Capture

I captured a feeling and framed it
I captured a moment and melted in it
I captured a gesture and grew with it
I captured a beat and basked in it
I captured an opportunity but opted out of it
I captured a dream and drowned in it

Time

time may heal what seems non-healable now
time may help forget what seems unforgettable now
time may kill what seems undying now
time may stop what seems unstoppable now
time may bring back what seems lost now

i cannot wait for time
my fears cannot wait for time
my eccentricities cannot wait for time
my stubbornness cannot wait for time
my hopelessness cannot wait for time

Innocent thoughts-A list for God

My six-year-old son was excited as he was to travel by a plane for the first time. We were to fly in a couple of days, and seeing his excitement, I told him how he will find himself surrounded by clouds once the plane gains height.

Eyes widened, he asked, "Really? Will we be up there in between the clouds?"

When I replied in the affirmative, he asked innocently, "God lives there, right? I will make a list of things I want from God. I'll give it to Him when I meet Him."

Misty camel ride at Lonavla

Innocent thoughts-Why are you not lazy?

My son gave me a reason to smile this morning. Today was one of those rare days when he got up before me.

The six-year old, who is often reprimanded for being lazy, observed me get up in the morning, and start my morning chores immediately, and then sit on my computer to make some posts in my blogs. As he gets scolded every morning for lazing on the bed & delaying his morning chores, he had a questioning look on his face and finally asked, "Daddy, don't you feel lazy in the morning? How is it that you get up and get to work straightaway?"

I never miss these occasions to impart some knowledge to my son about the ways of the world. I told him that I have to get up early, and perform many roles - work on my blogs, go to office, go to the gym, attend my Part-time MBA classes and so on.

His next question was why was I performing so many roles. So, I explained that I was working hard to make more money and to give him a good life.

The next question was, "Why do they pay you money at office?" Again I had to explain that I get paid because I do the work in my department, and if I was not there, my boss would have to do all the work himself. As I was doing the work for him, what is it that I should get?

With the air of someone with all the worldly knowledge, came the answer from my young son, "Return gift"!

The sky is a canvas!

Collage of colors

Colorful paper art sold outside a Post-office in Leh

Photographs-Religion no bar

Memories-Remembering 9/11 victims in New York city

Big difference

There is a big difference between people who pray in church and those people who pray in casinos...because the ones praying in the casinos are very serious.

God and Eve

God and Eve - From an Article in the Global Village

'God, I have a problem.'

'What's your problem Eve?'

'I know you created me and provided this beautiful garden and all these wonderful animals as well as that hilarious snake, but I'm just not happy, '

'And why is that Eve?' God and Eve Joke

'God, I am lonely and bored and I'm sick to death of apples.'

'Well Eve, in that case I shall create a man for you'

'Man? What is that, God?'

'A flawed base creature with many bad traits. he'll lie, cheat and be vain. He will revel in childish things. he'll be bigger than you and will like fighting, hunting and killing things. He won't be too smart so will need your advice to think properly. He will have a limited emotional capacity so will need to be trained. He will look silly when aroused, but since You've been complaining of boredom, I'll create him in such a way that he will satisfy your physical needs and you need never be bored again.'

'Sounds great', said Eve but what's the catch, God'

'Well, you can have him on one condition.'

'And what's that, God?'

'As I said, he'll be proud, arrogant and self-admiring, so you'll have to let him believe I made him first. And it will have to be our little secret. You know, woman to woman.'

Almost wasted

This is a story of my childhood that I can never forget. I was a small kid when my parents had thrown a party at home, which was attended by several guests. My mother used to work hard do all the housework herself, so the burden of washing all the used utensils would have fallen on her shoulders the next morning.

When I woke up the next morning, I found her asleep as she was very tired, having spent the previous day working hard and making preparations for the party. We used to get water in our home only upto 9 am, it was 8 am and my mother was still asleep. I panicked, knowing that she would have a terrible time if we run out of water with all the dirty utensils of previous day's party unwashed. I did not have the heart to wake her up as she looked so exhausted, even in her sleep.

I decided to wash some of the utensils myself, to take some of the burden off her shoulders. I started with the ones which I thought she would need that day for lunch & dinner. Then, I felt I should also do some others, which were the expensive ones, and which she used only when there were guests at home. Having finished those too, I thought I would do some more, so I washed as many as I could till the time I realized I had almost finished the whole lot. The only one left was a big greasy vessel which looked impossible to work on. Thinking how much my mother would appreciate it, I decided to wash that utensil as well. It was a lot of struggle before I could get all the grease of the vessel and it was shining bright.

I looked with satisfaction at the body of work I had done and was looking forward to the surprise and gratitude on my mother's face when she discovered I had finished all the chores in the kitchen for her. I waited for the moment when my mother would wake up and hug me with joy. I waited, and waited, and waited some more.

Finally, my tired mom woke up and headed for the kitchen. I held my breath in excitement for the big surprise and for that look in her eyes, and the hug that would follow, and maybe something special for lunch that day. She entered the kitchen, fumbled with a few things, washed her face in the sink, and walked out, leaving a very disappointed 7-year-old watching all his hard work go down the drain. No surprise, no appreciation, no hugs, no expressions of gratitude. I could not believe this was happening to me.

I saw her go to the bathroom, waited for her to come out, following her wherever she went. Finally, I could bear it no more, so I took her hand and led her into the kitchen once more, asked her to take a good look, and that's when she realized what I had done for her. She was too groggy with sleep to realize it when she had entered the kitchen earlier. She hugged me tight and ran her fingers through my hair. I had saved her a lot of work that day and it was worth all the effort, seeing her smile so bright.

My mother is a Dinosaur

This is an interesting episode which I feel like sharing with friends on my blog. Recently, I called up an old friend, Dolly, who stays in another city, to wish her on her birthday. She narrated an incident about her 6 year old daughter which was very entertaining, to say the least.

Her daughter, Siya, had been enrolled for Odissi classes (Indian classical dance form). It was her first day at the dance class and there were two other girls in her batch. The teacher asked each one of the three girls what their mothers did for a living. The first girl replied that her mother was a designer, the second girl said hers was a furniture dealer. It was Siya’s turn and she replied, “My mother is a DINOSAUR!”

The teacher was taken aback by the answer, and she asked Siya why she thought her mother was a dinosaur. Pat came the rely “Because she screams at me all day!”

Children sure are creative!

The trouble with Life

The trouble with life is there's no background music

Simple thoughts-Desparate situation

This is an incident from my childhood when I was 7 years of age. It was one hot summer afternoon when I returned home crying. The reason was that I was slapped and beaten that day, by my neighbor and friend, Bobby, who was also of the same age, but was much shorter in height.

I expected sympathy from my parents for having been beaten and roughed up. I was in for a rude shock. My father could not take the fact that I was physically overpowered by a smaller boy. To add insult to injury, I was thrown out of the house with instructions from my father that I would be allowed to enter the house provided I go and thrash the boy who had beaten me. I was in a double-dilemma. Problem number one was how to beat Bobby, as he was stronger than me. The other problem was how to secure a passage back home if I was not to beat Bobby.

I found solace when I narrated my woes to our next door neighbor, a fine lady who offered me some fruits, and then took me back home. She spoke to my father, and convinced him not to put a small child through such a tight spot. My father agreed and I could heave a sigh of relief!

A few years later, when I was about 13 or 14, I took my revenge when I had a quarrel with the same boy, Bobby, which resulted in a fight, and I gave him a neat thrashing. Needless to say, I had my father in mind, when all hell broke loose on the poor guy.

Positive thoughts-Dream More

Photograph of Merry-go-round at a fair in Bombay, India

A Murder or a Suicide?

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President Dr Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death.

Here is the Case:
On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head.
Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.


"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "A person, who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.
In the room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun.
The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject "A" but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject "B".
When confronted with the murder charge the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shotgun was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her.
Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, if the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed hat the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

The Life of Iranian President Ahmedinejad

The FoxNewsTV (USA) asked the Iranian President Ahmedinejad,

'When you look into the mirror in the morning what do you say to yourself'?
He answered: I see the person in the mirror and tell him 'Remember' you are no more than a small servant, ahead of you today is the heavy responsibility, and that is to serve the Iranian nation'.
Ahmedinejad, the Iranian President who astonished many when he first reached to the office of the Presidency by donating all the high valued Iranian carpets to one of the mosques in Tehran by replacing them with the low cost ordinary carpets. He observed that there was a huge extravagant lounge for receiving and welcoming the VIPs and he ordered it to be closed and asked the protocol office to arrange for an ordinary room only with wooden chairs.
On many instances he joins the cleaning staff of the municipality for cleaning the streets in the area where his home and the Presidency are located.
Under his authority whenever he appoints any minister to his post he gets a signed document from him with many points particularly highlighting that he shall remain poor and that his personal and his relatives accounts will be watched and the day he leaves the ministry shall be with dignity, and therefore it is not lawful for him or his relatives to take any advantage of his office. First of all he declared himself for all the 'Big' wealth and the property he owned was a Peugeot 504 car, model 1977, an old small house inherited from his father 40-years ago in one of the poorest zones in Tehran . His accounts with a zero balance and the only money comes in to his a/c was from his salary from the university as a lecturer with an amount of US$ 250 only.
For your information the President still lives in that same house. This is all what he owns; the president of one of the world's important countries; strategically, economically, politically and with regard to its oil and defense. He even doesn't take his personal salary with the argument that all the wealth belongs to the nation and he is the safeguard over it.
One of the things that impressed the staff at the presidency is the bag the President brings with him every day, which contains his breakfast; some sandwiches or bread with olive oil and cheese prepared by his wife and eats and enjoys it with all happiness.
One of the other things he changed was his personal carrier 'the President's Aircraft' to a cargo aircraft in order to save the spending from the public treasury and he ordered that he will be flying with the ordinary airline in the economy class..
He organizes meetings every now and then with all the ministers to know their activities and efficiency and he closed down the office of the Manager of the president and any minister can enter to his office without any permission. He also stopped the welcome ceremonies like the red carpet, the photo session or any personal advertisement or respect of any kind while visiting any place in the country.
Whenever he has to stay in any of the hotels he asks them to make sure not to give him a room with any big bed because he doesn't like to sleep on beds but rather likes to sleep on the floor on a simple mattress with a blanket.
Refer to some of the photographs which also confirm the above. The Iranian president is sleeping in the guest room of his house after getting away from his special guards who follow him wherever he goes and photo is taken by his small brother according to the Wifaq Newspaper which published this photo and the next day the photo was published in most of the world's newspapers and magazines and particularly the Americans.


During the prayer you can see that he is not sitting in the first row.

Try comparing this with the emoluments and privileges our ministers get………

Memories-A fast buck

This is an incident about my childhood which is stuck in my memory and would probably always be there for the rest of my life.
It was a wedding in my neighborhood in the beautiful city of Chandigarh, Punjab. It is a custom in Punjabi weddings to throw money in the air when all the guests are dancing in the streets to the rhythm of the "dhols" (drums) played by "dholwallahs". The money thrown was then collected by beggars, domestic helps and the guys playing the dhol. I was a six year old then who was invited to the wedding with my parents, watching the proceedings with boredom when it suddenly struck me that I could make some quick pocket-money in that situation.

I eyed the coins and the currency notes scattered on the road with lust and was looking for an opportunity to pick up a few coins and stuff it in my pockets before anybody could notice. Throughout the celebrations, my total concentration was on the road, looking for currencies which went unnoticed by the beggars and dhol-players. What I did not know, was that my father, who was on the first floor of the nearby building, was watching the entire episode from the balcony and had read my intentions correctly.

After the celebrations were over, and as I was headed home, I suddenly felt a strong hand on my shoulders. It was my father, with a very mean look on his face. He took me to a corner of the building, where nobody could see us, and asked me to empty my pockets. I tried to protest and wanted to demand why I was being asked to do so, but the look in his eyes told me I should simply do as I was told. I turned my trouser pockets inside out and to my good luck, my pockets were empty. My father checked my pockets again as he was sure I had picked up some of the coins from the streets. Luckily for me, I did not manage to pocket any of the coins or currencies and I thanked God for that. Had my father found any coins in my pockets, I was in for a good bashing. After having gone through all the pockets in my clothes, and finally satisfied that I had not picked up anything, my father told me, “I know what was on your mind. Don’t think that you can fool me just because there was nothing found in your pockets. I can read your mind, so don’t you ever dare to pocket what is not yours”. With that, he went away, leaving behind a very relieved boy of six, who had missed out on making a fast buck, but learnt a very important lesson of life.