How Can We Matter

I am presently attending an online program of 40 days entitled Atma Chalisa Parayanam , conducted by Shri Vikas Varma. It is a spiritual practice for self-realization - a way of knowing ourselves and our life in a much better manner. Presently it is half way through and we, the program participants, are required to share our experiences in the group.  The learning process of this program involves three basic steps - Sravana, Manana and Nididhyāsana . Sravana is listening to what the teacher says very carefully. Manana is reflecting on what we heard in the class by trying to understand not only the superficial meaning but also the deeper meaning by reading in between the lines. Nididhyāsana is an extensive understanding of what we heard and reflected, probably by applying them in our life to reinforce the ideas and concepts and digesting them thoroughly. The final phase of this spiritual education, namely  Sakshatkara   (experiencing or realization) is when the contemplate...

In the PM race for the second time in months, British Indian Rishi Sunak has regained the trust of a large number of Tory MPs to replace Truss as the next Prime Minister of UK and to make history.  The question that I had asked 51 days back How can Rishi not be UK's next PM? is now unmistakably answered. He has now made history as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party, following Penny Mordaunt's withdrawal from the race. The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had raced home, cutting short a Caribbean holiday, just to realize in time that although he had enough support of 100 lawmakers to enter Monday’s final ballot, the country and the Conservative Party needed unity and therefore magnanimously withdrew from the contest on Sunday! In this period of gloom and grief, Rishi Sunak is destined to lead the country UK and nothing could stop that.  Rishi was inspired by his parents from a...

How can this dynamic young man not be UK's next Prime Minister?  Well educated, talented, widely read, suave, erudite, scholarly, confident, cultured, competent, proficient, knowledgeable, seasoned, still young (just 42 years) yet with solid experience of economic impacts and financial responses as UK's previous Chancellor of the Exchequer.  Rishi Sunak Most importantly his values and ideas are solidly rooted in the very rich traditions of the most ancient Vedic wisdom and culture that his Indian descent parents brought to the country. But he is born, brought up, and educated in the UK imbibing the fundamental British values of democracy, rule of law, respect & tolerance, individual liberty, leadership & accountability, as well as joint decision making. Watch how Nick Ferrari puts Rishi Sunak on the spot at the final Conservative Party leadership hustings, which took place on August 31, 2022.  The panache and confidence with which he handles a variety of que...

Prelude Writing this post brought back fond memories of my professional career as a Senior Consultant with the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) , now defunct and probably functioning under the new name Abu Dhabi Digital Authority .  It was during those six years (2008-2014) that I had the opportunity to get acquainted with the Strategic Plans of several Abu Dhabi Government Departments and also create a couple of Strategic Plans for whole-of-Government initiatives such as  Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI) Program   and  Abu Dhabi No Objection Certificate (NOC) Program . The work on Geospatial Data Contend Standards  made me familiar with the works of International Standards bodies OGC and ISO.  Reminiscing on the good old days in UAE, I would like to recall with gratitude my associations with colleagues at  GISTEC ,  ADSIC and the GPC Group .   Image Credit: UN HR Portal Edits since publishing on...

Dying with dignity , even when we are physically or mentally not in a position to communicate our wish to our near and dear ones, is an option that many senior people like me will eagerly look forward to, irrespective of our faith or belief system. Now you can choose to do that since the  right to die with dignity is considered as a fundamental human right as per a landmark judgement passed by Supreme Court of India in March 2018. 

Communal harmony is a prerequisite for a country like India, with its diverse population and cultures. Communal harmony means that people of different religions, castes, creeds, and backgrounds live together in the society with love and peace. It strives to create unity and goodwill among various communities, ensuring that every religion gets equal treatment .

It is about 4 years since I wrote this post titled:  Literacy, The Bane of Kerala!  Since then, is there any significant change in the civil society? Of course yes, though it is only to reconfirm my assertion that literacy is the misfortune of Kerala ! In fact, in the last 4 years we have spiraled down further into the dark abyss.