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10th May 2015, 10:32 AM
#1121
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
Mother's Day Special
“I must make a point to visit Amma this Mother's Day," Kannan thought. Although his mother was staying only about an hour's drive away, he could hardly find time to pay her a visit. There would always be some emergency to handle, some problems to look at, some work that needs to be done - the list was endless. Especially once the children began to arrive, one after another - all four of them.
“Sweetheart, we have run out of salt, please go over to the mart and get me two kilos,” Gomathy asked.
“Why do you do this all the time? Why didn’t you ask me earlier?" he grumbled to a wife who was no longer listening.
But there it was. His life was made up of errands, office, school, hospitals, supermarkets, etc.
“What a life, I should have remained a bachelor,” he continued grumbling.
This weekend was going to be hectic. The first Sunday in the month of May - Mother's Day. Kannan had already booked a table for an event to be held in conjunction with Mothers Day on Saturday. His children will definitely enjoy it. At least the children would be able to learn a thing or two about appreciation. Gomathy would be pleased that he had remembered and made an effort.
He had to get some gifts for the children to give their mother. If he didn't, he would have to face a glum Gomathy. Besides, he liked giving her gifts, even if they were through the children. He felt warmth at the thought of Gomathy's face lighting up as each present was opened.
That evening, after office hours, he bought four gifts, one from each child, got them wrapped and hid them in the boot of the car. It was little game they played every year. Gomathy would be certain that he would buy gifts, as she would for him on Father's day. But she would feign surprise. And that thought pleased him too. He was lucky to have such a loving family.
Saturday came and the day sped by. Soon it was time to leave for the event. True enough the children enjoyed every moment of it. There were games, sketches, cartoon-clips, songs, and not to mention the speeches. It was during one of the speeches, that one professor came on stage with a jug and some boxes. He posed a unique problem to the audience. He placed some stones in the jug to its brim and then faced the audience:
"Is the jug full?"
"Yes" everyone chorused.
"But no," he replied as he put some pebbles and shook the jug. The pebbles filled up some of the spaces between the stones.
"Now, is it full?"
"Not totally," the audience had warmed up to the professor's line of thinking.
He smiled and this time filled up with sand, taking up almost every millimeter of the space.
"What about now?"
The audience was quiet daring not to comment.
"There is still some space," he said smilingly, while now filling the jug with water, which it amazingly took.
"What can we learn from this exercise? You." He pointed at Kannan who was seated among the front tables.
With the spotlight on him, Kannan flushed before saying, "It probably means that there is always space for additional things."
The audience laughed.
"I know, I know," he continued, "It means that one can always find time for everything." he added victoriously.
"Not quite, my dear friend," the professor said. "It means that you have to put the larger items first, or you will never be able to get them inside at all."
"Prioritise." he emphasised.
Kannan was stunned. He thought of his mother.
He was quiet as he drove back home.
“Why are you silent all of a sudden?" Gomathy asked with concern.
“Nothing – it’s been a while since I visited Amma.”
“It’s okay. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Let’s visit her."
“Ok, we will go there for lunch tomorrow. But I didn’t buy any gift for Amma?”
“No shops will be open. It’s okay – buy her a cake.”
"Good idea," he agreed and upon reaching home, called his mother.
"Amma, how are you?"
“Why all of a sudden Kannan? I am fine. How are the children? Is Bhaskar still coughing? How is your blood pressure now? Are you taking medicine properly?”
“We are all fine Ammaa. I will come there with the family tomorrow and have lunch with you.”
“Come come. It has been a while,” happiness melted and crept through the telephone line.
“OK maa, we’ll talk later. Go to sleep now." Kannan slowly replaced the telephone.
“In spite of my being busy I didn’t forget to buy gifts for Gomathy and that too four gifts, but I totally forgot about Amma,” he thought guiltily.
He turned thoughtfully to his wife, who was busy changing the children's clothes. “Pack all the clothers tonight itself. We will leave immediately after breakfast.”
“Alright, but we must return early. There is school the next day.”
"Hmm," he grunted irritatingly.
The persistent ring of the telephone woke him up the next day. He glanced at the wall clock. Way past 8 o' clock! God, he had overslept. Next to him, oblivious to the telephone shrill, Gomathi was sleeping.
He rushed down the stairs to answer the phone.
"Hello," groggily.
"Hello Kanna. Did I wake you up?" she laughed. "What time are you coming?"
“In a while maa."
“OK, drive carefully.”
Chaos broke out over the house as one by one of the children got up. Gomathy started her chore of preparing the children while Kannan prepared to go to a nearby restaurant to get some breakfast. Just as he was leaving the phone rang again. It was his mother.
"Kanna. Will you be here by 11?"
“Why maa? Anything special?”
“No, nothing. I am cooking all your favourites. If I know what time you will be here, I will cook the rice so that it will be hot when you arrive.”
Kannan laughed. Typical of her to get excited. "I should be there by 12. Don’t trouble yourself too much. Just sardine and rasam would be fine for me.”
"Hmph! What nonsense. Cooking is not a problem for me. OK, I will see you soon."
"Okay maa."
Kannan left to buy breakfast. The cake shop wasn't open but the florist was.
“Why waste money on flowers? Might as well get her something worthwhile,” he thought.
By the time he was through with buying the breakfast and through the traffic, it was almost 10.00 am.
Midway through breakfast. His mother called again. “Haven’t you left yet?”
“Why are you calling so many time maa," beginning of irritation.
“No Kannaa, I just want to make sure that the rice is warm for you. Ok, I won’t call any more. Take your time and come.”
With a grimace, Kannan continued his breakfast.
BY the time, they left the house, it was after 11.30 am. Because of the late hour, he decided against buying the cake and instead planned to get a gift on a later date.
The drive was uneventful.
He reached his mother's house at about 12.30 pm.
“The rice would be cold and Amma will be annoyed," he chuckled to himself.
Surprisingly the door was closed. He knocked on the door a few times. He could hear the sound of the television. He knocked again, harder this time.
His father opened the door, ashen faced.
“Come Kanna. Your ammaa was waiting for you for a long time….”
"Where is amma?" Kannan asked a sudden fear grasping him.
"Go and see for yourself," his father pointed at his mother sitting there watching the TV, oblivious to his arrival.
"Amma," he approached. Gomathy and the children retreated to a corner, seeking each other out, unconsciously.
His mother's eyes were closed, like she was sleeping. But she was not.
"Appa, what happened?" Kannan's eyes darted to his father.
"Heart attack Kanna. Your ammaa has left us."
"Atthai" the cry of Gomathy.
Kannan was in a state of shock. Scenes of the florist, the bakery, fleeted across his mind, like images of conscience.
He touched his mother. Cold.
Ironically, the rice she cooked for him was still hot.
Have you visited your mother, lately?
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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10th May 2015 10:32 AM
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12th May 2015, 06:19 PM
#1122
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner.
Father being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and trousers. Other diners watched him in disgust while his son was calm.
After he finished eating, his son who was not at all embarrassed, quietly took him to the wash room, wiped the food particles, removed the stains, combed his hair and fitted his spectacles firmly.
When they came out, the entire restaurant was watching them in dead silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that..
The son settled the bill and started walking out with his father.
At that time, an old man amongst the diners called out to the son and asked him, "Don't you think you have left something behind?".
The son replied, "No sir, I haven't".
The old man retorted, "Yes, you have! You left a lesson for every son and hope for every father".
The restaurant simply went silent...!
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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13th May 2015, 07:51 AM
#1123
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands.
Her mum came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: my sweetie, could you give your mum one of your two apples?
The girl looked up at her mum for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one apple, and then quickly on the other.
The mum felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.
Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mum,and said: mummy, here you are. This is the sweeter one.
No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgement. Give others the privelege to explain themselves. What you see may not be the reality. Never conclude for others.
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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19th June 2015, 05:58 PM
#1124
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdhi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought; he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!!
He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.
“Are you from the software industry sir,” the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.
“You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. ”
“Thanks,” smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.
“You people always amaze me,” the man continued, “You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.”
Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naive ness demanded reasoning not anger. “It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.”
For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. “It is complex, very complex.”
“It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,” came the reply.
This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ”
Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.”
He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point.
“Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country.
Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?”
The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.
“You design and code such things.”
“I used to,” Vivek paused for effect, “but now I am the Project Manager.”
“Oh!” sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over,
“So your life is easy now.”
This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, “Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work.
Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality.
To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.”
Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.
“My friend,” he concluded triumphantly, “you don’t know what it is to be in the Line of Fire”
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.
“I know sir…. I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire…….”
He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.
“There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night.
The enemy was firing from the top.
There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom.
In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive.”
“You are a…?”
“I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment.
But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.
On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker.
It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.
He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded… ….his own personal safety came last, always and every time.”
“He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir….I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.”
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop.
It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.
The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.
“It was nice meeting you sir.”
Vivek fumbled with the handshake.
This hand… had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.
It was the least he felt he could do for the country.
PS:- The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the nation’s highest military award.
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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30th June 2015, 06:32 PM
#1125
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
I sit here at McDonalds, drinking a sprite. Okay, it's my third sprite. And the lady in the corner...waits. She's been here since before I got here. In walks a man with a small boy, maybe 3 years old if that. "You were supposed to be here an Hour ago." she says , slightly upset.
"Well I'm here and here he is." The man turns to walk out the door.
She says, "Hey do you have a couple dollars so I can get a cheeseburger? All I have is enough for his happy meal."
He looks around to see if anyone is watching. "F*** you, Starve." He says and walks out the door.
She just shakes her head and walks to the counter with the boy. She orders a happy meal for the boy. The teen at the counter tells her her card left a balance of 37 cents. She and the boy walk to her car where she digs and finds the change. \
She and the boy sit down with the happy meal, and she sets up his food and his tiny drink cup. She asks him if mommy can have a fry, to which he feeds her the one he just took a bite off of.(I kinda chuckled to myself.)
I walk to the soda machine and refill my cup, Powerade this time. And the teen from the counter is refiling the napkins. I hand him my debit card. And tell him to give her 2 doubles and a large fry and a large drink on me. I tell him not to tell her its from me.
I wrote a note on a napkin with my sharpie I use at work." Keep your head up and always push forward. You CAN. You WILL. smile emoticon" He brings me my debit card. Then walks back to the counter and takes the tray of food to her.
He says "This was bought for you".
"By who?"
"I'm not supposed to say, but it wasn't me." he says and walks back to the counter.
She reads the note on the napkin as tears start to roll down her cheeks. She fills the drink cup and starts to eat. The child trades her a chicken nugget, for a bite of the burger.(I chuckle again.)
After they both finish their meal, they start to leave. They walk passed me sitting here and I smile at the boy and look at her and she whispers "thank you"
I whisper back "for what?"
She smiles. I wink. I look down at the boy and I say have a good day.
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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4th July 2015, 07:16 AM
#1126
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups, and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard.
As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt tug on his overalls.
He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.
"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat of the back of his neck, "these puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket,
he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've
got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?"
"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here Dolly!" he called.
Out from the doghouse and down ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight.
As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed
something else stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller.
Down the ramp it slid. Then in a awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.
"How much?" asked the little boy.
"No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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9th July 2015, 06:20 AM
#1127
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
Once a group of 500 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each person a balloon. Each person was then asked to write their name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.
The people were then let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written on it within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.
At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon.
Then, the speaker asked each person to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.
The speaker then began, "This is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.
Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life...the pursuit of happiness."
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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2nd August 2015, 06:02 PM
#1128
Administrator
Platinum Hubber
THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
The boss calls his secretary and says: “Get ready for the weekend, we are going on a business trip.”
The secretary calls her husband & says: “My boss and I are going on a business trip for the weekend.”
The husband calls his girlfriend & says: “My wife is going on a business trip. Come to the house, we can have fun.”
The girlfriend calls the boy to whom she gives tuition: “No tuition this weekend.”
The boy calls his grandfather: “Grandpa, I have no tuition, we can spend the weekend together.”
Grandpa (the boss) calls his secretary & says: “Our business trip has to be cancelled. I am going to spend the weekend with my grandson.”
The secretary calls husband: “I won’t be going”
The husband calls his girlfriend: “I am sorry but my wife is not going.”
The girlfriend calls boy: “Tuition is on.”
Boy calls his grandpa & says: “Sorry grandpa, I’ve classes”
The boss calls the secretary and says, "We're going...!"
The circle continues!
Never argue with a fool or he will drag you down to his level and beat you at it through sheer experience!
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