There’s nothing wrong with being shy. The world needs some quiet, thoughtful, introspective people. It takes all sorts of people to make the world a beautiful place. There are some people who are reserve; they don’t shoot off their mouths every now and then. They think before they ask questions. We should understand that people who are reluctant to interfere and careful not to offend others are not weak people. If somebody appears shy, that person is not a weakling.  If you are shy be proud of it. Many people are shy in the world. Their shyness prevents them from expressing themselves, from making friends, and from enjoying life to its fullest. And, for some people, shyness is a cocoon. They feel safe and warm and quiet inside their cocoon. They confine their world to the cocoon but it’s wrong to assume that they are lonely in there.

Most people are shy to some degree. Extreme shyness may be something one would want to look a bit closely at but equally disturbing would be extreme extroversion. There is a social norm and fewer people fall someplace in the middle. But let us assume a person enters a party and the spotlight is thrown on him and he is asked to give a speech or sing and he feels uncomfortable it cannot be called extreme shyness.

When you think of someone being shy, you probably don’t think of celebrities who are always in the spotlight. But, surprisingly the list consists of people like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein. It seems Barrack Obama is of introvert personality but has leveraged introvert’s natural capacity for thoughtful communication. Warren Buffet is a classic example of an introvert taking careful, well-calibrated risks. Buffet is very thoughtful and likes to be in his own confined world. He is not flashy though he is counted among the richest people in the world.  You might not expect the founder of the social network to be reserved, but Zuckerberg is a classic introvert. He is shy and introverted and he often does not seem very warm to people who don’t know him, but the fact is he is an affectionate person. The Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer insists that the spotlight is not her style; she says that she is naturally shy and introverted and yet modern media ignores it and paints her as an extrovert instead.

Personality refers to an individual’s pattern of thoughts, feelings and behavior that make a person unique. There are multiple kinds of personalities whom we encounter in our day-to-day lives; some are strong, some are charismatic, open-minded, while some are withdrawn or shy.  Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of the school of analytical psychology. He proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. The issues that he dealt with occurred from his personal experiences. For many years Jung felt as if he had two separate personalities. One introverted and other extroverted. This interplay resulted in his study of integration and wholeness. Jung’s perspective on personality is quite insightful; he wrote that what appears to be random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities.

Introverts are known for having fewer connections in their life, but these connections are usually much deeper. Extroverts think as they talk or let’s say that talk as they think.  The process for introverts is much different and it’s so internal that you can’t make out outwardly that anything is happening. An introvert could be sitting in corner thinking about the meaning of life or could be solving some grave problem of his organization. Just because they are not more vocal about everything does not mean they are not passionate about life. Introverts feel things just as deeply as extroverts; the difference is that they are simply not very effusive about it.  Perhaps their thinking process does not frequently involve others.

It is known that introverts are quieter and tend to feel more energized from spending time alone, while extroverts are louder and gain fortification and energy from being around with others. Extroverts often exhibit qualities of charm, magnetism, and affiliation, while introverts tend to be creative and prefer to work alone. But it’s not always black and white: we all coexist on this planet – introverts and extroverts need to work together manifesting qualities of each depending on the circumstance. And, being an introvert doesn’t mean being a recluse: introverts can often be amiable social butterflies in their own quiet way.

Introverts are born with great listening skills because they tend to think first, before voicing their opinions. They prefer understanding others before seeking to be understood, which indirectly helps them build good rapport with people. When others speak their mind freely, introverts listen carefully to have a good grasp of their perspectives and viewpoints. People generally feel much more at ease with opening themselves up when they see and feel the readiness of introverts to hear their point of view. In other words, introverts have flair of making others feel valued for expressing their opinions. They make great managers.

As it is also in their nature to consider carefully what to say before they actually open their mouths, writing seems to be a better communication channel than speaking since it grants them more time to consolidate their thoughts before they respond. For these reasons, introverts make good writers. World’s greatest playwright, poets and writers, like William Shakespeare, J. R. R. Tolkien, Emily Dickinson and J.K. Rowling are known to be introverts.

We all know introverts like spending time by themselves more so than extroverts, and few extroverts can understand such self-reliance. Carl Jung has explained that while extroverts require social stimulation to feel energetic, introverts like to recharge their energy by isolating themselves after intensive interactions. All in all, they do not seek other’s opinions and approvals to feel happy. One biggest fact about introverts is that you can confide your secrets in an introvert because they respect other’s feelings and are genuine in their actions.

And, if you exhibit qualities of both introversion and extroversion then you are an Ambivert. Ambiverts typically slide up and down the gamut depending on the situation, context and people around them. Being able to balance both extroversion and introversion is an asset. Ambiverts can typically be adaptive to context and situations more easily. According to psychologist named Hans Eysenck, who coined the term “ambivert” in 1947, ambiverts offer a good balance between the hypersensitivity of some introverts and the domineering attitude of some extroverts. They are emotionally stable; they are more intuitive and are more influential. Every workplace, college, school, social gathering has representatives of each personality type, and the best thing to do is accommodate others and acknowledge the fact that each individual has his/her personality and respect the uniqueness of others.

For ages people have been finding the difference between attitude and prejudice as both these are feelings of human beings and are expressions that are easily confused.

Attitude is common in all human beings. People have both positive and negative attitudes towards different things.  Attitudes could be in favor of something or not in favor something. And, on the other hand, prejudice is a prejudgment of something without really knowing the facts or having exposed to the reality of a situation. Prejudice is always an adverse conclusion about somebody. However, the fact remains that both attitudes and prejudices can be seen in almost every person. Prominent psychologist Gordon Allport described attitudes as “the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology”. Attitude forms an important part of our personality and the way we think is a very important element in creating the kind of life we want to live.

Jane Austen’s second novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was originally titled ‘First Impression’ because the appearances of the characters created the plot of the novel. However, because the novel is also concerned with the effects of the character’s first impressions, which is the prejudice, Austen found the title Pride and Prejudice more appropriate. With five daughters to be married and an indifferent husband, Mrs. Bennet (the mother of the daughters) can think of nothing else but to marry her daughters off as quickly as possible and to anyone who asks. For her, love is not a necessity when it comes to marrying well, only money is. Her daughters, however, have different ideas. Thus begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic story of money, marriage, love, and deception.  The novel centers on the many blunders and mix-ups that frequently evolve in relationships. Austen’s witty and often sarcastic characters turn these potential disasters into amusing and exciting situations. The novel centers on how prejudices can create havoc in life of people.

Is the rationalist assumption sound? Certainly, there is something to be said for it. After all, many of what may reasonably be described as the achievements of human moral progress could not have happened unless somebody took the task, and often the burden, of challenging and critically scrutinizing traditionally held beliefs. Slavery and gender inequality used to be taken for granted; interracial marriage used to be considered morally repulsive and was illegal in some parts of the world. Those and other past prejudices are fortunately gone. Of course, rational scrutiny by itself has never been and will never be enough to bring about significant moral and political change. It must be balanced by campaigning, bargaining, compromise, agitation, mobilization and if nothing of this works, then we see sometimes violence. But rational scrutiny is most important because good reason must be shown to promote a cause.

Attitudes are often the result of experience and also upbringing. They have a powerful influence over behavior. The fact is that while attitudes have lasting effect, they can be changed. Most humans make their decisions in life based on their attitudes. Attitude gets formed on some sort of beliefs as well. It also depends on parameters such as grasp, intelligence, broadmindedness, in short how a person sees and understands a certain phenomenon. Attitude can be either negative or positive. Also, a negative attitude can be turned to a positive attitude and vice versa. It has been found that there are two types of attitudes in humans. They are explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes. Explicit attitudes are deliberately formed ones. That means a person has developed an attitude towards something being really aware of that. An implicit attitude, on the other hand, is formed by an individual subconsciously. A person may not be aware of the attitude formed in him/her. However, attitudes are an important phenomenon in all individuals’ lives because attitudes control people’s behavior and thought patterns. Moreover, there are group attitudes that are shared by a particular group of people. It can be said that all the relationships that exist among humans are based on an attitude structure. Further, different individuals may share different attitudes towards a similar phenomenon. One may have a positive attitude regarding a certain thing whereas another person may perceive the same thing in a negative manner.

Prejudice is defined as forming of a negative attitude towards a person without having a full realization of facts. That is like making a prejudgment. There can be prejudices over age, social class, ethnicity, race, culture, family background, education, looks and so many other things. The evident thing about prejudice is that a person does not look deep into the phenomenon before making a conclusion. Somebody can have a prejudice over a person or a particular group of people, based on a misapprehension or misunderstandings because of ignorance. Prejudice is always a negative situation which should be avoided as far as possible by people.

In conclusion, when we take both attitude and prejudice, we can identify that both are human feelings towards something. Attitude can be aimed at a person, an object, a place or may be a situation whereas prejudice aims at a person or a group of people. Attitude can both be positive or negative but prejudice is always a negative phenomenon.  Attitudes are formed after a full investigation of a particular fact whereas prejudice is based on prejudgment. And lastly, prejudice can also be considered as an attitude that is not formed through an experience of the facts. Both attitudes as well as prejudice may change over the time and they are not permanent ideologies.

If people become aware of their biases, they can monitor and attempt to improve hidden attitudes before they are expressed through behavior. This compensation can include attention to language, body language and to the stigmatization felt by target groups. Research evidence suggests that a change in behavior can modify beliefs and attitudes. It would seem logical that a conscious decision to be open might lead one to widen one’s circle of friends and knowledge of other groups. Such efforts may, over time, reduce the strength of unconscious biases. The earlier we recognize that the problem is in ‘me’ and then others will sort out many issues and motive us to change.

Thirukkural – the brilliant Tamil literary work can be called the treasure house of worldly knowledge. It goes beyond any religion or creed.  The name Thirukkural is made of two words; “Thiru” means “holy” and “Kural” means “short verse.” This great work is the creation of Thiruvalluvar who was a Tamil poet and author. Through his work he analyzed the intricacies of human nature with pragmatic insights. Thiruvalluvar’s masterpiece is almost 2000 years old. All the Kurals (verses) have only 7 words and thus all the 1330 ThiruKurals fit within 140 characters. Who was Thiruvalluvar? Very little is known about him. It is said that he was a simple weaver who wrote the kurals with divine inspiration; how could a simple weaver write something so profound almost 2000 years ago? In those days education was reserved for the richer and nobler classes. While reading this book of short verses, you just cannot say that it is written by a layman. The verses touch upon core values for the human race. In true sense it is a road map for the essential, fundamental and everlasting aspects of human life.

The Thirukkural is arranged in 133 Adhikarams (chapters of themes) each with 10 couplets. The 133 Adhikarams are divided into three major groups known as “Aram”, “Porul” and “Inbam”. Aram represents Virtue; Porul describes the principles of life for common people as well as the State. The last section “Inbam” deals with features and quintessence of Love. The overall organization of Thirukkural is as follows, based on seven ideals prescribed for people followed by observations on Love.

• 40 couplets on God, Rain, Virtue and Ascetics.
• 200 couplets on Domestic Virtue.
• 140 couplets on Higher Virtue based on Grace.
• 250 couplets on Royalty.
• 100couplets on Ministers of State.
• 220 couplets on the Essential requirements of Administration. In fact these are very good lessons on management.
• 130 couples on Morality, both positive and negative.
• 250 couplets on human love, sex and fervor.

Thirukkural has been translated in as many as 35 global languages, including 27 foreign languages such as English, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Malay, Portuguese and Spanish and Chinese was the latest one. So far, 96 scholars have translated Thirukkural in English and the first was done by Rev. G.U. Pope. The book has also been translated into ‘Vaagriboli,’ the language of Narikuravas – the tribal community in Chennai.

Thirukkural talks about the three main facets of life; wisdom, wealth and love and the Tamil literature talks of a fourth aspect “veedu,” which refers to God, or nirvana. I think if one follows every “kural” (maxim), he/she will automatically reach nirvana “veedu.”

Take any topic in management; from planning, coordination, leading, communication, managing people, and selection of people, training, and development, personality; take anything and you find them in well written verses and well explained in Thirukkural. The poet Thiruvalluvar must have written them for kings and their ministers then. But, in today’s complex and fast forward world also they still give clear directions.

Thiruvalluvar has written brilliant verses on leadership; he mentions leadership as more of an attitude and a way of living and behaving. Leaders must inspire those around them by action and setting examples. It is about standing up for others and shielding them from harm. Leaders must be graceful. Today, when we imbibe West in all manners, we forget that our own literary classics have enormously rich material. It’s pitiable fact that we can’t draw relevance from them and relate them to needs and problems of the present. It seems Mahatma Gandhi learnt the concept of non-violence from a letter written to him by famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy who quoted couplets on non-violence from German translation of Thirukkural. The Father of the Nation had said that he came to know about Thirukkural first from Tolstoy!

Later, Mahatma Gandhi was inspired strongly by Thirukkural; he then inspired all sections of the society to fight for freedom from the foreign oppression through his deliberately chosen path of truth and non-violence. He provided inspiration to many oppressed nations in the world to fight against colonization and become free. He continues to inspire the world even today. Thus Thirukkural can be hailed as an eternal light which lightens up the world for over two thousand years. Mahatma Gandhi got the spark from Thirukkural, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King jr., Nelson Mandela and many more leaders who fought against oppression and dictatorship adhering to a non-violent way followed Mahatma Gandhi. In fact Gndhiji used preach many couplets from Thirukkural in his speech. Truth and Non-violence can never be underestimated.   These two paramount practices can only control terrorism and religious fundamentalism which are the main cause of unrest in many parts of the world. It’s a pity that mass-murder and sabotage are destroying mankind and destabilizing many nations.

In the subjects of Political Science, Management and Public administration, Thiruvalluvar seems supreme in his presentation and humanistic approach than many of his contemporaries. Recently, on 16^th Jan 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a Gujarati translation of Thirukkural. I conclude my article with one of my favorite couplet  “Just as the hand rushes involuntarily to protect one’s honor in case of accidental state of undress, so does a friend come to his friend’s aid without being asked”