Dr.Adbul Kalam live @ Northeastern

I am still captivated by the speech and interactive session of Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam.

Dr.Kalam,Ex-President of India, graced the opening session of the three-day Northeastern University green energy conference. An interactive session after the inauguration was coordinated by the Indian Students Association at Northeastern University.

Running late from work, I regrettably missed the opening speech of the session. But was in time when he opened the ground for questions. Student after student rose to ask causal, petty, genuine, well researched questions and Dr.Kalam imperturbably heard and adroitly answered them.

A person of such stature and with such an aura around him exuded an electrifying sense of humor. There was an overpowering intellectual presence that he brought to the room. Jokingly scoring the answer-seekers on their interactions and politely asking each one not to ask more than one question,he received an applause on almost every word he uttered.

When someone asked him to give one piece of advice to students scouring from India and coming the United States to attain further education – prompt came the reply – “Attain knowledge, not any knowledge, but “good knowledge” and instead of becoming “job seekers” – become “job generators”.

Talking at length about the importance of education, the importance of parents and teachers in our lives, Dr.Kalam also spoke about his 2020 vision and tersely commented on the political scenario of the county.

http://www.abdulkalam.com/kalam/index.jsp

http://www.indiavision2020.org/


Needless to say, that he emanated knowledge, experience, and savoir-faire - yet a staggering level of modesty, that it was honor even to be in the same room as him.

He concluded the session by stressing on the need to be a good citizen, no matter what nationality you belong to and what country you are currently living in. Striking a conversation with his audience, he made us echo one of his golden teachings:

“Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.”

He was swarmed with people seeking his autograph and the tall ones, taking advantage of their height, were able to hand over their scraps right into in his hands. Being short , I could not avail that, so in lieu called out to him – “Sir, I am short “ – he instantaneously acknowledged me, took my book and graciously signed it :)

It is very difficult for me to remember long names, but after my short rendezvous with Dr.Kalam, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam is name that I shall always remember and shall continue to admire the legend.

Shopping for Labels

Just a few weeks back, when a friend emailed me song the - Shopping for labels by Fergie , I instantly fell in love with it.

Shopping for labels, shopping for love,
Manolo and Louis, it’s all I’m thinking of,
Shopping for labels, shopping for love,
Manolo and Louis, it’s all I’m thinking of,

How can someone not adore something that is all about labels and love?

Yesterday ,a friend exuberantly flaunted her new Louis Vuitton bag, I felt a pang of jealousy. I have something that’s almost half the size of her bag and so longed to get something like hers.
But … when she mentioned, it’s her discovery from the street vendors of the New York - I got to thinking -

How can something phony be bliss?
I'd rather be content with my small but genuine purse.
There is comfort,happiness, an inner satisfaction on owning something genuine.

Doesn't the same hold true for relationships too. Pure and honest relationships have their own freshness and glory. There is no pretense, no burden, no liabilities – just straightforward feelings and their portrayal.
There are so many plastic relations we keep up to every day in our lives.
So many belonging to the "have-to-maintain" category that we stand-by everyday! If we settle down for untrue relations, our lives will start becoming bland.
Shouldn’t we just be true to ourselves and embrace the true ones too? Is the society so demanding that we have to give in to these banal things? Can’t we be just complacent with what’s unadulterated?

Anyways , To each, his own!
Shop for labels or look for true relations.
Be happy with the fake make or be a part of a pretentious relationship.

I’d just say… carry your own label.
Be yourself!!!

Temptation

I can’t even get close to counting the number of times I have pushed temptation somewhere inside me. Be it as trivial as an allurement of opening a surprise package or as sinful as copying in an exam paper.

A few of the instances that come to my mind:
-to devour an ice-cream when I am on my 10081st (most-likely) unsuccessful diet plan
-to abuse someone in the face when my ears hear something squalid
-to tell someone to shut that boasting mouth on hearing some self-blown trumpets
-to call someone just for support in times when I am supposed to stand on my own
-to watch that one episode of friends when I am working towards an assignment deadline
-to make a/few phone calls to swank off my new designer sunglasses
-to cheat someone for my worldly happiness

But such are the ones that I have resisted with difficulty or ease.

What about the ones, we just helplessly and hopelessly give into?
Many such cases are thrown in our direction at every point on life. What do we do about those?
Rely mostly on our impulse to react to those? And yet there are those times, when a lot of rationalization goes into reaction.

Most of the time, giving in to temptation is something we regret later.
(Don’t get me wrong, there have been a few times when giving in to temptation is the best thing I’ve ever done. Like it’s said - Temptation is like a knife that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction)

A misspoken thought, a copied answer, a relished desert – somewhere deep down bother the conscious for a long time. Many have taught, many have preached and there are many who have practiced the art of victory over temptation.

Having said all that, I just don’t seem to get the art right. When I am tempted, I have a split personality. One part of me wants to do it and one wants to refrain. No matter what the cause is, no matter how small or big, no matter how harmful or paltry – it is always a difficult decision to take and always a double edged sword. Mark Twain said - “I deal with temptation by yielding to it” and boyyy… I am totally comfortable with this!!! :)

Don't be a coward - face that temptation !!!

Express

The reason I chose this name is because I will be inhaling and exhaling a lot of thoughts, love, gratitude, information and ofcourse my own expert comments (which are inevitable).

Many a times I have decided to start my own blog, but more often than not, frivolous and ofcourse at times, intelligent thoughts capture my mind and I lose track of what I wanted to blog about.

There have been times, when I have penned down thoughts but decided against posting them to my blog, which I created eons ago. Yes, that’s true, my blog has been lying somewhere in the cyber universe and never has been adorned with a post till date.

But, today, as fortunate we both are, me and my blog, I gift both of us of this wonderful joy of “expression”.

Also, I shall make promise to both of us (me and my blog) that this phrase “I am sorry for not blogging in so long”, is something that we shall not have to face !!
(Read as - a few exceptions here and there, can squeeze in)

Because, I believe that “breathing and expressing” go hand in hand.

Keep expressing!!!