Life!!

The Oyster

2006-08-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

There once was an oyster whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand had got into his shell.
It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain
For oysters have feelings although they're so plain.

Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate
that brought him to such a deplorable state?
Did he curse at the government, cry for election,
And claim that the sea should have given him protection?

No- he said to himself as he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it I shall try to improve it.
Now the years have rolled around, as the years always do.
And he came to his ultimate destiny: stew.

And the small grain of sand that had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.
Now the tale has a moral, for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do if we'd only begin
with some of the things that get under our skin

Speaking Photograph!

2006-07-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Basket of Water!

2006-07-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

An old man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Quran.

His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, "Baba, I try to read the Quran just like you but I don't understand it,

and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?"

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told,

but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out of the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back o the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, "See Baba, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It
had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

"Son, that's what happens when you read the Quran. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of God in our lives."

"We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Forgive & forget. Love one and all.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them". -- Mother Teresa

Never take some one for granted,Hold every person Close to your Heart because you might wake up one day and realise that you have lost a diamond while you were too busy collecting stones."
Remember this always in life.

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The world is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think!
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I Went to Party Mom!

2006-07-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom
So I had a sprite instead.

I felt proud of myself,
The way you said I would,
That I didn't drink and drive,
Though some friends said I should.

I made a healthy choice,
And your advice to me was right,
The party finally ended,
And the kids drove out of sight.

I got into my car,
Sure to get home in one piece,
I never knew what was coming, Mom
Something I expected least.

Now I'm lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk,
Mom, his voice seems far away.

My own blood's all around me,
As I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
This girl is going to die.

I'm sure the guy had no idea,
While he was flying high,
! Because he chose to drink and drive,
Now I would have to die.

So why do people do it, Mom
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
Like a hundred stabbing knives.

Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom
Tell daddy to be brave,
And when I go to heaven,
Put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.

Someone should have taught him,
That it's wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I'd still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom
I'm getting really scared.
These are my final moments,
And I'm so unprepared.

I wish that you could hold me Mom,
As I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say, "I love you, Mom!"
So I love you and good-bye .

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"If you want something you never had, do something you have never done."

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Ungodly Barriers!

2006-07-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

After the huge response of people on the previous article of Barkha Dutt....I'd love to give U all another one of her superb articles! U Rock mam!!!

Barkha Dutt
Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7
Friday, July 7, 2006:(New Delhi)

We made the generals feel like geriatrics-old men with old ideas-when they dared to suggest that the soldiers liked going stag.

Our outrage pushed the Defence Minister into declaring that India's Army was ready to change with the times-women could be considered for combat.

And the anger spawned some unlikely paratroopers against prejudice - it was Sushma Swaraj who led the battle from the frontline. Indian women, it seemed were ready to storm any frontier.

Not quite. Not at all.

In the India of 2006, a temple described as an "unmatched instance of religious tolerance" keeps women firmly outside the circle of benign benediction, at least women between the ages of 10-50.

An array of excuses is provided by the influential temple board that controls the hill shrine of Sabarimala: - Lord Ayyappa was a bachelor god who made the hill top his home after a vow of celibacy; the eight kilometer arduous trek through the thick forests surrounding the hill isn't suitable for women; the forty-one day penance before the pilgrimage is far too strenuous for them; allowing women to mix with the millions of male pilgrims would create a "law and order" problem; and menstrual blood would stain the sacred spirit.

So, we will fight for the right of women to fly fighter jets; we will argue that women can jump into trenches, march up mountains and brave bullets; and we will bark at the suggestion that our monthly period is a biological barrier to physical equality.

But when it comes to Religion, we will silently accept the tyranny of tradition.

Look at the absurdity of the most recent controversy. An astrological invocation declared that the deity was distressed, among other things by the presence of women in the inner sanctorum of the temple. A yester year heroine "confessed" that she had violated rules and managed to sneak in, and touch the idol's feet, nineteen years ago, way back in 1987. She then asked for "forgiveness."

Temple authorities do not think saying sorry is quite enough; legal action is being threatened against the actress, and a "corrective purifying ritual" is being unveiled.

The astrologers have a master plan for how to cleanse the soul and spirit of the soiled temple-a temple pond will be built; the deity will be dressed up in new ornaments; all commercial establishments will be removed from the complex. All this will take two years and many lakhs of rupees to accomplish, but at least God will be happy again, and the temple scrubbed clean of the lingering shadow of female presence.

Isn't it strange that not a single woman politician of worth has spoken up against the institutionalized discrimination? Even more ominous is their silence at the obvious subtext of the controversy- menstruation is a bad word; a bodily shame that must be isolated and contained.

Isn't it a matter of some irony that this has unfolded in a state governed by non-believers? The Marxists, scornful of religion and rituals by definition, have simply chosen to look the other way, saying it was for the temple to set its own rules.

This despite the fact that the temple is partially funded by public money-the State of Kerala gives the temple board eighty lakh rupees every year in grants. Surely that makes the temple accountable to basic constitutional standards of equality?

And what about ordinary people? You and me; how do we feel? Some of the arguments I have heard are bewildering and even more problematic than the non-response of the political establishment. Our own newsroom erupted into a fierce debate over my proclamation that this was a temple of prejudice and should be reported as such. It all came down to a few familiar debating points.

The first and foremost is the assertion that Sabarimala is perhaps the most inclusive of all temples in India; that it dares to break down the entrenched caste hierarchy by throwing open its doors to men of all castes; even Non-Hindus are allowed in, the temple does not discriminate on the basis of religion, unlike say, the Puri Jagannath Temple, where even Indira Gandhi was not allowed to worship after she married a Parsi.

So yes, the temple is less rooted in bias and relatively more enlightened than many others. But does one sort of progressiveness obliterate another kind of prejudice? If we are appalled by temples that close their compounds to Dalits, we have a right to be just angry at a temple that denies women the right to worship.

One right doesn’t erase another wrong, and to be so selective in our outrage is to me a twisted sort of political correctness. It's a bit like saying that the Indian army is more secular, honest and incorruptible than any other public institution, so when we accuse it of being bigoted against women, we are unfair and incorrect.

Fact is, both are simultaneously true. And so it is with Sabarimala.

Some see the criticism of the temple's no-woman policy as "Hindu-bashing". Would I have reacted just as vociferously if the controversy had erupted in another Faith? The implication in the accusation is obvious-in India, liberals like myself steer clear of pronouncements on minority religions.

Not true.

I would feel just as strongly about the rights of Muslim women to be Imams; Christian women to be priests; and Sikh women to perform the seva at the Golden Temple. Nor do I buy the argument that people like myself have no right to take a position on matters of faith, since we are essentially too far removed from the world of the believing; too urban and deracinated to have an informed understanding.

Admittedly I'm not religious and my relationship with God is a deeply personal one. But does that mean that I cannot take a position in demanding certain absolute values of equality; values that should and must rise above the specifics of region, religion or race?

Change is always resisted; never accepted easily and rarely smooth. No wonder then that all across the world the mostly-male practitioners of religion are facing pretty much the same sort of challenges; the wall of obscurantism they have erected between God and ordinary believers is being chipped away at, bit by bit.

Are we, in India, going to remain silent?

Meaning of Alphabets!

2006-07-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

A void negative sources, people, things and habits.

B elieve in yourself.

C onsider things from every angle.

D on't give up and don't give in.

Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.

Family and Friends are hidden treasures. Seek them and enjoy their riches.

G ive more than you planned to give.

H ang on to your dreams.

Ignore those who try to discourage you.

J ust do it!

K eep on trying, no matter how hard it seems.

I t will get better.

L ove yourself first and foremost.

M ake it happen.

N ever lie, cheat or steal. Always strike a fair deal.

Open your eyes and see things as they really are.

Practice makes perfect.

Q uitters never win and winners never quit.

R ead, study and learn about everything important in life.

S top Procrastination.

T ake control of your own destiny.

U nderstand yourself in order to understand others.

Visualize it.

Want it more than anything.

X ccelerate your efforts.

Y ou are unique, nothing can replace you.

Zero in on your target, and go for it!!

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"All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive, fattening or married to someone else!"
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Interview!

2006-07-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

One big company was hiring new staff, the question of the written exam
was:

You are driving a car on one big storm night, you are passing a station,
there are three people who are waiting for the bus;
one old lady who is dying, one doctor who saved your life before,
one man/woman who is someone you have been dreaming to be with.

You can only take one passenger, which one you will choose? Please
explain.

Normal reason:
I am not sure whether it is some kind of personality test, since every
answer has its reason.
* Old lady is going to die, you should save her first, however,
old people always end up dying anyway,
* you should take the doctor, because the doctor saved my life
before, this is the perfect chance to pay him back.
* At the same time, some people believe that you can always pay
the doctor back in the future, but you may never be able to find the
perfect lover once you pass this chance.

The Final Result:

Within the two hundred candidates, the one who has been hired did not
explain his answer, he simply stated that
"Give the car key to the doctor, let the doctor take the old lady to the
hospital and I stay to wait for the bus with the lady of my dream!

" Everyone I know think the above answer is the best answer, but there
is no one (including myself) can think of this answer first.
Is that because we never want to give up any advantage that we hold in
our hands (the car key)? Sometimes, we would gain more if we were able
to give up our stubbornness, limitations, and advantages.

An Article U shouldn't miss!

2006-07-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Barkha Dutt
Managing Editor, NDTV 24x7

Saturday, June 24, 2006:

One of the most awkward - and yet, strangely compelling - things about journalism is that sometimes your work makes you hold a mirror to your own life.

This past week, a quiet, but determined 16-year-old became an unexpected reflection of my education.

I have always believed that my school and college years were the first architects of my personality; like every middle-class Indian, I take pride in where I studied and what I was taught. And yet, the gentle idealism of this young girl made me pause to wonder: Had my public-school education been shamefully elitist?

At first, the story seemed straightforward enough. Garima Godara, a CBSE topper, with an astonishing 97.6 per cent had taken the entrance exam for the Delhi
Public School (Dwarka), the school closest to her village.

The daughter of a police constable who earned less than Rs 6,000 a month, the school's fees would have been a problem. But the family was undeterred; perhaps there would be a scholarship or a loan; surely the school would be keen to admit the girl who had topped the national capital's merit list.

Garima's proud father had spent months battling the entrenched patriarchy of his peers, fending off nosy neighbours who gossiped about why she didn't spend enough time in the kitchen. Now, he was even more determined to give his daughter the best education her marks could buy.

This could have been the story of New India and its emerging, self-made middle class; a proud milestone for a country that dares to dream.

Instead, here's what happened: DPS turned her down. Her results were good, it conceded. But marks aren't everything, said the school principal to NDTV, and
besides, her English was poor, and just didn't cut the grade.

Later, listening to Garima in the studio, it was hard not to feel both angry and moved. Angry because of the obvious injustice: not only was she as bright as her results indicated; there was nothing about her spoken English that suggested that she would have been unable to keep pace with the syllabus.

Yes, she spoke with a regional accent that some would consider insufficiently sophisticated. But there was no doubt that she could not only follow a complex argument, she could also make herself understood to any English speaker.

But it was her calm that was almost heart breaking; a quiet courage that belied her teen years. It was almost as if we were more outraged and indignant than she was. During the course of the programme, a principal from a well-known school in Dehradun called in, offering her admission and a scholarship; others promised to
get DPS to change its mind.

But betraying only the slightest sense of hurt, she said firmly that her aim now was to show DPS that she would do better than any of its students. She had already got herself admitted to another school, and DPS could quite simply, take a walk.

As she spoke, viewers clearly shared my anger. The online poll showed that 90 per cent of viewers believed that the English language exerted a disproportionate influence over the education system.

Yet, were we all being hypocritical and dishonest? This time it was DPS under the microscope, but were any of us any different?

Let's say she continued to do outstandingly well in school. The next stage would be college. I pictured her trying to take the entrance interview at my old college, Delhi's St Stephen's. Would she get in? And even if she made the cut, how would other students react to her presence? Would they admire her for her academic brilliance? Or would they snigger at her accent, titter each time she made a grammatical error and then, melt away, leaving her alone to find her own friends?

Garima's story is a metaphor for India's twisted tryst with the future. I learnt after the programme was over - and it is significant that neither she nor her parents brought this up themselves - that she is an OBC.

For some months now, as the debate over reservation has raged, opponents of the quotas have made the same point again and again: we should be a society where merit matters. It's a compelling argument, and one that I have personally supported.

But what do the anti-quota street fighters have to say now? Here's a girl who competed in the mainstream, her own Hindi medium DAV pitched against the trendier, richer, big names. But her merit was swallowed up by prejudice.

Is it any wonder then that supporters of reservation believe that the system is stacked against them, and that merit is a con-word used by upper-caste tricksters?

Her story is also a scathing comment on the class divide in India. It is fashionable for marketeers and economists to talk about the burgeoning middle class. Each day a new figure is conjured up to demonstrate the size of the Indian market, and the clout of the new middle class; is it 250 million this week or has it already reached 300 million?

We embrace these statistics, because we like the idea of India as this century's favourite financial destination. We feel flattered when Time magazine puts our country on its cover, and we talk glibly, especially to foreigners, of social mobility and how the gap between the rich and poor is closing; we argue that India's tomorrow is being built by its industrious and enterprising middle class, and we feel like the future is unfolding, right here and right now.

But here's what we never admit. We're just the worst sorts of snobs.

The social mobility of the last decade has meant that the new middle class does not consist of people like us. Instead, it is made up of people like Garima, who we still find excuses to exclude; we sneer at their lack of Westernized sophistication; make fun of their accents, and we try and ensure that our children have nothing to
do with theirs.

Finally, Garima's story exposes India's paradoxical relationship with the English-language. Nobody in the world speaks English like us. We have our own idioms, our own words and our own accents.

We pretend to love our own English and brag about how it is India's great selling point; the reason we dominate the global outsourcing business. But of course deep down we know that our English is not the English that the West really wants. And so, each time we talk to Britons or Americans, we subtly alter our diction and
inflection.

When we set up our call centers, we drop the subtlety entirely and start accent classes to teach our young people to abandon the speech patterns of our own society
and to migrate to a virtual, linguistic middle America, where they become impersonators of people they will never meet and never know.

But within India, we still treat our own English as the great social decider. We laugh at regional accents, smirk at those who make grammatical errors and feel most at home with those who talk like us.

Everyone else belongs on the other side of the English divide. And as it turns out, the other side of the class and caste divide as well.

Maybe we cling so tightly to this tiny community because secretly we are just insecure. Outside of our little bubble, India is changing. Every major institution in recent times - Parliament, the bureaucracy, the military, our colleges and schools - is being forced to re-write the rules.

A new breed of Indians who no longer look towards the West for self-affirmation, is making its presence felt. We like to call this a decline in quality. But actually, it's the rest of India waiting to get in.

How long are we going to keep the gates shut?

Contributed by:
Pramod Bhave

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Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults!!!
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The Room!

2006-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is so far one of the best story I've ever read! The story was sent to my by my friend Tejagna. I know that the story has a religious touch but to whichever religion you belong.....just feel the article like it was from Ur own religion.....after all we all are made by one God!!!!

The story behind the story " The Room " 17-year-old Brian Moore had to write something for a class. The subject was what Heaven was like. "I wowed 'em." He later told his father, Bruce."It's a killer, It's the bomb. It's the best thing I've ever written." It also as the last. Brian's parents had forgotten about the essay when a cousin found it while cleaning out the boy's locker at his High School. Brian had been dead only hours, but his parents desperately wanted every piece of his life near them... notes from classmates and teachers, his homework, anything. Only two months before, he had handwritten the essay about encountering Jesus in a file room full of cards detailing every moment of the teen's life. But it was only after Brian's death that Beth and Bruce Moore realized that their son had described his view of heaven. It makes such an impact that people want to share it. ''You feel like you are there," Mr. Moore said. Brian Moore died while driving home from a friend's house when his car went off the road and struck a utility pole. He emerged from the wreck unharmed but stepped on downed power line and was electrocuted . "I think God used him to make a point. I think we were meant to find it and make something out of it, " Mrs. Moore said of the essay. She and her husband want to share their son's vision of life after death. "I'm happy for Brian. I know he's in heaven. I know I'll see him again, someday.

The Room

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries hat list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endless in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I have liked." I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a crude catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn't match. A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files and exploring their content. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching. A file named "Friends" was next to one marked "Friends I have betrayed." The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. "Books I Have Read," "Lies I Have Told," "Comfort I have Given," "Jokes I Have Laughed at." Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: "Things I've yelled at my brothers." Others I couldn't laugh at: "Things I Have Done in My Anger" "Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents." I never ceased to be surprised by the contents. Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped. I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the life I had lived. Could it be possible that I had the time in my years to write each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed this truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature. When I pulled out the file marked " TV Shows I have watched ," I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards
were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn't found the end of the file. I shut it, shamed, not so much by the quality of shows but more by the vast time. I knew that file represented. When I came to a file marked "Lustful Thoughts," I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke on me. One thought dominated my mind: No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room! I have to destroy them!" In insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn't matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor, I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it. Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it. The title bore "People I Have Shared the Gospel With." The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than
three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand. And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that they hurt. They started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key. But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him. No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn't bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one? Finally He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn't anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn't say a word. He just cried with me. Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card. "No!" I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was "No, no," as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn't be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written with His blood. He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don't think I'll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. He placed His hand on my shoulder and said, "It is finished." I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Contributed by:
Tejagna Amin

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Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults!!!
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Ur the master of ur own destiny...

2006-06-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there were 2 brothers who lived on the 80th floor of a tall building.

On coming home one day they realized, to their dismay, that the lifts were not working and that they would 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...
By the time they had struggled to the 40th level, they had gone
sufficiently mad and were irritated. 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 had 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. They then realized that the key was in their bags, which were left on the 20th floor...

This story is a reflection on our life and times. All of us climb the
tall building called career... some till the 80(superscript: th) floor and some less. But do we know that the key to happiness is in the bag,which has been left back on the 20th floor? Know your dreams and follow it so that you will not live with regrets.

If the chariot of your life is driven by the steeds of ambition, make sure the reins of your life are held by the hands of joy.

Points to ponder:
Agreed...reaching to 80th floor is very important for being happy, more satisfied but we mostly ignoring the essence of happiness, satisfaction....work hard to reach high...work harder to remain happy..
In my own view...Happiness is not the destination but a journey...and we need to walk through till our lives....

contributed by
PRAMOD BAHVE

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Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults!!!
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Worth Reading

2006-06-04T01:17:00.000-07:00

This is the story of Robby. He was a young boy who lived with his elderly mother. His mother wanted him to learn how to play the piano because she longed to hear her son play for her. She sent her son to a piano teacher who took Robby in under her guidance. However, there was one small problem because Robby was not musically inclined and therefore was very slow in learning. The teacher did not have much faith in the boy because of his weakness. The mother was very enthusiastic and every week she would send
Robby to the teacher.

One day Robby stopped attending the piano lessons. The teacher thought that he had given up and in fact she was quite pleased since she did not give much hope to Robby. Not long after, the piano teacher was given the task to organize a piano concert in town. She sent out circulars to invite the students and public to attend the event. Suddenly, she received a call from Robby who offered to take part in the concert. The teacher told Robby that
he was not good enough and that he was no longer a student since he had stopped coming for lessons. Robby begged her to give him a chance and promised that he would not let her down.

Finally, she gave in and she put him to play last, hoping that he will change his mind at the last minute. When the big day came, the hall was packed and the children gave their best performance. Finally, it was Robby's turn to play and as his name was announced, he walked in. He was not in proper attire and his hair was not properly groomed. The teacher was really nervous since Robby's performance could spoil the whole evening's brilliant performance. As Robby started playing the crowd became silent and was amazed
at the skill of this little boy. In fact, he gave the best performance of the evening. At the end of his presentation the crowd and the piano teacher gave him a standing ovation. The crowd asked Robby how he managed to play so brilliantly. With a microphone in front of him, he said, "I was not able to attend the weekly piano lessons as there was no one to send me because my mother was sick with cancer. She just passed away this morning and I wanted her to hear me play. You see, this is the first time she is able to hear me play because when she was alive she was deaf and now I know she is listening to me. I have to play my best for her!"

SUCCESS PRINCIPLES
This is indeed a touching story of love and excellence. When you have a passion and a reason to do something, you will surely excel. You may not be talented or gifted but if you have a strong enough reason to do something, you will be able to tap into your inner God given potential.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE
"Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it."

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"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."
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<><><><> 101Romantic Ideas <><><><>

2006-06-04T01:15:00.000-07:00

Remember to say "I love you" and "I need you" often.
Walk hand in hand in the rain.
Write a love poem.
Call a radio station and dedicate a favorite song.
Write "I Love You" in lipstick or shaving cream on the mirror.
Hide love notes in a lunch box, briefcase or purse.
Make heart-shaped cinnamon toast for breakfast.
Place a love note in the personals section of the newspaper.
Take a carriage ride around the city.
Plan a surprise getaway.
Do your mate's household chores.
Write notes on future dates in their date book ("I love you," I miss you," etc.)
Make reservations at a favorite restaurant.
Let them choose the movie.
Give a foot massage.
Make a heart-shaped bookmark, and place it in their book.
Pop in a romantic music CD and slow dance.
Throw a just-because surprise party for two.
Buy a stuffed animal for your honey.
Read each other's horoscopes.
Make a list of the top 10 things you love about your partner.
Display it in a prominent place.
Tattoo your mate's name on your body.
Make an album or scrapbook of your favorite memories together.
Go camping together and only take one sleeping bag.
Send a mushy message in a bottle...a balloon...a sandwich...
Cut out a silly cartoon that you know they'd enjoy.
Shower together.
Dim the lights, and snuggle together on the couch.
Be the first to say "I'm sorry" and kiss and make up.
Give each other a full-body massage.
Kiss every hour on the hour all day long.
Send a gift basket of indulgent items.
Write "I'm hot for you" in the steam on the bathroom mirror.
Ribbon wrap your bed with a big bow.
Fill up the gas tank of your partner's car.
Act like teenagers. Maybe even pierce something!
Show up with a bouquet of flowers -- for no reason at all.
Play Scrabble together, using as many "love" words as you can.
Run a warm bubble bath for your partner, with lots of lit candles.
Meet in the park for a picnic.
Hold hands.
Leave a trail of rose petals through the house, leading to a romantic candlelight dinner.
Make a donation in your mate's name to a special cause or charity.
Pick up their clothes from the floor -- without saying a word about it.
Watch an old black and white romantic movie and share a bowl of popcorn.
Reenact your first date.
Surprise your partner with tickets to a special event.
An unexpected hug can brighten any day.
Buy a silly, impromptu gift.
Send an email just to say "I'm thinking of you."
Bring home a balloon bouquet.
Serve breakfast in bed.
Make an ornament with a picture of both of you for the Christmas tree.
Play tag.
Wash and wax your partner's car, and leave a little note on the dashboard.
Plant a garden together.
Leave a mushy message on voicemail.
Stay at a hotel for the night, just because.
Make angels in the snow.
Every time you say "hello" or "goodbye", seal it with a hug and a kiss.
Take a drive in the country.
Spend the evening looking at the stars -- and make a wish together.
Cast a playful wink any time, anywhere.
Think up a list of silly little pet names for times when you're alone together.
Read poetry to each other.
Celebrate your half-birthdays together.
Put a picture of both of you in your wallet.
Buy that favorite book or CD for no reason at all.
Send a care package to work filled with treats like food, photos, candy, a love note, heart-shaped confetti, etc.
Go out for the evening and tell people you're on your honeymoon.
Take a hike together and carve your initials in a tree.
Write a thank you note for all the things you take for granted.
Make a fire in the fireplace and roast marshmallows.
Tape your favorite TV show and spend the evening talking.
Do the dishes together, then apply hand lotion to each other's hands.
Write a love letter to your partner and cut it into jigsaw puzzle pieces.
Decide on secret signals and use them to communicate with each other in large groups of people.
Schedule a regular mid-week "date night" for just the two of you.
Do the laundry together.
Romance Theater Weekend: reenact each other's favorite love scene - hers on Friday, his on Saturday.
Call your partner at work and ask for a date.
Pretend you haven't seen each other for a month. Act accordingly.
Send a written invitation to do something special.
Take turns reading to each other.
Stand outside the window and sing a romantic song.
Hide favorite candy in your partner's coat pockets.
Put a tape recording of your voice (saying anything) in the car stereo and turn it on so it plays when the car starts.
Go to a drive-in movie.
Get up to turn off the last light after you're both comfy-cozy in bed.
Hold each other tight during a thunderstorm.
Make a tape recording of favorite love songs.
Leave a bunch of bananas on the kitchen table with a note, "I go bananas over you!"
Hide love notes in a magazine.
Declare your undying love via a telegram.
Make a romantic dinner together, and serve it on your finest china.
Surprise your partner with a big kiss on the neck.
Give unexpected compliments.
Share an ice cream cone.
Have a picnic on the living room floor.
Draw a silly picture of the two of you. Frame it.

12 Ways 2 b happy

2006-06-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

12 Ways To Be Happy:

1. Make up your mind to be happy.
Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances.
No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people.

4. You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you.

5. Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.

6. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.

7. Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.

8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy, Avoid people who make you unhappy.

9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places.

10. Don't hold postmortems. Don't spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things.

11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

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Blaming your faults on your nature does not change the nature of your faults!!!
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Chanakya's quotations- (part 1)

2006-06-04T01:00:00.002-07:00

Chanakya
(Indian Politician, strategist and Writer, 350 BC-275 BC)

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
A man is great by deeds, not by birth.
The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.
Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.
As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.
Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."
God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."
There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.
The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.
Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.
A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.
A good wife is one who serves her husband in the morning like a mother does, loves him in the day like a sister does and pleases him like a prostitute in the night.
Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.
Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn
sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."
Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.
Whores don't live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don't build nests on
a tree that doesn't bear fruits.
Save your wealth against future calamity.
Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
Do not put your trust in a bad companion nor even trust an ordinary friend, for if he should get angry with you, he may bring all your secrets to light.
There is no disease (so destructive) as lust; no enemy like infatuation; no fire like wrath; and no happiness like spiritual knowledge.
The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.
Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and the of a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.
Water is the medicine for indigestion; it is invigorating when the food that is eaten is well digested; it is like nectar when drunk in the middle of a dinner; and it is like poison when taken at the end of a meal.
Knowledge is lost without putting it into practice; a man is lost due to ignorance; an army is lost without a commander; and a woman is lost without a husband.
The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
Even a pandit comes to grief by giving instruction to a foolish disciple, by maintaining a wicked wife, and by excessive familiarity with the miserable.
One should save his money against hard times, save his wife at the sacrifice of his riches, but invariably one should save his soul even at the sacrifice of his wife and riches.
Do not say, ""What fear has a rich man of calamity?"" When riches begin to forsake one even the accumulated stock dwindles away.
Do not inhabit a country where you are not respected, cannot earn your livelihood, have no friends, or cannot acquire knowledge.
A wise man should marry a virgin of a respectable family even if she is deformed. He should not marry one of a low-class family, through beauty. Marriage in a family of equal status is preferable.
Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts with claws or horns, women, and members of a royal family.
Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.
Let not a single day pass without your learning a verse, half a verse, or a fourth of it, or even one letter of it; nor without attending to charity, study and other pious activity.
Fondle a son until he is five years of age, and use the stick for another ten years, but when he has attained his sixteenth year treat him as a friend.
For the moon, though one, dispels the darkness, which the stars, though numerous, can not."
Consider again and again the following: the right time, the right friends, the right place, the right means of income, the right ways of spending, and from whom you derive your power.
The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
To wake at the proper time; to take a bold stand and fight; to make a fair division (of property) among relations; and to earn one's own bread by personal exertion are the four excellent things to be learned from a cock.
Union in privacy (with one's wife); boldness; storing away useful items; watchfulness; and not easily trusting others; these five things are to be learned from a crow."
Although an ass is tired, he continues to carry his burden; he is unmindful of cold and heat; and he is always contented; these three things should be learned from the ass.
A wise man should not reveal his loss of wealth, the vexation of his mind, the misconduct of his own wife, base words spoken by others, and disgrace that has befallen him.
The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.
By preparing a garland for a Deity with one's own hand; by grinding sandal paste for the Lord with one's own hand; and by writing sacred texts with one's own hand -- one becomes blessed with opulence equal to that of Indra.
All the creatures are pleased by loving words; and therefore we should address words that are pleasing to all, for there is no lack of sweet words.
One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.
He whose son is obedient to him, whose wife's conduct is in accordance with his wishes, and who is content with his riches, has his heaven here on earth.
Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.

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If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~

Chanakya's quotations - (part 3)

2006-06-04T01:00:00.001-07:00

Chanakya
(Indian Politician, strategist and Writer, 350 BC-275 BC)

Residing in a small village devoid of proper living facilities, serving a person born of a low family, unwholesome food, a frowning wife, a foolish son, and a widowed daughter burn the body without fire.
What good is a cow that neither gives milk nor conceives? Similarly, what is the value of the birth of a son if he becomes neither learned nor a pure devotee of the Lord?
We should not grieve when we must inevitably part company from our dear ones.
By going to the den of a lion pearls from the head of an elephant may be obtained; but by visiting the hole of a jackal nothing but the tail of a calf or a bit of the hide of an ass may found.
The rain water enlivens all living beings of the earth both movable (insects, animals, humans, etc.) and immovable (plants, trees, etc.), and then returns to the ocean it value multiplied a million fold."
A man who encounters the following three is unfortunate; the death of his wife in his old age, the entrusting of money into the hands of relatives, and depending upon others for food.
Generosity, pleasing address, courage and propriety of conduct are not acquired, but are inbred qualities.
Popularity: "He who is not shy in the acquisition of wealth, grain and knowledge, and in taking his meals, will be happy"
Kings speak for once, men of learning once, and the daughter is given in marriage once. All these things happen once and only once."
Poverty, disease, sorrow, imprisonment and other evils are the fruits borne by the tree of one's own sins.
Wealth, a friend, a wife, and a kingdom may be regained; but this body when lost may never be acquired again."
We should secure and keep the following: the blessings of meritorious deeds, wealth, grain, the words of the spiritual master, and rare medicines. Otherwise life becomes impossible.
It is ruinous to be familiar with the king, fire, the religious preceptor, and a woman. To be altogether indifferent
of them is to be deprived of the opportunity to benefit ourselves, hence our association with them must be from a safe distance.
I do not deserve that wealth which is to be attained by enduring much suffering, or by transgressing the rules of virtue, or by flattering an enemy.
He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.
There are many ways of binding by which one can be dominated and controlled in this world, but the bond of affection is the strongest. For example, take the case of the humble bee which, although expert at piercing hardened wood, becomes caught in the embrace of its beloved flowers (as the petals close at dusk)."
He whose hands are clean does not like to hold an office; he who desires nothing cares not for bodily decorations; he who is only partially educated cannot speak agreeably; and he who speaks out plainly cannot be a deceiver.

Chanakya's quotations- (part 2)

2006-06-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

Chanakya
(Indian Politician, strategist and Writer, 350 BC-275 BC)

Foolishness is indeed painful, and verily so is youth, but more painful by far than either is being obliged in another person's house.
He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.
In this world, whose family is there without blemish? Who is free from sickness and grief? Who is forever happy?"
A man's descent may be discerned by his conduct, his country by his pronunciation of language, his friendship by his warmth and glow, and his capacity to eat by his body.
Of a rascal and a serpent, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is destined to kill, while the former at every step.
Do not keep company with a fool for as we can see he is a two-legged beast. Like an unseen thorn he pierces the heart with his sharp words.
The beauty of a cuckoo is in its notes, that of a woman in her unalloyed devotion to her husband, that of an ugly person in his scholarship, and that of an ascetic in his forgiveness.
Give up a member to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the country to save yourself.
What is too heavy for the strong and what place is too distant for those who put forth effort?
What is the use of having many sons if they cause grief and vexation?
He who runs away from a fearful calamity, a foreign invasion, a terrible famine, and the companionship of wicked men is safe.
Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, comes of Her own accord where fools are not respected, grain is well stored up, and the husband and wife do not quarrel.
These five: the life-span, the type of work, wealth, learning and the time of one's death are determined while one is in the womb.
As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?
A single son endowed with good qualities is far better than a hundred devoid of them.
When one is consumed by the sorrows of life, three things give him relief: offspring, a wife, and the company of the Lord's devotees.
The house of a childless person is a void, all directions are void to one who has no relatives, the heart of a fool is also void, but to a poverty stricken man all is void.
Scriptural lessons not put into practice are poison; a meal is poison to him who suffers from indigestion; a social gathering is poison to a poverty stricken person; and a young wife is poison to an aged man.
A thing may be dreaded as long as it has not overtaken you, but once it has come upon you, try to get rid of it without hesitation.
The learned are envied by the foolish; rich men by the poor; chaste women by adulteresses; and beautiful ladies by ugly ones.
Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king by conciliatory words; and a home by a dutiful housewife.
Charity puts and end to poverty; righteous conduct to misery; discretion to ignorance; and scrutiny to fear.
A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.
Rain which falls upon the sea is useless; so is food for one who is satiated; in vain is a gift for one who is wealthy; and a burning lamp during the daytime is useless.
There is no water like rainwater; no strength like one's own; no light like that of the eyes; and no wealth more dear than food grain.
The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish for heaven; and godly persons for liberation.
The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.
The duration of life is uncertain, and the place of habitation is uncertain; but in all this inconsistent world religious merit alone is immovable.
Among men the barber is cunning; among birds the crow; among beasts the jackal; and among women, the malin (flower girl)."
As is the desire of Providence, so functions one's intellect; one's activities are also controlled by Providence; and by the will of Providence one is surrounded by helpers.
Time perfects all living beings as well as kills them; it alone is awake when all others are asleep. Time is insurmountable.
He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.
The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.
Conciliate a strong man by submission, a wicked man by opposition, and the one whose power is equal to yours by politeness or force.
He who has wealth has friends and relations; he alone survives and is respected as a man.
O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet.
Perfection can be achieved only through devotion (to the Supreme Lord) for devotion is the basis of all success.
here is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.
Moral excellence is an ornament for personal beauty; righteous conduct, for high birth; success for learning; and proper spending for wealth.
It is better to be without a kingdom than to rule over a petty one; better to be without a friend than to befriend a rascal; better to be without a disciple than to have a stupid one; and better to be without a wife than to have a bad one.
As gold is tested in four ways by rubbing, cutting, heating and beating -- so a man should be tested by these four things: his renunciation, his conduct, his qualities and his actions.
Oil on water, a secret communicated to a base man, a gift given to a worthy receiver, and scriptural instruction given to an intelligent man spread out by virtue of their nature.
There are two ways to get rid of thorns and wicked persons; using footwear in the first case and in the second shaming them so that they cannot raise their faces again thus keeping them at a distance.
The cuckoos remain silent for a long time (for several seasons) until they are able to sing sweetly (in the Spring ) so as to give joy to all.
Friendship between equals flourishes, service under a king is respectable, it is good to be business-minded in public dealings, and a handsome lady is safe in her own home.
Fish, tortoises, and birds bring up their young by means of sight, attention and touch; so do saintly men afford

Promises ( must read )

2006-05-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

"How long will you be poring over that newspaper? Will you come Here right away and make your darling daughter eat her food ?"

I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only Daughter Sindu looked frightened. Tears were welling up in her Eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with Curd Rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age. She has Just turned eight. She particularly detested Curd Rice. My mother and my wife are orthodox and believe firmly in the 'cooling effects' of Curd Rice. I cleared my throat and picked Up the bowl.

" Sindu, darling, why don't you take a few mouthful of this Curd Rice? Just for Dad's sake, dear. If you don't, your Mom will Shout at me ." I could sense my wife's scowl behind my back. Sindu softened a Bit and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "OK, Dad. I will eat not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should..." Sindu hesitated. "Dad, if I eat this entire Curd Rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?"

"Oh sure, darling."
" Promise?"
" Promise."

I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine And clinched the deal. " Ask Mom also to give a similar promise," my daughter insisted. My wife slapped her hand on Sindu's muttering "Promise," Without any emotion .

Now I became a bit anxious. " Sindu, you shouldn't insist on Getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not Have that kind of money right now. OK ?"
"No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive."

Slowly and painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity. I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my Child to eat something that she detested. After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes Wide with expectation. All of our attention was on her.

" Dad, I want to have my head shaved off this Sunday," Was her demand! "Atrocious!" shouted my wife, " a girl child having her head Shaved off? Impossible!" "Never in our family!" my mother rasped.
"She has been watching Too much of television. Our culture is getting totally spoiled With these TV programs!"

" Sindu, why don't you ask for something else? We will be sad Seeing you with a clean-shaven head." " No, Dad. I do not want anything else," Sindu said with Finality. " Please Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?" I tried to plead with her.

" Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice," Sindu was in tears. " And you promised to grant me Whatever I ask for. Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra and Its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what ?" It was time for me to call the shots. " Our promise must be kept." " Are you out your mind?" chorused my mother and wife. " No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to Honour her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled."

With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes Looked big and beautiful. On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight To watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a Car, and shouted, " Sinduja, please wait for me!" What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. " Maybe that is the `in' stuff," I thought.

" Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!" Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, and Continued, " That boy who is walking along with your daughter is My son Harish. He is suffering from leukemia."
She paused to muffle her sobs. " Harish could not attend the School for the whole of the last month. He lost all of his hair Due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come Back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of The schoolmates.

" Sinduja visited him last week and promised him that she will Take care of the teasing issue. But I never imagined she would Sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son! Sir, you and Your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your Daughter."

I stood transfixed. And then, I wept. " My little Angel, will you teach me what love is?"

Nice Quotes

2006-05-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Anger is a condition in which
the tongue works faster than the mind.

You can't change the past,
but you can ruin the present
by worrying over the future.

Love...and you shall be loved.

God always gives His best to those
who leave the choice with Him.

All people smile in the same language.

A hug is a great gift... one size fits all.
It can be given for any occasion
and it's easy to exchange.

Everyone needs to be loved...
especially when they do not deserve it.

The real measure of a man's wealth
is what he has invested in eternity.

Laughter is God's sunshine.

Everyone has beauty
but not everyone sees it.

It's important for parents to live
the same things they teach.

Thank God for what you have,
TRUST GOD for what you need.

If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of
tomorrow,
you have no today to be thankful for.

Man looks at outward appearance
but the Lord looks within.

The choice you make today
will usually affect tomorrow.

Take time to laugh, for it is
the music of the soul.

If anyone speaks badly of you,
live so none will believe it.

Patience is the ability to idle your motor
when you feel like stripping your gears.

Love is strengthened by working
through conflicts together.

The best thing parents can do
for their children is to love each other.

Harsh words break no bones
but they do break hearts.

To get out of a difficulty,
one usually must go through it.

We take for granted the things
that we should be giving thanks for.

Love is the only thing that can be
divided without being diminished.

Happiness is enhanced by others
but does not depend upon others.

For every minute you are angry with someone,
you lose 60 seconds of happiness
that you can never get back.

Do what you can, for who you can,
with what you have, and where you are.

Touching life story.....

2006-05-19T22:52:00.001-07:00

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For
many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's
showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told
him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited
signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the
morning of his graduation his father called him into his private
study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine
son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son
a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man
opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily,
he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you
give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy
book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in
business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his
father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He
had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make
arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had
passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He
needed to come home immediately and take care things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and
regret filled his heart.

He began to search his father's important papers and
saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With
tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he
read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope
taped behind the Bible.
It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the
sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation,
and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not
packaged as we expected?

Happiest moments in life... V have lot more than is it mentioned here

2006-05-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

Some of the Best Moments in Life: * To fall in love. * To laugh until it hurts your stomach. * To find mails by the thousands when you return from a vacation. * To go for a vacation at some pretty place. * To listen to your favorite song in the radio. * To go to bed and listen to the rain outside. * To leave the shower and find that the towel is warm. * To clear your last exam. * To receive a call from someone, you don't see a lot, but you want to. * A good conversation with a sweet person. * To find money in a pant that you haven't used since last year . * To laugh at yourself looking at mirror, making faces.:))) * Calls at midnight that last for hours.:)) * To laugh without a reason. * To accidentally hear somebody say something good about you. * To wake up and realize it is still possible to sleep for a couple of hours. * To hear a song that makes you remember a special person. * To be part of a team. * To watch the sunset from the hill top. * To make new friends. * To feel butterflies! in the stomach every time when you see that person. * To pass time with your best friends. * To see people that you like, feeling happy. * To use a sweater of the person that you like and find that it still smells of their perfume. * See an old friend again and to feel that things have not changed. * To take an evening walk along the beach. * To have somebody tell you that he/she loves you. * To laugh .......laugh........and laugh ...... remembering stupid things done with stupid friends. ...................These are the best moments of life.... Let us learn to cherish them. "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed"

--
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

Our Life (Story)

2006-05-19T22:51:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time ...

There was a rich King who had 4 wives.

He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one day
she would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidante and was always kind, considerate and patient with him. Whenever the King faced a problem, he could confide in her to help him get through the difficult times.

The King's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short.

He thought of his luxurious life and pondered, "I now have 4 wives with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone.

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.

The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is too good!
When you die, I'm going to remarry!"

His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave."

Her answer came like a bolt of thunder and the King was devastated.

Then a voice called out:

"I'll leave with you and follow you no matter where you go." The King looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, she suffered from malnutrition.

Greatly grieved, the King said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"

In Truth, we all have 4 wives in our lives ...

Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.

Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth.
When we die, it will all go to others.

Our 2nd wife is our friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

AND

And our 1st wife is our Parents, often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the ego.
However, our Parents are the only thing that will follow us and guide wherever we go.

So Love them at ur best ..... They need and Love you most !!!
You are their greatest gift Let them Smile and Cherish..

Call of Duty!!!

2006-05-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

One stormy night many years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night.

"Could you possibly give us a room here?" the husband asked. The clerk, a friendly man with a winning smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in town. "All of our rooms are taken," the clerk said. "But I can't send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o'clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my hotel room? It's not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night."

When the couple declined, the young man pressed on. "Don't worry about me; I'll make out just fine," the clerk told them. So the couple agreed. As he paid his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I'll build one for you." The clerk looked at them and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh. As they drove away, the elderly couple agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people who are both friendly and helpful isn't easy.

Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round-trip ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay them a visit.

The old man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watchtowers thrusting up to the sky. "That," said the older man, "is the hotel I have just built for you to manage."

"You must be joking," the young man said.

"I can assure you I am not," said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth. The older man's name was William Waldorf Astor, and the magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C. Boldt. This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to become the manager of one of the world's most glamorous hotels. All this happened because of the service he offered by going out of his way and going beyond the call of duty...

So what if i m black?

2006-05-19T22:50:00.001-07:00

Nominated Poem of 2005 for the best poem .........

Dear White fella............ Couple of things you should know.....

When

I born, I Black,

When I grow up, I Black,

When I go in Sun, I Black,

When I scared, I Black,

When I sick, I Black,

And when I die, I still black.......

And you White fella,

When you born, you Pink,

When you grow up, you White,

When you go in Sun, you Red,

When you cold, you Blue,

When you scared, you Yellow,

When you sick, you Green,

And when you die, you Gray.................

And you calling me Colored ???????????

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

2006-05-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height.

Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down.
(keep this In mind if you are one of those grouches;)

3. Keep learning:
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain get idle.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and Lots of time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen:
Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourself. LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.
Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

And if you don't send this to at least 4 people - who cares?

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

Everything's Possible!

2006-05-19T22:49:00.001-07:00

An old man lived alone in Minnesota. He wanted to spade his potato garden,
but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison.

The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation:

Dear Son,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like Iwon't be able to plant my potato garden this year.

I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time.

I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would
be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren't in prison.

......Love, Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram:

"For Heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up the garden!! That's where I buried the GUNS!!"

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.

Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

His son's reply was:

"Go ahead and plant your potatoes,Dad.......................... It's the best I could do for you from here."

Moral:

NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE WORLD,IF YOU HAVE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING DEEP FROM YOUR HEART, YOU CAN DO IT. IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT MATTERS NOT WHERE YOU ARE OR WHERE THE PERSON IS.

-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

The Magic of Dreaming

2006-05-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

The approach of a new year usually causes us to pause, review the year that's passing into history, recount our victories, and consider some of our nagging near misses. What went right? Where did we fall short? Then we move on, looking into the future and formulating our New Year's Resolutions? Or maybe not. Many of us have given up after failing to reach the desired ends we stated as resolutions year after year. Can we hope to have a different outcome in the coming year? Yes, we can! Here's how.

Think! Daydream! Go a little bit crazy! Give yourself permission to let go of reality for a time. Let down the boundaries you've been living within and look over the horizon with a wide-angle lens. You have the power within you right now to achieve anything you want to achieve, to become anything you want to become! How can you be satisfied with the status quo, the current state of things, when the world is filled with abundance and you have talents to be used? Dreams can be fleeting, fanciful ideas of optimum satisfaction or pleasure, or they can become raw material for the vision of life as you want it to be.

Most of us stop dreaming because we're locked into habits and thought patterns that we assumed as we were growing up, patterns like always looking for the one right answer. Admonitions such as "be logical," "be practical," and "don't rock the boat" have stifled our imaginations. Those admonitions may have been well intended, but they do not lead to creative thinking. Many people still believe that you have to be a little bit crazy to be creative!

Forget the restrictions. You are looking for possibilities. Look at audacious and outrageous, seemingly impossible ideas. Stretch your imagination. There will be time for evaluating the ideas later on. For now focus on the majesty and excitement of what might be. Do not be afraid to be outrageous. Dare to dream impossible dreams. Who's to say what is possible anyway?

Asking questions helps guide your imagination along specific paths. Lift your sights and look at those around you who are succeeding at what you would like to become. Look within your heart and ask yourself, why can't I?

Dreaming has the capacity to become a powerful force in your life. It can:
-- Generate positive expectations
-- Make change more acceptable
-- Boost self-confidence
-- Provide direction
-- Unlock energy

If you truly would like to stretch the possibilities of your life and establish more ambitious goals, then you must be bold enough to dream great dreams. There will never be a better time to begin than right now.

Pearls of Wisdom

2006-05-19T22:47:00.001-07:00

Don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you.

Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave,
and impossible to forget.

You can only go as far as you push.

Actions speak louder than words.

The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love,
love somebody else.

Don't let the past hold you back, you're missing the good stuff.

Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while
you might miss it.

A BEST FRIEND is like a four leaf clover,
HARD TO FIND and LUCKY TO HAVE.

Some people make the world SPECIAL just by being in it.

BEST FRIENDS are the siblings God forgot to give us.

When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead,
you can look beside you and your BEST FRIEND will be there.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP "NEVER" ENDS...Friends are FOREVER.

Good friends are like shooting stars....You don't always see them, but
you know they are always there.

Don't frown...
You never know who is falling in love
with your smile.

What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying
is the person who made you cry?

Nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them.

Everything is okay in the end...
If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

Most people walk in and out of your life,
but only friends leave footprints in your heart.

Story worth reading!

2006-05-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Horror gripped the heart of a World War-I soldier, as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. The soldierasked his Lieutenant if he could go out to bring his fallen comrade back. "You can go," said theLieutenant," but don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your life away.

"The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway. Miraculously, he managed to reach his friend, hoisted him onto his shoulder and brought him back to their company's trench. The officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend." I told you it wouldn't be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead and you are mortally wounded". "It was worth it, Sir," said the soldier. "What do you mean by worth it?" responded the Lieutenant. " Your friend is dead." "Yes Sir," the soldier answered, " but it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say...."Jim...I knew you'd come."

Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not, really depends on how u look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in your life........

Let the spirit of true friendship in us not die.

Still humanity is there...

2006-05-17T20:24:00.002-07:00

MY question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child."

Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"

Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much! The boy looked around for guidance and a few boys nodded approval, why not?

So he took matters into his own hands and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father wave! d to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"

Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"

Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, Shay, run home!"

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world."

Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

THE ONE YOU FEED

2006-05-17T20:24:00.001-07:00

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy,sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed!!!"

--
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~

Don't dance so fast!!!

2006-05-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital.

SLOW DANCE
Have you ever watched kids On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores Running through your head?
You'd better slow down Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last .

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift.... Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music Before the song is over.
--------------------

TO ACHIEVE

2006-05-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

To achieve, stop talking about it and start getting it done.

To achieve, stop seeing every obstacle as an excuse and start seeing those obstacles as forming a pathway to your goal.

To achieve, stop looking for a quick and easy shortcut.

To achieve, start putting forth the diligent, sustained effort that will create real value.

To achieve, stop complaining about how things have been.

To achieve, start making the most of what you have right now.

To achieve, stop using your own words and thoughts to put yourself down.

To achieve, start expecting the best of yourself, and know that you're indeed fully cap able of it.

To achieve, stop pretending that you are someone else.

To achieve, get connected to the authentic, unique person you are.

To achieve, develop a vision so positive, meaningful and compelling that you simply cannot sit still.

Then get up, go out and delight in creating your own special greatness for the world.

-- Ralph Marston

Motivational and Inspiring Quotes About Life

2006-05-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

Attitude:

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who make excuses and those who get results. An excuse person will find any excuse for why a job was not done, and a results person will find any reason why it can be done. Be a creator, not a reactor.

-- Alan Cohen, A Deep Breath Of Life

You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.

n Charles F. Kettering

· Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.."

-- James Allen, 1864-1912, British-born American Essayist, Author of "As a Man Thinke th"

·

· The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

-- Alvin Toffler

· What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change and the REALIST adjusts his sails.

(Author unknown)

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

-- William James

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.

-- Robert Frost

Confidence :

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

n Eleanor Roosevelt

Courage :

The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.

-- E. E. Cummings

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

-- Brendan Francis

Friendship:

· It is the first law of friendship that it has to be cultivated. The second is to be indulgent when the first law is neglected.

n Voltaire

· A new friend is like new wine; when it has aged you will drink it with pleasure.

n Ecclesiastes 9:10

Love:

· Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was waste.

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

· There are countless ways to express love. Be creative!

by Stephen C. Paul and Gary Max Collins.

Miracles:

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

-- Albert Einstein

Persistence:

Your persistence is your measure of faith in yourself.

"There are some people, who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

-- Douglas Everett, American Hockey Player

Success:

If you want to be successful, it's just this simple: Know what you're doing. Love what you're doing. And believe in what you're doing. -- Will Rogers

When you reach for the stars, you may not get one, but you won't come up with a hand full of mud, either." -- Leo Burnett

· The future is simply infinite possibility waiting to happen. What it waits on is human imagination to crystallize its possibility.

n Leland Kaiser

· The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.

-- Mark Caine

· The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

· The people that get on in this world are the people that get up and look for the circumstances that they want; and if they can't find them, they make them. -- George Bernard Shaw

· Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. - Henry Ford

· The best way to predict the future is to create it! -- Jason Kaufmann

· Everything you do can be done better from a place of relaxation. -- Inneractions by Stephen C. Paul and Gary Max Collins .

· Remove the rock from your shoe rather than learn to limp comfortably.

-- Inneractions by Stephen C. Paul and Gary Max Collins.

· The point of life is not to be married or single - it is to be. We are human beings, or humans being. It does not matter so much what lifestyle we choose - it's what we make of the opportunities to grow, that counts.

-- Alan Cohen, Rising in Love

U will find ur dearone in this story!!!

2006-05-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

She/He...And a love story

Friend: Happy birthday!
She : Haan...tha......nk yo....u...was just getting up from the bed.

Friend : Oh! That means I am the first to wish you!
She : Naa! He has already wished me at 12 in the night.

Friend : Who???
She : Come on, who else, Nitin.

Friend : Oh, ok. So, what's the plan for today?
She : Nitin told me that he has a surprise gift for me for my Birthday. And also we are going to Flower Show today. I am excited! I have never seen the flower show that happens in Lal Baug. Actually that itself is the most wonderful gift for me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friend : "Did you go to Palace grounds all the way from Basavanagudi, to see Bryan Adam's show!!! Who accompanied you?"
She : Nitin

Friend : By the way, who referred your CV in SoCrates? I mean you don't know anyone there, right?
She : No, he forwarded my CV to one of his friends there.

Friend : I heard that the HR round interview went on till 8pm in the night. I think you faced difficulty in returning to your room.
She : No, he had come to pick me up. He came from his office, dropped me to my room and he returned to his room at around 11pm. He didn't have dinner also. I asked him to have at my room. Poor Nitin.

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Friend : If you are supposed to go home tomorrow itself then what about reservation?
She : I have told him, he will go to Majestic and would get it done, and he told he has some work in Majestic. That's why I am relaxed a bit.

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Friend : How was your written test in Philips?
She : I failed yaar. The day before the test I had prepared perfectly. Nitin had come to our room. He taught me the basics of embedded programming concepts. I was very confident only because of him. But something else was in store for me.

Friend : Then, what did you do on Sunday?
She : We had gone to see "Lakshya". He doesn't see Hindi movies. But as I was upset after failing in the Philips written test, he took me for movie. I was very happy and surprised that he himself decided for a Hindi movie, and he was very happy that I enjoyed the movie. And you know; we had dinner in Pizza hut. It was his belated B'day treat!

Friend : And, what was your belated gift ;-)
She : Gift!! I had given the gift on his B'day itself. I was the first to call him at 12 in the night, he was busy throughout the day, and somehow we could meet in the evening and I gifted him with a cute time piece with a nice quote on it. He doesn't have time sense, so my time piece must always remind him of this. That day he didn't give me any treat as he had to go back to office. Yesterday I had a fight over this, you know! Poor kid.

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Friend : Hello...what about our sari shopping program in Malleshwaram?
She : Listen, I will call you later.

Friend : You didn't call me back in the morning, so I called now.
She : Yeah, when you called I was in Koramangala, with Nitin. He was very upset in the morning. He had a fight with his elder brother. So, it wouldn't have been fair on my part to leave him alone. If I am with him in such situation very soon he comes back to normalcy. So I postponed the Malleshwaram program.

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Friend : Hey! What happened? You seem to be very happy today.
She : Why not? You know today is one of the most happiest days for me. Nitin got an onsite assignment in UK, for 6 months! That's why I am very happy. All of his hard work paid today. He had been waiting for this opportunity since long. He'll be leaving next month.

Friend : You will miss him.
She : Badly. I am so much dependent on him. I must thank Sanju, through him only I got to know Nitin. Without Nitin it would have been very difficult for me to stay in this alien city with no friends, relatives and on top of all, no job. He has been so caring friend all through my tough times in this city, he is so mature, so understanding, so trustworthy...a true friend.

Friend : He loves you yaar.
She : I know.

Friend : And you? Don't you love him?
She : I don't want to.

Friend : Don't tell me. You also feel for him.
She : I know yaar. He has everything that I expect in my dream-life-partner. I know I can never get a true life partner like him. But I don't want to commit.

Friend : What is stopping you? I really don't understand. When Miya-beevi are razi kya karega kazi?
She : Please...don't say like that. I never told him that I love him or something like that.

Friend : Is he a fool not to understand your feelings which are so clear from outside only? Poor fellow, don't leave him alone.
She : I have told him everything about my family. He knows how orthodox my parents are. They can never expect me marrying a guy from a different caste. They trust me. Come what may, I will not hurt my parent's feelings. I cannot imagine also. Now they are happily searching a guy for me in my native place.

Friend : Hmm, I don't understand at all.

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She : This Saturday I have to go home, a guy is coming to see me.
Friend : Oh! Is it? Good news yaar. Your first interview! Wish you all the best.

Friend : Any guesses, who is he?
She : Please yaar. I am least bothered and least interested. For the sake of my parents' happiness I have agreed for this.

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Friend : What about the interview, I was expecting your call actually?
She : Nothing so special. I didn't like the guy's attitude. I told my parents clearly. My parents are very understanding and so they too told me that they won't go ahead with this matter.

Friend : But still you should have analyzed properly.
She : I shared my views with Nitin. He had called me the next day. He didn't suggest me anything. He didn't tell me to say "yes" or "no", he didn't preach what is right or what is wrong. But after talking to him I was satisfied that whatever decision I took was right.

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Friend : Yesterday your mobile was engaged for more than half an hour. I kept trying, but I slept after 11pm.
She : Yeah, I was talking to Nitin. He is very much worried about my marriage. He is concerned whether I would get a guy of my choice or not, whether I would be happy with him or not. I was very sad to know this. But I am helpless. I pacified him and convinced that whatever my parents do, that will be the best for me, so no need to worry.

Friend : How Nitin will feel after you get married? Will he not be upset all the time?
She : Time will change everything. He will start living again. Was he not leading a normal life before I came into his life? It's all matter of time. Even I can't do anything other than pacifying him and myself with these philosophical statements.

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Finally " She " got engaged with a guy of her parent's choice (with her "yes" of course). She is in touch with both Nitin and the new " him" regularly through chatting in Yahoo Messenger.

Finally " She" got happily married to " him", very soon converting Nitin into memories, but deleting the memories was slow and almost impossible for Nitin.

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Why do girls do like this?

She needs him when she is new to the city.
She needs his help in finding out a PG or hostel for her
She makes him prepare a good-format-CV for her
She needs him to drop her to the venue of a walk-in interview
She expects him to collect all the consultants' mail ids
She needs him while preparing for the interviews
She needs his help in identifying HER skill sets, strengths and weakness!
She wants him to conduct a mock-interview for her!
She gives her yahoo mail id password so that he can forward her CV to consultants through internet in his office (in office hours!)
She needs him for boosting her confidence when she fails in the 1 ^st written test in her life
She wants him to take her to M.G Road , Brigade Road, Forum and Big bazaar
She needs his company while visiting all the temples in Malleshwaram on Vijayadashami, though he is not a believer of God.
She asks his opinions on importance of marriage
She wants him to be a shoulder to cry when her parents force her for marriage
She needs his help in preparing her mind for the first interview with a guy
She needs his help in deciding about the marriage proposal
She loves to share her happiness with him when she gets engaged
She expects him to attend her marriage (Come on guys, he is a true friend of her!)

The guy does all this honestly, without saying a single "No".

He loves her.
He cares for her.
Whatever he is today; it is only because of her entry in to his life.
He treats her as his life.
She changed him.
It is only because of her, he is smiling.
It is only because of her, he has forgotten the past bitter experiences.
She is the first person in his life to influence him so much.
He was the " bhatka hua musafir " and she came as his "manzil".
He threw the cigarette in the dust-bin because of her.
He has cultivated a positive attitude towards marriage and family because of her.
She is the perfect Indian woman he has ever seen.
He keeps a photo of Lord Krishna in his purse now; only because of her (also it is her favorite deity!).
Weekends come and go without his notice; it is only because of her.
He stopped going to office on Weekends; it is only because of her.
Onsite project was his dream; he puts all his efforts now, not to get an onsite assignment but to get a job for her in Bangalore.

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The girl depends on the guy as if she never lived and can never live without him. Guy behaves as if he has taken birth on this earth only to care for that lady. She treats him as a shoulder to cry and he treats her as a puppy in a rain storm. She loves to depend and he loves to take care, finally they fall in so called "love", ultimately adding an unnecessary trauma to life. Girls want a perfect life partner but they don't want to hurt their parents' feelings, guys know that they can't get her but still they want to care for her(because they want her to be happy wherever she is and with whoever she is).Great! Or shall I say crap!

Or I think no need to be so serious about it.

She gets engaged, life goes on...
Long lasting phone calls become short and sweet, life goes on...
A heart which was used to "Good morning" SMSs learns to be happy with just the "Happy weekend" SMSs, life goes on...
No more "Unread messages" in the yahoo mail, life goes on...
No one to share coffee at "Barista" at the end of a tiring working day, life goes on...
No more consultants' calls to be diverted and life goes on...
He starts smoking again, life goes on...
He is still living in flashback, and no looking back for her, but life goes on...
He gets promoted, he is a manager, she is mother of two kids, and life goes on...
He is in his late twenties, happily married to a beautiful, understanding, mature, caring, broad minded wife! Anyway life goes on...

Who knows, among these "Nitin "s someone will come up as "Cheran" (ace Tamil film director)and make a wonderful movie "My autograph" telling us of his unsuccessful love stories, or someone will come up as "Sudeep"( Kannada film actor turned director) who goes to his flashback after seeing this movie and then decides remaking this movie in Kannada, giving common people an opportunity to relive their past love-life at least for 3 hours, that too with their spouses, without any problem! Because there is " She" in every wife and there is Nitin in every husband (most of the times!). There are dumb spectators like " Friend" who are puzzled to see the whole episode between "She" and Nitin and just ask themselves " WHAT IT IS???"

Dare to Dream!

2006-05-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

The rewards of life come to those who do, not to those who merely read, talk or day dream. Action is the key.

Okay I want you to answer this question:
"In December of last year did you achieve all you set out to achieve in January of the same year?"

This is a 'yes or no' answer, so don't spend too long considering it. The answer, of course, is 'no' - unless you are a pathological liar!

Next question: "Did you set out to achieve anything last year?"

Aha! Now that's a more interesting question I think.

Deciding at the start of a year that you want to achieve a certain result by the end of that year, is an example of our old friend goal-setting.

High-performance people set goals. Winners set goals. Losers never set goals. Why? Because it takes about 20 minutes of concentrated effort to write down your goals, and losers have far more important things to do than this. It interferes with valuable boozing time, for example. Such a task would take up nearly a whole episode of a soapopera. You could read a trash newspaper from cover to cover in this time.

But there is a more important reason why many people don't write goals. It is this. Writing goals commits you to action, otherwise there is little point in writing them.

Turning your dreams (goals) into reality will not happen automatically. It will require work and effort.

"Ohmygod!!! WORK, and EFFORT??? Forget it man! I'm not writing down anything on a piece of paper which will commit me to that!"

This is why people do not set goals (write down their dreams). They cannot bear to have that piece of paper leering at them in silent accusation as the months tick by.

But what is at stake here? Nothing less than undreamed of wealth, unlimited happiness, and a totally fulfilled life. Perhaps more importantly, you can meet your fear head on and live like a warrior, not a frightened rabbit.

The older I get the more I wonder what the hell we're all so afraid of. Like you, I travel the world and see or hear about real problems; murder, torture, death, disease and starvation. Then I return to this grey, stuffy country to witness intelligent and privileged people wasting their lives away down the pub or propped in front of the TVscreen for (on average) four hours each night! Unbelievable!

And these people are also timid beyond belief. They are completely risk-averse and will run bleating to the authorities if the tiniest upset ruffles the calm waters of their uneventful lives. I am saying all this in the hope that it will make you shudder. None of it applies to you, of course.

Achieving great wealth and happiness starts with having a dream. Today's dreams are surely tomorrow's realities. So you blew it last year? You have a chance to redeem yourself this year - if you have the guts of course.

Got any fight left in you, or have you thrown in the towel long ago? Are you a shivering, frightened little mouse or a human being prepared to fight and win? Are you going to spend the rest of this year bleating and moaning about how you cannot succeed? Or are you going to do something about making your own success a reality?

Are you prepared to fight?

Two frogs...

2006-05-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might.

The other frogs kept telling them to stop,
that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out.

When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time
to encourage another.

Lateral & Logical Thinking

2006-05-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Many years ago in a small Indian village, A farmer had the misfortune Of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The Moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his Daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.

So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would Have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.

3) But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into Jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As They talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he
Picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two Black pebbles and put them into the bag.

He then asked the girl to pick A pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have Done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you Have told her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag And expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order To save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used with The hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral And logical thinking.

The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with Traditional logical thinking. Think of the consequences if she chooses The above logical answers.

What would you recommend to the Girl to do?

Well, here is what she did ....

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without Looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path Where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the Bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I Picked."

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had Picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit his Dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into An extremely advantageous one.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don't Attempt to think.

What is Relationships?

2006-05-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

TRUST

TRUST is a very important factor for all relationships. When trust is broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and enmity may result in separation.

A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call. She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She repeated, "PUB." There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line, she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB. Sorry, I got the number from my Husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it is."

Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead of "PUB".

NO POINTING FINGERS

A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?"
The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you."

We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at ourselves.

If we forgive the others, others will ignore our mistake too.

CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS?

A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage, SDU, and requested "I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a suitable one." The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking, polite, humorous , sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing. Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my
leisure hour, if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest." The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need television."

There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a blind wife and a deaf husband ,because the blind wife cannot see the faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of the wife. Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed of roses. The nightmare begins.

NO OVERPOWERING

Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after marriage. Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a river than a person's character."

It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness.

It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our expectations..

RIGHT SPEECH

There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "A speech will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything without considering if it would hurt the other party.

A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site. A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted,"Hi, Emily! Remember me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me.Otherwise you will be the wife of a construction worker." She answered ,"You should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the millionaire and not you."

Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad relationship. It's like a broken egg - cannot be reversed.

PERSONAL PERCEPTION

Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home,a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey?"Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey.

Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman."
The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders.

It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a na rrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.

Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is clear..

BE PATIENT

This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy,I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide.

Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

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"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Facts of Life : - )

2006-05-13T13:41:00.002-07:00

01. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.

02. At least 15 people in this world love you in someway.

03. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

04. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

05. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

06. You mean the world to someone.

07. If not for you, someone may not be living.

08. You are special and unique.

09. Someone that you don't even know exists, loves you.

10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.

12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.

13. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.

15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

--
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

Things you miss/wish in life

2006-05-13T13:41:00.001-07:00

1. **5 minutes ago you were traveling to office at
80 mph. in your brand new car. Now you are
traveling to hospital at double the speed in an
ambulance, You wish there was 'undo (ctrl + Z)' in life!

2. **You are already late, and your key is
missing, You wish there was 'find tool (ctrl+F)' in life!

3. **You are a bankrupt, after investing in some
weird business, You wish there was 'rebuild all' in life!

5. **After marriage you realize that there is bound
to be a mismatch, You wish there was an
'evaluation period' or atleast a 'sample download'
or a 'demo version'!

6. **One day you realize that you are turning bald,
You wish there was 'cut and paste (ctrl + X)/
(ctrl + C)' in life!

And the best one is ..........

7. **The best part of the keyboard is U & I are together which is not always there in life......

--
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

A Passion Beyond Ages

2006-05-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged usto get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look aroundwhen a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose.I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" I laughed andenthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a Couple of kids...""No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day, for the next three months we would leave classtogether and talk nonstop. I was always mes merized listening to this "timemachine", as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily madefriends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up tothe podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone andsimply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and thiswhiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only foursecrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who aredead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those withregrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.We make a Living by what we get; we make a Life by what we give

Attitude is everything

2006-05-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed Him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.

" I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

--
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

Tortoise & Hare Story from Management Perspetive:

2006-05-09T13:51:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral- "Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with."

THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE, there are few more interesting things.....it continues as follows......

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching.
He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral - " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable."

THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE

The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. It thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad
river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral - " First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency."

THE STORY STILL HASN'T ENDED.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank,
the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral - "It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could."

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise has
much to say:

Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure; & finally,
compete against the situation - not against a rival.

--
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Prespective!!!

2006-05-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
Pass this on to friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.
"Life is too short and friends are too few."

Dear God....

2006-05-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ah, to be so innocent again!

1. Dear God,
please put another holiday
between Christmas and Easter.
There is nothing good in there now.
Amanda

2. Dear God,
Thank you for the baby brother
but what I asked for was a puppy.
I never asked for anything before.
You can look it up.
Joyce

3. Dear Mr. God,

I wish you would not make it so easy
for people to come apart
I had to have 3 stitches and a shot.
Janet

4. God,
I read the bible.
What does beget mean?
Nobody will tell me.
Love Alison

5. Dear God,
how did you know you were God?
Who told you?
Charlene

6. Dear God,
is it true my father
won't get in Heaven
if he uses his golf words in the house?
Anita

7. Dear God,
I bet it's very hard for you
to love all of everybody in the whole world.
There are only 4 people in our family
and I can never do it.
Nancy

8. Dear God,
I like the story about Noah
the best of all of them.
You really made up some good ones.
I like walking on water, too.
Glenn

9. Dear God,
my Grandpa says you were around
when he was a little boy.
How far back do you go?
Love, Dennis

10. Dear God,
do you draw the lines around the countries?
If you don't, who does?
Nathan

11. Dear God,
did you mean for giraffes
to look like that or was it an accident?
Norma

12. Dear God,
in bible times,
did they really talk that fancy?
Jennifer

13. Dear God,
how come you did all those miracles
in the old days and don't do any now?
Billy

14. Dear God,
please send Dennis Clark
to a different summer camp this year.
Peter

15. Dear God,
maybe Cain and Abel
would not kill each other so much
if they each had their own rooms.
It works out OK with me and my brother.
Larry

16. Dear God,
I keep waiting for spring,
but it never did come yet.
What's up? Don't forget.
Mark

17. Dear God,
my brother told me about
how you are born
but it just doesn't sound right.
What do you say?
Marsha

18. Dear God,
if you watch in Church on Sunday
I will show you my new shoes.
Barbara

19. Dear God,
is Reverend Coe a friend of yours,
or do you just know him through the business?
Donny

20. Dear God,
I do not think anybody
could be a better God than you.
Well, I just want you to know that.
I am not just saying that because
you are already God.
Charles

21. Dear God,
it is great the way you always
get the stars in the right place.
Why can't you do that with the moon?
Jeff

22. Dear God,
I am doing the best I can.
Really !!!!
Frank

And, saving the best for last . .

23. Dear God,
I didn't think orange went with purple
until I saw the sunset
you made on Tuesday night.
That was really cool.
Thomas

--
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Mark Twain

--
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

The Real Indian

2006-05-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad .

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements
but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the
day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a
Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary.
It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among
other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with
foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India.
For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the
parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop,
'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son.
Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you
be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending some Jokes or non-sense junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA)

--
If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.

Five Ways to Stay Positive in a Negative World

2006-05-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

In view of the increasing negative events happening around the world here are five things you can do to help you stay positive.

1. Take a news sabbatical. Listening to the news can be downright depressing. All bad news all of the time can drag you down and keep you there. Give yourself permission to stop listening to the news, especially before bed time.

2. Use your influence to do good where you live. Shift your focus from what is happening in other parts of the world to your community. Get involved in making a positive change or contribution.

3. Focus on what is working in your life. Choose one thing that you are grateful for and focus on it for the rest of the day.

4. Express your appreciation to others. You can create a positive world one person at a time by saying thank you every chance you get to everyone you interact with ? from the person who holds open a door for you to your child who does a chore to a cherished friend or loved one.

5. Focus on what you can change, let go of what you can't change. When faced with a distressing situation ask yourself if you can control over the events. If you do, change what you can. If you don't, learn to let it go and move on.

You are strong.......
when you take your grief and teach it to smile.

Heaven & Hell

2006-05-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

A man had just arrived in Heaven.

A man had just arrived in Heaven.
He told Peter how grateful he was to be in such a glorious place. He asked Peter to give him one glimpse into Hades in order that he might appreciate his good fortune even more. This Peter did.

In Hades, he saw a long table extending as far as the eye could reach, laden down with the most delicious of all varieties of foods. But everyone around the table was starving to death.

When asked for an explanation, Peter said, "Well, everyone is required to take food from the table only with four-foot long chopsticks. They are so long that no one can reach the food from the table to his mouth, and therefore each one is dying of starvation."

Quickly they returned to Heaven, and behold, the new arrival saw an identical table, laden down with identical foods, but everyone around the table was happy and well-fed. Then he said to Peter, "With what do they take food from this table?"
Peter answered, "Only with four-foot long chopsticks."

At that point, the new arrival scratched his head and said, "Well, why are all those in Hades starving to death while all those up here are so well fed and happy?"

Whereupon Peter replied, "In Heaven we feed each other. The love we hold back is the only pain that we have here."

Lunch with God!

2006-05-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

A little boy wanted to meet God.

He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and he started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman.

She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.

The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase.

He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie.

She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted!

They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave,

but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later,

his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you look so happy?"

He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.

Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?" She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God."

However, before her son responded, she added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch,! ! a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Remember,

we don't know what God will look like. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!

Inspirational!!!

2006-05-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

1. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."

> >

2. Wilma Rudolph was the 20th of 22 children. She was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.

> >

3. In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for the executives of the Decca recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, "We don't like their round. Groups of guitars are on the way out." The group was called The Beatles.

> >

4. In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married." She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.

> >

5. In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, "You ain't goin' nowhere....son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." He went on to become the most popular singer in lace w:st="on">Americalace> named Elvis Presley.

> >

6. When Alexander Graham lace w:st="on">Belllace> invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing Invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?"

> >

7. In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947 - after seven long years of rejections! He finally got a tiny company in lace w:st="on">Rochester, New Yorklace>, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became Xerox Corporation we know today.

> >

The Moral of the above Stories: Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face.... You must do the thing you cannot do. And remember, the finest steel gets sent through the hottest furnace. And even the GOLD is tested against fire.

> >

A winner is not one who never fails, but one who NEVER QUITS!

> >

We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?"

unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way.

--
If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.

Have u felt GOD!!!!

2006-05-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He asks one of his new students to stand and.....
Prof: So you believe in God?

Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?

Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student : Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is
God
good?

Student :Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student : No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?

Student : From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?

Student :Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?

Student : No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student : No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelled your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student : No sir. There isn't.

(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as
darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light.... But if you have no light constantly, you have
nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses
electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes,
of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelled it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it, sir.. The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

u know who this young man was

G0

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-----------------------------------------------------------------
ALBERT EINSTEIN
-----------------------------------------------------------------

--
If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.

A cup of coffee........

2006-05-02T23:40:00.000-07:00

Have a glance at it.

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and

cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

So folks, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead

--
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

Something for all of us who love speed.......

2006-05-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Sanjay, a rich guy, loved fast cars and he did have a few in his possession. He loved to speed and could not be bothered about breaking speed limits. Many a times he was caught by the cops and speed radars, fined, but still he never bothered until one day as he was driving at a very high speed as usual, he saw a cop following him.

The cop overtook him finally and asked him to stop and checked his license. He then took out his pad and started writing, and then handed over the sheet of paper to Sanjay.

How much was this one going to cost?!!!

Wait a minute. What was this???? Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket. Sanjay began to read:

"Once upon a time I had a lovely daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed it - a speeding driver's car. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his three daughters. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven, before I can ever hug her again. A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now. Pray for me. And be careful, my friend, my son is all I have left."

Sanjay turned around in time to see the cop's car pull away and head down the road. He watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he too, pulled away and drove slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived.

Life is precious. Handle it with care. Funny how you can send a thousand jokes' thro ugh e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the sanctity of life, people think twice about sharing. Funny, how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you, for sending it to them.

Pass this on, you may save a life. Then maybe not, but we'll never know until WE TRY............

--
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."

Confident, persistent, assertive...we want you!

2006-05-01T22:39:00.000-07:00

The other day I glossed over an advertisement that read – If you are confident, persistent, assertive, disciplined and persuasive, We Want You!

Beautiful! I said. If any human being has these qualities , then not just a company, the whole world needs such a person. If we can take a deeper look into these qualities and the combination that they form, then surely we'd have a better understanding of the inherent human tendencies and groom them into a positive frame of being.

Let us make an analysis of each of these qualities and then watch their impact in combination.

Confidence - usually it has always been confused with arrogance. Confidence is that state of being which arises from a very 'clear stream of reason' and when this has lost its way, there is none but arrogance. Thus, oozing with confidence, is like a perfectly ripe fruit, that is juicy.

It takes a whole lot of effort on the part of the plant before its fruits are perfectly ripe, almost like the most loving gift of a Mother (Nature), bestowed upon a dear child. Which means, it arises from a high degree of perfection in the task at hand, arising from an in-depth understanding of the subject and a high level of discipline in practice.

Persistence – perseverance and doggedness is the only way to keep driving one's own self into performing. – Old saying from Sant Kabir -

Karat Karat Abhyaas Te Jadamati Hot Sujaan,
Rasari Aawat Jat Te Sir(l) Per Padat Nisaan.

[With repeated effort and practice even a thick headed can become Knowledgeable,
Just as with continuous rub of rope on a stone (over a long period) leaves its mark]

This is the primary requirement for any profession – sports, music, art or natural and humanitarian sciences, et al.

Think of the days immediately after the twin (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) atomic explosions in Japan. There, inside a burnt down garage, two young lads were trying to figure out how to pick up the threads of their life and take it forward. From there emerged the SONY Company, a multinational firm that became a household name in the field of electronic equipments.

They strived so hard that a time came when they were unable to find any visible error in their electronic manufacturing. Since 100% efficiency is technically and practically impossible and against the laws of nature, they started observing minutely.

Close monitoring revealed that their error percentage was reduced to extremely miniscule levels. That led them to coin a different term, unknown to the world till then – PPM (defective parts per million). That meant that they had less than 10 defective pieces per million, i.e. 0.000009%, a Unique Achievement by Human Standards.

Only this kind of sheer grit makes achievers out of ordinary people, none else. Achievers aren't different people, they just do ordinary things differently.

Persistence cannot happen mechanically, nor can it happen with over enthusiasm. The art lies in striking a balance.

An article in a National daily said that India's Prized Nuclear Programme, that brings teeth to its bargaining capacity with the world, is fed by Rural India! "Interesting!" I said. The report revealed how the best of the minds are running away abroad in search of a secure Profession with a bright Future!!! Leaving, students from rural India, to work on these Super-Speciality projects. Beautiful!

Don't they need bright and secure prospects? However, such a big dream (to work on important National Projects) is enough to ignite their minds and motivate them, bringing the best out of them to the fore. Not only this, whatever they achieve, it is indigenous, giving them a higher degree of satisfaction and sense of fulfilment, that many of these 'bright and secure future' seekers don't get.

With these students' work, we are competitive in the world and best in quite a few sectors in Science and technology – unbelievable, isn't it? This proves that what is necessary is passionate and sincere effort to attain a dream. An Einstein used to fail in mathematics in school and an educationist of the stature of Tagore never liked school!!

This is perseverance in real sense, to fulfill a dream; not by hook or crook, but by sincere and diligent effort.

Assertion – this is a quality that is usually misunderstood with stubbornness and a very fine line marks the difference. Assertion of anything comes with a great sense of responsibility. It is usually said – assert your rights, but remember rights are always paired with duties. Assertion can never take place in a desensitised manner. It always keeps in view the overall perspective and acts in tandem with collective interest in mind. A deep sense of accountability is fundamental for being assertive in the right way, absolutely uncompromising in spirit.

There is another aspect to this quality. In quite a few cases, we see that people are not assertive, because they feel that they need to be considerate, like Arjuna wanted to be considerate towards all those elders who were prepared to fight against him and siding dishonest. At that point of time, Krishna says, "abandoning all weaknesses, O' Arjuna, get up."

Our scriptures and saints have always said- one who bears pain without complaining as much to blame as the one who inflicts it. Both are equal partners in the scheme of sin.

Discipline – that state of mind, where one can single pointedly dedicates one's own self to the task at hand. This can happen only when - one is convinced of the benefits of the actions (the role of the intellect), - motivated enough to apply without falling prey to any kind of laziness (the aspect of mind) and – has a fit and stable body.

Balance in Body-Mind-Intellect is an apriori to a spirited yet controlled effort for functioning, that too with the same effort and over a long period of time. Or else it is not discipline. One has to search out newer means to maintain a discipline (in the right spirit)

If a batsman scores 300 in one game and scores Zero in two matches, thus averaging 100 runs per match. Yet the team loses in 2 out of three matches and all the runs scored will surely not have much value.

Persuasive – this is a science as well as an art. When the chips are down, the best of the men falter in persuasion and sustaining the spirit and flame of constructive work. Let me quote from a talk delivered by our present President. This portrays the best picture of how positive people can be?

"I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to.

The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.

Why are we so NEGATIVE?" This is Persuasion. Believe me persuasion begins from persuading one's own Self. As Swami Vivekananda used to say that every communication is 30% words and other external means, while the remaining and vital 70% percent comes from inner feelings, which gets communicated, whether desired or not. If we're not convinced, we'll never mange to get the thought translated onto others. The most beautiful words that illustrate this concept, again, belong to Dr. Kalam, when he says, "I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation." When thought emanates from the innermost core, the intensity with which it emerges makes the thought transform into action and at times take the dimension of a collective passion. That is why I felt that if a person has the above qualities in the correct blend, there is no stopping. Such a person is none short of a social dynamo and benefits the personal and the collective being, hence is always the Most Wanted!

---- I don't know who is the author of this article (definely not me!!!) as I got this article as a fwd mail....but would like to appreciate his work by putting it here on my blog!!!

--
You are strong.......
when you take your grief and teach it to smile.

A true story.......if poss then plz read it......!

2006-04-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

A touching story and A good reminder:
"Take time to appreciate what you have now." --Dont miss reading this one

On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to go to the supermarket to buy the remaining of the gift I didn't manage to buy earlier. When I saw all the people there, I started to complain tomyself,"It is going to take forever here and I still have so many other places to go. Christmas really is getting more and more annoying every year. How I wish I could just lie down, go to sleep and only wake up after it..." Nonetheless, I made my way to the toy section, and there I started to curse the prices, wondering if after all kids really playwith such expensive toys.

While looking in the toy section, I noticed a small boy of about 5 years old, pressing a doll against his chest. He kept on touching the hair of the doll and looked so sad. I wondered who was this doll for. Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him, "Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?" The old lady replied, "You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear." Then she asked him to stay here for 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I started to walk toward him and I asked him who did he want to give this doll to. "It is the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her." I replied to him that may be Santa Claus will bring it to her, after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can not bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mother so that she can give it to her when she goes there."His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mummy will also go to see God very soon, so I thought that she could bring the doll with her to give it to my sister." My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, "I told daddy to tell mummy not to go yet. I asked him to wait until I come back from the supermarket." Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me, "I also want mummy to take this photo with her so that she will not forget me." I love my mummy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister." Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and took a few notes and said to the boy, "What if we checked again, just in case if you have enough money?" "Ok," he said. "I hope that I have enough." I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll, and even some spare money. The little boy said, "Thank you God for giving me enough money." Then he looked at me and added, "I asked yesterday before I slept for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll so that mummy can give it to my sister. He heard me." "I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mummy, but I didn't dare to ask God too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and the white rose." "You know, my mummy loves white rose." A few minutes later, the old lady came again and I left with my trolley. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started.

I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago, which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck who hit a car where there was one young lady and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-assisting machine, because the young lady would not be able to get out of the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young lady had passed away. I couldn't stop myself and went to buy a bunch of white roses and I went to the mortuary where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wish before burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rosein her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place crying, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to that day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk man had taken all this away from him.

If you send this message, maybe you will help prevent someone drunk to go driving

--
If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher.
Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.

Nice One

2006-04-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling.. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments..
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another.
That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot." After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket.. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.
The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists." That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important.
Tell them, before it is too late.

Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people.

2006-04-27T03:33:00.000-07:00

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor
gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student
and had breezed through the questions until I read
the last one:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the
cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question
blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if
the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers,
you will meet many people. All are significant. They
deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her
name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American
woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man
took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
put he r into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A
special note was attached.

It read:
"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
husband's bedside just before he passed away... God
bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving
others."

Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those
who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year- old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in
front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and
studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
the table and walked away The boy finished the ice
& nbsp; cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn' t have the sundae, because he had
to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the
king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping! the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carryin g a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve
our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only
chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to combat the
illness. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would
be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a
deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will
save her." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in
bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did,
seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his
face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her.

--
"The real measure of wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all of your money"

A Winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS......But one who NEVER QUITS!!!"

2006-04-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Need a proof? Read on................... 10 Real Life Incidents and Learn not to Quit in life and always have a hope in life that you will be successful. Failures are stepping stones for success 1) Officials rejected a candidate for a news broadcasters post since his voice was not fit for a news broadcaster. He was also told that with his obnoxiously long name, he would never be famous. He is Amitabh Bachchan. ----------------------------------------- 2)In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for the executives of the Decca Recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, "We don't like! their sound.Groups of guitars are on the way out." The group was called The Beatles. ------------------------------------------ 3)In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married". She went on and became Marilyn Monroe. ----------------------------------------- 4)In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, "You ain't going' nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving' a truck". He went on to become Elvis Presley. ---------------------------------------- 5)A small boy--the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspapers in a small village to earn his living. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets. The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple times and he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted the Space Odyssey of India single-handedly. He is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. President of India. ----------------------------------------- 6)When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?" ----------------------------------------- 7)When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process". ----------------------------------------- 8)In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long yearsof rejections, he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention--an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became Xerox Corporation. ---------------------------------------- 9)A little girl--the 20th of 22 children, was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with aparalyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year shedecided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl-- Wilma Rudolph, went on to win three Olympic gold medals. ---------------------------------------- 10)A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that you would not become anybody in life. The boy was Albert

--
You are strong.......
when you take your grief and teach it to smile.