Meet the future now

About the Author The Author Satyakam Garg is an Architect by profession. His basic education was through Kendriya Vidyalaya, after which he graduated from Sir J. J. College of Architecture, Mumbai. He has travelled extensively in and outside India and worked on major Architectural projects. His projects handled ensured the meeting of the national interests of the countries he worked in. Delhi Metro Project, Dubai Metro Project, Burj Dubai Development project, Times of India Press Complex etc. are some of the projects handled by him.

The Author believes that India is a country with vast potential and ample resources, necessary for a developed country. More than one third population of India is consisting of children, who hold the future of India in their hands. This book is a step forward by the Author, to provide a vision to our future citizens so that their energies are focussed in a positive manner towards making of a better India.

The Author expects parents and teachers to participate with their hearts while they nurture the future of India.

The Author is currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and writes about life experiences and travel stories online as one of his hobbies.

This book is free for every child. Š Copyright 2008 Satyakam Garg

First Published Online : 2008

This book may be copied and circulated without any alterations or modifications. Not for sale as single copy.

For free distribution among the children and donation details, please contact satyakamgarg@yahoo.com

Dedicated to Today’s Child Who holds the future

CONEXON MEDIA & DESIGN GROUP

First Published 2008 Online on World Wide Web

© Satyakam Garg 2008 Conexon Media & Design Group Vatsalya, 1813, Sector 9A, Bahadurgarh, INDIA – 124 507 Meet the future now : Satyakam Garg A Children’s Guide

This is a guidebook for children. The ideas and pictures presented in this book have no association with any political or religious group. This guidebook in intended to help children, in developing themselves as responsible citizens of India. Ideas presented here are of moral education type and not to be construed as a representation for which the author or publishers assume legal responsibilities.

Meet the future now

A Children’s guiDE

A note for Parents and the Teachers

E

very child is a special child. Each child looks around and gets influenced by the things happening on day to day basis. The tender minds of the childhood age are like empty canvas, being coloured by everyday experiences, the child is going through. As this canvas gets painted while the child grows, the resulting painting is different in each child’s case. The colours on the painting start getting a permanent impression on the canvas as the youth grows into a mature person. This painting is now called ‘mindset’ with which the person carries himself in his life. To get the positive mindset developed in a growing child, it is necessary for the parents and teachers to guide the child without any conflicts of saying and doing. Both parents and teachers have a respectable duty of leading the child to path of success. For parents it is the love and desire for their children, where as for the teachers it is their noble selfless profession which forms the foundation of education. This book targets the child himself to get initiated on the moral path of being a better human who will control the future of fast growing India once they grow up. Let us help the child meet the future together.

Hello Friend, I am Sona bee & I am your friend. I will help you in meeting the future through this book. But I need to know you better. Please personalise this book by filling your details below.

Your Name: ___________________________________ Your Date of Birth: _____________________________ Date when you got this book: ____________________ Your current age: ______________________________ Which class you study in: _______________________ How you got this book: _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

Let us now move towards meeting the future.

D

ear friend, I am very happy to have you with me on our journey to meet the future.

Today you are a child and may be you are studying in a school. We see grown up people who are running the things around us. We have our parents, teachers, shopkeepers, vegetable vendors, milkman, sweeper and many more doing various kind of works. Our parents work hard and earn money so that our needs can be met. They arrange for our food, shelter and studies, so that we can grow up as an educated person. We also need to become a good person with humanitarian values. We have to grow up with time as well and we will be working to run this country. By the age of eighteen years we will attain adult hood and we will be known as a grown up person.

In this book, I will tell you seven tips of good moral character. If you follow these tips with your heart I am sure by the time you reach the age of eighteen years, you will become an eligible person to control the future.

Besides normal education it is necessary for us to decide about our day to day activities and how these affect our future. The important thing is to know that we only decide about our own future. Our parents and teachers always help us to achieve our goals. After we become grown up our own actions are responsible for our condition. If all of us grow up to be good citizens, the future of India has to be good. After all it is we who will control it. Therefore Let’s know these seven useful tips.

T

here is a saying “Believe in yourself and people will be forced to believe in you�. Self confidence is the key to success. Everything is possible if you have the will to do it.

If you loose confidence, you will not be able to achieve your goals.

Remember that God has given you immense power to overcome the obstacles. Your belief in yourself acts as the ignition to this power. This trust in yourself is the first thing which is required for you to move ahead in life. My dear friend, please understand in coming years of your life, your own confidence will help you to survive in this world.

In your school you must have learnt this song: “We shall over come, we shall over come We shall over come, one day Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall over come one day�.

This is a very beautiful song. Anytime you feel that you are loosing your confidence, just think of this song and repeat it in your heart. You will find that this gives you strength to pull yourself together again and start over.

Have you seen the aeroplanes flying in the sky? You may have also travelled in it sometime. The aeroplanes are

a reality today only because Wright brothers believed in themselves and their idea.

They had confidence that they can make a flying machine and their trust with hard work made them to invent the first aeroplane. Today we see modern aircrafts soaring into the skies. The Wright brothers had the vision and will to capture the future. They made it possible for the man to fly and changed the way the world traveled. This is the power of confidence. People laughed at their experiments thinking that they were crazy, but they kept to their belief and succeeded.

In the above photograph you see a person skiing on the snow.

Infact he is participating in a skiing competition. Have you noticed that his one leg is amputated. Despite his disability, his confidence and belief in himself gives him enough strength to go for the ski challenge sport. There are people in world who cannot see, hear or walk. Yet they have chosen not to give up. They have the trust in themselves and they work against their physical restraints.

So my friend please remember that you should always believe in yourself and you must not loose your self confidence. This first tip is the key to control your future.

T

he time holds an important place in our life. If you reach the station late, you will miss your train. Similarly in life, everything has a definite time. We have to get our education within a fixed time so that we do not get left behind.

Our life is divided into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Each and every moment of time is important, since the time which has passed, does not come back ever. Time is not

something which we see in a clock. A clock is just an instrument to measure the time elapsed.

Dear friend, we use time to plan our activities. We use time to understand how much portion of our day we have to spend on a particular task. Remember, just doing nothing and sitting idle is not only waste of valuable time, it is also a waste of portion of your life. So we have to make best use of time so that our life becomes meaningful.

As a child your daily routine is centred around school, sports, homework, hobbies etc and sleeping. Let me help you to organise the things by Shashwat’s example. Shashwat is my friend and studies in class VIII. Given below is how Shashwat’s daily routine used to look like.

Wake up in morning 06:45 AM to 07:15 AM Get ready for school & breakfast 07:15 AM to 08:00 AM Sometimes he was late and will miss his school bus at 08:00 AM School Time 08:30 AM to 02:00 PM Back to Home 02:30 PM Playing TV Games and cycling 02:45 PM to 05:00 PM Homework 05:00 PM to 06:30 PM Watching TV serials & dinner 06:30 PM to 09:30 PM Going to sleep 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM As you can see, Shashwat’s daily routine of activities was not good. Though he completed his homework somehow, he was not studying properly. He was wasting a lot of time in TV games and movies. He was late

in going to bed and always woke up late. Sometimes he used to get punishment in school for not reaching in time. Overall results were also not good and he only managed to pass the examinations somehow.

Then one day Shashwat’s father explained him the importance of time. He asked Shashwat to plan his activities in a timely manner and he helped him make a time plan for him. After following this time plan, there was a tremendous improvement in Shashwat’s life. He started getting good grades and his health also improved. Let us see what time plan he followed.

Wake up in the morning Morning walk & light exercise Get ready for School Revise the chapters learned yesterday Breakfast and reach the bus stop School Time Back to Home and some rest Homework Complete Cycling and outdoor games Watch TV or hobby work Dinner After dinner walk Self study Go to sleep

05:30 AM 05:45 AM to 06:30 AM 06:30 AM to 07:00 AM 07:00 AM to 07:30 AM 07:30 AM to 07:55 AM 08:30 AM to 02:00 PM 02:30 PM to 03:30 PM 03:30 PM to 04:30 PM 04:30 PM to 06:30 PM 06:30 PM to 07:30 PM 07:30 PM to 08:00 PM 08:30 PM to 08:45 PM 08:45 PM to 09:30 PM 09:45 PM latest.

As you can see, Shashwat’s time plan is now balanced and good for him. He has time for everything and his studies have improved.

If Shashwat keeps on following the time plan as per his growing needs, one day he will come out as a disciplined man who respects the time. If he fails to adhere to his time plan, he will face difficulties in his future, because unplanned activities seldom gives good results. Let us hope that Shashwat keeps on following his time plan in a good manner.

Today rockets and spacecrafts launches are planned in a very precise timely manner. When we talk on mobile phone, even a single second of time costs us. When we take a ride in amusement park, we pay for a fixed period of time.

So we have seen how time plan helps us. Dear friend, in your coming life you have to set your priorities right. You have to decide what you want to be in life and how much time you will take to reach your goal. It is not necessary that everything will happen on perfect time, but planning ahead makes the chances of success more. Time management is going to be your biggest work in the life. If you manage your time properly in useful manner, the time will reward you in future. I am sure that my friend will always remember this second tip to respect the time and move towards the future with confidence of a good planner.

W

e all want to be treated with respect and love. We expect others to listen to us. We want that others shall do the things as we desire them to do. We always keep on expecting too much out of others, but we seldom think about returning the favours. In this world, people want attention and respect from others. But to get the same everybody needs to respect other persons in similar way. Even the animals tend to react in the same fashion as we treat them. A dog will wag his tail, if you have been treating him with love. If you tried to threaten him, he will bark at you. This makes it easy to understand that it is natural for the people to react in the same manner as yours.

You need to understand an important thing here. Even if somebody has been not fair to you, it does not mean that you also start being rude with him. That way you will not gain anything except for unwanted tensions. It is better to ignore a constantly irritating person rather than get in argument with him.

Dear friend, please make it a habit that you will treat everybody with respect. You will be amazed to know that this is also known as the Golden rule. There is no reason why a person will not respond to you in a polite manner, if you have been respectful towards him.

Let us take an example from our daily routine. This is a conversation below between Shashwat & Swastika who are borther and sister.

Shashwat : Swastika, give me your pen.

Swastika : Cannot you see that I am using it. I will not give it to you.

Shashwat in high voice : Are you giving me the pen or not?

Swastika in higher tone: No, I am not. Do whatever you want to do.

What do you observe from above conversation? Both Shashwat and Swastika are almost on the verge of fighting for a pen. Things can be better if we are polite and respect each other. See the difference as per the conversation below.

Shashwat : Swastika, may I borrow your pen for some time?

Swastika : Oh I am sorry, I am using it right now. But I will give you after ten minutes. Can you please wait till that time?

Shashwat : That’s okay. You can finish your work. I will take it later from you. Thanks for the consideration.

Surely this time there was no harsh words or a fight. Both were happy and used the pen. It happened because Shashwat was polite in first place while asking for the pen. Swastika responded in a similar polite manner and there was no malice.

Dear friend, if you start treating others with respect in your early childhood, this will be of immense benefit to you in future. People will respond to you in a generous way if you do not hurt their feelings any time.

If you help other people, you will be helped too. If you provide opportunities to other people, you will be flooded with opportunities. But if you try to be hostile towards other, you will get only enemies in return.

We all want to be respected by the society we live in. We have to extend our gratitude and respect to all the society members, if we want the same to happen to us.

One more very important thing which you need to understand is that by being polite to others, you get many friends. We surely do not want to hurt people and make many enemies, which will be not good for us.

You have power to control the future, if you simply follow the golden rule of treating others as you want to be treated. You will be never alone in future.

O

ur parents and teachers play a vital role in our life. They shape our future and they are our selfless companions towards our overall well being. Our parents have given us this life form and they care for us with love and affection, providing us everything essential to sustain the life. Our teachers help us to gain the education and moral values, so that we can stand up in the society as a learned person. How shall be our conduct towards them?

Dear friend, we shall be very respectful & humble towards our parents and teachers. For every step we take in our life, they support us with their heart.

Our parents are like living Gods to us and no doubt we shall be treating them as we worship the God. My dear children, do you know how much efforts your parents put in to raise you as a grown up person? They work hard so that they can make money to buy you food, clothes, shelter, toys and send you to school.

Sometimes many parents who have little money will not eat themselves, but they will always make sure that their children get something to eat. Our parents constantly keep on making many sacrifices, so that they can meet the requirements of their children.

Our parents want to see us grown up as a responsible person.

Do you wish your parents ‘good morning’ when you wake up in the morning? As an Indian tradition young ones in a family greet their elders by touching their feet. Our elders always shower blessings on us when we give them due respect. Their blessings go a long way in our well being.

Dear friend, today you are a child. One day you will grow up with help of your parents, teachers and may be an elder brother or sister who must have looked up to your needs. Please always remember the bond of love which exist between your elders and yourself. A time will come when your elders grow old with age

and require your support. Most likely they will never demand anything from you as they always been a giver. But you have to remain dutiful towards them and care for them. Small children and old age people both require care and affection.

We read in newspapers everyday that old people are being killed for money or deserted on streets by their children. These incidents are horrific and tell us about the insensitive society we live in.

Dear friend, do you want such society in future where the old people have been left on streets by their own kids? Certainly we do not want this kind of future. Because if we treat our parents that way, our children will also treat us like that one day. So making the things right always start with us. If we give proper respect, care and love to our elders, we will have the same from our own children in future. I hope you will remember this fourth tip throughout your life and will never forget to respect your elders.

T

his proverb is a time tested one. Practice Makes a Man Perfect. To master a task, the important thing is practice.

Be it studies, games or hobbies. One need to constantly keep on practicing to attain the mastery. Have you seen the sportsman who win gold medal at Olympics games? What makes them achieve the gold medal. It is the constant practice which makes them a hero eventually. In mathematics you have to practice many a times different type of exercises, before you become expert in solving the related problems. Without practice it will be difficult to solve an equation. When we hear a song on radio, it is the result of regular practice by the singers and

musicians. Please note that without practice the result is not perfect.

Dear children, a lot of us become lazy and do not practice enough to attain the perfection. Let us take the example of a boy who has a bad hand writing. If he needs to improve his handwriting he must practice everyday writing in good letters. Even a practice of fifteen days will considerably improve the handwriting.

In future also, the practice is going to play a vital role in your life.

Let us take some examples below how the practice will help you in future.

If you want to have a career in sports regular daily practice is required before you be selected in a team.

If you need to be a pilot, you will need constant flying lessons as practice before you will be allowed a private pilot license.

Army persons when posted on high altitude border areas, have to climb up slowly, first practicing at lower altitude areas. This is known as acclimatisation as they practice to get used to a particular type of climate. Without practice if they are directly posted at a high altitude, they will become sick due to cold exposure.

Astronauts have to practice zero gravity situation on earth before they can really be put in a spaceship. Without practice they can just die of the shock and pressure.

As we see practice is very important. In today’s India we find many young people who do not work. They keep on complaining about job scarcity. In reality such people do not practice enough to become suitable for any kind of job. Dear children, in your

adult life you have to prove your worth to your employer by demonstrating that you are fit for a the job. That can happen only if you have done enough practice to master the job.

We have seen Doctors who treat the patients everyday. In India before a doctor can start treating regular patients, he is put to a training as intern in government hospitals under an experienced doctor. Just think about it, if a doctor starts treating patients without practice it can endanger the life of patient.

Let us see the nature. A small kid cannot walk by himself.

Initially he is carried by his parents in their lap, afterwards he starts crawling on the floor with help of all his limbs. Slowly the baby starts to practice balancing himself in a natural manner and soon is able to walk straight on two legs. Nature has given us the potential to practice.

My dear children, for your coming life in future, whatever field of career you choose to pursue, do not ever underestimate the power of practice. We need a future which is full of perfect people and practice is the tool to achieve it. Today’s India is flooded with fake service providers who do not know their jobs. We certainly do not want the same to happen in future.

So follow this fifth tip of honing your skills by regular practice and come out as a perfect person to handle the future.

I

f there was a formula by using which you can make the future better what it will be? Is it highly complicated? Do we need to know advanced maths for that? You may be wondering how a formula can solve the future. But surely there is a formula and very useful one. And trust me my friend, if you follow this formula the mathematics of life will never be a problem for you.

Let us understand from an example. Suppose it is a very hot day.

You are sweating and there is no wind to cool you down. What will you do? Most probably you will simply take a fan and blow some air on your self so that you feel better.

In another example, if it is raining and you know that you are going to be drenched in rain, can you wish to stop the rain. No, you cannot. But you can always use an umbrella and avoid the rain drenching you.

In both the example as above we see that the reason (no wind or rain) was not in our control. But we devised ways (fan and umbrella) to get out of the uncomfortable situation. Dear children in life we are going to face many situations where the reasons are not in our control. But if we use our natural tendency of solving problems we can over ride such situation. And problems are solved through right logic and right efforts. The things which are not in our control are matter of chance or luck. The things which are in our control are our efforts. And the result we desire is the outcome or destiny. The magical formula of future looks something like this

Luck (Chance) X Efforts = Destiny (Outcome) Let us study this formula in real context. Suppose Ram and Shyam both want to buy bicycles. Ram’s father is very rich and he can easily get money from him. Shyam’s father has low income and cannot provide required money to Shyam. Does that mean Shyam will never have a bicycle?

No. In case of Ram, his luck favours him and he do not have to work hard to get a bicycle. In his case we can see the formula as Luck (More money) x Efforts (less savings) = Destiny (Bicycle)

In case of Shyam, he needs to save money by putting in extra efforts to get the bicycle. In Shyam’s case the formula shall be Luck (Less Money) x Efforts (More savings)=Destiny (Bicycle) We see that both Ram and Shyam can have the bicycle, but Shyam has to put in extra efforts to get it. He had to save more money and wait for the cycle.

That’s how the things are going to be in life too. There are going to be times in future when the luck is very low for us. In such times we must not loose our heart and increase our efforts to get the desired result. The formula can now be understood as below: More Luck x Less Efforts = Destiny or Less Luck x More Efforts = Destiny

Please note one thing clearly that if the effort is zero the destiny is going to be nil. Some minimum effort will always be required.

Even if you have lots of food, but you do not try to put it in your mouth you may die of hunger. So in any case effort is required.

Therefore dear children, whatever the circumstances are, please remember that your own efforts can help you come out of even the worst situations. A man’s destiny lies in his own hands and his efforts shape his future. We have heard stories of rags to riches of many famous persons. It is all because of their efforts which they had put in for a better future.

S

atyamev Jayate! The truth will always be the winner. The path of truth is harsh and tough, but it is the right path. Dear children, one must never leave the path of truth. This last and seventh tip urges you to always side by the truth and remain true to yourself and the society. What ever crime and poverty you see in India is because of some people who do not follow the path of truth. Sooner or later such people will get the judgement as the

truth will always win. My friend once you follow the path of truth, you need not to be afraid of anything. If you follow the path of truth, you will never be doing a wrong thing. Your conscience will tell you what is wrong and what is right. We need to develop this affinity fro truth in our early life. Because if by mistake if we start to deviate from path of truth, we will be deviating from path of success.

Whatsoever progress you see in the world s because some people stood by the truth, despite going through a lot of hard times.

Today we live in an Independent India, because our freedom fighters had the guts to stand with the truth. Their tough resolve finished the English rule for ever. Dear children, for a better future we need each and every citizen of India to be a true countrymen. Even after sixty one years of independence, we are not free from corruption and crime. My dear children, only you can make this country’s future secure and brighter by taking a vow that you will never give up the life of truth.

There are seven simple ways to follow the path of truth.

1. Never speak a lie or unpleasant thing behind the back.

2. Never steal from others even in toughest times 3. Do not take bribes or favours.

4. If something wrong has been done by you, do not hide and face the consequences as a true person.

5. Do not make friends who misguide you. They are not friends.

6. Always side by the truth. Do not hide the facts you have witnessed.

7. Be bold, truth needs no fear. Use your mind to time the truth.

I am sure my friend will always abide by the truth and follow the seventh tip throughout his life.

The Conclusion Dear Children, I have given you seven valuable tips which will help you throughout your life. I am sure if you follow these, India in future will be the best country. Our hopes are dependent upon you, who are the future of India – the children of today. These seven tips are time tested values of humanity. And we are going to have not only a better India but a better world if we all children follow these in our life. Take an oath with me:

We the children of India, will never part with the truth.

We will put in our best efforts, respect all the creatures, and in short time will shape the future of a better India.

For we trust and believe in ourselves that we can do it.

We are the future !!

JAI HIND