leadership – Page 39 – Take off with Natarajan

The Feng Shui Skyscrapers of Hong Kong….!!!

March 10, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

In Hong Kong, a city with one of the most beautiful skyline, the plan and design of a building is determined as much as by architects and engineers as by feng shui masters. This ancient Chinese philosophy of positioning objects and buildings in harmony with nature to bring about good fortune, is deeply rooted in Hong Kong’s culture. Everything from the orientation of a building, the shape of the building, the position of the entrance and position of furniture within are believed to influence the prosperity of a business or the homeowner. Because of this belief, feng shui practitioners are consulted in almost every new home purchase and office floor plans, and even enormous architectural and engineering projects around this island nation are dictated to a large degree by feng shui. It’s not apparent but examples of feng shui practice are almost everywhere in Hong Kong.

Why do these buildings have holes in the middle? Keep reading for the answer. Photo credit: shottapaul/Flickr

Feng shui was suppressed in mainland China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s but has made a dramatic revival in recent years, especially in the superstitious South. Even in modern Central, where feng shui is regarded as superstition, most developers still consult feng shui experts because they figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. Indeed, many corporations set aside a portion of their annual budget for feng shui consultation. Some of the suggestions that feng shui experts offer can be as simple as repositioning the desk of the CEO or placing coins under the carpet. Others can be as expensive as demolishing and reconstructing parts of the building.

When the famous HSBC headquarters with two bronze lions sitting in front were built in the mid-1980s, the escalators were reoriented from their original straight position to an angle with the entrance to prevent evil spirits from flowing straight off the Victoria Harbor and into the office.

The HSBC building in Hong Kong. Photo credit: Ishak J/Flickr

The Bank of China Tower, on the other hand, neglected good feng shui practices and is now considered so unlucky that it sits empty most of the year. The tower with its many sharp edges is also said to be leaking its negative energy to its surrounding businesses. The owner of the Lippo Centre, which faces one of the building’s edges, went bankrupt and had to sell the building. Similarly, the Government House, which also faces one of the angles of the Bank of China Tower, had its share of troubles.

To prevent such misfortunes from befalling HSBC, the bank had two cannon-like structures installed at the top of their building. These cannons, which are pointed towards the Bank of China building, supposedly protects HSBC from the dreaded Bank of China Tower’s negative energy by deflecting the energy back to its source.

Hong Kong’s growth in recent years has been attributed to good feng shui. Its geographical location with the mountains behind and waters in front is said to be excellent in accordance to feng shui principles. Legend holds that these mountains are home to the dragons that are said to be the bearer of positive and powerful energy. This energy blows through Hong Kong as the dragons make their way from the mountains to the sea to drink and bathe.

This explains why many buildings along the waterline have gaping holes in the middle. These holes provide the dragons an unobstructed path to the water, so that the winds of positive energy continue to flow through the city.

The “dragon hole” of The Repulse Bay building in Hong Kong. Photo credit: Paul Griffin/Flickr

Photo credit: See-ming Lee/Flickr

Sources: NY Times / Discover Hong Kong / A Passport Affair / Wall Street Journal Blog

Source…….www.amusingplanet.com

Natarajan

Woman I admire: ‘My daughter is a super hero’….

March 10, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Here, Jaya Alex writes about her daughter, who, despite the odds, chose to teach in a backward and underprivileged district in India.

Justey P Alex

My elder daughter Justey P Alex is presently working among the tribes in Kalahandi district of Odisha, the second most backward and underprivileged district in India.

There she is teaching in a mission school which provides education to poor children. It is the only English medium school in that area.

After her graduation from the Delhi University (BA English Hon), she told us of her desire to serve the needy and downtrodden children through education. She had taken the decision during a visit to this place when a tour programme was conducted by the Youths of Church Mission.

Being parents of a grown-up girl child we were very worried about her decision.

Jaya Alex with her daughter Justey

All other family members, friends and our well-wishers were also against it because of her well-being.

The place where she was planning to work is prone with diseases like malaria, jaundice, typhoid, etc.

Death due to these diseases is very common there. The nearest hospital is at least 20 km away from this remote village. If you want to buy a pen, book or even recharge your mobile phone you have to travel at least 20 km.

Everybody asked her to rethink the decision, but she stood firm on her ground as she felt that it was right.

At last we agreed and allowed her to go and work there. We thought that she will be back within a month because it is not so easy for a child, born and brought up in metropolitan city. to work in such a remote area.

But she got the willpower to overcome all hurdles and hardships by seeing the happiness of the poor kids studying there and has now completed 10 months. She is one among the three graduate teachers in her school. She is also pursuing her post graduation from IGNOU.

I think an ordinary girl cannot think in this way and I feel that my daughter is a ‘super hero’. I am proud of her.

Source…..Jaya Alex in http://www.rediff.com

Natarajan

This date in science: Yuri Gagarin’s birthday….9th March

March 9, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

He was a Russian Soviet pilot and the first human to travel to space, in 1961. Later, he became one of the world’s true heroes …

“Let’s go! (Poyekhali!)” Image via ESA.

March 9, 2016. Yuri Alekseyevitch Gagarin (1934 – 1968) would have been 82 today. He became the first human ever to travel into space on April 12, 1961, flying into orbit around Earth for 89.1 minutes in Russia’s Vostok 1 spacecraft. He circled the Earth once and flew as high as 200 miles (327 km). The entire mission, from launching to landing lasted 108 minutes.

Yuri was born on a small farm west of Moscow. His father was a bricklayer, a carpenter, and a farmer. His mother was a milkmaid. He was the third in a family of four children.

During the Second World War, the Gagarin family was broken apart as two of Yuri’s older sisters were taken into labor camps by the Nazis. The Gagarins were forced out of their house, and dug a hideout in the ground, where they stayed until the end of the war. After the war, the family moved to Gziatsk.

Gagarin was inspired to become a pilot while still a teenager. When a Russian Yak fighter plane was forced to land in a field near his home, the praise those pilots received left a mark on the young Gagarin. He wanted to be like them.

He studied to become a foundryman (a foundry is a factory that melts metals in special furnaces and pours the molten metal into molds for making products). He was singled out for his skillfulness to further his studies in the Saratov Technical School.

Vostok 1 via Wikimedia Commons.

There, his dream to become a pilot took root, as during his 4th and last year at Saratov, he had the chance to join a local flying club. He learned to operate a plane, and flew by himself for the first time in 1955.

That same year, he also graduated from school, and was recruited by the Soviet Army.

At the advice of his flying mentor, he joined the Soviet Air Force, and went on studying at the Orenburg School of Aviation. There, he was taught to fly MIGs.

During his studies at Orenburg, he also met his future wife, Valentina Ivanova Goryacheva, who was a nursing student at the time.

In November, 1957, when Gagarin was 23, he graduated from Orenburg with honors and married Valentina. Later, the couple had two girls, Yelena, and Galina.

In 1959, after the Russians succeeded at photographing the far side of the moon for the first time with Luna 3, many – including Yuri – felt it was about time for the first man to be sent to space. He and a few other men were accepted for cosmonaut training in 1960 after a lot of selection.

The selected candidates underwent not only physical training, but also mental and psychological training.

Gagarin was known for his good humour, perseverance, and calm.

On April 12, 1961, the Russians amazed the world by launching Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Yuri Gagarin aboard. Vostok means East in Russian.

East for sunrise, and for the rise of the Space Age.

Hear a recording of Yuri Gagarin saying “poyekhali” (“let’s go”) before the launch.

Yuri Gagarin in Warsaw in 1961. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Gagarin in Sweden in 1964. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

After coming back from space, Gagarin became an international celebrity. Khrushchev awarded him with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

His dream had come true.

Gagarin and his wife began touring the world, where Yuri was decorated for his legendary accomplishment. It’s rumored that Gagarin didn’t handle his fame very well, however.

In 1962, he was appointed as a deputy of the Soviet Union, and he was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. But Gagarin was not entirely happy. He felt he didn’t train to fly only once. He wanted to fly more, but – according to the stories about him – those around him tried to stop him for fear of losing the great Soviet hero.

In 1963, Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow. Later, the training center was named for him.

The following year he started extensive training to become a fighter pilot. He died on March 27, 1968, at the age of 34 due to the crash of a MiG – 15UTI that he and colleague Vladimir Seryogin were flying from the Chkalovski Air Base.

Their bodies were collected near the small town of Khirzach, and were cremated. Their ashes are a part of the Kremlin Building in the Red Square, in Moscow.

Yuri’s plaque at the Kremlin in Moscow, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bottom line: Born on March 9, 1934, Yuri Alekseyevitch Gagarin (1934 – 1968) was the first human being ever to travel into space. His historic flight took place on on April 12, 1961, when he orbited Earth for 89.1 minutes in Russia’s Vostok 1 spacecraft.

Source……www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

Celebrating International Women’s Day….

March 9, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

NASA astronauts and JAXA astronaut at work inside International Space Station's Robotics Workstation

In this April 8, 2010 photograph, STS-131 mission specialists Stephanie Wilson of NASA, Naoko Yamazaki of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger of NASA, and Expedition 23 flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson (top left) work at the robotics workstation on the International Space Station, in support of transfer operations using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to move cargo from the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

The STS-131 mission’s seven-member crew launched aboard space shuttle Discovery on April 5 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, joining the six residents of the space station when the shuttle docked on April 7. The merging of the two crews marked the first time four women were in space at the same time.

Image Credit: NASA

Source….www.nasa .gov

Natarajan

Message for the Day……” You must remember that you are truly Divine…”

March 9, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Embodiments of Love, consider for a moment, where from the rain comes. It comes from the clouds. Clouds come from water vapour, rising from the sea. Rain water becomes a channel on the earth, changes itself into a rivulet and merges into a big river, and finally reaches the sea as its destination. A pot made out of clay when broken, is cast on the ground, and in course of time, becomes clay again. Water from the sea joins the sea, clay from the earth, goes back to earth again, but why does a human being alone forget the source He came from? The only besetting evil in human being is the sense of ‘mine’ (Mamakara), the acquisitive and possessive feeling. This is the root-cause for all other evils. You must remember that you are truly divine. You inhale and exhale 21,600 times – it is a natural reminder of the message of ‘SO-HAM’ (I am God) which is the truth about your divine reality.

Sathya Sai Baba

Nine super-achieving women Bengaluru should be proud of …..

March 8, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, here is a list of 9 women achievers from Bengaluru who are recipients of the Namma Bengaluru Foundation Awards for the year 2015.

The Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) is an independent organistation and inclusive social platform founded in 2009, which is committed to the betterment of the city through collective social engagement.

Twenty-year-old Aishwarya Hebbar has made over 21,000 kids happier through her project Let’s Write Together. She collects pens discarded by school and college students around the city, and restores them so that kids who can’t afford stationery can write. –

Ashwini Angadi manages a trust that runs the Belaku Academy, a school for the visually impaired, working with differently abled children with an aim of integrating them with the mainstream. She has been chosen as the UN Special Envoy to receive the Youth Courage Award for Education and the Queen of England’s Young Leader Award in 2015. –

Suparna Ganguly ended the cruel practice of electrocution of stray dogs and co-founded Compassion Unlimited Plus Action – CUPA, an organization that took over the Koramangala dog-pound and over the years helped create a more humane world for strays. –

Gloria Benny put together a network of volunteers called Make a Difference (MAD) who would mentor children with skills and confidence and equip them for life after they left the shelter homes at the age of 18. –

Dr Rohini Katoch Sepat is the Director of the State Forensic Sciences Lab and has been instrumental in enabling the police force with technological advances such as the iBeat app and CCTV cameras on police vehicles to help the cops serve communities better. –

Geetha Ramanujam set up Kathalaya, The House of Stories, with a vision of making positive social change in education through storytelling. The International Academy of Storytelling set up by Kathalaya has trained over 70,000 people to become storytellers and touched the lives of over 5 lakh children over the years. –

Prarthana Kaul started Giftabled, an e-commerce venture that sells both gifts made by the disabled and merchandise for the disabled, thereby transforming many lives. –

Ashwani is a news reporter with RajTV, who brought Mavallipura landfill garbage crisis into focus. As a result of her efforts, health camps were conducted and drinking water facilities were improved. –

Lokayukta SP Sonia Narang’s strict action concerning extortion calls allegedly made to Government employees for bribes in return for immunity in corruption cases resulted in the filing of 5 FIRs and 11 arrests. –

Source…..www.thenewsminute.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…”No one should become desperate and give up Prayers…”

March 8, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Sathya Sai Baba

Truly, the prayers of the great act as an invitation even for the advent of the Lord. In the external world, when the subjects need any convenience or help, they approach the rulers and inform them of their request. So also, in the internal state, when there is no possibility of achieving and acquiring devotion, charity, peace, and truth, the great and good people who desire to achieve them pray to the Lord within themselves. Then, listening to their prayers, He Himself comes into the world and showers His grace on them. Ramayana and Bhagavata reveal that Lord Rama and Krishna incarnated as an answer to the prayers of the sages. Thus prayers should be offered again and again for the realisation of the task. No one should become desperate and give up prayers if they don’t result immediately in the advent of the Lord.

Message for the Day…” Get rid of Desire and Hatred and experience the Divinity inherent within …”

March 7, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Who is Lord Shiva, and where is He to be found? Many answers are given, including Kailash as His place of residence. The true answer is, ‘Isavasyam Idam Sarvam’ (All this is pervaded by Isa). He is omnipresent. There is no place, object or being where God is not present. Correct your outlook and recognise this unity in the apparent diversity around you. When God is omnipresent, what need is there to go in search of Him? The search is meaningless. If one gets rid of attachment and hatred, one will experience the Divinity inherent within. This is the sadhana (spiritual exercise) one has to do today – to get rid of desire and hatred which conceal the God within. Many people ask: “Swami! Show us the way.” All you have to do is to go back to the source from which you came. Where is the need for seeking the way? The Bhagavatha has declared that it is the natural destiny of every living being to go back to where each one came from.

Sathya Sai Baba

Breaking stereotypes: ‘We are stronger than we think’ !!!

March 6, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

We had asked you, dear readers, share your experience if you’re a woman who has broken stereotypes.

Here, Vandana Chaudhary shares her story.

Vandana Chaudhary

I am Vandana Chaudhary, 33 years, and presently live in Vizag.

I have always enjoyed sports like badminton and cricket.

I also run marathons occasionally. But cycling, and that too 80 kilometres, is something I never fathomed in the wildest of my dreams.

It all started in August 2013, when I first bought my Firefox (MTB) and enjoyed riding it casually on Dolphin hill (my residence).

In the first few months, I could barely do 4 to 5 km at a stretch, without running out of breath.

Gradually, I improved my timing and was able to do 12 km (with a steep elevation) within six months.

However, I never thought I was good enough to participate in a cycling tour, which had professional cyclists as participants.

In December 2014, the ‘Tour of Eastern Ghats (TEG)’ was organised.

It was time to send in our names and I was still in two minds if I would be able to ride half the distance, let alone complete it.

Nevertheless, with immense encouragement from my husband (Anand V), I decided to give it a shot, with my humble six geared cycle.

Vandana Chaudhary at the start line

On the D-day, while standing at the starting line, I felt terribly intimidated by shiny, sleek Cannondales, Treks and Meridas around.

My heart sunk further, when I saw all of them zooming past me on their 24-geared bikes.

With low spirits already, I decided to continue, slow and steady, with my hubby following me in our black Santro.

Every time I would slow down, he would shout out aloud a word of encouragement like , “C’mon Vandana, you can do it, you are almost there”.

When the group stopped for a quick lunch, I was the last one to reach.

Post lunch, many participants decided to drop out due to exhaustion. That’s when I decided, it is not important to win the race, but it’s important to complete it.

I started with rejuvenated vigour and cycled my way through the fields, mountains and lakes. All this while, Anand trailing me and cheering me.

At one point of time, the organisers asked me to stop and use the towing truck, like others had as it was getting too late.

Sensing my disappointment, Anand stepped up and said, “She will not give up even if it meant riding in pitch dark”.

In the end, I proudly wish to reveal that there were just three of us who completed the entire route, the other two being Naval officers.

That day, for the first time I realised, what a little bit of will power and self belief can achieve

I still feel a sense of pride when I think of how I decided not to give up despite the darkness, pain and exhaustion.

“We are stronger than we think” — I will never stop believing this!

Photographs: Kind courtesy Vandana Chaudhary

Source…….www.rediff.com

Natarajan

India’s Water Warrior Has a Solution for India’s Droughts. The Best Part – We Can Play a Role Too!

March 5, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Ayyappa Masagi has successfully implemented water conservation projects across states, industries, farms, and homes.

For anyone who is worried about India’s water crisis, Ayyappa Masagi’s solution is simple – conserve. This man – popularly referred to as Water Magician, Water Gandhi, and Water Doctor – firmly believes that by the year 2020 India can manage its water resources well and be a water-efficient country. And if Ayyappa has his way, the country may just end up achieving this goal.

Ayyappa is famous for reversing the fortunes of thousands by getting them to practise rainwater harvesting and water conservation.

He has also recharged more borewells and constructed more lakes than probably anyone else in the country.

But he hasn’t always been actively involved in conserving water. In fact, for many years, Ayyappa was an engineer for Larsen and Toubro (L&T), before he started working in this field. Ayyappa was born into a family of poor farmers in Gadag district in Karnataka. And it is his experiences with agriculture that made him study water in his later years.

“In my childhood we faced plenty of water problems. I used to wake up with my mother at 3 am to go and fetch water. This used to happen so often that I took an oath to try and conserve water every day. In fact, throughout my growing years, I thought of ways to conserve water,” he says.

Ayyappa went through many struggles before he could get an education and get employed. His mother sold her gold so he could complete his diploma in mechanical engineering. He worked at BEML, Bengaluru, before joining L&T, where he worked for 23 years.

During his years in L&T, Ayyappa found it hard to resist the call of the earth.

He gave in and purchased six acres of land in a village in Gadag.

“In this dry region, I planted crops like rubber and coffee. I wanted to prove that one could grow these crops with whatever rain one gets. Though I was successful in the first two years my crops soon dried up due to a severe drought. The year after that, they were destroyed by floods. Though people mocked me at that point, I didn’t take it to heart. I was determined to find a solution,” he says.

This is how Ayyappa started researching how water, which is abundant at least once a year, can be conserved for the dry season. In his quest for answers, he met with experts like Anna Hazare and Rajendra Singh of Rajasthan.

After a long study, Ayyappa realised that recharging borewells and practising non-irrigational agriculture methods were the answers to the water problems farmers faced.

“I decided to use my farm as my own R&D lab. I implemented these techniques and reaped a good harvest in the two subsequent years, in the face of flood and famine. I was encouraged by the success and started spreading the message about borewell recharging and non-irrigational agricultural techniques. I tested these methods on the farms in my neighbourhood and found they worked there as well. This is what prompted me to reach out to more people,” he says.

Gradually, he quit his job at L&T and decided to work towards making India a water-efficient nation.

“We always blame nature. But that is unfair. It is we who have encouraged uncontrollable development and encroached upon land. Then how can we complain when a place like Chennai receives the rain meant for a year in three days?” asks Ayyappa.

In 2004, Ayyappa received the Ashoka Fellowship for his conservation efforts.

A year later, he established the Water Literacy Foundation, in a bid to reach out to more people and spread the message of conservation.

In 2008, Ashoka approached Ayyappa to start a for-profit wing of the Water Literacy Foundation. This is how Rain Water Concepts was launched.

Today, he finds solutions to water problems based on the size of the farm, the availability of resources, and the person’s budget. Ayyappa has orchestrated thousands of conservation projects across 11 states. He has also created over 600 lakes in the country, for which he found mention in the Limca Book of Records.

Ayyappa’s ideas are simple. He considers the earth to be the biggest filter. He captures the water, filters it and then stores it underground. His pit-based rainwater harvesting system is a structure made of boulders, gravel, sand, and mud. When it rains, water trickles through the gravel and sand. It slowly charges the subsoil. This process continues and ensures the soil is always charged with water. This method also prevents water from evaporating.

He also specialises in watershed management, inter-basin water transfer, recycling of water, etc.

“Do you know how much water every person wastes while having a bath? This water is not bad water. It can actually be reused,” he says.

Ayyappa not only provides services to individuals but to corporates and other educational institutions as well. He has also managed to create a community of ‘water warriors’ who practise his methods and educate others about them.

“Our country doesn’t need grand plans like river-linking to tackle the problem of water shortage. In fact, that project is an unnecessary expense for the government. If we need to save water, every farmer and ever organisation should plan ahead. And if they do, this country will soon become water-efficient,” he says.

Ayyappa Masagi can be contacted at waterliteracyfoundation@yahoo.com

Source…..Meryil Garcia in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan