Appa amma peche kekaame...

I  have been a crazy movie buff from a long time. In fact, I have learnt some of the best lessons from movies. Movies have been an inspiration and a reason for rejuvenation for me on many occasions. Once again, I am here to share one of the most profound lessons of life that got reinforced while watching a movie recently. In this movie, the hero is a cop who gets to meet some big shots in business. During the conversation, he mentions some of the lessons taught by his parents which he follows honestly. In return, they question him about his obedience towards his parents. At that point, he replies, "appa amma peche kekaame, vere yaar pecha kekunu?"

 

The title of this blog post is in Tamil language, one of the regional languages in India which has lived for centuries together. The last statement which is the reply of the cop is also in Tamil. Translated version goes like this - "Without listening to parents' advice who else's advice should we listen to?" With the age gap between parents and children yielding a vast gap in the technology and the kind of environment the kids are surrounded with today, it has become highly difficult for parents to hold on to their kids along their school of thought. Parents' beliefs seem far alien to the current generation of youth. As a result of this widening gap between the closest ones and absence of right guidance, today's youth is getting entangled into lot of problems, both physical as well as mental. When one doesn't listen to his/her parents' advice then s/he will be bound to listen to some random stranger's advice who appears in the form of a friend or a lover. What guidance can a fellow being give who himself/herself is left unguided in the darkness of ignorance!

 

Our parents have been the reason for our existence on this planet. They are the reason for us to have our basic necessities fulfilled to the best extent possible. Man undermines the value of people who always stay with him and provide him daily service. Being pampered by our parents, we forget that we are indebted to the kind and amount of care and love that they shower on us and take them for granted. As a result, we get misled in life because of others' words. It's time to remind ourselves that our parents' are the ones who shall always think about our profits more than their losses and turn our attention back towards our parents and their thoughtful words.

Today's youth

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.” Can you guess who made this statement? The youth has been totally taken to task by the person who quoted these statements. Keep guessing while we get into the details of the article.

 

There have been a lot of complaints on the youth today by the elders. Now what's the age where in we should treat someone as youth has become a big question for many. People of age 45 are being called as the symbol of youth, the youth icon, young leaders and so on and so forth. Even the children who start their teenage are considered as youth nowadays with facebook allowing people above the age of 13 to enter the online world. However, only the youth can be the saviour of youth of such comments. The youth always feels that the elders are there only to blame the youth. They aren't in sync with the new modern age that the youth is in today. Hence they feel that whatever the youth does is always wrong. Coming to the manners, discipline and respect, the elders always feel that the youth isn't up to the mark. While saying 'Hi!' is a mark of respect for the youth, it's totally unacceptable in the adult community. The trends have changed. It's a big question as to when will the aged accept the youth or the youth live up to the expectations of the elders. So how long has this cold fight between the youth and the elders been happening from?

 

With the changing times and the growing number of new innovations the lifestyle of people is continuously getting modified day by day. The old customs and traditions are being challenged as the new day jobs are much more demanding and contradictory to the lifestyle of the olden days. As a result of all these changes in the situations the behaviour of people is also getting affected and every generation is seeing a new trend that's much more liberal than that of the previous generation. Probably many of you would have guessed that the quote at the beginning of this article was said by some person who belongs to the 20th or 21st century. Some of you might have even succeeded to take a name from 18th or 19th century. But I was shocked to learn that this quote was quoted by an ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates who lived between 470 B.C and 399 B.C. The youth has been complained about for more than 2400 years now.

 

So, you being a youth, do you have any answer for these complaints?

Youngsters with 36meals.com

On a sunday morning when more than half of the city is still sleeping, we 25 youth of bangalore have joined hands with 36meals.com organization to walk an extra mile to bring a smile on someone's face. Today we have teamed up into teams of two and have moved to different localities of bangalore in search of poor and needy people so that we can serve them with our homemade food. I am really happy to let you know that 24 students from Vijaya degree college who are doing their graduation have volunteered to make this campaign a massive success. I am blogging live while the event is happening. Hence you might find most of the sentences in present continuous tense. Since I don't have any internet access right now, I will be posting this blog by tonight.

 

All these volunteers from Vijaya college gathered in the college premises at sharp 9:30am to know and understand the complete procedure to perform this fun-filled activity from 36meals.com. After getting the necessary instructions from me, all these 12 teams sped in different directions through different means of transport. Some took their 2-wheelers, while some boarded buses while the rest gave some work to their feet. It's a privilege to see youngsters involving in adventurous social activities. Top three teams will be selected based on the number of meals they donate, their reporting and the time taken to complete the task and these team members' names will be featured in the report of this entire activity.

 

All the teams have reached back within 2 hours and are sharing their fabulous experiences and learnings with others having donated close to 100 meals on a sunday morning. Some are satisified, some are proud, some are happy, some are inspired etc. Varied emotions is seen on these young faces. Really glad and happy to know that a routine monotonous activity like meal donation gave so much of learning and enjoyment to students. The winners of the competition will be announced soon. You can check out the photos on www.facebook.com/36meals

No need to convince all

Every new idea is first ignored, ridiculed and then accepted. There is not even a single philosophy in the world which has been accepted and followed by all 700 crore plus population on this earth. In fact there is a rule itself which says "Every rule has an exception". There
is not even a single system of governance which has been implemented by all countries/states. Still the world runs fine.

There has been a big invisible barrier on the innovative mind that blocks it to think further the moment it sees rejection of its thoughts by a few people around. Everyone on this planet has the best ideas to make this world a better place. Unfortunately all do not have the same ideas and even if some set of people have the same ideas, they are in different parts of the world unknown to each other. In such a scenario, clashes and arguments are bound to happen among people of different schools of thought and no doubt that these will filter out the best ideas for our future. Its a pity to see that today's youth has been pampered so much with all their wishes that a simple rejection of their thought or idea hurts them badly. Hence they are hiding all the information and ideas within themselves with the fear of being unable to convince everyone who doubt their thoughts. Friends! you have to accept that you will be unable to convince all because some won't accept the same what you accept either out of difference of opinions or ego or plain ignorance.

You are born on this earth to convey and pass on a message that you are convinced about that will do good to the world. Like death is a sure fact that we have accepted, accept that rejection of your ideas is also a normal sure-shot fact. You don't have to argue with anyone to convince them and make them accept your point. Keep informing everyone about your idea. Some will reject, some will ignore, some will ridicule while there will be a set of people who will accept your idea. Keep building this circle of acceptance by spreading your idea among lot of people and simultaneously keep implementing your idea as well. Some years down the lane, you need not speak of your idea, the work itself will stand as a proof and convince everyone.

Shed your inhibitions and share your thoughts on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Let's make things happen

With the advance of technology and science the world is just getting into more chaos than getting streamlined. Certain aspects are getting easy while having their negative impact on other merits. A very simple example for this is more and more people are surrendering to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure just because they are using easier means of commutation and daily work because of which they are unable exercise their body. Not just at an individualistic level even at the global level things are not happening in a smooth manner. Most of the population is confused between what to prioritise in life. In this confusion of life people are failing to recognise the consequences of their ignorance and negligence. Many of them are lost in finding the solutions to their own life problems. So a very of few of them are left to strive to make this globe  a better place to live in. Amidst the ongoing politics, cold wars, terrorism, natural calamities people are finding it difficult to escape from the tough challenges posed by the society. Man today is trying to just safeguard himself than thinking about how he could be the reason to release other man of the fear of security. Though people have lost faith in finding good happening around them either in relationships or business or in the society few great leaders have evolved to restore this faith in the masses. I would like to salute some of these living legends namely Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Steve jobs, Warren Buffet and many of them who have just not made it big in business but also have taught the world how the business success can be utilised for the betterment of the society and the planet.

I would like to urge my dear reader to come out of complacency and the disbelief that this country or the planet can't get any better. Its time for people like us to take action. Being educated we can clearly understand the problems that have been eating our society and think of solutions for the same. I don't expect a college going student to go and donate millions for the upliftment of the poor. I ask not just the youth but the entire population of common man 'What is that stopping us from coming out of our comfort zone to make a difference in this world?' Let me assure you friends that the leaders and visionaries are very few in numbers on this earth. More than 99.99% of the global population is the common man category who has just assumed that a common man can make no difference to the world. If this huge population is sitting silent and ignorant of the ongoing events then definitely its difficult to see a better future even if hundred extra Bill Gates or Steve Jobs arose. I being a common man would like to ask my reader who is a fellow common man that if all the common men got together towards a vision of seeing a beautiful future for our next generation would it be impossible? Definitely not! Let's take up small initiatives to make things happen instead of waiting for someone to rise to the position of a leader and then lead us. Let's spread the message of peace, cleanliness, love, trust, respect and leadership in everyone around us. Let's look for opportunities where in we can contribute our little bit towards the betterment of the society and the globe.

A simple act of ours to donate a meal to a needy person can reduce the hunger quotient of this world. If students in a class can just contribute one rupee each, it could buy the text books for a poor kid. If we stop throwing waste around and educate the people around us also to do the same, it can reduce the infections and diseases and increase the rate of healthier earth. If we just stop complaining about the bad qualities of a person and start appreciating the good in everyone, it will spread the thoughts of positivity throughout the universe. If everyone of us can just keep smiling always at each other it can reduce the more than ninety percent of ego clashes, emotional and health disorders. If we just shared our knowledge and wisdom with people around us, I am damn sure that this world will have a fairly high intellectual population. I have shared my message with you beloved reader and I believe you will help me to pass on this message to more of them out there.
Sincerely waiting for your feedback on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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Food donated is hunger killed

Food, clothing and shelter are three basic necessities of life. Everyone of us on this earth are struggling through life to fulfil these three constraints of life. Be it a multi millionaire or a person who earns every meal of his day on that day, no doubt that all of us are in a pursuit to satisfy our basic needs and probably man could have survived even without clothing and shelter but not food for sure. This is the reason food stands at the top of the priority list. It was indeed a great eventful day today when a group of youth woke up to a social call on a Sunday morning when most of the rest were enjoying their cozy sleep on a weekend.


A group of twenty youths studying in different courses and young professionals working in different MNCs got together this morning to be a part of an exciting event of meals donation. I was glad and surprised to be a part of this super happening. This was not just a normal meals donation in an orphanage or an old age home where you just go, donate and feel satisfied for doing the good deed. Today's generation looks for adventure in everything and that is what exactly happened. There were twenty enthusiastic Indians who were grouped into ten teams of two each and were asked to explore random areas of Bangalore, find the needy people in that area and serve them meals as an initiative of IU cares under the banner of 36meals.com. The best part was that people had to take buses to new places. Also this entire task had to be completed within just 120 minutes. 


After the entire adventuristic task people came to share their feelings and experience of donating meals. We search around different places to buy things for us but this was the first time for many of us when we searched for someone who needed our service. It was a sense of accomplishment after we had killed the hunger of close to hundred genuinely needy people. It was a reinforcement in us that good deeds can be done in an enjoyable way and that's why I feel that I want to share this event with all of you. An amazing feeling to see a hunger free world set in all of us today. Are you also with us to make this dream realise into reality???


For further information I'm sure that you'll check out www.Facebook.com/36meals