Interesting Anecdotes

[NOV]

HOW OLD IS GRANDMA?

(Pretty scary!)

One evening, a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current
events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the
shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before
television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses,
Frisbees and the pill.

There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes
dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had
yet to walk on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together. Every
family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, "Sir"- - and after I
turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, day-care
centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and
common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to
stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a
bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening
breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and
weekends -- not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, DVDs, electric
typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches
on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out
listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5&10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10
cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were
all a nickel.

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough
stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?
Too bad because, gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was
something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother' s
lullaby.

"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of
wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store and "software" wasn't even a
word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a
husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a
generation gap.

And how old do you think grandma is???

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at
the same time.

This is something to think about.
How time has changed ...
Grandma is 58!
How could so much go wrong in such a short time?

[NOV]

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I will marry you.'


One day,
someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.



He asked
her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.



Her
boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'

[NOV]

There were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th level. On coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that the lifts were not working and that they have to climb the stairs home.

After struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the next day. They left their bags then and climbed on. When they have struggled to the 40th level, the younger brother started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel. They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling all the way to the 60th floor.

They then realized that they have only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the other to open the door.

And they realized that the key was in their bags which was left on the 20th floor

This story is reflecting on our life...many of us live under the expectations of our parents, teachers and friends when young. We seldom get to do the things that we really like and love and are under so much pressure and stress so that by the age of 20, we get tired and decided to dump this load.

Being free of the stress and pressure, we work enthusiastically and dream ambitious wishes.

But by the time we reach 40 years old, we start to lose our vision and dreams. We began to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live life as a misery as we are never satisfied. Reaching 60, we realize that we have little left for complaining anymore, and we began to walk the final episode in peace and calmness.

We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream ...... a dream we abandoned 60 years ago.

So what is your dream? Follow your dreams, so that you will not live with regrets.

[NOV]

How Companies Got their Name

Apple Computers
It was the favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 O'clock.

CISCO
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.

Compaq
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and PAQ to denote a small integral object.

Corel
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr.Michael Cowpland. It stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Google
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros.After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google'

Hotmail
Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world.When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.

Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Lotus (Notes)
Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Microsoft
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

Motorola
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.

ORACLE
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such). The project was designed to help use the newly written SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was terminated but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.

Sony
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster.

SUN
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy to manufacture computers based on it, and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer.

Yahoo!
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book 'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.

[NOV]

At age 8, your dad buys you an ice cream.

You thanked him by dripping it all over your lap.



When you were 9 years old, he paid for piano lessons.

You thanked him by never even bothering to practice.



When you were 10 years old he drove you all day, from soccer to football to one birthday party after another.

You thanked him by jumping out of the car and never looking back.



When you were 11 years old, he took you and your friends to the movies.

You thanked him by asking to sit in a different row.



When you were 12 years old, he warned you not to watch certain TV shows.

You thanked him by waiting until he left the house.



When you were 13, he suggested a haircut that was becoming..

You thanked him by telling him he had no taste.



When you were 14, he paid for a month away at summer camp.

You thanked him by forgetting to write a single letter.



When you were 15, he came home from work, looking for a hug.

You thanked him by having your bedroom door locked.



When you were 16, he taught you how to drive his car.

You thanked him by taking it every chance you could.



When you were 17, he was expecting an important call.

You thanked him by being on the phone all night.



When you were 18, he cried at your high school graduation.

You thanked him by staying out partying until dawn.



When you were 19, he paid for your college tuition, drove you to campus carried your bags.

You thanked him by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends.



When you were 25, he helped to pay for your wedding, and he told you how deep he loved you.

You thanked him by moving halfway across the country.



When you were 50, he fell ill and needed you to take care of him .

You thanked him by reading about the burden parents become to their children.



And then, one day, he quietly died. And everything you never did came crashing down like thunder on YOUR HEART.


"Happy Father's day"

[NOV]

[tscii]
A Well-Planned Retirement
*From The London Times:*

Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England, there is a parking lot for 150
cars and 8 coaches, or buses.

It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine
charging cars £1 (about $1.40) and coaches A£5 (about $7).

This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then,
one day, he just didn't turn up for work.

"Oh well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the
City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant..."

"Err ... no", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility."

"Err ... no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed
by the City Council, wasn't he?"

"Err ... NO!" insisted the Council.

Sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, is a bloke who
had been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at A£400 (about $560)
per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week,
this amounts to just over A£3.6 million ($7 million)!

And no one even knows his name.

[NOV]

There is an amusing story concerning Alexander, the Great. When he came to India, he found that the Indians were a race of brave, fearless people. He made friends with them.

When he was about to return to his country, he remembered that his people had asked him to bring to them an Indian yogi. They had heard , a lot about yogis and were very desirous of seeing one, meeting him, hearing him speak and receiving his blessings. Alexander was told that the yogis dwelt in the forest.

In quest of a yogi he went to a forest. Sure enough, he found one sitting underneath a tree, in deep meditation. He waited patiently until the yogi opened his eyes. They shone with a strange, mystic light.

Reverently, Alexander requested the yogi to accompany him to Greece, saying.

"I will give you everything you need or ask for. But, pray, do come with me.

My people would love to meet you!"

The yogi quietly answered, "I need nothing, I am happy where I am!"

This was the first time that anyone had turned down Alexander's
request. He could not control himself. He flew into a rage.
And unsheathing his sword, he thundered, "Do you know who is
speaking to you?

I am the great king Alexander. If you will not listen to me. I shall
kill you- cut you into pieces!"

Unperturbed, the yogi answered. "You cannot kill me! You can only kill my body. And the body is but a garment I have worn. I am not the body. I am that which dwells within the body! I am not the deh. 1 am the dehin- the in dwelling one!"

The yogi continued, "You say you are a king. May I tell you, who you are?

You are a slave of my slave!"

Stunned. Alexander asked. "How am I a slave of your slave?"

In a voice tender with compassion, the yogi explained. "I have
mastered anger.

Anger is my slave. See, how easily you gave way to anger. You are a slave of anger, and, therefore, a slave of my slave!

[NOV]

This is a true story which has touched many readers. As it is quite a long story, reserve it (if you haven't got the time) and read it only when you are in a more relaxed mood.

In either case, do make it a point to savour everyline until the end. This is for all the single, married, divorced, widowed individuals, who take life for granted.
Please, read this story until the end. It is such an eye opener. You never Know........ .!

Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the idea of asking his Mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us.
Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young. His Mother endured much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree.
You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today.
I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room, which has a balcony facing the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant greenery.
Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round.
As I begged him to put me down, he said: "Lets go fetch mother." Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to test on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment put the tiny me into his pockets.
Whenever we have an argument and both refuses to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy.
I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.
Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her.
For example; I am so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment: "I do not know how you young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for? You also can't eat flowers!" I smiled and said: "Mum, with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better."
Mother continues to grumble away, and hubby smiled: "Mum, this is a city-people' s habit; slowly you will get use to it."
Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter, whenever came home with flowers, she would ask me how much it costs.
I told her and she would shake her head and express displeasure.
Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would get even more upset about it.
Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said: "You little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it."
There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.
Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast. In her view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife?
At the breakfast table, mother facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest.
As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and am exhausted from along day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the protest mother makes.
From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me.
For example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she sell them later on, and resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash them again.
One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the dishes, and "Bam" she slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room.
Hubby was placed in a difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me for that entire night.
I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me....
I got mad and asked him: "What did I do wrong?" Hubby stared at me and said: "Can't you just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?"
After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house.
During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please.
In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the "all important" task of preparing breakfast without any prompting.
At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife.
To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work.
That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me: "LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?"
He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me.
After some time, hubby sighed: "LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?"
I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table.
The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing up my throat. I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I could not. I threw down the bowl, rushed into the washroom, and vomited everything out..
Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes..
I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, I really did not mean it.
We had our very first big fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house.
Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs.
For three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone call.
I was so furious, since mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do?
For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at then low point in my life..
Finally, a colleague said: "LD, you look terrible; you should go and see a doctor."
The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant.
Now it became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there.
It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist and called out to him.
He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart.
I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail a cab.
At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: "Darling, I am having your baby!" and have him lift me up and spin me around in circles of joy.
What I wanted didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down.
Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test of one fight?
Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes. I cried and wet the corner of the blanket.
That night, sound of the drawers opening woke me up.
I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house.
Maybe he really intends to leave me for good.
What a rational man, so clear-cut in love and money matters.
I gave a few dried laugh and tears starting streaming down again.
The next day, I did not go to work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby.
I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said: "Mr. Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital."
I stood there in shock.
I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away.
Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless.
I looked at mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes.
My god, how could this happen?
Throughout the funeral, hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me.
I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people.
That day, after mother left the house, she walked in dazed toward the bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house back in the countryside.
As hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her...
I finally understood how much hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, if....
In his heart, I am indirectly the killer of his mother.
Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him.
And me, I am buried under the guilt and self-pity and could hardly breathe.
I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we are going to have our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in.
I had rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of these events happening had been my fault at all.
Many days of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by, hubby came home later and later.
The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other.
I am like the dead knot in his heart.
One day, I passed by a western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant.
After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him, and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her.
He stared back at me,challenging me.
I can only hear my slow heart beat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death. I eventually backed down, if I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me.
That night, he did not come home; he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me: Following mother's death so did our love for each other.
He did not come home anymore after that.
Sometimes, when I returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff.
I no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished.
I lived alone; I go for my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination.
My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not..
I insisted on having to this baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.
One day, I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke.
On the coffee table, there was this piece of paper. I know what it is all about without even looking at it.
In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself.
I looked at him, removed my hat and said: "You wait a while, I will sign."
He looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes, just like mine.
As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself "You cannot cry, you cannot cry...." my eyes hurt terribly, but I refused to let tears come out from there.
After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pulled the paper towards me.
Without even looking at what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him.
"LD, are you pregnant?"
Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops.
I said: "Yes, but its ok, you can leave now."
He did not go.
In the dark, we sat, facing each other.
Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket.
In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I sprint, I could never reach them.
I cannot remember how many times he repeated "sorry" to me.
I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't..
In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever.
We have drawn such deep scars in each other's heart.
For me, it's unintentional; for him, totally intentional. .
I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not repeated.
Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him.
From the moment I signed on that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from my heart.
Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room.
He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room.
At night, from his room, I can hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet.
This used to be his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him, he would then grab me and laugh.
He has forgotten that last time I cared for him and am concerned because there was love, but now, what is there between us?
Hubby's groaning came on and off continuing but I continuously ignored him.
Almost everyday, he would buy something for the baby, infant products, children products and books that kids like to read.
Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full.
I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me, but I am no longer moved by his actions.
He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear his typing away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing but none of that matters to me anymore.
It was sometime towards the end of Spring in the following year, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep, and had been waiting for this moment.
He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brow, throughout the journey to the hospital.
Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite.
Lying on the back of his skinny but warmth body, a thought crossed my mind: In my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did?
He held the delivery suite door opened and watch me go in; his warm eyes caused me to manage a smile at him despite my contraction pain.
Coming out of the delivery room, hubby looked at our son and me, eyes tear with joy and he kept smiling.
I reached out and touched his hand... Hubby looked at me, smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor.
I cried out for him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his...
I had thought that I would never shed any tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper pain cutting through my body at that moment.
Doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long.
I asked the doctor when he first discovered he had cancer. Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me saying:
"Prepare for his funeral."
I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I went into his room and checked his computer, and a suffocating pain hits me.
Hubby's cancer was discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and I had thought that... the computer showed over 200 thousand words he wrote for our son:
"Son, just for you, I have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I fall, is my biggest wish now...
I know that in your life, you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be..
But daddy now no longer has that chance.
Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's suggestion.. ...
Son, after writing these 200 thousand words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through life journey.
To be honest, daddy is very happy.
Do love your mother, she has suffered, she is the one who loves you most and also the one who loves me most...
From play school to primary school, to secondary, university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there.
Hubby has also written a letter for me: "My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby....
My dear, if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me...
These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging... "
Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma.
I brought our son over and place him beside him.
I said: "Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms..."
He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile.
Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang through the air as tears slowly rolled down my face.....
A fatal misunderstanding and the person who loves me the most in this world is gone forever...

"Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family.

Our original intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price, every thing became too late."...... ...

This is a true story.

[kugan98]

Thanks NOV, it took me an hour to stop crying.
I wish everyone should read this.

[NOV]

Three Wishes of Alexander The Great

There is very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the great Greek king. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed.

With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu.

But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last.

He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes.

"My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin."

After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury."

The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute's rest and continued. "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin."

The people who had gathered there wondered at the king's strange wishes. But no one dare bring the question to their lips.

Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt.

I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world." With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.

[NOV]

Thanks NOV, it took me an hour to stop crying.
I wish everyone should read this.:omg: I just saw this. :cry:
sorry kugan for making you emotional. :cry:

[NOV]

ONE BEDROOM FLAT - Written by an Indian Software Engineer

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software Engineer and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA.

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing. After two more years we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India. But part work part monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India. The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no one to do the last rights. The society members had done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my savings were short and the property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA.

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in India. My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife that I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my son was happy living in USA. I decided that had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India. I had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes I wondered was it worth all this? My father, even after staying in India, had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be performing my last rights, God Bless them. But the question still remains 'Was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer...... ......... .!!!!

[NOV]

The Donkey and the Dog- Read and think-You may find one in your midst

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when
the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer
man was fast asleep too but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog
decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and
wanted to teach him a lesson.

The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark,
the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change
his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.

Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and
started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for
no reason.
Moral of the story " One must not engage in duties other than his own"

Now take a new look at the same story...

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management
institute. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and
thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some
reason for the donkey to bray in the night.. He walked outside a
little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach,
figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke
in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the
donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he
rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite
pet.

The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more
motivated in doing the dog's duties as well. In the annual appraisal
the dog managed "ME" (Met Expectations) .

Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and
he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around.

The donkey was rated as " star performer". The donkey had to live up
to his already high performance standards.

Soon he was over burdened with work and being always under pressure
could not perform to the high expectations. He was fired.

Now is looking for a NEW JOB ...

[Plum]

NOV, there's a fair bit of truth in what you have quoted (donkey and dog). But to tell you the truth, the dogs in your story face a much worse reality. Atleast, the donkey has the experience of learning by taking on those tasks... I tell you those lazy dogs suffer - ask me, I know :-)

[NOV]

[tscii]

An Obituary printed in the London Times

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He
will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the
worm; Life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend
more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children,
are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an
abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses;
and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by
his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

[NOV]

Did You Know...
Some interesting things about Japan which you might not have known!
source: http://farstrider.net/Japan/DidYouKnow.htm


A can of Coca-Cola costs more than one dollar US from a vending machine.

Japanese people, in general, can't drive very well.

Restaurants in Japan (including many fast-food places) give you moist
towels or wipes before or with your meal.

At many businesses in Japan, they offer alcohol to the employees after six pm.

It is usually mandatory to give a landlord a gift of money of
$1,000-$2000 when moving into his apartment building.

On Respect for the Aged Day, tobacco companies will hand out free
cigarettes to the elderly outside of train stations and department
stores.

The Japanese love corn, sesame seeds, and mayonnaise on their pizza.
There are no 24 hour ATMs in Japan (closed on holidays and many only
open during normal bank hours).

Many Japanese teachers think that Japanese parents are lazy.

The green traffic light is called "blue".

Slurp your soup.

Newspaper editors make their headlines so as to not attract attention.

KFC is the place to be on Christmas Day.

Japan has about 1,500 earthquakes each year.

In the Japanese language, it is considered rude to say the word "no" directly.

It is nearly impossible to become a naturalized citizen of Japan.

You can smoke just about anywhere.

Japanese people take a hot bath every night, some do not have showers
installed in their bathrooms.

There is no insulation in Japanese homes' walls.

Japan has roughly 200 volcanoes.

It is considered rude to show signs of affection toward a loved one in public.

When you go to a funeral or a wedding you must take a gift of money.

Three words: "heated toilet seats".

In Japan, flower arranging is an art.

The new generation of Japanese people are not as short as Westerners think.

You can buy batteries, beer, wine, condoms, cigarettes, comic books,
hot dogs, light bulbs, and used women's underwear from vending
machines.

Many Japanese people eat rice with or for their breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Never stick your chopsticks upright in your rice. This is an old
Japanese custom and is what is done when food is offered to the dead.
When it is not an offering it is considered to be a very ill omen.

In Japan you will find cars by the names of "It's", "Let's", "Sunny",
"Perky", "Gloria", "Move", "Toppo", "Lepo" and "Dump".

McDonalds employees will run outside to give you your drive-thru order.

The Japanese visit shrines and give eachother money for New Year's.

It is impolite to tear the wrapping paper off of a gift.

Japanese junior high school students do not need to pass any of their
classes to graduate.
Education only through junior high school is compulsory.

Young women will hand you toilet paper outside of train stations.

There is almost no vandalism in Japan.

Gas station attendants will bow as the car pulls out of the station.

It is socially acceptable to pick your nose in public and urinate at
the side of the road, but you cannot blow your nose in public.

Approximately 85% of Japanese people have never tasted turkey.

Japan is about the size of California and has half the population of
the entire United States.

Snowmen in Japan are made of two large snowballs instead of three.

It will always take one to two hours for a pizza to be delivered.

There is at least one vending machine on every corner.

All you ever wanted to know about the world's largest phallus festival
can be found here.

It is not uncommon to pay $2 for a single apple.

The sun is red in Japan and the country itself is referred to by
Japanese people as "the land of the rising sun"

[NOV]

WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.

George Phillips , an elderly man, from Meridian , Mississippi , was
going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in
the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"
He said "No," but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me.

Then the police dispatcher said "All patrols are busy. You should
lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available."

George said, "Okay."

He hung up the phone and counted to 30. Then he phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." and he hung up.

Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips'
residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the Policemen said to George , "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"
George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Don't mess with old people.

[NOV]

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:


Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here.
I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above.

You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.

My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married?

I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?

Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit.

If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden(?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)

2) Which age group should I target?

3) Why most wives of the riches are only average-looking? I've met a few girls who don't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys.

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

An awesome reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor.

My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here.

From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you.

The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money": Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.

However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year.

Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset.. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position".

If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased".

Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you.

I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in "leasing" services, do contact me.

signed,
J.P. Morgan CEO

[NOV]

Madurai, India (CNN) -- Naryanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe changed everything.

"I saw a very old man [eating] his own human waste for hunger," Krishnan said. "It really hurt me so much. I was literally shocked for a second. After that, I started feeding that man and decided this is what I should do the rest of my lifetime."

Krishnan was visiting a temple in the south Indian city of Madurai in 2002 when he saw the man under a bridge. Haunted by the image, Krishnan quit his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new destiny.

"That spark and that inspiration is a driving force still inside me as a flame -- to serve all the mentally ill destitutes and people who cannot take care of themselves," Krishnan said.

Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- to India's homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.

"Because of the poverty India faces, so many mentally ill people have been ... left uncared [for] on the roadside of the city," he said.

Krishnan said the name Akshaya is Sanskrit for "undecaying" or "imperishable, " and was chosen "to signify [that] human compassion should never decay or perish. ... The spirit of helping others must prevail for ever." Also, in Hindu mythology, Goddess Annapoorani' s "Akshaya bowl" fed the hungry endlessly, never depleting its resources.

Krishnan's day begins at 4 a.m. He and his team cover nearly 125 miles in a donated van, routinely working in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

He seeks out the homeless under bridges and in the nooks and crannies between the city's temples. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian fare he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 clients each day.

Krishnan carries a comb, scissors and razor and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves.

He says many of the homeless seldom know their names or origins, and none has the capacity to beg, ask for help or offer thanks. They may be paranoid and hostile because of their conditions, but Krishnan says this only steadies his resolve to offer help.

"The panic, suffering of the human hunger is the driving force of me and my team members of Akshaya," he said. "I get this energy from the people. The food which I cook ... the enjoyment which they get is the energy. I see the soul. I want to save my people."

The group's operations cost about $327 a day, but sponsored donations only cover 22 days a month. Krishnan subsidizes the shortfall with $88 he receives in monthly rent from a home his grandfather gave him.

Krishnan sleeps in Akshaya's modest kitchen with his few co-workers. Since investing his entire savings of $2,500 in 2002, he has taken no salary and subsists with the help of his once-unsupportive parents.

"They had a lot of pain because they had spent a lot on my education," he said. "I asked my mother, 'Please come with me, see what I am doing.' After coming back home, my mother said, 'You feed all those people, the rest of the lifetime I am there, I will feed you.' I'm living for Akshaya. My parents are taking care of me."

For lack of funding, the organization has been forced to halt construction on Akshaya Home, Krishnan's vision of a dormitory where he can provide shelter for the people he helps. Despite the demands and few comforts his lifestyle affords, Krishnan says he's enjoying his life.

"Now I am feeling so comfortable and so happy," he says. "I have a passion, I enjoy my work. I want to live with my people."

[NM]

You Reap What You Sow
The man slowly looked up.. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life. His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him, like so many others had done before..

"Leave me alone," he growled... To his amazement, the woman continued standing. She was smiling -- her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.
"No," he answered sarcastically. "I've just come from dining with the president.. Now go away."

The woman's smile became even broader.
Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm. "What are you doing, lady?" the man asked angrily. "I said to leave me alone.


Just then a policeman came up. "Is there any problem, ma'am?" he asked..

"No problem here, officer," the woman answered. "I'm just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?"

The officer scratched his head. "That's old Jack. He's been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?"

"See that cafeteria over there?" she asked. "I'm going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for awhile."

"Are you crazy, lady?" the homeless man resisted. "I don't want to go in there!" Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.
"Let me go, officer. I didn't do anything.."

"This is a good deal for you, Jack," the officer answered. "Don't blow it."
Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived.

The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table. "What's going on here, officer?" he asked."What is all this, is this man in trouble?"

"This lady brought this man in here to be fed," the policeman answered.

"Not in here!" the manager replied angrily. "Having a person like that here is bad for business."

Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. "See, lady. I told you so. Now if you'll let me go. I didn't want to come here in the first place"

The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled. "Sir, are you familiar with Eddy andAssociates, the banking firm down the street?"

"Of course I am," the manager answered impatiently. "They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms."

"And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?"

"What business is that of yours?"

I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, president and CEO of the company."

"Oh..."

The woman smiled again.. "I thought that might make a difference."

She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a laugh. "Would you like to join us in a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?"

"No thanks, ma'am," the officer replied. "I'm on duty."

"Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?"

"Yes, ma'am. That would be very nice."

The cafeteria manager turned on his heel. "I'll get your coffee for you right away, officer."

The officer watched him walk away. "You certainly put him in his place," he said.

"That was not my intent... Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this."

She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently.

"Jack, do you remember me?"

Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes. "I think so -- I mean you do look familiar."

"I'm a little older perhaps," she said. "Maybe I've even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry."

"Ma'am?" the officer said questioningly. He couldn't believe that such a magnificently turned out woman could ever have been hungry.

"I was just out of college," the woman began. "I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn't find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment.. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off chance that I could get something to eat."

Jack lit up with a smile. "Now I remember," he said. "I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy."

"I know," the woman continued. "Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble. Then, when I looked over and saw you put the price of my food in the cash register, I knew then that everything would be all right."

"So you started your own business?" Old Jack said..

"I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered.." She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. "When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons. He's the personnel director of my company. I'll go talk to him now and I'm certain he'll find something for you to do around the office."

She smiled. "I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet. If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you."

There were tears in the old man's eyes. "How can I ever thank you?" he asked.

"Don't thank me," the woman answered. "To God goes the glory. He led me to you."

Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways.. "Thank you for all your help, officer," she said.

"On the contrary, Ms. Eddy," he answered. "Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And..And thank you for the coffee."

[littlemaster1982]

Question:Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India 's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India 's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

[app_engine]

[tscii:c93d4edb02]

சில நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள்

நியூயார்க் நகரத்தின் சுரங்கப்பாதை ஒன்றில் பிரபல எழுத்தாளர் ஒருவர் ஒரு ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை காலையில் அமைதியாக அமர்ந்திருந்தார். ஆட்கள் அதிகமில்லாத அந்த இடத்தில் ஒரு அமைதியான சூழ்நிலை நிலவியது. சிலர் கண்களை மூடி அமர்ந்திருந்தார்கள். சிலர் பத்திரிகைகள் படித்தபடி அமர்ந்திருந்தார்கள். திடீரென்று அங்கு ஒருவர் தன் இரண்டு குழந்தைகளுடன் வந்தார். அவர் அந்த எழுத்தாளர் அருகே கண்களை மூடிக் கொண்டு உட்கார்ந்தார். அந்த சிறுவர்கள் இருவரும் ஆறு வயதைத் தாண்டாதவர்கள். அவர்கள் விளையாட ஆரம்பித்தார்கள். சிறிது நேரத்தில் அங்கிருந்த அமைதி காணாமல் போயிற்று. குழந்தைகள் சத்தம் போட்டு விளையாட ஆரம்பித்து, பின்னர் சண்டையிட்டுக் கொண்டு ஒருவருக்கொருவர் பொருட்களை எடுத்து வீசிக்கொள்ள ஆரம்பித்தனர். அந்த தந்தையோ அந்த சிறுவர்களைக் கண்டிப்பதாகத் தெரியவில்லை. கண்களைத் திறக்காமல் அப்படியே அமர்ந்திருந்தார்.

அங்கு அமர்ந்திருந்த மற்றவர்கள் எரிச்சலுடன் அவரைப் பார்த்ததை அவர் அறியவில்லை. அந்த எழுத்தாளரோ தன்னம்பிக்கை, பொறுமை பற்றியெல்லாம் நிறைய எழுதிக் குவித்த எழுத்தாளர். அவரே பொறுத்து பொறுத்துப் பார்த்து ஒரு கட்டத்தில் பொறுமை இழந்து தன்னருகே கண்ணை மூடிக் கொண்டு அமர்ந்திருந்த அந்த நபரிடம் சொன்னார். "உங்கள் பிள்ளைகள் மற்றவர்களைத் தொந்திரவு செய்கிறார்கள். அவர்களைக் கொஞ்சம் கட்டுப்படுத்துங்களேன்."

அந்த நபர் கண்களை மெள்ளத் திறந்தார். "ஆமாம்....ஏதாவது செய்ய வேண்டும். ஒரு மணி நேரத்திற்கு முன்பு அவர்கள் தாய் இறந்து விட்டாள். அருகில் உள்ள ஆஸ்பத்திரியில் அவள் உடலைத் தர சிறிது நேரம் ஆகும் என்றதால் அங்கிருக்க முடியாமல் இங்கு வந்தேன். இனி என்ன செய்வது என்று யோசித்துக் கொண்டிருந்தேன். அவர்களுக்கும் இதை எப்படி எடுத்துக் கொள்வது, என்ன செய்வது என்று தெரியவில்லை என்று நினைக்கிறேன்.... மன்னிக்கவும்"

அந்த எழுத்தாளர் அதுவரை அந்த நபர் மீதும், அந்தச் சிறுவர்கள் மீதும் கொண்டிருந்த கோபமெல்லாம் ஒரு கணத்தில் காற்றாய் பறந்து போயிற்று. அதற்குப் பதிலாக இரக்கமும் பச்சாதாபமும் மனதில் எழ அவர் மனைவி இறந்ததற்கு வருத்தம் தெரிவித்து விட்டு ஏதாவது உதவி தேவையா என்று மனதாரக் கேட்டார்.

அந்த எழுத்தாளர் 'செயல்திறன் மிக்க மனிதர்களின் ஏழு பழக்கங்கள்' என்ற புகழ் பெற்ற புத்தகத்தை எழுதிய ஸ்டீபன் ஆர். கோவே. இந்த நிகழ்ச்சியில் அந்த சிறுவர்களின் செயல்கள் மாறவில்லை. அந்த அமைதியான சூழ்நிலை மீண்டும் திரும்பவில்லை. ஆனால் அந்த குழந்தைகளும், அவர்கள் தகப்பனும் இருக்கும் சூழ்நிலை விளங்கியதும் அவர் மனநிலை முற்றிலுமாக மாறி விட்டது.

இன்னொரு நிகழ்ச்சி. கராத்தே, குங்·பூ கலைகளில் எல்லாம் மிகவும் தேர்ச்சி படைத்த ஒரு வீரர் ரயிலில் பயணம் செய்து கொண்டிருந்தார். அவர் தியான வகுப்புகளுக்கும் தொடர்ந்து செல்பவர். ரயிலில் நன்றாகக் குடித்து விட்டு ஒருவன் ரயில் பயணிகள் ஒவ்வொருவரிடமும் ஏதாவது ஒரு வம்பு செய்து சண்டையிட்டுக் கொண்டு இருந்தான். நேரமாக ஆக அவன் வார்த்தைப் பிரயோகங்கள் மிக மோசமாகப் போய்க் கொண்டு இருந்தன. ஒருசிலர் திரும்பப் பேசினர். ஒருசிலர் முகம் சுளித்துக் கொண்டு வேறிடத்திற்குப் போய் அமர்ந்து கொண்டார்கள். நீண்ட பயணமானதால் இதை நிறைய நேரம் பார்க்க நேர்ந்த கராத்தே வீரருக்கு கோபம் பொங்கி வந்தது. போய் இரண்டு தட்டு தட்ட வேண்டும் என்று நினைக்கையில் அத்தனை நேரம் அமைதி காத்த இன்னொரு பயணி அந்தக் குடிகாரனை நோக்கி சென்றதைக் கண்டு நிதானித்தார்.

அந்தப் பயணியும் தன்னைப் போலவே அடிக்கத் தான் செல்கிறார் என்று நினைத்த கராத்தே வீரருக்கு வியப்பு ஏற்படும் வண்ணம் அந்த நபர் குடிகாரன் அருகில் அமர்ந்தார். கனிவுடன் அவனிடம் கேட்டார். "உனக்கு என்ன பிரச்சனை?"
அந்தக் குடிகாரன் அந்தக் கேள்வியை எதிர்பார்க்கவில்லை போலத் தெரிந்தது. திகைத்துப் போய் அவரை ஒரு நிமிடம் ஒன்றும் சொல்லாமல் பார்த்த அவன் கண்களில் நீர் திரண்டது. அவர் தோளில் சாய்ந்து கொண்டு விம்மி அழ ஆரம்பித்தான். அழுகையினூடே தனக்குத் திடீரென்று வேலை போன செய்தியைச் சொன்னான். தன் சம்பாத்தியத்தை நம்பி வீட்டில் மனைவியும், இரண்டு குழந்தைகளும் இருப்பதைச் சொன்னான். அந்த முதலாளியின் இரக்கமற்ற குணத்தைச் சொன்னான். சொல்லி அழுது முடித்த பின் எல்லாவற்றையும் பொறுமையாகக் கேட்டுக் கொண்டிருந்த அந்த நண்பர் குடிப்பது எந்தப் பிரச்சனையையும் வளர்த்துமேயொழிய குறைக்காது என்று சொன்னார். முதலாளி மேல் இருந்த கோபத்தை சக பயணிகளிடம் காட்டுவது சரியல்ல என்று சொன்னார். குடிப்பதற்கு பதிலாக அடுத்த வேலை எங்கு கிடைக்கும், அதற்காக யாரை அணுகலாம் என்று யோசித்திருந்தால் ஒரு வழி கிடைத்திருக்கலாம் என்று சொன்னார்.

அவர் பேசப் பேச அந்தக் குடிகாரன் அடைந்த மாற்றத்தைக் கண்ட கராத்தே வீரர் அது தனக்குப் பெரிய படிப்பினையாக அமைந்தது என்று ஒரு கட்டுரையில் எழுதியதை நான் படித்தேன். அவர் எழுதியிருந்தார். "அந்த நபர் ஒரு நிமிடம் என்னை முந்திக் கொண்டு அந்தக் குடிகாரனிடம் போயிருக்கா விட்டால் கண்டிப்பாக நன்றாக அவனை அடித்து காயப்படுத்தி இருப்பேன் என்பதில் சந்தேகமில்லை. முதலிலேயே வேலை போன அவனுக்கும் அவன் குடும்பத்திற்கும் என்னாலேயே மேலும் துக்கம் விளைந்திருக்கும். அவனுடைய செய்கைகளுக்குப் பின் உள்ள துக்கத்தை அந்த நபர் உணர்ந்திருக்க வேண்டும். அவருடைய கனிவான செய்கை அவன் புண்ணுக்கு மருந்தாக அமைந்தது. அவன் அமைதியடைந்தான். அவன் இறங்க வேண்டிய இடம் வரை அவனிடமிருந்து அதற்குப் பிறகு ஒரு சத்தமோ, தொந்திரவோ இருக்கவில்லை. அதைப் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருந்த எல்லோருக்கும் அவன் மீதிருந்த எரிச்சலும், கோபமும் விலகியது என்பதை சொல்லத் தேவையில்லை."

முதல் நிகழ்ச்சியில் இருக்கும் நியாயம் இரண்டாவது நிகழ்ச்சியில் இல்லை என்று சிலர் நினைக்கலாம். ஆனால் அந்த இரண்டாவது நிகழ்ச்சியிலும் அந்த செயலுக்குப் பின்னால் ஒரு காரணம் இருப்பதாக உணர்ந்த ஒரு மனிதர் காட்டிய கனிவு எப்படி அந்த சூழ்நிலையை அடியோடு மாற்றியது என்பதைப் பாருங்கள்.

நமக்குத் தவறாகத் தோன்றும் பல செயல்களுக்குப் பின்னால் பல ஆழமான காரணங்கள் இருக்கின்றன. சில காரணங்கள் நம்மால் ஏற்றுக் கொள்ள முடிந்தவையாக இருக்கலாம். சில காரணங்கள் ஏற்றுக் கொள்ள முடியாதவையாக இருக்கலாம். ஆனால் அந்தக் காரணங்களை அறியும் போது புரிந்து கொள்ளல் சாத்தியமாகிறது. மன்னித்தல் சுலபமாகிறது.
எப்போதும் ஒரே மாதிரி நடந்து கொள்ள மனிதன் எந்திரமல்ல. எந்திரங்கள் கூட பழுதாகும் போது சில நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள் நம் எதிர்பார்ப்புக்கு எதிர்மாறாக நடந்து கொள்வது அதிசயமல்ல. அது போன்ற சமயங்களில் அவர்கள் மீது கோபம் கொள்வதற்குப் பதிலாக ஏதாவது காரணம் இருக்கலாம் என்ற சிந்தனை நமக்குள் எழுமானால் அதைப் பெரிதுபடுத்தாமல் நகர்கிற பக்குவம் நமக்கு வந்து விடும்.


(Received in e-mail from a college year-mate)
[/tscii:c93d4edb02]

[NOV]

Pencil: I'm sorry

Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil: I'm sorry because you get hurt because of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad.



I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil.

They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes.

Sometimes along the way, they get hurt, and become smaller / older, and eventually pass on.

Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

All my life, I've been the pencil. And it pains me to see the eraser that is my parents getting smaller and smaller each day.

For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have.

This is to all the parents out there.

[NOV]

This scene took place on a British Airways flight between Johannesburg , South
Africa & London .

A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man.
Very disturbed by this, she called the air hostess. "You obviously do not see it
then?" she asked. "You placed me next to a black man. I did not agree to sit
next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat."

"Be calm please," the hostess replied.
"Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another
place is available."

The hostess went away & then came back a few minutes later.
"Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy Class.
I spoke to the captain & he informed me that there is also no seat in Business
Class. All the same, we still have one place in First Class."

Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued.
"It is not usual for our company to permit someone from Economy Class to sit in
First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would
be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting."

The Hostess turned to the black guy, & said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like
to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class."

at that moment, the other passengers, who'd been shocked by what they had just
witnessed, stood up & applauded.

[NOV]

There was a woman who did not keep a tidy house.

One day someone gave her a beautiful rose which she brought home and put in a
vase in her lobby. The rose, though, showed up the vase which was tarnished and
dusty, so she polished the vase and set the rose and vase on the table.

But now something was wrong with the table. It looked terrible. It had to
be cleaned as well. At last the woman stood back and admired the sparkling
table, the polished vase, and the beautiful rose.

But to her dismay, the whole lobby and House now seemed dull and murky.
Before she knew it, she found herself scrubbing the walls, washing the curtains,
and opening the windows to let light and air into every dark corner.

We all deserve best. For achieving that we need to do some changes in
our attitude, our mind sets, our life style etc. if you make one small change
in your life, light up one small corner, in no time your whole life can take on
a different look.

If you're dissatisfied with your life at this point, give some serious
consideration to that one area you could change.

Life is what you make it.

[NOV]

Dearest Appa,
27th Jan’1965
Hope this letter finds you, Amma, Raji and Seenu in good health. The weather here in New York City is icy cold. But Avar sollraar- I have missed this winter’s biting cold. I still wish I had seen the snow… But then, I still wish I had not left Trichy at all. I do miss Trichy, Appa. You, Amma, Raji, Seenu, pakkatthaathu Rama, Vikatan,Ucchi Pillaiyaar Koil, filter coffee, Holy Cross College, the Maths Department and of course Sakthi. I know you wish I hadn’t brought his name in this letter.But not to worry Appa, I understand that you got me married to Visu because you thought it was best for your daughter.
I still remember Amma wiping her silent tears with her madisaar thalappu and you shouting at me the day I told you about Sakthi.Later, when the initial shock wore off you patiently listed umpteen reasons why I should not marry Sakthi. I agree Appa, that 20 is too young to decide, that Raji and Seenu would have been affected greatly by my ‘mistake’, the Agrahaaram would have scoffed at you… a meat eater was not a good match for someone who had never even tasted onion and garlic. The reasons were innumerous. I knew you’d still have objected and offered other reasons even if he had become a Dhigambara monk.
Visu on the other hand, wore a poonal, he is the son of Neelakanta Sastri, an Engineer and he researched about computers which is what made you jump for this alliance. Am not complaining Appa, Visu is a nice man. Tell Amma that I could not try her kozhakkattai recipe this Pongal because coconuts were too expensive and Avar nenacchar that it was ridiculous.
Anyway, we went out on Sankaranthi day and dined out. He thought it would be a good idea to invite the Chatterjees also. But I didn’t speak Bengali and Mrs.Chatterjee spoke English in an accent that comes with living years in America. Hence I made myself busy with the menu card. They ordered various species of fish,shrimp and a lot more of items I had never seen in my life. I ordered orange juice and a sandwich. The other diners thought it was queer coming to a seafood restaurant and settling for a sandwich. That day, I learnt that Avar prefer pannradhu beef, pork, bacon and seafood.
Do you know, Appa… Sakthi gave up meat because of me? I didn’t ask, he just did. But then, Sakthi is not Neelakanta Sastri’s son and that made it imposible for Subramania Iyer’s daughter Kalyani to marry him.I will keep you posted on what happens here. I don’t think I can make it to Seenu’s Upanayanam. Tell Amma not to get me a pattu podavai for the poonal, I don’t use them here. I wore it once and felt like a clown here.
Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.




Dearest Appa,
20th Oct’1968
We are fine here. Gautam is speaking his first words and I swear they sounded like ‘Dosai’. But Visu claims it’s just gibberish. From your previous letter, I gather that pakkathatthu Rama is married and
settled in Jamshedpur. Nice to know that. Please find out her address from Saarada maami and write it to me. I want to keep in touch with her. I hope Raji is happy with her husband in Madras. I spoke to her last month, great to know that she has a phone. Do tell Seenu to study well and prepare for his school final exams.
Raji also told me that Sakthi is married now. I wish him good luck, but I could not convey the message to him. Raji refused to be the messenger and I know you have severed ties with Sakthi’s father, your long term friend Sankaravel, thanks to me. I hear his wife is his cousin… He must have succumbed to his mother’s wishes.
How did Avani Avittam go? Visu’s mother gave me a bunch of new poonals for Avani Avittam but Visu was in Boston that day. He wouldn’t have used it anyway, I haven’t seen him wear one in the last three years. Gautam is now playing with the spool of thread- mere thread it is, what else can I call it? Gautam will not even know what it signifies, I guess.
Visu is making sure Gautam grows up listening to English only. He says it will make his life easier. But I do read out passages from Ponniyin Selvan and Bharathiyaar’s poetry when I am alone with him. It’s more of reading to myself, I guess. I actually got that poetry book as a present from Sakthi, it still has his scrawling signature in the first page.

By the way, Visu saw that book and asked me about Sakthi, I told him. Hold your breath Appa, he didn’t throw me out of the house. He is a good man, no question. He said it is okay and that he doesn’t mind. And then he told me of his American girlfriend whom he was once in love with, when he first reached America- Amy, a fellow Researcher who was in a brief relationship with Visu when she was in New York. They lived together for 3 months and decided against marriage, somehow. Amy once dropped home when she was in New York. Nice lady, she was.
Ask Amma to send me Sambar Podi for this whole year. My friend Sudha is coming to Madras next week. Ask Seenu to catch the Rockfort Express and give it to her. I will collect it from her here.
Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.



Dearest Appa,
3rd June’1974

We have arrived here safely. After two months in India, I find it hard to adjust back to normal life here. Gautam and Ranjana demand vadai,paayasam and vaazhai ilai here. Visu’s relieved to be back in
America. I left a set of my books there. If it’s not in Trichy it must be in Visu’s parents’ place. If you find them, safeguard them until my next trip. They mean a lot to me since they were gifts from Sakthi. By the way, Appa, I found out Sakthi’s present address in Madras from Rama and Saarada maami. I wrote to him. I am extremely proud to know that Dr.Sakthivel is a cardiologist much in demand there in Madras. He was thrilled to hear from me after so long. You know what he has named his daughters? Kalyani and Raagamaalika. He called me. You know what, he’s still a practising vegetarian, Appa. He didn’t revert back just because he lost me… He asked me if I still sang and whether Gautam and Ranjana could sing. I could see a proud father in him, when he claimed his daughters could sing upto Rara Venu Gopala. That’s when I remembered that I was once a good singer. I wonder why I stopped singing, wonder why I never exposed the kids to Music and Dance. But then, I realize that I had buried all that deep inside me when I left Trichy; after bidding farewell to my best Rasika, actually. Sakthi. After the call, I tried singing ’Kurai Onrum Illai’. I could not rquite reach Charanam, because of the lack of practice and more importantly because of the tears that filmed my eyes and the constriction in my throat. I sang to Visu and the kids one of these days. Though Gautam was impressed, father and daughter could not just wait for me to finish! By the way, next time some friend comes to India, send me a Sruthi Box. I would like to start singing again.
Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.


Dearest Appa,
14th Aug 1978
Just back after our tour to California. Find our photos, picture postcards attached herewith. After you are done with showing all family members,relatives, friends and neighbours, pass them to Visu’s parents. It was a welcome break for the four of us. But I missed my paattu class students all along and was happy to resume the classes again last evening. Did I mention in my previous letter, before we left on the tour - I finally got my driving license here. I sent a few photos to Sakthi too. He has sent me quite a few records and cassettes. I loved it! I’m reminded of AIR, almost! I’m circulating them among my friends too. And of course, playing them for my students too. They are picking up beautifully. Funny news is, I, a Tamilian, is teaching Telugu and Sanskrit kritis to a cross section of Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,Telugu, Marathi, Bengali students in an English speaking nation. The music sessions have resulted in a reborn Kalyani, Appa. Thanks to Sakthi, really. I would have never taken it up had it not been for his reminder. I am now thinking of what life would have been like if I had indeed married him. I would have of course lost you and Amma. But right now, with this life in America, Visu and these monthly letters to you, Rama, Raji and Seenu what have i gained? I don’t find an answer, Appa. Neither do I think I ever will. Again, as I have always reiterated, Visu is a good man, no complaints there. He is every bit the son in law you wanted. Researcher, American Post-Graduate Degree holder, a dutiful husband and father,earning a comfortable income. I know it is too much to ask for anything else. That is a fantasy I left midway in my life… Once upon a time in Trichy with someone else.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.




Dearest Appa,
14th Apr’1984
Met Dr.Sakthivel after 19 years… He had come to New York for business purposes and paid me a visit. Visu and the kids welcomed him home with great pleasure. And they liked him too. Infact, they did most of the talking initially. And of course, he got me a whole load of books, cassettes, Mysore Paak and lots more. Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

..........

[NOV]

Read above post first.....


Dearest Appa,
20th Jan’ 1990
I just went through all these letters lying in my closet draw for years together. These are letters I started writing to you and then decided not to post. For obvious reasons. I could not mention Sakthi to you even though I was itching to. Not because I was afraid to invite your wrath. I just did not have the heart to hurt you, I know these letters would have hurt you. Because deep inside, I know you were disturbed- you knew Sakthi was a good man, you knew he was a man of substance, yet you didn’t want to go further. Society, I know. ..Family… I know… And all these letters would have only wounded you more.Today, 2 years after your death, and 6 months after Dr.Sakthivel’s untimely death in a road accident, I somehow felt like re-reading all these letters. To me, all these unstamped, unposted letters mean a life that could have been. Kalyani Viswanathan.

[hamid]

Nov,

excellent letters.. almost had tears in my eyes when I read those.. eetho Sujatha novel padikkira effect irunthathu.., this shows the sad status of our so called social life and how millions of hearts are thrashed by the name of caste and soceity.. The moment we start living for us and be afraid of our innerself we can be have a more satisfying life...

[NOV]

me too Hamid, I was moved ....

[NOV]

At age 4 success is not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is having friends.
At age 16 success is having a drivers license.
At age 20 success is having sex.
At age 35 success is having money.
At age 50 success is having money.
At age 60 success is having sex.
At age 70 success is having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is having friends.
At age 80 success is not peeing in your pants.

[aanaa]

:-)
Life is cycle - proved again.

[NOV]

This is a brief note on Psychology

If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and, inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with same result .... all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment.. . with enthusiasm.

Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, none of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway to the banana.

Why, you ask? Because in their minds .... that is the way it has always been.

This is how Politics operates .... and is why, from time to time, ALL OF THE MONKEYS NEED TO BE REPLACED AT THE SAME TIME!

[NOV]

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no... one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

[19thmay]

Few Tweets, I loved. It was taken from AV

குழந்தைகளின் குறும்புகள் எப்போதும் போல தான். அதை ரசிக்கவும் எரிச்சல் அடையவும் வைப்பது நம் மனநிலை தான்.

கேப்டன் அரசியலுக்கு வருவதற்கு முன்பு வரை "நானே ராஜா....நானே மந்திரி" அவரது காமெடி படம்னு வெகுளிதனமா நெனச்சுட்டு இருந்தேன்.

முதன் முறையாக விஜயகாந்த் கைது # பாகிஸ்தானில் தீவிரவாதிகள், கூடாரதுக்கு கூடாரம் பொங்கல் வைத்து கொண்டாட்டம்.

வேலை வெட்டி இல்லாத ஆணை கல்யாணம் செய்ய பெண் முன்வராத வரை சமஉரிமை என்பது வெறும் கூச்சல்

முகத்தில் அறைவது போல பேசுவதற்கு பதிலாக முகத்தில் அறைந்தே விடுங்கள் வலியாவது குறைவாக இருக்கும்.

தோல்வியின் விரக்தியில் கடவுளை சபிக்கும் உங்களில் எதனை பேர் வெற்றியின் பெருமிதத்தில் "நன்றி" சொல்லி இருப்பீர்கள்?

இப்போது எல்லாம் மரியாதை நிமித்தமாக அணைக்கப்படும் சிகரட்டுகள் எண்ணிக்கை வெகுவாக குறைந்துவிட்டது

சில சமயம் குரங்காகவே இருந்திருக்கலாம் என்று தோன்றுகிறது # ஒரு ஸ்டாப்புக்கு ஆறு ருபாய் டிக்கெட்

ரஜினி தன படங்களில், ஒரு பாடலில் பெரிய ஆள் ஆகிவிடுவார், அவர் மருமகன் உண்மையாகவே ஒரே பாடலில் பெரிய ஆள் ஆகிவிட்டார் # கொலவெறி

ஒருவன் தான் எவ்வளவு கெட்டவன் என்பதை மனைவியிடம் மட்டும் மறைக்காமல் காட்டிவிடுகிறான்.

[raagadevan]

Forgive & forget... and get on with life

Dr. H. V. Easwer

Often, during a medical call, I received lessons in health and wellness from the most unlikely of people. No textbook in the world would ever contain these ‘tutorials.' An evening in the late 1980s, a few days after Diwali in late October, on the banks of the Karamana river, was one such time when a popular local character, Chuppayyan (Subbayyan), opened up a new vista of well-being.

Karamana was a quaint, sleepy, and nondescript suburb in Trivandrum city and it was here that Chuppayyan wandered around without a home to call his own. He was an orphan but I would disagree if you say Chuppayyan was a beggar as he did many odd jobs. Also, unlike the scraggy looks of a destitute, he was a little plump and had a cherubic face. He would seek alms only when his earnings failed to satisfy his hunger.

If there was someone that he was close to, it was Valliamma the old woman who sold vegetables door-to-door in a basket made of palm leaves. Nobody knew how they were related but then Chuppayyan could be seen at her side helping her. Valliamma would sell small unripe mangoes for making pickles from January to March and every child at Karamana was familiar with her Kanni maanggai (unripe mangoes) chant as she went around with the basket on her head. Chuppayyan would follow her for a while and then wander off as she sat on the thinnai (pyol) of a house and measured her mangoes with a pakkah, a measuring jar of those times.

This incident occurred as I was returning home with a friend after attending a medical call at the house of an old lady who was incapacitated by a stroke. We took a shorter path along the dyke constructed along the Karamana river. A canopy of coconut trees lent the evening a darker shade than it really was and we could see the silhouette of Chuppayyan ahead of us. There was a place where the dyke took an undulating turn and we could see some people sitting in a circle and playing cards. There were empty bottles littered around, revealing that the game of cards was accompanied by some fun with fresh toddy.

As Chuppayan neared them, one of the card players started taunting him. As if on cue, others joined him and started making disparaging remarks about Chuppayyan's parents, especially his mother. Chuppayyan passed them without uttering a word and his head was held low. Emboldened by his passivity, one of the card players got up and came close to him menacingly though he was too drunk to progress further. It was at this point that we reached the inebriated players and my friend, a member of a cadre-based political party, raised his voice and threatened them. Seeing my friend's reaction, the more sober of the card players rushed to pull back their friend, who was intending to harm Chuppayyan.

My friend turned to Chuppayyan and berated him for being silent. “Why didn't you react,” he asked as we resumed our walk back to our homes. Chuppayyan replied: “Avangalukku puriyadhu” (they are all so drunk that they will not understand).

My friend, who was known for his fire-brand temperament, persisted: “But then they were abusing your parents, weren't they? One should hit back if one's parents are made fun off.” I was watching Chuppayyan, who replied very calmly: “Anna [brother], I do not know who my parents are and hence it does not make any difference.” I was surprised by his rather calm demeanour and obvious lack of ill feelings towards his tormentors. I was also puzzled by his nonchalance and promised myself to seek the truth from Valliamma.

Some months passed and came summer. I had forgotten Chuppayyyan as I busied myself with life and the challenges on its professional and personal fronts. On a hot summer noon in May, I found Valliamma on my doorstep with a minor medical problem. After prescribing her medication, I broached the subject of Chuppayyan's paternity with her. “Where are his parents? Is he your son?” She was surprised but answered clearly: “Chuppayyan knows who his parents are. They are a family of rich traders in Bhoothapandi. When the boy was young he had epileptic fits and the parents got scared and abandoned him on the banks of the Karamana. When he grew up, they got in touch with him again, but he told them that he was happy with me as I raised him after I lost my husband in my younger days.”

I looked back on the day when Chuppayyan was harassed and taunted on account of his paternity. His response to his tormentors and his parents who abandoned him was indeed the most unexpected from a vagabond. He scored high that day for his emotional quotient, in stark contrast to many of us who would seethe in anger at the slightest provocation and perception of unfairness in our lives. We hit back losing more in the process. Our roads are the best examples of the latter group which whip itself into a frenzy at the slightest provocation from fellow-drivers. They lose all reason and harm themselves in the process of flying into road rage.

That was the day when I learnt an important lesson for good health: one should always engineer one's perceptions in a way that does not hurt us — learning to forget, forgive, and get on with the journey of life; simply because there are too many things around us which we cannot change.

We humans are perhaps the most insecure among the animal species as we live our lives, going to great lengths to ensure that our health and wellbeing are not adversely affected during our spell on this planet. It is this insecurity that drives endeavours as varied as astrology, the bullion markets and, of course, the big business — religion — as we seek to secure our future. In our times, even the ‘medical industry,' which includes investigatory tools such as CT and MR scans and the countless blood tests, is sometimes used in this human quest for reassurance.

If you ask the ‘wise,' they would say that the key to wellbeing lies in the mind and it is the mind's reactions to events that determine our health and happiness. What do you think of the man who had a heart attack when his favourite team lost a cricket match? Or a boy who decided that the world ended for him because he did not qualify in the medical entrance exam. And then there was this businessman who had a heart attack soon after he lost a bid for a lucrative contract to his rival. Why does this lady run her blood pressure up when she meets her brother who, she feels, cheated her in the division of their paternal property? The wise would say that all these are the result of the way we perceive these events. It is here that many of us could learn from Chuppayyan.

(The writer is Associate Professor, Dept of Neurosurgery, SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram, and his email ID is: dreaswer@gmail.com)

From the OPINION section of the Hindu - February 18, 2012

[Shakthiprabha]

thankyou rd....Extreme maturity portrayed. For me, its still long way to go...Lot of lessons to learn...

[raagadevan]

Painting Calcutta blue

By Gwynne Dyer - February 24, 2012

I am not making this up. They’re going to paint Calcutta blue.

Some firm of public relations consultants has persuaded the West Bengal state government that all official buildings and assets in Calcutta, right down to the lane dividers on highways, should be painted light blue. Taxis and other public services that require licenses will also get out the blue paint, and owners of private property will be asked to do the same, with tax cuts for those who comply.

It’s all about branding, really. West Bengal got a new government last year, after 34 years of Communist rule, and the state’s new rulers decided that the capital city, Calcutta, needs a new colour scheme. As Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim told the Indian Express newspaper, “Our leader Mamata Banerjee has decided that the theme colour of the city will be sky blue because the motto of the new government is ‘the sky is the limit’.”

Well, why not? If the state of Rajasthan can have both a “pink city” (Jaipur) and a “blue city” (Jodhpur), why shouldn’t Calcutta brand itself as “the other blue city”? However, Jaipur is naturally pink because of widespread use of terracotta, and in Jodhpur the residents got out their paintbrushes voluntarily, whereas the West Bengal state government is spending a reported 800 million rupees ($16 million) on the blueing of Calcutta.

Calcuta’s leading newspaper, the Telegraph (in which this column has long had the honour of appearing), was so swept away by the wonderfulness of the concept that it wrote a fulsome editorial about it. “Finding the right colour combination is undoubtedly the crucial first step in making a city safer, healthier, cleaner and generally more user-friendly for its inhabitants,” the newspaper wrote, tongue firmly in cheek.

“(Painting Calcutta blue) could, with as little doubt, sort out its core problems—chaotic healthcare, inability to implement pollution control norms, arsenic in the water, archaic sewers and garbage disposal, bad roads, killer buses for public transport, an airport falling apart and beyond dismal, priceless paintings rotting away in public art galleries, to name a few.” One wonders why more cities are not doing the same. Maybe they couldn’t afford the right consultants.

I yield to practically everybody in my esteem for the overpaid consultants who are employed by unimaginative governments to “improve their image.” There is a better way for Calcutta to overcome its reputation for chaos and decay. By all means spend most of the available money on sewers and garbage disposal, roads and buses, pollution control, art galleries and the airport—but also restore the city centre.

Calcutta was the capital of British-ruled India for two centuries. For much of that time it was the second-largest city in the British Empire, only surpassed by London. So the centre of the city was full of Georgian and Regency buildings that reflected the city’s power and wealth at that time.

Most of them are still there. Calcutta was poor for a long time, so it hasn’t had the money to erase its past in the brutal way that is happening in most other Asian big cities. Almost all Chinese cities have already destroyed their architectural heritage, and beautiful cities like Hanoi are working at it full-time. But Calcutta’s wonderful buildings are in dreadful shape, and soon it will find enough money to start destroying them wholesale.

It doesn’t have to end like that. Fifteen years ago I was walking up Bentinck Street, surrounded by the chaos of cars and trams and the crumbling buildings festooned with washing lines and movie posters. I came round a slight bend in the road—and saw a miraculous sight.

It was an four-storey town house restored to all its former glory: the stucco replaced, the balconies repaired, the whole thing repainted in the mustard-yellow colour that was fashionable in the late 18th century. It was in a row of other 18th-century houses that were still rotting, and suddenly I realised what central Calcutta used to look like. It made the hair rise on the back of my neck.

The same evening I went to a dinner party in south Calcutta, and found myself sitting next to the architect who had done the restoration. (Small world.) She explained that she had got municipal money to fix the house up, on condition that the existing residents (poor people, of course) would not be displaced by the high-rent crowd. The point, of course, was to inspire other property owners to do the same thing.

I don’t know if that particular house has fallen into disrepair again (Google Streetview has its limitations), but I do know that the example did not work. I also know that it could work. It would cost more than a vat of blue paint, but labour isn’t that expensive in the city, so it’s cheaper to restore than to destroy and rebuild. If Calcutta started now, it could have a city centre that is the envy of Asia in 10 years.

Alternatively, the West Bengal government could push the blue business a bit further. After all, nothing exceeds like excess. Why not paint all 14 million of Calcutta’s inhabitants blue, and declare that they are all avatars of Vishnu? That would get everybody’s attention.

[Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist, syndicated columnist and historian. He writes a column on international affairs which is published in over 175 papers in 45 countries.]

[raagadevan]

The Cookie Thief - by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene
She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye"
With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he'd do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half
He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude
Why he didn't even show any gratitude"
She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes
"If mine are here" she moaned with despair
"Then the others were his and he tried to share"
"Too late to apologize she realized with grief"
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vug4_UnfV90&feature=related

[raagadevan]

"Modesty of dress and Indian culture" :)

By Suchi Govindarajan

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/article2982283.ece

Do not miss the "comments" that follow the article!

[raagadevan]

"IIM Calcutta student rejects plum jobs to educate villagers"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/IIM-Calcutta-student-rejects-plum-jobs-to-educate-villagers/articleshow/12498646.cms

[raagadevan]

"India's god laws fail the test of reason"

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece

[raagadevan]

"My nagging wife, my doctor and a costly scan"

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article3537225.ece?homepage=true

[raagadevan]

"India-Stupid and India-Smart"

By Chetan Bhagat (The Times of India - June 23, 2012)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/India-Stupid-and-India-Smart/articleshow/14344695.cms

[raagadevan]

"A messy corner of India’s modernity"

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3585664.ece?homepage=true

[raagadevan]

5 most common regrets the dying have

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/5-most-common-regrets-the-dying-have/articleshow/14144954.cms

[ajithfederer]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/603486_498443323514388_1408755617_n.jpg

DKWTPT. So posting here.

[NOV]

http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/599781_196110900512618_339031122_n.jpg


A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:

'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.'

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your pr
oblem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.'

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!'

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!

Love says, 'I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.' Abortion says, 'I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself.'

[NOV]

A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.

This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular culling of the weakest members.

In much the same way the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker braincells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

[NOV]

During a robbery in Guanzhou, China the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank : "Don't move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to
you."

Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called "Mind Changing Concept" Changing the conventional way of thinking.

When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!"

This is called "Being Professional". Focus only on what you are trained to do!

When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): "Big brother, let's count how much we got."

The older robber rebutted and said: "You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!"

This is called "Experience." Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications!

After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: "Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank".

This is called "Swim with the tide." Converting an unfavorable situation to
your advantage!

The supervisor says: "It will be good if there is a robbery every month."

This is called "Killing Boredom." Personal Happiness is more important than your job.

The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: "We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!"

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/q71/1601197_624646827584757_1592632403_n.jpg

[NOV]

Today, a true tale of heroism that takes place not in a war zone, nor a hospital, but in Victoria station in London in 2007, during a tube strike. Our hero – a transport journalist and self-described "big, stocky bloke with a shaven head" named Gareth Edwards, who first wrote about this experience on the community blog metafilter.com – is standing with other commuters in a long, snaking line for a bus, when a smartly dressed businessman blatantly cuts in line behind him. (Behind him: this detail matters.)

The interloper proves immune to polite remonstration, whereupon Edwards is seized by a magnificent idea. He turns to the elderly woman standing behind the queue-jumper, and asks her if she'd like to go ahead of him. She accepts, so he asks the person behind her, and the next person, and the next – until 60 or 70 people have moved ahead, Edwards and the seething queue-jumper shuffling further backwards all the time. The bus finally pulls up, and Edwards hears a shout from the front of the line. It's the elderly woman, addressing him: "Young man! Do you want to go in front of me?"

[NOV]

WHO IS THE TEACHER?


A young teacher from an industrial city in the north of England had accepted a temporary job teaching a class of four-year-olds out in one of the most isolated, rural parts of north Wales. One of her first lessons involved teaching the letter S so she held up a big colour photograph of a sheep and said: "Now, who can tell me what this is?"

No answer. Twenty blank and wordless faces looked back at her. "Come on, who can tell me what this is?" she exclaimed, tapping the photograph determinedly, unable to believe that the children were quite so ignorant. The 20 faces became apprehensive and even fearful as she continued to question them with mounting frustration.

Eventually, one brave soul put up a tiny, reluctant hand. "Yes!" she cried, waving the snap aloft. "Tell me what you think this is!" "Please, Miss," said the boy warily. "Is it a three-year-old Border Leicester?"

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1620463_586300684796787_842863281_n.jpg

[NOV]

Once a farmer found an abandoned eagle's nest and in it was an egg still warm. He took the egg back to his farm and laid it in the nest of one of his hens. The egg hatched and the baby eagle grew up along with the other chickens. It pecked about the farmyard, scrabbling for grain. It spent its life within the yard and rarely looked up. When it was very old, one day it lifted up its head and saw above it a wonderful sight - an eagle soaring high above in the sky. Looking at it, the old creature sighed and said to itself, "If only I'd been born an eagle".

[NOV]

A woman who had worked all her life to bring about good was granted one wish: "Before I die let me visit both hell and heaven." Her wish was granted.

She was whisked off to a great banqueting hall. The tables were piled high with delicious food and drink. Around the tables sat miserable, starving people as wretched as could be. "Why are they like this?" she asked the angel who accompanied her. "Look at their arms," the angel replied. She looked and saw that attached to the people's arms were long chopsticks secured above the elbow. Unable to bend their elbows, the people aimed the chopsticks at the food, missed every time and sat hungry, frustrated and miserable. "Indeed this is hell! Take me away from here!"

She was then whisked off to heaven. Again she found herself in a great banqueting hall with tables piled high. Around the tables sat people laughing, contented, joyful. "No chopsticks I suppose," she said. "Oh yes there are. Look - just as in hell they are long and attached above the elbow but look... here people have learnt to feed one another".

[NOV]

There once was a bunch of tiny frogs...

... who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...

The race began...

Honestly, no-one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!"

"They will NEVER make it to the top".

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...

... Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...

The crowd continued to yell

"It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...

...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...

This one wouldn't give up!

At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?

A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?

It turned out...

That the winner was deaf.

[NOV]

A great Japanese master received a university professor who came to enquire about wisdom. The master served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could no longer restrain himself.

'It is overfull. No more will go in!'

'Like this cup,' the master said, 'you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you wisdom unless you first empty your cup?'

[NOV]

There is a Chinese story of an old farmer who had an old horse for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and, when all the farmer's neighbours sympathised with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'

A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and this time the neighbours congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, 'Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?'

Then, when the farmer's son was attempted to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'

Some weeks later the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?

[NOV]

An old man lived in the village. He was one of the most unfortunate people in the world. The whole village was tired of him, he was always gloomy, constantly complained and always was in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the more bile was coming and the more poisonous were his words. People avoided him, because his misfortune became contagious. It was even unnaturally and insulting to be happy next to him. He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.

But one day, when he turned eighty, an incredible thing happened. Instantly everyone heard the rumor: "The Old Man is happy today, he doesn’t complain , smiles, and even his face is freshened up ."

The whole village gathered together. And the old man was asked:

- What happened to you ?

- Nothing special - he answered. - Eighty years I've been chasing happiness, and it was useless. Then I decided to live without happiness and just enjoy life. That's why I'm happy.

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/1940017_676474092412867_1043163303_n.jpg



There was a blind girl who hated herself just because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes dear.”

[raagadevan]

WOW!!! That was a good one... I don't know why, but it reminds me of the classic O. Henry short story "The Gift of the Magi"! For anyone interested, here it is...

http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1014/

[NOV]

THE SHOEBOX
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents.
'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two Precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two Times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with Happiness.

'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'

'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.'

[NOV]

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip. Wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family. On the way home, dad asked, "Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?".

Son said, "We have one dog, they have four, we have a pool, they have rivers, we have lanterns at night, they have stars, we buy foods, they grow theirs, we have walls to protect us, they have friends."
"Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are."

MORAL LESSON: It's not about money that make us rich, it's about simplicity of having God in our lives.

[NOV]

A poor man asked the Buddha,

“Why am I so poor?”

The Buddha said, “you do not learn to give.”

So the poor man said, “If I’m not having anything?”

Buddha said: “You have a few things,

The Face, which can give a smile;

Mouth: you can praise or comfort others;

The Heart: it can open up to others;

Eyes: who can look the other with the eyes of goodness;

Body: which can be used to help others.”

So, actually we are not poor at all, poverty of spirit is the real poverty.

[Chappani]

Good one Nov.

But very sad to see that a section of people following Buddha are not willing to share things with their fellow citizens instead snatching things from other :( (u know where I am referring to )

[NOV]

They are Godless people.

[NOV]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmvH1DKIAAAGNQl.png:large

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10360351_10154180042720717_5725411235620995801_n.j pg

[NOV]

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you,... actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

[NOV]

The Business Man and His Lesson...
A business man was deep in debt and just couldn't see a way out. His creditors were closing in on him, the phone wouldn't stop ringing with demands for payment and he couldn't pay. One day, he went to the park and sat on a bench, wondering if life was worth living, if he should just give up and declare bankruptcy.
That was when an old man with a kind face walked over to him.
“Oh my, something is troubling you isn't it?" he said.
The business man, deep in his despair, told the kind old man his troubles.
“I believe I can help you.” Said the old man, and he reached into his pocket and dug out a checkbook.
old manHe asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and put it in his hand.
“Take this money and meet me here in exactly one year from today, that is when you can pay it back to me.”
He turned and vanished as quickly as he had appeared
The business man saw in his hand a check for $1,000,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, who was, back then, one of the richest men in the world!
“My problems are over," cried the businessman in relief, "I can pay my debts!"
He kept telling himself he will use the check, but instead, he put it in a safe and decided to try and handle his financial problems on his own. Just knowing that he can always use the check gave him the determination toork out a way to save his business.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check.
At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.
“I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.”
And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

[Russellhaj]

""Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.[/QUOTE]

Very Nice one !! " Belive in your self, that's the place to start" :)

[Bipolar]

The Business Man and His Lesson...
A business man was deep in debt and just couldn't see a way out. His creditors were closing in on him, the phone wouldn't stop ringing with demands for payment and he couldn't pay. One day, he went to the park and sat on a bench, wondering if life was worth living, if he should just give up and declare bankruptcy.
That was when an old man with a kind face walked over to him.
“Oh my, something is troubling you isn't it?" he said.
The business man, deep in his despair, told the kind old man his troubles.
“I believe I can help you.” Said the old man, and he reached into his pocket and dug out a checkbook.
old manHe asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and put it in his hand.
“Take this money and meet me here in exactly one year from today, that is when you can pay it back to me.”
He turned and vanished as quickly as he had appeared
The business man saw in his hand a check for $1,000,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, who was, back then, one of the richest men in the world!
“My problems are over," cried the businessman in relief, "I can pay my debts!"
He kept telling himself he will use the check, but instead, he put it in a safe and decided to try and handle his financial problems on his own. Just knowing that he can always use the check gave him the determination toork out a way to save his business.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check.
At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.
“I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.”
And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.




I remember reading a very similar short story somewhere - I can't remember the name of the story or the author, would be grateful if anyone can tell me.

It was a story about a small town where the local economy had been doing very badly for a few years, many small businesses in the town were just barely surviving, the people in the town were feeling depressed, because their situation appeared hopeless, etc.

Then a guy comes along to the local car showroom, and places an order for two very expensive cars - a Rolls Royce and a Bentley car - to be delivered to him at the end of the month. The owner of the showroom is extremely surprised, and pleased, as his business was doing poorly for the last few years, but now with two expensive cars to be sold, he is going to get a significant payment at the end of the month. When he gets home, he shares the news with his wife. She is also pleased, and decides to order some new furniture for their home. In turn, when she places the order for the new furniture, the guy at the furniture shop is now pleased - he too can expect a significant amount of cash for his business as a result of this order. He then goes out to make a purchase of his own - etc. This stimulates the town's economy, and over the following month things improve significantly. The cash starts flowing around, and people start to feel more positive, more cheerful, less depressed, etc. The twist at the end is - the guy who placed the original order for the expensive cars - which was the original "stimulus" for the town's economy - is a psychiatric patient, so he had no intention of buying the cars, and cannot pay for the cars. Still, the owner of the car showroom is now in a position where he can sell the cars to other interested buyers. He is grateful to the psychiatric patient for "saving" their town.

Anyone remember reading that story anywhere? Would be grateful if you can remember the details of the story title and author...

[NOV]

14 very short stories worth reading, feeling and forwarding to all those dear to you...

1. Fall and Rise
Today, when I slipped on the wet tile floor a boy in a wheelchair caught me before I slammed my head on the ground. He said, “Believe it or not, that’s almost exactly how I injured my back 3 years ago .

2. A father's advice
Today, my father told me, “Just go for it and give it a try! You don’t have to be a professional to build a successful product. Amateurs started Google and Apple. Professionals built the Titanic

3. The power of uniqueness.
Today, I asked my mentor – a very successful business man in his 70’s – what his top 3 tips are for success. He smiled and said, “Read something no one else is reading, think something no one else is thinking, and do something no one else is doing.

4. Looking Back
Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, “Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile.

5. Try and U shall know
I am blind by birth. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to play baseball. I asked my father- "Dad, can I play baseball?" He said "You'll never know until you try." When I was a teenager, I asked him, - "Dad Can I become a surgeon?". He replied "Son, you'll never know until you try." Today I am a Surgeon, just because I tried!

6. GOODNESS & GRATITUDE
Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug. When I tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognize her. She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center.”

7. LOVE CONQUERS PAIN
Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

8. A DOOR CLOSES TO OPEN ANOTHER
Today at 7AM, I woke up feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. At 3PM I got laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then he offered me a job. I start tomorrow.

9. LOOKING BACK
Today, as my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”

10. AFFECTION
Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

11. INNOCENCE
Today, in the cutest voice, my 8-year-old daughter asked me to start recycling. I chuckled and asked, “Why?” She replied, “So you can help me save the planet.” I chuckled again and asked, “And why do you want to save the planet?” “Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,” she said.

12. JOY
Today, when I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter’s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

13. KINDNESS
Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.”.

14. SHARING
Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, “We can share it.”
Cheers to life.

[NOV]

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty, it had no meaning.
So, the lady went to visit a counselor to seek out happiness.
The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors.
The counselor then said to the rich lady "I'm going to ask Mary here to tell u how she found happiness. All I want u to do is listen to her."
So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story:
"Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody. I had nothing left. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean. Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and, for the first time in months, I smiled.
Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, may be doing something for people could make me happy.
So, the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbor who was sick in bed.
Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy.
Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do.
I've found happiness, by giving it to others."
When she heard this, the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy.
"The beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are; but on how happy others can be because of you..."
Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey.
Happiness is not tomorrow, it is now.
Happiness is not dependency, it is a decision.
Happiness is what you are, not what you have..

[NOV]

This is an actual letter sent to the DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) Immigration Minister. The Government tried desperately to censure the author, but got nowhere because every legal person who read it couldn't stop laughing!


Dear Mr Minister,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.

How is it that K-Mart has my address and telephone number, and knows that I bought a television set and golf clubs and what not from them back in 1997, and yet the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?
For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand?

My birth date you have in my Medicare information, and it is on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 40 years.
It is also on my driver's licence, on the last eight passports I've ever had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off planes over the past 30 years.

It's also on all those insufferable census forms that I've filled out every 5 years since 1966.

Also... would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Audrey, my father's name is Jack, and I'd be absolutely bloody astounded if that ever changed between now and when I drop dead !!!

SHIT! What do you people do with all this information we keep having to provide?

I apologize, Mr. Minister. But I'm really pissed off this morning.
Between you and me, I've had enough of all this bullshit!

You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my bloody address!
What the hell is going on with your mob? Have you got a gang of mindless working there!

And another thing, look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I can't even grow a beard for God's sakes. I just want to go to New Zealand and see my new granddaughter. (Yes, my son interbred with a Kiwi girl). And would someone please tell me, why would you give a shit whether or not I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other side of Sydney , and get another bloody copy of my birth certificate - and to part with another $80 for the privilege of accessing MY OWN INFORMATION!

Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot, to assist in the issuance of a new passport on the same day?
No, that'd be too bloody easy and makes far too much sense.

You would much prefer to have us running all over the bloody place like chickens with our heads cut off, and then having to find some 'high-society' wanker to confirm that it's really me in the goddamn photo! You know the photo... the one where we're not allowed to smile?...you bloody morons.

Signed - An Irate Australian Citizen.

P.S. Remember what I said above about the picture, and getting someone in 'high-society' to confirm that it's me?
Well, my family has been in this country since before 1820! In 1856, one of my forefathers took up arms with Peter Lalor. (You do remember the Eureka Stockade!)

I have also served in both the CMF and regular Army for something over 30 years (I went to Vietnam in 1967), and still have high security clearances. I'm also a personal friend of the president of the RSL Lt General Peter Cosgrove sends me a Christmas card each year.

However, your rules require that I have to get someone "important" to verify who I am; you know...someone like my doctor - WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN PAKISTAN!...a country where they either assassinate or hang their ex-Prime Ministers
You are all pen-pushing paper-shuffling bloody idiots.

[NOV]

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:
'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.'

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.'

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!'

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!

[NOV]

An anthropologist thought he would test these African children. He placed a bowl of fruit underneath a tree and told them that the first one to reach the tree could have the fruit.

When he told the children to run, they all took each others' hands and ran together. They all enjoyed the fruit together. This is the African concept of Ubuntu.

In my opinion, it is also why Africa is preyed upon by the vultures untamed and let loose by other cultures.

When asked why they didn't run the course alone, they answered, UBUNTU! How can we be happy when others are sad?

UBUNTU in Xhosa is roughly translated, "I am because we are."

[NOV]

https://scontent-a-kul.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1978676_604005333006960_1049953816_n.jpg?oh=3caa6f 193481319e80515d3fe4a2a48d&oe=54A6FAB7

[NOV]

A man was an avid Gardner..
Saw a small butterfly laying a few eggs in one of the pots in his garden. since that day he looked at the egg with ever growing curiosity and eagerness.
The egg started to move and shake a little. He was exited to see a new life coming up right in front of his eyes. He spent hours watching the egg now.

The egg started to expand and develop cracks.. A tiny head and antennae started to come out ever so slowly.

The man's excitement knew no bounds. He got his magnifying glasses and sat to watch the life and body of a pupa coming out.
He saw the struggle of the tender pupa and couldn't resist his urge to HELP.
He went and got a tender forceps to help the egg break, a nip here a nip there to help the struggling life.
And LOL, The pupa was out the man was ecstatic! He waited now each day for the pupa to grow and fly like a beautiful butterfly,

but Alas that never happened
the larvae pupa had a oversized head and kept crawling along in the pot for the full 4 weeks and died!

Depressed the man went to his botanist friend and asked the reason. His friend told him
the struggle to break out of the egg helps the larvae to send blood to its wings and the head push helps the head to remain small so that the tender wings can support it thru its 4 week life cycle, in his eagerness to help the man destroyed a beautiful life!

Struggles help all of us, that's why a wee bit of effort goes a long way to develop our strength to face life's difficulties!

[NOV]

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.
At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself,because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?"
"That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.
You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.

[NOV]

While feeding the stray dogs around my place, noticed a teen who was on the phone, not realizing there was a stray right behind him. The stray, harmless really, was just sniffing around.

I think the kid was afraid of dogs and just stood as still as a statue. I noticed his predicament and called out to the stray, which simply walked over to me.

Then as we parted ways, the teenager thanked me, telling me how scared he was of stray dogs.

Apparently, 20 minutes later, the teen was mugged, losing his phone.

Moral of the story? You have a lot more to fear from people than from stray dogs.

[NOV]

When I was a kid, my Mom cooked food for us. One night in particular when she had made dinner after a long hard day's work, Mom placed a plate of saambaar and burnt thosai in front of my Dad.

I was waiting to see if anyone noticed the burnt thosai. But Dad just ate his thosai and asked me how was my day was at school.
I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember I heard Mom apologising to Dad for the burnt thosai.

And I'll never forget what he said: "Don't worry, I like burnt thosai."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy, good night & I asked him if he really liked his thosai burnt.

He wrapped me in his arms & said: "Your mother put in a long hard day at work today and she was really tired.
And besides... A burnt thosai never hurts anyone but harsh words do!"

"You know son - life is full of imperfect things... & imperfect people...
I'M NOT THE BEST & AM HARDLY GOOD AT ANYTHING!
I forget birthdays & anniversaries just like everyone else.
What I've learnt over the years is :
To Accept Each Others Faults & Choose To Celebrate Relationships"
Life Is Too Short To Wake Up With Regrets!
Love the people who treat you right & have compassion for the ones who don't...
!!! ENJOY LIFE NOW !!!
It has an expiry date..

[NOV]

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[NOV]

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[NOV]

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[NOV]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BxxWw0xIgAAeMk-.jpg

[NOV]

A white woman approached Swami Vivekananda after his talk, "Please MARRY me."

Coolly, the Swami asked, "Why does a young attractive, woman want to marry an old man like me?

To which the woman said, "Because I want an intelligent child like you. It doesn't even matter if you divorce me after I conceive, but I really admire your wisdom and would like to raise a child like that."

The Swami said, "The child has to reach the age of at least 20, before you can even identify if he/she is intelligent. Do you really want to wait that long? I have an even quicker method for you to get what you want immediately."

The woman was curious and asked how she could get an intelligent child immediately.
"Very simple," said the wise Swami, "Accept me as your son."

[NOV]

https://scontent-b-sin.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1964795_754482791237177_994688720_n.jpg?oh=e6cee75 df55bb3f49e51927c36443591&oe=54B83A9E


A very poor man lived with his wife.

One day, his wife, who had very long hair asked him to buy her a comb for her hair to grow well and to be well-groomed.

The man felt very sorry and said no. He explained that he did not even have enough money to fix the strap of his watch he had just broken.

She did not insist on her request.

The man went to work and passed by a watch shop, sold his damaged watch at a low price and went to buy a comb for his wife.

He came home in the evening with the comb in his hand ready to give to his wife.

He was surprised when he saw his wife with a very short hair cut.

She had sold her hair and was holding a new watch band.

Tears flowed simultaneously from their eyes, not for the futility of their actions, but for the reciprocity of their love.

[Russellhaj]

The 40 most crowded cities worldwide are projected to have at least 10 million people by 2030: http://bloom.bg/1pN5NDy


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0GP0HvCYAEqLN-.png:large

[NOV]

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"I saw this elderly gentleman dining by himself, with an old picture of a lady in front of him. I though maybe I could brighten his day by talking to him.

As I had assumed, she was his wife. But I didn’t expect such an interesting story. They met when they were both 17. They dated briefly, then lost contact when he went to war and her family moved. But he said he thought about her the entire war. After his return, he decided to look for her. He searched for her for 10 years and never dated anyone. People told him he was crazy, to which he replied “I am. Crazy in love”. On a trip to California, he went to a barber shop. He told the barber how he had been searching for a girl for ten years. The barber went to his phone and called his daughter in. It was her! She had also been searching for him and never dated either.

He proposed immediately and they were married for 55 years before her death 5 years ago. He still celebrates her birthday and their anniversary. He takes her picture with him everywhere and kisses her goodnight.

Some inspiring things he said;

"I was a very rich man. Not with money, but with love"

"I never had a single argument with my wife, but we had lots of debates"

"People are like candles. At any moment a breeze can blow it out, so enjoy the light while you have it."

"Tell your wife that you love her everyday. And be sure to ask her, have I told you that I love you lately?"

Be sure to talk to the elderly. Especially strangers. You may think that you will brighten their day, but you may be surprised that they can actually brighten yours.”

[NOV]

Management Lesson :
One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house of a washer man.
The washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake.
The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson.
The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself.
The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.
Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.
Moral of the story: One must not engage in duties other than his own.
Now take a new look at the same story.
The washer man was like a typical top management corporate guy.
He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box.
He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night.
He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a research approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it.
Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and the donkey became his favorite pet.
The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well.
In the Appraisal the dog managed an "8".
The donkey was rated as "9".
Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around.
The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards.
Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a switch....
Moral of the story-Remains the same- "One must not engage in duties other than his own"

[NOV]

https://scontent-b-kul.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/550692_453065448076968_516752059_n.jpg?oh=146bdebd cf4e5656ed828ebed4829b89&oe=54DC9BF3

"Why We Shout In Anger"

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled'n asked.

'Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said,'Because we lose our calm, we shout.'

'But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.'asked the saint

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.
Finally the saint explained, .

'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small...'

The saint continued,'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper'n they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other'n that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

He looked at his disciples and said.

'So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, Do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.'

[NOV]

There was a millionaire who had severe eye pain. He consulted many doctors for his treatment done. He consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections.
But the ache persisted.

At last a monk who has supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colours & not to fall his eyes on any other colours.

The millionaire got together a group of painters & purchased barrels of green color & directed that every object his eye was likely to see be painted in green colour.

When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire's servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress.

Hearing this monk laughed said "If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green."

Moral
Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.

Lets change our vision!!!

[NOV]

The Egg
By Andy Weir

You were on your way home when you died.
It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you God?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said. “What about them? Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the Almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right!”

“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode through the void.

“Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders.

“Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been in a human body for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. And into lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait... what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because
that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way.

[rachel]

interesting conversation..nov

[NOV]

What do you feel about being old?

As I've aged, I've become kinder to, and less critical of, myself. I've become my own friend.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world, too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read, or play on the computer until4 AM? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60s & 70s, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.

I will walk the beach, in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves, with abandon, if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And, eventually, we remember the important things.

Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break, when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength, and understanding, and compassion. A heart never broken, is pristine, and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and too many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being older. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it).

[NOV]

A famous writer was in his study room. He picked up his pen and started writing:
**Last year, I had a surgery and my gall bladder was removed. I had to stay stuck to the bed due to this surgery for a long time.
**The same year I reached the age of 60 years and had to give up my favourite job. I had spent 30 years of my life in this publishing company.
**The same year I experienced the sorrow of the death of my father.
**And in the same year my son failed in his medical exam because he had a car accident. He had to stay in bed at hospital with the cast on for several days. The destruction of car was another loss.
At the end he wrote: Alas! It was such bad year!!
When the writer's wife entered the room, she found he husband looking sad lost in his thoughts. From behind his back she read what was written on the paper. She left the room silently and came back with another paper and placed it on side of her husband's writing.
When the writer saw this paper, he found this written on it:
**Last year I finally got rid of my gall bladder due to which I had spent years in pain.
**I turned 60 with sound health and got retired from my job. Now I can utilize my time to write something better with more focus and peace.
**The same year my father, at the age of 95, without depending on anyone or without any critical condition met his Creator.
**The same year, God blessed my son with a new life. My car was destroyed but my son stayed alive without getting any disability.
At the end she wrote:
This year was an immense blessing of God and it passed well!!
See!!
The same incidents but different viewpoints. If we ponder with this viewpoint that what could have happened more, we would truly become thankful to the Almighty.

Moral : In daily lives we must see that its not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

Stay Blessed

[NOV]

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[NOV]

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One day during his visit to London, King Jai Singh was walking in casual dress in Bond Street. He saw a Rolls Royce showroom and went inside to inquire about the Price and Features etc of their cars.

Considering him a just another Poor Indian citizen, showroom salesmen insulted him and almost showed him the way out of the showroom. After this insult, King Jai Singh came back to his Hotel room and asked his servants to call the showroom that King of ‪#‎Alwar_city‬ is interested in purchasing their few Cars.

After few hours King reached the Rolls Royce showroom again but with his full astonishing royal manner and in his royal costume. Until he reached the showroom there was already red carpet on the floor and all the salesmen were bent with respect. The King purchased all the six cars that they had at showroom at that time and paid full amount with delivery costs.

After reaching India, King ordered municipal department to use all those six Rolls Royce cars for cleaning and transporting city’s waste. World’s number one Rolls Royce cars were being used for transportation of City’s waste, the news spread all over the world rapidly and the reputation of Rolls Royce Company was in drains.

Whenever someone used to boast in Europe or America that he owned a Rolls Royce, people used to laugh saying, “which one? The same that is used in India for carrying the waste of the City?”

Due to such reputation damages, sales of Rolls Royce dropped rapidly and revenue of company owners started falling down. Then they sent a Telegram to the king in India for apologies and requested to stop transportation of waste in Rolls Royce cars. Not only this but they also offered Six new cars to king free of cost.

When King Jai Singh observed that Rolls Royce has learnt a lesson and they are sorry for their mistakes, king stopped using those cars for carrying wastes.

[NOV]

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man.. Even the plush comfort of the Air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and was still not entitled to Air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

'Are you from the software industry sir,' the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. '

'Thanks,' smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman... .. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

'You people always amaze me,' the man continued, 'You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.'

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. 'It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.'

For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Life cycle but restrained himself to a single statement. 'It is complex, very complex.'

'It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,' came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

'Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.'

He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point. 'Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized.

You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you Understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?'

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. 'You design and code such things.'

'I used to,' Vivek paused for effect, 'but now I am the Project Manager.'

'Oh!' sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, 'so your life is easy now.'

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, 'Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality'.

He continued, 'To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.'

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with Self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

My friend,' he concluded triumphantly, 'you don't know what it is to be in the Line of Fire'.

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization.

When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

'I know sir,..... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire......'

He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

'There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tri-colour at the top only 4 of us were alive.'

'You are a...?'

'I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.

He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded...

....his own personal safety came last, always and every time.'

'He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.'

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epic heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. 'It was nice meeting you sir.'

Vivek fumbled with the handshake.

This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tri-colour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute....

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS : The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awardeld the Param Vir Chakra, the nation's highest military award.

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“Love her …when she sips on your coffee or tea. She only wants to make sure it tastes just right for you.

Love her…when she asks you to play with the kids. She did not "make" them on her own.

Love her...when she is jealous. Out of all the men she can have, she chose you.

Love her…when she has annoying little habits that drives you nuts. You have them too.

Love her…when her cooking is bad. She tries.

Love her…when she looks dishevelled in the morning. She always grooms herself up again.

Love her…when she asks to help with the kids homework. She only wants you to be part of the home.

Love her...when she asks if she looks fat. Your opinion counts, so tell her she's beautiful.

Love her…when she looks beautiful. She's yours so appreciate her.

Love her...when she spends hours to get ready. She only wants to look her best for you.

Love her…when she buys you gifts you don't like. Smile and tell her it's what you've always wanted.

Love her…when she has developed a bad habit. You have many more and with wisdom and politeness you have all the time to help her change.

Love her…when she cries for absolutely nothing. Don't ask, tell her it’s going to be okay.

Love her…when she suffers from PMS. Buy chocolate, rub her feet and back and just chat to her (this works!).

Love her…when whatever you do is not pleasing. It happens and will pass.

Love her…when she stains your clothes. You needed a new shirt anyway.

Love her…when she tells you how to drive. She only wants you to be safe.

Love her…when she argues. She only wants to make things right for both.

Love her…she is yours. You don't need any other special reason!!!

All this forms part of a Woman's Character. Women are part of your life and should be treated as the Queen.

[NOV]

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[NOV]

Management Lesson :
One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house of a washer man.
The washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake.
The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson.
The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself.
The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.
Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.
Moral of the story: One must not engage in duties other than his own.

Now take a new look at the same story.
The washer man was like a typical top management corporate guy.
He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box.
He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night.
He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a research approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it.
Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and the donkey became his favorite pet.
The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well.
In the Appraisal the dog managed an "8".
The donkey was rated as "9".
Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around.
The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards.
Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a switch....
Moral of the story-Remains the same- "One must not engage in duties other than his own"

[NOV]

A bus full of passengers was traveling while suddenly the weather changed and there was a huge downpour and lightening all around.
They could see that the lightening would appear to come towards the bus and then go elsewhere.

After 2 or 3 horrible instances of being saved from lightening, the driver stopped the bus about fifty feet away from a tree and said -
"We have somebody in the bus whose death is a certainty today. Because of that person everybody else will also get killed today. Now listen carefully what I am saying. I want each person to come out of bus one by one and touch the tree trunk and come back. Whom so ever death is certain will get hit by the lightening and will die & everybody else will be saved".

They had to force the first person to go and touch the tree. He reluctantly got down from the bus and went and touched the tree. His heart leaped with joy when nothing happened and he was still alive.

This continued for rest of the passengers who were all relieved when they touched the tree and nothing happened.

When the last passenger's turn came, everybody looked at him with accusing eyes. That passenger was very afraid and reluctant since he was the only one left. Everybody forced him to get down and go and touch the tree.

With fear of death in mind, the last passenger walked to the tree and touched it.

There was a huge sound of thunder and the lightening came down and hit the bus - yes the lightening hit the bus, and killed each and every passenger inside the bus.

It was because of the presence of this last passenger that earlier the entire bus was safe and the lightening could not strike the bus.

[NOV]

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the water close to Japan has not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever.

The further the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring the fish. If the return trip took more time, the fish were not fresh. To solve this problem, fish companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer.

However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen fish and they did not like the taste of frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price. So, fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, they were tired, dull, and lost their fresh-fish taste.

The fishing industry faced an impending crisis!

But today, they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan.

How did they manage...?

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks but with a small shark. The fish are challenged and hence are constantly on the move. The challenge they face keeps them alive and fresh!

Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull....? Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active. If you are steadily conquering challenges, you are happy. Your challenges keep you energized.

Don’t create Success and revel in it in a state of inertia. You have the resources, skills and abilities to make a difference. Put a shark in your tank and see how far you can really go....

[NOV]

An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called -- and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady. He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found.....

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.
4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

.....Which goes to show that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning

[NOV]

A cruise ship met with an accident at sea.
On the ship was a pair of couple. After having made their way to the lifeboat, they realized that there was space for one person left. At this moment, the man pushed the woman behind him and jumped onto the lifeboat himself.

The lady stood on the sinking ship and shouted one sentence to her husband.

The teacher stopped and asked, "What do you think she shouted?"

Most of the students excitedly answered, "I hate you! I was blind!"

Now, the teacher noticed a boy who was silent throughout, she got him to answer and he replied, "Teacher, I believe she would have shouted - Take care of our child!"

The teacher was surprised, asking "Have you heard this story before?"

The boy shook his head, "Nope, but that was what my mum told my dad before she died to disease"

The teacher lamented, "The answer is right"

The cruise sunk, the man went home and brought up their daughter single-handedly.

Many years later after the death of the man, their daughter found his diary while tidying his belongings.

It turns out that when parents went onto the cruise ship, the mother was already diagnosed with a terminal illness. At the critical moment, the father rushed to the only chance of survival.

He wrote in his diary, "How I wish to sink to the bottom of the ocean with you, but for the sake of our daughter, I can only let you lie forever below the sea alone"

[NOV]

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[NOV]

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a r azor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

[NOV]

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Imagine for a moment what it would be like if no one showed up for your son’s 6th birthday.

He’s all excited, asking where everyone is.
And NO ONE, not one person, showed up.

That’s what happened to the family of this little boy in Osceola, Florida.

But don’t worry there is a great ending to this story.
Lets just say a lot of strangers, including firefighters and sheriff’s deputies all came and saved the day.
(And believe me, reading this story is going to make your Sunday)

I’ll explain these pictures in a moment.
But first the back story.

Glenn Buratti has epilepsy and a mild form of autism.
He recently turned 6.

But none of his classmates showed up for the party his family had planned.
His mother Asbhlee said:
“From the minute he woke up that day he wanted to know how many minutes until his friends came.
None of the kids’ parents RSVP’d, but I was still holding on to the hope that some of them would show up.
It never crossed my mind that it would be zero.”

She says her son started crying when she finally had to tell him that no one was coming.
She says:
“He’s really sensitive.”

Ashlee was really frustrated, so she went on a community Facebook page to vent.
She said:
“I know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is breaking for my son.
We invited his whole class (16 kids) over for his 6th birthday party today.
Not one kid came.”

But what happened next is one of those things that just helps restore your faith in people.

Instantly complete strangers started responding.

Ashlee says:
“One lady brought him a brand new bike.
One guy brought his camera and spent most his time snapping pictures of our family, which he gave to us.
It was just amazing.
The people who came out were so awesome.”

And then the Sheriff’s department and the Fire department heard about it.
And that’s where these pictures come in.
They let him sit in the drivers seat of a fire truck.
They brought presents for him to open.
And they let him sit on a police motorcycle.

Glenn’s father Jack was so touched he wrote this thank you on his Facebook page:
"Huge thank you to Osceola County Sheriff's Department, Osceola County Fire Rescue and Frank who owns Koffee Kup for coming to our house today for my son Glenn's Birthday.
He had such a great time!
Such an amazing thing for our local law enforcement and firefighters to do for us. Thank you to everyone involved."

I have no idea why NO ONE in Glenn’s class wanted to come to his party.

I’m sure they all had their reasons.
I'm sure they can all justify it.
But I sure wonder what they feel like now.

Happy Birthday Glenn.

Story courtesy of Charlie Reed/Osceola News-Gazette

[NOV]

My boss drove a luxury car everyday and it was my duty to greet him and to open the gates for him, as I worked as a watchman in his villa. But he never responded back to my greetings.

One day he saw me opening the garbage bags outside the villa in search for any left over food. But, as usual he never even looked at me, it was like as if he never saw anything!

The very next day I saw a paper bag at the same place, but it was clean and the food inside was covered well. It was fresh and good food like someone had just brought it from the supermarket. I didn't bother as to where it came from, I just took the paper bag and I was so happy about it.

Every day I found this paper bag at the same place with fresh vegetables and all that we needed for home. This became my daily routine. I was eating and sharing this food with my wife and kids.
I was wondering who this fool could be?! To forget his paper bag full of fresh food everyday.

One day there was a big problem in the villa and I was told that my boss has died. There were too many guests coming to the villa that day and I didn't get any food that day, so I thought that one of the guests must have taken it. But the same thing happened the 2nd day, the 3rd day and the 4th day.

It went on like this for a few weeks and I found it difficult to provide food for my family, so I decided to ask the wife of my boss for a raise in my salary or else I would quit my job as a watchman.

After I told her, she was shocked, and asked me, how come u never complained about your salary for the last 2 years? And why is this salary not enough for you now?!

I gave her so many excuses but she was never convinced! Finally in the end, I decided to tell her the truth, I told her the entire story of the bag of groceries, and as to how it was my daily provision.. She then asked me as to when this stopped? I told her after the death of her husband. And then I realised that I stopped seeing the paper bag immediately after the death of my boss.

Why didn't I ever think of this before? That it was my boss who was providing this for me? I guess it was because I never thought that a person who never replied to my greetings could ever be this generous!

His wife started to cry and I told her to please stop crying and that I'm really sorry that I asked for a raise, I didn't know that it was your husband who was providing me with the meals, il remain as a watchman and be happy to provide my service.

His wife told me, I'm crying because I've finally found the 7th person my husband was giving this bag full of food. I knew my husband was giving 7 people everyday, I had already found the 6 people, and all these days I was searching for the 7th person. And today I found out.

From that day onwards, I started to receive the bag full of food again, but this time his son was bringing it to my house and giving it to my hand. But whenever I thanked him, he never replied! Just like his dad!

One day, I told him THANK YOU in a very loud voice! He replied back to me to please not be offended when he doesn't reply, because he has a hearing problem, just like his dad!

Oh May God forgive us all, for we have all, as humans, judged another person without knowing the real story behind their actions.. May God forgive us all and guide us towards the right path in life.

[NOV]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/11060250_581677991974466_3934474833729781196_n.jpg ?oh=57d3527a749936666649791190664675&oe=55797FFA&__gda__=1433424678_2e1982e0bc19d40dfc5d13a11e138cf 4

[NOV]

Germany is a highly industrialized country. In such a country, many will think it’s people lead a luxurious life.

When we arrived at Hamburg, my colleagues walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young couple was having their meal. There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on the table. I wondered if such simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.

There were a few old ladies on another table. When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates.

As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us. When we left, there was still about one third of un-consumed food on the table.

When we were leaving the restaurant, the old ladies spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much food.

"We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind," my colleague told the old ladies.

The old ladies were furious. One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. After a while, a man in uniform from Social Security organisation arrived. Upon knowing what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Euro fine. We all kept quiet.

The officer told us in a stern voice, "Order what you can consume, money is yours but resources belong to the society. There are many others in the world who are facing shortage of resources. You have no reason to waste resources."

The mindset of people of this rich country put all of us to shame. We really need to reflect on this. We are from country which is very rich in resources. To save face, we order large quantity and also waste food when we give others a treat.

[aanaa]

.......


money is yours but resources belong to the society.

[NOV]

A Boy proposed his Girl-friend for Marriage…

Girl: Tell me..; who do you love most in this world..?
Boy: You, of course!
Girl: what am I to you?
Boy: The boy thought for a moment and looked intently in her eyes and said
“You are missing part of my heart”.

She smiled, and she accepted his proposal.
After their wedding, the couple had a sweet and happy life for a while. However, the youthful couple began to drift apart due to the busy schedule of life and the never-ending worries of daily problems, their life became difficult.

All the challenges posed by the harsh realities of life began to drift away deir dreams and love for each other. The couple began to have more quarrels and each quarrel became make their relation more worst.

One day, after the quarrel, the girl ran out of the house.
At the opposite side of the road, she shouted,
”You don’t love me…!!!”

The boy hated her childishness and out of impulse, said,
“May be, it was a mistake for us to be together..!!!”

You were never the missing part of my ____!!!”
Suddenly, she turned quiet and stood there for a long, while She regretted what he said but words spoken cant be taken back. With tears in her eyes, she went home to pack her things and Before leaving the house, she left a note for him..;

“If I’m really not the missing part of your love, let me go and search for some one who is..…
It is less painful this way… let us go on our separate ways and search for our own partners…!!”

Five years went by….
He never remarried but he had tried to find out about her life indirectly. She had left the country and was living her dreams.
He use to regret on what he did but never tried to bring her back. In the dark and lonely night, he lit his cigarette and felt the lingering ache in his heart. He couldn’t bring himself to admit that he was missing her.

One day, they finally met, At the airport, He was going away on a business trip. He saw her, She was standing there alone, with just the security door separating them.

She smiled at him gently.

Boy: How are you..?
Girl: I’m fine. How about you.., Have you found your heart’s missing part…?
Boy: No.
Girl: I’ll be flying to New York in the next flight.
Boy: I’ll be back in 2 weeks time. Give me a call when you are back, You know my number, Nothing has changed.
With a smile, she turned around and waved good-bye.
“Good-bye . . .”
Same evening he heard of a plane crash which was headed to New York. He tried to know about her and found that, She died.
Midnight… Once again, he lit his cigarette… And like before, he felt the lingering ache in his heart. He finally knew, she was that missing part that he had carelessly broken…!!!

“Sometimes, people say things out of moments of fury.

We take out our 99% frustrations at our loved ones, And even though we know that we ought to”think twice and act wisely”, we actually don’t do it. Things happen each day, many of which are beyond our control.”
Try not to hurt your loved once, because a moment of anger could be a lifetime punishment.

[NOV]

A young man went to seek an important position at a large printing company. He passed the initial interview and was going to meet the director for the final interview. The director saw his resume, it was excellent. And asked, '
- Have you received a scholarship for school?' The boy replied, " No '.
-' It was your father who paid for your studies? '
-' Yes.'- He replied.
-' Where does your father work? '
-' My father is a Blacksmith'
The Director asked the young to show him his hands.
The young man showed a pair of hands soft and perfect.
-' Have you ever helped your parents at their job? '
-' Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, he can do the job better than me.
The director said:
-' I have got a request: When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father and then come see me tomorrow morning.'

The young felt his chance to get the job was high.
When he returned to his house he asked his father if he would allow him to wash their hands.
His father felt strange, happy, but with mixed feelings and showed their hands to his son. The young washed his hands, little by little. It was the first time that he noticed his father's hands were wrinkled and they had so many scars. Some bruises were so painful that his skin shuddered when he touched them.
This was the first time that the young man recognized what it meant for this pair of hands to work every day to be able to pay for his study. The bruises on the hands were the price that he payed for their education, his school activities and his future.
After cleaning his father's hands the young man stood in silence and began to tidy and clean up the workshop. That night, father and son talked for a long time.

The next morning, the young man went to the office of the director.
The Director noticed the tears in the eyes of the young when He asked him: -' Can you tell me what you did and what you learned yesterday at your house?'
The boy replied: -' I washed my father's hands and when I finished I stayed and cleaned his workshop '
-' Now I know what it is to appreciate and recognize that without my parents , I would not be who I am today . By helping my father I now realize how difficult and hard it is to do something on my own. I have come to appreciate the importance and the value in helping the family.

The director said, "This is what I look for in my people. I want to hire someone who can appreciate the help of others , a person who knows the hardship of others to do things, and a person who does not put money as his only goal in life". ' You are hired '.

[NOV]

In 1987, a 74-year old rickshaw puller by the name of Bai Fangli came back to his hometown planning to retire from his backbreaking job. There, he saw children working in the fields, because they were too poor to afford school fees.

Bai returned to Tianjin and went back to work as a rickshaw puller, taking a modest accommodation next to the railway station. He waited for clients 24 hours a day, ate simple food and wore discarded second-hand clothes he found.

He gave all of his hard-earned earnings to support children who could not afford education.

In 2001, he drove his rickshaw to Tianjin YaoHua Middle School, to deliver his last installment of money. Nearly 90 years old, he told the students that he couldn't work any more. All of the students and teachers were moved to tears.

In total, Bai had donated a total of 350,000 yuan to help more than 300 poor students continue with their studies. In 2005, Bai passed away leaving behind an inspiring legacy.

If a rickshaw-puller who wore used clothes and had no education can support 300 children to go to school, imagine what you and I can do with the resources we have to bring about positive change in our world!

[NOV]

Field Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw once started addressing a public meeting at Ahmedabad in English.

The crowd started chanting, "Speak in Gujarati. We will hear you only if you speak in Gujarati." F

ield Marshal Sam Bahadur Maneckshaw stopped. Swept the audience with a hard stare and replied,
"Friends, I have fought many a battle in my long career. I have learned Punjabi from men of the Sikh Regiment; Marathi from the Maratha Regiment; Tamil from the men of the Madras Sappers; Bengali from the men of the Bengal Sappers, Hindi from the Bihar Regiment; and even Nepali from the Gurkha Regiment. Unfortunately there was no soldier from Gujarat from whom I could have learned Gujarati.".............

You could have heard a pin drop

[NOV]

“I must make a point to visit Amma this Mother's Day," Kannan thought. Although his mother was staying only about an hour's drive away, he could hardly find time to pay her a visit. There would always be some emergency to handle, some problems to look at, some work that needs to be done - the list was endless. Especially once the children began to arrive, one after another - all four of them.

“Sweetheart, we have run out of salt, please go over to the mart and get me two kilos,” Gomathy asked.

“Why do you do this all the time? Why didn’t you ask me earlier?" he grumbled to a wife who was no longer listening.
But there it was. His life was made up of errands, office, school, hospitals, supermarkets, etc.
“What a life, I should have remained a bachelor,” he continued grumbling.

This weekend was going to be hectic. The first Sunday in the month of May - Mother's Day. Kannan had already booked a table for an event to be held in conjunction with Mothers Day on Saturday. His children will definitely enjoy it. At least the children would be able to learn a thing or two about appreciation. Gomathy would be pleased that he had remembered and made an effort.

He had to get some gifts for the children to give their mother. If he didn't, he would have to face a glum Gomathy. Besides, he liked giving her gifts, even if they were through the children. He felt warmth at the thought of Gomathy's face lighting up as each present was opened.

That evening, after office hours, he bought four gifts, one from each child, got them wrapped and hid them in the boot of the car. It was little game they played every year. Gomathy would be certain that he would buy gifts, as she would for him on Father's day. But she would feign surprise. And that thought pleased him too. He was lucky to have such a loving family.

Saturday came and the day sped by. Soon it was time to leave for the event. True enough the children enjoyed every moment of it. There were games, sketches, cartoon-clips, songs, and not to mention the speeches. It was during one of the speeches, that one professor came on stage with a jug and some boxes. He posed a unique problem to the audience. He placed some stones in the jug to its brim and then faced the audience:

"Is the jug full?"

"Yes" everyone chorused.

"But no," he replied as he put some pebbles and shook the jug. The pebbles filled up some of the spaces between the stones.

"Now, is it full?"

"Not totally," the audience had warmed up to the professor's line of thinking.

He smiled and this time filled up with sand, taking up almost every millimeter of the space.

"What about now?"

The audience was quiet daring not to comment.

"There is still some space," he said smilingly, while now filling the jug with water, which it amazingly took.

"What can we learn from this exercise? You." He pointed at Kannan who was seated among the front tables.

With the spotlight on him, Kannan flushed before saying, "It probably means that there is always space for additional things."
The audience laughed.
"I know, I know," he continued, "It means that one can always find time for everything." he added victoriously.

"Not quite, my dear friend," the professor said. "It means that you have to put the larger items first, or you will never be able to get them inside at all."
"Prioritise." he emphasised.

Kannan was stunned. He thought of his mother.

He was quiet as he drove back home.
“Why are you silent all of a sudden?" Gomathy asked with concern.

“Nothing – it’s been a while since I visited Amma.”

“It’s okay. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Let’s visit her."

“Ok, we will go there for lunch tomorrow. But I didn’t buy any gift for Amma?”

“No shops will be open. It’s okay – buy her a cake.”

"Good idea," he agreed and upon reaching home, called his mother.

"Amma, how are you?"

“Why all of a sudden Kannan? I am fine. How are the children? Is Bhaskar still coughing? How is your blood pressure now? Are you taking medicine properly?”

“We are all fine Ammaa. I will come there with the family tomorrow and have lunch with you.”

“Come come. It has been a while,” happiness melted and crept through the telephone line.


“OK maa, we’ll talk later. Go to sleep now." Kannan slowly replaced the telephone.
“In spite of my being busy I didn’t forget to buy gifts for Gomathy and that too four gifts, but I totally forgot about Amma,” he thought guiltily.
He turned thoughtfully to his wife, who was busy changing the children's clothes. “Pack all the clothers tonight itself. We will leave immediately after breakfast.”

“Alright, but we must return early. There is school the next day.”

"Hmm," he grunted irritatingly.

The persistent ring of the telephone woke him up the next day. He glanced at the wall clock. Way past 8 o' clock! God, he had overslept. Next to him, oblivious to the telephone shrill, Gomathi was sleeping.
He rushed down the stairs to answer the phone.
"Hello," groggily.

"Hello Kanna. Did I wake you up?" she laughed. "What time are you coming?"

“In a while maa."

“OK, drive carefully.”

Chaos broke out over the house as one by one of the children got up. Gomathy started her chore of preparing the children while Kannan prepared to go to a nearby restaurant to get some breakfast. Just as he was leaving the phone rang again. It was his mother.

"Kanna. Will you be here by 11?"

“Why maa? Anything special?”

“No, nothing. I am cooking all your favourites. If I know what time you will be here, I will cook the rice so that it will be hot when you arrive.”

Kannan laughed. Typical of her to get excited. "I should be there by 12. Don’t trouble yourself too much. Just sardine and rasam would be fine for me.”

"Hmph! What nonsense. Cooking is not a problem for me. OK, I will see you soon."

"Okay maa."

Kannan left to buy breakfast. The cake shop wasn't open but the florist was.
“Why waste money on flowers? Might as well get her something worthwhile,” he thought.
By the time he was through with buying the breakfast and through the traffic, it was almost 10.00 am.

Midway through breakfast. His mother called again. “Haven’t you left yet?”

“Why are you calling so many time maa," beginning of irritation.

“No Kannaa, I just want to make sure that the rice is warm for you. Ok, I won’t call any more. Take your time and come.”

With a grimace, Kannan continued his breakfast.

BY the time, they left the house, it was after 11.30 am. Because of the late hour, he decided against buying the cake and instead planned to get a gift on a later date.
The drive was uneventful.
He reached his mother's house at about 12.30 pm.

“The rice would be cold and Amma will be annoyed," he chuckled to himself.

Surprisingly the door was closed. He knocked on the door a few times. He could hear the sound of the television. He knocked again, harder this time.
His father opened the door, ashen faced.

“Come Kanna. Your ammaa was waiting for you for a long time….”

"Where is amma?" Kannan asked a sudden fear grasping him.

"Go and see for yourself," his father pointed at his mother sitting there watching the TV, oblivious to his arrival.

"Amma," he approached. Gomathy and the children retreated to a corner, seeking each other out, unconsciously.

His mother's eyes were closed, like she was sleeping. But she was not.

"Appa, what happened?" Kannan's eyes darted to his father.

"Heart attack Kanna. Your ammaa has left us."

"Atthai" the cry of Gomathy.

Kannan was in a state of shock. Scenes of the florist, the bakery, fleeted across his mind, like images of conscience.

He touched his mother. Cold.

Ironically, the rice she cooked for him was still hot.

Have you visited your mother, lately?

[NOV]

A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner.

Father being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and trousers. Other diners watched him in disgust while his son was calm.

After he finished eating, his son who was not at all embarrassed, quietly took him to the wash room, wiped the food particles, removed the stains, combed his hair and fitted his spectacles firmly.

When they came out, the entire restaurant was watching them in dead silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that..

The son settled the bill and started walking out with his father.

At that time, an old man amongst the diners called out to the son and asked him, "Don't you think you have left something behind?".

The son replied, "No sir, I haven't".

The old man retorted, "Yes, you have! You left a lesson for every son and hope for every father".

The restaurant simply went silent...!

[NOV]

A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands.

Her mum came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mum one of your two apples?

The girl looked up at her mum for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one apple, and then quickly on the other.

The mum felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.

Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mum,and said: mummy, here you are. This is the sweeter one.

No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgement. Give others the privelege to explain themselves. What you see may not be the reality. Never conclude for others.

[NOV]

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdhi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought; he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

“Are you from the software industry sir,” the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

“You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. ”

“Thanks,” smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

“You people always amaze me,” the man continued, “You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.”

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naive ness demanded reasoning not anger. “It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.”

For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. “It is complex, very complex.”

“It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,” came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ”

Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.”

He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point.

“Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country.

Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?”

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.

“You design and code such things.”

“I used to,” Vivek paused for effect, “but now I am the Project Manager.”

“Oh!” sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over,

“So your life is easy now.”

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, “Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work.

Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality.

To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.”

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

“My friend,” he concluded triumphantly, “you don’t know what it is to be in the Line of Fire”

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

“I know sir…. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire…….”

He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

“There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night.

The enemy was firing from the top.

There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom.

In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive.”

“You are a…?”

“I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment.

But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.

On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker.

It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.

He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded… ….his own personal safety came last, always and every time.”

“He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir….I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.”

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop.

It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

“It was nice meeting you sir.”

Vivek fumbled with the handshake.

This hand… had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.


PS:- The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the nation’s highest military award.

[NOV]

I sit here at McDonalds, drinking a sprite. Okay, it's my third sprite. And the lady in the corner...waits. She's been here since before I got here. In walks a man with a small boy, maybe 3 years old if that. "You were supposed to be here an Hour ago." she says , slightly upset.

"Well I'm here and here he is." The man turns to walk out the door.

She says, "Hey do you have a couple dollars so I can get a cheeseburger? All I have is enough for his happy meal."

He looks around to see if anyone is watching. "F*** you, Starve." He says and walks out the door.

She just shakes her head and walks to the counter with the boy. She orders a happy meal for the boy. The teen at the counter tells her her card left a balance of 37 cents. She and the boy walk to her car where she digs and finds the change. \

She and the boy sit down with the happy meal, and she sets up his food and his tiny drink cup. She asks him if mommy can have a fry, to which he feeds her the one he just took a bite off of.(I kinda chuckled to myself.)

I walk to the soda machine and refill my cup, Powerade this time. And the teen from the counter is refiling the napkins. I hand him my debit card. And tell him to give her 2 doubles and a large fry and a large drink on me. I tell him not to tell her its from me.

I wrote a note on a napkin with my sharpie I use at work." Keep your head up and always push forward. You CAN. You WILL. smile emoticon" He brings me my debit card. Then walks back to the counter and takes the tray of food to her.

He says "This was bought for you".

"By who?"

"I'm not supposed to say, but it wasn't me." he says and walks back to the counter.

She reads the note on the napkin as tears start to roll down her cheeks. She fills the drink cup and starts to eat. The child trades her a chicken nugget, for a bite of the burger.(I chuckle again.)

After they both finish their meal, they start to leave. They walk passed me sitting here and I smile at the boy and look at her and she whispers "thank you"

I whisper back "for what?"

She smiles. I wink. I look down at the boy and I say have a good day.

[NOV]

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups, and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard.

As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt tug on his overalls.

He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket,
he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've
got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?"

"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly!" he called.

Out from the doghouse and down ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.

The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed
something else stirring inside the doghouse.

Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller.

Down the ramp it slid. Then in a awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....

"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.

The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.

Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.

"How much?" asked the little boy.

"No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

[NOV]

Once a group of 500 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each person a balloon. Each person was then asked to write their name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

The people were then let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written on it within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.

At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon.
Then, the speaker asked each person to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The speaker then began, "This is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.

Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life...the pursuit of happiness."

[NOV]

THE VICIOUS CIRCLE


The boss calls his secretary and says: “Get ready for the weekend, we are going on a business trip.”

The secretary calls her husband & says: “My boss and I are going on a business trip for the weekend.”

The husband calls his girlfriend & says: “My wife is going on a business trip. Come to the house, we can have fun.”

The girlfriend calls the boy to whom she gives tuition: “No tuition this weekend.”

The boy calls his grandfather: “Grandpa, I have no tuition, we can spend the weekend together.”

Grandpa (the boss) calls his secretary & says: “Our business trip has to be cancelled. I am going to spend the weekend with my grandson.”

The secretary calls husband: “I won’t be going”

The husband calls his girlfriend: “I am sorry but my wife is not going.”

The girlfriend calls boy: “Tuition is on.”

Boy calls his grandpa & says: “Sorry grandpa, I’ve classes”

The boss calls the secretary and says, "We're going...!"

The circle continues!