A Lone Stranger

"Out of the box"...thinking.... (Thanks to C A Shivanand for sharing this..) Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a moneylender. The moneylender, who was old & ugly, fancied the merchant’s beautiful daughter, so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant’s debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant & his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble & a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. * If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife & her father’s debt would be forgiven. * If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him & her father’s debt would still be forgiven. * If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant’s garden. As ...

Being "in the right place & at the right time"..... A mother camel & a baby camel, were lying under a tree. Baby camel asked, “Why do we camels have humps?” Mother camel considered this & said, “We are desert animals so we have the humps to store water, so that we can survive with very little water.” The baby camel thought for a moment, then said, “Ok, but why are our legs long & our feet rounded?” Mama camel replied, “They are meant for walking in the desert.” Baby camel paused. After a few seconds, the camel asked, “Then why are our eyelashes long? Sometimes they get in my way.” Mama camel responded, “Those thick long eyelashes protect your eyes from the desert sand when it blows in the wind". Baby camel thought & thought & then said, “I see. So the hump is to store water when we are in the desert, the legs are for walking through the desert & the eye lashes protect our eyes from the desert. Then why are we in the Zoo?” Lesson: Skills &...

For parents of all teenagers & twenty- somethings too....... Remember that intimate conversation you had with your son? The one where you said, “I love you & I need you to know that no matter how a woman dresses or acts, it is not an invitation to cat call, taunt, harass or assault her”? Or when you told your son, “A woman’s virginity isn’t a prize & sleeping with a woman doesn’t earn you a point”? How about the heart-to-heart where you lovingly conferred the legal knowledge that “a woman doesn’t have to be fighting you & you don’t have to be pinning her down for it to be RAPE. Intoxication means she can’t legally consent, NOT that she’s an easy score.” Or maybe you recall sharing my personal favorite, “Your sexual experiences don’t dictate your worth just like a woman’s sexual experiences don’t dictate hers.” Last but not least, do you remember calling your son out when you discovered he was using the word “slut” liberally? Or when you overheard him talking about some...

Why fathers are neglected in their old age? A (debatable) read, for all Dad's (& Mom's too).... 1). In the lifetime of family settings, there are 3 dispensations of power. 2). The 1st, is the first 25 years in the life of the family, (father, mother, children), where power indisputably rests with the father. 3). The 2nd is, after the kids have grown & started working, when the power shifts to the mother. 4). The 3rd is, when the kids move out of the family house, or start their own families, when the power moves to the children. We'll start from the 1st dispensation. * Total dominance of the father. * He is the Lion of the tribe of his house. * He is the boss. 5). During this dispensation, the father rules with an iron fist. He barks orders & determines what does or does not happen. 6). The father often metes out corporal punishment to the recalcitrant children. They grow to fear him, more than they love him. 7). The father is the provider for the family ...

Run your own race.... I was jogging this morning & I noticed a person about half a km ahead. I could guess he was running a little slower than me & I felt good. I said to myself, I will try catch up with him. I had about a km before I needed to turn off. So I started running faster & faster. Every block, I was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes, I was only about 300 feet behind him, so I really picked up the pace & pushed myself. You would have thought I was running in the last leg of an Olympic competition. I was determined to catch up with him. Finally, I did it! I caught up & passed him. Inwardly I felt very good. "I beat him". Of course, he didn't even know we were racing. After I passed him, I realized I had been so focused on competing against him, that I had missed my turn to my house. I had gone nearly six blocks past my turn & I had to turn & go back. It then dawned on me, isn't that what happens to ...

It is normal to get upset, but to carry that emotion all through the day, or all through the week & sometimes all through the month, is not an intelligent thing to do. It is like, your garments got dirty & you do not know how to remove them; so you keep walking around with the same garments throughout. We need to teach people techniques to relieve stress. This is called 'mental hygiene'. We teach 'dental hygiene' to our kids, but we have not taught them 'mental hygiene' – how not to carry hatred against anybody & other negative emotions. This is an excellent lesson that needs to be first learnt and then taught! Funny we sure are: We express & display hate openly, but love is an emotion to be hidden & expressed very seldom. Think about it... Cheers... :)

Are fidget spinners spinning out of control? Some safety experts think so. Since my story about the potential dangers of fidget spinners in May, more news has emerged about their hazards. Today the consumer watchdog group World Against Toys Causing Harm called them one of the 10 most harmful and potentially lethal “summer safety traps" due to choking hazards. (News alert: Since this story was published, another potential problem has been reported: Fidget spinners with batteries burst into flames while charging in at least two states, according to news reports. While this is under investigation, play it safe and don't leave a charging fidget spinner unattended.) Fidget spinners "are a huge craze right now," but the potential for harm is real, according to the Toy Association, the not-for-profit trade association representing U.S. businesses involved in toy manufacture and delivery. The problem is that some parts of spinners can break off and be swall...

18th Feb, 1946 - The Red Letter Day... (Naval, Military & Police Disobedience...)...facts, most of us did not know..... Feb 18th is a very important day in the annals of Indian history. Writers often use the phrase, “Red letter day” to mark an important day. One such red letter day in Indian history is, 18th Feb, 1946. On this day, naval officers of Indian origin, captured the naval ships, lowered the Union Jack flag & hoisted the then Indian flag, as a revolt against the British. Through wireless network, they then contacted all the naval vessels from Karachi in the west, to Chittagong in the east & informed everybody of this deed. Immediately, all the vessels trained their guns back to port. The revolt spread like wild fire across the country for the first time, crushing the hold that the British had on India, in the last 200 years. The alarmed British officers, asked the Royal Indian Army to march against the Navy. The army officers refused. The British administrators...

"Saved by the Bell"...&...a "Dead Ringer" - the real history behind these oft used terms..... England was old & small & the local folks started running out of places to bury people, so they would dig up coffins & would take the bones to a bone-house & reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins, were found to have scratch marks on the inside & they realised they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the coffin & up through the ground & tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night - the graveyard shift - to listen for the bell; thus someone could be, ''Saved by the Bell'' or was considered a ''Dead Ringer''. Good learning, right? Cheers... :)

Think about this..... * Are we earning to pay builders & interior designers, caterers & decorators? * Whom do we want to impress with our highly inflated house properties & fat weddings? * Do you remember for more than two days, what you ate at someone's wedding? * Why are we working like dogs in the prime years of our life? * How many generations do we want to feed? * Most of us have two kids; many have a single kid. How much is the "need" & how much do we actually "want"? Would our next generation be incapable to earn, that we save so much for them? * Cannot we spare one & a half days a week, for friends, family & self? * Do we spend even 5% of our monthly income for our self enjoyment? Usually...No! * Why cannot we enjoy simultaneously, while we earn? * We need to spare time to enjoy, before we have slipped discs & cholesterol blocks in our hearts. * We don't own properties, we just have temporary names on ...

The 6 E’s of Great Leaders: (What is it that leaders actually do?) These are the major practices of leadership that we must enact on a continual basis, to be able to have the amount of influence & impact we desire, in our work lives, or any role in which we’re leading other people: 1: Envision: * Great leaders envision a compelling, different & vibrant future than what’s here. * Where there's no vision, people perish, so we have to envision. * If you set a vision one time & forget about it, it’s not going to help you accomplish the influence or impact that you want. 2): Enlist: * Enlist other people to share their voices, their perspective, their dreams & desires for where you could be going. * People support what they create. If people are involved in the ideation of a vision, they are involved in creating ideas, brainstorming & figuring out what it is we are about. * Ask questions, pay attention to their needs. * Enlist others to support ...

Social media sites, like Twitter & others, are "places", where people opine, exchange ideas & thoughts, agree to disagree etc...etc... While on many an occasion, there could be a total disagreement on issues - after all, one is entitled to one's views - the problem arises, when there is the "crossing of the line", what many a post, at times, does. People do write well, are very observant, have a fair knowledge of history, facts & the like, but when there is a tendency to "radicalise" issues, is when the entire 'essence' of posting thoughts on social media, gets compromised. It is here that incorrect ways of putting things into perspective, happens. 'Personal' views are indeed fine - but that does not mean, others are 'no-gos' & do not have a point of view. While some may actually feel so, that's where they are quite wrong. The case of the perpetual 'misplaced sync', now becomes reality. What ...

For parents with daughter's... (You need to spend maximum time with your daughter/(s) & here's why?) A letter from a newly married girl to her mother. "Dear Mom, Like every normal girl, I was excited about marriage right from my childhood days. I never thought beyond the time that I would spend happily with my prince charming. But today when I am married, I realize that marriage is not all roses. It’s not just about being with your beloved & having a gala time. There is so much more to it. It comes with its own share of responsibilities, duties, sacrifices & compromises. I can’t wake up anytime I want to. I am expected to be up & ready before everyone else in the family. I can’t laze around in my pyjamas throughout the day. I am expected to be presentable every time. I can’t just go out anytime I want to. I am expected to be sensitive to the needs of the family. I just can’t hit the bed anytime I want to. I am expected to be active & around the family....

An amazing read for all parents..... Gifted scholar Zhao Jie from the University of Beijing, wrote as follows: "I admire those parents who are able to forge extremely strong & close bonds with their children when they were young & yet they know when to let go in a timely & appropriate manner when the children have grown up. Taking care of & raising children & then letting go of them, are a parents' basic & mandatory duties. A parent- child relationship is not a type of relationship that is permanently with the parents being in control. It is a special & profound relationship brought about by fate; we must not let the child feel deprived or lacking when they were young & neither should we let them feel stifled, when they have grown up. The role of parents is a journey of love & wisdom. Not only in one's role as parents, but also in life there are many moments that we need to understand when to advance & retreat. Very often people won...

Did you know....... (As compiled from the Face Book page, of James Robinson Cooper)..... "When Hitler invaded Poland & started WW II, the Polish soldiers left 500 women & 200 children in a ship & told the Captain to take them to any country where they could get shelter. If any of them survived, then they could meet all over again. The ship, filled with 500 refugees, police, women & 200 children, reached the harbour port of Iran. There was no permission to shelter anyone, not were they allowed to even land there. They did not get help even in Seychelles & permission was not given in Aden as well. Finally, the ship, wandering in the sea, came to the coast of Jamnagar in Gujarat, where the Maharaja of Jamnagar, "Jam Sahab Digvijay Singh", not only gave shelter to five hundred women, but also gave their children free education in Balachadi, at an Army School. The refugees stayed in Jamnagar for nine years & one of the children of the then refugee chi...

The difference between the poor & rich nations is not the age of the nation. This can be demonstrated by countries like India & Egypt, which are more than 2,000 years old & are still poor countries. On the other hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, which only 150 years back, were 'insignificant', today are developed & rich countries. The difference between the poor & the rich nation, does not depend on the available natural resources. Japan has limited territory, 80% mountainous, unsuitable for agriculture or farming, but is at No. 3 in the world's economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw material from the whole world & exporting manufactured products. A second example is Switzerland. It does not grow cocoa, but produces the best chocolates in the world. In her small territory, she rears animals & cultivates the land, only for four months in a year; nevertheless she manufactures the best milk products. A ...

Never lose your own "Value".... A popular speaker started off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill. A crowd of 200 had gathered to hear him speak. He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” 200 hands went up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.” He crumpled the bill up & then asked, “Who still wants it?” All 200 hands were still raised. “Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” He dropped the bill on the ground & stomped on it with his shoes; then he picked it up & showed it to the crowd. The bill was all crumpled & dirty. “Now who still wants it?” All the hands still went up. “My friends, I have just showed you a very important lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, life crumples us & grinds us into the dirt. We make bad decisions or deal with poor circumstances. We feel worthless. But no matter what has h...

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along & shoves you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee? "Well because someone bumped into me, of course!" Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because coffee was in the cup. If tea had been in it, you would have spilled tea. Whatever is inside the cup, is what will come out. Therefore, when life comes along & shakes you (which will happen), whatever is inside of you will come out. It's easy to fake it until you get rattled. So we have to ask ourselves....what's in my cup? When life gets tough, what spills over? Joy, gratefulness, peace & humility? Or.......anger, bitterness, harsh words & actions? You choose! So let's work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation to yourself & others, kindness, gentleness & love. Cheers...