The 199th post !!

Quotable quotes during the week

This is one such case where justice is delayed and practically denied. In fact, I would like to say justice is buried. --Veerappa Moily Union law Minister on the recent Bhopal gas tragedy verdict.

Film stars are like peacocks without feathers. They are publicly abused and not as venerated as in the olden days. Their family life is exposed and sexual issues discussed - Rajendra Barve Psychiatrist

For me , marriage is personal and tennis is professional. One does not distract the other - Sania Mirza- We all hope so

Everybody knows I can dance well and bowl very fast. There are only a few bowlers who can do both - S. Sreesanth Cricketer -- ( currently he does neither )

Humour Club-- this month

We had a high profile guest speaker who made his presence felt by coming in late by an hour ( Pun intended ) - The normal open session carried on till the guest speaker turned up . So more people got a chance to get up on stage and share jokes . But this was good and bad . It is a problem when you have time fillers for any show .

The high profile , man in the hot seat and whose clever presentation of his program and his approach to connect with people had brought him many admirers was Gopinath who runs the very popular theme based debate program " Neeya Naana " on Star Vijay Channel . As he took centre stage , it was clear that he was not going to give a talk on humorous terms .

It was serious stuff -- Gopi who has penned a book titled " please do not buy this book " ( has sold more than 100,000 copies ! ) talked about things that would help a person gain in confidence and start a corporate career ( no joke topic ) . Gopi talked about his start , being a farmer's son , a degree in agriculture and then how he branched out in to Journalism and then in to the Small screen with this program whose TRP ratings in the media have been consistently very very high.

It became a Q & A type session with Gopi answering questions on various subjects .
On creating Sensation in his show , Gopi said they did not plan for any of that sort and what come through was real ( could not believe this one ).
He talked about his role of playing mediator , trying to get the best out of the participants and maintaining a neutral stand.
Everyone has a view but not many express their view . He says his role is to provoke a view from his participants. He easily did a demo of this with one of the Questioners ( no prep in advance but just used the person who was asking the question )
He talked about hardships of shooting for the program , sometimes having to shoot for close to 18 hours and he had to stand throughout as he was the moderator.
He talked about energising himself during the entire show .
He called out the success of his show due to "Team work" .

Talked about the amount of research and data they collect on each topic of the show.
He talked about presentation skills --that are so important to articulate and give right views.
Courage -- Needed to handle difficult situations
Optimism -- Most needed - Do not worry about what you do not know!
This guy has great skills in handling difficult situations in a very calm assured manner. Great talent to watch
The hall was packed with extra chairs and everyone had a question to ask including " how do I get to participate in the show " which to me was wasting this person's time ( Good example of what not to do in when you are in meeting forums -- ask things like this in private and not waste everyone's time )
Learning but not a exact stress reliever which I would get from this monthly meeting
PS : Next month is the Anniversary event for half a day on July 24 --

There is no header for this !!

All of us have good thoughts when it comes to charity- Most of us volunteer to help with physical efforts as well with material needs . One of my Rotary friend made it slightly different. His daughter had after graduation started working . He wanted her to set aside every month something for Community needs . And his daughter was more than obliging to do this and keep aside some money that could go to the society.

It was a heartening gesture from the young girl and kudos to the father for this thought. The girl just did not want to give the money , but wanted to get associated with a deserving institution that would help channelize her contribution. So , I did my part in taking them to Netaji Mercy Home and I am sure this connection is going to help the orphanage more and also with it more people to help them out in their efforts. We need more youngsters who are willing to "share " and more parents who can guide their kids to give back to the society.

The All India Abacus and more self bragging

Sri Sahana had won the state championship for her level in Feb 10- The national level championship was held at Bangalore on 5th June . More than 3500 kids participated in various levels of this program . I was stunned by the crowd . children , parents , their tutors and organisers.. The participants were from all nooks and corners of the country with overseas participation from Malaysia as well .
The venue was the Koramangala Indoor stadium ( see pictures ). The third batch of the speed test was delayed by more than 90 minutes and we the parents were the worried lot about timing , sensitivity , standing in the Q and so on for the kids. But none of the kids were worried about all this . They took all the delays and hardships in to their stride. Kids bring in new perspectives !!

Sahana finished her 75 sums in five minutes ( that was the speed test and you had to do it accurately as well ) and was very confident on the accuracy of the answers as well. The results took over six hours to come out. Sahana got the all the 75 right within five minutes and got her Champion prize.. Again a proud moment for us. It is a very nice feeling to see your kid do well .

It was a good trip to make it to Bangalore to have her participate. The key things other than the winning was to get used to big crowds , focussing your attention on the announcements ( by organisers ) and also on completing the task ignoring all the other things happening around you. That was a big learning for Sahana .

http://picasaweb.google.com/Srikanthsrividya/Abacusnational#