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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
A funny look@2010
Laws of Combat !
- Try to look unimportant; the enemy may be low on ammo and not want to waste a bullet on you.
- Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
- Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
- Five second fuses always burn three seconds.
- The easy way is always mined.
- Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy other people to shoot at.
- If you are short of everything but the enemy, you are in the combat zone.
- Incoming fire has the right of way.
- No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
- No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
- If the enemy is within range, so are you.
- The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
- Tracers work both ways.
- Professional soldiers are predictable; the world is full of dangerous amateurs.
- Military Intelligence is an oxymoron.
- Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
- When in doubt, empty your magazine.
- The side with the simplest uniform wins.
- Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining maps.
- The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass.
- The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to be repaired.
- The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the weapon's operator.
- If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.
- To steal information from a person is called plagiarism. To steal information from the enemy is called gathering intelligence.
- The weapon that usually jams when you need it the most is the G-3.
- The bursting radius of a hand grenade is always one foot greater than your jumping range.
- There is no such place as a convenient foxhole.
- Density of fire increases proportionally to the curiousness of the target.
- Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when the General is watching.
- Things that must be together to work can never be shipped together.
- The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
- If you have a personality conflict with your superior: he has the personality, you have the conflict.
- If you enter CO's office with an idea, most likely, you will leave his office with the CO's idea.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Farmers finding fortune in fruits, earning crores
 Fruit farmers are depositing a crore a year into their bank accounts. Global retailers, Indian food companies and the government have come together to seed the next green revolution. Farmer vishwas Kachare lives in a 40,000 sq ft farm house in Telangwadi near Solapur, a far cry from the small hut he and his wife lived in 30 years ago. Over the period, Kachare borrowed money rom friends and bought a few farmyard animals. In 1985, he purchased 27 acres of barren land. Using drip irrigation, Kachare cultivated pomegranate, and his toil has yielded him more than a bounty. Today, his orchard extends to 300 acres, and he owns, in addition to the farm house, a cold storage and packaging house worth crores, a few cars and much more. Kachare's transformation is the stuff of textbooks in Maharashtra's schools. But more than that, it isrepresentative of a silent fruit revolution in the state's drought-prone areas, and some of the hilly regions in the North. Annual fruit production is growing by almost 15%. Exports of Indian fruits have grown to Rs 1,269 crore from 450 crore in only two financial years. |
The Art of Giving
The Art of Giving
"Rivers do not drink their own water, nor do tree eat their own fruit, nor do rain clouds eat the grains reared by them. The wealth of the noble is used solely for the benefit of others?
Even after accepting that giving is good and that one must learn to give, several questions need to be answered.
The first question is when should one give?
We all know the famous incident from Mahabharat.
Yudhisthir, asks a beggar seeking alms to come the next day. On this, Bhim rejoices, that Yudhisthir his brother, has conquered death! For he is sure that he will be around tomorrow to give. Yudhisthir gets the message.
One does not know really whether one will be there tomorrow to give!
The time to give therefore is now.
The next question is 'how much to give?
One recalls the famous incident from history. Rana Pratap was reeling after defeat from the Moghals. He had lost his army, he had lost his wealth, and most important he had lost hope, his will to fight. At that time in his darkest hour, his erstwhile minister Bhamasha came seeking him and placed his entire fortune at the disposal of Rana Pratap. With this, Rana Pratap raised an army and lived to fight another day.
The answer to this question how much to give is
"Give as much as you can!
The next question is what to give?
It is not only money that can be given. It could be a flower or even a smile.
It is not how much one gives but how one gives that really matters. When you give a smile to a stranger that may be the only good thing received by him in days and weeks!
"You can give anything but you must give with your heart!
One also needs answer to this question whom to give?
Many times we avoid giving by finding fault with the person who is seeking. However, being judgmental and rejecting a person on the presumption that he may not be the most deserving is not justified.
"Give without being judgmental!
Next we have to answer 'How to give?
Coming to the manner of giving, one has to ensure that the receiver does not feel humiliated, nor the giver feels proud by giving.
In giving follow the advice, 'Let not your left hand know what your right hand gives? Charity without publicity and fanfare is the highest form of charity.
'Give quietly!
While giving let not the recipient feel small or humiliated. After all what we give never really belonged to us. We come to this world with nothing and will go with nothing. The thing gifted was only with us for a temporary period. Why then take pride in giving away something which really did not belong to us? Give with grace and with a feeling of gratitude.
What should one feel after giving?
We all know the story of Eklavya. When Dronacharya asked him for his right thumb as "Guru Dakshina?he unhesitatingly cut off the thumb and gave it to Dronacharya.
There is a little known sequel to this story. Eklavya was asked whether he ever regretted the act of giving away his thumb. He replied, and the reply has to be believed to be true, as it was asked to him when he was dying.
His reply was "Yes! I regretted this only once in my life. It was when Pandavas were coming in to kill Dronacharya who was broken hearted on the false news of death of his son Ashwathama and had stopped fighting. It was then that I regretted the loss of my thumb. If the thumb was there, no one could have dared hurt my Guru?
The message to us is clear.
Give and never regret giving!
And the last question is
'How much should we provide for our heirs?
Ask yourself 'are we taking away from them the gift of work'? - A source of happiness! The answer is given by Warren Buffett:
"Leave your kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing!
I would conclude by saying: let us learn the Art of Giving, and quoting Sant Kabir:
"When the wealth in the house increases, when water fills a boat, Throw them out with both hands!
This is the wise thing to do.