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Articles from
December 2009
| 31/12/2009 |
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New Year
By Om Nath Panday @ 6:55 PM :: 1402 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, General
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The New Year has already started in the Pacific region like Kiribati and New Zealand. Once I came across a poem about New Year. The poem is inspiring and full of meanings. It goes like this:
Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
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| 30/12/2009 |
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COUNT OUR BLESSINGS
By Om Nath Panday @ 7:35 PM :: 1397 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, REACH Events/
Activities/Workgroup Activities, Aspirations for REACH, General
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COUNT OUR BLESSINGS
The media is full of stories that happened from the year 2000 to 2009. Of course many of the stories are sad ones - tales ranging from the Great Asian Tsunami of 2004 December on Boxing Day to the 9/11 saga of the World Trade Center in New York.
It is usual to note that news often carries sensational stories. Majority of us have survived the challenges of daily living. It is great to see and feel the coming of 2010. As you know, we have seen a decade of the new millennium. Every year from 2000 to 2009 were different in nature.
The common thread that binds us is the watching of the various events unfolding on the TV. However, we must not forget the good news too. The decade has seen many innovations or inventions like the coming of the Internet, Google, Facebook and etc.
Let us count our blessings and look forward to the New Year with confidence and happy spirit.
Om Nath Panday
30 DEC 2009
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| 30/12/2009 |
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Concern over Straits Times article
By izzitkam @ 3:15 AM :: 1385 Views ::
0 Comments :: General
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Once again I was disappointed when I read the cover story featured
under ST HOME section dated 29 Dec 09 titled 'Carrefour goes to the
heartland'. It seems some reporters (n the editor for the matter of
fact) of the paper are either negligence or simply ignorant when it
comes to categorizing the race and religion.
Back in July 27, the reporter of the article on the late Yasmin Ahmad
categorized the late Yasmin Ahmad as an observant Muslim because she is
seen dressed in demure baju kurung. In my email to the reporter i
highlighted 'baju kurung does not reflect one as a Muslim or let alone
an observant one. One cannot define an observant Muslim through their
dressing. It requires more than dressing. Moreover, baju kurung is a
reflection of traditional clothing or dressing of the Malay community
commonly in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.' Of which she replied she
was merely describing the late director - whom i admire much. I am
concern non Malay or Muslim who read the papers would misinterpret baju
kurung = an observant muslim.
Back to my concern of the article dated on 29 Dec 09, the caption of
the featured photograph written 'To meet rising demand from Malay
shoppers, Carrefour had created dedicated halal sections in its outlets
in Suntec and Plaza Singapura.' First of all, the need to ensure halal
products is a requirement for practicing Muslims who believes in Islam.
It is not a requirement for the Malay community per say. In Singapore
and the rest of the world - especially now with Singapore ability to
attract foreign talents - those who need halal products are not limited
to only the Malays but the Muslim community.
I do hope reporters are aware that one race does not mean he or she is
practicing the same religion of the majority in that racial group. In
short, it is not Malay = Muslims same as not Chinese = Buddhist. Thus
the need for them to be sensitive in such issues as media role is at
the end of the day educating the public. We do not want our children
teachers to teach them the wrong things don't we?
Read article at this link http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_471493.html
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| 29/12/2009 |
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THE FUTURE
By Om Nath Panday @ 9:31 PM :: 1356 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, General
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THE FUTURE
In trying to carve out a good future, the management of the firm like to discuss about the current situation of the business, go through the firm datas, listen to findings of the marketing or sales, understand the strength and weakness of their products performance and then come up with new strategies for the next year.
These are some basic things done in business enterprises. Can the family also run on the principle of planning and doing roadmap for the future? When it come to running our families, we slacken down because after a hard day work, we feel the home is the place to rest, eat and live peacefully. Why bother to run the household along business line. However, remember that the future is in our hands to make.
Many of the beautiful concepts that has been adapted by business are originated from the military ideas. Precision and speed in production is borrowed from the Army entity. If the production and the firm becomes like the army, then things become harsh for the people.
If the army and the business bear many similarities, then will the firm be really efficient? Hence to temper the harshness of the changing landscape of business running, concept from humanity began to be adopted. The adoption of good values and fulfilling the aspiration of the workers especially in the area of training and learning became popular with the start of the new millennium.
Today as we look at the discipline of business enterprise, ideas is being used from as many discipline as possible: science (production/analysis/research & development), economics, finance, marketing and etc.
With the passage of time, the business world is rich in ideas, practical applications, innovation, and growth in global marketing.
As all these take place, there is every hope that the world is becoming a better place to live in.
Om Nath Panday
29 DEC 2009
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| 28/12/2009 |
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What will happen next?
By Om Nath Panday @ 8:41 PM :: 1298 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, General
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FORTUNE
All of us desire to know what is going to happen in the future. Suppose we realise that the future is not so bright, we feel sad. If we come to know that the future is going to be bright, we feel cheered.
This is human nature. This premise is important but then basic one is the desire to know what will happen in the future.
Now I have a short tale to tell. A and B are seated at a Kopi kedai. A lady approaches both of them. When the lady ask A to have his fortune seen, he seems uninterested. He feels that the lady is a fake. B maintains his interest in occult.
The lady tells that fortune telling cost $21 but B bargains to bring it down to $5. The lady begins her modus operandi. She takes a file with some colourful photos. B is mesmerised by the pictures of beautiful sceneries. B then spreads out 12 sea shells. She ask B to pick one shell. She then takes the shell and put in a purse. She then put all the remaining 11 shells into the purse. B is carried away by the thought of having his fortune told.
The lady then ask B to show his palm. She then begins that B has many enemies, that B has failed in his attempt to do business and that B has gone through many obstacles in life. She allow B to talk and then she picks on the conversation thread and continues in her own style.
B's jaw rises and falls and his face shows the colour of many emotions as his fortune is being told. Finally within 10 minutes, the lady departs.
A tells B that he has been cheated by a woman. B feels it but then wonders why things happened so fast. A rationalise that fortune telling is done often by men and that the lady was fake because all her prediction is applicable to anyone including A himself. Hence actually the lady told nothing of his fortune but merely allowed B to lose his cash.
B regrets that he should have consulted a professional one, instead of a street walker.
Om Nath Panday
28 DEC 2009
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| 28/12/2009 |
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Loving Flickr
By Om Nath Panday @ 8:07 PM :: 1326 Views ::
0 Comments
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Loving Flickr
By
looking at the trademark of the above, I know that you can easily recognise
what I am referring to. The
flickr is actually
a digital photography and media file sharing website. This development of a
global online photo management and sharing application is surely good but then
it also offers the advantage of organising photos and videos in many different
ways, some which can be very creative.
Sometimes
after going through the mundane news of our current era (especially many are
pertaining to business failures or more difficulties anticipated), it can saps
off one’s energy and enthusiasm. Is there any anti-dote to the depression
caused by this current recession which seems to get deeper by the days?
Then
one day as I felt tired with my eyes staring at the computer screen for almost
an hour, out of curiosity I hit on the flickr site and to
my surprise, I saw many beautiful photos of places, people, animals and nature.
I felt happy that it was a Godsend reply to my search for a cure to this modern
time.
As
I thought about this new phenomenon, I wondered how many Cs governs the flickr. I know it
is a matter of thinking and exploring more about
flickr. I thought
about this conventional method but decided to do something different. Instead I
took a piece of paper and wrote as many C
words that came to mind.
As
I looked at the paper, I muttered to myself the following: colour, compass, captivity, categorise, creativity, cache,
content, coordinate, contentment, cover, crave, craze, clarity, class &
culture.
Wow!
It was 15 Cs in all. Whatever, it is, I have to know the raison
d'être (rationale) for the use of each C word and if it does not
relate, then I would have to drop it from my list. I first picked the easy one colour. Yes, there is no doubt about it. Flickr is full of colour, in fact vivid play of colour.
I
subsequently went through all the words and finally this is what I wrote:
Creativity – show the artistic flair in us, using
the power of imagination
Captivity – capture the moments (freezing it
for future retrieval)
Categorise – into many galleries (give suitable
name for each photo-stream and this can run into pages.
Next
it was I ran
into a roadblock. I love this word and I feared losing it, having to drop it
out of my list. I thought hard but I could not relate. The only idea that kept
on coming was coordinate geometry. Finally I said that I would leave it
aside, for the time being.
Content.
I felt cheerful because
this is an easy word; there is always content in everything even in the
seashell where the life resides within this natural casing. So I know content
cannot be an empty shell.
So for ‘content’ I wrote:
Content – variety and richness, originality of
material (photos taking by owner himself) and the creation of a pool of pictorial
resource.
Suddenly
my mind worked wonder. I quickly jotted Coordinate
– synchronise (
is a system
that requires coordination – you are doing many things like transferring image
from digital camera or video and then creating the correct photo-stream and
subsequent retrieval). Wow! That was great.
Cache – treasure or accumulation of many
photos.
Clarity – achieving good prints,
amounts to money’s and time’s worth.
Contentment – happy faces and satisfaction of job
done well, can e-mail to friends and display it.
Crave – look out for more new things and
creating different perspectives like smart us of certain angle or create a
marvellous view point. It creates the desire for people to go to your web.
Craze – Yes,
is the new fashion or rage. It is
the in-thing like blog, face book and etc.
Cover – it covers a wide range of subjects
& reaches to people all over the globe
Culture
– covers on
ancient civilizations, different taste, traditions practised and all type of
histories. Obviously would be popular with people of all culture and
environment.
Yes, I am approaching towards the end of my Cs.
Class
– create the
style, panache or richness that people love.
Compass. I hope that I’m
not falling into another roadblock. I thought hard but the image of the
navigation device for a ship kept on appearing. I stopped for a while.
I
made a drink of lemonade and then sat to sip it slowly. After the refreshing
drink, I went back to my task at hand.
Compass
– sense of
direction as portrayed by some coordination from the cache of treasured
photos.
Hence at last I was successful. I realised that it is not so
easy to craft Cs for any system or organisation.
As
you weave through the
flickr, you
find yourself immersed in a world of imagination and many ideas. People who
have travelled and taken photos of many things, the flickr allows you
to browse. As you travel online by navigating from one photo-stream to another,
you realise the beauty of the world.
Just
like the armchair explorer watching the TV, you see the world through the flickr. This is
another media available to all of us. The search through the flickr is a
learning journey. Reading the narration on each photo makes us understand
better beside the visual journey.
Before
I end, I would say flickr
is more
than just the stream of photos – I would say it is the spirit and joy of
sharing with others the captured moments in time. With sharing comes happiness
and improvement in our lives. In this age of fast paced living, the virtue of
sharing is almost forgotten.
Today’s
world is one that of mad rush. At least
flickr form a
healthy diversion from stress and is a venue of ample creativity to the human
mind. Preserve flame of human spirit; don’t let the flame of flickering hope
end. Flickr has the ability to transform the society that
is becoming inhumane and unhappy to one to of hope and creativity, ideas and
happiness.
Om Nath Panday
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| 28/12/2009 |
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OPPORTUNITIES LOST
By Om Nath Panday @ 7:33 PM :: 1301 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, REACH Events/
Activities/Workgroup Activities, Aspirations for REACH, General
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OPPORTUNITIES LOST
As the year is drawing to a close, there are many things you would remember or reflect upon the year 2009.You might feel cheated that why the year came to an end so fast. At the beginning of every year, time moves on slowly. As the year moves on, speed apparently picks up.
Actually time is moving constantly; it is our perception that makes us think or feel the speed of time moving slowly or fast. There are many options open to us but then whatever decision is made, we travel on that road until we arrive at a junction. Here is another point to decide which road to take.
Many of us may regret that we could have done better if we have taken the other route. However, it may not be true because any route can lead to obstacles or even failure if there is lack of planning and reflection.
Many a big project entails a lot of planning and the plan is charted, worded or even tabulated to create the overall roadmap. In the course of 2009, we have come across many signpost and traffic lights. If things were done with strategy, then it is green lights all the way.
Opportunity lost is considered by many as opportunity cost. However, if the opportunity was not picked up, then it has not cost us anything because the vehicle did not travel that road and fuel was not consumed at all.
As life is limited, we cannot use all the opportunities that presents itself along the road that we travel. Life journey is such that sometimes we don't even recognise the opportunity at all.
Let us move on with confidence into 2010.
Om Nath Panday
28 DEC 2009
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| 26/12/2009 |
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Remembering the Tsunami of 2004
By Om Nath Panday @ 2:40 PM :: 1336 Views ::
0 Comments :: The Young Ones, Women, Far and Away: Overseas Singaporeans, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, General
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I remember that it was a Sunday on 26th December 2004. I was at the temple attending New Year blessing prayers. Little did I know at that time a great disaster has stuck the many nations around the Indian Ocean.
The news of the Tsunami in the TV and subsequently the horrifying photos that appeared in all the local papers was shocking. A strange silence fell on the people just like the one on 12 SEP 2001. Even people who don't buy the paper rushed to the news stand to purchase one. Some of them wished to keep the paper as memory to tell their future generation but within a few days were discarded to the karang guni men.
The sorrow and pain were all over written on the faces and bodies of the survivors who have lost their loved ones. I felt sad to learn a few days later the death of a doctor who went on vacation at Phuket. The beautiful beaches of southern Thailand were devastated with ruins and floating bodies.
In the days to come, it was rescue work and clean up. Singapore also contributed in cash, supplies and working volunteers to assist neighbouring Indonesia. There was loss of land in Sumatra.
Today after many years, the lives of the people has normalise but then the painful memories is difficult to leave.
I hope that there is enough warning system & assistance system to respond in case of future occurrence.
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| 25/12/2009 |
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TEMPLE @ PERMAS JAYA
By Om Nath Panday @ 6:42 PM :: 1399 Views ::
1 Comments ::  :: The Young Ones, Women, The Physically Challenged, The Golden Years : Elderly, General
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TEMPLE @ PERMAS JAYA
(Narrated by a Hindu devotee, the personal visit takes on an
unexpected turn)
The
drum beaters made loud music with their nimble busy fingers. Like a cobra mesmerized by the charmer’s
flute, the temple crowd remained hypnotized by the religious happening taking
place. They watched the procession of Lord Ganesha (a statue of the Elephant
God held overhead by a priest) going around the temple, circumbulating the huge
reclining elephant (a structure believed to have risen from the ground and this
holy occurrence years ago initiated the process of temple building on this
ground).
This
time, I witness some improvements. A statue of a cute mouse has been installed.
The mouse, in Hindu Dharma, is said to be the vehicle of the Elephant God. I am
still baffled until today about the mouse; how can the Elephant ride on the
mouse? Surely the mouse would be flattened by the sheer weight of an elephant,
I mean an ELEPHANT (so huge and so
heavy!).
“Oh!
You cannot speak like that”, I heard a voice cried. “It is blasphemed, you
know. Lord Ganesha will arrange you to reside in hell”. However, that utterance
of a pious man (like the siren of an approaching fire engine) did not raise any
alarm bells within me. In fact, I laughed it out and said, “My dear Sadhu
(addressing a holy man), Ganesha is always giving me obstacles, headaches and
endless troubles”. The Sadhuji looked at
me surprised.
“Do
you keep a pet mouse?” I asked him. He looked at me bewildered. “Don’t worry,
Sadhuji”, I assured him. I told him that I have a mouse at home and one I
always carry in my bag.
I
pointed to the leather case holding my laptop to the people and they all
laughed in amusement. This incident in Varanasi, the holiest city for Hindus,
is something I cannot forget. To make myself clearer, I explained to the
Varanasi folks that the mouse I was referring to is the main accessory attached
to the PC. Without the mouse, the PC cannot work i.e. you can’t open the
window, goggle about, use the Microsoft words, the internet and so on. The mouse is the instrument, the tool; I mean the vehicle
of Ganesha. Your Ganesha is the PC itself. In Hindu Dharma, Ganesha is
strongly associated with education and business. In today’s world, without the
mouse, we cannot function properly. Vast amount of information flows about and
with the click of the versatile mouse many a business deal are made.
I
was able to manoeuvre well in Varanasi with those simple folks. However, in
Permas Jaya (Johor, Malaysia) I found my navigation power has greatly weakened.
Somehow I was not in my best form (perhaps it could be the constant tossing
mumbling to myself I had the previous night instead of sleeping well). I now
vaguely remember that I was trying to resolve mentally a complicated matter;
seeking the right solution or a bright formula is not so easy to achieve at
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