One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big notice on the door on which it was written:

“Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth
in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral
in the room that has been prepared in the gym”.

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know, who was that man who hindered their growth of his colleagues and the company itself.

The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room.

The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up.

Everyone thought: “Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!”

One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it, they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.

There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:

“There is only one person, who is capable to set limits to your growth:

IT IS YOU.

You are the ONLY person who can revolutionize your life.

You are the only person, who can influence your happiness,
your realization and your success.

You are the ONLY person who can help YOURSELF.

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limited beliefs, when you realize that you are the ONLY one responsible for your life.

THE MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP YOU CAN HAVE IS THE ONE YOU HAVE WITH YOURSELF! ”.

Examine yourself. Watch yourself. Don’t be afraid of difficulties, impossibilities and losses: Be a WINNER, Build Yourself and Your Reality.

The world is like a Mirror. It gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed.

The world and your reality are like mirrors lying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success.

It’s the way you face Life that makes the difference.

Give Up??

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away.

They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. Said he: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn't my wife!"

The audience was in silence and shock.
The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!"
Laughter and applause.

A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a drink.

He said loudly, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"
The wife went wan with shock and rage.
Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out "... and I can't remember who she was!"

Moral of the story:
Don't copy if you can't paste!

WHERE TO TAP


Ever heard the story of the giant ship engine that failed? The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to
fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. 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 ............................. $ 9998.00


"Effort is important,

but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference."

Comedy of Errors

“ English is a phunny language, where Bhayirow becomes Baron and Baron becomes Bhayirow, because their minds are very nayiro.“

More than a decade ago, when I first heard Amitabh Bachchan blabbering these lines on the TV, I yelled at the top of my voice and informed the whole apartment building, “Mama, see there is a crazy guy on screen”. Soon I discovered I was wrong, English sure is a phunny language.

“So…Do you guys speak English in India?”, asked Gary, my native American friend on a chilly morning in Chicago. “Yes, we do”, I replied, took a pause and spoke again, “And we speak Hinglish (English mixed with Hindi), Tinglish (Tamil + English), Pinglish (Punjabi+English), Kinglish (Kannada + English) and many more such languages. Infact, we invented these languages for you guys to learn.”

We, the Indians, are born intelligent. I could not resist myself admiring the beauty with which we have moulded English for our personal usages. Its like customizing a Hero Honda Splendor to a Ducati.

My traumatic yet interesting journey with English started when I started attending an English medium school. As a kid, I was never interested in studies, I preferred watching He-Man and Jungle book and I used to think that I have come from Jupiter to Earth and that I have some hidden super-powers. Once, I broke this news to my parents that I am an alien who has come to Earth on a mission and given my useless temperament towards studies, my parents thought its the apt time to send me to a boarding school. Following which I was admitted to a boarding school in Dehradun. It was then that for the first time in my life I thought that I will study hard. Next day, I was the first one to solve a difficult Maths problem in my class, I stood up proudly and gave the answer to my Maths teacher who happened to be a Keralite. “Are you Suar Rahul?”, my teacher asked… “No sir, I am not Suar”, I replied. …“But why are you not Suar??”….“Ask my parents sir, I told them that I am an alien and they sent me to this boarding school, If you tell them that I am suar they will send me to a pig-farm and further, I can be He-Man how can I be Suar-Man, It really does not goes with my personality”. ..“Get out you fool”, screamed my Maths teacher. Not to mention I failed miserably in my Maths term exam.

Time flew by, I started working. During my term in Atlanta I became close friends with a guy from UP. Once we decided to go on trekking to a nearby forest trail. One more guy and a beautiful young lady pitched in to join us two for the trekking trip. And so began our adventurous trip. After walking for few miles, my UPite friend pointed his finger towards a nearby tree.

“You see that Tree?”, he asked.

“Yeah, with a hole in the trunk”, I reaffirmed

“Yes, yes that one…. I saw some Snacks in that hole in the tree trunk”

“You sure”

“Yes, I am very sure”, he replied

“Snacks in the hollow tree trunk, that too in a jungle…Huh..!!....May be someone left some snacks in the tree trunk and fogot to take it along with”, I thought to myself.

The trek continued. On our way back, the beautiful young lady started feeling tired and hungry. I and the girl were some 500 meters ahead than the other two guys.

“I am hungry Rahul”, she said.

I thought it’s the best time to step back in my super-hero shoes and was reminded of my Alien powers. I noticed that we are exactly at the same point where that tree stood, the tree with a hole in the trunk and “Snacks” inside that hole. It was the best time to impress her.

“Well…!!”, I said, “I am a magician”.

“You are…!!!!”, she exclaimed …

“You bet..I have some alien connection and hence have super-powers, which earthly people call magic”, I replied.

“Yeah Yeah…..Dont bore me…!!!”, she said.

“You don’t believe me, ok fine…..young lady…I will give you a demonstration….You see that tree there…Just go and put your hand in the hole in the trunk of that tree….With my powers I have put some Snacks inside that tree….”.

“Fine lets see Mr. Magician, what you can do with your powers”, She started walking towards the tree.

“And hey..!!!”, I called her from the back side like Rajesh Khanna, “I did it only for you..!!”...

She gave me a smile and almost put her hand in that hole. It was exactly then that I heard two screams. One from that girl and the other from that UPite guy who came running from behind. “Are you guys crazy, what are you doing??”. I noticed that the girl’s mouth never closed after that scream and her eyes became bigger.

“Well…!!! She was hungry and I asked her to take snacks from that tree trunk”.

“Rahul the snakes are rattling”, the UPite guy said.

“How can the Snacks rattle”, I asked.

“Because they are rattling Snacks”…..

It was then that the beautiful young girl started running with her open mouth screaming Snakes, Snakes and Snakes….No I guess, she screamed Snakes one more time, four times in total. That was the last time that I had the privilege to talk to that beautiful young girl. Till date she maintains that I tried to kill her..Well…!!!!!

Tired and disappointed, I came back to my home, to find a roomie who was looking quite happy. He was the first guy who appeared happy to me that day. He was Tamilian.

“Hey Man…!!! Guess What??”, he chuckled

“What”

“I saw Umrao’s John today..!!!!”, he told me with a big smile on his face

“You saw what?????”

“Umrao’s John …. And I did not like it..!!!”

“Yuck….. Who is Umrao??? “

“Come on Mann…!!! I thought its an English movie..!!!”

“You saw Umrao Jaan ??”

“Yeah … Umrao John…Same..!!!”

“Its Umrao Jaan…and what on earth made you think that Umrao can have a John?”

“You know I don’t understand Hindi right? Anyways let me narrate the story….!!!”….

I was too exhausted with the “English” world to let him complete his analysis of the movie. I took refuge in my bed and slept off……

Time & Relationship!

Its 7 : 30 a.m. and I stand here in the bus stop waiting for the office bus to arrive. I stand here in the same manner as I did a few years back waiting for my college bus. Little did I know then that things would change so much in 2 years; the sky under which I am standing seems to be looking at me and smiling .. It is perhaps the only thing that has acted as a witness .. watching the transformation of a loud and bubbly person into a quiet professional.

I wouldn't blame the professionalism for the change though. It is destiny, or may be you could call it life. Yes Life, esoteric in the true sense, for one does not understand why you meet hundreds of people everyday, work with so many, and still remain lonely.

I am now in one of the corner seats in the bus, looking out of the window watching people trying to catch up with "life" .. It's an hour's journey and the only company that I generally have is the chatter of the RJ. I seldom notice the person sitting next to me, for its going to be yet another stranger or may be you could say another acquaintance. It is annoying at times when the radio is switched off, not because I am cut off from the melody but because I would now be thrust with thoughts of the solitary journey ahead.

I can't help thinking about the short bus journeys to college ... well it's a paradox to call a distance of 30 KMs "short", but that is how it always seemed. A typical college day always begins in the bus with all the familiar faces; you look forward for all your friends to get in from the various stops, the reasonless giggles, the loud laughter that were stifled to avert the eyes of the lecturers and professors who would watch on us as if we were their prospective prey for the day ... well as I said it was a different life then. The pleasant memories of college are in itself good enough to save me from the misery of the bus journey.

I notice that it is time for me to get down and flash my smile of acknowledgement to all the known strangers that I see as I approach my cubicle. A few of my colleagues greet me with their morning wishes and as always, we exchange our pleasantries. Discussions jump to the weekend plans and I wonder what I'd do over the weekend.

It would be just another day staring at the mobile, wishing it would ring and bring back some wonderful moments that are now missing in life or maybe the safer option would be to come to office, for it's my new founded asylum these days. A few years back, weekends or weekdays didn't matter to me, I was always busy. I always stood doubting the authenticity of the wall clock that seemed to be in running too fast to perceive its movement. Alas, now it seems as though my clock is suffering from some kind of paralytic attack.

There is a time in life, where one needs to go ahead, leaving behind your friends and carrying along only memories. You do make new friends, but then you never get the old close ones ... you do meet people who'd be so good to you that you could tell them anything and everything, but you do not find a person to whom you needn't say things ... friends who just know you. Occasional calls from such friends, have been the only thing that I seem to look forward to ....However,I cant help but notice the uneasy pause that lingers around the conversation ..A pause not because of the relationship, but because it is too short a duration to say everything, and of course you cannot completely rule out the paucity of words!

As I sip coffee from the ubiquitous coffee mug, watching the drops of rain, trickling down the tinted glass panes, veiling the scenic beauty outside, I tell myself, may be there will be a day when things will change, when life will offer a rewind, a recap of all the events and I just have to wait.

Capricious are the ways of life, for I know there would be many who'd be able to empathize with me, ironically, even the dear ones that I miss this moment, waiting perhaps...!!

And I keep on waiting......

Trouble tree!

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again."

"Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

Wishing everyone a healthy and happening 2008