Shiv Khera is an Indian author of self-help books and activist. While working in the US, he was
inspired by a lecture delivered by Norman Vincent Peale and followed his motivational teachings. Khera has written several books including You Can Win. He launched a movement against castebased reservation in India,and has founded an organization called Country First Foundation whose mission is "to ensure freedom through education and justice."He also joined a political party as National President in India and contested the elections in 2009. Mr. Khera is the author of 16 books including his first book You Can Win (Jeet Aapki in Hindi) was published in 1998. The focus of the book was on achieving success through personal growth and positive attitude.The book made a record of international bestseller His Trademark in this book is "Winners don't do different things.They do things differently" Khera has written three more books, Living With Honor about living honorably and respectably in a fractured world, Freedom Is Not Free about the need for action to reform the Indian society and You can Sell (2010) . Winners don't do different things, they do things differently" - A saying which was popularized heavily, not sure whether the author of this book, Shiv Kherawas the originator of this legendary line or someone else, but nevertheless, it had a very deep meaning into it. The author taglines his book 'You can win'by using the given phrase. Mr Shiv Khera is a world reknowned enterpreneur, speaker and business consultant.He is the author of 16 books so far and also the founder of a company named Qualified Learning Systems Inc in the US .This book has been one among his best and one of the international best sellers, with a million copies being sold from 1998(the year in which it was released) For all those who have read this book, there needs no explanation and for those who haven't, this is a book which provides a remedy for negativity or basically explains a positive angle to every situation and circumstance which occurs and shapes our lives. The book is divided into the following 11 chapters:- 1) The importance of Attitude 2) How to build a positive Attitude 3) Success 4) What is holding us back 5) Motivation 6) Self Esteem 7)The Importance of Interpersonal skills 8) 25 steps to building a positive personality 9)Subconscious mind and habits 10) Goal setting 11) Values and Vision Each of the given chapters are supported by several real life examples of people who have succeeded despite going through several hardships, obstacles, grievances but have managed to come out of them, only through one element i.e the Right Attitude.A step by step analysis and viewpoint of the author is provided. The author explains in the first chapter that attitude is shaped by three factors - environment, experience and education. It is these 3 factors which help direct/form the right/wrong attitude. The human outlook or perception of a problem or a tragedy is indeed the big problem or tragedy. The wise can see a door out of a problem whereas the pessimist sees that itself as a door or block in their life. The optimist sees an opportunity in a problem whereas the pessimist sees a problem in the opportunity For eg: In this chapter, the Biblical eg of David and Goliath is mentioned. Goliath was a giant of the enemy Philistine army while David was a short young guy of the Israelites .Despite the difference in size, David struck down the mighty Goliath with a sling shot. The author here explains that the right attitude was the winning factor in this case In the second and third chapters, he stresses that in order to achieve success, several factors such as desire, commitment, responsibility, hard work, character, positive thinking, etc need to be combined. Another equally good eg was that of a person who suffered several setbacks at various stages of life, was defeated mentally and had no hope of recovery, But, in the midst of such setbacks, he later went on to become the US President . This man was none other than Abraham Lincoln . In the chapter title Motivation , he explains that there are two factors which help motivate a person - External and Internal. External motivation is due to outside factors such as peer pressure or fear of authority such as the fear of getting spanked by one's parents or teachers. Often, external motivation provides for an incentive such as money or reward, as provided by an organisation for completion of targets given to employees.Internal motivation occurs when the individual has the burning desire to achieve something without regard for the incentive. Each of the chapters indicate that the author has researched very well into human nature and explains the reason as to why there are people who succeed despite the odds and another set of people when faced with the same circumstances, do not succeed or end up as failures.He has given a solution to every of the given problems as well as important quotations of the world's famous. Overall, this book provides a great learning experience for those who wish to achieve success and positivity in their life.Since several practical and powerful real life examples are given, one would easily note than becoming successful does not involve learning rocket science, only a step by step journey of positive thinking or belief, right attitude, desire, character, patience and perseverance. INDIAN HERITAGE AND CULTURE WRITTEN BY P.R.RAO STERLING PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED, GREEN PARK EXTENSION, NEW DELHI, 1988. PAGES: 95. PRICE: RS 40. Dr. P. Raghunadha Rao was formerly Professor and Head- Department of History, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati- Andhra Pradesh. Besides Indian Heritage and Culture in English and Telugu edition he has also written books such as History of Modern Andhra, History and Culture of Andhra Pradesh-From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Ancient and Medieval History of Andhra Pradesh. Beneath the manifold diversity of physical features, ethnic groups, languages and dialects, and religions in India there has always been an underlying uniformity of life. Indian Heritage and Culture presents a brief, yet vivid account of Indian cultural unity in diversity as it has evolved through the ages and of the contributions made to it by the various movements, eastern and western, that came to bear upon the country. It also traces the development of religio- philosophical views. The book is based on authoritative sources and works by eminent Indian and foreign writers. It is of interest to students of Indian history as well as to the general readers, although it is basically intended as a textbook for B.A. students of Andhra universities. Dr. P.R. Rao has done a commendable job in providing the readers a bird’s eye view of the vast panorama of Indian heritage, leaving not a single aspect of the contributing factors of the ancient religio- philosophical phenomenon. He has dealt at length with the subject ranging from Harappan civilization and Vedic culture to the impact of modern Western civilization which we are exposed to. Dr. Rao has taken in his gamut Vedas, Jainism, Buddhism, Ramayana, the influence under the rulers- the Satavahanas, the Pallavas, the Cholas, Sher Shah and Akbar. Under some chapters the influence of Islam, the Bhakti and Vaishnavaite movements and the cultural achievements of Vijayanagara rulers have been dealt with by the writer with consummate skill in focusing on the significant details. The salient features of Jainism, Buddhism, the evolution of caste system, the Aryan and Dravidian controversy, the Satavahanas, the Pallavas, the Cholas and their municipalities “Tar Kurrams”, influence of Acharyas like Ramanuja, Rama-nanda, Vallabhacharya, Chaitanya, Basava, under Bhakti movement, the Hindu philosophy as divided under Nyaya, Samkhya, Vaiseshika, of a Purvamimamsa and Uttaramimamsa under Dvaita philosophy, Advaita, Visishtadvaita, and Dvaitaschools of philosophy and heterodox, Charvaka Darshana are some of the highlights of the book, which every Indian should be conversant with. This book has an advantage of being very concise but it creates a disadvantage to students who wants to get detailed information of a particular topic in which this book lacks. Expelling some notions about philosophy and culture which goes completely out-of-focus from the topic, yet the objective study of the cultural facets of India have been successfully made in this book, and handed over to the public. ALIFA ALVARES ROLL NO. 26, DADA VAIDYA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, PONDA- GOA. |