Taj Mahal

This is my 8th speech at the British Toastmasters Club:

Do you still remember when we're in elementary school, and our teachers taught us about the 7 wonders of the world? Currently 7 wonders of the world are symbols of 7 human virtues that were voted by people around the world. They include the Taj Mahal, the Colosseum, the statue of Christ Redeemer, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, and Petra. This evening I'd like to share with you a little bit of the Taj Mahal, the symbol of passion and love, without which our lives, relationships, and achievements have no meaning.

Taj Mahal, located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India is the pinnacle of Mughal architecture. Mughal emperors were descendants of Timurids, that is Muslim Persians, that ruled Indian subcontinent from 16th-mid 19th century. It was built by emperor Shah Jahan, the grandson of Akbar the great in the memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died after gftergiving birth to her 14th child. In her dying breath, she urged Shah Jehan to build a mausoleum that is more beautiful than any the world had seen before.

The focal point of Taj Mahal is the tomb, a large symmetrical building that stands on a square plinth with an arch-shaped doorway and topped by a large dome and finial. Unlike most Mughal buildings that were made of red sandstone, Shah Jahan used a revolutionary white marble. The base is a multi-chambered cube with chamfered corners, forming an octagon. On each side, a massive archway frames the iwan with arched balconies stacked on either side. The main chamber houses the false sarcopahagi of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. The actual graves are located at a lower level. The dome is called amrud (guava dome or onion dome) with almost the same height with the base. The finial is placed to add height and has a shape of lotus and crescent moon that reflects the influence of Muslim and Hindu. The minarets were added for symmetry. The white marble walls and tomb were all adorned with precious and semi-precious gemstones, placed using intricate pietra dura technique. It is an incredible technique of creating a painting using very small highly polished stones. Inside, lapidary or shaped gemstones also decorate the interior.

Other than the tomb, Taj Mahal complex also holds a grand red sandstone building which is the mosque. On the eastern side, another building, created as the mirror of the mosque, is the jawab, an architectural balance that also served as a guest house.

The complex is set around a 100 thousand square mt of Mughal garden that symbolizes the paradise in Islam, where 4 rivers flowing from a central spring or mountain, separating the garden into north, west, south, and east. Amazingly, even though the tomb is not located at the center of the garden, it is actually put at the center if we include the Yamuna river as part of the architecture.

Soon after Shah Jahan finished building the Taj for 22 years, he was overthrown by his 3rd son and was put in house arrest at the nearby Agra Fort. Through the fort, the view of Taj Mahal was his only consolation. Now, a 10,400 square kms of Taj Trapezium Zone was set by the govt of India where strict emission standards are applied to reduce the impact of pollution and acid rain on the white marbles. This monument of eternal love and passion is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Suck it up and move on

Exactly what my expat boss said. And I like that. Suck it up and move on.
This is more elaboration from BNet on how we over complicate our own life every single day at work:

1. Not making enough money? Join the club. Nobody, I mean nobody makes enough money. Work hard, be smart, do great things, learn how to negotiate, and the money will come. That’s how it works.
2. Underappreciated, nobody loves you? Boss treats your co-worker better than you? Did you ever think maybe it’s you? Maybe you’re always whining. Maybe you treat them like crap. Maybe you never grew up. Who knows?
3. Your group gets no respect. IT is always getting dumped on. Sales and marketing has it easy. Guess what? The other group probably feels the same way. It’s called Silo behavior and it’s destructive, period. Grow up.
4. You have a psycho boss? An abusive self-hating jerk who acts out his childhood drama on poor unsuspecting employees. That sucks, but the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent, so you don’t get to pick your boss. Fighting battles you can’t win generates stress.
5. Too much work, too little time. This is usually self-imposed. Are you sure your deadlines are real and not just you feeling self-important, pushing yourself too hard because you haven’t got a life outside work? Slow down; what’s the worst that can happen?
6. Peer problems. There’s a coworker you just don’t get along with and it’s really stressful, right? Well, guess what? I’ll bet she feels the same way about you. It happens to everybody. Try a little detente. Offer an olive branch. Swallow your pride and give in. It won’t kill you.
7. Executive management doesn’t listen or care. Did it ever occur to you that executive managers are people too? They have their own issues and they’re not perfect. Some companies are well managed, some are managed by idiots. On the outside chance they’re not idiots, did you ever think that maybe, just maybe they know more than you do?
   

Or read it at the source

Change your thoughts and you change your world

Can't agree more with the recent article in BNet. Certainly not everyone should build her/his own business. Instead, help existing sustainable business ideas and support them! This is not a race, but a collaborative effort towards recovery!

Check out my 9th speech at the British Toastmasters Club:

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

Since Obama emerged to the political scene of the world, everyone is talking about change. How a change is coming and we should all be prepared for a change. It has also been discussed in this forum how change originated from ourselves and that we are the agent of change. So this evening I'd like to propose a thought, that can change the way we consume and change our world.

In the time of crisis like this, people are again repeating the same hymne that small and medium enterprises are the ones who survived the best. Also, with the low demand for Indonesian exported goods, suggestions to use Indonesian products are uttered by the ministers.

Definitely we need to support small and medium enterprises. But not any small and medium enterprise, in particular local small and medium enterprises. Why should we do this? First of all, small and medium enterprises are more flexible in taking decisions. Large multinational corporates have head office, branches, middle to top management executives that actually absorb a lot of money. Hence, they turned into machines with ridiculous bureaucracy and slow decision making process. It makes perfect sense that the small and medium entreprises managed by a small number of individuals become more efficient and competitive during global economic crises where faster decision making process is required to seek untapped opportunities and implement contingency plans.

Furthermore, producing things locally can lead to more efficient production, creating self-reliant local economies. Self reliant local economies in the end can turn their own wheel and minimize the need for government support. Hence, government can allocate the funds to improve infrastructure, health services and education, for example, instead of distributing direct cash support.

Local products use less natural resources when they are transferred from the producer to the consumer. Long distance shipping add to the global warming issue. Imported produce might cost more to the environment than its pricey price tag. Instead, pick fruits of the season that is grow locally.

Moreover, local manufacturers obtain its human resources from the community, creating jobs for the people.

So let's support local small and medium enterprises. And by local enterprises, I don't mean to get into the black-haired capitalism controversy. Regardless of the ownership, we have to be able to identify and support socially sustainable local businesses.

Our support can start from a mere purchase of their products and services. Pick local ones when we have to choose between local or imported products. Limit imports to goods we cannot produce locally. Don't look merely at the price tag but also to the environment and social cost.

If you're satisfied, refer the products to your friends. Many small local businesses lack the resources to advertise. Word of mouth is then a powerful tool to support them.

Next, open your eyes and ears, find prospective business ideas seeking fund to expand its business . Who knows you and friends can spare some money, creating community-support for the particular business to gain more money out of your real investments.

You don't need to go far to create a difference. Don't think that this ideal cannot work. Change your thoughts and you can change your world. Starting now.....