An extract from A.P.J Abdul Kalam's speech

Its been a long time since I have blogged. The reason is definitely not laziness, but a more productive in nature, which shall reveal itself at the right time. However I just could not resist capturing and sharing this extract I came across which is supposedly from A.P.J Abdul Kalam (11th President of India) who is still known as the People's President.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a
face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International
best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in
the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay
$5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim
Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking
lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or
a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you
don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during
Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered
in Jeddah . YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange
in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD
calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph
(88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son.
Take your two bucks and get lost...' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell
anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New
Zealand .
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use
examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still
talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system
in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and
cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an
involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the
same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr.
Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And
then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the
officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure
in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.
Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to
the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do
everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the
government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all
over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper
and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms
but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to
the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to
women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room
protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the
whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with
our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far
away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a
majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their
glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to
England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out
to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape
the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is
mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great
deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F.
Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.......

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Dyslexia - It might be a good thing!

A recent Bollywood movie named Tare Zameen Par (Stars on Earth) is a huge success and is also receiving accolades for a quality movie.I agree with my friend and I quote him " Taare Zameen Par is an endearing movie about the innocence that forms the core of life"

All of a sudden Dyslexia is being spoken about and Im sure we might also see some initiative spur up trying to help this condition in individuals.Here is some information I gathered on Dyslexia.

• Dyslexia is caused by a neurological dysfunction, which affects the links between the left and the right hand sides of the brain. Recent research indicates that it is hereditary and that it does not affect intelligence or ability

Some typical effects of dyslexia

• Limited and unreliable short term memory
• Persistent difficulty in expressing fully and accurately in writing what has been learned and understood
• Higher marks gained for coursework than for exams
• Lack of confidence
• Low self esteem
• Aggressive or uncooperative behaviour
  

• Summary of common problems
• Poor Concentration
• Inaccurate spelling
• Limited written vocabulary
• Slow reading
• Unreliable memory
• Possible misunderstanding of instructions, essay titles, exam questions
• Difficulty in planning and writing reports, essays, portfolios, dissertations and presentations
• Difficulty in meeting deadlines

Underdeveloped Skills:

• Handwriting
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Reading techniques
• Taking notes
• Remembering ideas, information, names, dates
• Planning and organisational skills

Having said that I did a bit of reading after I read some where that Sir Richard Branson is a Dyslexic.Well a little more reading showed that there are more famous personalities who are Dyslexic and now I'm wondering if it has its own advantages of being Dyslexic.Check out the list below,

Bob Hoskins: actor
The teachers thought I was stupid because I read so slowly. They used to tie one of my hands behind my back because I drew pictures with both hands. My brain works both ways, but they didn't notice that. I didn't go home in tears: I just thought I was stupid.
Now, although I still read very slowly, I take in every word and that's fantastic for learning my lines.

Linda La Plante: creator of Prime Suspect, screenwriter and novelist
I wasn't diagnosed until I was twelve. They used think I was backward. I didn't feel at home with the written word until someone gave me a typewriter. Even today, I never send anything out unless it's been checked by my assistant.

Sir Richard Branson; entrepreneur
At the age of eight I still couldn't read. I was soon being beaten once or twice a week for doing poor class work or confusing the date of the Battle of Hastings.

Brian Conley: comedian and actor
As I couldn't keep up with the others in my class, I was simply written off as being thick. A teacher once said to me 'Brian, you'll never get on because you don't concentrate. All you want to do is play the clown'. Now I can read, but my spelling is terrible and I spell phonetically.

A.A. Gill: journalist
My work at school was atrocious. I still remember some of the unkind comments, such as 'There's no point in you studying history, you can't even write'. I still go to extraordinary lengths to compensate for my dyslexia, though I have to dictate my articles because my writing is illegible

Hamish Grant: Chief Executive of Axeon Technology Group
He had nightmares about schoolwork. 'I forced myself to be good at sport and I think this helped me not to be so nervous of failing and to see that every obstacle can be seen as a challenge'.
'I had to learn to live with my dyslexia. But I still remember my B.Sc. finals in chemical engineering, when I missed a huge chunk of a question. Then it reappeared on the paper, just as time was up'.

Tom Cruise: actor
My childhood was extremely lonely. I didn't have many friends and a lot of the kids made fun of me because they thought I was stupid cos I was so very slow with reading.

David Bailey: photographer
At the age of 59, I have yet to write a letter and still write figures the wrong way round. At school, I was singled out in the class for the stupid!
The British denigrate the visual as something to do at the weekend, not realising that visual people are luckier than verbal people: they are not limited by their vocabulary. And who's to say what's normal anyway? Maybe dyslexics are the clever ones. Who wants to be an academic? Most of them are visually illiterate - and art isn't one of those things you can teach. It's natural and, if you're not careful, you can beat it out of someone.

Anthony Hopkins: actor
His childhood was 'awful', just because he was so hopeless at school. 'I couldn't read properly and my writing was a joke. Numbers meant nothing to me at all'. His parents were worried because he had no friends and was moody and difficult. All he liked to do was to play the piano 'very loudly, but not very well'.
He started to act as a way of expressing himself through the words of other people.

Nicholas Negroponte: founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
His Lab tests new technologies for companies such as Microsoft, Nike and the US Federal Bank. He is profoundly dyslexic, but says 'This is a huge advantage because I am so at home in the digital world of communication rather than in the atomic world of paper and print. Being dyslexic has also made me learn how to address audiences without notes or any other prompts'

Steve Redgrave: oarsman and winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals (2001)
He felt he was always seen as either lazy or stupid at school or both, because he couldn't 'get things right quickly enough'. Even now, he dislikes autograph sessions, because his signature is only a scrawl and 'I never write best wishes or anything else!'
He can still feel inadequate and avoids confronting his problems as much as possible. 'I feel at my best in a boat where I am in absolute control and winning'

Robbie Williams: singer, songwriter
He was always in trouble at school for not doing his work and for being disruptive in class. However, he never minded being the centre of attention and this helped him when he started to perform.
Now he is a multi-millionaire, but has said that he can still feel that there are important things that he will never be able to achieve because of his dyslexia.

Jamie Oliver: TV chef, restaurateur
He has talked openly of his dyslexia and the problems it can still cause him Jamie always coped best with practical subjects at school and hated reading and writing. His father encouraged him to help in the family pub and he began to see this as a possible career because ‘you didn’t have to do so much with a pen in your hand’. He completed a college catering course with some difficulty and later made his name as a TV chef. He has written several best selling cookery books and owns a fashionable London restaurant and has been influential in changing school dinners.

Also....
Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, General George Patton, Pablo Picasso, Hans Chrisitan Anderson, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Winston Churchill, Gustave Flaubert, Alexander Graham Bell, Michael Faraday, Henry Ford, Eddie Izzard, Thomas Jefferson, John F Kennedy, Jackie Stewart, George Washington, Benjamin Zephania.

Also....... Me. I do feel that even Im Dyslexic. Is there any online test or self evaluation tool to find out if one is Dyslexic? Please do revert and share if any one has any information on this.