Straits Times reported very interesting news on April 16, “Digital Media may affect morality”!
“It’s astonishing but study results, which are going to be published next week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Journals, found that emotions related to our sense of morality, such as admiration and compassion, take much longer to form that our visceral reactions to pain or physical suffering. For some kinds of thoughts, especially moral decision-making about other people’s social and psychological situations, we need to allow for adequate time and reflection. A USC (University of Southern California) study showed that volunteers needed six to eight seconds to fully respond to compelling, real-life stories used to induce admiration or compassion for physical or social pain, and the feelings are more prolonged. If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about people’s psychological states, and that would have implications for your morality.”
Social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook, virtual games, online news, and Twitter—thanks to all these platforms, we are living in a virtual world most of the time and that can be dangerous. It’s very necessary to have social experiences to have a strong moral character for individuals. The Internet is such a medium that can lead to addiction and suddenly one day you will realize that you are living in a virtual world, and this will have a wrong impact on your personality. Take it as a warning, we are humans after all and need to have physical presence and interaction around. Virtually, its good to be in touch with all those whom we cannot meet. But don’t get involved yourself so much; start living in that world only.
Womenfolk, especially those who are working, should make sure that they don’t lose their precious emotions in hands of digital media. Is it happening to you that after listening to some sad story, you are least bothered, or the next door neighbour’s illness hardly effects you? Maybe you are so immersed into your own virtual world that you are not aware of the happenings of the real world around. Take it as a warning and come out of your virtual world.
Make sure you are not missing your tea time breaks with your dear friend for a giggle and to share each other secrets with full mindfulness!
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!
The government of India has developed an ‘Online Grievance Forum http://pgportal.gov.in/ . Any Indian can register on this website? Yes we are improving, maybe with slow pace but definitely we are changing for the better!
The govt wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.
Many of us say that these things don’t work in India. Its common scene in group discussions, whether its a family discussion, or friends one, in fact, the employee groups themselves discuss the laid-back nature of the Indian government. There are so many things to complain about but nobody to listen to those complaints. If somebody tries to reach the concerned authority for the grievance redress, he has to cross so many steps of formalities that in end his patience leaves him alone.
Grievance redress site will connect the common man straight to the concerned authority and thus will consume less time in decision making from the part of government The challenge is to create awareness regarding the presence of this site. Indian government should promote this site in much larger scale.
The penetration of the internet among urban Indians stands at 9% now, assuming the total urban population at 336 million. The marketing research http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/indias-internet-users-reach-30-million-637/
reflects that Internet usage in India is growing at the steady pace. But we can say that the population percentage who is using the Internet is having basic education and thus can be concerned about the government actions regarding some areas in their surroundings.
The need of the hour is to take that first step.
Indian womenfolk, what are you waiting for? You are not happy with the things happening around you. Damaged roads, a limited supply of electricity, corrupt officials, red-tapism, there are so many things which upset you as it affects the quality of your family life.
Take this liberty to question the government on various issues which are troubling you!
A couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents. A resident used the above-listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. To his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. The government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it’s clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.
So use this grievance forum and educate others who don’t know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ‘System’ in India.
Invite your friends to contribute to many such happenings.
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in women!
Social Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker/Trainer, Activist for Women related Health issues, Mentor, Mother, Wife, and a true Friend – so many faces of a single woman who is named Azeeza Jalaludeen.
When you meet her for the first time her eye color attracts your attention to complement her. You chat with her; you find her inner spark and radiance on her face inviting again to interact with her. You become her friend, her charm and honest persona compel you to be in touch with her forever in life!
This is Azeeza Jalaludeen, Co-Founder of SHINE- A Social Enterprise & its various platforms. SHINE is Self-Help International Network Enterprise. She is a Social Entrepreneur, Professional Speaker & Trainer & Personal/Business Coach.
A Housewife, & mother of 4, turned Professional Trainer & Business Coach, she started her self-discovery journey in 2002, learning from business & spiritual gurus, from US, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, China, etc, on the various aspects of life enhancement. She began her human development journey, in 2003. Since then, she has touched the lives of thousands of people in Singapore & Malaysia. She has vast experience & exposure in numerous industries, communicating with people of different cultures. This has made her a highly proficient communicator, business networker, & an effective trainer in Human Skills Development.
She is effectively Multi-Lingual in Mandarin, Tamil, Malay & English for almost 30 years now. With Tamil-Speaking Parents, who migrated from India in the 1970s, this Singapore-born, took up Chinese as a 2nd language, throughout her primary (Ai Tong), secondary & college education in Singapore. She continued to excel in speaking the Mandarin language fluently, while at work & in business. She discovered the business viability of knowing & speaking Mandarin & her passion to share this unique talent with the non-chinese speaking community. Thus, she has developed the Course – Conversation in Mandarin in 2002 & renamed “SHINE Key to Conversation Mandarin” in 2004.
Her sincere, passionate & enthusiastic disposition, with sharing of her refreshing personal experiences & ideas, makes her connect with her audience & participants almost instantly. Azeeza is always successful in uplifting learners’ self-confidence & inspiring them to overcome self-limitations & cultural barriers, helping them enhance and coaching them to advance in their Career & Life!
SHINE Endometriosis Awareness & Support – SEAS, one of the other efforts of Azeeza, started in November 2007, is the Non-Profit Global Organisation of the social enterprise, SHINE (Self-Help International Network Enterprise) Group, dedicated to educating & supporting on Endometriosis & Menstrual Health issues. As a non-profit support group operating from S’pore, they provide holistic approaches to this condition, as they are constantly updated through collaboration with Endometriosis Organisations, Specialists & Support Groups, globally. Azeeza is a sufferer of endometriosis (one of the least understood & talked about the condition of our time). So she is very well aware of the problems this disease. Her mission for SEAS is in creating awareness for this condition in Asia/World & empowering women to “Conquer this Endo Dis-ease”.
Highlights of some of her achievements continue…
Money and You Graduate, Competent Toastmaster, BNI Certified Networker, etc. She has recently also started contributing actively to the WIN-Women Executive Committee in Sengkang.
She has been featured and interviewed in Singapore’s Tamil, Chinese, English & Malay media since 1985.
It’s mentionable that she is one of the FIRST few Professional Human Skills Development Trainers in Singapore/ Asia, to conduct transformational training that include “walking on broken glass”.
Azeeza’s vision is ONE World of Abundance, where everyone has peace & prosperity. She is doing this by reaching out to womenfolk & aspiring individuals, helping them discover the spirit of social entrepreneurship & also through career development in the Professional Speaking & Training Industry. She says that our world around is full of abundance in everything, and it’s in everybody’s reach. She is working with the global network of organizations in changing the scarcity mentality of individual’s to mentality of abundance so that every individual progress’s towards a life of happiness and fulfillment. Hats off to her endeavors!www.shineworldwide.com/about_shine.html
www.shineworldwide.com/about_shine.html
The Internet has become a good source of guidance for this generation parents. There are various websites which guide you to improve your parenting skills at different stages. What to do or not to do, how to deal with your kid, how to tackle the growing phases, what diet to give, there are so many issues which are discussed on such sites.
I came across one very informative site www.youandyourchildshealth.org
It’s a living book which teaches you how to look after your kid’s health, how to create a healthier environment in your home. Articles are really informative and cover all spheres of parenting. It’s interesting to read about topics like Importance of Warmth and Feeling of Illness.
Susan R. Johnson is the person who is on this site. He is a Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrician in the United States.His views regarding parenting are quite interesting. Under the category of the spiritual life of your kid in his talks, he guides parents how to help your kid visualize, dream and have out of box thinking. All articles are real mind-opener to new age parents, particularly who are pressurizing their kids to achieve academic excellence at very young age!
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!
“One is not born Woman, one becomes one.”
Indeed!
To celebrate this spirit of womanhood on the eve of International women’s day, event Fiesta was organized by SHINE – Self-Help International Network Enterprise. A Social Enterprise in Singapore. Their forte is in training Int’l Professional Speakers/Trainers & Social Entrepreneurs. They also organize charitable events & Outreach Programs for the community.
International Women’s day is one particular date in the whole year in which women are acknowledged for her achievements in different fields. Efforts are made globally, to work towards the improvement of women’s status in society and her empowerment.
Woman acts as a wife, mother, sister, daughter and maybe also a professional. Multitasking all her jobs with credibility is in itself an achievement. As a professional, she delivers all her responsibilities with diligence, as a family person she plays all roles with affection and perfection. Definitely, she deserves admiration for her performance.
Womankind has always been known for her courage, determination, diligence, integrity, softness, confidence, charm and so many more attributes. It is time for her to enjoy all her attributes, enhance her knowledge regarding her advancement, pamper herself, and most importantly ENJOY! Celebrating womanhood…The ‘Fiesta’ gave a platform to womenfolk to do all they wanted and longed to do. Packaged with the variety of workshops, dance performances, music performances, lucky draws, and stalls for health screening, makeovers, foot and shoulder massages, henna, painting, and lots more activities, Fiesta gave a reason to womenfolk to party, enhance knowledge, and appreciate their worth!
The opening of the event was done by keynote delivered by Dr Ramesh Nambiar Hon. PhD Founder of SHINE – Self-Help International Network Enterprise. It was followed by a programme Women Shining around the World, where ladies representing different countries attired in particular countries costume ramped around the stage. Dance performances Hip Hop by G30 Group, Indian Dance by Madhavi, Fusion Dance by Meenu and Belly Dance by Stephanie were appreciated a lot.
Celebrity Performance by” Live Your Dream” fame Alan Sandosham was a real crowd puller.
Beauty, good health and a strong personality defines the essence of womanhood around. Keeping this in mind all workshops were designed to enhance their knowledge regarding these aspects. This will help them to become healthier, confident and beautiful. The first workshop Creating a Healthy You was remarkable in the sense as it talked about women menstrual issues, healthy diet tips & how to exercise effectively, even using a mop & pail. Speaker’s profiles reflect their expertise in their particular field- Ms Angela Lee – Health Specialist with many years experience in Holistic Health Management, Ms Ketki Vinayachandra – Head of Fertility Centre in Natural Therapies Centre, Singapore. Australian trained Naturopath, Herbalist Dave – Certified Physical Trainer & Instructor who conducts health & fitness classes for women, to exercise in the comfort of their home. Ladies were benefitted by the discussion about the health management.
Workshop on Creating a Beautiful You was carried by Mrs Lena Lee who is the Beauty & Wellness personal Grooming & Make-up Specialist with many years of experience. .Ladies got a chance to learn exciting tips to DIY Anti-Aging, Skin-Care. Also Got Hands-on Makeup / Grooming ideas. Participants also got a chance to get on the spot make-over.
Creating an Avant-Garde You workshop was carried by Dr Ramesh Nambiar Hon. PhD. – Int’l Professional Empowerment Coach with more than 25 years experience in Mind Energizing. The workshop was about discovering your passion to stand out in the current scenario. The idea of the workshop was to motivate the audience to ponder about their dreams so that they can come out from their comfort zone and work hard in creating a niche for themselves.
The highlight of the event was dialogue session with 4 achieving Women who had inspiring success stories to share on their work/ business & personal lives. It was inspiring to listen to Ms Angela Lee, Spirit of Enterprise 2005 Award Winner, who shared on her 19 years business experience in the Property Industry, & how she pursued her dreams based on her “inner voice”. She is also a Socio-preneur, creating awareness on women health issues.
The other Achieving woman in the Dialogue session was Ms Azeeza Jalaludeen, Co-Founder of SHINE. She’s a Full-time Home-maker, turned Professional Speaker & Trainer. She touched on how she derives her inspiration from within, & the women around her, including from her mother.
Ms Moon Loh and Ms Murshidah were the other speakers. Ms Moon Loh introduced the audience to interesting word Mompreneur. Mompreneur is moms who establish businesses at home while also acting as the parent of their children. In Canada, they define Mompreneur as “A woman started the business because she’s been inspired by being a mother”. This information was quite new and inspiring to ladies. Doing business from home sounds good to all mothers. Ms Moon shares tips on her blog how to enhance business by internet marketing.
Ms Murshidah is related to Accelerated Learning Centre for people passionate about enhancing education and training systems. She has been doing lots of corporate and public workshops now in areas of personal enhancement. She shared her experiences with the audience to how to overcome your fears and obstacles and come out a winner. The Message of the Fiesta was “Lady, You Are Doing The Best You Can; I appreciate You for your efforts!”
If nobody’s telling you this, its time you stop & tell yourself & feel the essence of worthiness in yourself, accept it, enjoy it & grow stronger with this feeling!”
The Chairperson of the Fiesta Organizing Committee, Ms Azeeza Jalaludeen was very appreciative of the efforts of the volunteer team of ladies made the p of multi-ethnic group in Singapore.
First of its kind in Singapore, this Fiesta is going to be a yearly event. Hats off to Organizing Team!
It was interesting to come across the news http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US-clinic-promises-designer-babies/rssarticleshow/4214980.cms
that you can literally design your baby according to your choice!
Time has gone when you have to wait for 9 months to see your baby exact looks. Its Tech world after all. Why not do experiments with babies also? You get what you pay!
“Steinberg’s clinic, the world’s largest provider of the process of gender choice, has received “five or six” requests from couples for the new service which involves embryo selection, not genetic modification. He expects the first trait selection baby to be born next year and the cost of the process to be $18,000. ”
The science is based on a procedure which is known as a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) that for years has allowed doctors to identify potentially lethal diseases and conditions in embryos.
I wonder if we are going in right direction!
Why not we leave some happenings to happen in a natural way. We never know with passage of time how many things we will have for which we can really depend upon God.When Motherhood can be achieved artificially then why not babies. If you want long, straight nose you can really place an order and pay for it. Isn’t it something odd. Then you will find babies with perfect features and when you see some baby who is not having so-called features of choice, he will be classified under the needy section of the society.
My vote is strictly against such happenings. We should never play with nature. Disturbing the natural happening can lead to harmful consequences. If we play with the genetics of the baby then his natural set up of the body will be disturbed and this can lead to some problems in future.
Babies are God’s messenger to spread love around. Please leave them the way they come into this world!
International Women’s Day celebrations started with a spark in Singapore by launching of GRACE programme by
People’s Association Women’s Integration Network (WIN) council, an umbrella body for the grassroots Women’s Executive Committees. GRACE has 52 women mentors in their 20s to their 50s from fields as diverse as advertising, engineering, and teaching. They will play mentor for at least two years to 20 girls from families with monthly incomes of $18, 00 or less.
“Under GRACE, THE GIRLS GET TUTORING, ARE ENROLLED IN ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES AND IF NEEDED GIVEN UP TO $500 A YEAR. In 1967, when WECs were first formed, many females were home-makers. WECs therefore provided opportunities for women in the heartlands to learn life-skills, such as sewing and cooking. Besides giving them basic employment skills, the WECs also engaged them in meaningful social activities that allowed them to form bonds outside of their families as well as increased their self-confidence. 10But times and the profile of women have changed. Currently, under the charge of the Women’s Integration 
Network (WIN) Council, there are 104 WECs with more than 2,000 executive members and nearly 5,000 WEC Associates. Some 36% of Women Executive Members are Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians, up from 27% a decade ago. 11To cater to changing needs and interests, the diverse activities and programmes organized by the WECs now range from seminars on career and financial planning to classes on holistic spa therapy and hip-hop dance. Last year alone, the WECs collectively organized nearly 7,000 programmes that attracted close to 700,000 participants. WECs have kept pace to remain relevant for today’s women from all walks of life. 12WECs are also increasingly becoming a focal point to galvanize women into action for a range of social issues which include community bonding, nurturing the young and helping the less fortunate. 13One example of this is Admiral Garden WEC, who not only collaborate with schools and community organizations to raise funds for the School Pocket Money Fund but also organize health screenings like mobile mammograms and pap smears, which they bring to the women in their constituency. They also organize talks on financial management to empower women, especially those from poorer families to better manage their households.”
I felt so motivated while observing all these facts when mentioned in the event! Committee work from the grassroots level can help a lot when women themselves are involved. Many stalls were set up from different organizations like Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation, Heart Foundation of Singapore, Healthy Times Magazine and others. Breast Cancer Foundation created awareness regarding how to do self-test at home to locate the lump.
Its time to outreach to society. Every Independent woman should come out to outreach the needy in society for the benefit of womenfolk only!
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!
What do you think about Parenting as a concept?
Ask any parent of today’s generation, he will not give you a strange look as he knows how much interested he is in the concept. Same question if asked to parents of our parents or grandparents generation then definitely they would have raised their eyebrows because parenting for them is the most natural happening to the same way as marriage or other changes in life. Times have changed and so the new age parents. As we have developed with time in the field of Technology, Science, Infrastructure, and other fields, we have developed a new concept of parenting also. Kid’s upbringing requires different objects around him at different stages of his life, to make him smarter, sharper, and active. This is the new age theory to expose kids to different objects from the moment they are in the womb. Mothers start listening to particular music, start reading subjective books to make their kids brilliant. The moment they are born they are exposed to certain music, CDs, videos, toys, just with the objective; kid will be smarter and intelligent when he will grow up.
I was following the same parenting concept till the time I attended Dr Laxmi’s parenting workshop!
What we do with our kids is what we want them to be. In between, we forget that he himself is unique, with his own choices, and I cannot mould him but I have to mould myself as per his requirements. How can I waste his time in learning ABCs when nature wants him to play around with his friends? How can I stress him solving puzzles, reading books, writing, when his nature clock wants him to play with and around, climbing trees, and splashing water? He knows what he wants to do but we as a very aware parent, with a wish to make our kid smarter in a lot just ignore his demands and make him do what we want for him. Music classes, dance classes, reading classes, swimming classes, piano classes, starting as early as from age 3 are really a blunder on our part. It was my sheer luck that I came across Dr Laxmi’s workshop. Dr Laxmi is a paediatrician (Neonatalogist). Before starting a private practice, she was the HOD in CDR Apollo hospitals, Chennai. Following that she founded Little Hearts Children’s Hospital in Hyderabad, India in 1997. Her school of thought is that kids should have no sensory stress before age 5. They should not be forced to study before age 5 as their mind is not developed to that extent. Her concepts regarding free play time, choice of toys for your kid, diet pattern and other issues regarding kid upbringing are quite interesting to follow. I will discuss every issue in a separate article later. Parenting should not be taken as a duty. We as a parent can make a huge difference in our kid’s life unless we are guided in a right direction. Thanks to people like Dr Laxmi who are making efforts to help us and guide us!
Recession and job cut-offs are the hottest topics been discussed worldwide!
Every other company is thinking of reducing its staff or reducing the perks being enjoyed by the employees. The oldest and the youngest employees of the company are the easy targets for cut-offs. How to safeguard your job is the common concern for every professional. Suddenly professionals have become very active in their work. They are working overtime, trying to deliver their projects before deadline, and constantly trying to hone their skills to match the market requirements.
It’s really insecure to depend upon your job only for survival. Doesn’t it makes you realize that you have to have some other survival kit in your hand so that at the time of crisis you are just not dependent on your job only. With time while working, performing only one type of job makes you dependent on that work only. These times demand alertness now. You have to be aware of yourself very well. Keep honing your other talents as well. You never know when you have to use them in life for generating income.
You can be a good singer, dancer, good at arts, drama, computers, cooking, or in some other field. The point is that with time do you keep in touch with your talent. And that’s the key to feel secured. Obviously, you won’t be generating the same amount of salary as you were doing before. It may take some time but your family won’t be on roads at least.
Start thinking how talented you are as you never know which new talent you can come across.Just start exploring yourself!
It just dawned on me that we are in dearth of closer relationships in comparison to our previous generation!
True relationships are rare these days. As we get busier with our lives we devote less time to our relations and one day suddenly you realize that there is no warmth in your relationship. At times I think that friends, with whom you interact more become closer to you than your relatives. I wonder how to make such relationships closer and stronger where everybody only says I am fine!
Honest relationships are those where you really care about the person and are really hurt if you find the other person sad. Many times husband-wife relationship becomes formal when both start saying to each other I am fine, what about you? It is odd, you stay together, eat together, have the same family and still are not aware of your partner’s dream. That’s the loophole in any relationship. Be it friend, relative, husband, wife or even with kids. Demand for today’s time is to have the verbal relationship. We say we don’t want to speak others feeling by speaking to him about his shortcomings. But then you are spoiling the relationship. Life is like really a puzzle, you don’t speak when you are required to speak, and you only speak when you are not required to speak.
Effort should be made to know the other side completely. How you can aspect the other person open to you when you are not ready to listen to him. If you are not interested in his dreams, his likes, dislikes, what he thinks about other issues then why he will give you importance. Try creating interest in the relationship and that’s the key to any successful relationship!