Beautiful love

I was touched by this. Good read.

This is a true story that happened in Japan.

In order to renovate the house, someone in Japan Breaks open the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.

What happened?

The lizard has survived in such position for 10 years! In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind boggling. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years! without moving a single step--since its foot was nailed!

So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came, appears another lizard, with food in its mouth.

Ahh! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard that was stuck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years...

Such help! such a beautiful love! Such happened even with this tiny creature ... What can help do? It can do wonders!

Help can do miracles!

Imagine? it has been doing that untiringly for 10 long years, without
giving up hope on its partner. So true love.

Think, will u do that to your partner ?
Think that will you do it to your Mom,
Who brought you after a big struggle of TEN long months ?
Or at least to your Dad, Friends , Coworkers, Brothers & and Sisters ?

Imagine what a small creature can do that a creature blessed with a brilliant mind can't.

I heard this story and started wondering about relationships between family members, friends, coworkers, brothers, sisters etc.

As information and communication technology advances, our access to
information becomes faster and faster. But the distance between human
beings . . . is it getting closer as well?

How many of us actually care so much and are willing to do such things for our loved ones? I pray that God grants us all such a loving, generous and kind mind to help one another esp in times of need.

With such true love, life becomes absolutely beautiful. God bless.

Wishlist

This is my wishlist....an almost impossible wishlist. Its impossible simply cos I know that they are not really practical! But hey, what the hec, what's wrong in wishing for the sky! Atleast they are possible in my dreams for sure!!!!!! So here I go dreaming n wishing for these impossible wishes to come true! :D

1. I want to reach out to the stars and moon. I especially love the full moon & even feel like giving it a big hug!

2. I wish I can eat all the goodies that I love & still not put on weight & have a perfect figure!!!!!!!

3. I wish we never loose our near and dear ones. They are always there for us whenever & wherever we need them.

4. I have always wanted an older brother. Dunno y! But right from my childhood I've always wished for a very caring, loving & proctective older brother.

5. I wish I had the purchasing power to buy anything I wish....like in those magic tales...put ur hand in ur pocket & there comes the money! If not a fairy / genie comes & says - oh u want this....here it is!!!

6. I wish there is no poverty, starvation or violence in this whole world & see this place as a united, harmonious n peaceful place to live in, filled with nothing but joy, happiness & love.

7. I wish I were taller. Not that I am short but would love to be much taller.

8. I wish I never age! I know the secret is to be young @ heart but still wish we could get younger day after day & but more active & youthful & never get sick!

9. I wish whatever I cook tastes absolutely YUM & that it is very healthy. No deep frying, no extra calories, nothing to worry about....cos its just so good for health!

10. I wish I were brave enough to get totally adventurous....like bungee jumping, parasailing, rafting etc.

Do you have any such wishes?

Colours

What all wonders colours do! I am so fascinated by colourful things. They make it so much more vibrant. A touch of colour makes a world of difference to me.

But what I fail to understand on colours is this. Why is it that pink is associated with girls & blue for the boys? I dont see anything feminine abt pink nor anything masculine on blue!

When my daughter was born most of her gifts (clothes, blankets, accessories etc) were all pink & for my son it was all blue! Infact if at all I were to dress my daughter with any of my son's old blue clothes everyone assumes that she is a boy!!!

I have also seen many expectant mothers, once they know the gender of their baby, decorating the baby's room with the respective colours.

Thankfully for us women we can get away by wearing all blue coloured clothes. But imagine if a guy were to wear a (shocking/bright) pink shirt! He would for sure be given a second look!

I love almost all the colours (except for the dull, boring & depressing colours). Be it my painting or my dressing I prefer the lively colours to the dull ones. Cos I think they add flavour to life! :)

Cancer

I wish I were talking about the zodiac sign cancer or any such other light hearted subject. But no, it is indeed abt the horrible disease cancer.

When I was in my III std. I lost my grandma to this dreadful disease. She had cervix cancer & by the time we discovered the same it was in the very advance stages. She was around 65.

When I was in my X std. I lost my aunt (mom's bro's wife). She was less than 35 when she died cos of breast cancer. And it was so sad to see her two young daughters, my uncle & her parents who were totally helpless.

About three years ago another aunt of mine (mom's sis) who I love dearly was again detected with breast cancer. Thankfully till date she is doing fine due to medication. But more than medication, she is one helluva lady who has gone very spiritual. (Infact she is my spiritual guru!). I pray that she does not succumb to this dreadful disease.

But right now the main reason for me to post on this dreadful post is cos the doctors are suspecting cancer of the liver for my dad. And it is so upsetting. The chances right now are 50-50 accordingly to them as they await the test results. And I am praying desparately for his well being.

When will our medical world ever find a proper remedy for this awful disease?

Zzzzzz's

Relax......this is not another Z list like my Mmmm list tag!

I have had this experience twice & had to blog about it! Wondering what? Okie, here's the first one. Yesterday I had a client meeting right after lunch. It was with a nice person who is an old man. He speaks in a sing-song tone & is rather elaborate in his speech without coming to the point. If you ask him one question he will give you ten answers and you have to choose whichever is applicable or deem correct!

I was trying hard but oopsy,...my eyes were dozzzzzzing off....& the harder I tried to be awake & listen to him the more difficult it seemed. His non-stop talk was now my lullaby! I almost fell off sleeeeeeeeeeping! Ofcourse he being too busy in his own talk didn't even notice the sleepy me....by now actually the embarassed me.

Finally inorder to prevent further embarassment, I had to interupt him and asked him for a glass of water & tried to wake myself! And it was then that I remembered about the other similar incident few years ago.

We had invited my husband's friend for lunch one weekend. I had prepared a sumptuous lunch & all 3 of us had a nice heavy lunch. I was hoping that this chap would leave after lunch so that I cud get my quota of zzzz's....but oh no! He sat there and spoke & spoke and spoke for a long time that too on very boring subjects. Again, I almost fell off sleeeeeeeping! And I could see the same in my husband's eyes as well. I think this guy would have also seen us doze off, but refused to budge...as he had nothing else to do after going home!

Ofcourse I have slept many a times during those boring school/college lectures but seldom when there is a one to one conversation. But ofcourse for these two times which were just irresistably good for a superb afternoon nap!

Speed kills

As my husband was away officially & wanting a change from driving my Toyota Rav4, I was driving his BMW for the past 2 days. *I am not gaga about cars...for me it is just a means of transportation.* I never realised I was speeding until I narrowly missed another vehicle ahead of me! That lead me into thinking some of the experiences I've had / have heard on speeding.

Tale #1

The worse one on the above topic was with a friend of mine who happened to be involved in a freak accident. She was waiting to turn right from the main road & thought she had enough time to turn before the forthcoming car. Unfortunately she misjudged. As a result, the car banged her car which went spinning & hit 2 padestrians & both of them died. She had minor injuries and the driver & the passenger in the other car also didnt have major injuries. But the padestrians were caught unknown & sadly it had cost their life. Ofcourse even though this accident resulted cos of misjudgement, it was also due to the fact that the other car was much over the speed limit.

Tale #2

This one is not so bad as there were luckily no loss of life. A couple of friends went to see off another friend early morning to the airport. On their return they just decided to have a race between them! One of them (who had actually put his car for sale) sped way past the other....zooming! But very unexpectedly another vehicle just in front of him decided to take the right & indicated. So he had to cut his speed drastically! But phew he was over speeding! And boom! his car went & hit the other. Luckily no major losses but then his car was a total write off!

Tale #3

We were travelling for a cricket match (Aus vs SA) & we wanted to get there before the other car! Ya ya racing again! So one of my friend who was driving was speeding & we were all encouraging him to go faster just for the hec of it. And there was a BIG pothole caused by the previous days' rain. He decided to avoid it & hence had to go on the opposite lane & there was another fast car in the opposite lane! He got tense & lost control! The car took a 360 degree turn for got dragged for less than half kilometer & got stuck in the fence in the opposite side! Phew! It was just a pure miracle than none of us even got a scratch. (except lots on the car ofcourse!)

So my dear fellow bloggers, watch ur speed & be wary when u drive. Take care.....

Be Happy

I just couldn't resist sharing this lovely article on happiness.

Sri Sri Ravishankar

Every moment that you spend here on this planet, know that you are for a unique, big purpose, far greater than just to eat, sleep and talk. You are here for a greater cause. Just remember that.

Take a challenge "Come what may, I am going to smile today and be happy!"

For our growth, and to strengthen our lives, we need to follow some rules.

These rules are called "yama" (social ethics) and "niyama"(personal ethics). They are the first two steps (or limbs) of yoga of inner union.

Yama

There are five rules to living peacefully in society and the environment:

The first rule is "ahimsa" or non-violence. Non-violence unites you with the whole of creation. Just as you don't harm yourself, you don't harm the rest of creation. Everything is part of you, so how can you harm anything?
Ahimsa is the practice of yoga, of not harming, and realising that everything is here.

The second rule is "satyam" or truthfulness. You don't lie to yourself, do you? You can't lie to yourself. If you are weaving beads, you don't say, "I am not weaving beads." You are, and you know it. When you have chocolate in your hand, you don't say, "I don't have chocolate in my hand." You do have chocolate in your hand!

The third is "astheya", meaning, not missing what you don't have at this moment, nor wishing things were different from what they are at the moment not regretting. Astheya is not: "I wish I had a voice like that person! I wish I could sing like that person. I wish I were young like that person. I wish I could run like that person. I wish I could be as intelligent as that person" It is not comparing yourself with others, and wishing for what they have and you don't have.

Fourth is "brahmacharya", meaning, not interested in the shapes and forms of the body. The mind, here, sees beyond the physical, to the infinite. Brahmacharya is keeping the mind on bigger things. "Brahma" means big; moving in bigger things. "I am small", "I am a man", "I am a woman", "I am a good person", "I am a bad person", "I am hopeless" * all these are small identifications.

Fifth is "aparigraha", meaning, not taking what people give you. You know, it is surprising that you often take the insults people give you, much more than their compliments! Right? Sometimes, they are not even "giving" you these insults * they are simply taking the insults "out of their pockets", but you grab them, and keep them very safe with you! If someone is giving you garbage, they may not even really be giving you the garbage * they may simply be throwing it out, but you collect the garbage and hold on to it very safely! This is what most people do. They are ready to bounce up,take negativity and keep it to themselves.

Don't take anything from anybody, including insults! Of course, compliments don't really bother us! They just go to our heads! What really bother us are the insults, the hurt, and all the negative words that we take from people. Don't take them! Do you understand? This is aparigraha.

Niyama
There are five rules for one's inner development:

The first is "shaucha", everyday cleanliness. It includes showering and keeping yourself clean, wearing clean clothes, and seeing that you don't have bad breath. If someone stinks, they don't notice it, but those sitting next to them do!

The second is "santosha" or contentment* happiness. Be happy! If you don't take a step towards being happy, nothing in this world can make you happy, and you go on complaining about this and that.

Once, a farmer was complaining that the apples on his trees were not too good. Then, one year, he had very good apples! He had apples in plenty three times more than the usual crop! Then he started complaining about having too much work to do, about having to pick all those apples, about how many were rotting, and about how the prices had gone down!

There's no end to complaining but life goes on anyway! It flows like a river. How do you want to live the rest of your life the remaining 30, 40, or 50 years?

Smiling or grumbling, feeling horrible about yourself, and blaming the whole world? So, the second rule is to be happy and content.

Third is "tapas" * forbearance or penance * meaning, something is uncomfortable, but you still put up with it happily. It's like people who go on marathon walks for 20 miles or 20 kilometres. If we had to simply walk 20 kilometres, we would grumble, but when it's a marathon, then one says, "Oh! I am going to walk!"

Whether you walk in a marathon, or you walk because your car broke down, your legs go through the same pain! But when you think you're in a marathon, you come back the same, sweating and tired, but with a smile: "Oh! I did it!" This is tapas * willingly taking it. Suppose you have to travel in a plane for a long time * say eight or ten hours * what do you do? If you were asked to sit for ten hours, you would never do it, but in a plane, there is no way out! You have to sit with a seatbelt on! You can watch TV to keep your mind occupied, but you still have to sit! So, willingly accepting opposites is tapas. This makes your body and mind strong.

Whatever you can change, change. What you cannot change, accept. If it is too cold, put on a sweater. It's as simple as that! When it is raining very heavily, and you get wet, inspite of an umbrella * get wet!

Fourth is self-study * "swadhyaya". Observe your mind, see what your mind says, how you behave, how you act, how you feel* Do you feel good? Do you feel bad? If you are feeling bad, just observe, you start feeling good again. When you are feeling good, observe. All feelings * good or bad will change. Swadhyaya is self-study, self-observation.

Fifth is "ishwara pranidhaana", meaning, love for the Divine. Surrender to the Divine. When you feel you are helpless, you say, "Oh, God! You take whatever it is that I am feeling!"

These are the ten rules that will make you strong, and feel whole and complete.

Not so easy

We have known each other for the past seven years & are very good friends. We have a good time together & fool around as well! Her hubby & mine are close friends too. Our children are almost of the same age....hers being 5 months older to mine. They had their child after about 9 years of marriage.

I have always wondered....although we are rather close to talk about anything under the sun there has been this thing which I am just unable to talk to her about. Its about her daughter who is around 3 1/2 years old.

She was a premature baby & hence was a little slow in everything right from the beginning. *Thats what I was thinking* But almost a year ago more than one person asked me if something wasn't right with that child. I said its only cos she was a premature baby that she was slow.

But once another parent pointed out to me that I was wrong & that this child is affected by Down's syndrome. I tried to argue that she was wrong but she proved me otherwise. And I had to agree with her as she has specialised in that field & unfortunately her son is also one. I was just so shocked & upset for the next 3 days unable to believe this.

Apparently when I spoke to my hubby about this, he said he knew this fact right from the time of her birth & never mentioned to me as I was pregnant that time & didnt want to upset me.

I wondered why my friend has never spoken about this till date. We always discuss our kids (about their pranks, activities etc) but never once has she even mentioned anything about this. She treats her child like any other normal child. Then I thought this is something to be appreciated cos they have accepted the fact very very well.

But the irony is although they have accepted it well they are not doing anything towards the same. Meaning not taking her to any special school nor any special activity or any special treatment to make things better for this sweet child.

I have been hearing from few others the amount of extra effort one needs to take as parent for these children & earlier the better. Our husbands have discussed this. He agrees to my husband (regarding the special needs etc) but strangely has never done anything about it!

My hassle is I don't know how to bring up this topic to her as she has never spoken about this. It is just not as easy as it sounds as this is such a sensitive issue. But I really wanna help out that child but wondering how to break the ice on this regard.

Any suggestions?

Solace?

This couple had just returned from their bi-annual holiday from India. Unfortunately within a week of his return, his dad passed away yesterday. He is my husband's colleague. He left for India this morning with his family for the last rites. So we went to his house yesterday evening & there were many others too sharing his loss.

He was trying his best not to let his emotions out & hardly speaking much. Though his father had a very sudden death it was a peaceful one.

One of the ladies who was there last evening was being a loud mouth. She went on & on bragging as to how it was good that he had died! She was saying good cos he had a peaceful death. *And I thot it was crazy cos u've still lost someone dear to u!*

Maybe she meant it in the right way but her tone really put me off & I was wondering how this chap wud've felt! She just didn't stop there! She went on talking about many other things under the sun that the gathering turned more like a social one! Here we are trying to provide some sort of a solace to the bereaved family but this lady was trying to make it like a fun one! Well probably she was trying to cheer them up I thot? Even if she was, I don't think she was doing it the right way!

I got rather cheesed off! All I cud do was cut her short & told the hosts bye. And thankfully the rest of the crowd followed me (including Mrs. Big mouth!!)

Have u encountered such people? Or is it just me?