When things in ur life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in
a day r not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar & the coffee...
A professor (Pro) stood b4 his philosophy class & had some items in
front of him. When the class began, he picked up a large & empty
mayonnaise jar & fill it with golf balls.
After sumtime jar was full. So the professor then picked up a box of
pebbles & poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles
rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the
students again if the jar was full. They agreed.
The pro next picked up a box of sand & poured it into the jar. Of
course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked if the jar was full.
They agreed.
The pro then produced 2 cups of coffee from under the table & poured
the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space
between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the pro, as the laughter subsided, "I want u to recognize
that this jar represents ur life. The golf balls r important things, ur
God, family, ur children, ur health, ur friends, & ur favorite passions
things that if everything else was lost & only they remained, ur life
would still be full.
The pebbles r other things that matter like ur job, ur house, & ur car.
The sand is everything else the small stuff.
"If u put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room
for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If u spend
all ur time & energy on the small stuff, u will never have room for the
things that r important.
Pay attention to the things that r critical to ur happiness. Play with
ur children. Take care of the golf balls 1st, it really matter. Set ur
priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand & inquired what the coffee
represented.
The pro smiled. "I'm glad u asked. It just goes to show u that no
matter how full ur life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups
of coffee with a friend."
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tell them before it is too late...........
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 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 Vietnam 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 purse and showed her 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...
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 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 Vietnam 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 purse and showed her 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...
Stories that aren't mine.....
I am going to post some stories which I just love, and though they aren't mine, I am posting them because they are great, so great that a pure blue tear might roll out of your eyes while reading them. The first one follows...........
There were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th level. On coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that the lifts were not working and that they have to climb the stairs home.
After struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the next day. They left their bags then and climbed on. When they have struggled to the 40th level, the younger brother started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel. They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling all the way to the 60th floor.
They then realized that they have only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the other to open the door.
And they realized that the key was in their bags which was left on the 20th floor
This story is reflecting on our life...many of us live under the expectations of our parents, teachers and friends when young. We seldom get to do the things that we really like and love and are under so much pressure and stress so that by the age of 20, we get tired and decided to dump this load.
Being free of the stress and pressure, we work enthusiastically and dream ambitious wishes.
But by the time we reach 40 years old, we start to lose our vision and dreams. We began to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live life as a misery as we are never satisfied. Reaching 60, we realize that we have little left for complaining anymore, and we began to walk the final episode in peace and calmness.
We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream ...... a dream we abandoned 60 years ago.
So what is your dream?
Follow your dreams, so that you will not live with regrets .
There were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th level. On coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that the lifts were not working and that they have to climb the stairs home.
After struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the next day. They left their bags then and climbed on. When they have struggled to the 40th level, the younger brother started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel. They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling all the way to the 60th floor.
They then realized that they have only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and reached their home at long last. Each stood calmly before the door and waited for the other to open the door.
And they realized that the key was in their bags which was left on the 20th floor
This story is reflecting on our life...many of us live under the expectations of our parents, teachers and friends when young. We seldom get to do the things that we really like and love and are under so much pressure and stress so that by the age of 20, we get tired and decided to dump this load.
Being free of the stress and pressure, we work enthusiastically and dream ambitious wishes.
But by the time we reach 40 years old, we start to lose our vision and dreams. We began to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live life as a misery as we are never satisfied. Reaching 60, we realize that we have little left for complaining anymore, and we began to walk the final episode in peace and calmness.
We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream ...... a dream we abandoned 60 years ago.
So what is your dream?
Follow your dreams, so that you will not live with regrets .
Friday, November 19, 2010
Reforming India............
It is beautiful to live in a country like India. With such a diverse civilization that's 34000 years old. With 28 states, more than 2000 languages and such a beautiful culture, India is the best country in the world. It is gifted with plenty of natural resources and so many enchanting locations. It's unique culture, rituals, festivals and the celebrations that India celebrates, unfolds it's legendary sagas.The always helping and brotherly nature that all Indians inherit from their ancestors, it's amazing to be a part of India.
But there are some sad things about India. A few, which if we are able to get rid of, nobody have the power to stop us from being the best and having the most power.Although it's still known that for many developed countries, it is difficult to survive without India. And if we get rid of some things which are deterrent in our path of success and a matter of shame for us, we would surely be at the top.
The biggest challenge to the India's growth story is corruption. Corruption has set it's roots so deep in our society that now sometimes we don't even realize it's there. Almost no work in India gets completed without giving bribes. Admissions are given to students who do not get good marks in the entrance examinations by just taking a lot of extra money, which can appropriately be termed as bribery, but everyone here calls it donation. It seems that bribery has now become an unwritten law. One who doesn't follow this law cannot get his work done.
Let's take a look at some recent scams in India:
Commonwealth Games Scam:
The world was watching us as we prepared for the most expensive commonwealth games ever. We also had to shut the mouths of those who had said that India should not have been given the games. But corruption came in the way of what could have helped in creating India's image not only as an emerging sporting nation but also as a strong economic power. The budget ballooned enormously from what it was in 2006 when the project started and what it was when the project ended amidst a mess in 2010. A bit of it can be attributed to inflation but a major part of it was due to mismanagement and corrupt practices. When games were approaching and all the infrastructure was supposed to be handed over to the concerned agencies, most of the construction work was incomplete. Tenders were given to relatives at high rates, to foreign companies at enormously high rates for works which could have been given to Indian companies at meagre rates. In short, everything was done by the top brass for extracting maximum money for themselves in the venture. What eventually came out was a shame on India's face before the games started for almost two months when international media covered the ill preparation of the games. As an Indian, I felt that the world was spitting on us. But happily, due to our age old habit of 'jugad' the games came out pretty good. But left us with another issue to reflect on and was enough to provoke us to take some steps against corruption.
2G- Spectrum Scam:
The most discussed about scam at present and a controversy that all are shocked of. Telecom minister A.Raja sold out 122 telecom spectrums in 2008 at throw away prices, depriving the government $39 billion in revenue. The government was pressurized to remove A.Raja as the telecom minister. And so did they. But now the government is in a very unstable position as it's coalition partners are threatening a pullout.
Adarsh Housing society scam:
Brought to notice in the very recent past was another major scam highlighting the violations of rules in the Adarsh society that was reserved for the war widows and veterans of the Kargil war. Questions were raised about the way flats were alloted to bureaucrats and influential people that had nothing to do with the Kargil war. Many rules were violated or moulded for this building. The building is stands in the posh Colaba area in Mumbai that is considered as a very sensitive coastal area by Indian defense forces and it also houses many Indian defense establishments. The environment ministry took the first action by serving a show cause notice for the demolition of the entire 31 story building constructed in the highly Eco-sensitive zone of Colaba.
As an Indian, sit back and think for a while, are you doing anything to eliminate corruption from our society. The easiest thing that you can do on your part is to stop corruption is just not to be part of it. Come on, come out, let's reform India.............
But there are some sad things about India. A few, which if we are able to get rid of, nobody have the power to stop us from being the best and having the most power.Although it's still known that for many developed countries, it is difficult to survive without India. And if we get rid of some things which are deterrent in our path of success and a matter of shame for us, we would surely be at the top.
The biggest challenge to the India's growth story is corruption. Corruption has set it's roots so deep in our society that now sometimes we don't even realize it's there. Almost no work in India gets completed without giving bribes. Admissions are given to students who do not get good marks in the entrance examinations by just taking a lot of extra money, which can appropriately be termed as bribery, but everyone here calls it donation. It seems that bribery has now become an unwritten law. One who doesn't follow this law cannot get his work done.
Let's take a look at some recent scams in India:
Commonwealth Games Scam:
The world was watching us as we prepared for the most expensive commonwealth games ever. We also had to shut the mouths of those who had said that India should not have been given the games. But corruption came in the way of what could have helped in creating India's image not only as an emerging sporting nation but also as a strong economic power. The budget ballooned enormously from what it was in 2006 when the project started and what it was when the project ended amidst a mess in 2010. A bit of it can be attributed to inflation but a major part of it was due to mismanagement and corrupt practices. When games were approaching and all the infrastructure was supposed to be handed over to the concerned agencies, most of the construction work was incomplete. Tenders were given to relatives at high rates, to foreign companies at enormously high rates for works which could have been given to Indian companies at meagre rates. In short, everything was done by the top brass for extracting maximum money for themselves in the venture. What eventually came out was a shame on India's face before the games started for almost two months when international media covered the ill preparation of the games. As an Indian, I felt that the world was spitting on us. But happily, due to our age old habit of 'jugad' the games came out pretty good. But left us with another issue to reflect on and was enough to provoke us to take some steps against corruption.
2G- Spectrum Scam:
The most discussed about scam at present and a controversy that all are shocked of. Telecom minister A.Raja sold out 122 telecom spectrums in 2008 at throw away prices, depriving the government $39 billion in revenue. The government was pressurized to remove A.Raja as the telecom minister. And so did they. But now the government is in a very unstable position as it's coalition partners are threatening a pullout.
Adarsh Housing society scam:
Brought to notice in the very recent past was another major scam highlighting the violations of rules in the Adarsh society that was reserved for the war widows and veterans of the Kargil war. Questions were raised about the way flats were alloted to bureaucrats and influential people that had nothing to do with the Kargil war. Many rules were violated or moulded for this building. The building is stands in the posh Colaba area in Mumbai that is considered as a very sensitive coastal area by Indian defense forces and it also houses many Indian defense establishments. The environment ministry took the first action by serving a show cause notice for the demolition of the entire 31 story building constructed in the highly Eco-sensitive zone of Colaba.
As an Indian, sit back and think for a while, are you doing anything to eliminate corruption from our society. The easiest thing that you can do on your part is to stop corruption is just not to be part of it. Come on, come out, let's reform India.............
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The unspoken truth............
There are two types of people in this world, the real ones and the plastic ones. My personal experience with this world tells me that the real ones are extremely rare to find. Most of the people around are the plastic ones. Sometimes I am forced to think, think why everyone is so fake. Why they are someone from inside, and a very different person from outside. I look around and find that the world is full of such people. We have lost the times of originality. When everything is rarely original, how can people be. Those beautiful times of the countryside has gone when people were full of originality. Now we live in this urban world where everyone is in a race with each other. And in this race we have lost our originality. Everyone wants to be someone other, someone who is a lot different from himself. While some people do this successfully and invent a fake personality, some fail. Those who fail are the ones who are themselves a beautiful personality but can't save themselves from this trend of faking and thus they leave a poor impression on others....
We lost the originality, and the beauty of this world also got lost along the way. Now you go out and it is very easy to find people fighting, friends betraying, and hearts being broken. Why? Simply because we all are fake. Because there's something always left unsaid, something that we wanted to be hidden. It is the unspoken truth.....
The truth that everyone wants to hide. The truth that who they are. We have started loving this fake world and accepting as it is. We don't make efforts to create that beautiful world again. What we all can do on our part is just be real. Be what we are.........
I would like it if you share your bitter experiences of this fake world with us. Don't let the unspoken truth be unspoken......... Let it come out and create a beautiful world.......
We lost the originality, and the beauty of this world also got lost along the way. Now you go out and it is very easy to find people fighting, friends betraying, and hearts being broken. Why? Simply because we all are fake. Because there's something always left unsaid, something that we wanted to be hidden. It is the unspoken truth.....
The truth that everyone wants to hide. The truth that who they are. We have started loving this fake world and accepting as it is. We don't make efforts to create that beautiful world again. What we all can do on our part is just be real. Be what we are.........
I would like it if you share your bitter experiences of this fake world with us. Don't let the unspoken truth be unspoken......... Let it come out and create a beautiful world.......
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