Written in 43 B.C. by Cicero of the Roman empire

Cicero of the Roman empire wrote this:

1. The poor - work & work.

2. The rich - exploit the poor.

3. The soldier - protects both.

4. The taxpayer - pays for all three. 

5. The banker - robs all four.

6. The lawyer - misleads all five.

7. The doctor - bills all six.

8. The goons - scare all of seven.

9. The Politician -, lives happily on account of all eight.

Written in 43 B.C.‼️

Valid even today

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What to look when you Hire?

Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if you don't have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without [integrity], you really want them to be dumb and lazy.

Integrity, intelligence, and energy = a great hire.

Putting all the pieces together, you have a great package deal. And while integrity may weigh heavier, the bar must be set equally high for each of the three traits. 

• Hire someone with high energy, high intelligence, but low integrity and you'll get a smart, fast-moving thief.
• Hire someone with high intelligence, high integrity, but low energy and you'll get a shopkeeper, not an engine of growth.
• Hire someone with high energy, high integrity, but low intelligence and you'll get a strong functionary, but not a great problem solver or visionary.

First of all, we're not negating the other two traits as deemed of lesser importance. You absolutely need intelligence in a knowledge economy. And energy is the fuel that propels passion and motivation.

But a lack of integrity? Like Warren Buffett asserts, it's a clear non-negotiable. When you hire someone with integrity, it's the central pillar that holds all three together or the structure collapses.

Integrity is what makes it hard to question a person's decisions. His or her actions are open for everyone to see and you can rest assured that he or she will use good judgment. 

In tight, collaborative spaces, colleagues of such hires will quickly see them as dependable and accountable for their actions, which is a laser path to developing team trust.

Hiring people with integrity also addresses the leadership void. A person who walks-the-walk of integrity eventually becomes a role model who commands respect and exercises great influence. These are the type of leaders people desire and whom you want to promote to management roles. 

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Why do I write Blogs?

I write every single day and I think writing daily has allowed me to do it for a purpose.

None of this is to brag, but to show the kind of writing I do when I write daily.

The Benefits

Writing every day has helped me in so many ways. Just to name a few:

• My writing skills have improved with the years.
• I’m able to write faster, type faster, with so much practice.
• I can clarify my thinking better because of writing regularly.
• I’m able to think from the reader’s perspective, which helps me in lots of life situations.
• I am forced to reflect on my life, which deepens my learning.
• I am forced to figure out how to motivate myself to write regularly.
• I learn to create a regular practice, as I do with meditation, exercise and eating healthily.
• I learn to overcome perfection and put things out there to be judged, which helps me to embrace failure and messiness.
• I learn to overcome distraction and procrastination.

There are many more benefits too, from embracing uncertainty to find a way to express the soul of my being. 

So how do you write daily? I’ll share a few ideas that work for me.

How to Write Daily

What works for you will be different than what I do, but I thought I’d share what has helped me:

1. Most important: Have a great reason. The rest of this doesn’t matter if you skip this step. 
2. Block off un distracted time. All you need is 10 minutes a day. But you have to block off those 10 minutes, and treat them as an unmissable appointment. 
3. Don’t let yourself forget. What would you do if you absolutely couldn’t forget an appointment? 
4. Do it in a sprint. Some people think they need to write for an hour or two to make it count. But a task that big will seem daunting. Instead, write for 5 minutes. Or 10. Something small and doable.
5. Practice mindfulness. You can treat writing as a meditation — it’s a way to put everything aside but you and the writing, to let your thoughts become words on the page, to see your urges to run, the stories you’re telling yourself about yourself and your life. 
6. Practice gratitude. As you practice mindfulness, notice the awesomeness of this moment of self-expression. 
7. Embrace imperfection. Writing is about letting go of our ideals, and just doing anyway, even if we can’t have perfection. 
8. Don’t let your mind run (for a little while). Your mind will want to run from the writing. This is normal. 

So that might seem like a lot, but in truth it’s pretty simple. Have a big reason, block off the time, set unforgettable reminders, do it in short bursts, and be mindful, grateful, and focused.

Practicing this on a daily basis helps you form some incredibly useful skills of staying with something and not running to distractions, learning to express yourself, sticking to a regular habit, and being mindful and grateful. These help in all areas of life, and I highly recommend you start today.

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Healthy Joyful Meals

Shifting from a convenient but unhealthy diet to one of healthful, delicious joy can be a challenge when you’re living alone — but there’s a whole new level of challenge if you are part of a family.

The problem: while you might want to change to a new style of eating, picky eaters (kids, but also spouses) can disagree with the change.

Who wants to eat Chappati when pasta and pizza are go-to staples? Who wants to eat oats and fruit when Paratha and Kachori are the usual breakfast foods?

Well, me. And maybe you. But how do we deal with a family full of picky eaters?

We have been somewhat successful here (with our family of 6), but it took awhile, and in truth, we still have plenty of picky eaters in our family.

That said, I’ll share what has worked for us:

1. We try to find things that the whole family likes that are healthy and tasty. 
2. Other times, we cook something less healthy that they would like
3. We often make a lot of food for the family dinner and then have leftovers for lunch
4. We talk to the kids and try to get them to explore foods they don’t always like. 
5. Sometimes we cook a dish that has something one of the kids doesn’t like (mushrooms, for example)
6. If someone doesn’t like the dinner, they can just have a little of it and then make  simple things for themselves.
7. Finally, we get everyone involved in the meal planning. 

You don’t have to do all of these, but there might be a couple ideas here that work for you.

In the end, embrace the  philosophy of small, gradual change. You don’t have to do all of this overnight. But there’s also the philosophy of loving the change you’re creating — how can you show them that this is a joyful change to delicious nutritiousness?

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Importance of Meditation and Yoga

Yoga and Meditation isn’t magic, but it is a medicine for uncertainty and anxiety.

Here’s what it can do for us in these times of heightened fears:

• Help us to notice when we’re caught up in anxious thoughts — when you notice this, you can do something about it
• Help us to see the feelings that are arising for us, which we might not normally notice
• Interrupt the thought cycles we get caught up in, that might be keeping us from being present or sleeping, by dropping our awareness into the sensations of the body
• Help calm down and see that in this moment, things are not dangerous, they are actually OK
• Bring calm focus when we need to get some stuff done

These are just a few things you might see from meditation and Yoga. Obviously, there’s much more to it. But it’s worth practicing.

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New Normal of this New Life today

Life is always opening doors for us, giving us a gift. We just don’t often recognize it.

We waste the opportunity that life has given us!

So being aware of this … how can we use this new normal as an opportunity and a gift?

Some things that have changed for many of us:

1. A sense of restriction: We’re not able to do our usual things — not only work and school, but things like haircuts, dentists, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, shops and more. That can feel very restricted.
2. Heightened uncertainty & anxiety: Things are incredibly uncertain right now, for all of us — for our health, the health of loved ones, the state of the world, the shaky economy, our individual financial situations. And that’s just the start of it. All of this uncertainty is triggering feelings of stress, fear and anxiety in most people, in different ways.
3. A feeling of isolation but also (possibly) togetherness: For many people, social distancing has created a feeling of isolation that can be very hard to handle. But for many, there can also be a feeling of togetherness – we’re all in this together, no one is excluded. Some are creating that feeling of togetherness by doing video calls, by connecting others online, or by taking part in community or group efforts to help.
4. Contraction when we’re feeling overwhelmed: It can all be too much. And when we feel that sense of overwhelm, we can want to shut down, exit, turn away, avoid. We avoid hard tasks, we go to distraction, we avoid our healthy habits. This is all completely normal!
5. A sense of disruption: Our old habits have been disrupted — we can’t do all the things we’re used to doing, and that gives us a feeling of being upended. It’s frustrating to have things disrupted, and can make us feel afloat.
6. Irritation with others: Being isolated with the same people every day can cause friction. And that brings up all of our issues, all the ways we respond (and they respond) when we get triggered.
7. Wanting it all to be over: Impatience! We just want to go back to normal. It’s hard to accept the way things are.

You might not be experiencing all of these, because every person is experiencing the new normal differently.

But it is a new normal.

So the question is: will we resist it, or can we use it as an opportunity?

We can complain about the new normal. Hate it. Stew in frustration about it. That’s one possibility.

Another possibility is to use it as a growth opportunity. What is your choice here?

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Hindu Dharma and Karma in Bhaarat

Dharma is an important term in Indian religions. In Hinduism it means 'duty', 'virtue', 'morality', even 'religion' and it refers to the power which upholds the universe and society

Karma is the force generated by one's actions in life that affect how one will be reborn and dharma is the divine law by which all people are required to do their duty based on their rank in society.

The history of our ancestors is recorded in Holy texts such as the Ramayan, Mahabharat, Shrimadbhagwat, Purans etc. From these texts, we can realise that only seekers have the right to rule this earth surrounded by the oceans. At the end of the Satyayug, when there was a decline in So-ham bhav, one of the four aspects of Dharma was destroyed and proportionately, conduct as per Dharma in one-fourth of the earth region vanished and Dharma remained in only three-fourths of the region. The Tretayug manifested at that time. Again, when one more aspect weakened, the Dwaparyug came into existence and only a few individuals on half the earth retained conduct as per Dharma. At the culmination of the Dwaparyuga, as three aspects of Dharma weakened, people on only one-fourth of the earth retained conduct as per Dharma. It was then that the Kaliyug (Era of strife) commenced. From the Pandav lineage, Arjun’s grandson Parikshit became the first King in the Kaliyug. Even in those times of Kaliyuga, Brahmans had the capabilities of performing sarpayadnya. Later, the Sattva component began to decline everywhere and only Bharat remained a land of spiritual practice and therefore, became a meritorious land. This is precisely why the Holy text Shri Gurucharitra says that ‘Bharat is the most meritorious land in the five continents.’

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Work From Home in Covid-19 Lockdown

Here are the pros and cons I experienced after 2 months of work from home.

Pros

No traffic

Forget about money. Time is the most precious asset you have. I didn’t have the longest commute in the world, but when I added up how much time I was spending each week, month and year… it couldn’t go on. Things had to change.

Eat at home

Less eating out means less money spent. Sometimes you won’t have enough for a proper lunch, but you can usually get enough out of the fridge to kill the hunger. And — you can eat on the sofa while watching “The Big Bang Theory”.

Comfort

Working from home is mostly more comfortable than an office. You can work in your PJs, you can can work at a desk or any other suitable surface (i.e.: couch, bed, floor, whatever suites you).

Cons

No team

In the first few days, I was on fire! No distractions, no noise, completely at ease; I’ve never worked so well and so much! But then, as the days went by, I started missing all that I’d left behind. Having a bunch of guys next to you, all doing the same kind of tasks, makes a lot of difference, believe me. Being present and having presence are completely different things. And you can’t simulate that through Google Hangouts.

Distractions

With no one watching you around the clock, it’s not easy to stay focused. You need a lot of discipline to keep the momentum. When you work alone, the awareness of your procrastination is highly present. And although at the office, with your fellow workers, you have these and other distractions, it’s easy to stay focused when everyone around you is working for the same goal.

Pressure

When you have a bad day at work you still have the sensation of accomplishment. You drove to work, attended meetings, take care of some stuff… you actually did some tasks. And then you head home!

When you work from home and you have a bad day, it feels like you’ve done nothing! Maybe you had to start something from scratch because it wasn’t done properly the first time, and when the workday is over and you’re still on the same spot… it’s a terrible feeling.

Resolutions

• Human interactions are important
• Cheering yourself it’s hard when you’re alone
• Change your working methods if you feel that you’re not that committed 
• Working full-time, 9 to 5, from home, alone… SUCKS! I work perfectly from home, but without a timetable.

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Covid-19 - History in Creation

I'm on work from home since 18th March to 31st March 2020 so thought of sharing few updates in my personal space. Times have changed. From herpes and legionnaires’ disease in the 1970s, to AIDS, Ebola, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and now Covid-19, contagious diseases continue to threaten and disrupt human populations. Historians, who never lost interest in epidemics, have much to offer. I just collected few information for you all and would like o throw some light on it.

By labeling the spread a pandemic, WHO was indicating that the virus was now a worldwide phenomenon. The decisions also reflects the WHO's concern at what it calls the “alarming levels of the corona virus spread, severity and inaction”, and the expectation that the number of cases, deaths and affected countries will continue to climb.

The WHO chief acknowledged that the COVID-19 spread is the first pandemic to be caused by a corona virus (i.e. any of the large variety of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases)

Now our Focus should be on five words or phrases, beginning with “P”: 

Prevention, Preparedness, Public health, Political leadership and People.

Everyone should frequently wash their hands (and wash them thoroughly, with soap); maintain at least one meter distance from anyone coughing or sneezing, and avoid physical contact when greeting; avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth; cover the mouth and nose with a bent elbow or disposable tissue when coughing or sneezing; and stay home and seek medical attention from local health providers, if feeling unwell.

Whilst the virus infects people of all ages, there is evidence that older people (60 and over), and those with underlying health conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer), are at a higher risk. So requesting all to do social distancing for some time and please don’t do panic buying in this trying times.

The best place to get reliable information is the WHO Website, www.who.int. Here you can find comprehensive advice, including more on how to minimize the risk of spreading, or catching COVID-19.

Government has taken many measures to curb this by doing lockdowns, curfew, work from home, extending timeline for financial year closure, pumping money into economy but we as a citizen also need to take care of our society and community like our family.

Let us hope and pray to God for everyone's well-being.

#Stay Safe, #Stay Healthy, #Stay Home

#Go Corona Go

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My life as new MOM

I only wish that I could keep the house clean, feed my kid delicious and nutritious meal, organize a days in a way that doesn’t drive me crazy, AND still have a little time for fun? Aww.. very very difficult!

After all, food and clean underwear are the bare minimum we moms need to strive for. If your kid has clean clothes to wear and healthy food to eat, you’ve made a great start on taking care of both of you.

You know that the life as Mom is full of sleepless nights, overflowing diaper pails, and messes that multiply like bunnies. It’s also replete with happy giggles, bellies to tickle, and warm bodies to cuddle.

My babies smile, giggles, and pride in new accomplishments can heal me and bring joy in my life!

I can have the worst day, come home and listen to see my Adi and All is right in my world!"

But really, it’s the crazy that gets in the way of the cuddles.😊

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Understanding Capital Gain Tax

Many people make capital gains from stock and mutual fund investments. An individual who has sold shares or mutual fund units in the previous financial year must mention the gains, if any, in the return. 
Long-term capital gains on stocks and equity mutual funds are not taxed. But short-term gains are taxed at 15%.
In case of debt mutual funds, both short-term and long-term capital gains are taxed. Short-term capital gains are added to the income and taxed as per the individual's income tax slab. Long-term capital gains from debt mutual funds are taxed at 20% with indexation and 10% without indexation. Indexation is adjusting the purchase price for inflation. This increases the purchase cost and, thus, lowers the gain. 
Calculating capital gains is not easy. Imagine you invested in an equity fund through a systematic investment plan, or SIP, till December 2013 and redeemed the investment in March 2014. You might have made decent profits on your total investment, but a part of it could be short-term gains (each SIP instalment must complete one year if it is to be considered a long-term investment for tax purpose), which are taxable at 15%.

Will you be able to calculate the short-term gains on your own? You can, if you are financially savvy, get the net asset value, or NAV, of the fund on each SIP date and calculate the profit/loss on each SIP to arrive at the net gain. Most retail investors will find the process tedious. Even if they are able to do the calculation, they would rather not take any chance lest they make a wrong disclosure in the return.

It's better to get the figure from a trusted source. Mutual fund investors can get the capital account statement on demand from the fund house. However, it is not easy for investors in direct equity, as not all brokerage houses give the statement.

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Art is in the start

A regular practice of reflection and review helps you recognize patterns, gain insight about your work and relationships. Its good to celebrate and appreciate achievements and gestures, and puzzle out what helps and hinders progress. Journaling itself will improve your inner work life, lifting your emotions and aiding cognitive processing and adaptation. Religiously take ten minutes out of your day to reflect, vent, and celebrate.

Here is an interesting last fact for you. Making decisions is all about our intellectual capability, right? I thought so too, turns out, that's completely wrong.

The way our brains are built make it necessary that emotions "cloud" our judgment. Without all that cloudy emotion, we wouldn't be able to reason, have motivation, and make decisions. The science behind what motivates us to get up for work every day is the art to start and maintain consistency in doing whatever you want to, after a while it becomes your habit and you'll just do it!

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