to follow.
God Bless and have a great week-end.
Ramesh Menon
19032009
http://www.talentshare.blogspot.com
e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
No News edition 13 – a few Barbaric Thoughts
Dear Friends,
Welcome to read the 13th issue of No News. It has taken a longer time this time to come out with this issue. The title tries to convey the reason. The thoughts are all there, but it is all mixed up, like the meat coming out of a mincing machine. Activities happening around too does not differ. Day by day, the life and people around getting different. Are we also affected by the global recession? Some months ago, it was the turn of the environmentalists to cry about the global warming. But, the heat is on now with a much higher degree and severity that makes those environmental voices become no cries in the current context.
The week starts and ends at a much higher pace these days and I look forward to the Friday’s as it gives some time to catch up with the leftovers from print media collected over the week. Luckily, these days, the bulk has been reduced and what is available comes out with quality. For some time now, it has been a routine to visit my barber on this free day. The visit has multiple objectives. Muhammad bhai as I call him affectionately is a long timer in Abu Dhabi. With two wives and about 6 children living at his village home in Karachi, he has always some or other story to convey about what has happened during the week in the surrounding locality here and also in his home town. It is a one man show now, as he is waiting for his brother as his reliever to come back from Pakistan and take turn for him to start for his long holiday. However, it seems he has decided not to and Muhammad Bhai is helpless as he finds it difficult for a trustworthy handover. His small saloon is a union for some of his friends, who are now familiar to me and other regulars. One among them is Aslam, who is from Bangladesh. Aslam bhai comes to the shop to watch TV which is situated at one corner of the shop. The moment he enters the shop, Aslam bhai consider it as his own empire and takes possession of his weapon of mass alteration, i.e. the remote control of the TV. From then on, any customer within, will have to watch, one minute Pakistani news, the other minute a Bengali channel and then all the different channels of Zee and in between various Arabic channels. Probably, a problem with his hearing or deliberately not wanting to hear Muhammad bhai’s or others please to stop or reduce the volume, he will continue fiddling on the remote and then finally stops when he gets Sahara channel and the Ramayana or Mahabharata serial playing in it. It doesn’t matter what the previous days episode was, he finds some unknown pleasure in the conversation happening and then we could see him laughing his heart out. In between or at the end, if someone asks him, Aslam bhai, tell us what happened, where are we and what next? He will smile showing all his 20 odd teeth with a gentle answer, If I know, what will happen next, do you think, I will watch it this long? True to him, otherwise, he would have definitely changed the channel.
Many times, the same situation repeated, and I find certain realistic and sincere conversation happening in that Muhammad bhai’s small saloon touching my inner thoughts. While he continues solely with his job, his mobile phone rings repeatedly and looking at the number, he will tell us, this is my first wife and I will call her after I finish your job. He cuts the phone with a short answer in his local dialect. In few minutes again the phone rings and he answer in short sentences, in an altogether different tone for a little longer time with a brighter smile and glowing eyes. Brief but short and he keeps the phone and revert to us saying that it was his younger wife. On one occasion, a channel was showing how various states where getting ready for the forthcoming elections. In some context, they showed the martyrs of the Mumbai attack and among them the neatly cut NSG Commando Sandeep. Seeing him, and with a sigh, he tells me, Ramesh bhai, after certain age, it is only we, barbers, who get to touch the head of a person and pamper him the way ones parents does to a child in his childhood? Probably, he was missing his own children whom he has not seen for a longer time. Definitely, in many ways, Muhammad bhai helped me to open my eyes into un-explored directions each time I visited him.
Life goes on and it’s another bright and sunny morning and it is time to go to school. It is board exam time for my son and to revisit the thoughts of my schooling days and exam times and compare what is happening around now, I didn’t miss this opportunity of dropping my son to his exam centre. Children are the same everywhere, and many of them were seen tensed on the first day and teachers assisting them with last minute doubts and preparations. It was interesting to see many of them seeking blessings from their teachers and parents. With most of the subjects covered, it was the English Exams yesterday, and I found literally all of them very relaxed. What made more interesting thoughts was the conversational style happening around. It seems like most of them are talking in terms of Short Term Memory Loss happening to them, following the recent Hindi movie Gajini.
Wheels of my clock moves faster these days and evening we all gather to watch one particular show these days. It is currently on in the Amrita TV channel and is called Super Talent. Into it’s 3rd round, the show has gained considerable ground in terms of quality approach in presentation by the contestants and the subsequent reviews by elite panel of judges. It is giving it’s worth on time spent before going to bed.
Wining is not always possible. However, if we do not attempt, the probability of a win will be nowhere. In the recent times, I happened to come across two winners in lucky draws. One was a regular e-mail friend, a famous RJ, who won a lucky raffle in the recently concluded DSF draws. Another, happened to be a known person, who won an equally or more amount from a Duty Free Raffle. It is good to see both continuing their life and efforts promoting Positive vibes around. May god bless them to motivate many through their own simple ways.
I am excited to include and inform that quality initiatives are taking a high rate of acceptance from the authorities as well as the news media these days. Government authorities and suggestions sites like http://www.abudhabi.ae, Dubai Municipality Have Your Say programmes, Dubai RTA, Road Transport Authority of Abu Dhabi, and the news media like THE National and GULF NEWS are coming out with many new initiatives to promote participation of general public and to get their views and suggestions for overall improvement in the society around. Why not spare a few minutes and visit these portals and be a part of the society and it’s progress.
My thoughts are getting complex each time I take my car out on the street. Even with all the campaigns happening, stricter fines and points, some are continuing to seek wild pleasure in showing their might on the street. With cigarette on one hand and phone on the other and legs up or even a child on the lap safety doesn’t seem to be nearer. I feel, they will learn only by getting a chance to visit for themselves the casualty departments of hospitals. Spread the word around, follow the speeding rules do not use mobiles while driving and reach home safe be the mantra to follow.
God Bless and have a great week-end.
Ramesh Menon
19032009
http://www.talentshare.blogspot.com
e-mail: team1dubai@gmail.com
- ← Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 24
- Next →
ClicksandWrites 
You must be logged in to post a comment.