Thursday, December 24, 2009

Xmas is nigh and S&C was back

Keeping the spirit of X’mas alive……we had a fun-filled X’mas celebration…….right @ OPI on 22nd Dec between 3.30pm to 5.30 pm with X’mas carol English, Malayalam…… Spanish, French, Latin or Polish was also allowed, but nobody dared to……..……. and santa (Shamu) giving chocolates.…….and we rocked!!

The Rule was simple:
Everyone should participate…….Everyone should have fun!!

All came dressed in one of the three colors: White, Red or Green!!

Venue for the celebration was just were we were ….



Our Carol Team of 20 energetic and lively members were the first runners up in the Infopark Carol Contest held on the 21st of December ……and gave a great wrap-up to the year 2009!! OPI Santa was Inforpark Santa….



We were happy, as was rightly pointed out by GM, in case we would have come first, it would have increased the expectation, and there would have been no scope for improvement next time...

2009 had been a very eventful year and all the efforts had made it a lucky year for OPI and we are looking forward for the coming year 2010 to be more promising more fun and entertaining!



Special thanks to Susan- the strength behind the Carol team, with her organ, and Biju's winning team at OPI without whom the event wouldn’t have been this entertaining!


Again borrowing from Pappu:
It is at Christmas, Santa comes to our door leaving red sack full gifts!

This year I saw him rushing away through the snow filled alley. But he did not look back. I heard the jingles fading away in darkness. I sat down on ..... Thank you, Santa!!

Merry X’mas, mates!

This Years gift from Santa...

Santa came at my door leaving a dairy full of Virtues for each month!

January:

One day you might see yourself walking alone on a new path. No one seems in sight. No one seems to have walked it earlier. Don’t give up midway. You’re on a right track. Go on. Reach your dreams.

“The reason why you do not see anyone is because, the world is following you.”

February:

We grow old filled with regrets-
For things not done;
For words not said;
For love not shown;
For Dreams not completed.

Life is short. Act today.
Do all that makes you happy. Now.



March:

There is no limit to what you can imagine.
And with commitment, with effort,
What you can imagine you can become.

Put your mind to work for you.
And you’ll find the ability to do it.

April:

Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders.
Know that you are the creator of your own destiny.
All the strength and success you want is within yourselves.
Stand up. Be bold. Be strong.
Make your own future.



May:

“ You have powers you never dreamed of.
You can do things you never thought you could do.
There are no limitations in what you can do
Except the limitations of your own mind”



June:

If you ever feel like knowing, how the people around look on you?

See reflections on the faces of the people you meet:
Read your images form their eyes.
All the faces in the world are mirrors.
You just have to learn how to read them.

July:

Face your past without regret.
Handle your present with confidence.
Prepare for the future without fear.
Keep faith and drop the fear.
Don’t believe your doubts and never doubt your beliefs.

Life is wonderful if you know how to live it.



If God brings you to it! He will bring you through it….

August:

Don’t look at a thing; Start it.
Don’t put it off a day; Start it.
Don’t pretend you must think over; Start it.
Don’t start half-heartedly; put everything you can.

September

Even though the sky seems dark, believe in the future.
The storm will pass over. The clouds will roll by.
Believe in the best though it seems hidden
Know that it will come though it’s not in sight.

Your faith will take you through the darkness.
Your belief shall prove that the sun will shine again.




This too will pass away….

October

I do not ask to walk smooth paths
Nor bear an easy load
I pray for strength and fortitude
To climb the rock strewn road

Give me such courage that
I can scale hardest peaks alone;
And then I shall learn to transform
Every stumbling block into a stepping stone.



November

Fears, like babies, grow larger by nursing them,

We should act in spite of fear
And not because of fear


December

‘Nobody will sympathize with a person
Who constantly lets chances pass by
Without making any efforts to salvage them
Lost time is NEVER gained again.”


I heard the jingles fading away in darkness. But I believe Santa will guide me live the virtues...

Thank you, Santa! Alex!


Merry X’mas, mates!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Contests..




Two years in a row, the second runnerup...had a nice time explaining the team, Thanks to the motivation form Biju sir...and the team work...it were long days, making the floural carpet, cutting the flowers, keeping together the accessories..

In 2008 it was: Athithee Devo Bhava and in English

In 2009 it was courtesy Jomon, the malayalam+ narrated when in Veegland...

.. those flowers

The remark: 'I think your words gave life to the pookalam and thus the prize!'

“Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary”


True: ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. ‘ It was later reprinted together with other essays in the book Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress (London, John Murray, 1958). He derived the dictum from his extensive experience in the British Civil Service.

S&C brought to us, our 1st event of 2010…….”Republic Day Celebrations @ OPI”.

Here is what S&C has planned:

1. Republic Day Quiz-

How much do you think you know about India’s history……? Try it out!

The link was send on 25th Jan for your participation.


2. “Express your thoughts”- “I am an Indian”……we have used this phrase a 100 times before. But what does it really mean to us? “Being an Indian- what does it means to you?”………express it in your words (not more than 2-3 sentences). Thoughts to be mailed to S&C-Kochi by EOD 25th Jan or dropped in the Box kept at the reception
_______________

And what was submitted ; dedicated to the crazy 4 is:
Born onto her, nourished by her heart, and willing to die on her shoulders, she is my Mother India, and I am her daughter…I am an Indian…

She is getting older, but the most beautiful of all, willing to accept everyone as her, loving and caring, I am her’s…I am an Indian…..

Hail to my Mother! Hail to my Motherland!!

------------------

Also one of the memorable event was the lunch to the team sponserd by Sreeram Sir...in July/August..

The power of positive living….By Norman Vincent Peale….




1. Positive Thinking still works
• Nothing is impossible when two people are in love.
• Wrongdoers are often clever and sometimes they get away with their crookedness for a time.
• The thought is ancestor to the deed. It is the spark that ignites the action. And success or failure depends on whether that thought is positive or negative.
• Don’t decide things emotionally.
• Pray, and decide, which is thinking in its highest form. For then your thoughts are in tune with God, who sees a lot further down the road than you do.
• To sum up:
 A monumental event can happen any day. Be ready for it.
 Beyond positive thinking is positive believing.
 A thought can ruin you. But a thought can also make you.

2. Be a Believer=Be an Achiever

• Philosopher F.W. Robertson wrote: “To believe is to be happy; to doubt is to be wretched. To believe is to be strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power. Only so far as a man believes strongly, mightily, can he act cheerfully, or do anything that is worth the doing.’
• Raise others above the standard. Tell them, “I will not let you fail.” Today all over the land, educators are raising standards, teaching accountability to their students, demanding hardwork and getting it.
• You are somebody, Never build a case against yourself.
• How to become a believer:
 Unlearn being a non believer.
 Say to yourself, I am going to be successful.
 Have constant reiteration, constant assertion, and constant affirmation of the believing attitude.
 Have the guts to take a risk.
• To sum up:
 Believe in people-don’t use them.
 Replace negative attitudes with constant affirmation and optimism.
 Have faith that what you need will be given to you.
 Get rid of low self –esteem-believe in yourself.


3. Knock the T off Can’t
• Marcus Aurelius: ‘Our life is what out thoughts make of it.’
• Gautam Buddha: ‘Mind is everything. We become what we think.’
• Professor William James: ‘The greatest discovery of my generation is that human being can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.’
• Thomas A. Edison: ‘The principal use of the body is to carry the brain around; and the brain is what we are.
• Believe that you can, you can, you can. Success is lucking in your mind, let it out. Let it come to life.
• To sum up:
 We become what we thing.
 Be self-confident, have faith, and persevere.
 When we make our minds amendable to God’s will we can accomplish miracles.
 To cancel the “I just can’t” feeling, affirm the fact “ I can, with God’s help, I can.”
 And then go on and do it.

4. Do You Have What it takes to be Happy!
• Spiritual Experience
• Inner Peace
• Serenity
• Joy
• Excitement
• Struggle
• Health
• Love
• Money

5. Things may look Bad…BUT…
• Difficulties and problems can be handled if you become tougher than they are.
• To every disadvantage there ma be and usually is a corresponding advantage.
• Stop thinking only of yourself as a priority.
• Drop that ‘making it big’ goal as your great objective.
• To sum up:
 Don’t ever despair. Many successes have been born from seeming failure.
 Always see your assets and possibilities.
 Remember the power of the three-letter word: B-U-T.

6. Get out of Yourself!• The one person who most blocks you from a full, happy and successful life is you. Yes, you yourself!
• Loud, incessant talks of people are a cover-up for the true feelings, a form of whistling in the dark.
• HOME: Helping ourselves means education.
• Each of us can expect astonishing results when we seize the opportunity to help someone else. And in the right spirit, it makes us feel good.

7. Running on EmptyIt is on the solid foundation of faith in God…the other principles must be build….
 Think
 Learn
 Try
 Work
 Believe
And be a success in life!

It is on the solid foundation of faith in God, the other principles must be build.

8. Turned On to a Joy-Packed LifestyleAccepting new responsibilities are difficult. But God knows, what is best for us, much more than we do….

The rewards of joy and satisfaction are well worth it.

So stop fighting the truth…and discover untold joys…..

9. Let Go of Fear and Affirm Faith
Highly respected mental health clinic: Blanton Peale Institute was established.
Fear is the most subtle and destructive of all human diseases. Anxiety is the great modern plague. Only faith can save it.

When making a decision, think it out, then pray for God’s guidance, then believe, you will have the guidance, make the decision, and put it in the hands of God, and forget it.

When you keep your thoughts high and pray, for God’s guidance, that day is never far-off….

Things can be better, and not far….you would say “THINGS ARE BETTER”


10. More about the Healing Power within the mind
Incredible things can happen to anyone who mentally takes charge, constantly sending healthy thoughts circulating, vibrating and pulsating through the physical system. The general rule seems to be-and for a fact is- think right and feel right.

Condition your life so that you are able at all times and under all circumstances to preserve your tranquility and peace of mind.

Also more on this in the Health is the first of life, and Wealth is the next of life….

• To sum up:


 Remember the healing power of love and forgiveness
 Cultivate good will over hate and resentment
 Healthy-mindedness and care for our physical well-being much work together.

11. Your Comeback Power
When things start going wrong, analyse inner conditions. A good, sharp, honest analysis will often reveal the truth. Ask ‘What am I doing to make these things happen?’

Take moves of ourselves doing the good and bad period and compare them.

‘The critical thing is self-esteem, If that’s intact, you can weather any storm.’

Be a maximize. When you want to do something that seems impossible your biggest obstacle may be a low self-esteem. If you have an inferior feeling about yourself, you are a minimizer. Never be a minimizer. Always be a maximiser! Every one has greater power than we ever realize.

The optimist almost invariably has an edge over less enthusiastic colleagues.

• To sum up:

 Believe that you have it in you. Never doubt it.
 Your comeback power is always there, ready to work for you when needed.
 Just be a believer, a real believer

Remember this…when things go wrong, especially, this will give you courage..

12. The old, Ever New Secret of success
Each of us have a thought factory inside us. Take a look at your products. Fear, Worry, impatience, anger, doubt. Your factory is capable of taking the raw materials of experience, mingling them with faith, love courage, and compassion, and thus becoming a plant worth operating. Your thought factory should produce positive, self-confident thoughts which naturally lead to positive, successful results.

As per Henry J. Kaiser…Here are five rules to be successful:

i. Know yourself and decide what you want to make out of your life. Then write down your goals and a plan to reach them.
ii. Use the great powers you can tap through faith in God, the hidden energies of your soul and your subconscious mind.
iii. Love people and serve them.
iv. Develop positive traits of character and personality.
v. Work! Put your life’s plan into determined action. Go after what you want with all that’s in you.

The sure way to success is so simple, but it requires character, guts, persistence, the mastery of lower jobs to be ready for the better one.

Do every job well, plus think, work, study…

Change your thoughts. Open your mind to new ideas and see how your life changes for the better.

• To sum up:


 Ask yourself: ‘How can I expect to succeed if I have a negative self-concept.
 List your assets when you’re feeling hopeless or inadequate.
 Do every job-no matter how ‘small’- with care and enthusiasm.
 Go after your goal with faith-and image yourself achieving it.

13. Your Censor Knows-Trust it
Do only what you know to be right if you want to gain real happiness.

People, who think that they can have an easy, bendable moral attitude and get away with it forever, always find otherwise. Adherence to a proven moral code does not guarantee sweetness and light. But it does promise an enveloping feeling of rightness much more surely than when we bend the laws for pleasure.

Remember the story of the boy, who was afraid to pick the snake, but took it, when the snake said: ‘I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you.’ The boy took the snake. And after its purpose was served, the snake bit the boy. And then said: ‘You knew what I was when you picked me up’.

There are people who stick to their words come what may. It’s just so reassuring to know that there are people in the world who are as good as their words…’

‘…..neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.’

‘Stand porter to your mind.’

14. Living is Believing-Positively
Listen to God and Obey! Life is full of hazards and traps. But if you keep yur eye on the pin and follow through with all your might, you’ll be champion at everything you do, even if you don’t win every time.

Mentally prepared to win is believing.

Thought stopping is an effective response to self-defeating thoughts and emotions. Each time a negative thought comes to mind, say Stop.

The freedom of America, the emphasis on the potential in the individuals, create a historical climate of thought in which believers thrive

How ordinary people become extraordinary is by thinking, believing, working, falling, picking themselves up, and trying again and yet again…

To every disadvantage, there is a corresponding advantage…

I Believe + I Can +I Will = I Did

• To sum up:
 Belief gets results.
 Belief works even under the most difficult circumstances.
 The answer to difficulty is to be a believer. Believe in God. Believe in yourself.
 Believe in the future. Believe that you can. Believe in people.
 Believe and keep on Believing.

15. Get the Fire of Enthusiasm Burning
A person wishing to cultivate a better way of thinking may act ‘as if’ he did possess it. And if that individual continues persistently to act ‘as if’, then he or she will, in fact become as acted.


Whatever you do, keep the fire of enthusiasm burning. And remember what Thoreau said so well: ‘None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm…

Always think positively and believe enthusisastically..That’s living…

A wonderful gift from Prafoooo

Two days of 'ESCAPE 2009'




A question to the audience, ‘THE PEN THE WORLD PREFERS’ is the tag line of which company, and apt came the reply from Yashin 'REYNOLDS' in the corporate fun fest – ESCAPE-2009 Mega event for corporates held on 5th & 6th December, 2009 .. Thus began the winning spree for OPI'ns in 'ESCAPE 2009' a Rotary club of Kochi Initiative.

Having reached the venue in the morning on the first day, after being in office till 4 am on Saturday morning, S&C team members were waiting for the solo song of OPI participants to start, in the fourth floor and there was Prabhu and Yashin, to support Susan in the Young mangers Contest in the second floor.

Keeping the spirits soaring at the beautiful venue in three different floors of IMA HALL, Behind International Stadium, Kaloor, Kochi, there was no looking back…


We were the runner ups , with Susan beating candidates after candidates, in four rounds and winning the best Manager award in Puli-Young managers contest. For this she was competing with thirty other Managers, in four rounds, which included a “sales pitch” and the grueling questions from the Judges and anyone from the audience, with a Pulse meter constantly measuring pulse of the participants to ensure that Young Manager was really calm and cool.

The near perfect rendition of latest hit songs by Revathy and Deepu in Solo Kuyil – Male and female Solo singing competition fetched the First Runner up prize amongst almost Forty six participants.



Strength of a chain is determined by its weakest link. Team work, enthusiasm, hardwork, determination and spirit made all the links equally strong in Kuyil Melam-Group Song. The Eight member Music group echoing the same tune without missing a beat headed by Biju V R singing an ever popular Onam Song. Eight member 'Dappan Kooth' Group Dance team led by Siyad Baker performing in total sync to walk away with another first announced to the whole Corp-festers, the hallmark of OPI team-work in action.Thus both the teams grabbed the first place in the respective events.

We had even showcased our talents in AdZap, and the beautiful Anthakshari having reached till finals, which had six rounds:
.First three normal song round for each language namely, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil,
.Fourth was the matchmaking round, where in a song from one film was sung, the participants had to identify, the movie, and sing other songs from the same movie.
.Fifth was the Anupalavi round, wherein second para of the song was sung by the host, and the participants had to sing the first para.
.Sixth round was the background music round.

Having put to practice the faith that good is the greatest enemy of excellence winning had become a habit for OPI participants till the end and OPI grabbed the overall championship trophy.




Avinash was rocking and was the hearthrob of the day....

There were many ads, promotions and sales, of which one thing that I really liked was something, we could sing with:




But for the support and valuable inputs from the Management, nothing could have been possible.



Three cheers to S&C Kochi team for all their hard work and effort, especially to Jisha and Arun who were tied to the venue for two days of their happy weekend, and all others who were there to support, encourage, and help the participants, and to those who had worked hard for this, but could not make up for the event on the day....At the Venue OPI had the huge “ground support” provided by the young energetic OPI crowd who came in huge numbers on both the days to support their colleagues...Especially may be becuase they were missing the Bonwikk which was around this time last year....



Well I liked this quote, can you please identify, and name the person?

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Be the change you want to see

Quite some time, wanted to post this...In fact before doing so, I wanted to see it once more in Youtube/orkut...but whenever I tried, my IE got disconnected??

A beautiful video...and the only one, on a road block, and people stuck on their way to their own destinations...in a hurry. And now they were here waiting, some enjoying, some tensed, some frustrated, some curious why? Some knowing the reason, waiting, with the thought 'This is not my job'. Somebody will set things right...

And then there was this boy on his way back guess from school, and he tried to move the big tree fallen on the road. Sure he was too young to do it alone, but then others, motivated, joined him and they moved the tree..

Quite interesting and motivating...Wanna see it? Check out in youtube or the only Video in Yashin's Orkut profile..Oh God! such an awesome Video shot...

Tum chalo to Hindustan chale Duniya ke iss runbhumi mai , Jab desh humara data hua hai , Le jaye jo Visha Shikhar par , wo nayak yahi kahi kada hua hai.
And the title comes from the Message from Abdul Kalam, in our office production floor, asking people to turn off the monitor when moving out of the office....


Indeed we need to be the change we want to see....Starters, Go Getters....

It also reminded me of the pic send by Paul, on the paining on the Indian Highway/pathway...




Thumbs up for people:
Who be the change they want to see...who step down, and give way to others...and when talking about this..I am reminded of Sonia Gandhi...

Who understand and do their duty towards their people, siblings, parents, friends and relatives, like my own parents, from whom I have learned most of the things and

Thumbs down for people:

Who be roadblocks, and hinderances with lust for power, wealth, and go upto any extend to keep it, even when it is time to move out.

Who keep finding reasons to prove that 'Why should I do?' 'Why not he or she?' or Keep saying 'I will not do'

True everybody cannot do everything...but indeed one can be the change one want to see......