HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS? - A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

1. Why could/did not you learn English till now?

Most of us cite a lot of excuses to justify our failure to learn good English over the years. Some of these excuses are given below:

1.   I was educated in such government/private schools and colleges, where my teachers and lecturers never taught me good English!

2.   My parents were poor, ignorant and uneducated. So, they did not encourage me towards learning good English.

3.   I did not know about the importance of English language when I was a student or as a professional/employee later.

4.   My friends and relatives did not motivate me towards improving my English because I had such circle of members in my pathetic life.

5.   I bought a few English dictionaries and grammar books but I could not learn much English from them.

6.   I was so busy in my life that I did not get time to focus on English language adequately.

7.   I always got low marks in English subject and so slowly I developed inevitable fear about it.

8.   It is difficult to learn English in villages and towns where nobody uses English for their communication or otherwise. 

Facts

In fact, you did/could not learn good English so far, for the following reasons:

1. You liked watching films, playing cricket, spending time with your friends and doing so many such other things but never had interest to learn English.

2. You misused a lot of time in your life till now because you did not know the value of time and the importance of English in particular.

2. Why should anybody learn English at all?

English is being widely used in most of the countries in this world during the last 200 years. The British ruled many places (colonies) in this world and in course of time they accorded independence to all of them. We call them third world or developing countries. In all these countries, because once the British ruled them for years, English became highly used language of communication.

The Development of the USA as a Super Power

The United States of America has a history of about 400 years but it became the most dominant economic power during this short period of time. Students, job seekers and businessmen started migrating into this country rapidly to benefit from the opportunities and facilities available there. Since English is widely used in the U.S.A., many started according more and more value to this language during the last 50 years. We cannot be happy and successful in the U.S.A. if our English language skills are poor. So, people in other countries also started considering ‘English’ as a great language for all.

The Power of Western World

English is widely being used in many European countries like England, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Just as we imitate the habits and culture of rich and influential people in our society, we also feel like learning and using that language, which is mostly used and respected in developed countries. So, for us, English means a language related to rich, successful, influential and happy people across the world. Therefore, we love English. If we have to be successful, happy and comfortable in our personal and professional lives, we must learn and use good English, wherever and whenever possible. This is our common view.

The Context of India

During the last 100 years, English acquired such great status in India also that using English widely became a status symbol for anybody. Be it in your home, society, school, college, university, firm or any other place or setting, where interaction and communication is taking place widely, if you use English effectively, you would be respected by most of them. So, English became a very influential language in India also due to the impact of many factors like westernisation, great employment opportunities for those who are good at English, education abroad, foreign jobs, etc.

Wide Usage of English

There are extraordinary books written in English on various subjects by different authors and writers from various regions and countries. There is an ocean of information on the Internet. To take competitive examinations, face job interviews, to give presentations, to understand foreign speakers better, to express our feelings and views in an internationally influential language, we need to be good at English. These are just a few examples. To put it simply, one can say that we cannot imagine this world today without ‘English’. Now English occupied such status in our minds and lives across the world.

No Choice

So, the fact is that whether you like or do not like English language for any reasons, nobody is bothered about your views on it. If you do not use English widely, you shall be considered as an ordinary person in most of the contexts you come across in your life or profession. English is a dominant language in India. So, you must learn and use it to get a good image in your life or workplace. You must live in the present. If you want to be influential and attractive in the present society, one choice is to be good at English.

3. How to Improve your English?

I conceived a formula to make one simply understand the format and process required to improve one’s English in course of time. It is PMPA. In this formula:

P stands for       Passion

M for                Material

P for                 Practice

A for                Application

Passion

Passion is a strong desire for something. We think and work hard to somehow acquire or achieve them over a period of time. Most of us have, generally, passion for some or all of the following:

1. Money

2. Company of persons of opposite gender

3. Foods and beverages

4. Sports and games

5. Comforts

6. Luxuries

7. Valuable items of property

8. Entertainment

9. Gadgets

10. Unique items and things of mystery and suspense

Passion for English

If we have passion for learning and using English, we concentrate more and more of our energy and time on the point of acquiring those skills but unfortunately very few of us have this strong desire and commitment towards English. We neglect English as much as we can do. This is why we often fail to learn and use English effectively in our life or profession. So, avoid such careless attitude and develop passion for English. Better late than never. If you want English, you should work hard to achieve it. If you have the will, there are many ways to improve your English language skills.

Difference between your Mother Tongue and a Foreign Language

All of us learn and use our mother tongue naturally in our lives because we get focused to it regularly from our birth to death. So, you can learn it easily. Foreign language is one, which you don’t listen to, speak, write and read like your mother tongue. So, to learn and use any foreign language, you must make constant efforts towards acquiring and retaining those skills. The more you try for it, the more you learn. It takes a lot of time to achieve considerable command of a foreign language. English is a foreign language for us. So, you cannot learn it unless you work hard in that direction.

Material

We need necessary material to improve our English language skills. Some of this material is:

1. Books

2. Audio-visual resources

3. Internet

4. Social and professional environment

Books

There are different kinds of books reading which, regularly; we can improve our English language skills. Some of these books are:

1. Standard English grammar books

2. Standard English dictionaries

3. Storybooks, novels, dramas, scriptures

4. Weeklies, monthlies, yearbooks

5. Journals, encyclopaedias

Audiovisual Resources

We can learn English listening to and watching such programs, in which English is the medium of communication. Consider the following audiovisual resources available now to all of us:

1. Listening to English programs on radio

2. Watching English feature films, serials, speeches and programs on television channels

3. Watching various programs and presentations on sources like YouTube

4. Buying and using CDs and DVDs on English language

Internet

Internet made our lives simple and comfortable because we can access any kind of information within seconds, sitting in our comfortable and affordable places, anywhere in the world. It costs very little but provides us with limitless extent of information on any topic we like to know about. So, if you want to improve your English fast, perhaps Internet is the greatest resource for it. Whatever you want to learn, it’s all there on the Internet. Just check it! If you want to learn English as a modern man or woman, with speed and intelligence, Internet is the short-cut. There are a multitude of Apps on English language. Search for them attentively, download them and read and watch them quite often to march ahead.

Social and Professional Environment

Check if there is any direct or indirect provision in your society or professional environment to learn English. Consider the following points:

1. Somebody in your neighbourhood, who knows good English

2. Regular meetings and conferences in your workplace wherein English is used widely

3. Religious programs where English is used

4. Libraries in your place

5. Cultural activities in your firm or institution

Practice

We all know that ‘practice makes a man perfect’ but how many of us did it in our real lives. We always stop at theory but never get into the aspect of practising it. Theory means knowing about something and practice means doing it actually. We can learn English language substantially practising four aspects of learning process. These are:

1. Listening

2. Speaking

3. Reading

4. Writing

Listening

What we listen reaches our brain and we can get it stored there only if we memorize it until it gets recorded there. We can learn English listening to the following:

1. Radio

2. Speeches of eminent English speakers

3. Education related programs on television

4. Parliament sessions

5. Listening to your peers and superiors when they are talking in English in any context

6. Prerecorded CDs and DVDs on English language

Speaking

Most of us do not speak English with others thinking that there may be mistakes in it. We should speak English regularly without thinking on whether it is right or wrong. We can speak English in the following contexts:

1. With our family members at home

2. With our classmates or colleagues

3. With direct viewers on a stage

4. With our friends or others over phone

5. With those who don’t know our language at all

6. Participating in group discussions

7. Participating in competitions like elocution

8. Speaking in ourselves creating different characters and contexts creatively

Reading

We can improve our English, reading a wide variety of reading material, such as:

1. Books written by noted authors and writers from various countries in the world

2. Dailies like The Hindu and The Times of India

3. English textbooks of school level learners from standard 1 to 10 and afterwards

4. Periodicals like Outlook, Week, India Today and Reader’s Digest

5. Yearbooks like Manorama Yearbook

6. Industry and profession related books and journals

7. Books on general knowledge and current affairs

8. Government publications like Employment News

Writing

After the entry of cellphones into our personal and professional lives, we almost stopped writing except for tests and examinations with a clear purpose. Earlier there was the habit of letter writing among us but we almost stopped writing letters now. Writing is very important to improve our English. We can do it in the following contexts:

1. Taking down notes when somebody is speaking in a meeting

2. Writing articles with personal interest

3. Typing emails with grammatically correct English

4. Chatting with friends online using correct English

5. Writing speeches and stories creatively

6. Participating in writing related competitions regularly

7. Preparing summary of a material we have read

8. Preparing PPTs on topics of our interest without checking online

9. Writing letters to the editors of newspapers and other publications

10. Writing complaint/suggestion/appreciation letters to persons and organizations

Application

We know about subjects like applied physics and applied mathematics. It means studying a subject relating it to what is happening now around us in a given period of time, a context or a professional arena. Similarly, we should apply/use the English language, which we learned through different ways investing our deliberate and committed efforts for a long time. There is no use of knowledge and skills, which we acquired, unless we apply it in our real lives. It’s like having plenty of money in our possession but dying, burying it all in a pit without telling anybody. Disused knowledge and energy is like misused potential provided to us by God and nature abundantly.

Listening

Listen to any story, speech, news on radio or television or in a public meeting and explain it in your own words to somebody that did not attend that program. This way, you can feel that you have the ability of understanding something spoken, just by listening to it carefully. It means you can understand English pronounced by others correctly and speak it well when explaining it to others. Similarly, see a feature film on television or in a cinema and tell the story to your friends in English. Thus you can enhance your potential of learning English through the skill of careful listening. If you learn a lot through listening, you can express a lot through speaking. Listening is a very important aspect of learning. You can improve your accent, listening and talking about it later, to show your power of listening comprehension.

Speaking

Make it a habit of speaking English, wherever and whenever possible. You might have practised a lot reading grammar books and other material on functional/communicative English but what is use of it if you don’t speak English and make others believe that you know how to communicate in English in different contexts. English spoken out is a symbol of our measurable strength and that hidden within us forever is a matter of knowledge and information. Stored and concealed knowledge is like decomposed material whereas expressed and shared skills are like fresh water and air. If you don’t speak, nobody understands you. If you speak fluently and confidently, everybody recognizes and appreciates you one day or the other. So, speaking out is very important.

Reading

Reading may be silent or audible. We can read fast silently but we cannot identify the errors in our pronunciation/accent this way. So, often, read out English stories and other material in such a way that you and others can also listen to it. Thus, you can identify your pronunciation and accent errors and correct them. Also, others, who are better than you at English, can correct your spoken English. Therefore, reading out English, as frequently as possible, is one way to improve your English. Paper presentations, reading out annual reports, conducting seminars as per the written order of schedule, reading and explaining study material in different contexts, reading out newspapers are some ways of application of our reading skills, acquired earlier. If you read out alone, it’s practice. If you do it publicly, it’s application. Both are necessary aspects of learning.

Writing

Spoken words are like letters written on a wet beach passionately. A tide may erase it at any point of time. So, it’s an unreliable record of your communication and thoughts. Written words are like those engraved on a solid rock which last for a long time. Written words form part of human history whereas spoken words facilitate timely and contextual sharing of information. Write English in as many forms and contexts as possible. Write blogs online, write your personal diary, write stories, write speeches, write notes on anything heard, write letters, write poetry, write on anything that you like. Writing substantially contributes to know what we are and what we can do for others now or later. Hundreds of creative and intellectual personalities created history writing on a wide variety of themes they liked. Literature is the knowledge base of a society, religion or country. So, have passion to write whenever and wherever you feel like doing it.

The End

The preceding guidelines and order of learning process must help you learn English slowly. However, we cannot include all points in a linear order, when we intend to discuss a given idea or subject comprehensively. We feel that there is still something to be shared with our target audience/viewers/readers/customers. We can call it ‘miscellaneous points’, which are equally important. I would present them below. You must focus on them attentively and strive to learn English based on the knowledge and insights provided therein. Don’t take it as ‘negligible’.

4. Miscellaneous Points

Remember that you are learning good English to improve your image, your chances of satisfaction and success in personal and professional lives and your character as a whole. You are not learning English for the sake of your employer, teacher or anybody else. What you learn and use is your asset but not that of your teacher or employer. English is like a jewel. If you wear it, you may look more attractive!

Check Yourself

Never think that you know a word or a grammar point very well. Always have the question ‘Am I using this word correctly?’ A standard English dictionary and a standard English grammar book are your reliable teachers. Don’t depend on a subject expert or your teacher always. He may clarify your doubt carelessly or wrongly. You will continue using it that way later. Thus you are further spoiling your standards of English. Printed words are more reliable than the undependable knowledge base and memory power of your colleagues or instructors. Crosscheck always when you want to confirm something. Know that you commit mistakes. Try to correct them continuously. Nobody is a living dictionary. So, avoid such impressions about yourself or others. Depend on great books to improve your English and knowledge but not on moody humans!

Plenty of Material

Never feel and say that there is no good material to read. Go to any noted bookstore in your town, city, district, state or country. There are hundreds of great books and audio-visual material on many subjects. Knowledge is widely available now in the modern world. Check different bookstores and buy standard material. You must take the initiative to buy good books. Never expect others to think and work for you. If you have no passion to improve yourself, why do others bother about you? You are responsible for your destiny. You are made of your thoughts and actions. Update yourself continuously.

Native Speakers or other Speakers     

We often doubt on whether we should depend on a native speaker to improve our spoken English or read a book of a foreign author. Someone living in England, Canada, the USA or Ireland generally knows better English than one living in Bangladesh, India, China or Japan. So, when possible, depend on spoken and written works of native users of English rather than on those spoken or written by others. For example, George Bernard Shaw wrote better English than R K Narayan. If you want extraordinary English skills, read books of that order only, not ordinary books written by somebody. You can read any book for pleasure but for learning great English, you must depend on great books only. Watch television channels like BBC, National Geographic and History for standard English. There are some good Indian television channels also like NDTV.

English is everywhere    

Never think that you can learn good English only through reading grammar books and dictionaries. They guide you properly when you get doubts and questions. To get doubts and questions, you must read, listen to and speak a lot of English being encouraged and inspired by what is happening around you regularly. Concentrate on all places, contexts, products and services where English is being used widely. You can learn a lot of English with this broad outlook towards observing the usage of English in various ways everywhere. You must love English words, wherever they are.

Accent/Pronunciation

If there are about 196 countries in the world now, there may be 200 varieties of spoken English as well because various geographical and cultural influences impact the accents of different people in different places. British English, American English, Australian English, Indian English…there are many varieties. Speak such English which you can understand easily if someone else speaks it to you. Let not the accent of your mother tongue tarnish the beauty of your English. You cannot follow International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) based pronunciation or Received Pronunciation (RP) either. So, never try to imitate a native speaker of English (someone in England or the USA). Speak in such a way that your colleagues and friends can easily understand it. Language is for reliable communication but not a medium to showcase our superiority in using an accent everywhere.

Which English Dictionary?

Many have this doubt. I consider Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam Webster, Longman, Collins, Macmillan English dictionaries reliable to a great extent. There may be some other varieties of standard English dictionaries also, about which I don’t know. So, check different dictionaries in various bookstores and online, and decide about it on your own. You know the best about what you want. Let not others impose their choices on you when you have an active brain. Enquiry is a good habit. It means we have curiosity and intelligence of our own to some extent. Apply them often! Buy large and heavy dictionaries if you want to learn more. Buy small and light dictionaries if you wish to remain as an innocent child forever! Prefer to buy those English dictionaries, which come with a DVD containing all that is given in hard copy. You can upload the soft copy version of these dictionaries into your computer system and learn English extraordinarily. Soft copies are provided with many unbelievable features of learning these days. You can learn pronunciation of each word also better this way. There are many exercises and lessons, apart from main dictionary, in these versions.

Which English Grammar Book?

You must assess to what extent you know and can use English grammar perfectly in your personal or professional life. Buy a grammar book accordingly. If you cannot learn English reading English to English grammar books, buy such grammar books, which explain each point of English grammar in your mother tongue. When you are learning a foreign language, learn it reading such books, which you can understand easily. Don’t complicate this learning process, reading difficult books initially. Remember that learning happens slowly.

How should we learn a Foreign Language?

We should learn any foreign language through our mother tongue. If your mother tongue is Telugu, you should learn English through Telugu. Unfortunately, many English medium schools and colleges in India started promoting the medium of English only in their institutions, neglecting the mother tongues of formative learners altogether. Consequently, they cannot learn English or their mother tongues well. Mother tongue is like our mother. We should know about other mothers through our mother only because our mother is greater than all others from our perspective. If you are not good at your mother tongue, you cannot learn any language perfectly. Every language is beautiful and powerful. We should learn any language systematically, studying and observing its realistic usage in different contexts, and its standard grammatical and cultural contexts.

Who can make me a great English Speaker within a year?

Never believe if somebody says that he or she can make you a fluent English speaker within a few weeks or months. English or any language is not something which can be artificially injected into you like a vaccine. You are not a robot to scan, remember and use everything just like that. You have to constantly learn and use English through different ways to be a fluent English speaker. You can achieve that standard of English usage through regular practice only. Language is also like a living organism. It keeps evolving continuously. So, regularly you must update your knowledge and skills of English. No spoken English institute can change you forever. Most of them are professional liars and hypocrites.

English is a Difficult Language!

It is true. There are many complications in the nature, development and usage of English because it took various words from different cultures over the decades. We cannot remember those spellings, pronunciation, meanings and usage unless we learn them carefully and practice them passionately. If anybody is using good English, it means he or she is making a great effort continuously to acquire and retain those skills. Similarly, you must also keep doing it to be good at English. There are no shortcuts to learn great English. You should be a great learner and user of it to achieve it.

Aim at Perfection

Most of us use English depending on the status of the other person to whom we are communicating, written or oral. We use one kind of English if we are sending a casual email to a friend and one kind of English if we are sending a professional email to somebody who is very authoritative, powerful and superior to us. In fact, it is a bad habit. Always try to use the best English you know, not minding the context of the communication or the status of the other person. You must use grammatically correct English every time. Then only you can improve your English. Have respect for the perfection of the language you are using but not about the context or person you are dealing with. Everybody feels happy if you use good English. However, you can use simple English when you know that the other person cannot understand if you use the highest standard of English you know. There must be perfection even in simple language you use.

Which Word or Phrase?        

We often have an idea but fail to remember the exact word or phrase related to it. It is a universal issue as far as usage of any language is concerned. We ask somebody about it, explaining our idea. This is the only way out because we cannot identify the exact word in a dictionary just knowing what it means. At least we must know the first letter of that word. So, keep learning about every word and phrase, which you have to use in your regular life and profession. To that extent, you can be a good user of English. Once you are good in your familiar field, you can work on other words and contexts also slowly. The more you practice language, the more you learn.

Vocabulary Building

How many words, their spellings and meanings, and their right usage do you know in English? It is your vocabulary. To improve your vocabulary, you must constantly learn about new words and their correct usage. You must have curiosity about different words. Then only you can love all those words and try to learn and use them in your life or profession. Referring to a standard English dictionary, whenever we come across new words, is one way to improve our vocabulary. There are thousands of words in English language. How much you learn depends on how much you love the language and how constantly and passionately you are working to improve your vocabulary.

Memorization

Memorization means practicing something in your mind repeatedly until you can store it permanently there. Ancient Indian learning system was based on memorization. We call it ‘Gurukula’. If teacher taught something, his disciples repeated it many times orally. This oral practice was to remember those words forever. We should do so to improve our English language skills also. Practice a new word and its usage rigorously in your mind. You must be able to recollect that word and use it properly even after 100 days or a year. It happens only when the details of that word are stored in your conscious and subconscious mind. It requires constant memorization of new words and their usage. Do it on and on and on.

Distractions

Distraction is anything which attracts you towards it when you don’t like it for some reasons. You often feel that there is no enough time to learn English. In fact, you are cheating yourself thinking like this. Get attracted only towards those things, which help you learn English directly or indirectly. You should know and practice how to control and train your mind according to your needs and circumstances. Nothing can distract you if you have willpower to learn English. You would get a lot of time to learn English if you honestly try to avoid unnecessary habits and things from your life. Think how much of your precious time you are using every day to improve your knowledge and language skills. You can certainly identify your drawbacks and demerits. Identify, plan, correct and transform yourself. Tune yourself to utilize your time and energy for only such things, which improve you as an intelligent, disciplined and creative one. Avoid passing time just like that. Save it and use it.

A Reliable Guide

We always want to have a reliable person to depend on in our process of learning English. Our friends, colleagues, relatives or well-wishers may not be good at English, and even if they are, they may not be interested to help us every time we have a doubt or question related to English. Check if somebody can help you. There may be one or two in your access. Otherwise, keep reading, listening, speaking and writing as much English as possible. You would master English one day. Practice is our best teacher. You could learn your mother tongue without any teacher or helper because you got continuously focused to it. Similarly, concentrate on English only wherever and whenever possible. Depend on standard English dictionaries, standard English grammar books and Internet to learn English if you don’t have anybody to help you in this direction. Many learn a lot on their own!

What if I can never Learn English?

Human beings have many phobias. It’s logical or intuitive fear of something. They are all living happily removing their fears slowly or not doing what they cannot do. You can live happily even if you cannot learn or use good English. Do such things in your life where English need not be used at all. Millions of people are living without knowing and using English. Honesty and hard-working nature are good qualities. They are more powerful than English. So, try to attract others practicing these qualities in your life and profession. English is just a jewel. You can live happily without wearing it also. There are many other jewels in and around us. Identify and use them. You can be happy and victorious.

Author Statement

I prepared this ‘advice material’ based on my knowledge about and experience in usage of English during the last 10 years. It is mostly prepared without referring to other material. This small guide is intended for enthusiastic learners of English. No part of this content can be copied or used anywhere in a commercially profitable or legally objectionable manner. I am solely responsible for everything written in this material. If you have any doubts and questions, reach me the following way:

Email id:              rajayogi@live.com                                        

Cellphone:           91-9573169823                                

My blog sites:      virahini.blogspot.in

            dcraju.blogspot.in  

© 2015 Datla Chiranjeevi Raju

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is one’s ability or quality to understand and face a problem quite efficiently and differently, with limited resources, from those of the contemporary times in a given context or set of conditions. Unfortunately, now, many are taking intelligence as one’s ability to exploit the helplessness or innocence of others and benefit from that situation in the short or long run. Intelligence is never a synonym for deception, hypocrisy or opportunism but creativity, dynamism and vision. Genes may play a little role in making one intelligent but in very rarest of the rare cases. Acquisition and retention of intelligence mostly depends on how much one is engaged in that pursuit in different ways. One with multiple challenges in one’s personal or professional life is more likely to be intelligent because one has to find out solutions on one’s own or through optimum utilization of resources at one’s disposal, to lead one’s life or profession efficiently and successfully. One with unlimited resources to lead life comfortably and happily is seldom pressed to think beyond the box and thus make oneself intelligent. Intelligent ones can bring a dramatic change in their lives or those of others, applying their intelligence, optimally, as and when required.

How can we increase our intelligence?

1. We should make a conscious effort to improve our knowledge and skills continuously reading a variety of books, watching television, listening to radio, browsing Internet, talking with intelligent and creative ones regularly, and doing many such things, which directly or indirectly make us think deeply and constructively about many people and things around us. Thinking and analysing is very important to make ourselves intelligent. We should ask questions ourselves frequently to get answers to them. Our approach towards many things around us must be with questions about them like what, why, where, when and how? Those that accept status quo are unlikely to make great efforts to think differently and work innovatively towards solving an existing problem efficiently. Intelligence often demands comparative analysis. They should always struggle to understand everything from a broader perspective. 

2. We can improve our intelligence when we undergo different feelings and experiences in a variety of situations and contexts in our lives or professions. Experiences can teach us a lot more than our teachers and personality development speakers. When we are in a comfort zone, we listen to the inspiring words of many distinguished personalities or even from those in our families and societies but seldom practice them because there is no challenge in our lives. We need intelligence to face problems efficiently but not to spend the existing resources, earned by others, after a lot of struggle. A security guard at an ATM centre is less likely to improve his intelligence than a clerk in a busy private bank. When there is no pressure from many directions and when one need not take different responsibilities, one is not required to become intelligent, expect for his self-satisfaction. Millions of contract workers in this world don’t do wonders in different factories and companies but follow just what their supervisors have said them to do. On the other hand, many government and private employees remain active and intelligent to take decisions fast and implement them when it is highly required. Situation often makes us intelligent.

3. Study of hypotheses, case studies and multiple examples also often make us intelligent. When we know why one became successful or happy in the short or long run, we can plan our life or business accordingly. When we don’t gain knowledge through available ways and means, we cannot deliver well in many contexts. Intelligence is like a seed. God puts it in us but we should struggle regularly to improve it and make it into a healthy and strong tree. One without intelligence looks like a buffoon to others. Intelligent ones impress others uniquely and get their things done smartly. Foolish ones don’t know how to lead their lives. They remain complacent and careless about their lives, professions or others.

4. Creative works of art like stories, paintings, dance, songs, music, sculpture, photographs, feature films, documentaries, news and dramas can also make us intelligent. We become insightful and sharp after observing extraordinary things in the works of others. Creative ones have to impress others regularly doing this or that. They need to think, plan and execute different things systematically to educate and entertain others substantially. We wonder about the abilities of creative masters like Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Jagadguru Adi Shankara, Swami Vivekananda, Ilayaraja, Satyajit Ray, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein and the like. They did what millions of others could not do in their times with limited resources. They did not do it for themselves but for those with pain and loss. Intelligence must be a medium to reach our noble goals ideally, applying our patience and innovation tremendously. Establishing and sustaining an environment and culture of prosperity, peace and order must be our goals. We don’t need intelligence to hurt or cheat others but to solace and comfort one, who went through a series of difficulties and pains in one’s life. Meticulous observation, perfect planning, amazing vision, selfless cooperation and excellent coordination help us gain and utilize our intelligence for our noble goals and achievements. Creativity means being different in our thoughts and acts from the millions of others around us and thus reach a position where we can influence and bring them all into our expected path of ideals and achievements.

5. We do not become much intelligent doing such things, which anyone can do after a little practice but by doing such things, which millions of others of our contemporary times cannot do even after years of practice in that direction. Mundane things like watching cricket, chatting with our foolish friends, watching quite ordinary films and reading shallow books don’t help us become intelligent much. We have to watch such films, which millions did not like to watch for some reasons. We should read the stories of those with biggest failures. We should spend with such people, who make us think deeply about many things, asking us different questions about our lives and activities. Enthusiasm, enquiry, experimentation and visualization often help us become intelligent but not laziness, neutrality, imitation and dependence on others. Self-respect, self-analysis and self-reformation push us towards being intelligent because you would realize that you are responsible for your destiny and so you have to build up your life following standards and values of the highest order. If you remain as a parasite, you cannot become intelligent.

6. Exploration of new places also largely enables us to become intelligent. We should see different places often, if possible, to understand this world better. There is much difference between watching a documentary on wild beasts on a television channel and going into that forest and living among them as a photographer or researcher. Those that talk a lot learn very little than those that do a lot. Physical environment is a great teacher to all of us. You would live, in a forest, all alone, for a week, day and night, to feel and experience how it would be. There are dangers all around. There is nobody to help you. You would die if you don’t understand the phenomena and conditions around fast and restructure your ways and plans of living accordingly, promptly. When there is immediate threat, you would plan fast to save yourself. When you know that you would die after 50 years, you would take it easy. Risk factors and risk analysis make us intelligent. Extraordinary development and success seldom happen without risks of similar magnitude in our lives or professions. Taking risks proactively to achieve something great often makes you very intelligent because you must be very cautious and visionary to escape from the effects of those risks. It is a ‘do or die’ situation. You would certainly think effectively in such context because you would die if you remain lazy and indifferent. Manmade disasters, natural calamities, suicides, atrocities, genocides, deaths, tragedies, pains and loss make us more intelligent, as individuals or societies, than comforts, luxuries, comedies, natural beauty, collective celebrations and holidays. God often subjects us to many difficulties and pains just to make us intelligent and prepared for following threats.

To reset your mindset, which is with illusions about intelligence, I present some hypotheses below. 

1. A student passed with the highest percentage of marks in a school. He has intelligent parents to guide him, excellent teachers to mentor and favourable environment all around to remain as a good student always. Swimming in the direction of flow is something millions can do. Swimming against the flow is praiseworthy. So, we cannot take this student as an intelligent one but a disciplined one.

2. Alok and Vidur started two business ventures in 2000 with equal capital and resources. By 2005, both of them earned profits close to five crore rupees. Observers praised them stating that both were equally intelligent because they could make profits fast. By 2015, Vidur closed his business completely and went home with exactly the same capital, which he invested in 2000. Alok kept going on with more and more profits. A voluntary organization sent Anvesh to enquire into these two cases of business and prepare a very brief report about it within a month. He wrote the following, “Vidur closed his business not to cheat anybody because the circumstances turned so by 2015 that he could not make any profit if he did not get into ways of cheating everywhere. Alok is making profits because he decided that cheating is part of business in any part of the world now. Vidur followed the standards and values, which he set for himself in 2000, even in 2015. Alok kept changing his standards and values according to the pressures and circumstances around him, as he is moving forward towards his business goals”. In this scenario, Vidur is more intelligent than Alok because he knew when to get out of the race decently. Achieving our individual or collective goals through ideal means is intelligence. Making profits or remaining happy at our level, exploiting others or a given situation to our favour, is not intelligence but cheating. 80% of the businesses, being run in various parts of the world now, belong to the second category. They are making profits selling harmful products and are offering immoral, illegal and fraudulent services to innocent or helpless ones. An idealist withdraws from the race to save others in time. An opportunist continues in the race to cheat others mercilessly and present it as his business success. Intelligence, without virtue, is a sin.  

3. A sinner came to a saint and said the following, “I have committed many mistakes, blunders, sins and crimes during the last 30 years and made millions of dollars abroad. I did it all for the sake of my family. I have to atone for it. What should I do?” The saint replied, “Sell every piece of your property to others for reasonable and justifiable rates. Give all that money to a handful of great idealists in different parts of the world. Request them to use that money to bring comforts and happiness in the lives of millions of helpless creatures in this world. That mission should continue for another 500 years to come. You should select such masters of wisdom and vision, not just idealism. Goodness without intelligence is useless. Once you do it, cut one of your legs on your own and live depending on alms. You should shun all your family members and well-wishers in this journey of atonement. Then you would understand what human life is and how you should have led it when you were provided with many facilities by kind God”. If somebody advises you in such a way, which does not hurt you much, he is cheating and misguiding you. Real advice is that which transforms your attitude, character and lifestyle forever. So, choose those, who advise you with intelligence but not sympathy for you. Intelligence is like God. It treats all alike. It has no favouritism.

4. A handsome guy went to a marriage bureau and asked her, “I want a very beautiful and sensitive girl to marry. I wait for any length of time. I am practical. I don’t follow superstitions. I pay you 10 lakh rupees if you get such a girl for me”. She replied, “Such girls rarely approach us. There is no surety that you get one even if you wait for 10 years. You cannot live happily with any beauty if you impose restrictions. You cannot buy many things with money. You came to a wrong place”. Intelligent answers surprise us.

Without tests and challenges, you cannot become and remain intelligent. Put yourself in these contexts.

1. You told your close friend many times that you were a very intelligent boy. You stated that your IQ is higher than many intellectuals in this world. He was thoroughly disgusted about your overconfidence, ego and false prestige. He arranged a kidnap for you with a small investment beyond your knowledge. They left you in a deep forest, about 500 kilometres off your place, a midnight, when you were unconscious. When you woke up the following morning, there was a notebook about you with a few words in it, scribbled by your intelligent friend, “You are naked now. You have no money, clothes, food or medium of communication. You can reach a human habitation if you run for about 10 kilometres. They don’t understand your language. You should return to your place somehow, applying your intelligence”.  This is an opportunity to estimate the power of your intelligence. Talking a lot and doing something when everything is favourable to you is not intelligence. Facing tragedies all alone and proving your talent is intelligence. Anybody can discuss tragedies. Avoiding tragedies in the lives of others is intelligence.

2. You are a very beautiful, educated, rich and modern girl. You believed that tens of handsome boys were waiting eagerly to love and marry you. It did not happen for 10 years when you were a student. When you were 24, you realized that something went wrong. When you asked one of your friends about this irony, she simply said, “Many boys don’t approach girls like you. Your arresting beauty, money, education and modernity scare them like anything”. Then you spread news in your familiar circle of relatives, friends and well-wishers that you would wish to marry soon. You wanted love marriage only. Enthusiastic guys could try. Nobody approached you for two long years. You asked one of your close friends why it would have happened so. She said, “One of your secret admirers spread a rumour casually that you are a lesbian with strong feminist ideologies and activities. Which boy approaches you when they know that you belong to that category of body and mind?” Now it is time for you to prove that you are not a lesbian and that you madly love humanity, not just female victims around you. How do you attract great boys in this context, erasing your image of that order, on your own, without consulting your parents, experts or anybody else? Intelligence is the sum of your thoughts, which produce positive results.

3. You believe that you have written a great book. It is likely to impress and reform many readers, if published. No publisher is interested to publish it, free of cost. If you publish it on your own, because you have a lot of money, others may presume that it is a worthless work and so you are promoting it on your own. You and your work get bad image this way. You should get it published by a noted publisher like Penguin without recommendations, lobbying, bribery or references of any order. How do you do it?

4. One of your friends met with an accident in a town 200 kilometres off your place. You knew about it. The only way to reach there is by train. You must be there by 8:00 pm that night. You don’t have a cellphone or even one rupee on you. If you reach that town, you can borrow any amount of money from a rich friend of you there. Only you can save the life of your friend, paying the money there for that emergency surgery. They don’t do it ideally. So, you got into that train hurriedly. A squad team member caught you without ticket. He is so strict and virtuous that he does not allow God also to travel without a ticket. He asks them just to get off in the coming station if no money to pay the fine. He does not like arguments or submissive surrender. He has no pity for a beggar or respect for any VIP. He goes by rules. He is a perfectionist. How do you travel in this train and reach that town, without requesting or threatening him, directly or indirectly? You should not cheat a righteous government employee.

Intelligence is not criticizing others regularly but living in such a way that nobody can blame you for anything. 

It is not asking questions others randomly but finding answers to many you have in yourself for long. 

SANKEERTHANA

Srijana decorated my baby Sankeerthana as little Krishna, buying related items, on 5 September, 2015, and shot these photos in the teak plantation of Dandu Surya Narayana Raju, near the village Marripalem, close to Thaandava Junction, in Visakhapatnam District, between 2:24 pm and 2:58 pm IST. The others appearing in these photos are Anand Sagar Varma, the brother of Sankeerthana, Saraswathi Devi, the mother of Srijana, and Lakshmi Bharathi, the maternal grandmother of Srijana. Srijana shot these photos with our Sony digital camera.

HYPE

Hype is anything done to promote oneself or others extraordinarily. They want others to focus more and more on them to satisfy their ego. They avoid common sense and logical thinking, quite often, while indulging in these activities and affairs. False prestige encourages them towards hype. The present party culture is just one example for hype. We often fail to understand why one is throwing a party or why others are making him give a party, even for quite casual or negligible facets of his life or profession. Celebrities often wish to create, continue and enjoy hype about something they have done. Ordinary people and stupid idiots often get attracted towards thoughts and acts of hype in many societies. I give some examples to let you know the nature, volume and intensity of hype happening around now.

1. We often hear a lot about our celebrities related to films, sports and games, business and politics. They have inaugurated a showroom grandly. They have conducted a marriage of their family member in an unbelievable manner. He or she has millions of followers on Facebook or Twitter. The products endorsed or used by them have been sold hugely within days. They have wealth worth billions of dollars. They donated millions of dollars for positive change in this world. They have sacrificed their lives for others.

Have they done it because it was needed or just to make many know and talk about them grandly? Selfless and ideal individuals seldom wish to do anything for hype. They are humble, simple and generous. We need such thinkers, pioneers and revolutionaries to change our lives steadily.

2. We often see on the cover pages of some books, “1 million copies sold”.

How can I ensure that it really happened? If I cannot ascertain it, why should I believe it? If something cannot be proved at my level, do I believe it? Should I read that book because millions have already read it? Then, I have no choice of my own. I follow trends. I have no self-respect or intelligence of my own, depending on which I can decide whether somebody or something is great or shallow. If such readers read that book, being influenced by that printed hype, what is the worth of that book? Millions of ordinary blokes read an ordinary book and make it extraordinary through related hype. A few visionaries and idealists may read a book, which is not sold greatly at book stores or otherwise. It means, there are no standards and values in those people and firms, who/which wish to promote themselves artificially.

3. We read that millions of enthusiasts took a holy dip in a river for a period of time, during which it remains holy, as goddesses and gods sanctify it during those special days, once for 12 years or so. Is that river great only because millions have bathed in it? Does it become and remain profane if many do not visit it with a great purpose? Does water sanctify and glorify people or vice versa? Who counted head to head to ascertain the exact number of visitors to that fair or celebration? How can we believe in it?

4. That celebrity spent 100 crores for the marriage of his daughter. He offered gold rings to all the guests. He spent 5,000 rupees for every meal offered there for guests. It was a majestic event there.

Whose money is that? Does a great man spend hard-earned money that carelessly? If he is such an idiot, who does not know how to value money and spend it, how can he be a celebrity? What is there in him for others to learn and emulate? If many are going there just to see and feel that celebration, they are superficial persons. Can a celebration be considered grand if many sheep attend it to eat and play there?

5. Mr. Ram Prasad, a personality development trainer, had got 25 degrees. He talks about them in each of his classes. He struggles to present himself as a noble speaker, through highlighting his many degrees.

Does it mean that he cannot impress his learners through his great classes? Does he believe that others consider him great only if he had earned many degrees from different universities and places? If they value him based on his degrees, the worth of which they cannot assess readily, they are ordinary blokes? Why should he try to get such appreciation? An extraordinary person can assess him within minutes even if he says that he did not study anywhere and he has no any certificate? Should he aim at appreciation from such one or two masters or hundreds of buffoons, who appreciate anybody just like that?

6. Mr. Milas Puran walked in every country in this world over a period of 10 years. It had been his dream. He fulfilled it after a long struggle. He wrote a book to share his experiences about his unique journey.

What is his contribution to humanity through his walk? Did he offer food, water or shelter to anybody this way? He did it to satisfy one of his wild fantasies. He spent much time and money on such a stupid thing.

7. Mrs. Bindu Dinasari conducted a political meeting in Neplis Valley. It was stated that about one lakh people attended her meeting. It was a record in their region. She could attract that many people.

Have they come there on their own or has she offered them money, spicy food, liquor and transport free of cost to somehow bring them there? If those are their standards, and if she wishes to get popularity to her meeting this way, what should really talented and ideal people think about her? Do you want stupid followers who shout slogans, appreciating you, even if you sneeze or cough, or a handful of geniuses who appreciate you if you do something substantial and historical only?  Have you worth of your own?

8. There are many organizations, books (The Guinness World Records, Limca Book of Records, Forbes) and interest groups, which record and highlight many as achievements and extraordinary things in their own fashion. Is it not for hype? What can others learn from these achievements and wonders?     

9. We often talk about the great features and qualities of flights and other facilities used by the presidents of the USA. When millions of their citizens are suffering from poverty and insecurity due to many reasons, is it great if their government treats one person supremely based on his political status? A true and visionary leader lives such life which majority of their citizens are living then. If one is living like a royal figure, spending public money, is he a great leader? Should we consider him great because he has such admirable character as an individual or because he is in such a position? If we respect him based on his status, we are treating him as an idiot only? When does he understand it? When do we change?

10. They showed a particular feature film in a cinema for so long that it became a record. Have they showed that film there just for a record or that people have really visited it for that long period of time? What do we get from a film if we watch it repeatedly? If we are watching a film many times, it means we are good at wasting our valuable time. Even if we are fervent film-goers, we should see and encourage all films. We should not be attracted highly seeing the characters and scenes in one film only, if we are broad-minded. Only shallow and lazy blokes watch a film repeatedly. What is use of such records and reputation derived from it? What is its positive contribution to the society there? Does it encourage the contemporary youth and others towards constructive thoughts, plans and efforts? If art fails to guide and console others, it cannot be art? Nobody sits at a God also for a few days continuously. Then how do we justify records and celebrations of this nature, which, mostly, misguide people regularly.

Some more negative, ugly and repulsive shades and characteristics of those associated with hype:

1. He has no money and capacity to feed his children also satisfactorily every day but he borrowed 5 lakh rupees to conduct the marriage of his daughter grandly, to impress his familiar folks, who follow dirty trends of contemporary society but cannot realize and feel bitter truths. He could not repay it even after five years. He committed suicide one day out of frustration and self-pity. He would have avoided it if he had not borrowed that money one day from others for the sake of hype. He should have lived minding his financial ability always.

2. The imported car of president of India is scheduled to travel in that route that morning. 100 police have been deployed in that place to streamline traffic. Here streamlining means disturbing and torturing the free lives of many that have been using that road regularly, asking them to go another way. Police blocked roads everywhere until this man-made God’s vehicle passed that way and 50 other cars to show his excellence to all. Is it necessary? Whose money are we spending for this royal treatment of our political idiots? What sacrifices have they made for this country? They assumed those positions out of their blind loyalty to a political party for years or through quite dishonest and corrupt means. They are not builders of India but opportunists and unbelievable parasites and hypocrites. They follow formalities to live happily, benefiting from the privileges offered by our dirty governments. Are these our celebrities? Are they authorized to stop our journey anywhere just like that? Are they upholding our rights or violating them? We have to listen to their great speeches on television and radio on special days. They talk about morals but never follow them as heads of our governments. A true leader guides or dies for others but does not torture or kill them to be comfortable and happy at his level? How many of our MLAs, MPs, ministers, prime ministers, presidents, celebrities, judges and such other supposedly honourable citizens of India, have represented such standards and values in those positions, which deserve such unbelievable royal treatment from us, the people of India? Should we spend millions of rupees for these blokes, who cannot move out without police and retinue of substantial order? Is this not hype, a crime, we are committing daily, honouring those, who should be hanged publicly? We are bearing with this hype. We are neglecting the poor and the helpless daily.

3. A film celebrity is going to conduct a meeting in a venue to address a local issue formally. The local SP deployed 100 police in that place to conduct visitors and people. Are not our police thinking and behaving like shameless dogs and bitches in this nation, saluting those who don’t deserve it? If an ordinary man dies on a road due to an accident; if a rape occurred in a part of city; if a traffic jam occurred on a busy road; if a corrupt leader is looting people publicly somewhere…do these police go there to resolve the issue as seriously as they go to the meeting of a celebrity of this order? They beg alms on roads stopping our vehicles saying that we did not wear a helmet or we are not carrying a driving license. Shall I become a great Indian if I wear a helmet and carry a driving license and a criminal if I don’t have them? If these are the standards, expected by our governments, how many corrupt politicians and businessmen have been punished in India till now? How many lawyers and judges, who argued fraudulent cases and who disfigured our systems of law and order through fake judgements have been hanged in this nation to uphold standards and values to sustain our democracy? Why these double standards? Why this hype?

4. On national highways, there are many toll gates, where fixed tolls are being squeezed from us. They display large boards there specifying who can be exempted from these tolls. If you read these boards, you understand that most of them are idiots of contemporary India. If the presidents, prime ministers and MPs of India need not pay toll, for the kind of services and sacrifices they are doing for us daily, what about our peasant farmers, helpless laborers, ideal doctors, admirable social activists…for that matter 90% Indians deserve more respect than these nasty rogues, whose positions and statuses are displayed on these boards. I am also an honourable citizen of India. Why should I pay toll? Why is not the government of India honoring me without collecting toll from me? If I become the president of India, everybody should treat me like God. If I work silently in a mango garden, to offer quality fruit to all in my place (real social service), I am being treated like a negligible entity. Are we respecting positions and statuses of idiots around us or their actual achievements and contributions to their familiar societies or nation? We are treating many thieves and robbers in this democracy like our royal figures daily, spending crores of rupees. Who started this dirty culture? Why are we accustomed to this retrograde culture? Is this not hype?

5. Tickets meant for entering and watching a 20-20 cricket match have been sold like hot cakes within hours in that city. These are all builders of India. Because they have worked unbelievably for the progress of their companies, societies or families for long, till now, they want to enjoy their time now, watching this cricket match. They have to encourage those players, shouting, making fashionable appearances, dancing madly and throwing stuff into air, when they hit ball hard. How many of these builders of India come with me if I request them to join me to fight for a social cause? Very few have time to think and work for developing India now, but millions of them for watching cricket and doing such nasty things regularly. It is their money. It is their time. They enjoy it the way they like it. Who am I to question them? This is the prevalent argument from many modern Indians now. We have freedom to do whatever we like because we are living in a democracy. When you become the victim of a rape, an accident by a drunkard, a land grabbing issue by a local politician, a cheating by a fraudulent business firm …don’t cry sitting alone in your home. I have no time to come to you. When you were watching cricket, I was playing chess. When you were dancing in a nightclub, I was drinking alcohol in an outlet and celebrating myself. When you were chatting online with your friends quite casually, I was enjoying a bachelor party thrown by my friend. India has become a country of shallow and meaningless celebrations. Here anybody can do whatever he or she likes. Why should you expect others to help or guide you when you are in a problem when you did not think and struggle to solve the problems of others when they sought your help the other day? We, Indians, have been accustomed to hype, during the last two decades, more than earlier. We talk about those, who did something grandly. We appreciate those, who earned millions of dollars, within 10 years, going abroad, doing something. We wish to sit there, where nobody questions us about anything. We want to do such things, where we need not contribute anything to others but just nominal presence as a voter, commuter, devotee, employee, villager, citizen or customer. We want parties and celebrations always. Many should talk about us publicly. We go to any extent to impress others artificially. We have no genuine concern to improve ourselves or others. This is all culture of hype.

6. Your employer is offering you employees a party to celebrate success. You would drink, eat and dance like a mad dog or bitch. Do you do so if you are spending your hard-earned money at home with your family members? You would spend the money and assets of your company like a dirty bastard. You would submit fake bills and loot your company like anything just because they are treating you kindly out of their goodness. Do you follow values and standards when spending money and utilizing opportunities offered by your employer generously? Every year, billions of dollars are being misused by millions of worthless employees, across the world, in the name of parties, celebrations, purposeless inland and foreign travels, stay in costly hotels, valuable gifts and so on. When you fail to be a sensitive and sensible employee in your company, you fail to be a good Indian as well. You are a fraudster because you are misusing the money and resources of your company. Many are working for pitiable salaries in the same company, where you are working, like bonded laborers. You never thought about their lives or plight because your culture is to loot your company somehow and celebrate with that easy money. You think a lot to offer a 10-rupee note to a beggar but you expect your employer to spend lakhs of rupees every year for your perks and privileges, which you don’t deserve at all. You are a shameless and worthless parasite on your employer. You have no value of your own once you step out of that company. I have been seeing millions of such employees across the world now through my metaphysical perception. They think and behave like princes and princesses once into the campus of their company…like worthless beggars once out of it. Kind employers are paying them hugely out of their generosity. When a landlord is taking months or years to increase the daily wage of an ordinary agriculture worker; when an employer is taking a long time to increase the daily wage of a contract worker a little; why should your employer increase your salary, offer fantastic bonus and increments, every year, despite the fact that you did not learn anything substantial during the last 10 years or so. How much knowledge have you gained or how many skills have you acquired during this time, to expect too much remuneration and special treatment from your employer? You are rushing to another company after working here for a few days or months if there is enticing hike or privileges there. Are you loyal and ideal towards your present employer? Are you not criticizing your employer daily for this or that, clearly knowing that you are a helpless parasite on his kindness? Are there no problems in your home at all? Are you not waiting patiently until you or others can solve them? Why are you not thinking and behaving similarly towards the problems in your company also? If you go out, he recruits somebody else. He is more powerful, visionary and kind than you, in a hundred ways. Have you ever felt grateful towards those employing you? You talk greatly about a film star, a sports celebrity, a fair in your place, a love relationship with a girl or boy, a funny event but never about your employer. You are happy just because of him but you never feel or express it anywhere. You are indulging in such things only, which are directly or indirectly related to hype. Many companies and employers are bearing with our dirty attitudes and culture daily. Shame on us as employees.

7. You cannot bear if somebody offers you constructive criticism also, something like…a. Please improve your English. Your communication skills are very poor. You are earning a bad reputation for our company. b. You are not trying to learn anything in this profession. You are becoming outdated day by day. c. You are drinking and smoking too much. This is not good for your health and family. Try to shun them slowly. d. You are not driving your car properly on roads. I have observed it many times. You are scaring and insulting many driving it carelessly. But, you would certainly enjoy, if somebody says something like this…a. Your hairstyle is fantastic. b. Your taste for foods is unusual. c. You walk like an angel. d. Your smile is divine. e. Your dress sense is superb. f. You danced madly in that party. You are expecting appreciation and admiration only everywhere from others, not criticism. You are a bloody idiot with many drawbacks and demerits. If you cannot bear if somebody criticizes you constructively, when do you grow as an individual, thinker and visionary? Casual appreciation and blind admiration make and keep you like a complacent bloke and indecent scoundrel. This is why you are remaining as one of those shallow nuts in this world. You don’t improve at your level but you expect all to behave sensibly towards you. You would sit in a reserved train coach with a monthly season ticket and argue with the one that comes there with his authorized reservation ticket to sit there. You would make dirty jokes at all girls and women but nobody should talk or behave so towards your sister, cousin or mother. You throw rubbish everywhere and spit like a buffoon but you expect Narendra Modi to make India clean for you. You bribe a police or government officer when you commit a blunder but you expect them to react legally and morally when somebody hits your car and moves away. You expect your wife or mother to serve you like a bonded laborer but you have no time or interest to help them a little when they are sick or overburdened with chores. When you cannot love and serve others honestly and decently, you have no moral authority to expect them from others. If you are enjoying your life or job, without thinking about and observing bitter realities around you, you are an avoidable burden to others. You are a victim to a superficial culture. You expect everything to be grand and memorable without contributing your worthy part to it. If somebody is struggling and suffering continuously to keep you comfortable and happy, and if you never knew about it or acknowledged it, you are living the life of a rogue. Worthless blokes thus crave lifestyles of hype.

The path of transformation

1. Never value a person, a society, a government officer, a politician or a friend if something is going on there grandly, without a purpose. Purpose must be so which honours the right ones and discourages the wrong ones.

2. Don’t struggle to make everything great and grand as far as your life or profession is concerned. God did not create this world in that fashion. You cannot make everything great. Accept and appreciate ordinary things also.

3. You cannot become great wearing costly clothes, travelling in luxurious cars spending the money and resources of others or exploiting the innocent and the helpless strategically. You should think and behave greatly first.

4. Don’t impose your interests, priorities and fantasies as those of the world, on those, on whom you have absolute authority. Let them know what is right, wrong, possible or impossible. Let them decide on their own.

5. Party is something others should offer you if they feel it strongly. Don’t ask or beg others for a party. If you do so, you are behaving like a shameless beggar. Don’t demand how they should do it. Let them do what they can.

6. Don’t appreciate anybody or anything without a good purpose. They should deserve it. You should analyse whether they need it or not. Appreciate a beggar, not your boss, when needed. Don’t be superficial and snobby.

7. Don’t do anything just because many are doing it. They may be idiots, rogues and criminals. You have common sense and conscience. Don’t be carried away by trends and styles. Do what is necessary, not what is happening.

8. Talk softly and behave affectionately with as many people as possible. Respond or react differently only if the situation demands it for your survival there. Most of our life is what our habits and manners are. Be careful.

9. Don’t crave recognition and appreciation regularly from others. Being simple, normal and silent is far better than being extraordinary, crazy and talkative. Achievers and idealists wish to remain unnoticed and open-minded.

10. If you are clear about what and why you are doing something, nothing to bother about those talking much against you. Great thoughts and acts cannot attract loafers and idiots around you. Ignore their comments.