Go New Zealand!

Pleased to see that Aoteoroa tops among the most peaceful countries of the World!

http://http//www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aoNepMc8lPyE&refer=australia

Sachin at the Basin

It is a pleasure to watch Sachin batting - even in the nets!

It seems he comes with a plan as he starts his session. He misses one or two; pushes himself to focus more. Requests the net-bowler to pitch em up more on the off.

Asks the bowler what his field is. Then he taps away his singles and twos and keeps a mental score.

Sachin - we'll miss you at the Basin.

As a nice sidelight of the 2009 India tour, read this story:

http://sriramble.blogspot.com/2009/03/sachinesh_02.html

Keeping up with the Joneses

We all read from time to time about happiness and money. A few of us also understand that having money does not necessarily equate to being happy.



This new Harvard research is a real eye-opener.The research posed two basic sceanrios to the qualified students. Would they take a $100,000 job without being told what their friends/peers earn or would they take a $50,000 job if they knew their peers would earn half their salary.



Surprise Surprise - the particpants chose the 50k pay instead of $100k.

What it shows is we are primarly motivated by comparing ourself with our peers/people known to us/relatives and push ourselves to be the best among this almost negligible percentage of the world's population.



Comparison indeed breeds acquisitiveness.

Who is a father?

A father is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be.

Our Kolu of 2008

Pics by GaeJaa

Some Quotes that got my attention

1. An optimist sees the World as a beautiful place...

While

A pessimist fears it might be true!

2. To be creative you need to be allowed the freedom to go

with your gut feeling and express it - James Laverty

3. I bear no grudges. I have a mind that retains nothing - Bette Milder

Did they sleep or didn't they?

Yes, we know that teens go to bed late and wake up late.

But what about Air India pilots? Did they sleep while in flight and miss the landing as the newspaper reports say?

Research shows that the average hours of sleep in the 21st century has come down to 6.9 hours from around 9 hours in the 1900s.

Has technology contributed to these late nights? Perhaps!

How many restless souls browse the net at unearthly hours? how many watch a game of cricket played at the other end of their world when one should be blissfully sleeping? and how many depressed and sleep-deprived people who can't wait for the next day to be stressed even further contribute to this statistics?

Txting like a teen

There are many who lament that Txt spk is damaging the English language. Two Canadian researchers http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2216746/texting-does-harm-language
have analysed over a million words of instant messages and more than quarter of a million spoken words and concluded that the ascendancy of txt speak is not damaging to the language. Rather the language is enriched by the process.

So, on to some txt spk now:
BOC: But of course
BBL: Be back later
TTYL: Talk to you later
OMG: Oh My God
IMO: In my opinion
PSOS: Parent standing over shoulder
CMIIW: Correct me if I am wrong
SLAP: Sounds like a plan
TMTH: Too much to handle
HOAS: Hold on a second
WOMBAT: Waste of money, brains and time

CUL8R
Tks to Dom Post

Harmone Seyyum Kalakam Thaanada!

Teenage kids are the hardest to wake up early in the morning.

We know that some adults are basically morning people while some are night owls. But what's with the teenagers? Why are most of them late nighters and late risers?

Parents usually scold them for sleeping in till late, perhaps without understanding the culprit called 'Melatonin'.

Melatonin production in teenagers is slow during the evening. Melatonin is the sleep inducer and as it is produced at a slower rate in the teen aged kids, they sleep late and rise later than others.

The squirt of melatonin occurs at around 9.30 for adolescents and adults while it happens at around 10.30 to the teens.

But in cases of teens who do not watch TV in the evenings an hour before bedtime, Melatonin production is faster.

So, ideal time for a teenager to push that red button on the remote is around 8.30.

Middle age blues

Here is one more survey on happiness!


Researchers from Uni of Warwick and Dartmouth in the U.S interviewed close to 2 million people and came out with the following results:

• People are happy when they are young and again in their final years. It is the middle bit that is problematic


• Our sense of wellbeing follows a U shaped curve through our lives


• In the U.S, the time of least happiness happens at age 40 for women and 50 for men


• By the time one reaches 70, if one is physically fit, their happiness is similar to that of a 20 year-old.

The theories that explain these (Prof. Andrew Oswald) are:

1. Youngsters have high aspirations and in the middle ages they have to learn to quell them


2. People who are happier live longer. So, if the unhappy people have died younger, then those who remain are happier


3. You learn to count your blessing when you are older and when we see bad things happen, are just happy to be alive

Reading this and seeing people all around, the research appears to be on target.

The ancient Indians however, had a great structure and formula for living well called "Purushartha" (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha).

This stated the purpose of living as attaining 'Moksha'. For people who lived a life as dictated by the sastras, there would be no emptiness or loneliness.

Sometimes I wonder : Have we veered away from this, lost touch with scriptures and trying to reinvent the wheel by reading western researches that merely scratch the surface?

For this some would protest "But the scriptures are in Sanskrit and we don't understand".

This is a lame explanation and an ignorant one too, for one has to merely look at the number of resources available in the internet and the also the number of teachers who talk our language (English or whatever) and are trying to remove our ignorance.