Indian Rulers in Vietnam

Here is the story. 

A small country like Vietnam beat the mighty USA to its knees in 1975. A reporter asked the Vietnamese leader how they were able to beat the mighty USA. The leader replied: During the War, we used to study the warfare tactics of Chhatrapati Shivaji. We were inspired by him. We used his war tactics against the US Forces and won. 

When the Vietnamese Foreign Minister visited India, she asked where Shivaji’s Samadhi is located. She was told it is in Raigadh. She immediately visited Raigadh, paid her tribute, picked up the soil around the Samadhi and put it in her brief case. 

She said this soil is the land of the braves. When I go to my country, I will mix it with the soil of my country. 

Don’t you think this makes all the Indians proud! 

The problem is I have heard the same story in another place. But there is a name change. Instead of Chhatrapati Shivaji, it was Rana Pratap Singh. 

This morning, I read the same story in a Tamil news magazine. The name mentioned is King Raja Raja Chola. The Vietnamese Foreign Minister visited his palace in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, and picked up the soil around his palace. 

Similar to ethnic jokes in India. Jokes are the same. But the name of the community will differ from time to time and place to place. 

I think using such hyperbole makes them feel good.

This is it for the year 2021.  (Advance) Happy New Year Greetings.

PS: Why leave out greatest Indian female empresses and queens?  Waiting to hear about Rani Lakshmibai, Razia Sultana, Rani Padmini, Ahilyabai Holkar, etc.

Work from Home

I think I was the first person to work from home (among my friends and acquaintances and family). May be some other person worked from home before me. I have not yet come across such a person. 

I wrote the following comment in Mr. Pradeep Nair’s blog post: Work - home balance.

Interesting blog post. Work From Home. Reminds me of an incident. This was early 90s. Before Cell phones. But desk top computers were there. This was before WFH was ever heard of. I was Executive Assistant to the Regional VP. He said since he is out of the office for 16 days in a month I should work from home. I had a phone and fax machine in my home. I “WFH” for 2 full years. I enjoyed. What was the disadvantage? My wife’s friends started this rumor. Lalitha’s husband lost his job and he is at home all the time. 

Why I am writing this post? I just read the following news item: 

Mr. Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com, terminated 900 employees via a zoom call. He said “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off”. He slammed the ex-workers for allegedly “stealing from our customers” by not being productive. He said at least 250 of those employees were working only 2 hours a day while clocking 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system. 

There is a big controversy for the method he used to fire those employees. There are “for” and “against” arguments. I am not going into that. 

I am just thinking – those employees who work from home now (due to Covid-19 Pandemic) – Do they all work full 8 hours at home as they would in an office environment?

I have seen people go for shopping. Attend to personal business. Or, just take it easy and watch television. Or, take a nap in the afternoon. Or, some even go out of town with family and while the family is enjoying vacation, the employee "works" from there.

 All you have to do is to keep your laptop connected to your office system.

What do you think?

Jeeva Samadhi

A friend of mine from India forwarded me a video clip of a Rama Bhakthar (Lord Rama’s devotee) coming out of a Jeeva Samadhi. He was buried alive for 11 days. 

As per Jacob Shivanand, Jeeva Samadhi means “becoming one” with the universal consciousness or merging with God or Divine or Light. 

This is too much for my pea-brain. 

Please watch this 6 minute video clip and let me know your opinion.