The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya

Ingenious. Inspiring. Brilliant. And a superbly shot video too.

Take a look at this video. It is the story of how people in the rural areas of Meghalaya, in India, connect and interact with nature and build natural bridges made out of tree roots! Reminds one of the blockbuster movie, Avatar. The video shows how an old man shares his knowledge of how these bridges are built with his grand-daughter. Someone from the source network said - very beautifully - in response to this video, "The joy of sharing the knowledge is its own reward".

More Information:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2035520/Meghalaya-villagers-create-living-bridges-training-roots-river.html

http://rootbridges.blogspot.com/

http://chrisgagne.com/541/the-root-bridges-of-meghalaya/

Mixed

Some inspiration that I thought I would share:


Two great quotes that I came across today:


"Nothing is interesting if you're not interested." ~ Helen MacInness


Brilliant! Not something that many people understand or agree with, however true it is. I wish I'd known this quote a year ago. Could have probably used it to my advantage :-)


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This was in one of the responses, in Quora, to a question on God's invisibility: Read the full set of answers here, in case you're interested. 

The worst kind of leader is one who is despised and defied. 

Next is the one who is feared and obeyed.

Then the one loved and praised.

But the best kind of leader is the one whose existence is doubted,

who accomplishes all things, and the people say, "I have done it myself."

-- Tao Te Ching


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Moving on to less philosophical things, here's a nice set of slides on Social Media Strategy by @zaana. She has done a great job of collating data and ideas on the topic, with some cool pictures too


http://www.slideshare.net/zaana/strategically-social-plan-engage-act 


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Finally, I loved this article on the two flavors of passion for work - harmonious passion and obsessive passion. Via @gautamghosh


http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/08/why_your_passion_for_work_coul.html


In other words, I think it is all boils down to the philosophy of being engaged in work for inner happiness and yet being detached enough to pay attention to other dimensions of life. 

Think Different Advt - Steve Jobs

Serenity

Just reading these Buddhist tenets makes me feel serene. Following these, however, I know will require herculean effort and infinite faith.

1. Bao Yen Hsin: The willingness to accept, without complaining, suffering and unhappiness because you understand it is your own karma.
2. Sui Yen Hsin: Understanding that all situations are the consequences of karmic causes, and therefore, you maintain equanimity in all circumstances, both negative and positive.
3. Tsung Fa Hsin: Realizing through practice the essence of your Buddha Nature, which is equanimity.

Source: http://sped2work.tripod.com/bdharma.html 

Facts

I found this interesting and thoughtful set of quotes on the significance of facts.

“If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.” -  Albert Einstein 


“Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one's head.” -  Mark Twain


“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” -  Charles R. Swindoll 

 
“There are no eternal facts as there are no eternal truths” - Friedrich Nietzsche 


“If the dream is big enough the facts don't matter” -  Dexter Yager



“I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts” -  Mark Twain


“In the wild struggle for existance, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.” -  Oscar Wilde


“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think.” -  Robert M. Hutchins


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Isn't it ironic that the most opinionated people are the ones that think they are armed with all the facts, A to Z? Sometimes, reading (and remembering) a lot leaves one with a fixed mindset rather than an open mind.