ADVICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES

1. Build a home earlier. Be it rural home or urban home. Building a house at 50 is not an achievement. Don't get used to government houses. This comfort is so dangerous. Let all your family have good time in your house.

 

2. Go home. Don't stick at work all the year.  You are not the pillar of your department.  If you drop dead today, you will be replaced immediately and operations will continue.  Make your family a priority.

3. Don't chase promotions.  Master your skills and be excellent at what you do. If they want to promote you, that's fine if they don't,  stay positive to your personal.

development.

4. Avoid office or work gossip. Avoid things that tarnish your name or reputation. Don't join the bandwagon that backbites  your bosses and colleagues. Stay away from negative gatherings that have only people as their agenda.

5. Don't ever compete with your bosses.  You will burn your fingers.  Don't compete with your colleagues, you will fry your brain.

6. Ensure you have a side business.  Your salary will not sustain your needs in the long run.

7. Save some money. Let it be deducted automatically from your payslip. 

8. Borrow a loan to invest in a business or to change a situation not to buy luxury. Buy luxury from your profit.

9. Keep your life,marriage and family private. Let them stay away from your work. This is very important.  

10. Be loyal to yourself  and believe in your work. Hanging around your boss will alienate you from your colleagues and  your boss may finally dump you when he leaves. 

11. Retire early.  The best way to plan for your exit was when you received the employment letter. The other best time is today.  By 40 to 50 be out. 

12. Join work welfare and be an active member always. It will help you a lot when  any eventuality occurs.

13.Take leave days utilize them by developing yr future home or projects..usually what you do during yr leave days is a reflection of how you'll live after retirement..If it means you spend it all holding a remote control watching series on Zee world, expect nothing different after retirement.

14. Start a project whilst still serving or working. Let your project run whilst at work and if it doesn't do well, start another one till it's running viably. When your project is viably running then retire to manage your business. Most people or pensioners fail in life because they retire to start a project instead of retiring to run a project. 

15. Pension money is not for starting a project or buy a stand or build a house but it's money for your upkeep or to maintain yourself in good health. Pension money is not for paying school fees or marrying a young wife but to look after yourself.

16. Always remember, when you retire never be a case study for living a miserable life after retirement but be a role model for colleagues to think of retiring too. 

17. Don't retire just because you are finished or you are now a burden to the company and just wait for your day to die. Retire young or whilst energetic to enjoy waking up for a cup of coffee, enjoy the sun, receive money from your business, visit nice place that you missed and spend good time with family. Those who retire late, spend about 95% of their time at work than with their family and that's why they see it difficult to spend time with their family when they retire but end looking for another job till they die. If they don't get another job, they die early.

18. Retire at your house than at government accommodation so that when you retire you can easily fit into the society that raised you. It's not easy to adjust to live in a location after spending more years at company house or at government house.

19. Never let your employment benefits make you forget about your retirement. Employment benefits are just meant to make you relax, get finished whilst time is moving. Remember when you retire no one will call you boss if you don't have a viable business.

20. Don't hate to retire because one day you will retire either voluntarily or involuntarily. 

Hope this will help you look at life positively

John Liney

मिट्टी

*बाबा फरीद ने पंजाबी में क्या खूब कहा है* -

वेख फरीदा मिट्टी खुल्ली, *(कबर)*

मिट्टी उत्ते मिट्टी डुली; *(लाश)*

मिट्टी हस्से मिट्टी रोवे, *(इंसान)*

अंत मिट्टी दा मिट्टी होवे *(जिस्म)*

ना कर बन्दया मेरी मेरी, *(पैसा)*

ना ऐह तेरी ना ऐह मेरी; *(खाली जाना)*

चार दिना दा मेला दुनिया, *(उम्र)*

फ़िर मिट्टी दी बन गयी ढेरी; *(मौत)*

ना कर एत्थे हेरा फेरी, *(पैसे कारन झुठ, धोखे)*

मिट्टी नाल ना धोखा कर तू, *(लोका नाल फरेब)*

तू वी मिट्टी मैं वी मिट्टी; *(इंसान)*

जात पात दी गल ना कर तू,

जात वी मिट्टी पात वी मिट्टी, *(पाखंड)*

*जात सिर्फ खुदा दी उच्ची,*                    

 *बाकी सब कुछ मिट्टी मिट्टी*।

Success

Life is going to throw dirt at you, all kinds of dirt... the trick to getting out of the hole is to shake it off and use it to step up. Each of our problems is a step up. We can get out of the deepest holes if we don't give up...

Use the land they throw you to get ahead!!!

Remember the 5 rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hate.

2. Free your Mind of distractions.

3. Simplify your life.

4. Give more and expect less.

5. Love more and... shake the dirt, because in this life you have to be a solution, not the problem!

Leadership

The four cardinal virtues of leadership are:

- Wisdom 

- Courage

- Temperance

- Justice 

7 months after move to India

After staying for precisely 10 years in Sydney, Australia the move to India has been turbulent more mentally than physically.

There were some things that one could plan out for, some one couldnt foresee and have to deal with them after arriving and confronting them face-to-face. Few are like:

• Allergies - Long hidden and forgotten have emerged back from depths of time, thanks to unending dust and pollution in India.
• Confin-ism - If there is even a word like this! Thanks to unending bangalore traffic, you can't just take your car and go for a 10-15 mins spin (leave the thought of driving with your windows down)
• Walk like an unknown person down the road, every face appears familiar or judgemental

Bhishma vs Jatayu

Credit for this goes to an anonymous friend 

THE BHISHMA WAY

Or

THE JATAYU WAY

No two people respond to the same situation in a similar way.

Here are examples of two legendary personalities who were faced with a very similar situation, but their responses were diagonally apart. 

This is a comparative study between the characters Bhishma in the epic Mahabharat, and Jatayu in the epic Ramayana.

Both of them were confronted with their character when they had to handle decisions based on an assault on womanhood. The metaphor comes equally handy in the world of decision making.

One chose to die protecting the victim, while the other chose to be a mute spectator to the crime.

1- POWERFUL or POWERLESS

Bhishma was a powerful warrior and if he wanted, he could have stopped the disrobing of Draupadi - the Queen, but he chose to be a silent witness to this act

whereas Jatayu was old and invalid, and knew that in all probability, Ravana would kill him but still, he chose to try his best to protect Sita - the Queen. 

Bhisma was powerful yet acted powerless whereas Jatayu was powerless yet acted powerful. _

"Real power is not about physical strength but about the deep desire to help."_

2 - ALIVE or DEAD

Bhishma lived on for long, but died everyday to his conscience, whereas Jatayu died once but lived eternally true to his conscience. _

" Our only constant companion is our conscience - better to be true to it."

3 -FAME or INFAMY

Bhishma's name and fame drowned in history because of this one act of not stopping the disrobing of Draupadi, but Jatayu's name and fame went high in history because of his act of trying to save Sita. _

" We are all going to be mere names in history, sooner or later. Will we be equated with the bad or the good - its our choice."

4 - CULTURE or VULTURE

Bhishma was supposed to be a highly cultured human, but acted highly insensitive & stooped low in values like a vulture 

whereas 

Jatayu was supposed to be a lowly uncultured vulture but acted highly sensitive and soared to the skies in values like an evolved human. Who would you call as a human - Bhishma or Jatayu? _

"One doesn't become a human being by being born as a human - one becomes a human being by being a human."_

5 - SPOKEN or UNSPOKEN WORDS

Draupadi begged and pleaded protection from Bhishma because she knew if someone could protect her, it was only him. But still Bhishma didn't protect her 

whereas 

Sita didn't even ask Jatayu for protection - she just wanted him to inform Rama about her kidnapping by Ravana, because she knew Jatayu was not powerful but still Jatayu tried to protect Sita.

 Bhishma, being a human, couldn't even understand the spoken words of Draupadi, leave alone understanding her unspoken sentiments, whereas Jatayu, even though he was a mere bird, understood not only the spoken words of Sita but also her unspoken words.

"The language of heart is more powerful than the language of words."

6 - CLARITY or CONFUSION

Bhishma was so confused and engrossed in his Royal duty that he forgot that he had a higher duty - a moral duty

 

whereas

 Jatayu was so clear about his moral duty that no other duty was a consideration for him. _

"When caught up in dilemmas, best is to follow the higher principles - to follow our heart because it always knows the truth."

7 - GOOD or BAD EXAMPLE

Bhishma set a very bad precedent for generations to come 

whereas

 Jatayu set the most ideal precedent for generations to come. _

"If we can't be a great example, at least, let us not be a bad one."_

8 - RELATIVE or STRANGER

Another interesting point is that Bhishma was an elderly relative of Draupadi but acted as a total stranger in this episode

 whereas

 Jatayu was not at all related to Sita, he was a stranger, but acted more than a dearest relative. _

"True relationships are based on connections of the heart, not just bodily connections."

9 - THE SAINTLY or THE WICKED

Both, Bhishma and Jatayu had a few moments to decide what to do.

 Life sometimes puts each of us in situations where, in a few moments, we need to take crucial decisions. 

What we decide very much depends on the kind of inner integrity we have cultivated by the association we keep. 

Bhishma’s intelligence was clouded and it failed the test of life because he associated with the wicked minded, the selfish Kauravas, whereas Jatayu's intelligence was crystal clear and it passed the test of life because he associated with the saintly, selfless Lakshman and the All-pure Lord Rama. 

_"After all, who we are solely depends on whom we associate with."_

10 - EMBRACE or NEGLECT

The Supreme Lord as Sri Krishna was not at all happy with this attitude of Bhishma, so much so that when He came as a peace messenger to Hastinapur, He didn't even bother to look at Bhisma

whereas 

The Supreme Lord as Ramachandra was so happy with the attitude of Jatayu that he embraced him and personally did his final rites - a honor that even Dasharath - His father did not receive. 

The scriptures explain that the ultimate test of any activity is, if the Supreme Lord is pleased with us._ It is very clear, Bhishma displeased God whereas Jatayu pleased Him.

*This recount is not meant to criticize Bhishma - he is undoubtedly a great warrior and an amazing personality who sacrificed his personal desires for Hastinapur,* 

but 

we do vehemently criticize his inaction. The moral here is to learn from the choices made so that we are conscious history follows us. _

*When we see some injustice, some problem, we have only two options - either close your eyes to it or do something about it - follow "the Bhishma way" or "the Jatayu way"*

 and whichever way we choose - remember there will be consequences of our choices 

 *~"the Bhisma result" or "the Jatayu result"._*

 *Brilliant analysis!!*

Thank you, Anonymous friend

What is Orthodox Christmas?

Approximately 260 million people worldwide, those in majority-Orthodox countries in Eastern Europe, like Russia, Ukraine and Greece, and in communities in Ethiopia, Egypt, and elsewhere, celebrate Christmas on 7 January rather than 25 December and it is called Orthodox Christmas.

The holiday stems from the decision by Orthodox Christian groups to follow the Julian calendar created by the Romans, rather than the Gregorian calendar that was embraced by most Christian countries in 1582. The dates of several Christian holidays, including Christmas and Easter, differ from one to the other.

Ukrainians break tradition, move up Christmas to part ways with Russia

Confused about all of it? We simplify it for you.

Prior to the 16th Century, a calendar known as the Julian calendar was used which was a solar calendar adopted by Roman ruler Julius Caesar in 46 BC. However, as time passed, the calendar's calculations seemed to have an issue of their own: it overestimate the length of the solar year by about 11 minutes. As a result, the calendar and the solar year became increasingly out of sync as the centuries progressed.

By 1852, the dates of important Christian holidays had drifted too far and Pope Gregory XIII was concerned. He called for a group of astronomers and after discussions introduced a new calendar - the Gregorian calendar - which is what is widely used all over the world to this day.

But the new calendar meant an occasional overlap between Passover and Easter - a move that went against the holy texts of Orthodox Christianity and hence this denomination rejected the Gregorian calendar and continued to rely on the Julian calendar

Over the years, the differences in these two calendars meant that certain religious holidays would fall under two different dates, which is essentially why the majority of the world celebrate on 25 December, in accordance to the Gregorian calendar, while a few Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on 7 January, in accordance to the Julian calendar.

Priests or spies? How churches in Ukraine are being used in the war

 

Women light candles ahead of Orthodox Christmas in a church in Ukraine in Kyiv. AFP

Which countries mark Orthodox Christmas?

Several countries celebrate Orthodox Christmas on 7 January, including Russia that is home to more than a third (39 per cent) of the world's Christians.

Other nations celebrating on 7 January are Belarus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Armenia observes Christmas Day on 6 January. After a meeting of leaders in 1923, most stayed with the Julian calendar but Orthodox Christians in Greece, Cyprus and Romania chose to move the date in line with the Gregorian calendar.

How different is Orthodox Christmas?

Orthodox Christmas traditions differ depending on the country, church and local customs. While they do have Christmas trees, wreaths and some gifts, it's not like the commercialised Christmas we are accustomed to. Orthodox Christmas is focused on devout religious celebrations.

Traditionally, Orthodox Christians fast for up to 40 days leading up to Christmas, preparing for the birth of Christ by abstaining from meat, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil. After a vigil on Christmas Eve, Christmas itself is celebrated as one of the Church's 12 Great Feasts, with churchgoing and celebration at home.

In Russia, a 12-course meal is laid out laden with dishes like beet salad, borscht, boiled potatoes with onions, honey and raisins to represent good fortune and piroshki, a traditional sauerkraut dumpling. Russian Salmon pies (Kulebyaka) and Russian meat dumplings are also eaten during this feast.

In Georgia, clergy and people in religious costumes parade through the streets, singing carols and walking toward the church. Called Alilo, the procession's name is derived from that of a song traditionally sung by children on Christmas Eve as they go from door to door, collecting money and small gifts. That custom exists in other places, too, like Romania and Greece.

There is also an Orthodox Christmas Day custom of walking in procession to a body of water - be that the sea, river or lakes - to bless it. If the water is iced over, they will make holes to reach it.

Whatever the differences between Orthodox Christmas and Christmas, they both ultimately mean to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and is the most heart-warming and special time of the year.