Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Colonel Sanders of KFC I lived and worked in a strictly vegetarian school in Delhi for 14 years. Maggie and I, like all other staff from principal to sweeper, lived on the campus. All the students too lived on the campus. It was an exclusively residential school. We were all given food in the school’s ‘mess’. Most teachers preferred to take dinner at home with family though the school did provide that too. The ‘pure vegetarian’ food was absolutely delicious. I loved it as much as the students did. All reputed schools in Delhi and many other North Indian cities provide quality food to students and staff. I visited a number of those schools in order to take students for various competitions such as debates and declamations. The standards maintained by them are remarkably good. When we went out of the campus for personal needs, we had food of our choice. Both students and the staff could be seen in restaurants that served what is known in India as non-veg food. KFC was a favourite eat...

A manager, who had just returned from a Motivation Seminar, called an employee into his office and said, “Hence forth you are going to be allowed to plan and control your job.  That will raise productivity considerably, I am sure.” “Will I be paid more?” asked the worker. “No, no.  Money is not a motivator and you will get no satisfaction from a salary raise.  Happiness comes from within, you know.” “Well, if I do my job better and production does increase, will I be paid more?” “Look,” said the manager.  “You obviously do not understand the motivation theory.  Take this book home and read it; it explains what it is that really motivates you.” As the man was leaving, he turned and asked, “If I read this book will I be paid more?” The above story is taken from Anthony de Mello’s book of parables, The Prayer of the Frog . The moral given by the author is: “Truth does not lie in theories.” A meeting which I attended today mo...

Book Review Author: David Michie Publisher: Hay House India, 2013 Pages: 216       Price: Rs 399 This is a good book for those who want to have a quick and fairly meaningful peep into Tibetan Buddhism and its current headquarters in Dharamsala and around.  If you are, however, fairly familiar with Buddhism as well as motivational books, this book may disappoint you. In most places the approach of the book is quite simplistic.  Simplicity is an adorable quality; but being simplistic is not.  Look at the Dalai Lama’s advice on anger, for example: “It (anger) is not permanent.  It is not part of you.  You cannot say, ‘I’ve always been an angry person.’  Your anger arises, abides, and passes, just like anyone else’s.  You may experience it more than others.  And each time you give in to it, you feed the habit and make it more likely you will feel it again.  Wouldn’t it be better, instead, to d...