Thursday, December 30, 2010

Ban Production & Sale of Tobacco Products for the larger Interest of Society!!!

my views on the question below, published in "The Central Chronicle" on June 7, 2008.

Qs: “Government should strictly ban production / sale of tobacco products ?”


Well, that would be so…. perfect! “Na rahega baans na bajegi baansuri”. ‘Tis long overdue. Manufacture and resulting sale of these should be strictly banned, not just in rule books, publicity media or ministerial speeches, but in actuality. Once such laws are passed -the easiest part- Government needs to ensure they’re followed.

It’s no use trying to blame the smoking public, imposing fines, threatening them to stop for consideration of health and environment. Large hoardings, expensive advertisements criticizing, listing out ill-effects and banning smoking in public etc. won’t yield much result, they’ll smoke in private. Neither will persuading ShahRukh Khan & Amitabh Bachchan to give up portraying smoking scenes help.

If the government genuinely wants a “no-smoking-country”, it’s most logical to stop producing & selling cigarettes, “bidhis” etc. giving up the temptation of earning related revenues. No smoke without “smoke”! Pass a bill, make a law, but make sure it’s “enforced” with ‘Singaporean discipline’!

Manisha Gupta
New Delhi

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas !

Wish u all a Very Merry Christmas!!

and surprised to read in the papers yesterday that the great economic meltdown has had a negative impact on even Santa Claus! unbelievable!! can't imagine that the recession has brought down the earnings of freelance Santa Claus and slashed into half the rates, which were something like USD 125 to USD 200 per hour two years ago. and also that the bookings have dipped to one fourth??

now, surely, these past two years, all have gone through a severe Global Financial Crisis, not sparing the ill effects on even the Christmas Santa!!

hope a Merrier Christmas for Santa in the coming years!!

//best//mg

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

THANKS !!!!!

well, thanks dear readers from all the 10 countries reading my Blog!! today my pageviews cross the 1000th mark. 1001 to be precise.

do sincerely hope that these and future posts will evoke some more responses/comments/reactions/agreements/oppositions/....... from a wider audience to cultivate a more meaningful dialogue.

//best//mg

SMEs, IPRs........

and for those of you who are either Entrepreneurs (aspiring or otherwise !!) or are interested in the area of SMEs (Small & Medium Enterprises)/ small business, do check out the latest edition of my column "THE SECOND LAST WORD" for an SME magazine-

"Branding For Dilution...... ??" (published in the December 2010 issue).

and another one published in the SME suplement -"SME WORLD" (November-December-2010-January-2011)- of the reputed Financial daily Newspaper "THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS" of Friday, December-10, 2010-

"IPRs & Branding For Artisanal Clusters".

i guess, i haven't yet disclosed this area of my work to you all.
i work in the area of IPRs (Intellectual Property Rights), specifically focussing on the SME sector and even Micro enterprises.

happy reading!!!
and
happy commenting!
//best//mg

Saturday, December 18, 2010

The COIN of LIFE

just check out this one published in The Focus Global Reporter, December 2010 issue!
comments are most welcome.//mg

The Coin of Life
Manisha Gupta

This beautiful concept called life is an interesting mix of opposites. The best part is that one’s thinking or perception depends on one’s own set of experiences. Two different people come up with two opposing views on life and its handling of living beings simply due to their opposite set of experiences. But all the same, both views and opinions are logical from each one’s point of view. It is their entirely different happenings in life that make them think and conclude the way they do. The individuality of their thinking arises from the individuality of their perceptions which are a consequence of their previous exposures to life’s circumstances. When looking at the entirety of life, these opposing perceptions are what together constitute life.

And I guess life would have been very dull and boring had we not had exact opposites sewn in every part of it. Moreover, we would not be able to understand life at all if there were no opposing views, experiences or perceptions. Because, unless and until we know the other side of this coin we cannot even understand the first side. For, how would one know what good is without ever having come across bad or evil? How would one realize the importance of light without knowing darkness? What meaning does positive have if one hasn’t come across a negative? One wouldn’t know the joy of happiness if one never experienced sadness. What meaning would success hold without having suffered failures? What meaning would pleasure have if one hasn’t experienced pain? Gain is gain because one knows what loss is.

So it is all these opposites that come together to form a whole, a complete whole called life. And one who experiences only one set of this whole, either the good or the bad, needs to go through the other set of experiences to make his learning of life complete. To open one’s vision of life, it is extremely necessary to have gone through the entire turmoil of having lost and won, laughed and cried, lost and gained.

This way the coin of life keeps rolling, stopping every now and then, with either positive side up or the negative one. The intelligence on one’s part is to keep it on the move always, after every stop, whether good or bad. Whatever pleasant and unpleasant themes are uncovered on the way during the course of this journey of life, one needs to absorb the positives and reject the negatives, yet learning more from the latter. Because it is loss that teaches us much more than any gain, it is pain that gives us more strength than any pleasure and it is sadness that toughens us many more times than any happiness. Though we neither understand nor realize, but it is most of the negatives in life that do us good, if we channelize them properly. For instance it is anger, frustration and dissatisfaction at times that prod us on to achieve such great heights that we wouldn’t even have thought of had we had only good experiences.

So the catch to live life lies in realizing the power of negatives combined with the energy of the positives. This is the only way to make the coin of life valuable and sparkling and shining right till the end. Because, to embrace death gracefully we need to have lived life completely, learning every moment and more importantly living it lovingly!

Inner Voice ???

here's my article "Man's Inner Voice" . a slightly edited version of it has been published in "THE HINDUSTAN TIMES" on Monday, 13th December, 2010 under the title "THE INNER CALL".

do check it out.

Man’s Inner Voice
Manisha Gupta

This incident occurred somewhere in the early seventies. My father had to travel back by bus due to some reason. He had bought a “Mithai” box for the family. But when he was told it couldn’t be found in his bag, he remembered he’d kept it in the bus overhead luggage cabin and probably failed to pick it while getting down. We were sad to hear that, as it happened to be our favourite sweet. Anyway, by the evening, this minor thing had been forgotten.

Only to be reminded of it the next day. People of this era won’t believe that the next evening, the “Mithai ka Dibba” arrived at our guest house, intact. Actually, the conductor of the bus had noticed the piece of luggage left over a seat, remembered that my father had got down just near the Forest Rest House, and so the next day, when the bus came on its journey again, he made it a point to deliver the packet to us. He took all this pain for just a one kg sweet left by a passenger! How sweet!

Which reminds me of a recent news item which said that some flight passenger’s blackberry mobile phone had been intentionally picked up by some other passenger. And this wrong doer was probably a person with a decent job. What a contrast between the two incidents! This is all about man’s inner voice, his conscience. Only that some listen to it and some don’t. In fact it is a sad state of affairs that in the olden days, there were more of the former tribe. And perhaps that’s one of the main reasons why people were happier then than now.

In this modern era, people run away from their conscience, run after things materialistic, in pursuit of happiness, in search of some unknown satisfaction. They don’t have time “to stand & stare” at their ownselves, no time to ponder or think over issues, no time to even look within oneself. This is the reason why values are depleting faster than the earth’s resources. People’s behaviour changes quicker than the climate and tempers and frustrations rise higher than the rising sea levels.

Guess the only way to contain all this negative climate change in man’s personal life is to delve deeper into himself and listen to his inner voice!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Kya Kya Break Karein????

read another article "And, Honey, how do we split the khansamas?" by Namita Devidayal & Swati Deshpande in the Times of India.

this one brings to light facts about couples planning to separate (not just live in separate bedrooms or flats!) or divorce and facing problems dividing all the possessions into two. i was shocked to learn that this included fights or hassels over division of art collections, air miles, even club memberships and even the family cook ie: the "khansama".

my God, i never even thought in my wildest of dreams that separating or divorcing couples were more bothered about how to divide equally the Hussains and the Club memberships and the "khansamas" rather than worried about the division of their oneness, their shared memories and happy & sad times spent together!!!!

in this materialsitic age, i guess, it's easier and more affordable for them to find another partner and another set of shared life than obtain a hussain or a Souza or a Gymkhana Club membership or a good and efficient "Khansama".

and , what about the children (and if there's only one child??)??
does a division or custody factor of a child/children and division of his life into two separate incomplete halves come after they are through with fights and legal battles over other possessions?
and even when this problem comes to be solved,are they able to divide EVERYTHING into two equal halves???

who owns the shared life, the memories of the family, the happy times, the trials & tribulations of struggles, the sleepless nights spent over a child's high fever or the fear of a child not returning home till late in the night or the jubiliation experienced over an offspring's achievement or the excitement of the next good job or first trip abroad together??

who, i repeat, WHO gets to keep all these and many more such possessions? and when either one of the spouses does get to keep these, do these possessions still retain their original meaning and significance??

pray tell me o separating couples, can you answer this simple question of mine???
//best//mg

Monday, December 6, 2010

BREAK KE SAATH ???

Dec-6,2010

Just read an article “Living Apart Together” by Namita Devidayal, published in The Times of India of Dec-4,2010.

The piece gives reasons and justifications for married couples to be having separate Bedrooms. It says this latest fad is due to each one wanting more “personal space”. Samething was said and conveyed by Deepika Padukone’s character in the film “BREAK KE BAAD”. She needed more space ……from her love & relationships.

Well, if one wants to stay so…...independent, then why love or marry at all??? Isn’t falling in love and /or marrying a way of filling up the immediate space around you with love, emotional security?? And when that space is filled up, you want to create space between the partners??? First you want love then you want distance from that love, first you long for someone to come near you, your heart, your emotions and then you feel suffocated because of that very closeness?? And just imagine if in that “personal space” that you crave for in a marriage or love relationship, someone else happens to accommodate??? What then ??? won’t you feel bad? Cheated? Emotionally insecure? Just what happened to Deepika in the end of the movie??

The question “Can separate bedrooms save a marriage??” is answered in the affirmative and it even ends with “separate flats are even better”. Well, I don’t agree. Only positive aspect of couples staying in separate bedrooms, that comes to my mind is that it may have a positive effect on the world population.

But if you have to live apart, then might as well not get married. Marriage is all about accommodating, adjusting, tolerating and giving each other space ……….without actually creating physical, mental & emotional space within the relationship. living separately is actually going to create a distance within the relationship.

Staying away from each other for a while is fine but living separately is quite another dimension to the relationship //best//mg

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Global Audience

hi all !

its great to know that my Blog is being viewed by people from accross the globe. the pages have been viewed from countries like the United States, Canada, Russia, Malasiya, Austraila, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia. Apart from these, ofcourse there's a huge number from my home country- India.

Thank you all from everywhere !!

It would also be great if you post your vauable comments to make this Blog more interactive and meaningful. because once i know your views/suggestions/opinions, this process will be more useful for all.

//best//mg

Friday, December 3, 2010

Imperfection is COOL now!!!

just have been noticing something accross people from all walks, specially the younger generation. what was "cool" or "hot" earlier is now passe. the stress on perfection, in everything.................... including style of dressing up............is not "cool" anymore. times have changed terribly. and all change is not good. just like the climate change phenomenon is not good,so too the change in climate of fashions and trends these days doesn't seem to be a positive one.

earlier, perfection was the in thing. when you dressed to go out, everything had to be or atleast the effort was to make it tend towards perfection. whether the dress or the hairstyle or the footwear...whatever.

but these days i notice that imperfection is "cool". from hair to clothes to footwear to style of walking, the trend sadly seems to be towards imperfection.

they don't wear their shirts or trousers the "normal" way. the former may be far above the waist while the latter far below the waist!

any slippers or shoes would do. even jeans & tops with a ragged and torn look are supposed to be "cool". ofcourse cool they'll be ....since they have so much of ventilation..!!!

even the way of walking is casual. walking with a perfect gait is no more sought after. whether boys or girls, the aim is to adopt a very different walking style, far from the perfect looking one.

phew!!
i can just go on and on on this...
maybe some other time
till then....
//best//mg

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The power of God !!

talking about the "Made in Heaven Tag", let's now come to the power of God. My opinion on the Question below, published in The Central Chronicle of July,19,2008.

Is the power of God Almighty not yet in full force in the world?

"Full" force...?? Well at times you feel it is not even in one millionth of the force! The way this world is going, working or deteriorating, one is forced to believe that the power of the Almighty is being countered heavily by negative forces bent upon destroying to the core, this beautiful, one of a kind, creation of God.

Nothing seems to be going the right way except wrong! From all kinds of crises to crimes to deteriorating climate patterns and hence greater global challenges, there's more to worry about than be happy. You really wonder what God is doing when you hear of the crimes rates soaring higher than the temperatures resulting from global warming. Why is it that the wrong doers are flourishing while the right ones suffer? Why did God have to take away untimely the likes of Mr.V.Venkateshwara Rao who was in fact going to return to his home country?

The only time you feel there's still God is when you hear of the baby who was flung out of the window to prevent it from burning, when a high-rise building was on fire in some foreign land, was caught safely by the firemen. Or when you read of the young executive in Gurgaon, who met with a serious accident on his last day to work, having a 5 ft. long iron angle piercing the upper half of his body, survive after this ordeal and a 6 hr surgery !

Only one wishes the power of The Almighty is the one that dominates the world! //Manisha Gupta

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

E-Bachchas anyone ....?????

continuing with my take on Marriages, someone had asked if hitech marriages will replace the traditional form of marriages?



Will replace…??, well I guess traditional marriages have already been replaced.

Right from making a marriage to sustaining it, it’s hitech all the way. Marriages, traditionally were the made in heaven types, but now they’re more of the “made on the internet” variety. Much quicker in every sense, from start to finish. Then keeping a marriage working has also become tech savvy. Unlike oldtimes, today couples have marriages cutting across borders, with both partners living in two different parts of the world but staying married and connected through E-mail, sms, webcam, mobile et al.

Maybe in future, we’ll have “e-rings” exchanged followed by “E-jaimals”,“E-pheras” and “E-aashirwads”. Only God knows what will happen to the high-tech “E-bachchas” !!

//best//mg