Nanny Rents out Baby for Begging - My reflections
Recently, I came across the below news item and I experienced a series of emotions from anger, angst, shock, sick and hopelessness. How could a human being become so inhuman was my question. Is this a preview of what the world has come to. I spent some time reflecting on this and I saw the need for rethinking many aspects of our life today. The need for better scrutiny, police checks, reference checks when hiring people not because we don't trust and respect people but because we rather be safe than sorry. What the maid did was shocking and unpardonable. However, what bothers me is that where was her humaneness l

The United Nations as One Mind - Rene Wadlow
Those who observe world events may perceive something higher than human logic at workDag Hammarshjold has written that the United Nations was “the beginning of an organic process through which the diversity of peoples and their governments are struggling to find common ground upon which they can live together in the one world which has been thrust upon us before we were ready.”Basically, the function of the UN is to create consensus (being of one mind) on crucial world issues. Such consensus-building is slow, and it is done by repeating endlessly in resolutions of the General Assembly and other UN bodies, year after year, the same idea until it becomes common pla

Re-Thinking Charity
Charity has come to business. Milton Friedman's insistence that causes had no place in business overlooked the fact that alignment with a cause could create a competitive advantage. More and more companies are after that advantage.But the sad reality is that, with a few minor exceptions, business has not yet come to charity. It is not the fault of charity. For well over a decade it has been popular to preach to charities that they should act more like businesses, but the truth is, society won't permit it. And it's not likely to do so without a serious re-visiting of our fundamental canons about charity. What we mean by "act more like business" is really, "focus more on lowering

Fllod Relief Appeal from Goonj
This is an URGENT APPEAL to join GOONJ in its campaign ‘RAHAT FLOODS’ to provide support to the victims of one of the worst floods in the last hundred years. The situation is grim and millions of people are affected by the devastation.GOONJ has been working extensively in disaster relief for many years now. During the devastating Bihar floods last year, with large-scale civic participation, GOONJ channelised about 1500 tonnes of material. More recently, in Cyclone Aila in West Bengal, we were again actively involved in relief operations.With a wide network of organizations and people present in most of the affected districts we are confident of reaching relief at

Fitness Centers can generate Energy
Over the last few years, its been a boom time for Fitness Centers across India. I think the two top reasons for their booming business are 1) The increasingly stressful lives of the working population in India who get absolutely no physical exercise. 2) The improved quality of life and purchasing power of people in Urban India who can now afford to spend money on Fitness Centers. In my neighbourhood alone, I have seen over 10 fitness centers pop-up in the last few years from mid-range to truly luxurious.Many an early morning and late evenings, I have seen groups of people pumping up their energy and burning their fat on treadmills. That's a lot of physical exercise and energy ge