Women's Day Program at Udayan Shalini Fellowship - Chennai Chapter - Honoured to be their mentor and the Chief Guest - 8 April 2021

 #sreestories #ThrowBackThursday

One day, few years ago I saw a FB request asking for help to evaluate girls eligibility for education scholarships. As it was a weekend activity, I pulled my friend and drove to a govt school in North Chennai. There I met a group of girls, giggling and smiling, softly whispering into each other and also shyingly looking at us once in a while....most of them are from absolutely deprived families. That did not stop them from smiling and being genuinely happy !

That was a beginning of my journey with

Udayan Shalini Fellowship- Chennai Chapter

and very quickly and quietly I became their mentor and an extended family. From weekend mentoring to visiting them during distress times, taking classes on soft skills to motivation classes, they know my story....and I know them. Udayan care provides education for these girls and enable them towards employment and mostly importantly aspiring towards IAS, IPS and other administrative services.

The enthusiasm, grit and determination, the strong will to succeed, the hardwork and focus on academics, keen interest to learn other things, their interest to read books and learn new things, their questions during Saina's session (Dr Kiran Bedi 's daughter) showed the real youth power of our country. Poverty, limited or no resources, situations or single parenting, nothing stops these young enthusiastic students from chasing their dreams

A little bit of support and mentoring and guidance makes them absolutely daimonds who can make wonders. Their oratorical, debating skills , dancing, music, creativity, arts, mime, teamwork, organising are par excellence. These students are our Nari shakthi of future.

I am truly blessed to be mentoring them, been their chief guest for women's Day celebrations, and talking to them on the need for women and wellness in all aspects of life

Interested in mentoring our girls, please message me and will be happy to guide you ..

Thank you

Priya Amma

,

Naveen Narayanan

,

K

rishna Kumari ,

Udayan Care

for making me part of this amazing journey

Our Easter Story - "HE is keeping me Happy!"

 Our Easter Story #SreeStories

After a hectic work week, Raghu and I wanted to have a short break and we went for a walk in our favourite Besant Nagar beach last night. We wanted some fresh air, but we also got some fresh perspectives of life...as this woman was crossing us in her wheelchair. Raghu immediately went near and tried to help push her wheelchair.

She politely stopped and looked at us with a smile. We saw two bags of merchandise in her lap. I asked her what she sells. She looked at me and said, pens, Key chains and books but all on Christianity. I could hear the bells from near by church. She said she don't want to beg and was living in Chelsea home in Valmiki Nagar till 5 years ago. Last five years after her legs healed from the accident ( that actually took away half of her feet) , she moved to a one room shelter and started living with him.

From that time, he is taking care of her and she comes to beach every morning at 10 am and takes a nap for sometime under the tree in afternoons and gets busy post 3pm. Around 8 pm she wraps up n pushes herself to her home which is like 3 miles from the beach ...

I asked her about dinner and she said she will go and spend time with him for a while and sit in Japam (meditation with a rosary ) and then will have some curd rice and sleep...

Then I asked her why she want to struggle so much. She said, I don't want to burden him as long as I can still breathe and coming to beach and selling gives her money to survive and also send some to church. So I asked her, what does he do ?

Bang came the reply ...he is the only one saving me ma, he is the only one behind my every move..

For a moment we looked at her in awe...she smiled at my confusion and said,. "avar thanney ma enoda karthar ! ". (He is the Lord who is waiting for me at home !)

All this while she was talking to me about her only company in life...Her Jesus Christ!

Raghu said he wanted to buy few things and she offered us pens to buy and as he asked to keep the rest of money, she similingly tucked the few 10 rupees notes back in his hand saying , "are you getting this money free brother?"..

What a beautiful experience on the Easter Eve for us. As she finished the conversation and slowly started to leave, Raghu n I kept watching her for long ...till she went off from our visibility.

Her name is Anandama. As she introduced herself to us saying my name is synonymous to happiness. HE is keeping me happy!

God bless !!! Happy Easter people.

Received 'Sree Shakthi Award' on 30 Mar 2021 - RI District 3232 and Ladies Special Magazine. :-)

 Received 'Sree Shakthi Award'  on 30 Mar 2021 from Rotary District 3232 and Ladies Special Magazine

My heartfelt thanks to Smt. Girija Raghavan,  Smt. Swarnalatha Jothikumar and Smt. Kamala Muthupalaniappan of Rotary District 3232.  I accept this great honour with utmost humbleness and humility.  Thanks to Sukanya for writing that beautiful citation. 

Thank you mystically beautiful March ....now is the time to get back and focus on work, service, education and spiritual quest. Thanks to everyone who inspired us in these journeys. Raghunaths' are truly grateful to you all for all the recognition, affection and support showed to us.

"Peace Build Award" from Rotary International District 3232- 28 Mar 2021

 Ending the March Musings with 'Peace Builder Award' today. This is for sure a great achievement for a "once an angry young bird" who now flies like an peace maker

... transformation takes time. But when you resolve to bring peace within you, life transforms for better! Peace be with you all

Keynote Speaker at Toastmasters International Blitz 2021 Conference - 28 Mar 2021

 Being the keynote speaker at Toastmasters International Conference today was a beautiful experience. Talking on 'Inspiring Leadership in You' is a subject close to my heart. Thank you

Vaisali Sridharbabu  

and Vaikunt for your invitation

. Concluding a weekend in a very purposeful way

Significance of Sri. Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple Adambakkam Chennai

 Greetings of a new year 2021 to all.

As usual, I wanted to start the year of blog posts with a divine writeup and this time, I chose to write about my favorite temple -   Bhuvaneshwari Amman Temple in Adambakkam, Chennai    

My Experience of this temple.

Generally,  I follow my own way of prayers and rituals as a Hindu and I respect my traditions and customs that define the values we were injected with as Hinduism is a way of Life.   However,  few years ago,  my favorite aunt, very earnestly asked me to visit this temple, that too specifically on every full moon day and offer a flower garland to the goddess.    

Though  I initially felt it may not be possible to do every single month as full moon days may fall on work days ...but eventually,  I started going.  More than anything else,  I felt a lot of positive vibes and absolute energy flow that gave me a strong inner strength.    

As  I made it a practice,    I started having this sense of happiness and when I used to sit in the temple for a short meditation,   I started having vibrations that I initially felt in Aurobindo Ashram many years ago.  There are no specific asks on my offerings to the  Goddess, but I strongly believed that she will give me what I deserve.    That is the reason, I wanted to share this post with you all!

Significance

People throng in this temple with the flower garlands on Full Moon days from morning to night 8 pm  and after the 'mala'- garland is offered as you enter the temple,  it is placed on the deity as the continious archanai's  go on and after you finish your prayers,  you can actually take one garland on  a token while coming out and take that home.   

The flowers actually denote fragrances of life and the reason they are used in Hindu prayers and are decorated to the God and Goddess is that they bring in an auro of positivity.  

This temple has a 'Maha Meru  Sri Chakram 'that is placed in front of the Goddess and is very powerful.  As you bring this garland and we started tying it to the front door, we felt that as the flowers dried for the week, it was actually taking away all the negative energy of the house. We also felt that it gave an uplift to our home,  kept the evil spirits away and actually made us feel good.  

Probably that is the reason why hundreds of people visit this place and do this ritual.   It is also said that while you do this process,  what ever you wish for also happens.    I do not know that part, for I never had such requests to my goddess whom I strongly believe will always protect me and guide me in the right path and the life I deserve. 

Temple Details

Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple is a hindu temple located at Adambakkam, Chennai. The temple is dedicated to Hindu god Shakti .The temple is open from 6 AM to 10 AM and 5 PM to 8 PM. Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple priests perform the pooja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis.

Amman : Bhuvaneswari

City : Adambakkam

Other Blog References 

https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/2018/09/bhuvaneshwari-temple-adambakkam-chennai.html

https://veludharan.blogspot.com/2017/10/mata-sri-bhuvaneswari-amman-temple.html

Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple Address and Contact:

Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple

No. 66 / 1984 Andal Nagar, 1st Main Rd, AGS Colony, Adambakkam,

Chennai – 600088,Tamil Nadu.

Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple Contact Number:  91 -44-2253 2323

RPA - Robotic Process Automation - Future Ready?

RPA for Future Readiness

Digital Risk is term encompassing all the digital enablement's that improve risk effectiveness and efficiency.      RPA addresses the digital risk of future readiness

Risk and Compliance Area

• RPA Adoption is needed in early state
• Judgement based on the use cases
• Limits the breach management
• Risk Data Quality Management
• Good Cognitive RPA is essential

Benefits of RPA Implementation

• Banks achieve compliance
• Control over End User computing and EOL processes
• 40% RPA  in banking sector to be enabled sooner
• Block Chain solutions provide 100% Secured transactions
• No Integrity breach is easily possible

RPA handles Human Side Automation

• Considers human point of view
• depends on human intellectual needs
• Different in terms of scaling and cognitive capabilities
• Need to start small process and to move gradually towards complicated ones
• Success rate of pre-programmed RPA are only 40% and need to be customized
• Upskilling is needed
• RPAs future depends on scaling of particular module
• Artificial intelligence is future RPA

Risk in RPA

• 100% success rate is not possible
• Improper implementation
• Over Intelligence
• To be only a support tool and not a supplement tool

Image Courtesy:https://www.processmaker.com/

Types of Courage

Working from Home : Few Tips and Tricks to make it meaningful and productive.

With the onset of Pandemic in 2020,  most of us started to work from home.   Though the year is coming to an end, the Covid 19 seems to be far from leaving us.   Hence the trend of Working from Home may continue for a while.   So hear are the key learnings from my last 9 months of working from home

• Set the expectations right.   Both at work and at home.  Your family members should be informed on your working hours and working from home does not mean working for home.   You should finish all the house work before the business hours and stay focused at work once it starts.   Keep the family/friends/ calls disturbances very minimal and as needed.   You have to inform you business stakeholders on any possibility of children popping up on calls, dogs barking, and other noises that are possible as we are all adjusting to the new normal with the limited spaces of home and had to adapt quickly to the changing demands of the work life balance
• Be Grateful.   First and foremost be grateful that you still have jobs and have the possibility to work from home.   Do not complain and crib about the smaller inconveniences.   
• Focus and Prioritize.   Staying focused on your work,  home demands and your health is very important during pandemic.   You also need to prioritize and keep your every day tasks organized in order not to miss out on any thing that needs your attention.    
• Communicate.   Working from home doesn't mean that you stop all communication with your family.  Take time to talk to people in these uncertain and anxious times.    Expecting them to understand things that are important for you will become wrong assumption.  Transparent and clear communication will help both business and home
• Never Give up.   However overwhelming things and circumstances are, please remember that this too shall pass.  So stay strong, hang in there and just do what ever is in your circle of influence.   Slowly and steadily things will fall in place
• Security and Privacy.   Remember your work stations are the property of your organization and they need to be duly protected and data kept confidential and gadgets kept away from children or personal use.    It is very important to watch out for scams, keeping the devices updated and minding our browsing habits.    It is vital we keep the data secure, client systems and networks secured and protected.    It is very very important that we do not let family or guests use company devices.    Be mindful of data privacy and confidentiality.  Be smart about using tools and wireless network devices need to be secured and password protected all the time
• Planning for emergencies and BAU(Business as usual).   In these prolonged pandemic times, anything may happen to anyone at any time.  This is not to scare you but to mitigate the risk and do appropriate contingency planning.   It is very important that business continues as usual despite of any disturbances happening to you.   It is very important we show up on time and do not sleep late.     It is vital that we are presentable in conference calls and video calls and understand the resources.    Keep medical insurance file updated.   And also your insurance and 'What if I die? ' file updated and in reach of your family members or friend who can handle things for you in crisis.   Emergency contact details should be put up on the wall when you have ailing family members or elderly who may need help    Your data on laptops and computers, phones to be protected, the project files archived and uploaded to the organization repository for easy access to your manager in case of any emergency.   No wrong in proper back up planning.  We all should remember that life is uncertain ....BE DISPENSABLE.    It is also important to report incidents quickly and clearly and seek help

21st Century Skills needed for Students