29th Edition of Shadow Dancing With Mind

I have started writing my this public blog in the year 2010 (I started writing my blog in 2004, with my  personal thoughts and poetry) and I am so happy that, people across the world liked what I write (almost 300K hits) and gave me an award as the Top Indian Blogger in the Topics of "Religion and Spirituality"... and this Edition in celebration of the same. I hope you will like, what I have had written in this edition. Most importantly  please, if you are a poet, submit your poetry on or before 30th September to win "All Expense Paid week Long Spiritual Retreat" in Himalayas and if you are talented enough, probably you will win "To and Fro Air Ticket" too, from your country to Delhi. So don't miss the chance to visit the spiritual capital of the world - Rishikesh in Himalaya...

NEWS:
COUNT DOWN BEGINS - To Win All Expense Paid Spiritual Retreat in Himalaya,Write Haiku or Poetry before 30th Sept 2013

Write a HAIKU OR POEM on "Spirituality" on or before 30th September 2013, and win a chance to be one of the 5 WRITERS who will be offered an All Expense Paid (including Air Fare) Week long stay in Winter Spiritual Retreat in Rishikesh, Himalaya Or in Kushinagar. The top two will be offered To and Fro tickets from their country to Delhi as well.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

Would You Like To Collaborate On A Book AboutBlogging?

The last one and half  month has been amazing for my social media journey. Won the prestigious award Indian Blogger Award 2013 for the things I am passionate about, "Religion and Spirituality" and then one of the Publishing House offered to Publish "A book on Blogging", which will be distributed across India by Landmark (The Book Store of Tata's). [The publishing house has scheduled this book to be published by March 2014 and I have to give the final manuscript at the end of Dec 2013]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL:
Sanjay Pinto, pleaseaddress the Nation at 8.03AM

In last one month, two of my very close friends became authors and one of them is Sanjay Pinto (The other is Raghu Raman) and as he loves the extempore style, the moment Sanjay saw me at the launch of his book, “Speakers Are Made, Not Born” promptly appointed me the host along with his wife Vidya to welcome the guests at the Don Bosco School auditorium. It was a beautiful evening spent along with many of my old friends listening to the dignitaries at the dais. The master of ceremony was a welcome change as school going kids, honed by Sanjay’s ‘Silver Tongue Academy Resource’ delivering perfect introductions and speeches.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

THE READER: 

The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by C G Jung

WELL KUNDALINI IS NOT ABOUT SEX...

When ever some one talks about Kundalini, Tantric or Cakra’s, an image appears of wild and lurid psycho spiritual rituals and sexual forms that even most imaginative sex industry will find hard to replicate. But in our scriptures, this is not fiction but a science that was developed from the beginning. Starting from Laya yoga, transforming into a defined practice, that is aimed at attaining higher state of living, through inner search and meditation. Kundalini meditation, in my opinion, is what westerners call now as ‘Psycho-analysis’ with steps to really know ‘Who Am I”.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

MUSIC: 

A beautiful blend of traditional andcontemporary songs - Coke Studio @ MTV Season 3

Music has a great effect on us, it has the power to move us to the higher state of living from the point of just 'living'. Our ancient sages has been aware of this effect of music, sound vibrations and chanting etc. so ensured that we are in touch with music in our lives through various rituals, customs and samskara. Hence most of our ancient and vedic knowledge is bound in the various forms of music, mantra chanting or plain vibrations of sound.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR AMAZING MUSIC...

WANDERLUST:
The Path Within (Part 1)- Two days in Rishikesh Himalaya

Every year, I visit Rishikesh in Himalaya but this time I got a chance to visit devbhoomi (God’s own earth) in the Hindu month of Shravan (July – Aug). Shravan month is sacred in Hindu system for various festivals that are celebrated during this period like Janamashtami (Lord Krishna’s birthday), Raksha Bandhan, Naag Panchami, Basava Panchami etc. Shravani Mela is a major festival time at Deoghar in Jharkhand with thousands of saffron-clad pilgrims bringing holy water around 100 km on foot from the Ganges at Sultanganj.

CLICK HERE TO WALK WITH ME...

The Path Within (Part 2) - Two Days in Rishikesh

As I was in Delhi during the time of Kanwar Yatra, I thought of going to Rishikesh to bring Ganga Jal (Holy Ganges Water) for the rituals in home. So here is my pilgrimage to Rishikesh from Dehradun divided in Two Parts, (due to the length of the post was too big to be unleashed on un-suspecting readers). The story below is from the day two in Rishikesh...

CLICK HERE TO WALK WITH ME...

STILL LIFE:

Through The Lens of Kanvaria - Dehradun ToRishikesh

Lakhs of devotees every year, make an annual pilgrimage in the month of Shravan (July-August) to Haridwar,

Rishikesh, Badrinath, Kedarnath in Himalaya to fetch Holy river Ganges water and bath their local Deity Lord Shiva in villages,  towns or city temples across India. These pilgrims are known as Kanvarias.

CLICK HERE TO WALK WITH ME...

Catching some rain drops...

This monsoon season, I happen to travel to Pune and Mumbai on work and collected some rain drops on the

way... here it is....

Breeze mopping the slate clean

Clouds pregnant with raindrops

Sky still remains hung up and grey...

CLICK HERE TO WALK WITH ME...

SPONSORED POST:
minto-o Ultramintz - A New classof premium and powerful Sugar Free Mints.

I have reviewed books for many friends, great writers and some not so great but never a product. First time,"I am reviewing mint-o Ultramintz as a part of the Product Reviews Program at BlogAdda" so don't really know how to go about it but decided to share my actual experience with it.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE...

I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THIS EDITION FRIENDS...IF SO, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.. CHEERS!!!

Hope you will enjoy this edition... look forward to your comments and visit to the next Edition... please click on the “Join this Site” button on the right hand side top corner to follow my posts on this blog... I will be grateful.

__
Shashi
ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV                                     HOME                                       NEXT
28^th Edition                                                            30th Edition

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL – Sanjay Pinto, please address the Nation at 8.03AM

In last one month, two of my very close friends became authors and one of them is Sanjay Pinto (The other is Raghu Raman) and as he loves the extempore style, the moment Sanjay saw me at the launch of his book, “Speakers Are Made, Not Born” promptly appointed me the host along with his wife Vidya to welcome the guests at the Don Bosco School auditorium. It was a beautiful evening spent along with many of my old friends listening to the dignitaries at the dais. The master of ceremony was a welcome change as school going kids, honed by Sanjay’s ‘Silver Tongue Academy Resource’ delivering perfect introductions and speeches. (Read Indian Express Report on the launch here...)

Sanjay doing what he does best.. 

I remember meeting Sanjay Pinto, decades ago, in the office of my friend Mr. Karuna Sagar (then DCP Traffic) and connecting with him instantly as a long lost friend. Over the years, I watched Sanjay grow from strength to strength through sheer hard work, catching all those opportunities that came his way following his own mantra as he said in this lovely book, ‘Opportunities don’t fall into your lap like manna from heaven. You need to push yourself… you need to fight for that chance’. As the face of NDTV South India, he grew in stature and as he left NDTV to pursue his dream, he did what he always believed in… stepped on the accelerator and rose to greater heights.

“When you get an applause, instead of pausing, step on the accelerator and raise your pitch a little. Don’t stop speaking.” – Sanjay Pinto in ‘Speakers are made, not Born’

And Sanjay Pinto, as National Debating Champion with 106 victories, loved speaking…

“NDTV Producers at headquarters would often slot me for the ‘morning to night’ “OBs” because they knew I enjoyed speaking nonstop, “in full flow”, even if it was for a minute and half. “Sanjay, please address the nation at 8.03 am” used to be a common line from the Good Morning India news desk.”

Over the years, I learned lots of things from Sanjay but the best being his dedication to the things he does. Like a Karma Yogi, he kind of follows the principle of Bhagwad Gita, i.e. doing what comes his way with 100% sincerity, hard work and commitment and then never worry about the fruits of his endeavours. Another thing that's unique about him is his style of making the person being interviewed, very, very comfortable. As host of popular NDTV Show, “Corridors of Power”, this unique style made his guests reveal their personal stories and candid thoughts. His sense of story is very powerful and I remember, when I informed him of tremendous work being done by the Architects M/s  C R Narayan Rao to get the TIDEL park ready for inauguration by the then Prime Minister, Sh. Atal Bihari Bajpai, he was probably the only one of the media, who interviewed Padam Shri.  Raghvendran Rao – M/s CRN Assoc. for NDTV curtain raiser.

Consul General of the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, Ms. Jennifer McIntyre, released the first book for the audience and spoke highly of the book and was full of praise for Sanjay Pinto as noted speaker. She spoke of taking few cues from the book but also noted that she is not following one of his primary tenets…

US Consulate General Ms. Jennifer McIntyre releasing the book...

“I confess that I am violating one of his primary tenets in the book by bringing my written speech to the podium, – but I hope he will give me an exemption to this rule since diplomats are held to account for every word we say!” - Ms. Jennifer McIntyre in her felicitation speech at the launch.

Fr John Alexander of Don Bosco

Fr John Alexander of Don Bosco noted in his speech, “Becoming a writer is much more difficult” but for Sanjay I guess it comes easy, as he plans 3 more books in the coming year.  One by one, the heads of three prominent institutions – YGP of PSBB, Meena Muthiah of Chettinad Vidyashram and Father John Alexander of Don Bosco, who received the first copies of the book, spoke of Sanjay Pinto as a lovable person, highly professional and dedicated speaker who not only speaks but also walks the talk. Sanjay is not only passionate about speaking but also passionate about sharing his ‘secrets’ of becoming a great speaker. With his ‘Silver Tongue Academy Resources’ Sanjay came forward to mentor thousands of school going kids in various schools across the city, in public speaking.

The large hall was packed for the launch.. 

FROM THE BOOK: Speaker’s Are Made, Not Born

Vidya Pinto, Sanjay's sustainable
source continous of energy

After years of interviewing political leaders, international sports person, actors, bureaucrats, legal luminaries and professionals from every walk of life, I am more than convinced that effective communication is often what makes the difference in careers.

17 years of education can boil down to your ability to showcase your credentials in 1 minute or 6 minutes

There are two types of speakers – those who are nervous and those who are liars! – Mark Twain

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public. – George Jessel Award winning Film Maker

An anecdote is a simple and a most effective strategy to make any audience sit up and take notice.

Preparing a good speech is like cooking a gravy. You need a recipe, fresh ingredients in the right proportion for that perfect consistency.

If you analyze some of the worlds best speeches, the Anaphora will inevitably show up as a common thread.

I have always believed that a good public speaker must have conviction. And it must show.

Never crack a dirty joke in public.

Politicians are great wordsmiths.

Don’t ridicule a wrong answer. Your audience is not a Google search engine!

Sanjay Pinto and me.

Love is when an 80 year old grandpa goes down on his knees to clip the toe nails of his wife, because she has arthritis and can’t bend. And guess what, the grandpa also has arthritis.

__

Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

PREV                                HOME                              NEXT

HINDU LIT FOR LIFE                                                 How to Make Wealth Stay
                                                                                   - Satya Bansal CEO Barclays