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									<title>FROM MY DESK</title>
									<link>http://www.fropper.com/ezBlog/nash5</link>
									<description>U WILL LIKE IT</description>
									<language>en-us</language>
									<pubDate>2009-Jul-04, 12:11:23</pubDate>
									<lastBuildDate>2008-Dec-31, 13:50:39</lastBuildDate>
				
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						<title>Live today don't postpone for another day</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/34277</link>
						<description><![CDATA[This was sent to me. It is something to think about. So I'm passing it on.       READ THIS VERY SLOWLY. IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.   Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.   I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.   How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?   How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?   I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, &ldquo;How about going to lunch in a half hour?&rdquo; She would stammer, &ldquo;I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, it looks like rain.&rdquo; And my personal favorite: &ldquo;It's Monday.&rdquo; She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.   Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!   We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.   Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of &ldquo;I'm going to,&rdquo; &ldquo;I plan on,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Someday, when things are settled down a bit.&rdquo;   When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.   My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a Triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.   Now go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?     Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask, &ldquo;How are you?&rdquo; Do you hear the reply?   When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Have you ever told your child, &ldquo;We'll do it tomorrow.&rdquo; And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say &ldquo;Hi.&rdquo;   When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift thrown away. Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.   ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Jul 04, '09</pubDate>
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						<title>HUMOUR IN MEDICINE</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/30702</link>
						<description><![CDATA[Apologies to the medico - surds pl. Sardar failed the Medical Entrance Examination to Medical College to become a Doctor because in the examination his answers to the Medical Terminology were as following:  *Needless to say why he never made it. You know why?*   *These are the answers he wrote in his entrance exam.*   * *Antibody - against everyone*   * *Artery - The study of the paintings. *   * *Bacteria - back door to a cafeteria. *   * *Caesarean section - a district in Rome. *   * *Cardiology - advance study of poker playing. *   * *Cat scan - searching for lost kitty. *   * *Chronic - neck of a crow. *   * *Coma - punctuation mark. *   * *Cortisone - area around local court. *   * *Cyst - short for sister. *   * *Diagnosis - person with slanted nose. *   * *Dilate - the late British Princess Diana. *   * *Dislocation - in this place. *   * *Duodenum - couple in blue jeans. *   * *Enema - not a friend. *   * *Fake labour - pretending to work.   * *Genes - blue denim. *   * *Hernia - she is close by. *   * *Impotent - distinguished/well known. *   * *Labour pain - hurt at work. *   * *Lactose - people without toes. *   * *Lymph - walk unsteadily. *   * *Microbes - small dressing gown. *   * *Obesity - city of Obe. *   * *Pacemaker - winner of Nobel peace prize. *   * *Proteins - in favor of teens. *   * *Pulse - grain. *   * *Pus - small cat. *   * *Red blood count - Dracula. *   * *Secretion - hiding anything. *   * *Tablet - small table.*   * *Ultrasound - radical noise*    this is called MBMS DS   ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Apr 09, '09</pubDate>
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						<title>IMPACT OF ONE KIND ACTION</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/26183</link>
						<description><![CDATA[IMPACT&nbsp; OF&nbsp; ONE&nbsp; KIND&nbsp; ACTION 
 
 
 
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd. 'I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running towards him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them l and in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.  
 
As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.&#700; He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are goanna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday! 'He just laughed and handed me half the books.  
 
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found him during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. 'Thanks,' he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began: 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your tea cheers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends...  
 
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.' I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. 'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'  
 
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.  
 
Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.  
 
God puts us all in each other&#700;s lives to impact one another in some way.  
 
 
 
 
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						<pubDate>Dec 19, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>A Different Christmas poem</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/26075</link>
						<description><![CDATA[&nbsp; 
 
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,  
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,  
Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,  
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.  
 
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,  
Secure and knowing that soon I'd be asleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,  
I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,  
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,  
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.  
 
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,  
And I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,  
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A young man in uniform, some twenty years old,  
Perhaps a Soldier, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,  
Standing watch over me, my wife and my child. &quot;What are you doing?&quot; I asked without fear,  
&quot;Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!  
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,  
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!&quot; For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,  
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drift.  
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.Then he sighed and he said &quot;It's really all right,  
I'm out here by choice, I'm here every night.&quot;  
&quot;It's my duty to guard you till early morning light, No one had to ask or beg or implore me,  
I'm proud to stand here like my father before me.  
My father died near Pak border last December,  
&quot;That's a Christmas our family will always remember. I've not seen my own son in more than a while,  
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.&quot;  
 
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,  
The pride of every Indian...an Indian flag.  
&quot;I can live through the cold and being alone,  
Away from my family, my house and my home. &quot;I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,  
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. &quot;I can carry the weight of killing another,  
Or lay down my life for my fellow brother  
I stand at the front against any and all,  
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.&quot;  
 
&quot;So go back inside,&quot; he said, &quot;harbor no fright,  
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.&quot; &quot;But isn't there something I can do, at the least,  
Give you money,&quot; I asked, &quot;or prepare you a feast?  
It seems all too little for all that you've done,  
For being away from your wife and your son.&quot; Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,  
&quot;Just tell us you love us, and never forget.  
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,  
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.  
 
&quot;For when we come home, either standing or dead,  
To know you remember we fought and we bled.  
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,  
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.&quot;&nbsp; 
 
 
This poem was sent to me by my friend Major Sanjay Shinde, I am sharing it with you all. Hope you all will like it.]]></description>
						<pubDate>Dec 17, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>The intellectual scene in Post-independence India</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/24940</link>
						<description><![CDATA[The intellectual scene in Post-independence India  
A speech of S. Gurumurthy given to IIT Chennai  
&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;  
Defeat and anger go together. Abuse and defeat go together. So, it is in this norm and with this understanding of what an intellectual debate means, I would like to place before you some of my thoughts today. Some of may find it provocative. I am confident that the audience is competent enough to absorb this and think rather than get into the mood which all of us have got used to in the last 30-40 years abuse.  
Background: India before Independence:  
Let us see the pre-independence background, the intellectual content of India. See the kind of personalities who led the Indian mind Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhiji, Tilak- giants in their own way. Most of them were involved in politics, active politics, day-to-day politics, handling men, walking on the road, addressing meetings, solving problems between their followers. And, meeting the challenges posed by the enemy, the conspiracies hatched against them. They were handling everything, yet, they were maintaining an intellectual supremacy, and an originality which history has recorded.  
Let us look at the academic side. Whether it is a P.C. Ray who wrote on Indian Chemistry in 1905 or Sir C.V. Raman who wrote about mridangam, tabala, and violin, and saw the physics in it (this was in 1913); whether it was R.C. Majumdar or Radhakumud Mukherjee who saw greatness in the Indian civilization; trying to bring up points, instances, historical evidence to mirror the greatness of India to the defeated Indian race, they were all building the Indian mind brick by brick.  
Sri Aurobindo spoke of Sanatana Dharma as the nationalism of India. He didn't rank it as a philosophy. He brought it down to the level of emotional consciousness. Swami Vivekananda spoke of spiritual nationalism; it was the same Swami who spoke of Universal brotherhood. For them philosophy was not removed from the ground reality. The nation was at the core of their philosophy. Swami Vivekananda was called the &quot;patriot monk&quot;.  
Mahatma Gandhi spoke of Rama Rajya. Bankim Chandra wrote Bande Maataram. The song, the slogans in it, the mantra in it made hundreds of people kiss the gallows smilingly and many others went to jail. It transformed the life of the people. This was the intellectual scene, this was the content. This is what powered the intellectual as well as the mass movement in India. This was the core of India, the soul of the Indian freedom movement.  
The symptoms: India immediately after Independence  
Imagine what happened in 1947 and after, India was able to intellectually lead not only Indians but also the whole world because of the intellectual assertion that the freedom movement brought about. Let us look at post Independence India. The persons who led post-Independence India were also trained in the same freedom movement. They went to jail, but they were not rooted in the intellectual content of the Freedom movement!  
&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..  
 
The first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru was in jail for 7 years. He was a great intellectual, purely in the sense of his capacity to reason, understand, read, and expound a thought. He told Galbrieth once, &quot;I would be regarded as the last English Prime Minister of India.&quot; See the intellectual capability of the man, the enormously competent mind.  
But intellectualism doesn't exist in a vacuum. It has to be rooted in something concrete. Swami Vivekananda's universal brotherhood was rooted in India's greatness as a civilization. The concept of &quot;Vasudaiva Kutumbakam&quot; cannot exist without a living form, a population which believes in it and believes in itself. You need to have a society which believes in it.  
That is why India could invite the Jews who were butchered, raped, all over the world. In 107 out of 108 countries, this race was butchered. At least they had the courtesy and the gratitude to publish a book. The Israeli government published a book that out of 108 countries that we sought refuge, the only civilization, the only country, the only people, the only ideology that gave us refuge was the Indian civilization. They published a book, which most Indians are unaware of.  
And we invited the Muslims. The refugee Muslims first landed in Kutch. And they are called the Kutchy Memons even today but not the Memons who bomb Mumbai. But the Memons who lived with us.  
In the year 1917, many of you might be aware, a case went to the Prey Council, equivalent to the Supreme Court now. The Kutchy Memons went and told the Prey Council that we are Muslims for namesake, but we follow only the Hindu law. Please don't impose the Shariat on us. The Prey Council ruled that they are Muslims but the only sacred book they have is called &quot;Dasaavathaara&quot;, it is not Koran. In fact they knew no language other than the Kutchy language.  
And in the &quot;Dasaavathaara&quot;, nine avatharas were common between Hindus and Kutchy Memons. We call the tenth avathaara &quot;Kalki&quot; and they call him &quot;Ali&quot;. The Prey Council ruled that the Shariyat law is not applicable to them. The All India Muslim League took up the case, went to the British and told them that this finding is dangerous to Islam and requested them to pass a law which will overrule this judgment. The British government passed a law in 1923 which was called the &quot;The Kutchy Memons Act&quot; declaring, &quot;If a Kutchy Memon wants to follow the Shariat, allow him to do so&quot;.  
It doesn't mean a Muslim must follow the Shariat. Between 1923-1937, before the All India Shariat Act was passed not a single Kutchy Memon filed an affidavit with the plea that he wants to follow the Shariaat. That was the integration prevalent in India. In 1937, when the All India Shariat Act was passed, the preamble to the act mentioned that this was being passed by a demand made by the AIML leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Today, the Shariat has become a part of Muslim consciousness.  
The purpose behind making you aware of this background is that 99% of the people who speak about the constitutional rights of the minorities or the distinctiveness of Muslim life are unaware of the facts. Till the year 1980, in Cooch Behar district, the Shariat law was not applicable. In 32 instances between 1923 and 1947 by legislation, the Shariyat law was not applicable to the Muslims. This is the extent of the intellectual gap in India.  
Secularism: A Reversal and perversion of the Indian mind.  
And now, coming to what is the position today. Everything that drove the freedom movement - everything that constituted the soul of the freedom movement, whether it is the Ram rajya of Gandhiji or Sanaatana Dharma of Sri Aurobindo or the spiritual patriotism of Vivekananda or the soul stirring Vande Maataram song, came to be regarded not only as unsecular but as sectarian, communal and even as something harmful to the country.  
Thus, there was a reversal, a perversion of the Indian mind. How did it occur? Today, the intellectualism of India means to denigrate India. There are mobile citizens and there are non- citizens deriding India. Go to the Indian Airlines counter you will find people deriding India. Go to a post office they will deride India. Go to a railway station, they will deride India. It is the English educated Indian's privilege to deride India.  
When I was talking to postal employees in the GPO, Chennai (a majority of them were women). I told them the basic facts about the post office. I said it is one of the most efficient postal systems in the world, one of the cheapest in the world, one of the most delivery perfect postal systems in the world. For one rupee, you are able to transport information from one end of the country to the other.  
And you have a postman, no where in the world this happens the postman goes to the illiterate mother and reads out the letter, he is asked to sit there and shares a cup of coffee and comes away. Money orders are delivered to the last rupee. It is an amazing system, one of the largest postal systems linking one of the most populous nations, one of the most complicated nations with so many languages.  
Somebody writes the address in Tamil and it gets delivered in Patna! It gets delivered to Jawaan at warfront! When I completed my speech many of the women were wiping their tears. I asked why are you crying I have only praised you. They said, &quot;Sir, this is the first time we've been praised, otherwise we've only been abused!&quot;  
You know how many people use the railways in India? A million people and that is equivalent to the population of Australia! And we have only abuses for them! Have we any idea of what this country is? India has been compared with Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. You can walk across many of these countries in one night (laughs)! The best politicians, intellectuals, sociologists in India have compared us with them because, we have never understood what we are and unless you do that, you can never relate us with others.  
Demonising India: Projecting a negative image.  
This enormous intellectual failure, to the extent of being intellectually bankrupt, did not occur overnight, it was no accident. There is a history behind this enormous erosion. And I told you about these mobile citizens, what they have done to us. Every country has problems. There is no country without any problem. Are you aware of what is one of the most pressing problems in America today? It is incurable according to the American sociologists; even American economists have begun to agree with them. American politicians are shaken, one third of the pregnant women are school going children. And mothers mix the anti-pregnancy pill in the food without daughter's knowledge everyday.  
But this is not the image of America. The image of America is a technologically advanced country etc. etc. Ours is the only country where the mobile citizens of India have transformed the problems of India into the image of India -its identity is inherently related with its problems.  
Go to any country and the same negative stereotype is echoed that India is suffering from poverty and malnutrition. India has no drinking water. Indian women are burnt. If they are married, they are burnt, if they are widows, they are burnt. See the image that has been built about this country. Who did this? The English educated Indian.  
And one Kaluraam Meena (have you ever heard of him? Asks the audience to raise their hands if they have), only a small fraction of this large audience has heard of him. When Clinton came to India, he went to a village called Nayla where the villagers interacted with him. And one of the panchayat board members asked him, &quot;Sir, I am told that in the West, all of you believe that this country is a rotten country, a backward country, a poor, hungry country. Do you also think like that?&quot;  
Clinton was shaken, because he might have thought that this person might be approaching him for some favour. I will relate my experience when I went to the Carter Centre in 1993. They were talking about dispute resolution and all that. I went there to meet somebody, if not Carter, somebody else at least. His Deputy, a lady, was very hesitant to receive me. &quot;Mr. Gurumurthy&quot;, she said, &quot;Mr. Carter is not around, anyway, I can spare seven-eight minutes for you.&quot; I said three or four minutes of your time would do. Even before I could start, she said, &quot;Mr.Gurumurthy, we don't have funds, we will not be able to help&quot; (laughter from the audience). I replied, &quot;Let us assume you have a hundred billion dollars, how much will you give me? One billion? One million?&quot;  
She kept quiet, I said: &quot;I don't need your money. I came here to discuss whether community living is an answer to disputes. I have come to discuss this because you have suggested electoral means to resolve problems in communities which have no damn idea of what an election is; whether community living is an answer because you don't what that means. She sat and discussed this with me for two hours. This is the image we have projected that anybody, who comes from India, comes to beg. Ordinary Indians did not create this impression; educated Indians created it. This is the work of civil servants, NGOs. Christian missionaries during the freedom movement created this. Indians are filthy, rotten, dirty and unhealthy, advertising abroad these are the people who need to be saved. We have to Christianise them, enlighten them, and give us money. I can understand that because it is their business. But what did we do after 1947?  
We repeated the same mistakes. We projected India as a country of unending problems. As I said, every country has problems. Only in India, problems become identities. How many dowry deaths take place in India in a year? Yet, India is projected as a country burning its own daughter-in-laws. And we also talk about it. Every damn newspaper will be writing about it. We believe in self-deprecation. And this goes on in the guise of intellectualism in India. And one woman, she attempted to take a film of the widows. I wrote an article, asking her to go to Lijjat Paapad. A widow brought me up. Millions of widows have worked to bring up their children. It is a nation, which believes in Tapasya. You may not believe in it but you are an exception.  
Compare Deepa Mehta&quot;s attitude with Sarada Maa's who was the wife, who became a widow after Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's passing away. She went to the very same place where Deepa Mehta went and saw the widows. Sarada Maa said, &quot;These widows are so pure, they are an illustration and an example to me.&quot; Deepa Mehta saw them as prostitutes. The widows have already been hurt once. Why are you sprinkling salt on their wounds?  
I am very sorry to speak about this, but I have to, this audience is enlightened enough to understand me. Indian women are sexually unsatisfied and so they are becoming lesbians? This is one bloody story against us, about us. This is the image of Indian men and women, and this film is in English. Catherine Mayo wrote a book and Mahatma Gandhi said about it, &quot;I have no time to read this filth. But I am under a compulsion, under pressure because this has been published abroad. The image of India has been rubbished and I have to counter it.&quot; With this introduction, he wrote about the book and said that this woman is a gutter inspector (laughs).  
The intellectualism in India is gutter inspection- people are of this kind etc. Understand the level of erosion.  
Indian Politics: Weaknesses and Pitfalls  
Let us look at the post independence scenario from the macro level. We installed a system of governance and it postulated all the important goals for the Indian society and polity, which was gulped by the Indian academia, by the Indian intellectuals. We will have a classless society through socialism. We will have a casteless society through equality. We will have a faithless society through secularism. We will have a modern society devoid of tradition.  
Instead of politics restructuring caste, caste has restructured politics today. Political parties are talking only in terms of castes. Has any Indian intellectual come to terms with caste? You must understand caste if you want to handle the Indian society. You cannot say that I want to have a very different kind of society. You have to handle the Indian sentiment, the Indian tradition and Indian beliefs. You can't clone a society of your choice in India. Social engineering has failed everywhere; the masters of social engineering have given up the Communists - whether it is sociologists or economists you have to accept a society as it is. You can only increase the momentum of evolution in the society; you can't forcibly bring about a revolution today. But, Indian leaders and intellectuals, till today, keep abusing caste. They don't know how to handle the caste.  
Let me narrate to you how a community in Karaikudi handled this issue. The Chettiyar community assembled top businessmen, professionals from all over the world for 3 days to discuss their culinary act, how to construct houses, what languages they use, what old adages and stories their grand parents used to tell, what clothes they used to wear; not one word of politics, mind you. This was not even published in the newspapers. Intellectuals were not even aware of it. So, caste is a very important instrument in India, you may not like it. Unfortunately, every intellectual leads a caste life inside, but outside he is casteless! He is cloning an approach outside. There is no intellectual honesty at all.  
And what happened in the case of secularism? In India, any one who is not a Hindu is per se secular. In the year 1947, just 10 years had passed after the Muslim League demanded and got the country partitioned, the leader who voted for the resolution for the partition of India was Quazi Millath Ismail, (who was leading the same Muslim League on the Indian side), the Congress certified that the Muslim League in Kerala is secular and hence it can associate with them. The Muslim League outside Kerala is communal with the same president! Three hundred and fifty crores are spent today for the Haj pilgrims out of the funds of secular India every year. No one can raise an objection. At least I can understand why politicians don't want to do that because they want the Muslim votes. But what about the intelligentsia. What about newspaper editors and journalists? And academicians? None of them speak out. The reason is that we have produced a state dependent intellectualism in India. We don't produce Nakkeerans anymore, our intellectualism is a derivative of the State and the State is a derivative of the polity. And in turn the polity is a derivative of the mind of Macaulay and Marx.  
The Indian education system: A Legacy of Macaulay.  
This Macaulayian system of education is a poison injected into our system. At least I had the opportunity of schooling in Tamil and hence could withstand the corruption that this English education brings with it. This corruption begins the moment the child steps out of the house. He is told to converse in English at home. This did not happen even in pre-Independence India, even when Macaulay wrote that notorious note sitting in Ooty. How many of you know Macaulay's formulation? Just those two or three sentences at least which form the crux - &quot;We require an education system in India which will produce a class of interpreters, who will be Indian in colour and Englishmen in taste, opinions and morals.&quot;  
This is the education system, which we have been continuing with, which was earlier conceived to produce clerks for the British Empire. If you have to differ from an English educated person you have to differ only through the English language. If you have to abuse somebody, even that has to be done in English! If you abuse the Anglicised Indian, he will not find fault with the blame but with the grammar in your language! This is the extent to which a foreign language has possessed us. But, we must master English, that is needed, but why do we have to become slaves of the English language? We must use that language as a tool, but why do we consider it as a status symbol? This is the influence of Macaulay.  
If you want to understand the Macaulay/Marxist mix in India, you have to go a little back to see how Marxism grew out of the Christian civilisation. I recommend that you read the Nov 27, 1999 edition of the Newsweek, which describes how the Christian idea of the end of time called the &quot;apocalypse&quot;, influenced the entire history, art, music, prognosis, sociology, economics, and the entire attitude of the Christian civilisation towards the non-Christian civilisations.  
A Christian scholar who describes how Communism grew out of Christianity has written it. In 1624, Anna Baptists, a group of Christians who believed in the basic tenets of Christianity seized power in a particular place, banned private property and use of any book other than the Bible. When Marxism came up later through the exposition of Das Capital, the Marxists began expounding their doctrine as an extension of Christianity.  
The thesis, antithesis and synthesis of making Christianity acceptable to the age of enlightenment was the Hegelian way demanded rationalisation of Christianity in the days of the Protestant movement. Hegel began with a disagreement, then started interacting with Christianity and ultimately ended up accepting Christianity. You can see the same phenomenon with Marxist postulates- &quot;capitalism is my enemy, we have to deal with capitalism&quot; and finally &quot;we have to find a synthesis with capitalism&quot;.  
Marx on India  
In fact in the year 1857, Marx wrote about India, &quot; India was a prosperous civilisation. It had a very high standard of living. Their productivity was higher. India was an economic giant.&quot; It was so. If you look at the statistics in 1820, India's share of world production was 19%, and England's share was 9%, please note that Britain was deep into the industrial revolution at that time. 18% of the world trade was in Indian hands at that time whereas 8% was the figure for Britain and 1% for US. When 80% of the American population was engaged in agriculture, India had 60% of the population engaged in non-agricultural occupations. This is supposed to be an index of development. All these statistics can be found in Paul S. Kennedy's &quot;Rise and Fall of Great Powers&quot;.  
So, Marx says, &quot;This was a great civilisation which had produced prosperous communities.&quot; A prosperity which went deep into the villages. In the early stages, when the East India Company came to Murshidabad, an unknown name in Bengal today the Britishers were awe struck with its prosperity and wrote that it was more prosperous than London. This is no more disputed anyway, even by Indian intellectuals. Marx acknowledges the fact that this was a prosperous country and also had equality but unfortunately, he says for 2000 years the society did not change nor did it allow any revolutionary forces to enter! In his worldview human beings cannot progress without a revolution!  
In the two articles on British rule in India and the East India Company- history and results written by Marx, quoted in the New York daily &quot;Karl Marx does grant though somewhat in a grudging manner that &quot;materially, India was fairly industrious and prosperous even before the onset of the British rule. He said that India was an exporting country till 1830 and started importing because it had opened its trade to the British.&quot; Many of you may not be aware that the kings in India had no right to over the lands, which came under the jurisdiction of panchayats. Whether it was Emperor Ashoka or Bhagavan Sri Ramachandra, the rule was the same. It was changed only during the British rule under the Ryotwari system. Even the Mughals could not change it. It was also found that family communities were based on domestic industry, with the peculiar combination of hand-spinning, hand- weaving, agriculture etc. which gave them a supporting power.  
The misery inflicted by the British on Hindusthan is of an entirely different kind and infinitely more intense than what it had to suffer before civil wars, invasions, revolutions, conquests, famines all these did not go deeper than the surface. But, England broke the entire framework of Hindusthan, the symptoms of reconstitution are yet to emerge clearly. This loss of the Old World without the emergence of a new order imparts a particular melancholy to the present misery of Hindus and Hindusthan. Marx goes on to say that the British interference destroyed the union between agriculture and the manufacturing industry. Suddenly he remarks that the English interference dissolved this semi barbarian, semi-civilised community.  
He concedes that they were prosperous, that they organised their affairs well, they have a measure of independence, they have a democracy at the lowest level, all this has been conceded. Then, how does he classify us as &quot;semi-barbarian and semi-civilised communities&quot;? He notes that India's social condition remained unaltered since remote antiquity. This is important, for him revolution is the core, the soul and centre of the society. This society never had a revolution; hence it cannot be modern! There is an underlying assumption, which considers revolution as a pre- requisite for being modern.  
Hence, he feels that the destruction wrought by the British is the inevitable revolution needed for the development of the Indian society. England had vested interests, violent interests in bringing about this &quot;revolution&quot;. But, the question in focus is whether mankind can fulfill its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state? Whatever might have been the crimes of England, she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about a revolution, whatever bitterness the spectacle of crumbling of an ancient world may evoke, from the point of history, we have to exclaim - should this torture torment us?  
Since it brings us great pleasure, were not the rule of Taimur, souls delivered without measure? It is a creative destruction in the cause of revolution according to him. If you see Indian Communism which was expounded by a man called Rajane Palme Dutt. Has anyone heard of his name? (Two persons from the audience raised their hands). Two. He was born of a white woman and an Indian father in England. He was in charge of Indian Communism for 25 years. He never came to India though. In his book, &quot;India Today&quot;, he laid down the framework, the policy for Indian Communists, what must be done, what is the kind of revolution needed in India, the development model etc.  
In those days, even good photographs of India were not available, yet this man spoke about India sitting in London. He came to India for the first time in 1946, ten years after he wrote this book and realised that he had to revise it. He stayed for 30 days! A visitor to India was the father of Indian Communism! And from that day till date, the Indian Communist has never been with India. Not only that, they took over the Indian mind in the post- independence period. It is these Marxist/Macaulayist intellectuals who will certify whether somebody is modern or traditional, backward or secular or communal, progressive or regressive. They were running an Open Air University issuingcertificates every day through the press. They have branded me as a communal man.  
Labels: Tools for stultifying important debates  
Labels substituted debate in India. Simply a label - communal, that is enough. Four or five editorials will appear preaching that Gurumurthy is communal and the matter must end there. No one would even discuss what communalism is! Religious fundamentalism, RSS/Bajrang Dal fundamentalism! Anyone, who exposes the Hindu cause in India is a fundamentalist! We have seen this term being used so casually and superfluously and incessantly by politicians and newspapers. Has anyone bothered to understand the meaning of religious fundamentalism going beyond these slogans?  
Secularism is an intra-Christian phenomenon. It has no application outside Christianity at all. Secularism resolved the fight between two powerful persons, the King and the Archbishop who were loyal to the same faith, to the same prophet, to the same book and to the same Church. It is not a multi-religious virtue.  
A multi-religious idea, a multi-religious living, a multi-religious culture, a multi-religious fabric or a multi-religious structure was unknown outside India. There was usually only one faith and no place for any other, not even for a variation of the same faith. Fifty six thousand Bahais were butchered in one hour in Tehran! They believed in the same Koran, in the same Muhammad, the only difference was that they said that Muhammad might come in another form again. That was their only fault and they were all butchered.  
But we have no such problem. We can play with God, we can abuse God, and we can beat God!  
If I say that monotheistic religions have had a violent history, and the reply will be &quot;you are communal.&quot; But this is exactly the same conclusion that a study in Chicago revealed, probably, the only study on fundamentalism conducted by anybody so far. This fundamentalism project brought out five volumes each volume about eight hundred to nine hundred pages. The conclusion they have reached is that, &quot;Fundamentalism is a virtue of Abrahamic religions. It is not applicable to eastern faiths at all.  
What about the Indian intellectuals? Day in and day out, they keep abusing us as fundamentalists, communalists, that we are anti-secular and it is being gulped down by everyone including those from the IITs and IIMs, lawyers and police officials, journalists and politicians. Look at this intellectual bankruptcy.  
An inner revolution: The much needed change  
We need a mental revolution, an inner revolution; we need to get rooted in our own soul. There is a missing element in India today and it is this. That element has to be restored otherwise Indian intellectualism will only be a carbon copy of Western intellectualism. We are borrowing not only their language and idiom but also we trying to copy the very soul of the West.  
So, all that we need to do is (it is impossible to share the entire depth of the subject in one evening's lecture programme. I have only tried out point out in an incoherent way, how a completely fresh mindset has to be evolved. And unless it evolves, the Indian mind, which leads India, will be in a perpetual state of confusion ordinary people are perfectly all right.  
Consider for example how thirty years before there was a question whether Tamil Nadu will be a part of India or not. The Dravidian parties have taken over the mind of Tamil Nadu. It had virtually ceased to be a part of India. And their attack was aimed at Hinduism. The moment you attack Hinduism you attack India. This is a fact. Neither politicians nor intellectuals nor academicians realised this. But, the ordinary people did.  
Just three religious movements- the Ayyappa movement, the Kavadi movement and the Melmaruvatthur Adi Para Sakti movement- have finished the Dravidian ideology to a very great extent. It is only the outer shell of Dravidianism that remains today. Tamil Nadu has been brought back successfully by Ayyappa, Muruga and Para Sakti, not by the Congress or the BJP or any other political party.  
How many people have intellectually assessed the depth and the reach, the deep influence of religion over the people? A paradigm shift in a study of India would be an intellectual approach to this subject. Or consider for example its influence on economics. Many of you by now would have studied economics in some detail. Take a look at the society in India and compare the figures for public expenditure for private purposes, which is called the social security system in the West. 30% of the GDP in America is spent for social security, 48% in England, 49% in France, 56% in Germany and 67% in Sweden. This private expenditure is nothing but what you and I do by taking care of parents, our wives and children, brothers and sisters and grandparents, widowed sisters and distant relatives. This expenditure is met by the society in India.  
And there is no law in India that people should do this. We consider it as our dharma. A person went to a court and demanded a divorce from his father and mother. The American court granted it saying that the only relationship that exists between two persons of America is their citizenship. The law in America recognises no other relationship &hellip;  
In the year 1978, an interesting incident occurred in Manhattan. There was a power failure for six hours. Manhattan is in the heart of New York where you find the UN building, the World Trade Centre and the head quarters of many multinational companies. One third of the world's health is concentrated in Manhattan. Within six hours, hundreds of people were killed, robbed and assaulted. We don't need electricity to behave in a civilised manner. How many intellectuals in India have ever articulated from such a sympathetic approach? We have only tarnished the image of this country. We must be ashamed of this.  
Conclusion  
I shall conclude my speech with this example. When Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry in search of a new light. He used to get five rupees from a friend and four persons used to live on this. A cup of tea was one of the luxuries they used to have everyday in the morning, on the Pondicherry beach.  
Sri Aurobindo used to always look at a mystic called Kullachamy (Subramanya Bharati has written a poem about him). He used to behave like a madman, wandering here and there, throwing stones &hellip; One, day he came near Sri Aurobindo, lifted his cup of tea and emptied it in front of him. Then he showed the empty cup to him, placed it on the table and went away. Sri Aurobindo's friends were angry and wanted to chase him. Sri Aurobindo stopped them and said, &quot;This is the kind of instruction I had been expecting from him. He wants me to empty my mind and start thinking afresh.&quot;  
 
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						<pubDate>Nov 21, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>WISH COME TRUE !!!!!</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/23391</link>
						<description><![CDATA[Subject: This is one of those good stories ...a little sad     Am I A Fireman Yet??     In Queensland, Australia, a 26-year-old mother stared down at her  6 year old son, who was dying of terminal leukaemia. Although her  heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of  determination.   Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up &amp; fulfil all his  dreams.  Now that was no longer possible The leukaemia would see to that.  But she still wanted her son's dream to come true.   She took her son's hand and asked, 'Ben, did you ever think about  what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and  wish what you would do with your life?'   'Mummy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.'  Mum smiled back and said,     'Let's see if we can make your wish come true.'   Later that day she went to her local fire Station in Brisbane,  where she met Fireman Bob, who had a heart as big as Queensland.  She explained her son's final wish and asked if it might be  possible to give her 6 year old son a ride around the block on a  fire engine.   Fireman Bob said, 'Look, we can do better than that. If you'll  have your son ready at seven o'clock  Wednesday morning, we'll make  him an honorary fireman for the whole day.   He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all  the fire calls, the full Monty!   And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for  him, with a real fire hat - not a toy -one with the emblem of the  Queensland Fire &amp; Rescue Department on it, a yellow slicker like  we wear and rubber boots.  They're all manufactured right here in Brisbane, so we can get  them fast.'   Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Ben, dressed him in his  uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting  truck.  Ben got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to  the fire station.     He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Brisbane that day  and Ben got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different  fire engines that day.   He was also videotaped for the local news program.   Having his dream come true, with all the Love and attention that  was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Ben, that he lived three  months longer than any doctor thought  possible.   One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and  the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept - that no one  should die alone, began to call the family members to the  hospital.   Then she remembered the day Ben had spent as a fireman, so she  called the Fire Station and asked if it would be possible to send  a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Ben as he made his  transition.   The Officer in charge replied, 'We can do better than that. We'll  be there in five minutes.   Will you please do me a favour? When you hear the sirens screaming  and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system,  that there is not a fire? It's the department coming to see one of  its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to  his room?   About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the  hospital and extended its ladder up to Ben's third floor open  window 16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Ben's room.   With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and  told him how much they LOVED him.   With his dying breath, Ben looked up at the fire chief and  said,  'Chief, am I really a fireman now?'   'Ben, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand,'  the O.I.C said. With those words, Ben smiled and said, 'I know,  He's been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been  singing.' He closed his eyes one last time.  ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Oct 20, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>12 Gifts of God</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/21895</link>
						<description><![CDATA[At the wondrous moment you were born, as you took your  first breath, a great celebration was held in heaven and twelve  magnificent gifts were granted to you.    The first gift is STRENGTH. May you remember to call  upon it whenever  you need it.    The second gift is BEAUTY. May your deeds reflect its  depth.    The third gift is COURAGE. May you speak and act with  confidence and  use courage to follow your own path.    The fourth gift is COMPASSION. May you be gentle with  yourself and  others. May you forgive those who hurt you and  yourself when you make  mistakes.    The fifth gift is HOPE. Through each passage and  season, may you trust  the goodness of life.    The sixth gift is JOY. May it keep your heart open and  filled with light.    The seventh gift is TALENT. May you discover your own  special  abilities and contribute them toward a better world.    The eighth gift is IMAGINATION. May it nourish your  visions and dreams.    The ninth gift is REVERENCE. May you appreciate the  wonder that you  are and the miracle of all creation.    The tenth gift is WISDOM. Guiding your way, wisdom  will lead you  through knowledge to understanding. May you hear its  soft voice.    The eleventh gift is LOVE. It will grow each time you  give it away.    The twelvth gift is Faith. May you believe and grow in  your faith.       ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Sep 25, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>NEW HEIGHTS</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/10084</link>
						<description><![CDATA[1. What is height of Fashion?  Ans : Dhoti with a zip .   2. What is height of Secrecy?  Ans : Offering blank visiting cards.   3. What is height of Active laziness?  Ans : Asking for a lift to house while on a morning walk.   4. What is height of Craziness?  Ans : Getting a blank paper Xeroxed.   5. What is height of Forgetfulness?  Ans : Seeing the mirror and trying to recollect when you saw him / her last.   6. What is height of Stupidity?  Ans : A person looking through a keyhole of a glass door.   7. What is height of Honesty?  Ans : A pregnant woman taking one and a half ticket.   8. What is height of Suicide?  Ans : A dwarf jumping from the footpath on the road.   9. What is height of De-hydration?  Ans : A cow giving milk powder.   10. What is Height of Kanjoosi ?  Ans : Banta's house has caught fire and he is giving miss calls to the Fire brigade     ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Jan 24, '08</pubDate>
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						<title>ITS GIRL</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/9161</link>
						<description><![CDATA[IT'S GIRL     If you treat her nice she says&quot;Yaar mujhe line de raha hai&quot;.   If you don't she says &quot;Kitna akadta hai&quot;.     **********     If you dress nicely she says &quot;Mujhay impress karna chahta hai&quot;.   If you don't she says &quot;Tasteless hai yaar&quot;.     **********     If you argue with her she says &quot;Ziddi hai&quot;.   If you sit quietly she says &quot;Dumb hai&quot;.     **********     If you act smarter she'll lose her brain as you are insulting her.   If she acts smarter she think its her right.     **********     If you don't love her she says &quot;Is ka to pehlay say hi 2,3 ladkioon ke saath chakar hai&quot;.   If you love her she says &quot; Peechay hi pad gayaa hai&quot;.     **********     If you don't give her a kiss she says &quot;Tum mujh say serious naheen ho&quot;.   If you give her a kiss she says &quot;Yaar who ladkaa flirt kar raha hai&quot;.     **********     If you don't tell her your problems she says &quot;You are not honest to me&quot;.   If you do tell to her she says &quot;You are a problem child&quot;.     **********     If you scold her she says &quot;You act like a grandpa giving lecture&quot;.   If she scolds you she says &quot;Yaar, its because I care&quot;.     **********     If you break a promise she says &quot;He does not trust you any more&quot;.   If she breaks she says &quot;Jaan main majboor thi&quot;     **********     If you smoke she says &quot;You are a bad guy&quot;.   If she smokes she says &quot;I need this, please jaanu try to understand&quot;.     **********       If you do good in exams she says &quot;Kismat NE saath diya warna tum or good marks&quot;.   If she gets good marks she says &quot;Its my brain &quot;.     **********     If you hurt her she says &quot;You are cruel &amp; don't care of my feelings&quot;.   If she hurts you she replies&quot; You are not understanding  ]]></description>
						<pubDate>Dec 21, '07</pubDate>
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						<title>Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?</title>
						<link>http://www.fropper.com/post/8419</link>
						<description><![CDATA[Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?  
 
By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire  
 
A psychologist says he has discovered the answer:  
 
Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.  
 
Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.  
 
The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.  
 
I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: &quot;Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win &pound;250.&quot;  
 
This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it. Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.  
 
As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.  
 
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.  
 
Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.  
 
Dramatic results These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.  
 
The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, I had found the elusive &quot;luck factor&quot; Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky: 1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right 2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine 3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well 4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self- fulfilling prophecy  
 
Have a Lucky day and work for it.  
 
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						<pubDate>Nov 13, '07</pubDate>
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