જેટલી જરૂર શાકમાં મીઠાની રહે છે, એટલી જ જરૂર પરમાર્થમાં સંસારની રહે છે. મીઠું નહિ હોય તો શાક બેસ્વાદ લાગે. પણ મીઠું વધુ પડતું પડી ગયું તો તો શાક ખાઈ જ નહીં શકાય. તે જ પ્રમાણે સંસાર અને પરમાર્થનો સંબંધ છે.
- શ્રી બ્રહ્મચૈતન્ય મહારાજ ગોંદવલેકર
Saturday, December 31, 2011
સંસાર જરૂર પુરતો જ કરવો...
- શ્રી બ્રહ્મચૈતન્ય મહારાજ ગોંદવલેકર
Friday, December 30, 2011
Carrot, Egg, and Coffee Bean
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She didn’t know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, she was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as soon as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.
Mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?' Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I?
* Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
* Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
* Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
MORAL: The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.
Mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hardboiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?' Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I?
* Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
* Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
* Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
MORAL: The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Self Appraisal
A little boy went to a telephone booth which was at the cash counter of a store and dialed a number.
The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:
Boy : "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman : (at the other end of the phone line) "I already have someone to cut my lawn."
Boy : "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price than the person who cuts your lawn now."
Woman : “I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.”
Boy : (with more perseverance) "Lady, I'll even sweep the floor and the stairs of your house for free.”
Woman : “No, thank you.”
With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.
Store Owner : "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."
Boy : "No thanks”
Store Owner : “But you were really pleading for one.”
Boy : “No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"
Moral: Aim to excel in what you are doing. Success automatically follows.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:
Boy : "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman : (at the other end of the phone line) "I already have someone to cut my lawn."
Boy : "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price than the person who cuts your lawn now."
Woman : “I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.”
Boy : (with more perseverance) "Lady, I'll even sweep the floor and the stairs of your house for free.”
Woman : “No, thank you.”
With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.
Store Owner : "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."
Boy : "No thanks”
Store Owner : “But you were really pleading for one.”
Boy : “No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"
Moral: Aim to excel in what you are doing. Success automatically follows.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
IBM's Tech-Predictions for the next 5 years...
IBM '5 in 5' predicts no more passwords, mind-reading smartphones...
Hoping for a lot of progress on the technologies that help people with disabilities!
Hoping for a lot of progress on the technologies that help people with disabilities!
Enjoy Your Life At Every Moment
Once a fisherman was sitting near seashore, under the shadow of a tree and enjoying the beauty of nature.
Suddenly a rich businessman passing by approached him and enquired as to why he was sitting under a tree and not working.
To this the poor fisherman replied that he had caught enough fishes for the day.
Hearing this, the rich man got angry and said: “Why don’t you catch more fishes instead of sitting in shadow wasting your time?”
Fisherman asked: “What would I do by catching more fishes?”
Businessman: “You could catch more fishes, sell them and earn more money, and buy a bigger boat.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could go fishing in deep waters and catch even more fishes and earn even more money.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could buy many boats and employ many people to work for you and earn even more money.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could become a rich businessman like me.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could then enjoy your life peacefully.”
Fisherman: “What do you think I’m doing right now?”
MORAL : You don’t need to wait for tomorrow to be happy and enjoy your life. You don’t even need to be rich and powerful to enjoy life. LIFE is at this moment, enjoy it to the fullest. As some great men had said “My riches consist not in extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants”.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Suddenly a rich businessman passing by approached him and enquired as to why he was sitting under a tree and not working.
To this the poor fisherman replied that he had caught enough fishes for the day.
Hearing this, the rich man got angry and said: “Why don’t you catch more fishes instead of sitting in shadow wasting your time?”
Fisherman asked: “What would I do by catching more fishes?”
Businessman: “You could catch more fishes, sell them and earn more money, and buy a bigger boat.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could go fishing in deep waters and catch even more fishes and earn even more money.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could buy many boats and employ many people to work for you and earn even more money.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could become a rich businessman like me.”
Fisherman: “What would I do then?”
Businessman: “You could then enjoy your life peacefully.”
Fisherman: “What do you think I’m doing right now?”
MORAL : You don’t need to wait for tomorrow to be happy and enjoy your life. You don’t even need to be rich and powerful to enjoy life. LIFE is at this moment, enjoy it to the fullest. As some great men had said “My riches consist not in extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants”.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Monday, December 26, 2011
Struggles in life...
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared on the cocoon. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and the butterfly would be able to fly and also support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Moral: Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been and we could never fly!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and the butterfly would be able to fly and also support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Moral: Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been and we could never fly!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Saturday, December 24, 2011
CLUB 99
Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite of his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, 'Why are you so happy?'
The man replied, 'Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.'
The King was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The Club 99.'
'The Club 99? And what exactly is that?' the King inquired.
The advisor replied, 'Your Majesty, to truly know what The Club 99 is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep.' The King did as advised by his advisor.
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy. So many gold coins! He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, 'What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!' He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection. From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He even stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The Club 99.'
He continued, 'The Club 99 is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1, saying to themselves: 'Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.'
Moral: We can be happy, even with very little in our lives. But the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. And we stop living life then. Let us live simple and be simple.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, 'Why are you so happy?'
The man replied, 'Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.'
The King was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The Club 99.'
'The Club 99? And what exactly is that?' the King inquired.
The advisor replied, 'Your Majesty, to truly know what The Club 99 is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep.' The King did as advised by his advisor.
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy. So many gold coins! He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, 'What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!' He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection. From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He even stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The Club 99.'
He continued, 'The Club 99 is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1, saying to themselves: 'Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.'
Moral: We can be happy, even with very little in our lives. But the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires. And we stop living life then. Let us live simple and be simple.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Sunday, December 18, 2011
For Programmers...
Any code of your own that you haven’t looked at for six or more months might as well have been written by someone else.- Eagleson’s Law
Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are–by definition–not smart enough to debug it.- Brian Kernighan
It's hard enough to find an error in your code when you're looking for it; it's even harder when you've assumed your code is error-free.- Steve McConnell
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
MAKE WEAKNESS YOUR STRENGTH
A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally asked, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?". "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.
Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced.
For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.
"No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?". "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
MORAL: "Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced.
For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.
"No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?". "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.
MORAL: "Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Sensible...
The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me.- George Bernard Shaw
The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
O Bloody Viral...
O bloody viral, why are you back
Get away... I'm sick of your attack
You return once or twice every semester
You pin me down and you pester
My eyes are strained and so is my throat
My head spins around and it feels like it's afloat
My body aches and my limbs are weak
It feels like a marathon to go take a leak
My nose is all red
And I'm hardly out of my bed
Neither can I think straight, you're all over me
Nor can I sleep well, this coughing and sneezing wakes me
They say if you take medicines, you're good within a week
Or else it takes 7 days, so to speak
So I went to a doctor and got a cure
And she was confident that it was Viral for sure
Now I'm back with antibiotics and diet restriction
Trying to get better and waiting for your eviction
O bloody viral, never be back...
I'm really really really sick of your attack
© Sneh Bhatt
Friday, October 21, 2011
Air Quality Index (P.A.L.S)
Check this out... Air Quality Index
Delhi is the most polluted and Kolkata the least...
Surprisingly, Pune is more polluted than Mumbai !!!
Delhi is the most polluted and Kolkata the least...
Surprisingly, Pune is more polluted than Mumbai !!!
काहीतरी नविन!
बेल वाजली म्हणून दरवाजा उघडला. दारात शिवराम.
शिवराम आमच्या सोसायटीतल्या लोकांच्या गाड्या-बाईक्स धुवायचं काम करतो.
'साहेब, जरा काम होतं.'
'पगार द्यायचा राहिलाय का माझ्याकडून ?'
'नाय साहेब, तो केवाच भेटला. पेढे द्यायचे होते. पोरगा धाव्वी झाला.'
'अरे व्वा ! या आत या.'
आमच्या दाराचा उंबरठा शिवराम प्रथमच ओलांडत होता.
मी शिवरामला बसायला सांगितलं. तो आधी नको नको म्हणाला. आग्रह केला तेव्हा बसला. पण अवघडून.
मीही त्याच्या समोर बसताच त्याने माझ्या हातात पेढ्यांची पुडी ठेवली.
'किती मार्क मिळाले मुलाला ?'
'बासट टक्के.'
'अरे वा !' त्याला बरं वाटावं म्हणून मी म्हटलं.
हल्ली ऐंशी-नव्वद टक्के ऐकायची इतकी सवय झाल्ये की तेवढे मार्क न मिळालेला माणूस नापास झाल्यासारखाच वाटतो. पण शिवराम खुष दिसत होता.
'साहेब मी जाम खुश आहे. माझ्या अख्ख्या खानदानात इतका शिकलेला पहिला माणूस म्हणजे माझा पोरगा !'
'अच्छा, म्हणून पेढे वगैरे !'
शिवरामला माझं बोलणं कदाचित आवडलं नसावं. तो हलकेच हसला आणि म्हणाला, 'साहेब, परवडलं असतं ना, तर दरवर्षी वाटले असते पेढे. साहेब, माझा मुलगा फार हुशार नाही, ते माहित्ये मला. पन एकही वर्ष नापास न होता दर वर्षी त्याचे दोन दोन, तीन तीन टक्के वाढले - यात खुशी नाय का ? साहेब, माझा पोरगा आहे म्हणून नाही सांगत, पन तो जाम खराब कंडीशनमधे अभ्यास करायचा. तुमचं काय ते - शांत वातावरन ! - आमच्यासाठी ही चैन आहे साहेब ! तो सादा पास झाला असता ना, तरी मी पेढे वाटले असते.'
मी गप्प बसल्याचं पाहून शिवराम म्हणाला, 'साहेब सॉरी हा, काय चुकीचं बोललो असेन तर. माझ्या बापाची शिकवन. म्हनायचा, आनंद एकट्याने खाऊ नको - सगल्य्यांना वाट !
हे नुसते पेढे नाय साहेब - हा माझा आनंद आहे !'
मला भरून आलं. मी आतल्या खोलीत गेलो. एका नक्षीदार पाकिटात बक्षिसाची रक्कम भरली.
आतून मोठ्यांदा विचारलं, 'शिवराम, मुलाचं नाव काय?'
'विशाल.' बाहेरून आवाज आला.
मी पाकिटावर लिहिलं -
प्रिय विशाल, हार्दिक अभिनंदन !
नेहमी आनंदात रहा - तुझ्या बाबांसारखा !
'शिवराम हे घ्या.'
'साहेब हे कशाला ? तुम्ही माझ्याशी दोन मिन्ट बोल्लात यात आलं सगलं.'
'हे विशालसाठी आहे! त्याला त्याच्या आवडीची पुस्तकं घेऊ देत यातुन.'
शिवराम काहीच न बोलता पाकिटाकडे बघत राहिला.
'चहा वगैरे घेणार का ?'
'नको साहेब, आणखी लाजवू नका. फक्त या पाकिटावर काय लिहिलंय ते जरा सांगाल? मला वाचता येत नाही. म्हनून...’
‘घरी जा आणि पाकीट विशालकडे द्या. तो वाचून दाखवेल तुम्हाला !' मी हसत म्हटलं.
माझे आभार मानत शिवराम निघून गेला खरा पण त्याचा आनंदी चेहरा डोळ्यासमोरून जात नव्हता.
खुप दिवसांनी एका आनंदी आणि समाधानी माणसाला भेटलो होतो.
हल्ली अशी माणसं दुर्मिळ झाली आहेत. कोणाशी जsरा बोलायला जा - तक्रारींचा पाढा सुरु झालाच म्हणून समजा.
नव्वद -पंच्याण्णव टक्के मिळवून सुद्धा लांब चेहरे करून बसलेले मुलांचे पालक आठवले. आपल्या मुलाला/मुलीला हव्या त्या कॉलेजात प्रवेश मिळेपर्यंत त्यांनी आपला आनंद लांबणीवर टाकलाय, म्हणे.
आपण त्यांना नको हसुया. कारण आपण सगळेच असे झालोय - आनंद 'लांबणीवर' टाकणारे !
‘माझ्याकडे वेळ नाही, माझ्याकडे पैसे नाहीत, स्पर्धेत टिकाव कसा लागेल, आज पाऊस पडतोय, माझा मूड नाही !’ - आनंद ‘लांबणीवर’ टाकायच्या या सगळ्या सबबी आहेत आहेत हे आधी मान्य करू या.
काही गोष्टी करून आपल्यालाच आनंद मिळणार आहे - पण आपणच तो आनंद घ्यायचा टाळतोय ! Isn't it strange ?
मोगऱ्याच्या फुलांचा गंध घ्यायला कितीसा वेळ लागतो ?
सूर्योदय-सूर्यास्त पाहायला किती पैसे पडतात ?
आंघोळ करताना गाणं म्हणताय, कोण मरायला येणारे तुमच्याशी स्पर्धा करायला ?
पाऊस पडतोय ? सोप्पं आहे - भिजायला जा !
अगदी काहीही न करता गादीत लोळत राहायला तुम्हाला 'मूड' लागतो ?
माणूस जन्म घेतो त्यावेळी त्याच्या हाताच्या मुठी बंद असतात.
परमेश्वराने एका हातात 'आनंद' आणि एका हातात 'समाधान' कोंबून पाठवलेलं असतं.
माणूस मोठा होऊ लागतो. वाढत्या वयाबरोबर 'आनंद' आणि 'समाधान' कुठे कुठे सांडत जातात.
आता 'आनंदी' होण्यासाठी ‘कोणावर’ तरी, ‘कशावर’ तरी अवलंबून राहावं लागतं.
कुणाच्या येण्यावर-कुणाच्या जाण्यावर. कुणाच्या असण्यावर-कुणाच्या नसण्यावर.
काहीतरी मिळाल्यावर-कोणीतरी गमावल्यावर. कुणाच्या बोलण्यावर- कुणाच्या न बोलण्यावर.
खरं तर, 'आत' आनंदाचा न आटणारा झरा वाहतोय. कधीही त्यात उडी मारावी आणि मस्त डुंबावं.
इतकं असून...आपण सगळे त्या झऱ्याच्या काठावर उभे आहोत - पाण्याच्या टँकरची वाट बघत !
जोवर हे वाट बघणं आहे तोवर ही तहान भागणं अशक्य !
इतरांशी तुलना करत आणखी पैसे, आणखी कपडे, आणखी मोठं घर, आणखी वरची 'पोजिशन', आणखी टक्के.. ! या 'आणखी'च्या मागे धावता धावता त्या आनंदाच्या झऱ्यापासून किती लांब आलो आपण !
जावेद अख्तर साहेबांनी खूप छान लिहून ठेवलंय –
सबका ख़ुशीसे फासला एक कदम है
हर घर में बस एक ही कमरा कम है !
शिवराम भेटला नसता तर माझं आणि माझ्या आनंदामधलं 'ते एका पावलाचं' अंतर कदाचित भरून निघालं नसतं.
-Source: Shared by a colleague; Author is not known to me
शिवराम आमच्या सोसायटीतल्या लोकांच्या गाड्या-बाईक्स धुवायचं काम करतो.
'साहेब, जरा काम होतं.'
'पगार द्यायचा राहिलाय का माझ्याकडून ?'
'नाय साहेब, तो केवाच भेटला. पेढे द्यायचे होते. पोरगा धाव्वी झाला.'
'अरे व्वा ! या आत या.'
आमच्या दाराचा उंबरठा शिवराम प्रथमच ओलांडत होता.
मी शिवरामला बसायला सांगितलं. तो आधी नको नको म्हणाला. आग्रह केला तेव्हा बसला. पण अवघडून.
मीही त्याच्या समोर बसताच त्याने माझ्या हातात पेढ्यांची पुडी ठेवली.
'किती मार्क मिळाले मुलाला ?'
'बासट टक्के.'
'अरे वा !' त्याला बरं वाटावं म्हणून मी म्हटलं.
हल्ली ऐंशी-नव्वद टक्के ऐकायची इतकी सवय झाल्ये की तेवढे मार्क न मिळालेला माणूस नापास झाल्यासारखाच वाटतो. पण शिवराम खुष दिसत होता.
'साहेब मी जाम खुश आहे. माझ्या अख्ख्या खानदानात इतका शिकलेला पहिला माणूस म्हणजे माझा पोरगा !'
'अच्छा, म्हणून पेढे वगैरे !'
शिवरामला माझं बोलणं कदाचित आवडलं नसावं. तो हलकेच हसला आणि म्हणाला, 'साहेब, परवडलं असतं ना, तर दरवर्षी वाटले असते पेढे. साहेब, माझा मुलगा फार हुशार नाही, ते माहित्ये मला. पन एकही वर्ष नापास न होता दर वर्षी त्याचे दोन दोन, तीन तीन टक्के वाढले - यात खुशी नाय का ? साहेब, माझा पोरगा आहे म्हणून नाही सांगत, पन तो जाम खराब कंडीशनमधे अभ्यास करायचा. तुमचं काय ते - शांत वातावरन ! - आमच्यासाठी ही चैन आहे साहेब ! तो सादा पास झाला असता ना, तरी मी पेढे वाटले असते.'
मी गप्प बसल्याचं पाहून शिवराम म्हणाला, 'साहेब सॉरी हा, काय चुकीचं बोललो असेन तर. माझ्या बापाची शिकवन. म्हनायचा, आनंद एकट्याने खाऊ नको - सगल्य्यांना वाट !
हे नुसते पेढे नाय साहेब - हा माझा आनंद आहे !'
मला भरून आलं. मी आतल्या खोलीत गेलो. एका नक्षीदार पाकिटात बक्षिसाची रक्कम भरली.
आतून मोठ्यांदा विचारलं, 'शिवराम, मुलाचं नाव काय?'
'विशाल.' बाहेरून आवाज आला.
मी पाकिटावर लिहिलं -
प्रिय विशाल, हार्दिक अभिनंदन !
नेहमी आनंदात रहा - तुझ्या बाबांसारखा !
'शिवराम हे घ्या.'
'साहेब हे कशाला ? तुम्ही माझ्याशी दोन मिन्ट बोल्लात यात आलं सगलं.'
'हे विशालसाठी आहे! त्याला त्याच्या आवडीची पुस्तकं घेऊ देत यातुन.'
शिवराम काहीच न बोलता पाकिटाकडे बघत राहिला.
'चहा वगैरे घेणार का ?'
'नको साहेब, आणखी लाजवू नका. फक्त या पाकिटावर काय लिहिलंय ते जरा सांगाल? मला वाचता येत नाही. म्हनून...’
‘घरी जा आणि पाकीट विशालकडे द्या. तो वाचून दाखवेल तुम्हाला !' मी हसत म्हटलं.
माझे आभार मानत शिवराम निघून गेला खरा पण त्याचा आनंदी चेहरा डोळ्यासमोरून जात नव्हता.
खुप दिवसांनी एका आनंदी आणि समाधानी माणसाला भेटलो होतो.
हल्ली अशी माणसं दुर्मिळ झाली आहेत. कोणाशी जsरा बोलायला जा - तक्रारींचा पाढा सुरु झालाच म्हणून समजा.
नव्वद -पंच्याण्णव टक्के मिळवून सुद्धा लांब चेहरे करून बसलेले मुलांचे पालक आठवले. आपल्या मुलाला/मुलीला हव्या त्या कॉलेजात प्रवेश मिळेपर्यंत त्यांनी आपला आनंद लांबणीवर टाकलाय, म्हणे.
आपण त्यांना नको हसुया. कारण आपण सगळेच असे झालोय - आनंद 'लांबणीवर' टाकणारे !
‘माझ्याकडे वेळ नाही, माझ्याकडे पैसे नाहीत, स्पर्धेत टिकाव कसा लागेल, आज पाऊस पडतोय, माझा मूड नाही !’ - आनंद ‘लांबणीवर’ टाकायच्या या सगळ्या सबबी आहेत आहेत हे आधी मान्य करू या.
काही गोष्टी करून आपल्यालाच आनंद मिळणार आहे - पण आपणच तो आनंद घ्यायचा टाळतोय ! Isn't it strange ?
मोगऱ्याच्या फुलांचा गंध घ्यायला कितीसा वेळ लागतो ?
सूर्योदय-सूर्यास्त पाहायला किती पैसे पडतात ?
आंघोळ करताना गाणं म्हणताय, कोण मरायला येणारे तुमच्याशी स्पर्धा करायला ?
पाऊस पडतोय ? सोप्पं आहे - भिजायला जा !
अगदी काहीही न करता गादीत लोळत राहायला तुम्हाला 'मूड' लागतो ?
माणूस जन्म घेतो त्यावेळी त्याच्या हाताच्या मुठी बंद असतात.
परमेश्वराने एका हातात 'आनंद' आणि एका हातात 'समाधान' कोंबून पाठवलेलं असतं.
माणूस मोठा होऊ लागतो. वाढत्या वयाबरोबर 'आनंद' आणि 'समाधान' कुठे कुठे सांडत जातात.
आता 'आनंदी' होण्यासाठी ‘कोणावर’ तरी, ‘कशावर’ तरी अवलंबून राहावं लागतं.
कुणाच्या येण्यावर-कुणाच्या जाण्यावर. कुणाच्या असण्यावर-कुणाच्या नसण्यावर.
काहीतरी मिळाल्यावर-कोणीतरी गमावल्यावर. कुणाच्या बोलण्यावर- कुणाच्या न बोलण्यावर.
खरं तर, 'आत' आनंदाचा न आटणारा झरा वाहतोय. कधीही त्यात उडी मारावी आणि मस्त डुंबावं.
इतकं असून...आपण सगळे त्या झऱ्याच्या काठावर उभे आहोत - पाण्याच्या टँकरची वाट बघत !
जोवर हे वाट बघणं आहे तोवर ही तहान भागणं अशक्य !
इतरांशी तुलना करत आणखी पैसे, आणखी कपडे, आणखी मोठं घर, आणखी वरची 'पोजिशन', आणखी टक्के.. ! या 'आणखी'च्या मागे धावता धावता त्या आनंदाच्या झऱ्यापासून किती लांब आलो आपण !
जावेद अख्तर साहेबांनी खूप छान लिहून ठेवलंय –
सबका ख़ुशीसे फासला एक कदम है
हर घर में बस एक ही कमरा कम है !
शिवराम भेटला नसता तर माझं आणि माझ्या आनंदामधलं 'ते एका पावलाचं' अंतर कदाचित भरून निघालं नसतं.
-Source: Shared by a colleague; Author is not known to me
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED?
About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column. The news papers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am I here or there? When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, "Dynamite King Dies." And also "He was the merchant of death." This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words "merchant of death," he asked himself a question, "Is this how I am going to be remembered?" He got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The best is yet to come...
No one is in charge of your happiness but you
When it comes to going after what you want in life, don’t take no for an answer
Over prepare. Then go with the flow.
Frame every so called disaster with these words, ‘in five years, will it matter?’
Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger
The best is yet to come
Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Don’t worry, God never blinks
- Source Unknown
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
A Deeper Look...
A leading cars provider company received a letter from a man complaining about an absurd problem with his new car. Here goes his letter:
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. Much to the engineer’s surprise and annoyance, the car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He began to take notes, jotting down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. He quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. The extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Moral :- Sometimes we need to take a deeper look, Even absurd problems are sometimes real!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy. I recently purchased a new Pontiac and every night I drive down to a store, to buy ice cream. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream and start back from the store my car wouldn’t start. But strangely, if I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. Much to the engineer’s surprise and annoyance, the car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He began to take notes, jotting down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. He quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. The extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Moral :- Sometimes we need to take a deeper look, Even absurd problems are sometimes real!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Monday, September 26, 2011
Quality...
Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.-William Foster
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.-Henry Ford
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.-Peter Drucker
Quality is inversely proportional to variability-Douglas C. Montgomery
i.e. as variation increases, product quality decreases
Monday, September 19, 2011
હકીકત અને દુઃખ...
હકીકત કરતાં, હકીકતનું વિશ્લેષણ માણસને વધુ દુઃખી કરે છે.-સ્વામી સુખબોધઆનંદ; પુસ્તક: "હે મન! રેલક્ષ પ્લીઝ!"
-ગુજરાતી અનુવાદ Dr. મહીપતરામ રાવલ
Sunday, September 18, 2011
વેદાન્તનો સાર...
આપણને જે સમજાયું તે અપણા આચરણમાં ઉતારીએ તો એ શ્રાવણ ખરું કહેવાય. જે અપણા લોહી અને માસમાં ભળી જાય અને રોજના જીવનમાં ઉતારી શકાય તે જ ખરું વેદાન્ત; અને અપણા કર્તવ્યમાં ભગવાનનું સ્મરણ રાખવું એ જ સર્વ વેદાન્તનો સાર છે.- શ્રી બ્રહ્મચૈતન્ય મહારાજ ગોંદવલેકર
Sunday, September 11, 2011
સુખની વ્યાખ્યા શું?
લોભ એ દુઃખનું મોટું કારણ છે. જો આપણે એને મર્યાદાની બહાર વધવા દઈએ તો એ અપણા સુખ અને સંતોષ બન્નેનો ભોગ લઇ લે છે. સુખ અને સંતોષ બન્ને આપણી અંદર જ રહેલા છે.-સ્વામી સુખબોધઆનંદ; પુસ્તક: "હે મન! રેલક્ષ પ્લીઝ!"
...
'જે નથી' એની ફરિયાદ કર્યા વગર,
'જે છે' એમાં આનંદ માણતા શીખીએ.
-ગુજરાતી અનુવાદ Dr. મહીપતરામ રાવલ
Thursday, September 8, 2011
One often meets his destiny...
One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.
-Oogway in one of my favorite movies "Kung Fu Panda"
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods...
There is a pleasure in the the pathless woods;-Lord Byron
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is a society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
On Seeking company...
"A person who is going down seeks company, as in the case of drinking and robbing. But, a person desirous of rising higher has to study, work, pray and meditate all alone. The desire for company is a sure sign of weakness and in extreme cases, signifies moral degradation.
It is the strength to stay alone that is real power and true morality. This, however, should not be confused with loneliness, which craves company."
Source: The Speaking Tree
Monday, September 5, 2011
Walking Meditation...
Excerpts from the book Under the Banyan Tree - Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulness helps us to be born again and to be really alive, so that we can live out every minute, every moment of our daily life, in the deepest way. To meditate does not mean to run away from life or to be cut off from reality. To meditate is to make a return, to make a comeback. It is to go back and to touch life deeply, to arrive. You have arrived in the present moment. To arrive, please remember, is in the here and the now. Because it is only in the here and the now that life is available. To walk, to practice walking meditation as such is to walk without the intention to arrive if we are to use the word arrival. We have arrived in the here.
Talking about destination, we should ask why we are always in a hurry to arrive. What is our destination? What is our final aim? Our final destination is our own death, it is the crematory. Why do we have to hurry to go there? I don't want to go in the direction of death. I only want to go in the direction of life. And what is the direction? It is the present moment because life, the address of life, is the present moment.
Why do I have to run? I am at peace with myself. I am at peace with everything else. I experience the joy of aparahita, aimlessness. I don't have any aim. I don't run after anything...
Mindfulness helps us to be born again and to be really alive, so that we can live out every minute, every moment of our daily life, in the deepest way. To meditate does not mean to run away from life or to be cut off from reality. To meditate is to make a return, to make a comeback. It is to go back and to touch life deeply, to arrive. You have arrived in the present moment. To arrive, please remember, is in the here and the now. Because it is only in the here and the now that life is available. To walk, to practice walking meditation as such is to walk without the intention to arrive if we are to use the word arrival. We have arrived in the here.
Talking about destination, we should ask why we are always in a hurry to arrive. What is our destination? What is our final aim? Our final destination is our own death, it is the crematory. Why do we have to hurry to go there? I don't want to go in the direction of death. I only want to go in the direction of life. And what is the direction? It is the present moment because life, the address of life, is the present moment.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
On Luck...
Why do some people have all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? Psychologist Prof. Richard Wiseman set out to examine luck, 10 years ago. Why are some people always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune? He placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact him.
Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for his research and over the years they have been interviewed by him. He has monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the cause of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
He carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. He gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell him how many photographs were inside. He had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50”.
This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring anyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent of finding their perfect partner and so misses opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. His research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principals. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
He wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create good luck. He asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 percent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and perhaps most important of all, luckier.
The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, he had found the elusive ‘Luck Factor’.
Moral:
1) Listen to your gut instincts they are normally right.
2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for his research and over the years they have been interviewed by him. He has monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the cause of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
He carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. He gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell him how many photographs were inside. He had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50”.
This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring anyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent of finding their perfect partner and so misses opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. His research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principals. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
He wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create good luck. He asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 percent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and perhaps most important of all, luckier.
The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, he had found the elusive ‘Luck Factor’.
Moral:
1) Listen to your gut instincts they are normally right.
2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Friday, September 2, 2011
Our Perceptions...
A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.
Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."
That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?"
No response.
So the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?"
Still no response.
Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, Honey, what's for dinner?"
Again he gets no response so, He walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?"
Again there is no response.
So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"James, for the FIFTH time I've said, CHICKEN!"
Moral:
The problem may not be with the other one as we always think,
could be very much within us..!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."
That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?"
No response.
So the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?"
Still no response.
Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, Honey, what's for dinner?"
Again he gets no response so, He walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?"
Again there is no response.
So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"James, for the FIFTH time I've said, CHICKEN!"
Moral:
The problem may not be with the other one as we always think,
could be very much within us..!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Thursday, August 25, 2011
On Self Confidence...
A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment.
He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him.
“I can see that something is troubling you,” he said.
After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.”
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared.
But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. “I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller. ” And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he ever imagined...
Courtesy: An article shared by a co-worker
He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him.
“I can see that something is troubling you,” he said.
After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.”
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! “I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared.
But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. “I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller. ” And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he ever imagined...
Courtesy: An article shared by a co-worker
Sunday, August 21, 2011
On Perspective...
It was a cold December night in West Orange, New Jersey. Thomas Edison’s factory was humming with activity. Work was proceeding on a variety of fronts as the great inventor was trying to turn more of his dreams into practical realities. Edison’s plant, made of concrete and steel, was deemed “fireproof”. As you may have already guessed, it wasn’t!
On that frigid night in 1914, the sky was lit up by a sensational blaze that had burst through the plant roof.
Edison’s 24-year-old son, Charles, made a frenzied search for his famous inventor-father. When he finally found him, he was watching the fire.
His white hair was blowing in the wind. His face was illuminated by the leaping flames. “My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “Here he was, 67 years old, and everything he had worked for was going up in flames.
When he saw me, he shouted, ‘Charles! Where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her! Bring her here! She’ll never see anything like this as long as she lives.’”
Next morning, Mr. Edison looked at the ruins of his factory and said this of his loss: “There’s value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God, we can start anew.”
Moral: What a wonderful perspective on things that seem at first to be so disastrous. A business failure, tragedy, personal dream gone sour . . . whether these things destroy an individual depends largely on the attitude he or she takes toward them. One must sort out why it happened, and learn something from the mistakes.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
On that frigid night in 1914, the sky was lit up by a sensational blaze that had burst through the plant roof.
Edison’s 24-year-old son, Charles, made a frenzied search for his famous inventor-father. When he finally found him, he was watching the fire.
His white hair was blowing in the wind. His face was illuminated by the leaping flames. “My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “Here he was, 67 years old, and everything he had worked for was going up in flames.
When he saw me, he shouted, ‘Charles! Where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her! Bring her here! She’ll never see anything like this as long as she lives.’”
Next morning, Mr. Edison looked at the ruins of his factory and said this of his loss: “There’s value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God, we can start anew.”
Moral: What a wonderful perspective on things that seem at first to be so disastrous. A business failure, tragedy, personal dream gone sour . . . whether these things destroy an individual depends largely on the attitude he or she takes toward them. One must sort out why it happened, and learn something from the mistakes.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
A lesson on Leadership...
(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum ,
Philadelphia , March 22,2008 )
Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?
Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ‘s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ‘s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.
By 1979 — I think the month was August — we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for launch. Four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist. One minute later, the program threw the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts — I had four or five of them with me — told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure.
That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am , and the press conference — where journalists from around the world were present — was at 7:45 am at ISRO’s satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure — he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.
The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite — and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, ‘You conduct the press conference today.’
I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Philadelphia , March 22,2008 )
Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?
Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ‘s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ‘s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.
By 1979 — I think the month was August — we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for launch. Four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist. One minute later, the program threw the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts — I had four or five of them with me — told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure.
That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am , and the press conference — where journalists from around the world were present — was at 7:45 am at ISRO’s satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure — he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.
The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite — and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, ‘You conduct the press conference today.’
I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Monday, August 15, 2011
On Perseverance...
One day, a small business owner decided he’d had enough. Enough of the unremitting workload, enough of the lack of response, enough of the crushing loneliness.
He went into the woods to have one last talk to God. “God,” he said. “Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t quit?”
The answer took him by surprise. “Look around you,” it said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
“When I planted the fern and the bamboo, I took very good care of them. I gave them both equal amounts of food and water. I gave them sunlight in spring and protected them from the storms in autumn. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant fronds soon covered the forest floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year, the fern grew even more splendidly than before but nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. Still I would not quit.”
“Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But day by day the sprout grew. First a shoot, then a seedling, and finally a cane. Within six months, the bamboo cane had risen to a height of 100 feet. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”
“Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have been growing? Growing the roots that you need to produce your fruit. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will not quit on you.”
“Don’t compare yourself to others. All of my creations have different purposes, different journeys, and different timescales. The bamboo had a different purpose from the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come. You will rise high.”
“How high should I rise?” the man asked.
“How high will the bamboo rise?” asked God in return.
“As high as it can?” the man questioned.
“Yes,” God replied. “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”
The small business owner left the forest. And never went back.
Moral: If nothing seems like it is happening in your life, despite all the work you’re putting in, remember that you’re probably growing roots not fruit. Stick with it. One day not far from now, there’ll be a fantastic harvest. Life teaches us a lot of lessons by placing obstacles. Success comes to those who work towards achieving their target without quitting.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
He went into the woods to have one last talk to God. “God,” he said. “Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t quit?”
The answer took him by surprise. “Look around you,” it said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
“When I planted the fern and the bamboo, I took very good care of them. I gave them both equal amounts of food and water. I gave them sunlight in spring and protected them from the storms in autumn. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant fronds soon covered the forest floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year, the fern grew even more splendidly than before but nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. Still I would not quit.”
“Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But day by day the sprout grew. First a shoot, then a seedling, and finally a cane. Within six months, the bamboo cane had risen to a height of 100 feet. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”
“Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have been growing? Growing the roots that you need to produce your fruit. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will not quit on you.”
“Don’t compare yourself to others. All of my creations have different purposes, different journeys, and different timescales. The bamboo had a different purpose from the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come. You will rise high.”
“How high should I rise?” the man asked.
“How high will the bamboo rise?” asked God in return.
“As high as it can?” the man questioned.
“Yes,” God replied. “Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”
The small business owner left the forest. And never went back.
Moral: If nothing seems like it is happening in your life, despite all the work you’re putting in, remember that you’re probably growing roots not fruit. Stick with it. One day not far from now, there’ll be a fantastic harvest. Life teaches us a lot of lessons by placing obstacles. Success comes to those who work towards achieving their target without quitting.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Friday, August 12, 2011
મન માટે પ્રાર્થના...
આ સંસાર અનેક મોહક વસ્તુઓથી ભરેલી પડેલો છે. એ વસ્તુઓ આપણે જોઈએ કે તેનાં વિષે ખાલી સંભાળીએ તોયે આપણે 'તે મળે તો કેવું સારું' એમ થાય છે; અને તે મેળવવા માટે આપણે પ્રયાસ કરીએ છીએ. એટલે ભગવાન પાસે આપણે એવી પ્રાર્થના કરવી કે 'દેવ, એવી મોહક વસ્તુઓ મને બતાવતોજ નહિ, કારણ મારું મન તેમાં ફસાશે. ઓ ભગવાન, જેમાં મારું હિત હોય તેજ મને દેખાઓ, તેજ મારે કને પાડો, તેનુંજ મને સ્મરણ રહો અને તેમાંજ મારું મન લાગો.'
- શ્રી બ્રહ્મચૈતન્ય મહારાજ ગોંદવલેકર
Sunday, August 7, 2011
On Failures...
An excerpt from an interview:
No cynicism, no regrets after these many years in a competitive industry?
No. I think it's a very foolish thing to look back at your life and have regrets for anything that you do. You should tell yourself that at that time, for that place, I did the best with what my instincts provided me. Now you're wiser. As long as you can attach a reason to your failure, you'll learn, you'll grow wiser. But if you just sit and keep saying, 'arre yaar what did I do,' it's pointless. You have to ask yourself, what is the one thing I can learn from this experience which is a 'failure' in other people's minds? If you can do that, it no longer is a failure. It turns into feedback, and you will grow with it. So eventually, there are no failures.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
माँ तो सबकी एक-जैसी होती है ...
बस से उतरकर जेब में हाथ डाला। मैं चौंक पड़ा। जेब कट चुकी थी। जेब में था भी क्या? कुल 400 रुपए और एक खत, जो मैंने माँ को लिखा था कि—मेरी नौकरी छूट गई है; अभी पैसे नहीं भेज पाऊँगा…। तीन दिनों से वह पोस्टकार्ड जेब में पड़ा था। पोस्ट करने को मन ही नहीं कर ...रहा था। 400 रुपए जा चुके थे। यूँ 400 रुपए कोई बड़ी रकम नहीं थी, लेकिन जिसकी नौकरी छूट चुकी हो, उसके लिए 400 रुपए 4000 से कम नहीं होते। कुछ दिन गुजरे। माँ का खत मिला। पढ़ने से पूर्व मैं सहम गया। जरूर पैसे भेजने को लिखा होगा।…लेकिन, खत पढ़कर मैं हैरान रह गया। माँ ने लिखा था—“बेटा, तेरा 1000 रुपए का भेजा हुआ मनीआर्डर मिल गया है। तू कितना अच्छा है रे!…पैसे भेजने में कभी लापरवाही नहीं बरतता।” मैं इसी उधेड़-बुन में लग गया कि आखिर माँ को मनीआर्डर किसने भेजा होगा? कुछ दिन बाद, एक और पत्र मिला। चंद लाइनें थीं—आड़ी-तिरछी। बड़ी मुश्किल से खत पढ़ पाया। लिखा था—“भाई, 400 रुपए तुम्हारे और 600 रुपए अपनी ओर से मिलाकर मैंने तुम्हारी माँ को मनीआर्डर भेज दिया है। फिकर न करना।… माँ तो सबकी एक-जैसी होती है न। वह क्यों भूखी रहे?… तुम्हारा— जेबकतरा भाई
Source: A Facebook page
Source: A Facebook page
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Finding Answers Within...
You Have All the Answers within You.
When you realize that you always have the answers within yourself, you can stop searching outside of yourself.
Many of us seek the answers to life’s questions by looking outside of ourselves and trying to glean advice from the people around us. But as each of us is unique, with our own personal histories, our own sense of right and wrong, and our own way of experiencing the world that defines our realities, looking to others for our answers is only partially helpful. The answers to our personal questions can be most often found by looking within. When you realize that you always have access to the part of you that always knows what you need and is meant to act as your inner compass, you can stop searching outside of yourself. If you can learn to hear, trust, and embrace the wisdom that lives within you, you will be able to confidently navigate your life.
Trusting your inner wisdom may be awkward at first, particularly if you grew up around people who taught you to look to others for answers. We each have exclusive access to our inner knowing. All we have to do is remember how to listen. Remember to be patient as you relearn how to hear, receive, and follow your own guidance. If you are unsure about whether following your inner wisdom will prove reliable, you may want to think of a time when you did trust your own knowing and everything worked out. Recall how the answers came to you, how they felt in your body as you considered them, and what happened when you acted upon this guidance. Now, recall a time when you didn’t trust yourself and the results didn’t work out as you had hoped. Trusting your own guidance can help you avoid going against what you instinctively know is right for you.
When you second guess yourself and go against what you know to be your truth, you can easily go off course because you are no longer following your inner compass. By looking inside yourself for the answers to your life’s questions, you are consulting your best guide. Only you can know the how’s and why’s of your life. The answers that you seek can be found when you start answering your own questions.
- Source: This article was shared by Mehul Shah through "Dayaro"
When you realize that you always have the answers within yourself, you can stop searching outside of yourself.
Many of us seek the answers to life’s questions by looking outside of ourselves and trying to glean advice from the people around us. But as each of us is unique, with our own personal histories, our own sense of right and wrong, and our own way of experiencing the world that defines our realities, looking to others for our answers is only partially helpful. The answers to our personal questions can be most often found by looking within. When you realize that you always have access to the part of you that always knows what you need and is meant to act as your inner compass, you can stop searching outside of yourself. If you can learn to hear, trust, and embrace the wisdom that lives within you, you will be able to confidently navigate your life.
Trusting your inner wisdom may be awkward at first, particularly if you grew up around people who taught you to look to others for answers. We each have exclusive access to our inner knowing. All we have to do is remember how to listen. Remember to be patient as you relearn how to hear, receive, and follow your own guidance. If you are unsure about whether following your inner wisdom will prove reliable, you may want to think of a time when you did trust your own knowing and everything worked out. Recall how the answers came to you, how they felt in your body as you considered them, and what happened when you acted upon this guidance. Now, recall a time when you didn’t trust yourself and the results didn’t work out as you had hoped. Trusting your own guidance can help you avoid going against what you instinctively know is right for you.
When you second guess yourself and go against what you know to be your truth, you can easily go off course because you are no longer following your inner compass. By looking inside yourself for the answers to your life’s questions, you are consulting your best guide. Only you can know the how’s and why’s of your life. The answers that you seek can be found when you start answering your own questions.
- Source: This article was shared by Mehul Shah through "Dayaro"
Monday, May 9, 2011
Happy Mother's Day - 8th May
A beautiful message from Cognizant's Talent Management Team...
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Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Just One More Telephone Pole...
Having lost his right leg to cancer, Terry Fox embarked on a cross-Canada run called the ‘Marathon of Hope’ in 1980 to raise money for cancer research. His shuffle and hop running style took him about 24miles per day, close to a complete 26-mile marathon every single day with an artificial leg! He managed to run for 143days and covered 3,339 miles from his starting point in St.John’s New Foundland to Thunder Bay Ontario, where he was forced to abandon his run when doctors discovered cancer in his lungs. He died a few months later, but his inspiring example has left a legacy: Annual Terry Fox runs are held in Canada and around the world that so far have raised $340 Million for cancer research.
When asked how he kept himself going as exhaustion set in and he has thousands of miles ahead of him. He answered – “I just keep running to the next telephone pole”.
Moral: Though our goals look too far to achieve, it’s nothing but a summation of small milestones. We have to just achieve the small milestones one by one, and keep going until we reach to the ultimate goal. There is a Japanese proverb - “Fall down seven times, get up eight”.
When asked how he kept himself going as exhaustion set in and he has thousands of miles ahead of him. He answered – “I just keep running to the next telephone pole”.
Moral: Though our goals look too far to achieve, it’s nothing but a summation of small milestones. We have to just achieve the small milestones one by one, and keep going until we reach to the ultimate goal. There is a Japanese proverb - “Fall down seven times, get up eight”.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
The experience of suffering...
The experience of suffering is like the experience of exploring, of finding something unexpected and revelatory. When you find the outermost thresholds of pain or fear, or uncertainty, what you experience afterward is an expansive feeling, a widening of your capabilities.
- "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong & Sally Jenkins
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
An image as a symbol of divinity...
Never be ashamed to sing the name of God. Vemana did not visit any temple for long; for years he was laughing at those who considered the image as a symbol of Divinity. But when his daughter died, he was one day holding her picture in his hand, weeping over the loss. Then it struck him that if the picture could cause sorrow and bring tears, the divine image can evoke positive feelings and bring tears of joy to those who know the beauty and glory of God.
- The Speaking Tree: The underlying truth
Monday, April 25, 2011
Pleasure & Joy...
What is the difference between pleasure and joy? Pleasure is followed by frustration, whereas joy is always followed by peace and more joy.
- The Speaking Tree: The flower and its fragrance
Thursday, April 21, 2011
F.A.M.I.L.Y...
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| F A M I L Y
Love your Family and always remember that at the end of the day it's your FAMILY that you have to return to!!!!! |
-Courtesy: A forwarded e-mail from a friend
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Join us in supporting Earth Day 2011. Go Green at Cognizant!
Good Initiative...
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Sunday, April 10, 2011
Emotion...
Emotion is the most precious gift which god has given to human beings but it becomes the most dangerous gift if you do not know how to handle it.
- Anonymous
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Surest Way To Get Me To Do Something...
I know this much about myself: the surest way to get me to do something is to tell me I can't.
- "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong & Sally Jenkins
Monday, April 4, 2011
Fame is an intrinsic negative...
Fame is an intrinsic negative.
People respond to you based on their preconceived notion of you, and that puts you at a continual disadvantage.
- J. Craig Ventner; Source - "Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong & Sally Jenkins
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Declare your inauthenticity... get transformed
Once upon a time there was a holy man who went from village to village with his disciples, preaching to the people. There was a magic in his speech. People were impressed by his words and reformed themselves. One day he was preaching to the people as usual when a man came and fell at his feet.The man said, “Oh Holy man, I am a robber. I am tired of leading a robber’s life. Now I wish to live the life of a good man. Kindly tell me how I can turn a new leaf in my life.”
The holy man patted him on the back and said, “You are a pious man. Why did you take to robbing people? Pledge from today that you will never rob people again nor will you tell lies nor will you tyrannies anybody.”
Having taken the pledge and having promised to do as he had been told, the robber went away.
Several days passed. The holy man was delivering his sermon at some other place. The same robber came there and told the holy man that in spite of his best offers he could not reform himself. Robbing and looting had become his second nature.
Holy Man: Then what can I do?
Robber: Tell me some other way to mend myself.
Holy Man: I told you a method but you could not act upon it.
Robber: Excuse me, tell me some other method.
The holy man though for a while and said, “All right, you cannot give up robbing, never mind. There is another way-out. But this time you will have to act upon my advice.
“I will surely do that.”
“You can go about robbing people and doing whatever you like but in the evening come to me, wherever I am, and recount to me what you did during the day.”
“This I can do easily.” Saying this, the robber went his way. Several days passed after that incident but the robber never came. A disciple asked, “Guruji! That robber has no come again.
The holy man said, “He will never come now. It is easy to commit a crime but it is very difficult to make a public confession of it. That is why he has given up robbing and looting..”
Moral: The best and the only way to get rid of one’s mistakes is to make open confession of one’s mistakes. Public confession creates a sense of reproof and remorse because the conscience reprimands.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
The holy man patted him on the back and said, “You are a pious man. Why did you take to robbing people? Pledge from today that you will never rob people again nor will you tell lies nor will you tyrannies anybody.”
Having taken the pledge and having promised to do as he had been told, the robber went away.
Several days passed. The holy man was delivering his sermon at some other place. The same robber came there and told the holy man that in spite of his best offers he could not reform himself. Robbing and looting had become his second nature.
Holy Man: Then what can I do?
Robber: Tell me some other way to mend myself.
Holy Man: I told you a method but you could not act upon it.
Robber: Excuse me, tell me some other method.
The holy man though for a while and said, “All right, you cannot give up robbing, never mind. There is another way-out. But this time you will have to act upon my advice.
“I will surely do that.”
“You can go about robbing people and doing whatever you like but in the evening come to me, wherever I am, and recount to me what you did during the day.”
“This I can do easily.” Saying this, the robber went his way. Several days passed after that incident but the robber never came. A disciple asked, “Guruji! That robber has no come again.
The holy man said, “He will never come now. It is easy to commit a crime but it is very difficult to make a public confession of it. That is why he has given up robbing and looting..”
Moral: The best and the only way to get rid of one’s mistakes is to make open confession of one’s mistakes. Public confession creates a sense of reproof and remorse because the conscience reprimands.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Sunday, March 27, 2011
When you're single and your friends start to get married...
When you're single and your friends start to get married, every wedding invitation presents a strange moment of self-evaluation. Will you be bringing a guest or will you be attending alone? What it's really asking is where do you see yourself in three months? Sitting next to your girlfriend or hitting on a bridesmaid? I always checked that I was bringing a guest. I was an optimist
- Ted in 'How I Met Your Mother'
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Lead by your actions...
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
On Understanding...
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups. As he was nailing the post into the post on the edge of his yard, he heard a soft “Hello”. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy. “Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money." The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer.
And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly it came out, noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up. "I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the little one.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would." With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, stood and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money." The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer.
And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly it came out, noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up. "I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the little one.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would." With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, stood and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The House with 1000 Mirrors
Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the 'House with 1000 Mirrors'. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."
MORAL: All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections you see in the faces of the people you meet depends on you. You have a choice!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."
MORAL: All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections you see in the faces of the people you meet depends on you. You have a choice!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Monday, March 7, 2011
Knowing where to make an effort
A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine.
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!
A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"
So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer...... ......... ........ $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap.......... ......... ...... $ 9, 998.00
Moral: Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!
A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"
So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."
The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer...... ......... ........ $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap.......... ......... ...... $ 9, 998.00
Moral: Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Thursday, March 3, 2011
People die. That truth is so disheartening that at times I can't bear to articulate it. Why should we go on, you might ask? Why don't we all just stop and lie down where we are? But there is another truth, too. It's an equal and opposing truth. People live, and in the most remarkable ways.
- Lance Armstrong: It's Not About The Bike
It makes me crazy when my wife, Kristin, drives our car, because she brakes at all the yellow caution lights, while I squirm impatiently in the passenger seat.
"Come on, don't be a skirt," I tell her.
"Lance," she says, "marry a man".
- Lance Armstrong: It's Not About The Bike
Friday, February 25, 2011
Jo lehron se aage nazar dekh paati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon,From the movie 'Udaan'
Wo aawaz tumko bhi jo bhed jaati toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.
Zid ka tumhare jo parda sarakta toh khidkiyon se aage bhi tum dekh paate,
Aankhon se aadaton ki jo palken hatate toh tum jaan lete main kya sochta hoon.
Meri tarah khud par hota zara bharosa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Rang meri aankhon ka baant-te zara sa toh kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate,
Nasha aasmaan ka jo choomta tumhe bhi, hasraten tumhari naya janm paatin,
Khud doosre janam mein meri udaan chhoone kuchh door tum bhi saath-saath aate.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Religion, flourishes here as it does nowhere else. Other lands may surrender themselves totally to a particular faith, but in India most creeds are deeply rooted and acknowledged fervently. Virtually the whole population practices some form of devotion. The Indian without the slightest feeling for the divine, without a spiritual dimension to his life, is exceedingly rare.
- Geoffrey Moorhouse on India
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Between you and God
People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
-Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 - 5 September 1997), born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
-Courtesy: "Quote of the day" in a newsletter
Sunday, January 23, 2011
On Willingness
An old man lived alone in his farm house. 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 I won'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.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
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 I won'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.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Friday, January 21, 2011
On Snap Judgements
A woman was waiting at the airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shop, Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see, That the man beside her, as bold as could be, Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between, Which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene. She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock, As the gutsy “cookie thief” diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I’d blackened his eye!”With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he’d do. With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, He took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, “Oh brother, This guy has some nerve, and he’s also rude, Why, he didn’t even show any gratitude!”She had never known when she had been so galled, And sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the “thieving ingrate.”
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, then sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!“If mine are here,” she moaned with despair, “Then the others were his and he tried to share!”Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one…the ingrate…the thief!
Moral: We sometimes misjudge others and fail to examine ourselves first. We should not judge people for being bad or worse till we outweigh our judgment. Most of time we have the impression that we are right when we are totally in the wrong. We should, therefore, not harry up in passing our judgment on people.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat, then sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!“If mine are here,” she moaned with despair, “Then the others were his and he tried to share!”Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one…the ingrate…the thief!
Moral: We sometimes misjudge others and fail to examine ourselves first. We should not judge people for being bad or worse till we outweigh our judgment. Most of time we have the impression that we are right when we are totally in the wrong. We should, therefore, not harry up in passing our judgment on people.
Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Never Quit
Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserved the Union, and ended slavery. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, he was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of representatives. Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.
Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House:
Moral: Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. So try and fail but don’t fail to try.
(courtesy - An article shared by a colleague in a company newsletter)
Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House:
- 1816 - His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.
- 1818 - His mother died.
- 1831 - Failed in business.
- 1832 - Ran for state legislature – lost.
- 1832 - Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
- 1833 - Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
- 1834 - Ran for state legislature again – won.
- 1835 - Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.
- 1836 - Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
- 1838 - Sought to become speaker of the state legislature – defeated.
- 1840 - Sought to become elector – defeated.
- 1843 - Ran for Congress – lost.
- 1846 - Ran for Congress again – this time he won.
- 1848 - Ran for re-election to Congress – lost.
- 1849 - Sought the job of land officer in his home state – rejected.
- 1854 - Ran for Senate of the United States – lost.
- 1856 - Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention – got less than 100 votes.
- 1858 - Ran for U.S. Senate again – again he lost.
- 1860 - Elected president of the United States.
Moral: Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall. So try and fail but don’t fail to try.
(courtesy - An article shared by a colleague in a company newsletter)
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