Entries Tagged 'Blogging' ↓

Google in entering in partnership with GoDaddy.com and eNom wil be selling domain names for 10 Dollars inclusive with a package of services.

This is good news for world wide users and e-commerce. It is predicted that this move would further the growth of Blogging.

On the other hand the action of the almighty Google threatens a number of companies who have made registration and sales of domain names their bread & butter. These companies, for fear of being displaced,they have to evolve fast and change their strategies in the face of bulldozer Google!

The only constant is change as the saying goes!

Marlyse Grossenbacher, who I mentioned in my blog of the 12th is now spending more time at the centre to deepen her knowledge in Ayurveda massage and treatments. She is a very well versed lady in the subject and has studies years  to tune her up to run a reputable centre in Switzerland, not so many of its kind!Her web site is well worth a visit. I found  that the Vedic chanting  provided thereon  to be exceptionally soothing for relaxation and meditation. Bravo Marlyse!Marie Anne got to know her a little better. “Marlyse degage un air de serenite!”
Her set up in Switzerland is in association with the well known French institution dispensing Ayurvedic treatment in Normandie and Paris directed by Kiran Vyas who has published several books in french on Yoga and related subject.

Through the weeks, my daily encounter with the chief medical officer got me to know him a little bit better. A person of some 50 years of age, he has been practicing ayurvedic medicine for many years, after having qualified as a doctor. He has been blessed with 2 children, a boy and a girl, who are already in their early twenties and starting up their professional lives.

He is a very dedicated doctor, well known in this province of Karnataka. Before taking up his present position, he had been a professor of ayurvedic medecine in various institutes and tought at the ayurveda training school. One of his hobby is to perform as a vocalist in Karnatak classical music. Indeed, a man of many talents! I was struck by his great modesty,knowledge,kindness and understanding of people. He is jovial, warm and affectionate. What drives him is to get the best out of people, and he’s always listening, to improve himself and the others. I had the opportunity to listen to the weekly lectures that he gives to guests on ayurveda.  His demeanor was very much that of a university professor, where timing, precision  and  imparting of knowledge were of essence. I, and most of the people present really enjoyed the 30 mins talk where unusual eastern concepts were made simple to us westerners. I have now a better knowledge of vata, pitta and kapha.

During the past week ending on Friday, I underwent for 7 days a very special treatment practised by Ayurvedic specialists from Onkola, which is a village in the far north of Karnataka state near Goa, on persons in my condition. I am back to a normal diet today having only lost 1.5 kilos, after being fed only on rice and mung Dhal water and no solid.

I really enjoyed this morning the papaya, doss (Indian salty crispy wafers) and stir fried broken wheat with vegetables. A very festive meal for me.

A particular aspect which impressed me most was the constant prayer to God by the therapists before every treatment. During their prayer, looking at them, and hearing them sing the prayer, I could sense their deep reverence to God as God-fearing people.

Is it particular to these people of the centre, is it because they have been trained this way, is it part of ayurveda treatment which combines body, mind and soul?

I had a similar experience way back in 1996, when I visited the Madras, now Chennai, airport set up of the budding of Jet Airways, the most prestigious Indian airline for the present. Already in those days, each shift of staff taking up their duty, would get together as a team and hold hands to pray God to help them in their tour of duty. Thereafter, they would religiously recite the company’s mission statement as a mantra. The supervising manager would then ask each one what is the particular point he would watch out for the day. In turn, each individual will come up with his main objective for the day. Though I did not see first hand the break up of the shift, I was told similar ritual took place, where they all got together again to thank God for their work and would in turn, tell the assembly whether they succeeded in attaining the objective which they l have set out to accomplish.

I am in awe with such reverence to God and to the living up to their mission. This might be a lesson to learn from.

I have been quiet for the last few days because of my incapacity to approach my desktop, for fear of putting masala on the keyboard and spoiling my valuable equipment! Even today, I had Marie Anne type out what I have to write.
This morning, while I was sitting on a stool waiting for the paste over my body to dry, my wife Marie Anne came back from her royal rejuvenation treatment. Why royal? It’s because the treatment consisted of whole body massage, followed by a bathtub dip of 15 mins in hot water where herbal decoctions , ground sandal wood and rose petals had been added. When she breezed in, the perfume she exuded filled the air, whilst I was like a garlic/mustard seed/turmeric smelling monster cowering in the bathroom! Fortunately, I’m on my last day of this particular treatment, for the moment. After a week’s of normal massage with special oils brought in from Onkola, I’ll be having a second body paste regimen. The beauty is being rejuvenated whilst the beast is having the pungent smell and starving stance. This is my story of the Beauty and the Beast. To obtain a little bit of mobility in my condition, what will I not do and suffer? I really feel jealous of Marie Anne who is having an exhilarating stay here. If my jealousy would add to my cure, so much the better!

I invite you to read the above named article which is featured on the Wharton School Publishing dated 10 November.

I found that the different views given by the writers to be very pertinent and informative.

The point of view I adhere most to is:

“While Kendall Whitehouse, Wharton’s senior director of student and instructional technology, agrees that, in general, “there’s more noise than signal” in much of the blogosphere, he also stresses that this doesn’t mean that there is no value in blogs. In addition to following a number of individual bloggers whose opinions he respects, Whitehouse finds worth in the aggregate voice of the blogosphere. “Sites like Digg.com let you track what’s happening in the blogging world in near real-time,” states Whitehouse, and can “give you an instant snapshot of what topics people are talking about.” Viewed in this way, the blogosphere may exhibit the same “wisdom of the crowd” phenomenon of community-developed content sites like Wikipedia.”

We are more so today, in a maze where the reliable and the unreliable information are mixed and confounded. The questions are: How to select them? Who are the issuers of the blogs and how reliable are they? Is n’t it a practice of our discerning skills?

Enjoy accessing to the Wharton School Publishing!

Many in our country view Globalisation as a threat. The industries and companies who have been enjoying positive results up to now feel unsecured. Why? They established their businesses in an environment and found the appropriate niche within the given set. Now and in the foreseeable near future, the environment and conditions are changing the « Fit for purpose » is changing. The thrust brought by Globalisation movement with its battery of changes is pressuring us externally with the new world rules imposed by WTO. If you have not thought of your « fit for purpose » in the fast coming environment, you will definitely feel unsecured and panicky.

Can you alter or intervene on the external factors changing the scene of globalisation? I would bet that there is not much (to be euphemistic) or there is nothing we can about it. The rollercoaster is rolling! The set of conditions which very prevailing when we found our niche of business and giving us our live hood is no more there. We may attempt to delay the effect on us. End of the day, it will be only a provisional and temporary measure. We need to « Fit back to our purpose » fast.

Those who are agile see in Globalisation new opportunities. I am still in the euphoria of the lectures of Timothy Radcliffe to whom I listened last night and last saturday. He said that against the back drop of Mass Media pumping us fear and negativity all day,we have to be the angels of hope and better tomorrows. He is giving a lecture @ the University of Mauritius today.Agility and flexibility of mind and spirit are the qualities we should nuture to drive us. So,I choose to hear Globalisation equals changes, synonymus to opportunities and challenges. In an editorial of the newsletter of a consultancy firm, I read:

« Although the word is widely used, globalization is much misunderstood.

A common mistake is to see its impact in over-simplistic terms: Asia wins,

While Europe and the United States lose. A sense of the passing of America’s

hegemony is palpable, while the rise of China and India is seen as irresistible.

These are developments of epoch-making proportions. It is probably not an

exaggeration to point to the post-World War II boom, or even the Industrial

Revolution, as shifts on a comparable scale. It is a work in progress that may

take 50 years – and, what’s more, the outcomes are neither predictable nor

inevitable.

Globalisation is for many companies both a threat and an opportunity. It gives

access to fast-growing new markets, but it can also bring new and unknown

competitors who have matured rapidly in distant parts. For a large number of

products and services the notion of a purely national market no longer exists. »

If we see Globalisation as an opportunity then we stand to being able to find our « fit for purpose » and be successful.

I would suggest that we review our business under three sets of filters:

Market Strategy and business model (What to, Choice to find the fit?)

Organisation structure and Processes (How to?)

People (Who?)

In short, new environment bring changes which we have to proceed with fast. Do you want to be in the “has been” companies or part of the enterprises of the present & future? Changes bring its lot of challenges with opportunies yet to be discovered. Entrepreneurs your role is to find you’re “fit for purpose” and you bring in creative solutions yet to be rolled out.

I am indebted to my friend Donald Lam, a Mauritian friend working in the UK who provided me the inspiration to write this blog after reading the editorial of his company Siddal & company.