The Death of Common Sense: An Obituary

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, ‘Common Sense’, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair, and
- Maybe it was my fault.

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

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

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

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

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

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

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

Common Sense ‘was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason’.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:

- I Know My Rights!
- I Want It Now!
- Someone Else Is To Blame!
- I’m A Victim!

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, spread this message. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Have Breakfast or be Breakfast !

An interesting write-up, worth giving a thought..

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India ?
Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones. Reason being cameras bundled with cell phones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cell phone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sony’s and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India ? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).
Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India . That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.
Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smart phone bus. They admit that Apple's I phone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharata" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"
Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital." In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.
In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India ? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and tele presence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. ( India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton 's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India . PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then tele presence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!
India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmy gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.
Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.
One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cell phone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!
On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley ). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary! The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly.

—Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi is a professor at the IIM,Bangalore.

Food Shortage

A World wide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was:

"Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a huge failure, In Africa they didn't know what 'food' meant, In India they didn't know what 'honest' meant, In Europe they didn't know what 'shortage' meant, In China they didn't know what 'opinion' meant, In the Middle East they didn't know what 'solution' meant, In South America they didn't know what 'please' meant, And in the USA they didn't know what 'the

rest of the world' meant!

I have come across a mail many a times which mentions about food shortage, and a number to ring whenever there is left over food. Deleted them all, so lost the numbers.

Fumbling for words, would rather put a period..

Paradox of our time in history

Another forwarded mail , which people read and sigh..and get going..
And yea I'm one of them too :( Times have changed, and so have we..

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. Are we going to take some time to think where we are up to??

I spill things a lot ! :D

Yea I know Its really old, already there in all other albums, but its worth putting evrywhere :D Sooooo cute :):)

The Difficulty with Forgiving

Forgiveness can quite possibly be one the hardest things that we as humans have to do in our lives — impossible even.
How do you forgive the spouse that had an affair? The person who killed half your family in a drunk driving accident? The company you invested your life into, which laid you off three months short of retirement?
Then, there are the not-so-horrific, but still painful incidents that happen: The best friend you caught stabbing you in the back. The person who claimed your idea in the project meeting at work. Your parents, who belittle you and put you down every time they talk to you. The list goes on.
I think forgiveness is hard for us because we don’t fully understand it. I didn’t anyways, for many years. To me, forgiving was like saying it was ok — and it was far from ok! However, that is not what forgiveness is, as we’ll see in a moment.
I once heard that in ancient Rome, those who murdered were punished with having the corpse of their victim tied onto their back, where it remained until it had rotted off. Refusing to forgive the person who hurt you is like carrying a decaying, rotting corpse on your back.
Why should we forgive in the first place? Do we even gain anything from it?
In my school days, every morning we used to say a prayer -
"Our Father, who art in Heaven
.................
.................
.................
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive, those who trespass against us,
................
................
Amen "

So now do you get the bottom line? If we cannot forgive others, God does not forgives us either.

What is forgiveness?
It is not saying that what was done was ok. To forgive is not to say to someone, "It’s ok. What you did doesn’t matter." It’s not ok! They ruined your life, or at least they made it very difficult, and it’s ok to say that.
Forgiveness is saying, "What you did was not ok and my life has suffered as a result, but I am not going to be the one to attempt to make you pay for what you have done."

"I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him."

Generally, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The act that hurt or offended you may always remain a part of your life, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help you focus on other, positive parts of your life. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.
Forgiveness doesn't mean that you deny the other person's responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn't minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act. Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.


What are the benefits of forgiving someone?
Letting go of grudges and bitterness makes way for compassion, kindness and peace. Forgiveness can lead to:
1. Healthier relationships
2. Greater spiritual and psychological well-being
3. Less stress and hostility
4. Lower blood pressure
5. Fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety and chronic pain
6. Lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse


Thankfully, a lot of the Exocets in my life have dimmed with the mists of time. And the ones that I will get even with weren't people that ever mattered much to me anyway. And I hope that thought hurts them just a little!
Just to end with, they say - "The weak can never forgive. It is an attribute of the strong."

And to those of you who still find it difficult to reason out forgiveness, I have another quote - "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much."

Proud to be an Indian

Read this one, awesome ..You are going to love Indian men for thinking this way!!! Really worth the read...one of the BEST e-mails I've received in a long time!!

It seems that an article was written to a well-founded magazine, by an English woman who requested a response from Indian men. I'm so glad she got what she asked for (and more)!!!

This letter was written in response to the following article:

Dear Editor:

I'm sorry but I would like to challenge some of your Indian male readers. I am a White female who is engaged to an Indian male, good-looking, educated and loving. I just don't understand a lot of Indian female's attitudes about our relationship. My man decided he wanted me because the pickings amongst Indian women were slim to none. As he said they were either too fat, too loud, too mean, too argumentative, too needy, too materialistic or carrying too much excess baggage. Before I became engaged, whenever I went out I was constantly approached by Indian men, willing to wine and dine me and give me the world If Indian women are so up in arms about us being with their men, why don't they look at themselves and make some changes. I am tired of the dirty looks I get and snide remarks when we're out in public.I would like to hear from some Indian men about why we white women are so appealing and coveted by them. Bryant Gumbel just left his wife of 26 years for one of us. Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, the model Tyson Beckford,Montell Williams, Quincy Jones, James Earl Jones, Harry Belafonte, SydneyPoitier, Kofi Anan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Don Cornelius, Berry Gordy,BillyBlanks, Larry Fishburne, Jesley Snipes...I could go on and on.

But, right now, I'm a little angry and that is why I wrote this so hurriedly. Don't be mad with us White women because so many of your men want us.

Get your acts together and learn from us and we may lead you to treat your men better. If I'm wrong, Indian men, let me know.

Disgusted White Girl, Somewhere in VA.

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

The Response:

Dear Editor:

I would like to respond to the letter written by A Disgusted White Girl.

Let me start by saying that I am a 28-year old Indian man. I studied from one of the most prestigious universities in Atlanta, Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management. I have a good job at a major corporation and have recently purchased a house. So, I consider myself to be among the ranks of successful Non-White men. I will not use my precious time to slander white people. I just want to set the record straight of why Indian men date white women.

Back in the day, one of the biggest reasons why Indian men dated white women was because they were considered easy. The Indian girls in my neighborhood were raised traditionally. They were very strict about when they lost their virginity and who they lost it to. Because of our impatience to wait, brothers would look for someone who would give it up easy without too much hassle. So, they turned to the white girls.

Nowadays, in my opinion, a lot of Indian males date white women because they are docile and easy to control. A lot of Indian men, because of insecurities, fears, and overall weaknesses, have become intimidated by the strength of our Indian women. We are afraid that our woman will be more successful than us, make more money than us, drive nicer cars and own bigger houses.

Because of this fear, many Indian men look for a more docile woman. Someone we can control. I have talked to numerous Indian men and they continuously comment on how easy it is to control and walk over their white women.

I just want to set the record straight. I want A Disgusted White Girl to know that not all successful Indian men date white women. Non-Whites like Ahmad Rashad, Denzel Washington, Michael Jordan, Morris Chestnut, Will Smith, Blair Underwood, Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chris Rock all married strong Non-White women. And, to flip the script,there are numerous white men, in and out of the spot light, who openly or secretly desire Non-White women over white women. Ted Danson, RobertDeNiro, and David Bowie to name a few. I just don't want the 'DisgustedWhite Girl' to be misinformed.

Stop thinking that because you are white that you are some type of goddess.Remember, when Non-White Egyptian Queens like Hatsepshut and Nitorcris were ruling Dynasties and armies of men in Egypt, you were over in the caves of Europe eating raw meat and beating each other over the head with clubs.

Read your history! It was the Non-White woman that taught you how to cook and season your food. It was the Non-White woman that taught you how to raise your children. It was Non-White women who were raising your babies during slavery. It is the Non-White woman that had to endure watching their fathers, husbands, and children beaten, killed, and thrown in jail.

Indian women were born with two strikes against them: being Non-White and being a woman. And, through all this, Still They Rise!

It is because of the Indian women's strength, elegance, power, love and beauty that I could never date anyone except my Indian Queen. It is not just the outer beauty that captivates and draws me to them. It is not the fact that they come in all shapes, sizes, colors and shades that I love them. Their inner beauty is what I find most appealing about Indian women.Their strong spirit, loving and nurturing souls, their integrity, their ability to overcome great obstacles, their willingness to stand for what they believe in, and their determination to succeed and reach their highest potential while enduring great pain and suffering is why I have fallen in love with Indian women.

I honestly believe that your anger is geared more toward jealousy and envy than snotty looks. If this were not so, then why do you continuously go to tanning salons to darken your skin. If you are so proud to be white, then why don't you just be happy with your pale skin? Why do you continue to inject your lips unnatural and dangerous substances so you can look fuller and more voluptuous? I think that your anger is really a result of you wanting to have what the Non-White woman has..

BOTTOM LINE: If I were looking for a docile woman, someone I can walk over and control, I would give you a call. But, unfortunately, I am looking for a Virtuous Woman. Someone that can be a good wife and mother to my children. Someone who can be my best friend and understand my struggles.

I am looking for a soul mate and; unfortunately, you do not and CANNOT fit the bill.

No offense taken, none given.

Signed,

Indian Royalty

Nice One..

Girls.. you would surely like this one..

just came across this, so sharing :)

PS: No offense to anyone :D

30 second Speech

Lets try..

Enough tomfoolery in the previous post, back to serious stuff. You would have already received this mail by now, in case you havn't, go ahead reading it.

You might have read in yesterday’s TOI that that a school girl fainted on the busy Koramangala road (near the Maharaja Hotel) on Wednesday morning after a series of refusals by the auto drivers, she feared that she wouldn’t make it for her exams on time.

Bangalore’s auto drivers revel in turning away passengers. Many times Auto drivers at Agara Circle have refused to ferry me to Koramangala, they say they won’t get a return trip, and on some lucky days when I finally find a kind hearted driver he wants double the meter charge.
TOI says Transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao has sought help from the public “We request people to take note of the auto numbers and send them to us,” he said.

Just an email please… Let’s make a difference.

If you face any such incidents please take a note of the registration number of the auto and if possible, name of the Auto driver from the license plate displayed behind the driver’s seat and send them to the transport commissioner… I would try to take a pic of that guy with the auto, its not advisable though! ;)

e-mail id: transcom@nic.in
Phone: 22254900
Address: Transport Commissioner’s Office,
Gate 1, 5th floor,
M S Building,
Dr Ambedkar Road, Bangalore

And whats wrong in writing an e-mail, even if they don't respond, we won't die with a guilty conscience of never trying to make the difference :)

SPARK

Don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order. There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions. "Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die. One thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices.

This is just the glimpse of Chetan Bhagat's speech which was given at the orientation program for the new batch of MBA students - Symbiosis, Pune, July 24, 2008. The mails floating in 2008 and 2009 had captured only this much. To walk through the whole speech, visit http://www.chetanbhagat.com/speeches/speech_2.php

Belated !!

A Wise Observation

A person had just taken over office at a senior position, and I saw that he had hung on the wall above his desk a sign whichsaid: "Others were here before me and others will come after me."

When nothing seems to help..

I was in 8th standard if I remember correctly, when I had penned it down on a yellow chart paper with a red sketch :D


"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at the stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times, without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet, at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two. And I know, it wasn't that blow that did it, but all that had gone before. "

Receiving Each Day as an Invitation

Each new day is a path of wonder, a different invitation. Days are where our lives gradually become visible.
Often it seems that we have to undertake the longest journey to arrive at what has been nearest all along. Mornings rarely find us so astounded at the new day that we are unable to decide between adventures. We take on days with the same conditioned reflex with which we wash and put on our clothes each day. If we could be mindful of how short our time is, we might learn how precious each day is.
The liturgy of dawn signals the wonder of the arriving day. Magic of darkness breaking through into color and light is such a promise of invitation and possibility. No wonder we always associate the hope and urgency of new beginning with the dawn. Each day is the field of brightness where the invitation of our life unfolds. A new day is an intricate and subtle matrix; written into its mystery are the happenings sent to awaken and challenge us.
No day is ever the same, and no day stands still; each one moves through a different territory, awakening new beginnings. A day moves forward in moments, and once a moment has flickered into life, it vanishes and is replaced by the next. It is fascinating that this is where we live, within an emerging lacework that continually unravels. Often a fleeting moment can hold a whole sequence of the future in distilled form: that unprepared second when you looked in a parent’s eye and saw death already beginning to loom. Or the second you noticed a softening in someone’s voice and you knew that a friendship was beginning. Or catching your partner’s gaze upon you and knowing the love that surrounded you. Each day is seeded with recognitions.
The writing life is a wonderful metaphor for this. The writer goes to his desk to meet the empty white page. As he settles himself, he is preparing himself, for visitation and voyage. Each memory, longing, and craft set the frame for what might emerge. He has no idea what will come. Yet despite its limitations, his creative work will find its own direction to form. Each of us is an artist of our days; the greater our integrity and awareness, the more original and creative our time will become.

Courage

These days I am searching for a lot of courage. Courage to stand up for what I believe in. Courage to take a risk even when I do not know what is coming. I find myself evaluating what does it mean to have courage. Is it just a ton of lies that I am telling myself or is there something more substantial there. Something so deep and penetrating that my entire soul and being gets transcended into a state of confidence.
Courage has a lot to do with faith. Faith that no matter how hard the decisions that lie before me, it will all turn out Ok. I am a God believing woman. I believe that the hand of the Divine guides me and holds me up, especially when I am about to fall down.
In the end I find my courage by being honest. Honest that things will be hard and that no matter what, I will not give up, even when it seems to be the easiest course.
The wheels are now in motion and its time to act. Its time to be all that I can.

Power of intention

Go ahead and give it a shot. Nothing is more empowering than successfully doing something you thought you could not do.
When you surpass one assumption, you'll begin to question other limiting assumptions. When you step out of your comfort zone and taste success, you're suddenly confronted with a whole new level of exciting possibilities.
What have you always told yourself that you're not capable of doing? Imagine what would happen if you went ahead and successfully did it. Your whole concept of what is possible will radically change. Your confidence will skyrocket to amazing levels.
Take the first step, because you know you can go at least that far. You'll quickly discover that the next step is within your reach, and then the next one, and the one after that.
See it through, and succeed at doing what you previously thought you could not do. Feel the full power of your own intention.

Money has no Memory, Experience has

Money has no memory. Experience has. You will never know what the total cost of your education was, but for a lifetime you will recall and relive the memories of schools and colleges. Few years from now, you will forget the amount you paid to settle the hospitalization bill, but will ever cherish having saved your mother's life or the life you get to live with the just born. You won't remember the cost of your honeymoon, but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of togetherness. Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty, times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn't know from where the tomorrow will come… life has been in one way or the other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences. Sometimes the wallet was full… sometimes even the pocket was empty. There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn't enough and you still had reasons to smile. Today, you can look back with tears of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and you alone can remember them all. The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support… The first time she said 'yes' and it was two years since you proposed… The first cry… the first steps… the first word… the first kiss… all of your child… The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your daughter gave you… The first award… the first public appreciation… the first stage performance… And the list is endless… Experiences, with timeless memory… No denying that anything that's material cost money, but the fact remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience never. So , what if it's economic recession ? Let it be , but let there not be a recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. It doesn't cost money to lie down or to take a loved one onto your lap. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Aspects like yourhealth, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent. Time will pass… economy will revive… currency will soon be in current… and in all this, I don't want you to look back and realize you did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make you lose out on money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences… If you are not happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will still not be happy. Make a statement with the way you live your life: How I feel has nothing to do with how much I have .

Uprooting Racism, Resisting Discrimination

Really liked this one..This scene took place on a British Airways flight between Johannesburg, South Africa & London. A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man. Very disturbed by this, she called the air hostess. "You obviously do not see it then?" she asked. "You placed me next to a black man. I did not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat.""Be calm please," the hostess replied."Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another place is available."The hostess went away & then came back a few minutes later. "Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy Class. I spoke to the captain & he informed me that there is also no seat in Business Class. All the same, we still have one place in First Class. "Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued. "It is not usual for our company to permit someone from Economy Class to sit in First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting. "The Hostess turned to the black guy, & said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class. "At that moment, the other passengers, who'd been shocked by what they had just witnessed, stood up & applauded. They say this is a true story... Well done, British Airways!! ;-)

The History of Valentine's Day

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.
According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.
While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial — which probably occurred around 270 A.D — others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Are you Surprised?

In graduate school, I had one professor who encouraged us to notice what surprised or disturbed us. If we were surprised by some statement, it indicated we were assuming that something else was true. If we were disturbed by a comment, it indicated we held a belief contrary to that. Noticing what disturbs me has been an incredibly useful lens into my interior, deeply held beliefs. When I'm shocked at another's position, I have the opportunity to see my own position in greater clarity. When I hear myself saying "How could anyone believe something like that?!" a doorway has opened for me to see what I believe. These moments of true disturbance are great gifts. In making my beliefs visible, they allow me to consciously choose them again, or change them.What if we were to be together and listen to each other's comments with a willingness to expose rather than to confirm our own beliefs and opinions? What if we were to willingly listen to one another with the awareness that we each see the world in unique ways? And with the expectation that I could learn something new if I listen for the differences rather than the similarities?We have this opportunity many times in a day, everyday. What might we see, what might we learn, what might we create together, if we become this kind of listener, one who enjoys the differences and welcomes in disturbance? I know we would be delightfully startled by how much difference there is. And then we would be wonderfully comforted by how much closer we became, because every time we listen well, we move towards each other. From our new thoughts and our new companions, we would all become wiser.It would be more fruitful to explore this strange and puzzling world if we were together. It would also be far less frightening and lonely. We would be together, brought together by our differences rather than separated by them. When we are willing to be disturbed by newness rather than clinging to our certainty, when we are willing to truly listen to someone who sees the world differently, then wonderful things happen. We learn that we don't have to agree with each other in order to explore together. There is no need to be joined together at the head, as long as we are joined together at the heart.

Sands of Time

Why do we consider twenty-four hours to be a day when day is actually the period of time between dawn and dusk? Why does the day begin at midnight? Midnight is the middle of the night, not the middle of the day! Why do we have seven days instead of eight? What's the reason for time? Just because we have a calendar or a clock doesn't mean that we have more or less time. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Sometimes it flies, sometimes it crawls. Most of the time we can never seem to get enough of it. To realize the value of a year, ask a student who received a failing grade. To recognize the value of a month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To appreciate the value ofa week, ask the person in need of a new heart. To know the value of an hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To fathom the value of a minute, ask a person who missed the train. To actualize the value of a second, ask the person who just avoided being hit by the train. To measure the value of a millisecond, ask the person who won a gold medal in theOlympics. Imagine there's a bank that credits your account everymorning with $86,400. It keeps no balance from day to day and every evening it deletes the part of the balance that you didn'tuse. What would you do? I would draw out every last cent! We all have a bank like this, it's called time. Every morning it credits us with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off whatever amount that we didn't use. There's no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. We must live in the present on today's deposits. We should invest time carefully as to receive the most we can in health, happiness,love and success. The clock is running, so make the most of it today.

Noticing the Gaps

In the first moment of seeing something or hearing a sound -- and more so if it is unfamiliar -- before the mind names or interprets what you see or hear there is usually a gap of alert attention in which the perception occurs. That is the inner space. Its duration differs from person to person. It is easy to miss because in many people those spaces are extremely short, perhaps only a second or less.
This is what happens: a new sight or sound arises, and in the first moment of perception, there is a brief cessation in the habitual stream of thinking. Consciousness is diverted away from thought because it is required for sense perception. A very unusual sight or sound may leave you "speechless" -- even inside, that is to say, bring about a longer gap.
The frequency and duration of those spaces determine your ability to enjoy life, to feel an inner connectedness with other human beings as well as nature. It also determines the degree to which you are free of ego because ego implies complete unawareness of the dimension of space.
When you become conscious of these brief spaces as they happen naturally, they will lengthen, and as they do, you will experience with increasing frequency the joy of perceiving with little or no interference of thinking.
Inner space also arises whenever you let go of the need to emphasize your form-identity. That need is of the ego. It is not a true need.
Here are some ways in which people unconsciously try to emphasize their form-identity. If you are alert enough, you may be able to detect some of these unconscious patterns within yourself: demanding recognition for something you did and getting angry or upset if you don’t get it; trying to get attention by talking about your problems, the story of your illness, or making a scene, giving your opinion when nobody has asked for it and it makes no difference to the situation; being more concerned with how the other person sees you than with the other person, which is to say using other people for egoic reflection or as ego enhancers taking things personally, feeling offended; making yourself right and others wrong through futile mental complaining; wanting to be seen, or appear important.
Once you have detected such a pattern within yourself, I suggest that you conduct an experiment, Find out what it feels like and what happens if you let go of that pattern. Just drop it and see what happens.
De-emphasizing who you are on the level of form is another way of generating consciousness. Discover the enormous power that flows through you into the world when you stop emphasizing your form identity.