NELSON MANDELA : A TRIBUTE

This is a tribute to late NELSON MANDELA . I decided to pen down 10  of his all time famous quotes . They will inspire you like you have attended a whole day MOTIVATIONAL SEMINAR .

 

 

1 . If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his        head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart .

2 , If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work          with  your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

3 . It always seems impossible until its done. ( MY FAVOURITE ) 

4 . There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a             life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

5 . After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many               more  hills to climb.

6 . A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly,               knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer,               and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you             are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

7. Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.

8 . I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a                   leader  because of extraordinary circumstances.

9 . Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

10 . I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the                    triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel                     afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

 

SO WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO “FAIL”

Failures does not mean you can not succeed . They just mean you have to try one more time . – PAKHANDI PANDIT

ANGELA BROWN : One among those who NEVER QUIT

People use the phrase  “OVERNIGHT SUCCESS” , they just fail to realize the efforts of all the earlier NIGHTS –  PAKHANDI PANDIT

“Angie, I know you like to sing,” her father, a practical autoworker, told Angela Brown, “but you gotta have something to fall back on.”

Brown took her father’s advice. She got a degree in secretarial science before enrolling in Oakwood College, in Huntsville, Alabama. Her aim was to become a singing evangelist. But then the opera bug bit.

So after graduation she headed to Indiana University to study with legendary soprano Virginia Zeani.

Once, when Brown was plagued by self-doubt, Zeani challenged her: “If you want to be the next Aretha Franklin, go, you need no more lessons,” Brown remembers her saying. “But if you want to be the best Verdian soprano this world has ever seen, you must work.”

Work she did. Three times she competed in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Three times she failed to make the final round in New York. Then, in 1997 at age 33, the age limit for sopranos to audition, she gave it one more try. She signed up at the last-minute and didn’t even practice, figuring: “All they could do was tell me no, and that didn’t hurt my feelings anymore.” She had the strength she needed to fall back on if she failed.

She won. But making it to New York was just the beginning. Singers don’t spring into starring roles. It took her three more years to become a Met understudy. But waiting in the wings was fine with her. Finally, her time came. When the featured singer fell ill, Brown earned the chance to sing the lead role in Aida. AndThe New York Times proclaimed her début a triumph. Angela Brown, soprano, who had prepared for 20 years, was an “overnight” sensation at age 40.
All those who are attracted to people who just got rich or just got famous , it’s an WAKE UP CALL for them . There is nothing like “JUST GOT FAMOUS , JUST GOT RICH or GOT SUCCESSFUL OVERNIGHT” . Success needs efforts . Efforts when others enjoy life . Efforts when others prefer to sleep . Efforts when nobody sees you preparing . Efforts when you train alone in the ARENA .

Those who clap when you get award does not notice that you have given every second of your life to win that award and your performance is just a REPLICA of what you have already done before.

BE COMFORTABLE OF BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

PREPARE ALONE AND MANY WILL BE THERE SHOUTING FOR YOU  – PAKHANDI PANDIT

 

ROBERT BALLARD : THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED “TITANIC”

“Patience , persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success ” – NAPOLEON HILL 

Working in the control room of the salvage vessel Seaprobe at two o’clock one morning in 1977, Robert Ballard was jolted by a massive piece of equipment that crashed onto the deck just three feet above him. The ship shook with the force of an explosion. A drill pipe and its attached pod full of sonar and video gear had snapped and plunged into the Atlantic, abruptly ending the explorer’s test run to find the RMS Titanic.

“I lost a lot of credibility with sponsors, who had loaned the $600,000 worth of stuff” for the 1977 expedition. “It took me eight years to recover from that.” But recover he did, despite skepticism from other scientists, failed fund-raising efforts and other setbacks.

After the Seaprobe debacle, Ballard says, “I was back to square one. I had to come up with another way to search for the Titanic.”

He returned to active duty as a U.S. Navy officer assigned to intelligence work. At a time when the Cold War was still being waged, the marine geologist cut a deal with Navy officials. He would offer his expertise if they funded the development and testing of Argo, a camera-equipped underwater robot critical to the Titanic mission, and allowed him to use it for exploration.

The Navy sent Ballard and Argo on classified missions to survey Thresher and Scorpion, two nuclear submarines that sank during the 1960s. Those vessels lay in waters not far from the Titanic. After surveying the Scorpion in 1985, Ballard began looking for the doomed luxury liner. And two miles down, in the dark sea at 49° 56′ W, 41° 43′ N, he found it.

The oceanographer, who later found the German battleship Bismarck, the liner Lusitania, and other historic wrecks, has a simple philosophy. “Failure and success are bedfellows, so I’m ready to fail.”

 

STEVEN SPIELBERG : THE KID WHO STAYS WITH THE CAMERA

 

 

“I don’t dream at night, I dream at day, I dream all day; I’m dreaming for living.”- STEVEN SPIELBERG

 

 

He was no scholar, and his classmates teased him. Rather than read, the kid really preferred running around with a 8 mm camera, shooting homemade movies of wrecks of his Lionel train set (which he showed to friends for a small fee).

In his sophomore year of high school, he dropped out. But when his parents persuaded him to return, he was mistakenly placed in a learning-disabled class. He lasted one month. Only when the family moved to another town did he land in a more suitable high school, where he eventually graduated.

After being denied entrance into a traditional film-making school, Steven Spielberg enrolled in English at California State College at Long Beach. Then in 1965, he recalls, in one of those serendipitous moments, his life took a complete turn. Visiting Universal Studios, he met Chuck Silvers, an executive in the editorial department. Silvers liked the kid who made 8 mm films and invited him back sometime to visit.

He appeared the next day. Without a job or security clearance, Spielberg (dressed in a dark suit and tie, carrying his father’s briefcase with nothing inside but “a sandwich and candy bars”) strode confidently up to the guard at the gate of Universal and gave him a casual wave. The guard waved back. He was in.

“For the entire summer,” Spielberg remembers, “I dressed in my suit and hung out with the directors and writers [including Silvers, who knew the kid wasn’t a studio employee, but winked at the deception]. I even found an office that wasn’t being used, and became a squatter. I bought some plastic tiles and put my name in the building directory: Steven Spielberg, Room 23C.”

It paid off for everyone. Ten years later, the 28-year-old Spielberg directed Jaws, which took in $470 million, then the highest-grossing movie of all time. Dozens of films and awards have followed because Steven Spielberg knew what his teachers didn’t — talent is in the eyes of the filmmaker.

THE JOURNEY MAY SEEM TO BE IMPOSSIBLE AT THE START , YOU JUST NEED TO FORGET ABOUT THE END GOAL… ENJOY THE JOURNEY AND KEEP YOUR DREAMS ALIVE IN YOUR HEART……. THATS THE KEY TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS – PAKHANDI PANDIT

 

 

AN UNTOLD STORY – 1892 STANFORD UNIVERSITY…….

An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck and the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1600, plus a cheque for the balance $400. They promised to honour the cheque at the soonest possible.

“No,” said Paderewski. “This is not acceptable.” He tore up the cheque, returned the $1600 and told the two boys: “Here’s the $1600. Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left”. The boys were surprised, and thanked him profusely.

It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being.

Why should he help two people he did not even know? We all come across situations like these in our lives. And most of us only think “If I help them, what would happen to me?” The truly great people think, “If I don’t help them, what will happen to them?” They don’t do it expecting something in return. They do it because they feel it’s the right thing to do.

Paderewski later went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were more than 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them. Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.

The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover — who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of foodgrains to feed the starving Polish people.

A calamity was averted. Paderewski was relieved. He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, “You shouldn’t be thanking me Mr Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them.”

The world is a wonderful place. What goes around comes around!