5 star treatment! - Experience of 29th June Sunday evening.

On this day, I experienced how generous our master can be!! I just had a thought of ordering a pav-bhaji in a hotel and having a pleasant eve with the aol fast friends.And what Guruji gave me was 5 star treatment. It was beyond my imagination.

To elaborate the story...

I met the twins; Sharvari and Shalmali, in Udyaan express while going to Ashram for advance course in June 08. Somehow, we (Dombivli group) became quite friendly with the twins. And while returning from ashram we played cards, dumb charades in the train with them.While parting we were eager to meet the twins again!

Then, on 29th June 08, I got a message for long kriya at 5pm at mulund gymkhana. We reached there and found the twins were also there to do kriya. Woww.

After the kriya was over, Ninad was supposed to meet his cousin sister in Lok hospital which happened to be the neighboring apartment where the twins reside. On knowing this, Shalmali invited Ninad to her home. Ninad was hesitating as it would get too late to reach Dombivli. Then we decided to have some food at a nearby hotel. I was famished after the long kriya. I just hoped to munch a pav-bhaji or dahi-wadaa.

We just got the seats in the packed hotel and were checking out the menu when, shalmali got a call from her mom. Excitedly she announced that her mom has prepared Pav-Bhaji and insisted that we reach her home as soon as possible.

We reached her abode, which was quite palatial by my standards। Her mom was really glad that we dropped by and treated us with scrumptious cothimbir-wadi and delicious paav-bhaji! I could not believe that this was really happening. The food was heavenly!! Even the hotel cooks could not have prepared it tastier.

Then, we were offered cold coffee। I did not dare to take it as I had cold already!! I preferred a hot coffee। Oh what an evening.Cold, damp climate with rain-showers, hot brewing cup of coffee in hand, surrounded by interesting & wonderful people. And how shall I forget the fragrance of the blooming ब्रह्म-कमल (Saussurea Obvallata)। What more could I ask for. I could not speak anything. I was full of gratitude for Guruji.

You have no idea how much he takes care of you!

Well, this evening will linger in my memory afresh forever!

जय गुरुदेव

--

OAK Tree.

Excel-lent Administration

Finally, the YES!+ Template is released! It was December, when i felt the need to make our YES!+ work more systematic. It is always full of chaos and last minute adjustments.. I was then suffering from fever and cold. I could not volunteer much for AoL projects. I wondered what can I do to make our work more transparent and efficient !! Then, an idea struck me like a thunderbolt. Why not build a template in Excel that will manage the participant's name list as a database and also our income-expense account !?!? That's how the journey started. It was just bare-bones when the first version was created. Over the period, I learn't to tinker with the Excel VBA and started building programs that automate the process in template. Now in the version 1.618.c build 1008, you just need to enter the registration details, like, name tel. no. mobile etc. Then in the CRF Assistant sheet, you enter the financial details, like, cash/cheque paid. If cheque, then enter the cheque details. That's it! Attendance sheet is prepared by the click of a button. You just need to take a printout. On completion of the course go to main sheet and select Y / N in the column marked C. Y for people completed the course and N for those who have not! Go to final day list and click GO. Viola...You get the details of only those who have completed the course. What if you want the negative list( not completed the course). Even that is taken care of. (If you are interested in viewing a demo, then just email me) There is an expense sheet that takes care of the expenses during the course. This need to be maintained systematically. No misuse OK !?!? Well, This software will be "Road tested" in the July 26th course. Let's see who it performs !!! Well then C ya!! जय गुरुदेव -- OAK Tree

Managing your finances

Hi friends,

I recently met a guy who needed a personal loan of Rs. 2 Lakhs. The only problem was he is a software engineer and is not financially literate. Just to take a loan he could not decide where to go. Private banks or nationalized banks? He was unaware of margins, cut-back percentage and many other things. He was ignorant about the hidden charges which private banks apply. He felt helpless when he realized that he was illiterate in finance. At that moment he realized the importance of financial literacy!

Today, Financial literacy is a major issue. In the coming years, our Indian economy will be seeing rough days. Are you ready for that? Is your financial position, right now, secured enough? If no, then are you at least financially literate? Asking this Q to yourself is really important. Why? If our financial condition now, is such that we do not feel secured financially, what will happen when we retire from our work, a few years down the line? Financial literacy is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances. And only if we plant a tree now, we will receive the fruits later in life.

Good news is that I am soon going to start a financial literacy camp where all the folks (who are uncomfortable when it come to finance) can get educated about managing their finances, at a very small fee. I will provide some reading material which will be used as reference in future.

Remember: Learn to Earn and Earn to Learn. JGD. OAK Tree

Ragi - A Wonder-grain

It is really amazing how the nature cares for us. It has provided us with a super grain...Ragi ... also known as Finger Millet, Nachni, Sollu, or Sattemavu. This super-grain called ragi...

• well without irrigation, pesticides or fertilizers.
• Is rich in calcium iron, protein and some rare nutrients such as methionine.
• Digests easily from infancy through old age, and its nutrients are highly absorbed.
• Costs much less than wheat, rice, or dairy milk, while delivering superior nutrition to all from infants to aged folks.
• Is very adaptable to higher elevations and is grown in the Himalaya up to 2300 meters altitude.
• Once harvested, the ragi seeds keep extremely well and are seldom attacked by insects or moulds.
• Is very good for diabetic patients.

Finger millet is especially valuable as it contains the amino acid methionine, which is lacking in the diets of hundreds of millions of the poor who live on starchy staples such as cassava, plantain, polished rice, or maize meal. Finger millet can be ground and cooked into cakes, puddings or porridge. The grain is made into a fermented drink (or beer) in many parts of Africa. The straw from finger millet is used as animal fodder. Nutritive value of Ragi per 100 g Protein 7.3 g Fat 1.3 g Carbohydrate 72 g Minerals 2.7 g Calcium 3.44 g Fiber 3.6 g Phosphorous 2.83 g Iron 0.039 g Energy 328 KCal Sprouting ragi increases the bioavailability of its iron to 88%, comparable only to mother’s milk (and 8 times higher than cow’s milk). While ragi is an ideal first food after an infant reaches at least 6 months of age. But the impact of advertising is such that many people, not recognizing the value of their traditional homegrown, homemade food are choosing packaged infant foods made from refined wheat or rice, and even earlier than 6 months. Without always knowing the numbers, villagers and city-folks have sprouted grains and beans for variety. When we lose these healthy habits, our traditional homegrown, homemade food needs a make-over. I pity that such super grain is losing its popularity when people should have demanded it more. In fact, Deccan Herald reports that ragi: “Has lost 31 per cent of its cropping area...Unless the government policy changes drastically, dry land farming will die and so will dry land farmers.” For centuries, ragi was synonymous with health for people in the southern parts of the state, especially the rural kannadiga communities. They cherished ragi rotis and muddes (ragi balls that are meant to be gobbled without chewing). But the magic did not last long, thanks to the much sought after rice and wheat. The public distribution system added fuel to the fire — it sold rice for Rs. 2 per kilogramme (kg) but ragi at Rs 6-7 per kg. Consequently, the working class — ragi’s main consumers — also disowned it. Did you know...? If you were to buy a kilo of ragi in Mumbai city it would cost around Rs.100/- where as they can be made available at Rs.5/- a kilo which includes a hefty margin for the retailers and distributors!!! The "Baby foods" companies are wiping out markets for such healthy food products. The "Baby food" not only cost more, but do not deliver equivalent nutrition. They may contain added sugar, preservatives, and chemical residues. Moreover, poorer families may use these inferior but expensive substitutes sparingly, whereas if they were to eat ragi, the whole family, including the women, especially lactating mothers, could have their fill. Nature also cares for its Animals: Jowar is another crop that is not only nutritious, but provides fodder for cows. While the government has touted its "Cow Program" to relieve struggling farmers in Vidarbha, the farmers struggle even more to provide fodder for these cows. One farmer noted that government support for jowar as a food grain would also provide fodder for the cows. Unfortunately neither ragi nor jowar are currently supported by the Public Distribution System (except in a few regions). Times of India noted on Feb 28, 2007: “In many states, jowar, bajra and ragi are staple foods of the poor, but these coarse cereals are not covered by PDS. Poor people in these states end up eating wheat and rice. There is no export market for these coarse cereals either. So, prices of these cereals keep falling. The worst part is that these crops are grown by the very poor — marginal farmers on non-irrigated land. The very poor keep getting poorer as there are no takers for the food grains they grow — not even the poor." Rediscover traditional foods and sustain these for all! Data and Facts collected from AIDIndia and wikipedia websites.

Best Teacher

Q: Guruji, I wish to become the best YES!+ Teacher. What should I do? A: The very intention you want to become the best teacher is enough.

5 Steps to Increase your Google Page Rank

Google Page rank is based on back links. Back links are Links pointing to your website from another website. The more back links you have the higher your PR will be.

1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it's not, but if it's related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.

You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence.

Your websites presence is very important to your survival. The more people see, or hear about your website the more credibility you will have and this increases your chances of having these visitors come back and possibly become leads.

2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.

Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.

Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be

3. Using ezine ads (or newsletters). Creating an ezine will probably be the most beneficial step you can take to increasing your web presence. When you create an ezine you will be able to keep visitors coming back to your website for more by using signatures and giving special deals.

Ezine's will also allow you to increase your back links. By creating an ezine you can submit your information about your ezine to an ezine directory. This directory will than link to your website(thus giving you a free link).

4. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.

Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website.

5. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt.

They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.

To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine... say Google... and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs.

You go to Google and type in ford mustangs, than you look around for pages that are somewhat related to your website. After you have done this (which should be very easy) you have to contact them in some way to get your link posted on their website. This can be the most difficult task because a lot of webmasters ignore e-mail's from people requesting links because they don't see the importance of it at the time. Some other reasons could be that they are rarely online, or they delete spam mail and sometimes delete their important emails in the process.

Important note: When looking for link partners don't just link with websites that have a page rank of 4 or higher. Link with anyone and everyone you get a chance to. If you link to someone that has a page rank of zero, this will not hurt your page rank. It will only increase it because you are getting a link back to your website. Google doesn't look at your back links page ranks to determine what yours is going to be. It simply looks at how many back links you have.

So if Google one day decided to link to a website that was just created and this website has a page rank of 0 and has a domain that goes something like this: mywebsite.geocities.com it's page rank wouldn't increase even though Google's page rank is 10, it's rank would still be zero because it would only have that one back link.

OAK welcomes you to "Thus Spoke OAK"

Hi, gals and guys! Welcome to Thus Spoke OAK. Thanks to Bawa who has been an inspiration to me to start this blog. This blog will be a sort of melting pot. I am a person of wide interests. So, I may write about anything that fascinates, amuses me. Now About the blog: I intend to keep this site a personal "public" blog. Your comments on my posts are always welcome. However do read the following Disclaimer Blog Disclaimer: All the articles I write in this blog are personal. In case there are any comments or remarks made towards any community/organization/person, please note that they are all my personal opinions and I firmly believe that Opinions, like clouds, change. So... Just in case. If I say something stupid in the future, it’s better to be able to point out that the stupidity is mine, and mine alone. My stupidity! You can’t have it! ;-) This Disclaimer policy stands true from June 24th, 2008 onwards. You can contact me at omkar.blogosphere @ gmail.com Jai gurudeva! -- OAK Tree. Come, rest in the shade!