It all begins with fun!

Fundamental, too begins with 'fun', and also has 'mental' in it.

Any form of  learning must begin with fun and then move to mental, break the word and read as fun-da-mental. I will dare to explain this as fun with mental ability.You get the true meaning of fundamental, hope the linguists will note censure me for this rather overt interpretation. Their quest for learning and the stereotype thinking will challenge them to connect with the young people. Only if fun is meant for all will there be any form of creative learning.

Today we talk of learning beyond the classroom, and we simple move to a space below the sky, without actually the creative ability to use the fun element. All sociologist and even most educationist rely on life skills to initiate learning and education. The key element of life skills is 'fun' alone, and this has been the proven as well as tested method too for  working with beginners and adults. We rely on ice-breakers, mind games, brain storm... all enforces the hypothesis that it is 'fun' that makes it happen. It is imperative for us as mentors to engage with youth and never miss out the fun.

When the word fundamental begins with fun, there is no reason we can ignore FUN.

We need to play for success

Devils Workshop?


My office overlooks a school. This location provides me ample opportunity to observe children in an environment, which to me appears to need much change.  Children are fun no matter what we adults impose on them. Their energy, mischief and zest, is infectious and perks me up on one hand. 

Feelings of despair envelope me on the other hand when I observe how we invest in our future. The kid’s backs are stooped as they carry their overweight school bags. There are no sports or play area to speak of and the children try to run about in the small courtyard and on the semi covered rooftop for a brief while before they dragged inside to memorize something more. 

I sometimes chat with some of the kids as they wait for their ride.  I learn that most of them are not going back home but to some tuitions / classes and more study. Children naturally want to play but sadly their wants or needs are not a consideration for most educationists, parents, or the government.

Most kids get home a little too late in the evening and then they spend time in front of a television set or some video games before they are marched off to sleep much later in the night than they should.

Our current schooling system was born from the needs of industrialization a few hundred years ago.  Further pushed by priests and governments to keep their flock timid and busy at all times children were managed by the motto  'An empty mind is a devil's workshop'. Nothing could be more sad or further from the truth.

Industrialization as undertaken so far is mostly based on maximum exploitation of resources. This approach demands that the majority of people and employees should have facts and not thoughts. They must possess a compliant spirit to take orders and not independence and of course having fun at work or during learning is deemed dangerous. This approach deadens the mind rather than enlightening it. 

As a result many children do not get a moment free, and this suits parents and teachers just fine. Many parents and teachers are anyway absorbed in their own genuine or imaginary issues and struggles.    

I spent almost my entire childhood in a boarding school, and my youth living in college hostels.  The institutions were set in quiet places and free of many of today's distractions.  I had encountered my share of fantastic teachers and petty tyrants. The curriculum was not killing because we did not have so much drivel. Sports were encouraged along with character building and personality development. 

One thing many of my friends now look back with incredibility is the amount of time we had on our hands, to do really nothing.  These were times for fantasizing, and to spend in wonder. The space, and time afforded us the luxury to daydream, to study ourselves and the world around us as we experienced it and the world we wanted to create.

What differentiates humans from lower species is our overdeveloped mind. Our system clutters the mind, stifling our thoughts by not allowing in a sense the mind to breathe. When the mind is overfilled with facts and figures even temporarily it knocks off large chunks of creativity. 

The end result of this education-lifestyle combination is the output of generations of a well informed, non creative mentally and physically weak people.

When you live for more than half a century it can be advantageous  to be able to look back and study cause and effects of various actions and inactions. I classify my associates and classmates into four categories;

1.       First the sloggers, they always worked hard and they still slog at their careers and in their lives.  Unlived they are often overworked and overstressed. They believe they are avoiding the devil's workshop.

2.      Bums, these folks never did anything then and decades later do pretty much nothing very useful.

3.      Negative achievers who day dreamt and fantasized about the future. Driven by negative influences at home and from their choice of friends and associates they went on to notoriety and often burnt out. 

4.      Positive achievers who continue to achieve success. These folks are often not only generating wealth but also do interesting things. They lead useful and generally more fulfilling lives. Contributing to society these people also daydreamed away but were guided by a good value system and worked hard applying both mind and spirit. Most of them participated in sport and extra curricular activities

Let's give our kids space and a good value system and just watch them create interesting, happy, caring and successful world. 

Pablo Picasso the famous artist said; "Every child is born an artist, the problem is staying an artist, when you grow up"

A wise man once said; "If you do not build castles in the air, you build them nowhere". 


http://rainysingh.blogspot.com/2011/12/not-devils-workshop.html

The goal of a leader

As stated by Dev Frohman, the founder of Intel in Israel “should be to maximise resistance – in the sense of encouraging disagreement and dissent. When an organisation is in crises, lack of resistance can itself be a big problem. It can mean that the change you are trying to create is not radical enough…or that the opposition has gone underground. If you are not aware that people in the organisation disagree with you, then you are in trouble.”

Ten Principles to Live by in Fiercely Complex Times

Tony Shwartz If you're like most people I work with in companies, the demands come at you from every angle, all day long, and you have to make difficult decisions without much time to think about them. What enduring principles can you rely on to make choices that reflect openness, integrity and authenticity? Here are ten that work for me: 1. Always challenge certainty, especially your own. When you think you're undeniably right, ask yourself "What might I be missing here?" If we could truly figure it all out, what else would there be left to do? 2. Excellence is an unrelenting struggle, but it's also the surest route to enduring satisfaction. Amy Chua, the over-the-top "Tiger Mother," was right that there's no shortcut to excellence. Getting there requires practicing deliberately, delaying gratification, and forever challenging your current comfort zone. 3. Emotions are contagious, so it pays to know what you're feeling. Think of the best boss you ever had. How did he or she make you feel? That's the way you want to make others feel. 4. When in doubt, ask yourself, "How would I behave here at my best?" We know instinctively what it means to do the right thing, even when we're inclined to do the opposite. If you find it impossible, in a challenging moment, to envision how you'd behave at your best, try imagining how someone you admire would respond. 5. If you do what you love, the money may or may not follow, but you'll love what you do. It's magical thinking to assume you'll be rewarded with riches for following your heart. What it will give you is a richer life. If material riches don't follow, and you decide they're important, there's always time for Plan B. 6. You need less than you think you do. All your life, you've been led to believe that more is better, and that whatever you have isn't enough. It's a prescription for disappointment. Instead ask yourself this: How much of what you already have truly adds value in your life? What could you do without? 7. Accept yourself exactly as you are but never stop trying to learn and grow. One without the other just doesn't cut it. The first, by itself, leads to complacency, the second to self-flagellation. The paradoxical trick is to embrace these opposites, using self-acceptance as an antidote to fear and as a cushion in the face of setbacks. 8. Meaning isn't something you discover, it's something you create, one step at a time. Meaning is derived from finding a way to express your unique skills and passion in the service of something larger than yourself. Figuring out how best to contribute is a lifelong challenge, reborn every day. 9. You can't change what you don't notice and not noticing won't make it go away. Each of us has an infinite capacity for self-deception. To avoid pain, we rationalize, minimize, deny, and go numb. The antidote is the willingness to look at yourself with unsparing honesty, and to hold yourself accountable to the person you want to be. 10. When in doubt, take responsibility. It's called being a true adult.

NYT: What if the Secret to Success

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article;jsessionid=D3D63537DF4809ADD6E273E273A4FA17.w5?a=841121&single=1&f=37

Read more about the Character Report Card
Sent from my BlackBerry® on Reliance

Map of enlightenment

My map of enlightenment now has twelve dimensions, five of these are ways of thought ( wordless languages): Visualization, Intuition, Higher Mathematics, Creativity and the Superconscious. Visualization, Intuition and Higher Mathematics (the creative and artistic form) were used by Einstein, Schroedinger, Heisenberg and Dirac that solved problems of Quantum physics  in the 1920s that had brought physicists to despair.

      

Many students leave school  only able to think in words, a limited and undynamic way of thought. But even worse for them, the  Joy of Life that comes from creative thought is lost: ideas  of the visual dimensions of the brain including mathematics must make it the most beautiful object we can possess in the universe, leading to four Elixirs of life: Prose poem of the Oceanic Elysium.

1.   Beauty that Einstein sought lifelong : ‘New and Beautiful Laws of Nature’. Beauty and beautiful things are in religion also: when the disciple Ananda said ‘ Love of beauty is the half of the Holy Life’. The Buddha rebuked him: Say not so, Ananda! Love of beauty is not the half but the whole of the Holy Life.’      

2.   The ‘hissing’ of the Mysteries is the Superconscious state of heightened   creativity giving us the golden goose of Rumi  that let him write the sublimest golden poems every night. Great poets like Kabir when they mention the Ocean refer to this same hissing.    

3.  Peak Experiences of Abraham Maslow: Creative Raptures, Breakthroughs,  Mystic Experiences, Eureka Moments are the greatest mental joys that human beings, such as the highest people of his hierarchy- the Peakers, can experience.   

4. Dr Bolte Taylor’s Nirvana brain (the creative hemisphere) has all the visual elements of the brain so it is the Infinity mind of Creatopia, whose images are like  jewels of the fabulous Golconda mine. She said it  gave her ’euphoria and deep inner peace’.  Like Thoreau, we can walk for ever in the Elysian Fields of our own minds.  

Ted Falconar.

Power of Now

Youth is the power of now, and has to lead us into tomorrow. Their vision will shape our destiny, and this has been proven time and again. Microsoft, Facebook, Hotmail, all new technologies and services of today are an expression of the young. Their music, art, fashion, taste, logic, creative instinct has a special place in every society.

We have to live for today and enjoy the power of now, as this epitomizes the life and power of the youth in all of us. The present shapes future, best we let the power of now be with our young and accept them for their leadership. The role of a community and nation is to offer a good environment to equip for life the young. No nation can survive without the spirit of youth. The leaders have all got to listen to the youth and enable the present to fulfill their needs. We need today to invest for our future and the best way is to help the youth get the power of now.

This present moment is best lived by the young, and the fun they have adds real value to life and well being. Let not our quest for a good life, ever deprive the youth the opportunity to lead and take charge of their now and help build a better tomorrow.

Power of Now is all we have!

Sandeep Dutt
Sent from my BlackBerry®

The adults must let go

The Prophet - Khalil Gibran, gives a good message to adults...

" You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth".

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might, that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The young know their bull's eye and will make it to their goal, only if given the opportunity to lead on. The world is for the children always and may the youth always prevail. All we do is to equip them, maybe provide the necessary resources and then let them build the world of their dreams. The dreams of the young must become a reality to make a better world.

The flight of the majestic arrow is for us to enjoy and the swift current of air the arrow creates, is the beauty we need to cherish. The youth must be equipped for life, this is the truth that must be cherished by all. When we hire fresh minds for any task, the value add and their energy they adds propel the innovations to the next level. The creative instinct of the youth must never be scuttled and this is where the adults must let go. The stable hand be a guide alone and the new world be our goal.

Once the arrow leaves the stable, it will reach the destined target!

Empowerment of Youth

My friend and philosopher guide Ted writes...

In a recently published article in the Guardian there were the champion memories of  Europe and America. Our ancestors did not worry about words or telephone numbers, they just had to go out and hunt for dinner and know how to bring it home. Thus the spatial memory is vital not the verbal. So contestants learn  to put mnemonics in the form of visual images against the words they have to remember. Schools teach words that are the worst things to remember so they have to be rote learned. I suggest it is also because they are unrelated to anything else whereas total mind is a built-in mnemonic.

Teaching of the verbal part of the mind is worse than useless. Einstein's mind had at least twelve dimensions, Creative Scientists do not use words except for communication...
1. Senses 20-30, not just five (sight, sound, smell, touch and taste). Micromegas of Voltaire had near 1000!;
2. Visualization;
3. Imagination;
4. Intuition;
5. Creativity
6. Subconscious - sleep on a problem, but unaware how it works.
7. Creative Hemisphere, Bolte-Taylor's visual Nirvana brain. 'My Stroke of insight', lost her left or utility brain and found herself in the creative brain;
8. Super conscious of Aurobindo, it harnesses total brain, it hisses like the ocean. (Kundalini & Western Mystery Ceremonies). Rumi's poetry came from it;
9. Vision - Telescopic;
10. Beauty of Creative Rapture was Einstein's lifelong quest - beautiful laws of Nature;
11. Higher mathematics;
12. A lifelong purpose. Maslow's 9 Human needs.

A third of young people/students leave having lost their visualization ability. Pestalozzi schools in Switzerland teach visualization, one of their students was Einstein. He and Poincare hated rote learning of facts and words. Einstein did not think in words but visual images. Relativity came to him from thought experiment. A light ray on a train pursued by an observer in a bus.

In Industry, James Lincoln's workers; produced four times that of other companies and were paid twice as much. Every suggestion of workers were paid 100% of its savings. I was put in charge of Tetley Tea's. 1000 people and copied Lincoln. We doubled the productivity in three years and from a loss making company it became a hugely profitable. It takes workers six months to realize you the manager are on their side: then you can apply incentives and generous suggestion systems. Workers and managers should work to make the most money and provide the best security possible; the only argument is about the division of the spoils.

Creativity and the European obsessions with Renaissances of which the present is that of Science for 400 or so years; is a vision of real hope for humanity.

Students/young people need guidance in life and I have found a better than Maslow's Ascending Hierarchy of human needs:
1. Warmth and shelter.
2. Food.
3. Safety.
4. Feelings of belonging.
5. Love from someone e.g. mother.
6. Self-esteem.
7. Esteem of others.
8. Peak Experience or Creative Rapture.
9. Achievement of creativity.

After each need is fulfilled (or transcended) by religion etc; the being grows spiritually. The highest were called 'self-actualization' and are ready for the highest experiences of life. This I think is a marvelous blueprint for living.

All the best, TED

Words are artificial human

Words are artificial human noises leading us to an artificial life, whereas visualization is a language near reality. Scholars and others who have a particular fondness for books and reading are open to brain washing so they  lose visualization and worst of all enter an artificial world and become alienated from reality. Korzybski said they were not insane but UNSANE: that is they live in a verbal world not reality. This might be called verbalitis or scholitis. It is manifest in some intellectuals who are lost or incompetent in the real world; and in Islam ( having a   more verbal schooling than ours) they are called the people of words  (mutukallimun)  and being unhappy, they make good suicide bombers.

Scientists such as Einstein thought in the real world of visualization with its beauty and vastness and its memorability and swiftness; using words only for the purpose of communication with other humans. My thought is in visual images, visualization being an infinite language with infinite ideas  giving infinite answers and hope. It is  not an artificial language of word-noises that lead to an artificial life rather it is a language as near to reality as it is possible to be; for images are real pictures of real things.

AEI Falconar 

- my friend and mentor

Education is not a process

The only way to make a better world is to empower the youth with intelligence and not education. Education is a mere tool and often promoted as a panacea of all evils. What we need to do is equip for life the young and find the ways to motivate the young people and ensure leaning is real good fun. To get marks and yet not be empowered to take charge of one’s life is the biggest challenge for one and all.

Over the years and going back to civilizations we are certain to find that the word as brought of us by Gutenberg and one that looks at all in writing is not the best way to teach and empower. One who simply reads is not complete and yet one who writes too is not able to work up a livelihood, where do we stand when we say that we have to teach all to read and write and be literate enough?

Young people have to equip for life, this is what parents and generations have been championing. The years of the transfer of knowledge from guru to ‘shishya’, have time and again proven that we have to imbibe learning and not be in it as a process or a drill. For the young to live their dreams, they will need a holistic environment and this goes beyond the mere outcomes of the ‘sarva siksha abhiyan’ or the slogan ‘education for all’. The crafts that have come to has as tradition, the arts that we have, the work of many a great thinkers and leading minds all go to show that there is more to empowering than simply giving education as a process.

Creative Evolution and Human Relations

Schools and factories have much in common; managers grumble about Unions-schools about bad discipline and National Curriculums. Most managers know next to nothing about human relations and I doubt if it is any different in schools. The greatest help to me came from AH Maslow’s “Personality and Motivation”. He knew that none of the books on psychiatry told him what constituted a healthy mind so he had to make his own researches. I first heard of him from Texas Instruments who used his Hierarchy of Human Needs as a guide to treatment of workers. I applied this to Tetley Tea immediately while reading the book, with good results. I recommend it for its many insights into human beings’ minds and their vital needs. Here is one of his statements: “ Let people realize clearly that every time they threaten someone or humiliate or hurt unnecessarily or dominate or reject another human being, they become forces for the creation of psychopathology, even if they be small forces. Let them recognise that every man who is kind, helpful, decent, psychologically democratic, affectionate, and warm, is a psychotherapeutic force even though a small one.” AH Maslow.

Korzybski described Einstein’s thought as being from the ‘unspeakable’. My map of Enlightenment gives twelve dimensions to replace the unspeakable. Science does not think in words but these twelve dimensions that include higher mathematics. I regard such thought as being an exploration like an evolutionary reconnaissance. Joy can come from just being part of reality, but the twelve dimensions have their own fountains of joy: Visualization, creativity, vision, imagination,intuition, use of creative hemisphere, above all are the joys from the superconscious, Beauty to do with creativity and the Peak Experience is vital, Vision as the telescope of the mind is important. These twelve are the basics of the mind, other dimensions such as inspiration,loyalty, integrity, compassion give the mind farther backbone so it is the indefatigable mind, the undefeatable mind.

My thought is in visual images: visualization the infinite language with infinite ideas gives infinite answers and hope. It is not of artificial word-noises that lead many to an artificial life that might be called verbalizes. We should remind ourselves of two indomitable Victorians, one of them was Henry Stanley sailing down the giant Congo River where every few miles were villages of cannibals whose one thought was how they might eat Stanley and his men. He was called in the native language ‘ The Breaker of Obstacles’. The other was the supreme leader Shackleton whose rival said: “ Sir Ernest Shackleton’s name will for ever more be engraved in letters of fire in the history of Antarctic Exploration.” Roald Amundsen.

Creativity is our breaker of obstacles that is more than a match for our puny obstacles. I was sent back from America to run Tetley Tea Company that was losing money and was a very bad company. Within three months we were making money and in three years we had made so much money that I was able to give our workers a pension, which they did not have. I was not going to be in charge of people who could look forward only to a State Pension.

This was achieved by harnessing the entire creativity of our workers by giving them almost unheard of rewards for ideas. The pioneer of this was James Lincoln founder of the Lincoln Electric Company in America, which produced four times more than other companies and paid workers twice as much. Every idea of workers was paid 100% of its value shared by all workers. Lincoln and the workers were all Breakers of Obstacles.

I was inspired by Abraham Maslow though most ideas on creativity came from WJJ Gordon’s “Synectics” but I gained many insights from Maslow. He interviewed 3000 University students finding only one who had reached the highest level of the Hierarchy. The self-actualized he separated into extremely competent people and the highest: those who gained the Peak Experience. (Peakers) which is also the highest category for creativity and called Creative Rapture: the Eureka experience or breakthroughs. He said that all his self-actualized people were creative in the sense of being artists or poets and taking part in art. He wrote the finest statement on the Peak Experience I have ever read on page 164 of “Motivation and Personality.”

AEI Falconar (Ted)

Author and celebrated writer

The power of reasoning

The way to equip the young for life is to reason with them. Inherent in our oral tradition of imparting knowledge, there is the need for adults to mentor the 'shishya' with care. The youth must be led with compassion and empathy.

Traditional learning and the way knowledge transient to us over centuries, was devoid of any electronic, print or any written form. The 'guru' and the teacher practiced first and preached post, to set example and lead the young with real life example. The young of today need to connect with the adults, and the education system that is devoid of this basic understanding will not be ideal. Today when we eulogize the leaders in Gandhi, Mandela, Swami Vivekananda, Buddha, and those in our scriptures, it is more firmly established that when we reason we will succeed. The modern democratic thinking is also akin to this way to leading.

We have to be convincing and more be practical to win and lead the youth. Our M S Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, the Actors, Social activist win over and lead as the youth want them as role models. The message they give is often more powerful than what we can provide by our bookish knowledge. It is very important for us to give the young people the space and trust to lead us. When they see reason they lead and this is the key to helping young equip for life.

Youth and intellgence

The youth today are not only connected but are more perceptive to change. Gone are the days of the infantry led march approach, which simply had the youth follow a leader. The young today are questioning, open minded and  their intelligence quotient is perhaps higher than those who have lived in the closed economy era. When we reach out to the young in schools, colleges and other forums they show a better understanding of issues and challenges poised to the modern world. This is perhaps what makes them stand apart and think globally.

The youth today are not only simple doers, but are high achievers and work to raise the bar for themselves. Their ability to question and reason with the adults is their strength and mentors must take this in a positive light. There is no reason to label the young as rebels, but there is the need for us to understand how they are different and how we too need to adapt to their changing needs. As mankind has evolved and there is the need for a higher level of mental peformance to match the faster microprocessors... we must do all to enable the young and help their intelligence guide us tool.

There is a leader today in each young person, and this is surely the biggest opportunity. Moving from the industrial era to a time of service and endless opportunity, the young will have to build their intelligence even further to maybe beat the speed of light too. The need to resepect the young and colloborate with them to enable, empower and equip them to the needs of the ever chaning world is indeed the only way for a society to develop.

Youthful Nation

The nation is always young and has many of us in transition. Like the young who are working to a better world, the nations must evolve and keep up with the needs and aspirations of the youth. Youth development is really the crux of nation building, the country that takes care of the young people develops and goes on to become not only rich in wealth and culture but evolves as a real welfare state.

India's rise in economic terms is closely linked to the youth power, and all investments in building youth capital will help the young equip for life. Yes, inclusive growth the mantra of governments is enshrined on building up the quality of life for the young people, and we all need to partner to help the young achieve their true potential. How do we do this?

Education many a times is touted and promoted as literacy, promotes the need to read and write for a better future, this is not enough. We need thinking and understanding and that is really the bottom line for a better future. There is the growing need for mentors to help the young; empower them to live in harmony with nature, encourage them to serve the community and more so be better skilled than simply educated in the read and write way. We all have to work to equip for life the young, challenge them to achieve their true potential and keep the nation young, dynamic and on the growth path always.

Let us invest in our youth and improve our own life.

Interview at Junior Round Square Conference, Gwalior

Interview of Mr. Sandeep Dutt with Niket Jain
via Award India by The Studio on 2/16/11


Niket: Your Biodata mentions your profession as brewing knowledge, what do you mean by that?

Mr. Sandeep: It’s very interesting. This always happens to be the first question that is asked of me in every interview. I always ask what is life. It is like a pot in which we put in and take out information. So essentially what we do in our life is create a knowledge base. Whether you study, teach or do anything else in life. This is the key and when I say brewing knowledge, it essentially means what we do everyday. It’s your job whether you are giving, taking or learning each moment you are brewing knowledge. This I feel is the most important thing to do as an entrepreneur.

Niket: Being a Doon School product do you think residential school students have an edge over day school students.

Mr. Sandeep: There is a very simple answer to that. A residential school gives an opportunity to a person to find himself, understand himself and see the world with an advantage which an average young child does not have. And as residential schools focus on real front, on the ground work and training or delivery, they are much better than the others. This is the way it helps the students to learn and lead ahead.

Niket : How did you discover your love for adventure, mountaineering in particular?

Mr. Sandeep: To me life is an adventure itself and is a journey with ups and downs which come in our way. I feel mountains personify a leader. They are high, strong and have value. They give a lot to us and take very little in return which is what a good leader does. And that is why in adventure, mountains have always played the role of a mystic. They symbolize the ultimate for an adventurer. Lot of challenge today is based on mountains. The height of a mountain helps us to reach personal heights as an individual.

Niket: You have won many awards. One of them is the ‘Himalayas Clean Prize. How do you try to create environmental awareness in people?

Mr. Sandeep: What is the most important thing when you talk about environment? You must accept that the only reality in life is the environment around you. To make this comfortable, you have to be in harmony with it. So when we say ‘keep clean’ it doesn’t really mean picking up a broom and ensuring there is no litter around. Litter is only the surface, it’s not the answer. Litter is just what is visible but there is so much more that defiles the environment. When we look at cleanliness we have to work out a way that we leave nature untouched and don’t disturb its pristine beauty. My philosophy of going to nature is just leaving it as it is. That’s what I mean by cleanliness. A very simple thing, when you put up a camp side please restore it to as close as possible. That’s just a small message about keeping a place clean.

Niket: Sir, can you tell us how you are associated with the Duke of Edinburgh awards?

Mr. Sandeep: Essentially, I see my role today as primarily to raise the profile of the awards programme. We have been in India for almost 48 years now. So my job is to promote the award authority, our first task is to promote. Our second task is to provide, which means every young person who is of the age minimum 14 and maximum 25 should have access to the award program and third is to make the award more precious to young people. To make young people live the award and not just wear it.

 Kind courtesy Editor of The Review, Scindia School at Gwalior, India

The Leader is within you

Leadership is nothing but finding yourself, look in to the mirror and see what it says.

We must have the courage to follow our heart and choose our paths, the mind and the heart in unison will help us find ourselves. Young people need to be given the opportunity to be heard, seen and even act. Often the leader within is stifled due to circumstance. Young people think fresh and this too is nothing but leadership. Look at yourself like a spring, and more our push yourself the energy will do a rebound and even stronger. It is all within you and we all have to work to make it happen.

When young and the old (grown ups of age) coexist there is often the pressure to respect age and this is indeed the challenge. The world has seen fresh and new ideas emanate from the young and this is where the leaders are. Young people are able to see all the colours in the prism and will be better leaders. There is the need to let every colour and shade be present to make white light. Yes, the white light is the brightest and that is what the leadership is about.

We have to offer the best possible opportunity, environment and create the energy for the young to reflect within and find the leader in themselves. The leaders are within and must be given the rightful place. Learning is  two-way, the young and the old must work to find the leader within. Wake up...find the leader in yourself, this will strengthen you, enhance your self esteem and will make your dreams come true.

Cheers for the young and let us follow them for a better tomorrow.

Happiness

"If you wait to be happy, you'll wait for forever !

But if you start to be happy, you'll be happy forever"...


Author unknown

Twenty five the defining year!

The young people in the ages of 14 to 25, need mentors, and this is the challenge for those above the age of 25. There really are not enough mentors for the young leaders. We need to work with the young  and make a better world. To build bonds with young people is the prime motive of the mentors, and is the only way to build leadership in every individual.


Leadership is the outcome of good motivation, and for this we need to engage and empower the young people. We need to work with the young people in the years below 25, to help them get skilled, be physically fit, serve the community and care for the environment. The four cornerstones of a good individual are thus service, skills, sports and outward bound activity. Leaders are not taught in the classroom but are found in the pursuits under the sky. For mentors the sky is the limit, they must push themselves to walk the talk, and make way for young people who always look up to them for inspiration.


The adult mentors who have found the road to life are the best guides for the young who are undergoing formal education, for those seeking suitable employment, for those keen to acquire skills and more so for those who aspire to live their dreams. The turning point of twenty point is really most important, and is in a way a watershed year.


The mentors live their dreams in the mentored, this is the universal truth. Let us work to fulfil our dreams and guide the future leaders to a better world.


Cheers, to the spirit of youth!


Sandeep Dutt

Friends Forever

 Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.  ~Author Unknown

When we win hearts, there is joy and this brings to us the fun in the learning process. Each one of us wants to be friends, with our teacher, parent, peer, senior or any other individual and with one self too! 

Friends are of all ages, colour, sizes and culture. Few (less fortunate ones specially) do not get to taste friendships because our kids avoid them for various reasons. On the other hand we also have very high profile people who sit lonely on the pinnacle of their achievements. People are in awe of such people as a result no one reaches out to them and they remain lonely.

The only way to move ahead with any learning is to build communication links and win hearts. Yes, as humans we are compassionate and need to live in a community, the only way to live as a good society is to bind with the heart. So how should we reach out to them? 

We will together explore and find ways to reach out and build friends forever. There is the need to look for mentors and friends everywhere...

1.   Parents as friends

2.   Teachers as friends

3.   Peers as friends

4.   Seniors as friends

5.   People with challenges as your dear friends

6.   Icons or Stars as your friends

7.   Yourself as a friend

True leaders are also great friends, how the President of US, or our great leaders connect with us and influence the destiny of millions are indeed ways of literally befriending us. We have a picture of many individuals within us and consider them as friends and feel connected with them. The 7 friends listed are only the beginning to help you think, and evolve as better friends.

“ To have a good friend. You have to be one. So be nice to one another. So you can be friends forever.”

Live it up!

“Enjoy life. This is not a dress rehearsal.” 
- Author Unknown 

From Power of Now to The Prize, all espouse the life at the present moment. The young live for the present moment, and this is the best possible gift. While the grown ups one plan for the future and hope to live it, the young feel yesterday is a bore and tomorrow may not come...this is the life and that is where the challenge lies.

All strategic plans and crystal ball gazing has no meaning, if this one life is not lived with fun and more so by making the most of it. We the mentors have a lot to learn from this and need to ensure that there is more learning with fun and this is the most essential element to help us connect with the young. There is only one life, and we need to live this in harmony and not in contradiction with the youth. 

The young have aspirations that must be lived today, and not be retained as dreams for tomorrow. The now generation as the youth are often labelled, affirms the belief that life is now, they want it all instant, from food to fun and to learning. Today is the best time, with a free flow of knowledge and a virtual world, we have to make the most and make now the best time of our lives.