Toastmasters CC 7 Speech - The Power of the Sun

Delhi driver story…

Do you know every hour the sun beams onto Earth more than enough energy to satisfy global energy needs for an entire year?

Solar Energy or Sunlight is the source of all life on our planet. Since time immemorial, we have been tapping sunlight for our useful purposes. Greeks in the 7th century BC learnt to tap Sunlight using a simple magnifying glass. In the 18th century, we have succeeded in making Green Houses to boil water and cook rice. Solar cookers have been existence for over 50 years. It was only a few hundred years ago when we learnt what is known as the Photovoltaic Effect – creation of electric current in a material when it is exposed to light.

Think of what would you do if you were on a beach! With the vast Sea in the front, making castles in the Sand. Sand, available in abundance on the entire planet is a rich source of Silicon. Silicon is a material which shows the Photovoltaic Effect – creation of electric current in a material when it is exposed to light.

Silicon from the Sand is converted to small discs called Silicon wafers, much like Potato wafers. Silicon wafers are then combined to prepare small blocks called Silicon cells. And finally, the cells are combined together to prepare what are commonly known as Solar Modules. These modules are used both at our home roofs and at huge tracts of land to convert Sunlight into Electricity, popularly known as a Solar Power plant.

A Solar Power Plant was first used by NASA in its space exploration missions, including the International Space Station which is entirely powered from solar cells. As the technology became cheaper, its applications moved to Solar Power plants of a few Megawatts to small solar power systems for houses and entire villages. As a matter of fact, about ⅔ of the solar power installed around the world was installed within the last 2½ years.

The production of Silicon cells has increased by more than 40% in the past 5 years. At the same time, the installed capacity of solar power plants has also increased at similar rate. As on 2012, 31% of total solar capacity across the world is installed in Germany. Italy, US, China, Japan & Spain are among top 6 with 5-7% of installed capacity. India has put a humongous target of 20,000MW of solar power installation by the year 2022. Cost of installation of solar power systems has also reduced by more than 50% in the last 5 years.

A rose, however, does not come without its thorns. The technology has some drawbacks too. The most obvious is the non-availability of the Sun during night, which makes it essential to rely on battery for power storage leading to inefficiencies and increased cost. A solar power system can only convert 15% of sunlight to usable electricity, which is further reduced due to changing seasons and cloudy weather.

Nonetheless, with the rising costs of Coal and Petrol & Diesel, the balance has slowly started to weigh heavier towards Solar. Speaking of Diesel, let me conclude with a conversation I had with my friend some time back.

Friend conversation story…

The Paradise Called Puri

Recently I went for a three day conference in Puri. However, apart from the conference, the real enjoyment was the local sites and the cuisines.

I will mention the following five places which I saw.

1. Hotel Holiday Resort, Puri: Truly the place to stay if one is traveling to Puri. With the perfect beach side view and very good food, it is an amazing hotel situated at the perfect location.
2. Peace Restaurant, Puri: This place has very good food. Must try is its Muesli breakfast - contents: lots of fruits, curd, lots of dry fruits, all fresh material with a beautifully looking preparation. Cost: Rs 80 only. Warning: Too much for one person! I have heard it has good fish curry rice too for dinner. However couldn't try that out. The restaurant makes you wait for a good thirty minutes but when the food arrives, you get to know why. Simply because all food is cooked on demand. The place has decent open air ambience too.
3. Jagannath Temple, Puri: In my view, this place was rather disappointing. As it happens with most places which become too famous, it has become highly commercialized with all the Pandits primarily concerned with collecting money from people. Let’s get a little deep here. As we, a group of 5 people with a 1-year old girl accompanying us, reached the temple at 5.30am, the usual time for people to visit, a Pandit (an Indian priest) came to us to show us the temple. Good thing - he asked for only Rs 20 for the entire group. He started the visit and much sooner than later, he took us to a place where he asked us to buy Prasad (holy offering) for the lord. The person at the counter put in front of us a Menu card for buying Prasad. 

Surprise #1: The rate list had a maximum of up to Rs 500,000 with minimum rate kept as Rs 555. Bit too much one would think (normally we do an offering of anything between Rs 5 to a maximum of Rs 100 at rare occasions). Then they started bargaining, finally coming down to Rs 250. Obviously we didn’t take anything from there and left from that place. The Pandit then took us to another similar Prasad vendor. There the minimum rate on the menu card was Rs 221. One among us in the group, the father of the 1-year girl old took the Rs 221 Prasad. As we were entering into the temple, the Pandit with us asked us to quickly go to the counter to buy the entry ticket. 

Surprise #2: It was 6 in the morning, and we came to know the entry ticket counter is already closed. It means no one can now pay heed to the lord Krishna. Feeling bad, we tried to enter through another gate from which a lot of people were trying to enter when we came to know the third surprise. 

Surprise #3: The security guard told us 1-year old girl is not allowed to enter inside the main temple. Poor little girl.

Somehow we managed to enter the main temple and it was quite crowded on that morning. In the hustle bustle, as we tried to get out, the Pandit accompanying us just vanished. It goes without saying that they have their commission on the Prasad we buy. Anyway without the Pandit ‘guiding’ us, we went to the Kitchen located immediately at the right of the temple gate (quite possible to miss for a first time visitor). It was a huge kitchen with lots of eatables. We tried the malpua, a fruit cake and a type of drink, all of good taste and at reasonable prices (recommended from my side). And then we came to know of the final surprise.

Surprise #4: The same Prasad we purchased from the counter is being sold in the Kitchen at Rs 100! 

My recommendations to all visiting the temple:

•       You may take a guide Pandit. But be careful now to buy the Prasad from the counters he asks you to get it from. It’s their commissions which make things sell twice the rates.
•       If you want to take Prasad, go first to the Kitchen in the right, get Rs 100 Prasad box and then go to the temple to make the offering.
•       Stay away from random Pandits in the temple premises. The first thing they do is ask for money.
•       Try some of the sweet dishes from the Kitchen. Made of Ghee and other material, the dishes are quite good.

4. Chandrabhaga Beach: In the morning, I left at 4.45am from Puri to visit the Konark Sun temple. It is some 30 odd kms from Puri, a 30-40 minute ride by cab. On the way to the temple comes this beautiful beach – Chandrabhaga Beach. The beauty of the beach, among its cleanliness is its spectacular view of the Sunrise. I went on a Sunday morning and the cab person recommended me to watch sunrise at the beach. Being a Sunday, there were hundreds of people on the beach, all gathered to witness the Sun god coming from the horizon. With a cup of tea in my hand, I too sat with those people gazing at the sky as it turned from black to orange to red to blue as the Sun rose from the horizon. As the Sun rose, the people standing at the beach started shouting and making happy noises. Luckily for me and thousands others, the sky was clear and we had a clear and wonderful view of the Sun rising. I never knew one can also gradually see the rainbow colors as one looks at the Sun rising! I would highly recommend anyone to go to that beach in early morning and watch the Sunrise.
5. Konark Sun Temple: After watching the sunrise, the cab driver took me to the temple, located only 10 minutes from the beach. I took a Temple Guide who charged Rs 150 (for 1-5 persons) and explained me most of the things about the temple and its architecture and sculpture. I would recommend anyone going there to spend some money and get a guide else the visit would merely be limited to photographs without much understanding of the place. The temple is a monument, similar in design and concept as the Khajuraho temples situated in Madhya Pradesh (guide recommended there too). The temple is built quite beautifully with great amount of consideration on the lifecycle of a man from being a toddler to an adult to finally an old man aiming for higher spiritual goals in life. The concept of the Elephant and the Tiger over the man is interesting. Similar is the concept of the chariot wheel which also indicates the time of a day. (All this I understood from the guide)

All in all, Puri was a wonderful trip. A few disappointments on the way but the Muesli breakfast and the spectacular Sunrise made the trip worth its while.

TM Speech: Stand My Ground and Let Them Pass

“Son, Son where are you?” asked my mother.

“I’m here mom”, I replied. I was 8 years old then.

“Where” she asked again?

“Sitting on the tree mom”, I said.

Mr. Contest Chair, fellow Toastmasters and dear guests, let me tell you the story of the day I fell from a tree. It was a big fat tree in front of our house. Hun, name, you ask? Well, I have no idea and neither did I try to find out because a wise man once said, the name comes in between you and your tree.

So there I was on that sunny summer evening, sitting at the top of the tree, playing with the leaves with the wind in my hair. I saw my mother walking towards the porch calling me from a distance as she turned into a something that can only be called as the opposite of Lata Mangeshkar.

 “Where are…?! Come down right now or I tell you father.”

“Mom, relax! I’m fine.”

Play time was over. I started climbing down. I had not even crossed the halfway mark and I was mesmerized the scintillating smells of her beautiful hair and I could feel my heart beating faster and faster as she walked passed under me! The love of my life, Ritika!

Ritika used to live two houses next to mine. We were of same age, in the same school AND in the same class BUT not in the same section. For three years I was in A, she was in C. And this year when the time came to change sections, that devil woman the class teacher, she changed everyone’s but we were still separate.

And there she was, my beautiful, my Juliet; walking down the road. My Juliet, your Romeo is here playing on this tree! My Ju…

AAAaaaaahhhhhh… Boom!

“How many times do I have to tell you not to climb the tree? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine Mom!”

Ladies and gentlemen, I learnt a painful but a very important lesson that day. Never mix your love and your tree.

Yes, that tree was my best friend! There was never a day I hadn’t climbed on him and there was never a day my mother hadn’t turned into a Lata Mangeshkar’s opposite.

And slowly summer went away and like a thud on the ground came the autumn. When I heard the news that in a few months Ritika was going to leave the school, leave the house even leave the city. Oh my God! The love of my life shattered like the glass of a broken window. In despair, I climbed up on my friend. As I reached the top I saw the tree was also shedding its leaves. I thought, “Ritika? Did he also?” “Oh no. He’s a tree. How can he?” “Could he?”

I hugged him and told him not to worry. She won’t leave us like that. She loves us too.

But she left. It was winter. And I was heart-broken.

And I went to my friend to take refuge and I saw him also standing frozen like an eskimo with his branches dangling from his arms, floating like pendulums. He looked so sad and creepy! Heartbroken nonetheless…

It was then that I decided to take the hard path. I decided to rip the bandage, throw the wound away and feel the lightness within.

I went to my friend and hugged him and told him not to worry. She has left us to find a better place. Maybe we too will.

And we did!

In a short while spring came in both our lives. With new leaves and the wind all around, my friend was flourishing and so was I. I had found Tina!!! We were in the same school, in the same class and in the same section! My heart was swollen with joy!!

And this year things went perfect for me and I was dancing with euphoria, but I saw that my friend was still happy in the summer, sad in the autumn, and cold and hard in the winter. My life was all ok. So was he not my true friend after all?

Then I realized it was not the tree that was changing, it was my way of looking at him. l realized he never moved, never tried to stop whatever was happening. He was just there, standing his ground and letting whatever life bestowed upon him. And I saw how similar his and my lives were.

My springs, summers, autumns, and winters also come and go but if I’m his true friend, I too will stand my ground and let them pass. I too will get tickled by gentle morning breeze, roughened by hot summer winds and slapped by chilly winter frost. But if I’m his true friend, I too will stand my ground and let them pass.

Vipassana Meditation

My understanding of Vipassana Meditation thus far:

All of us have 6 sense doors:

• Eyes to See
• Ears to Hear
• Tongue to Taste
• Nose to Smell
• Skin to Touch
• Mind to Think

Everytime something comes in contact with any of these sense doors – Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Nose, Skin or Mind – there is a sensation on the body corresponding to the external action. The sensation happens and is evaluated by the so called unconscious mind (deeper mind) as either good, bad or neutral.

For example you hear a pleasant smell of a perfume, a sensation happens on the body due to the smell (particularly in the nose area), the deeper mind evaluates the sensation and says “Good, get more of it”!

OR, you see something unpleasant, let’s say a high beam of light of a car pointing straight at you in the night while driving, a sensation happens on the eyes and the body, the deeper mind evaluates the sensation and says “Bad, get away or throw foul words at the person”.

OR, someone abuses you, the sensation of anger runs all over the body, the deeper mind evaluates and unpleasant sensation and says “Bad, how can this man say such words to me? Retaliate”!

OR, a thought about something come into your head, a pleasant memory of your childhood or past, you get a pleasant sensation on the body, the deeper mind evaluates and says “Good, keep thinking”!

OR, an unpleasant emotion, an emotion of sadness due to some incident comes, the body generates sensations due to this sad emotion, the deeper mind evaluates and says “Bad, yet attractive, remain sad for some more time”.

OR, you see your roommate, nothing ordinary or extraordinary, just a neutral sensation on the body, the deeper mind evaluates and says “Neutral, I am indifferent. Do whatever you wish”!

And many, many more…

Depending on the evaluation of these sensations on the body by the unconscious mind, our conscious mind reacts in a habitual manner. For example if you think deeply, you will find that you act or rather react to most situations in life in an automatic, habitual manner. The habit pattern is created and accumulated over all the sum total of interactions you had in the past. Having given that background, what we do by Vipassana Meditation is to try to break the old habit pattern of the mind. Why break it? Because the old habit pattern of the mind which can be summed up as ‘generating craving for good bodily sensations and generating aversion for bad bodily sensations’ leads only to accumulation of misery and nothing else. The more the craving, the more the aversion the more we are miserable. Think of the last time you remained sad because you missed someone too much or the last time your stomach became upset because you ate too much because of craving for tasty food.

Basically the bodily sensations are the key source where the unconscious mind starts generating craving or aversion to good or bad sensations. However the truth about these body sensations is that untimately all these sensations come, stay for a while and go away. No anger, fear, sadness, lust etc stays forever. All these sensations that happen on the body come, stay for a while and go away.

And so in Vipassana we observe sensations happening on the body (and they are happening on your body even as you read this text because the all sense doors are functioning continuously).

By observing the body sensations, the outer mind is made sharper and sharper to be in continuous contact with these sensations all the times. As a result of continuous practice, when the time arrives for the mind to react in the same old way, it stops for a moment, observes the body sensations and says “What the hell, this fear is only a sensation on the body and all these sensations are temporary, they just arise and go away. Why react. Let me see how long it lasts.”!

The moment this starts to happen (and this happens), the mind develops the faculty of awareness and starts to remain equanimous under all situations. As you already must be aware of, life is a sine wave, life situations come and go. The mind learns to stay afloat and not get affected as the waves that go up or down. In a way with continuous practice, the mind is purified of all its misery generating habits.