Bus swim on Water

26 tips to stay calm when situation goes bad

Sometimes situations do not go as expected. A good day may turn bad, everything may suddenly go wrong. Needless to say, it’s difficult to stay calm in such situations. We tend to become confused, panic or even heated by anger. That won’t help you much to get out of the situation though. Handling a bad situation in such condition  will just make it worse; you are more likely to make mistakes. That’s why it’s important to stay calm. By staying calm, you will be able to judge the situation wisely and take the appropriate actions.
But how do you stay calm when the situation goes bad? How do you calm your nerves while the world around you is falling down? I believe there are some simple things you can do. Here are 26 tips ; pick the ones that work for you:

1. Take a deep breath.
2. Do nothing for 5 minutes.
3. Take a nap.
4. Take a shower.
5. Listen to comforting music.
6. Listen to natural sounds.
7. Play music.
8. Share to a positive friend.
9. Meditate.
10. Ask “What’s the next action?” and focus on only that one thing.
11. Go to nature (mountain, beach, etc.).
12. Ride a bike.
13. Talk about other topics.
14. Drink a bottle of water.
15. Play games (just for a while!).
16. Go eat with someone who is not part of the situation.
17. Exercise.
18. Read spiritual texts.
19. Listen to spiritual audio programs.
20. Unplug the Internet.
21. Take a cup of coffee.
22. Say to yourself, “This situation is not as bad as it looks. Many people have handled situations worse than this successfully.”
23. Be grateful for what you still have (instead of looking at what you don’t have).
24. Be grateful for what you can learn from the situation.
25. Take a walk around a park.
26. Smile.

Support Anna Hazare’s fast for the Jan Lokpal Bill

Posted by Vidyut

I had written a post earlier, about why we need the Lokpal Bill to be revised, but took it down, because Anna Hazare’s Letter to Manmohan Singh describes it far more clearly. What exactly is the problem with the Lokpal Bill and how and why it should be changed and passed rather than hatching eggs for another 42 years.
Anna Hazare has started a fast unto death at Jantar Mantar for the bill to be reviewed and passed. He has drafted a Jan Lokpal Bill which will give teeth to the fight against corruption. He believes (like we all do) that powerless bodies who can only ‘recommend’ actions against corrupt politicians to corruption supporting governments are a farce.

The movement has spread like wildfire in our country already reeling under the daily onslaught of discoveries of theft from the country. People have joined by the lakhs all over India and abroad, with many citizens announcing fast unto death themselves in support. Over 400 cities had demonstrations and a plethora of supporting movements are mushrooming. Writers, thought leaders are standing in open support. Amir Khan wrote to Anna Hazare in support of his movement and said that this is more important for India to support than the World Cup.
Colleges have students supporting fasts on campus, and many corporate employees are fasting at work. The spirit of the Satyagraha once again resounds in the nation and many have called this our second freedom movement – freedom from corruption.
Anyway, you can find out anywhere, coming to the point of this post. We are stakeholders in our country. We have the right to demand accountability and we have the right to demand that an elected government be held accountable to its citizens.
Forget all the naysayers who say nothing will happen. There were those being cynical during our freedom struggle as well. Where are they now?
Ignore all those shoving desperate logic in our faces as to Anna Hazare being misguided or fasting being a form of terrorism and other such nonsense. If it rings true in your heart that people rise up and demand a mechanism that has the absolute power to investigate and prosecute corrupt people stealing our money, THIS is the time to stand up for it. It is as simple as that.
 
Here is what you can do:

1. Join the protests whether you are in India or Abroad. Fast as much or as little as you can, support by being there and adding your voice to the mass.
2. Spread the word. Reach out to others, become visible in your demands for accountability and invite others to do the same. Whether you fast, or do other things.
3. Chetan Bhagat has floated a movement in support of Anna Hazare – “Mera neta chor hai”. The idea is that you write “मेरा नेता चोर है” on your forearm a la Amitabh Bacchan. If someone asks you, show them, explain your stand, hand them a pen to join in. Post your pic on the net.
4. Register your voice among the supporters. Give a missed call to 02261550789 – free, of course.
5. Sign the petition to Manmohan Singh on Avaaz
6. If you have a website or blog, write about your own contribution and experience. Write about why you think this is important. Spread the word in social media. Tweet up a storm. Share it, like it, add it, whatever.
7. TALK about it. Bring it up in casual conversations.
8. Write to politicians and the government in support of the strike and demand that they comply.
9. I have noticed that most people are looking at the news, but don’t really know much about what is happening. Start conversations, tell them. Explain why its important. Print out the information file issued by India Against Corruption or Hazare’s letter to Manmohan Singh and hand out to people, so that they can read the exact details of what is being demanded. Invite them to participate in easy ways at least. Partial fasts, calling the number for them to be counted in support, writing “mera neta chor hai” on their forearms, etc.

Visually handicapped students join Anna Hazare's campaign

Among the old and the young who have made their way to the dharna site of Anna Hazare here is a small group of visually handicapped students who want to "feel the pulse" of the protest and "see" the man who is speaking for them.
When Hazare appealed to the children never to forget their responsibility towards their country, the enthusiastic students started shouting slogans hailing the Gandhian.
In this young population of Hazare's supporters in Jantar Mantar, who poured in from various schools and colleges of the country, was a group of "silent protesters who said they have come to "feel the pulse" of the protest and "see" the man who is speaking for them.
Addressing the press, Hazare appreciated the children who had extended their support and said that no matter which profession they choose in their lives, they should not forget their responsibility towards the nation.
"I do not have strength, the power of money. I spent my entire life serving the country and its people. You (children) have to save the country," he said.
Standing quietly in a queue with his school mates and teachers, Mohammad Amin, a Class IV, who is visually challenged said, "I have come here because I think corruption affects our lives. I have come here because I wanted to see the person who is standing for a cause that matters to all of us."
Ankit, a Class II student from a blind school in Sharda said, "I have come to see Anna Hazare. My teacher told me he is fighting for us. The grants to our schools have been cancelled. Teacher said Hazare is speaking for us."
Students from Saint Mary's school here also eloquently spoke in favour of the campaign started by Hazare.
"It feels good to see that the Gandhian philosophy is still followed. We will do whatever it takes and extend our support to him," Simran, 15, said.

Cambridge students join Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption

As thousands of Indians across the globe extend their support to Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, students from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom also join in.

Anna Hazare and his Fasting

I am surprised at the degree to which Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death for the Lokpal bill has caught the entire Indian middle class' imagination. The internates and the blogosphares and twittervarses are abuzz with posts that either support Hazare's idealistic cause, or cynically dismiss it as something futile and/or a publicity stunt.

As someone who grew up in Maharashtra in the 90s and early 2000s, the headline "Anna Hazare declares fast unto death" is not a new one. No un-elected official, not even Bal Thackeray, has had as much impact on Maharashtra politics in the last two decades as Anna Hazare. Obviously, most non-Maharashtrians have little idea about Hazare, his track record, and so on. So I thought of writing a post to address the problems with what I have been hearing from both sides - the Anna-doubters as well as the Anna-cheerleaders.

Let's first look at what the Anna-doubters say. The talk of this being a publicity stunt is so outrageously wrong, it doesn't even deserve a rebuttal. The man has dedicated his life to social work and activisim, with a reasonable level of success, without gaining anything for himself. He doesn't need publicity. There is nothing in it for him. Even if Anna Hazare ended his fast today, and retired from his activism to spend his time gardening and watching TV, he will still be remembered as a moral and utilitarian colossus in the fight against corruption.

The other point raised by Anna-doubters merits rebuttal - that fasting or protesting against corruption doesn't really serve any purpose or solve any problems. That his heart is in the right place, but all his agitations do is give the media and the middle class something to talk about sanctimoniously for a few days, and then everything goes back to the way it was.

While Anna Hazare never has and never could "root out corruption", the record shows that his agitations and/or fasts have hardly been futile. Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation in 1994 or so (combined with the whistleblowing by BMC official Khairnar) played a big role in turning the public opinion against Sharad Pawar's Maharashtra government. They lost the election, bringing the BJP-Shiv Sena combine to power.

Hazare's crusade against corruption continued despite the change in guard in the Vidhan Sabha. Throughout the SS-BJP rule, Hazare exposed corruption, occasionally going on fasts to demand action. I can recall at least a half a dozen Ministers (including Shashikant Sutar, then MLA for my own constituency in Pune) having to resign or being forced out because of Hazare's agitation.

In one instance, the accused minister...I think his name was Gholap, filed a defamation case against Hazare. Our great court system found Hazare guilty and sentenced him to a few months in prison. He was sent to jail, but the public outcry was so large that Thackeray himself ordered the government to commute his sentence and let him go. Gholap's right hand man was arrested for corruption, and Gholap himself was eased out of the party. Nevertheless, Hazare's continued agitation demonstrated to the Maharashtra voters the extent of corruption even in the (then perceived as) clean Shiv Sena party. The SS-BJP lost the next election in 1999 and haven't been able to return to power since.

Who replaced the SS-BJP? Obviously, Congress-NCP, i.e. Pawar and co, against whom Hazare had first started his agitation. Anna-doubters will point to this regression-to-mean as an example of the futility of his fasts. Well, it's hardly his fault that there is no viable alternative in the Indian polity, is it? The fact remains that his agitations have caught public imagination, made heads roll, and played a big role in toppling governments.

Until about 2000, Hazare's agitation was focused on corrupt individuals. After that, he focused more on systemic problems. He started demanding, among other things, a Right to Information Act for Maharashtra. In the first half of the last decade, he went on a couple of fasts, first to demand that the Maharashtra government pass the Right to Information Act, and then to ask that it be implemented, not just kept on the books.

I remember one particular agitation in 2002 or 2003. The Maharashtra government had passed the RTI, but was not implementing it yet, citing flimsy procedural excuses. Hazare declared...no, not a fast-unto-death, but a maun vrat! A vow of silence! he refused to speak until the government acted on his demands, the chief among them, to implement the RTI.

I remember thinking that the old man had lost it. Fasts carry the weight of the "what if he dies?" question that can spur the powers that be into action. Who the heck is going to care if this dude sitting in Ralegan-Siddhi talks or not. But it worked!

The public response even to the maun vrat was so powerful that the Maharashtra government immediately passed an ordinance implementing the RTI law. Hazare broke his vow of silence only after the government took that step. And over the next couple of years, Hazare kept tabs on the RTI implementation, threatening hunger strikes, until it was fully operational to his satisfaction.

Although other states had their own RTIs several years before, it was the much-more-powerful Maharashtra RTI and the activism surrounding it that played a big role in getting the RTI passed at the Union government level too. If I recall correctly, the national RTI law was almost identifcal to the Maharashtra law.

So Hazare's impact has gone beyond just getting a few corrupt Ministers early (or temporary) exits and replacing one corrupt Maharashtra government with another. The RTI movement owes a lot to him and his fasts.

Now on to the Anna-cheerleaders. Yes, his integrity and devotion is impeccable. His zeal for fighting corruption is more intense than any on-screen Bollywood vigilante's. But his tactic of fasting worries me. As a libertarian, I believe everyone has a right to do whatever they want with their body, and that includes fasting unto death. But the tactic is fraught with ethical issues.

It is "do as I say, or I will kill myself", so is fundamentally no different from someone standing on the ledge of a tall building and threatening to jump unless their demands are met. In Anna's hands, the weapon of fasting unto death has mostly been used for the right reasons. But do you know that nation-wide prohibition of alcohol is (or at least used to be until a few years back) one of his causes? If you like your occasional drink, how will you feel if his next fast is for prohibition?

I am not saying it will be. Hazare has so far used the fasting tactic only for important issues. But imagining your own response to someone fasting unto death or killing himself demanding prohibition, or a Ram temple, or a book ban will demonstrate the ethical problems with the tactic itself. It amounts to blackmail. Blackmail in a just cause is still blackmail.

Then there is this specific Lokpal bill issue that he is fasting for. I agree with Hazare's broad sentiment about the need for checks and balances against widespread corruption, but I am not sure the Lokpal bill, or the way he demands it, is the way forward. My thoughts on the perils of such a bill closely mirror those of Pratap Bhanu Mehta so I will point you to his superb article.

To summarize, Anna-doubters and Anna-cheerleaders both have some of it right and some of it wrong. Whether you agree or disagree with me on the efficacy of his hunger strikes in the past, depends on where you set the bar for efficacy in a country as rife with corruption and a lack of accountability as India. Whether you agree or disagree with me on the ethical issues with hunger strikes depends on your moral compass and the ends-v-means debate.

One thing we can all agree on - Anna Hazare is a strong, motivated, and morally gigantic individual, whose self-control and passion for a cause is something few of us could even dream of emulating. Agree or disagree with him, you have to doff your hat to him.

What is LokPal Bill and Why we Support this??

If you think we should have to support Anna Hazare. plz go to http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/ and support Anna Hazare
 
You Can Download the LOKPAL BILL from  http://indiaagainstcorruption.org 

WHAT IS LOKPAL BILL

 

WHY WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THIS BILL?

FOR MORE DETAILS PLZ go to the http://indiaagainstcorruption.org 
To DOWLOAD THIS BILL : http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/docs/Jan%20lokpal%20bill%202.1.doc


Main objective of LOKPAL BILL the bill is to provide speedy, cheaper form of justice to people.



In the proposed system Lokpal will have complete powers to dismiss a corrupt official.
Lok Pal will have powers to probe or prosecute any judge, even CJI, without any permission while in present scenario CJI permission is required even to register FIR against any judge.
LOKPAL BILL in the proposed system, politicians will not have any say in selections of chairperson and members of Lokpal.
Loss caused to government will be recovered from accused.
The punishment if found guilty will be 5 years to maximum life term in the proposed system.
Right now the punishment is 6 months to maximum 7 years.



  

Bollywood Support to social activist Anna Hazare

Here’s what the Bollywood celebrities have to say:



Anupam Kher: When somebody is fighting corruption, I don’t judge his ways. I applaud his intentions and actions. I am with ANNA HAZARE. Are you?

Shekhar Kapur: I support Anna Hazare’s fast for national debate on Lokpal Bill. Atleast need Parliament to come out and respond to issue. People like Anna Hazare will force a people’s movement against the system. Like Gandhi did against the British.

Rahul Bose: That it takes an Anna Hazare fasting unto death to effect systemic change is comment enough. corruption part of our DNA.

Diya Mirza: Finally, people are voicing strong support for a man that has, should and will be a great example to our generation. i support Anna Hazare

Juhi Chawla: I am complete and absolute supporter of Shri Anna Hazare! All those with a conscience and a clean heart speak up.

Purab Kohli: Jee yo ‘Hazare’ saaal ‘Anna Sahib’!! (Long live Anna Hazare)

Onir: I Support Anna Hazare. @iam_juhi – I am in complete and absolute support of shri Anna Hazare! All those with a conscience and a clean heart speak up!

Madhur Bhandarkar: Overwhelming momentum generates in for Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption. Is India gonna be the next Egypt??

Pritish Nandy: Proud to see common man come out in support of Anna Hazare. It took a 72-year-old man to fast unto death to wake us up.

Ranvir Shorey: Anna Hazare’s crusade is a great litmus test to see if India has any grit left at all. Or have we become a country of corrupt schmoozers…

The Man Who Can Do No Wrong

by AR Hemant
 
Over the last few weeks, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has done things which have made little sense to India’s supporters. Questions were asked. Why Chawla? Why not Ashwin? Why Sreesanth? Why not Sreesanth? Why isn’t Harbhajan taking wickets? Some questioning was justified. Some wasn’t.
Some of Dhoni’s answers were strange.
“Chawla needs to be given confidence.”
“Ashwin is mentally tough.”
“Harbhajan is a big match player.”
“I cannot control Sreesanth.”
You couldn’t get through to Dhoni. He must have smiled inwardly and thought, “Fools. What do they know?” He carried on, living in the bubble that couldn’t be pricked. Like he had a master plan only he understood. Like everything would fall into place at the right moment. In the end, it did.
But as Dhoni revealed after the final, the pressure on him was immense. It was best displayed in the dying moments of India’s chase when he nearly ran himself out. For the first time, horror occupied his creaseless visage. Not tension. Not anger. But pure horror. Dhoni screamed at Yuvraj Singh for the near mishap and hit his pad with his bat in disgust. But this incident didn’t deter him.
Good Old Grit
When Dhoni promoted himself over Yuvraj and Suresh Raina, it wasn’t just the World Cup at stake. Dhoni had been off-colour. But he wanted to shield the two left-handers from Sri Lankan off-spin. Had his brave intentions not yielded runs, questions about Dhoni’s place in the side would have been asked. It was that risky.
Coming out to bat in that situation must be the gutsiest thing a captain has done in a World Cup final since a half-fit, out-of-form Imran Khan went in at three in 1992. Imran made 72 to steer the innings to respectability, then returned to take the final English wicket to seal the win.
As individuals who look within for answers often do, Dhoni said he had a point to prove only to himself.
"I took a quite few decisions tonight and if we hadn't had won I would have been asked quite a few questions," he said after the game. "The pressure had got to me in the previous games. In this match I wanted to bat up the order and Gary Kirsten backed me as did the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself."
A New World Order
It’s hard to fathom how a captain with a penchant for safety-first methods is so successful. Dhoni isn’t like the Australian or South African captains of the past, who would, in their single-minded pursuit of winning, create chances for the opposition.
Dhoni attacks only when absolutely necessary. From the intuitive leader he was at the start, he is now a calculative, risk-free strategist. He has spread himself thin: he also has to keep wickets and bat in the middle-order. Then he has to deal with the beast called the fans’ expectations.
Yet, in the last four years he has won nearly everything worth winning: World Twenty20, the Test No. 1 rank, briefly the No. 1 ODI rank, IPL, Champions League, and now the World Cup. In between, he also nailed other elusive wins: Asia Cup, CB Series, multiple Test wins over Australia, multiple ODI series wins in Sri Lanka, a Test series in New Zealand, to name a few.
The risk-free approach reflects in his batting too. From the go-getter batsman six years ago, he’s become someone who doesn’t want to be caught playing the rash shot. He wants to build. He wants to be patient. While this has worked for Dhoni the captain, it hasn’t for Dhoni the batsman in recent times.
His magnificent 91 in the final was all heart, all guts, something you would associate with the Dhoni of the old. Playing a big hand in the final would make winning it doubly special for Dhoni.
So if there’s a wishlist for the newly crowned world champions, it is this: if they tighten up the bowling, attack a little more, and replace the non-performing ‘big-match players’, India will be truly hard to topple from their top spot.
And skipper, please play those backfoot punches more often.