What Can 1 Do

Taken from an anonymous poem in Tim Berner's Lee popular paradigm...Have a look at it and think about it !!!

One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true,

One life can make a difference,
You see, it's up to you!

Well and the Donkey

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for ...hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

If at all, we can sustain and shove off things just like the four-legged, things would be brighter most of the time, if not everytime

"Dont just hope...Decide !!" was the answer

When Amar went to drop his friend in the airport, he seldom thought that he would be the witness to the most beautiful thing everyone wants in this world....Love And Affection. A family was waiting anxiously for their Head to land and when the opportune moment came, the father hugged his elder son first and then his younger son.

In the meantime, the little baby girl was almost jumping from her mother's lap to greet her returning father. Father took her in his shoulders and hugged her with all the compassion and love for his lovely daughter. She immediately got relaxed as she lay her head on his shoulders.

Then came the man's beloved's turn. He kissed her passionately for some time and then they hugged each other with all the contentment and happiness of being a happy couple, as they were.

Amar went to the couple, greeted the man and said, "I have been looking you guys for some time. I felt so good to see your family union. How long have you guys been married".

"Twelve years !!!" came the reply.

"Great...and you both still seem to have the same feelings you would have carried before marriage...that's wonderful"

"How long have you been away from your family then" and the startling answer was "Two whole Days !!"

Amar replied, "How I only hoped and wished that I too have the same fervour of togetherness with my family even after 12 years"

"Brother, dont wish just take the decision for once and for all, that your family would be the most cherished and the best-thing-to-have-happened in your life"

For any matters of life, there's this decision making which takes and makes the cut of making things wondrous around us or dreary around us. Its all a matter of decision to be right and to be not right. If you are not able to come to the right perspective, fight the seemless situations/un-opportunes and dont stop vying till your last's last

Hang On to Chime

This is a strange world,
Sometimes...
If we laugh, you are bound to laugh less,
If you cry, you are bound to cry more

You are here and You have to do,
No matter what, you have to move,
Even if being laughed or made to cry,
Try not to lose yourself from I

In the end, what matters is You,
You being yourself,You being One Self,
Wearing, you may be, in the dunes of time,
But Never give up and learn to chime

When you lose a thing, You feel crestfallen
When you win a thing, You feel bedfallen
If you want to be happy,
Just be simple as you could be
And never stop to rise,
Everytime you fall

Serendipity Within Us

George Dantzig was a famed mathematician who contributed inmmensely to Operations Research and Systems Engineering. He was a hard working student during the school days and often slept late in nights. One day he overslept and arrived late for Professor's class.

He quickly copied the 2 math's problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignments. It took him several hours to work through the problems, but finally he got the breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk.

Six weeks later, on a Sunday morning, his excited professor awakened George at 6 AM telling him the unparalleled news. Since George was late for the class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind-teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer.

But George Dantzig working without any thoughts of limitation had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years. And how did he do it...He simply didn't knew that he couldn't.

We are always under the impression that the things which we are doing or as a matter of fact, things which we ought to do are only the ones which we can do. But we never realise our true potential unless and until serendipity occurs in our life, which sometimes turns out to be a life changing one and sometimes not !!!!

Affirming The Lessons

Make the mind and the body tell,
There are many ways to excel,
It is easy to quit, hard to try,
Just reverse it and you can fly.

Fly as far as you can,
But dont forget, you're a man,
Always be within your limits,
On crossing, you become a mimic

Whatever you do, please remember,
Dont do, if your soul tremble,
It could give you the lust of life,
Paying for, may cause the rest of life

Have the courage to not blink

During the civil war in Korea, a certain general and his troops were advancing implacably, taking province after province, destroying everything in their path. The people in one city, hearing that the general was approaching and knowing his cruel reputation, fled to a nearby mountain.

The troops found the houses empty. After much searching, though, they found one Zen monk who had stayed behind. The general ordered that he be brought before him, but the monk refused to go.

Furious, the general went to him instead.

‘You obviously don’t know who I am!’ he bawled. ‘I am capable of stabbing you in the chest with my sword without so much as blinking.’

The Zen master turned and replied calmly:

‘You obviously don’t know who I am either. I am capable of letting myself be stabbed in the chest by a sword without so much as blinking.’

This is what is courage in its exact sense. We all tend to get into adversities but how many of us really face them with full vigor and grit and still manage to do things in the correct way. Its what lies within us that usually decides how much fight lies within us.

Taking Things For Granted

Sometimes, we do take people, things, situations around us for granted and when the time flies past, if we have the level headedness to check back, we begin to realise the importance of them.

When I was loved without my Knowledge,
When I was moved without my Movement,
When I was called without my Calling,
When I was happy without knowing the Reason
Alas, I took things for granted

When I was helped, without the Need,
When I was asked for, just to make me feel good,
When I was hated, To make me feel strong,
when I was sincerely sought after,
Alas, I took things for granted

Now that I learnt, Its easy to misunderstand,
Now that I heard, Its hard to Contemplate,
Now that I felt, The Life's tantalizing Reverie,
I hope I dont miss the Love,
The Honesty, The Modesty, The Faithfulness,
And I could view The Things As It Is
Or view the People As They Are
For Things Should Never Be Taken For Granted,
Trust me, Would give us more than ---- We Wanted !!!

Onam Ashamsakal - The Story Behind Kerala's Biggest Festival

Come September 9, 2011. The day happens to be the most popular and big festival of my native state, Kerala. It is called Onam or Tiruvonam. Almost all the local channels, hoardings and shopping malls would be buzzling with the offers, discounts and debits - to happen from the shopping cards !!!

Well, to commemorate the advent of Onam, here's the real story behind the festivities in God's Own Country.

It marks the advent of a great demon King, called Mahabali(grandson of Bhakt Prahlad), who used to reside in Kerala long time ago. It is said that everyone in his kingdom were happy and prosperous and no one was touched with the sadness or unhappy quotient.

His rule and vigor became so famous that he was thought to be a replacement of Indra, the God of Gods. Maha Vishnu then took the Vamana (Dwarf) avataram and came with the intention of tricking him

When he came, he asked Mahabali to grant him some land. The majestic king humbly agreed and asked him to take as much land as he wants. The Vamana then started increasing in size in cosmic proportions and in first step, he measured the whole of earth. On the second step, he measured the whole of skies.

Third step was still to be kept and there was no place to keep or measure anything. The noble king asked Mahavishnu, in disguise, to keep the third step on him and he was pushed to Patala (the nether world).

It is said that Mahavishnu was so touched by his generousity that he asked him any wish he wanted. And the king, as he was attached to his kingdom, asked him to let him come and visit his kingdom atleast once a year.

The day happens to be now called "Onam". To wish any Keralite, here's the magic age-old mantra "Ellavarkum Hridayam Niranja Onam Ashamsakal" which means "Heartful wishes for Onam to everyone !!!"

A Trapped Whale in 2005

If you read the front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Dec 15, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.

The fifty-foot whale was weighed down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her tail, her torso and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallone Islands (outside the Golden Gate), USA and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

It doesn't matter whether we helped a large being or a small one. It does matter whether we helped or not, for it may have made a world of difference to someone, including you.