2009

Here’s to the outgoing year, 2008:

May the good times live on in our memories,

May we learn lessons from the troubling timesthat will make us stronger and better than ever.
Here’s to 2009:

For each and every one of you,

may it be filled with significant stepstoward the fulfillment of your fondest wishes.
In this coming new year,let us focus on our goals and work toward our dreams,

Let’s all try to go with the flow a little more and stress a little less.
And most important,here’s to all of you.

Appreciate yourselves and each other in the new yearas I appreciate all of you now.Let’s focus on each other’s good pointsand choose to overlook minor annoyancesto create mutual happiness and contentment in 2009.
Enjoy the journey!

Phone......Or........A piece of art ... Both :)

Chronicle of Madness…. Football.

Sunday (12/28/08) morning was a regular day, I went about my morning duties and then decided to pay long due visit to Reunification palace museum, the museum was once a palace for the presidents of Vietnam and has witnessed several wars. Nowadays I try and spend Sunday afternoon at some historic place, last Sunday (12/21/08) I visited the Ho Chi Minh city's Museum and Zoo, it was a great visit, the museum displayed the great culture and heritage dating back centuries, they even have a mummy which is believed to be 3000 years old. After visiting Reunification palace I went for dinner, where Ray (one of my ex team leaders from Prudential) joined me, were having a quite dinner, as we were about to step out of the restaurant, we heard people screaming and shouting. Then Ray’s phone rang and after he kept the phone he had the biggest smile on his face, Vietnam won the 2008 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup by beating Thailand 3-2 on aggregate. It was Vietnam’s first win over Thailand in an official competition since 1998 when Vietnam defeated Thailand 3-0 in the semifinals of same tournament, then called the Tiger Cup, though Vietnam lost 1-0 to Singapore in finals. It has been 49 years since Vietnam won a regional championship since the football team of South Vietnam won the Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) championship in 1959. Football (Soccer) here is a religion, locals live and breathe football.
After hearing the history, I wanted to see how the locals celebrate and told Ray to take me to center of district 1, as we had anticipated, everyone and anyone in HCMC was going towards district 1 (the main business district), all streets were JAMED PACKED WITH PEOPLE AND MOTORBIKES, young, old, kids, even few physically challenged were there to celebrate the country’s historic win. Most of them were on their motor bikes and had Vietnam flags in their hands, some of them had empty bottle or cans and where using it as drums. The energy was electrifying, spirits high; everyone wore a big smile on their face. I was right in middle of the action; I was with Ray on his motor bike, surrounded with locals, who were shocked and happy to have a foreigner amongst them.

One girl came and tied a bandana, other gave me a Vietnam flag, after sometime one young boy came and gave me a banner / poster which he had made for me, it was in local Vietnamese language, it read “I AM FROM VIETNAM” J. I was so thrilled to be with them, celebrating their victory. So many people came and clicked pictures with me, in a short term of 3 hrs I gave 2 interviews to local news papers and had hundreds of pics clicked, they were all surprised to see me. Mostly foreigners stay on the footpath and distance themselves; however I have always believed in being with the locals and connecting with them via their culture. I have never ever seen such celebrations; it surpassed heights of craziness, madness, insanity…. It was something which cannot be described in words. I was lucky to witness and be a part of it. Thanks Ray for ride and for your pleasant company….
I reached home around 2am :(

For pictures click on the bleow link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keyur.trivedi/ChronicleOfMadnessFootball#

Sit back, relax and enjoy it...

Today morning as I was riding a cab on my way to office, the very familiar feeling of loneliness caught me. Since the time I moved to Ho Chi Minh City I have been grumpier and have become emotionally fragile. I miss my family and friends I miss my manila devotee family, and I keep thinking about what I might have done (wrong?) to deserve living away from my loved ones. Weekdays are ok as I spend most of my time in office, weekends are scary as I have LOT of free time and nothing much to besides cooking, chanting and eating, and when I finish doing them… I start thinking of all the good things that I am missing and then tears roll down…. And they keep flowing (I wish someday I can cry like this when I chant my rounds…).

As the driver was driving through the busy morning traffic, I started to miss home and just as the tears were about to flow out, I controlled them in. and then I decided that I am not gonna cry anymore, I am not gonna complain, and fight with Krsna anymore, if this is what and where I have to be then let it be so. Enough of suckling, I am gonna be or will atleast try and be happy, no matter where I am or what I am doing. Confucius, once said “if rape’s inevitable, sit back, relax and enjoy it”, that’s what I will do, I will be happy wherever I am…..

THE BEST CELEBRATION ! ! ! (The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.)

I'm not starting this post out with that as a plot to have you all leave a comment or drop me an email with birthday wishes. I am writing this post because it means alot to me. Not because I am turning a year older, but because of what happened on this day.

12/13/08 Saturday: I reached Manila at 1400 hrs and had to rush for a meeting with Mike, COO of IPCCO in Eastwood, it was a nice and fruitful meeting and hopefully things will happen sooner than planned (will write about it once they happen). After the meeting i headed straight to the temple, and luckily after beating the Saturday evening traffic, i was in time for the Evening arti. It was a wonderful feeling to be back in the temple, the atmosphere and the aura were so welcoming. Their lordships were dressed in beautiful pink outfit and were showering blessing on everyone present. After the arit, i met with Sham and Mahendra prabhu's, it was like meeting old family members. I was a bit tired and decided to rest early, hence went home after dinner.

12/14/08 Sunday: I over slept and wokeup around 8am, after doing my puja i went to the temple to help with Sunday Love Feast. Ananda and Jayadeva were cooking and i started to help them as it was already 1030am, and we only had 1 hour to prepare the feast. With Mahendra prabhu's expertise and speed we managed to finish cooking right in time. We had around 60 guests, Sunday feast are always nice as one gets to meet and catch up so many devotees. Sunday is a day when everyone forgets their office or business tensions and spends joyful time with family and friends. After the feast I spend a pleasant evening with one of my closest and best friend in Manila ( :-X).

Sugar in the gourd and honey in the horn,
I never was so happy since the hour I was born.

12/15/08 Monday: Today i woke up at 0330 am, and went to the temple for Mangla arti, since the time i started visiting ISKCON temples, Mangla arti has always had a special place. Greeting the lord at 0430 am is an such an intense experience, with dew filled cooling breeze and golden silence prevailing outside the temple and inside the temple, enchanting smell of incense clubbed along with echoing sounds of conch shell, kartals and kirtan. Radha Madhava were dressed in a sweet yellow colored dress and were looking fresh as a rain cloud. The morning class was given by my god brother Janardhan from Vrindavan, the main theme was how to perfect our chanting. After the morning breakfast i went to meet my boss Mohan (CEO IPVG), we met in his house and after the meeting we had lunch, Post lunch we had another meeting in our office. After the meeting i went to Megamall, and did some shopping (i miss these grand malls in Vietnam). Mumy, pappa, pinky, mansi and Jayesh had already called and blessed and wished me on my birthday, i had not informed anyone in the temple about my birthday. I was sitting in Starbucks and drinking hot chocolate, the birthday has rolled around and I was reflecting on the past year.
1> Spiritual Progress: Have been chanting the Nana stotras on daily basis, haven’t made any progress in increasing my rounds. Reading is off and on, not on regular basis. Over all my spiritual life is not blooming.
2> Professional progress: very good but to the detriment of my mental, physical, , spiritual and social health.
3> Physical health: fair, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, weight gain.
4> Mental health: I am not crazy yet, but I am often extremely stressed; short bursts of (circumstantial?) depression coz of being alone.

I was remembering the good old days when i used to celebrate or spend birthdays with family and friends and here i was all alone in a Coffee shop. Some how life has taught me alot of things and one of them is how to live alone, loneliness has become my buddy. Internally i was a bit grumpy.

I Want to Go Back in Time When…..

Decisions were made by going eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, do over!

Race issue meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly.

Catching dragonflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

It wasn’t odd to have two or three best friends.

Being old, referred to anyone over 20.

It was unbelievable that hide n seek wasn’t an Olympic event.

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a slingshot made out of rubber bands,

Nobody was prettier than Mom.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the big people rides at the amusement park.

No shopping trip was complete, unless a new toy was brought home.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. Ice cream was considered a basic food group.

I met up with Dana (my exboss from SITEL) we were meeting after 1.5 years and had a lot to talk. Around 1900 hrs i went home, fully tired and drained out and hence skipped evening shower, i packed my bags and got everything ready as my flight was at 2300hrs.

When i went to the temple I wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen...... There was an unusual festive atmosphere in the temple room, after offering my respects to Radha Madhava, i sat down and suddenly the devotees emerged from behind the curtain doors with a huge cake, that was gorgeously decorated. Everyone broke into singing the birthday song; they sang and chanted their hearts out. The mixed feelings of love, gratitude, care, warmth, family and oneness left me spell bound and i could hardly think or speak anything. This SURPRISE celebration touched the deepest cord of my heart. The devotees had prepared a nice feast, cake, spagati, rotis and sabzi. I never expected such a wonderful display of affection and kindness. We all chanted for 20-30 mins and then had sumptuous dinner prasadam. I hardly had words to thank the devotees for their affection and love, as time was running out, i thanked everyone and rushed for the air port. Throughout the 3 hr flight i was contemplating my good fortune for having such a wonderful and loving devotee family.

Before falling asleep, i wrote:

In gratitude and love, in joyful spirit and hope, I celebrated this day!"WooHoo!"

Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry.
Live simply, expect little, and give much.
Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine.
Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by.

Check out more pictures of my birthday celebration at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/keyur.trivedi/30thBirthday#

Temples in Ho Chi Minh

Last Saturday evening i was reading lonely planet book on Ho Chi Minh city, the description of the hindu temple struck me and i resolved to visit the three temples on Sunday (12/07/08)


I took the local Xeom (motor bike) which is the local transport, its the fastest and cheapest way to get around the city. Their are 3 million motor bikes in Ho Chi Minh city, and the numbers keep growing each day as more and more people come to HCMC from various provinces of Vietnam.

The Hindu temples in Ho Chi Minh City are over 100 years. In the late 19th century, the Tamils came from Pondicherry constructed the Mariammam Temple with a raja goopuram(grand temple dome). Similarly, in mid 20th century Nagartars built two Hindu temples, namely Sri Thendayutthapani Temple and Sunbramaniar Temple, using Indian craftsmen, builders and sculptors. Similar to the ancient temples in India, these temples followed the principles of traditional temple building. All three temples have large sized halls (mandapams) and inner and outer circumferences. All three temples are in close proximity to each other.
April 1975, after the reunification, the socialist government of Vietnam shut the places of worship, including the Hindu temples. Some temples premises were used as factories. I was told that the flat-roof of one Hindu temple was used to dry fish for export. The temples lost all its valuable jewelleries. Around 1993, the temples re-opened for worship as the result of the negotiations between India and Vietnam at the diplomatic level. In one temple, the flags of India and Vietnam are at the entrance, to reinforce the friendship between these two countries.
Caretakers, appointed by the Vietnamese authorities, manage the Hindu temples. The appointments are subject to annual renewal.

The priest of Mariamma temple

There are no priests in these temples to conduct regular pujas in a proper manner. The caretakers or their assistants are acting as priests in chanting slokas and performing arati. The devotees receive vibuthi and prasadam (mostly fruit, sor some sugar candy). It is against the temple regulations to accept money directly from the devotees. However, the devotees can make donation into the till box. Since there is no external financial support to the temples, all temple expenses are met from the till collection.
The Mariamman Temple enjoys a healthy income. Many locals believe in the sacred power of Mariamman and regularly coming to this temple. Other two temples are struggling to meet the expenses due to poor attendance. Sometimes, the Indians expatriate community collects funds to meet the needs of these temples. Mariamman temple is known as Chua Ba Mariamman in Vietnamese, is also considered sacred by many ethnic-Vietnamese and ethnic-Chinese. Indeed, it is reputed to have miraculous powers. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Mariamman.
The lion (Simma Vahanam) to the left of the entrance used to be carried around Saigon in a street procession every autumn. In the shrine in the middle of the temple is Mariamman, flanked by her guardians - Maduraiveeran (to her left) and Pechiamman (to her right). In front of the figure of Mariamman are two lingas. Favourite offerings placed nearby often joss sticks, jasmine, lilies and gladioli. Their are wooden stairs, on the left as you enter the building, lead to the roof, where one can find two colourful towers covered with innumerable figures of lions, goddesses and guardians. The main deity of this temple is Goddess Mariamman, another aspect of Parvathi. As the mother of universe, Parvathi is amma and prayed as Universal Mother. In addition, At the outer hall, Parvati's sons Ganesha and Muruga are on her right and left, respectively. The Rajagopuram of this temple is about 12m high with a number of statues. Colourful statues of Amman, Luxshmi, Ganesha, Muruga, angels and dancing girls decorate the entrance of the inner hall.





It is an unforgettable experience for to visit the three Hindu temples in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. These beautiful temples are the treasures of the Hindus. Since the Indian population is not large enough, these temples are struggling to meet the maintenance expenses. Most of the devotees visiting these temples are Vietnamese. There is no official financial support to these temples and there are no priests in these temples. It is the responsibility of the Hindu community in Vietnam to look after these temples. The political set-up in Vietnam is different to other countries and this has some effect on temple management.
With the Divine powers of Lord Muruga and Divine Mother Mariamma I have no doubt that these temples will flourish in the future. All Hindus must pay a visit to these temples in Vietnam whenever they get the opportunity to go to Vietnam.




Click on the below link for more picture of my temple visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keyur.trivedi/VisitToMariamaTemple#

A Blog Post by Singapore's Youngest Millionaire

On Money
Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Suzhou (China). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books. Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, "How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?" My reply was, "That's why I am a millionaire!" He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book Secrets of Self-Made Millionaire). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one. The truth is that MOST self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice. When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneurs Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business) I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net worth's well over $5m, travelled economy class and some even drove Toyotas and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs). I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers and tycoons sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth (no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation.. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business. Then some people ask me, What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it? The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewellery or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life. Instead, what makes ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see my companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired someone's life. What makes me really happy is reading all your wonderful posts about how this BLOG is inspiring you. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me. I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a life of meaninglessness.