nachiyar.

Thursday, May 28, 2020

not that it did not happen before impact and awareness has increased.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Furloughed.

You’ve Been Furloughed. Now What?

Nicholas Eveleigh/Getty Images

Many of us join companies thinking we will have a clear path of progression and growth for years to come. For the most part, since the last recession, this has been true. But what started as a health crisis has evolved into a redefinition of work, with an estimated 18 million Americans furloughed since mid-March.

The economy has taken a serious plunge, and now the millions waiting for their careers to resume are faced with a new question: Should I wait for my furlough to end or should I apply for other jobs?

FURTHER READING

Furloughs — a word that until recently was unfamiliar to most people, including business leaders — are the talk in boardrooms and at breakfast tables around the world. Furloughs are temporary, unpaid leaves of absence that several businesses have bestowed on employees due to financial hardships. The catch is that employees on furlough are able to maintain their health insurance and 401K benefits. At the same time, they are not provided a salary during the leave, and under such circumstances, can collect unemployment and benefit from the CARES Act.

A key consideration in furloughs is that the employees have the opportunity to be called back to their jobs once their organization recovers — though there is no guarantee that this will happen. In part, whether or not they return will be contingent on the demand for their former jobs to return. Many people in this position are struggling to gauge which decision is wiser: waiting for things to revert to normal (or at least the new not-normal), or thinking in shorter term and applying for a new job now.

In our view, there are five key points to consider if you are debating whether to seek work during furlough or not:

1. Can you afford to wait?

This is purely a financial question. With enhanced unemployment benefits, furloughed Americans can earn on average $24 an hour for four months. However, for many, this is insufficient to support their lives, and the limited timeframe is concerning. Furloughs can last for up to six months before a company is required to decide if a worker is returning or not. This means there is a chance of economic exposure pending how long the furlough lasts. There is also the risk that workers will not be called back to work post-crisis and the opportunities that were available mid-crisis will be missed.

For those who can’t afford to wait, there are some good options. You can apply for new roles both permanent or temporary to keep learning and earning. Although we have a record number of people filing unemployment, according to ManpowerGroup’s real time view of all open jobs in the U.S., we had 5.8 million open as of May 7. Even if you don’t want to commit to a new career path, you can take on temporary work that allows you to try out a career change before committing to it.

2. Do you want to wait?

Furlough is a loaded word, but it doesn’t have to be defined by fear. It can be the beginning of a new future. Many of us get caught in the trap of normalcy and routine in our careers and forget to re-examine our interests and life objectives. This crisis gives us time to re-evaluate our futures in a way that we may have never been given before. We are forced to stop and think: Is this truly my desired path? Is this a job I love and want to do again? Or is it time to think of doing something new?

Take some time to pause and think. Reimagine your potential in a way that the former normalcy of life wouldn’t have allowed. Ask yourself if your job is worth waiting for. Do you want to return to your pre-crisis life? If there is any inkling of doubt in your mind, there is no downside to applying for something new, and seeing what could materialize as a different future.

3. Will what you gain be better than what you leave behind?

The familiar concept of the “grass is greener” is often true when we think about career options. Analyzing the pros and cons of your job considerations can play a vital role in making an informed choice. Take a fresh look at what you enjoy in your furloughed role and the benefits it provides — from essentials like pay and health care to the more personal like your hard-earned reputation. All of these elements carry value. Now compare them to what you could be gaining in a new role at a new organization. Consider your desired flexibility, learning opportunities, and perhaps most importantly, the future demand of the work you could pursue compared to the work you are waiting to return to.

While comparing, remember that there will always be trade-offs (e.g., less money for more fun, more money for less freedom, and more prestige for less meaning). Ensure that these are worth the pursuit and aligned with your core values.

Before making a decision, this is also the perfect time to discuss your career with your current employer and see if there are ways to reshape it in ways that work for both of you. It is possible your workplace may be supportive of you applying for other business opportunities or work with you on an adjusted scheduled. Ask about the things you’ve wanted but were too afraid to ask for before. If you decide to pursue a change after these considerations, you will be doing it with the most available information.

4. Are you ready to build a remote network?

Let’s say you are committed to the exploration and ready to take on a sprint or two for your future. It’s important to understand how joining a new company during this crisis and post-crisis will likely play out. Nobody knows, but you can and must make bets. Without speculation, there is no planning, and planning is all you can really do right now.

Undoubtedly, there will not be large onboarding classes where you get the chance to network with leadership and build a cohort of other new hires. But you can still ask as many questions as needed during the interview process to ensure that your bets are as data-driven as possible. Perhaps there won’t be hands-on training, even if your new role is labor intensive, which is likely, since for most jobs the largest proportion of learning is on-the-job, practical learning. This does not mean that companies will stop doing formal training. However, you will need to be a student and extract formal learnings from every experience.

Given this, you should consider how you learn best. Can you learn in a virtual environment? How much supervision do you want and need? Do you prefer to follow instructions or find your own way? To be successful in this environment, you will likely need to step outside of your social comfort zone as well. Can you build a network without physically seeing your co-workers? Do you know how to display key social skills like empathy and learn a new etiquette online? Think about these questions as you explore options.

Remember, humans are extremely adaptable. But we are also quite lazy — always looking for more efficient and effortless ways to solve our immediate problems. We learn only when we have to, and now, the whole of humanity must figure out what to do under these circumstances. The world will be changed even as we reopen it. Understanding how those changes impact your orientation into a new job and company is vital.

5. Would upskilling for the long term be more valuable than new work for right now?

Finally, there is another option — let’s call it “working the wait.” The wait for work doesn’t have to be wasted. It can also be a self-investment. There are numerous options for free learning and upskilling right now — from Yale University offering one of its most popular courses on the science of happiness to ManpowerGroup offering free courses in partnership with the University of Phoenix, as well as a range of open-source content curators that can help you identify your key learning needs. The opportunities to learn while you are waiting to earn are numerous.

Even pre-crisis, we knew that skills were changing with the pace of technology. In many ways the crisis has accelerated that technology and the possibilities of making a virtual contribution. Now is a great time to know what skills will be in demand later on — both soft and hard skills — and invest in future-proofing yourself for the role you are waiting to return to or the role you choose to pursue during furlough.

Think of this employment “time out” as a chance to redefine your short and long-term thinking on career marathons and job sprints. Use it to reimagine your future because, even when we return to work, it will be very different than it was in the past.

Prastana traya

Vedanta philosophy accepts the Prasthana Traya texts, the Upanishads, The Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutra as authoritative and primary sources that teach the means to strive for salvation. No study of Vedanta is considered complete without a close examination of the Prasthana Traya texts. The Vedas and the Upanishads are Sruti Prasthana, that is, revealed texts. ‘Sruti’ literally means that which is heard, and is considered as sacred knowledge that has been handed down from days of yore through the oral tradition of communication.

The Bhagavad Gita, the Puranas, etc, are known as Smriti Prasthana. These are the compositions of sages based on their understanding of the valuable insights in the Vedas and their ability to remember and recall these. The Brahma Sutra compiled by Vyasa is known as Nyaya Prasthana or Sutra Prasthana, wherein the philosophical doctrines are analysed logically and systematically. Just as the various river ghats help people to have a dip in the deep waters these texts guide the spiritual aspirant to enter the river of jnana, pointed out Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal in a discourse. All Vedanta texts speak in one voice about the one and only Brahman who is the sole cause of the universe and of His nature as the essence of eternal consciousness and bliss, sat-chit-ananda. In the Brahma Sutra this is reinforced to show that there is no scriptural text that can be effectively used against the Vedanta teachings. There is no way by which the validity of any system that is opposed to the Vedas can be established in a foolproof manner. Vedanta system makes extensive use of Smriti texts such as Manu Smriti, Vishnu Purana, etc, to argue convincingly about Brahman as the intelligent primary cause of the universe.

Bondage of Karma,

Sastras explain that karma has no beginning or end and that all beings are bound to samsara by the ties of karma. All actions, good or bad, are called karma and produce the effects of joy or sorrow respectively. So, actions that are done when being prompted by inner desires and vasanas are the karma and to face the effects thereon, people are born repeatedly. This naturally hinders their chances of liberation.

But Vedanta study offers the path of Jnana or Vidya by which one can circumvent the endless cycle of karma and strive to escape from this in a tangential manner, pointed out Sri K. Srinivasan in a discourse. Even the study of Vedanta, if it remains at the theoretical and intellectual level, becomes ineffective for realisation of Brahman. But it becomes a great boon when the spiritual aspirant utilises it to get rid of karma and to get liberated. The fundamental teaching reinforced in the Gita is that each one should be aware that he is a unique blend of the physical and the spiritual. The self within the body is the witnessing consciousness responsible for the functioning of the body and is the knower of all, the Kshetrajna. This self is the essence of permanent joy.

The body is compared to a field, Kshetra, where events happen. There is birth, growth decline and death. The five gross elements, the ego sense, intellect including the unmanifest, the karmendriyas and the jnanendriyas, are the constituents of the field. But being ignorant of the exceptional and immortal indwelling self that is of the essence of bliss, many are deluded into believing that joy can be sought in the external world. He who understands the invaluable quality of one’s present birth as a chance to strive for salvation is really blessed, since no one has any clue about what is in store in each one’s prarabdha karma account.

WWW

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variola

The WHO initially rejected their applications, stating that rural India would be too much of a culture shock for two American women. But, Mary Guinan and Cornelia E Davis stood firm and toiled on-ground to eventually help make India smallpox-free.

Not so long ago, there was a time in India when uttering the word ‘Variola’, or its more colloquial version—smallpox—sent a shiver down everyone’s spine. The disease came in stealthily, with high fever, and within a few days, would proliferate fatally to claim one’s life. Worse, the highly contagious disease would infect the victim’s family, their neighbourhood, and gradually set in an epidemic in an entire region.

Save yourself from mosquito-borne diseases with this 100% herbal mosquito repellant spray!

In 1974, the biggest smallpox epidemic wreaked havoc especially in the highly populated states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Fear reigned across extensive areas as village after village succumbed to the ailment.

Families would flee their village the moment they heard of a smallpox case in their area, often leaving their nearest and dearest ones on their deathbeds. Smallpox was thus widely known as the disease of no-return, killing three in every ten people. Overall, it had claimed millions of lives across the planet.

The lack of treatment only increased the helplessness of the people. They resorted to religion to spare them from the ‘curse’. In Bengal, they started worshipping ‘Sitala Mata’—the deity of pox and termed the ailment as ‘Mayer Asirwaad’ (the mother’s blessing)—in a desperate effort to alleviate its suffering.

Aside from fear, another reason for worshipping the Goddess of smallpox can be attributed to its intensely painful symptoms. The rashes usually started showing inside the mouth, and gradually infested the entire body, triggering nausea, malaise, diarrhoea, and compromised immunity.

A decade before the ‘74 epidemic, the Indian government had designed a mass vaccination scheme to eradicate smallpox. However, the exponentially rising population of India was decelerating the process.

Finally, in 1970, India adopted the smallpox campaign by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Through a meticulous and painstaking process, India was eventually declared free from smallpox in 1977.

Incidentally, three years later, in 1980, smallpox was officially eradicated from the world.

In this regard, the contribution of two extraordinary women deserves special mention. Without these unsung Bravehearts, India perhaps would still be lurking under the ‘curse’ of the ghastly ailment. American doctors Mary Guinan and Cornelia E Davis sacrificed their cosy comforts and spent months in the remotest parts of India, working on-ground. The Better India traces their extraordinary stories, which they have vividly narrated in their memoirs.

Mary Guinan

In her biography, Adventures of a Female Medical Detective: In Pursuit of Smallpox and AIDS, Guinan writes what actually brought her to India in the middle of the deadly outbreak.

Born in 1939 in New York, Guinan dreamt of becoming an astronaut in her early years. But NASA did not allow women inside their main sanctum—Houston Control Centre—till 1968; as male authorities were under the pretext that women would ‘distract’ men from the pursuit of science.

smallpox doctors India — Mary Guinan. Source: University of Nevada

Nevertheless, Guinan did not sit disheartened, and instead, opted for a medical career. After graduating, she underwent a two-year training at the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It was there that she learnt about the smallpox epidemic in India. She stepped up to apply for volunteering on-ground in India.

Her applications were rejected for two years consecutively, the excuse being WHO’s non-acceptance of women in the programme. Later, EIS conveyed to her that Indians were seemingly apprehensive to welcome a woman volunteer.

Guinan decided to persist in her decision and fought harder. She knew that India was being headed by a woman prime minister—Indira Gandhi—at the time. She attempted to communicate directly with the Prime Minister’s Office and secured a volunteer grant for herself within a few months.

She was allotted three month’s work across Uttar Pradesh in 1975. During this time, Guinan traversed across the northern state, accompanied only by a bilingual paramedic and a driver. She went from door to door, interacting with the families and educating them about smallpox. She didn’t restrict her interactions to the womenfolk, but boldly talked with the men as well.

She administered ring vaccination among the communities which catalysed the immunisation process. Finally, just one month after Guinan’s return to the USA, Uttar Pradesh was declared smallpox-free.

Guinan’s experience in India prompted her to delve deeper into the public health sector. Her exceptional work on HIV/AIDS in the USA received immense recognition and was even chronicled in the book And the Band Played On, which was later adapted into a movie as well.

At present, 80-year-old Guinan heads the School of Community Health Sciences in Nevada, USA.

Cornelia E Davis

Davis’ story is perhaps more intriguing, given the fact that she was one of the first African-American doctors from the University of California. In fact, she was the second female black student in her batch.

In her tell-all memoir, Searching for Sitala Mata: Eradicating Smallpox in India, she recounts the two extensive years she spent in India, battling smallpox and the superstitions shrouding the disease.

After completing her residency in paediatrics in 1975, Davis opted to work among the masses in India. When WHO expressed concerns about sending a young woman doctor alone into the rural landscape of India, that too on such a critical mission, it was Davis’ mentor Dr Paul Wehrle who vouched for her efficiency. “Oh, yeah, she can do it,” Wehrle had replied when asked about her.

And indeed, Davis proved her mettle during her prolonged two-year mission. After a few weeks of training in Delhi, she was deployed to the hilly districts of Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, and Cooch Behar in northern West Bengal.

Firstly, being a Californian by birth, Davis was unaccustomed to the hardships posed by rural India, that too on a rugged mountainous terrain. But, she never inched back from her objective. Walking for hours through paddy fields or narrow hilly trails, Davis and her team started vaccinating every single person within a 1-kilometre radius of a smallpox-affected hamlet.

Their next step was searching for ‘rash-and-fever’ cases within another 10-km radius.

For the local paramedic and driver assigned to her, the cultural shock of teaming up with an African-American woman was immense. So much so that they would eat separately from her, unsure of her caste and creed. Initially, Davis tried to adhere to these unsaid norms out of respect for an unknown land’s culture, but finally, she decided to put her foot down to preserve the integrity of her team.

“I am NOT going to eat all by myself every day for the next six months. I’m in charge of this team and you can both tell the authorities that I ordered you to do this. I have spoken to the gods, I accept all the bad karma, and I’ll take the blame,” she declared to the two men.

Though it was initially difficult for them, they finally eased in Davis’ presence and eventually became good friends.

At the professional front, her work later earned her the unofficial title of ‘Goddess of Smallpox’ back home. Although her deputation was for six months, she extended it to two years, working in the most obscure parts of India, including the desert state of Rajasthan.

After India was declared smallpox-free, Davis returned to California and started practising as a paediatrician. A year later, she was invited to tackle the smallpox situation in Africa.

Later, she continued to live and work across Africa and Asia battling malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, yellow fever, cholera, and a horde of other communicable diseases in lesser privileged communities.