A little prayer

The power to say enough,

Looking away from you brings small pleasures,

Clouding the senses and the soul from the bigger one,

That is you.

Looking away from you makes it endless,

The path that leads to the beginning,

That is you.

The power to say enough,

That is all I bow down,

To ask you.

Spiritual overdose

Religion in its unadulterated form is the path towards self-realization. This is what most of us have learned in some point in our lives. Giving due respect to all religions, my choice of practice is Hinduism.  I embrace it wholly and my stride is laid strongly on the grounds of its principles.

Rebirth and Karma are the most intriguing theories of Hinduism. Though they are hard to apply in our day to day lives, they at least give us some faint  explanation at the end of the day, about life’s many mysteries. Dont we all, during tough times, resign to the facts of time and let out a sigh saying “Its all my fate”?

The one question that still remains –  If our lives and its mysteries being unfolded day to day, are a result of our karma in our past lives, doesn’t that apply well to our sins too? When we commit what we call as sins, isn’t that just an outcome of circumstances winning over our mind?

And aren’t those sinning instances pre-destined?

Journey

I chose a path to walk,

All sure of myself,

Knowing where to go.

Swore to leave a trail,

For one and many to follow.

Down came a divine beam,

From up above the heaven.

It gently placed a bundle in my hands,

And the path below me changed unknowingly.

I start treading it slowly,

Opening the bundle with awe.

A sweet fragrance engulfed around,

Mesmerized I stood as the magic swallowed me.

The next thing i knew,

It was to hold me captive forever.

I surrendered to it without a protest,

Blissfully drowning in the nectar.

Only a moment to sweep,

But to last beyond  a lifetime.

Where is my path?

I look back to see it intact.

It never meant to change,

But only had a bloom of love.

Tips to effective networking

During our formative years and even during college life, every other person we met and shared pleasantries with became our friends. The word ‘friend’ encompassed a wide bandwidth of relationships. But how can we still call it friendship, if we restrict our contacts and conversations with people, only when it comes to getting some work done and helping them on a one off basis? This sort of acquaintance has been christened as “networking”. My brother often used to advise me that its networking that is becoming the backbone of personal development, in more ways than one. Experiencing it myself over the years, I cant agree with him more.  I thought I would share some of my thoughts on how effective networking can be achieved. Before I begin the ‘discourse’, i wish to state that this post is not totally about the aids that the internet provides for social networking. This is about real, serious, committed networking.

Effort

A well networked person is someone who takes consistent effort to be one. This includes being committed to a variety of things such as, growing new networks, maintain the already formed networks, organizing networks according to their power, taking efforts to keep in constant touch. Some lessons in humanities talk extensively about “Power & Politicking”.  Our networks should be organized according to the five types of Power (Reward, Coercive, Legitimate, Referent & Expert).  The golden rule to remember however is that no contact is a bad contact. You will be taken by surprise to see how the most unimaginable contact of yours comes to your rescue in the most grueling times.

Analyze self strength

Just as how you organize your contacts on the basis of their strengths, you are being subjected to the same exercise by your contacts! Its important to analyze oneself and try to scale up in terms of expertise in a particular area of interest or influence.

Maintenance of networks

Contacts maintained well, forms a network. It is up to us to make sure that this network does not become an entangled mess! Just like other resources, networks are also precious and give you some strength. The key is to use them judiciously when needed and when requested.

Get out of the shell

Silent waters may run deep. But that depth needs to be told! Networking can go nowhere if one stays put under a roof. Meeting new people, getting to know their passions and helping them with your resources is the the first step towards networking.

Always remember – Every individual has a sphere of influence. As its radius grows, your volume grows too!

Soulful & tearful

You were the mystic ball and through you, I saw the entire world staying where I was.  Being with you shaped my personality for the better and gave me a distinct identity. Heaven was where I was.  Lessons after lessons are what you taught me.  Many a new face, each unique, I met through you. For you, I kept my fire burning. Unearthing is what you are best at. And so did you discover bold,  fiery me. You have unknowingly gifted me a huge part of life.  It is often preached that what is loved should be let go and can be rightfully  possessed if it comes back. You went. Returned. Only to go back again. This time never to return. Your tunes always cleansed the soul… now they will brim the heart and the eyes with memories to cherish for a lifetime.

The One

In the innocence of a child’s eyes,

In the purity of a mother’s love,

Divisible, yet remains whole,

To it, I surrender myself.

Let go…

Let go…

You may never know me,

But I watch every single step of yours closely,

Soon it will be for the world to see,

Together we becoming family

I know you are smitten,

But many a chance were you given,

Even a cat becomes a tigress to protect its kitten,

May God bless you, for your heart and mind to get even

Magic of Love!

Every time you look into my eye,
To every worry, i bid a good bye,
Your smile seizes my clock,
My heart has birds in a flock, cos,

You won me, but tell me how?
Is this the magic of real love!

My heart was a rock in the mountain,
You made it a valley where love fountains!
You are dream that is so real,
I wish that this never gets surreal, cos,

You won me, but tell me how?
Is this the magic of pure love!

They tell me love can kill,
And the wreck can give me a bill,
I brush away those cues, i know
There’s is nothing that i lose, cos,

You won me, but tell me how?
Is this the magic of true love!

You’ve got call

I personally feel, one of the best gifts mankind has given to itself is, the telephone.  Pity that Bell, who gave us this great piece of invention wasn’t fond of it himself (source: Alexander Graham Bell), perhaps because, two of the most important women in his life, his mother and wife were hearing impaired. Had the wonder instrument provided some worthwhile utility for him, he would not have just stopped with just the invention but also published a booklet, postulating the proper usage of it.

Telephone etiquette is something we all acknowledge but yet take for granted. While factors like proper body language, expressions and the likes are always preached and practised in face to face communication, we all let go when communication happens over wires!

Maintaining consistency in practising the art of communication gives our personality a distinct identity.  Again, this is not something that we dont know, but some reminders, some post it notes on our mind, to make sure we make that telephone conversation pleasant for ourselves and the person on the other side:

Rules of the thumb:

• Greeting: While answering the call, its best done with a smile. Though it is not carried over visually, the smile adds a pleasant tone to the voice and a great beginning to the conversation
• Introduction: If the call is being answered by someone other than the person you intend to talk to, introducing oneself is the rule of the thumb. “Hello, I’m XYZ calling from ABC, could I please talk to….?”, as opposed to “Hello, can I talk to….?” makes one sound extremely dignified
• Course: Just as one wouldn’t plunge directly into the purpose of the meeting during a face to face interaction, telephone conversation also requires building up of the blocks. Inquiring about one’s well-being and life and then proceeding to talk about the primary subject, makes the other conversant more receptive
• The finish: While ending the conversation, its best to briefly paraphrase whatever has been spoken in order to bridge the gaps that the distance may have caused.

Un’ruly’ middle finger:

• Breathing hard into the mouth piece: This really irritates the other conversant
• Noisy atmosphere: No cookie for you! Leads to mis – communication
• Yelling: Your voice doesn’t have to travel the entire circumference of the earth to reach the other person
• Not returning missed calls: This amounts to insult. This is as good as seeing someone above the shoulder. If a call is not possible, a text msg is a must
• Calling at odd hours: The mere existence of the instrument does not give one the liberty to intrude into another person’s privacy
• Munching on something while speaking: You not only chew your food but also your words.
• Long conversations: Why pay for something when you can have it for free? Meet up and keep chatting.

And for something to laugh at ourselves, here goes:

Ten reasons to avoid talking on the phone

Journ’ally’st

Each of us come across different people on a day to day basis and some of them leave a lasting impression.  Being in the PR profession for over ten months, I often get a chance to meet a lot of scribes. Scribes as in journalists of leading publications that wait at our doorsteps, to be picked up by us, every morning.

One of the most known and approached journalists that any PR professional based out Chennai would first meet is Mr. D. Murali of The Hindu Business Line.  However, in my case, he wasnt the first journalist I met! I took nine whole months to meet him the first time. That too, after a lot of nagging that i had to undertake over my boss!

D. Murali is the Deputy Editor of The Hindu Business Line, one of the leading business publications in the country, from The Hindu group.  His designation however is indirectly proportional to his approachability.  Even an intern in the PR profession celebrates him as one of their most favourite journalists.

He swears by the practice of meeting people and every story of his is well-researched and is presented in a reader friendly format.  However big or small your client is, they are sure to be profiled by him. A casual chat over lunch or in the local park  does the trick of an amazing article.  He is one of the journalists, who keeps up with the changes that time brings along – such as maintaining a blog, that has an account of everyone he meets, from time to time:

http://muralilistening.blogspot.com/

One walk into his office, would make you wonder if you accidentally stepped into a book shelf. A voracious reader, Mr. Murali maintains a separate category in his blog to review the best books he has read.

This is a tribute I pay to a highly knowledgeable, a warm person and a professional ally  – like one of my colleagues keeps saying: It is such journalists who make the purpose of PR profession, meaningful.