"Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you." - Elbert Hubard
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." - Walter Winchell
"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself." - Unknown
"I might give my life for my friend, but he had better not ask me to do up a parcel." - Logan Pearsall Smith
"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." - Unknown
This was a list of some of my favorite quotes on Friendship. You guessed it, the occassion is the Friendship Day!
Here's to all the guys and gals who form my friend circle:
Thank you for doubling my joys
Thank you for halving my sorrows
Thank you for all the great moments
Thank you a million times for being there for me!
And I promise that like they say in the title song of my favorite serial:
I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
In all this hoopla, one little gesture almost went un-noticed. One of the news channels showed a clip of some Maulawis who sat near a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, I think in Lucknow, to protest against violence in the name of religion. Some of us might say that this was done purely to protect their community from the backlash in the aftermath of the blasts. It’s possible. After all, we can’t read anyone’s mind. But there also is a possibility that this section truly believes that we all can live together without being at each others’ throats all the time, that we have to stand and fight this menace together and that “united we stand, divided we fall”.
I just wish more and more such people would come forward to give peace a chance and a voice which needs to grow louder steadily so that it can rise above the sound of bombs going off and might, just might turn back some of those who have gone down the wrong path.
I remember watching a movie once - I think it was “The Abyss”. Towards the end of the movie, they show a huge tsunami about to strike a city. It’s just one of the measures that the aliens – it’s shown that they started life on earth – are taking to destroy the always-at-war-with-each-other humanity that they have become disgusted with. And then, abruptly, the Tsunami freezes at its cusp and recedes. The protagonist - played by Ed Harris – asks the one of the aliens if this was their way of warning us about what they can do. The alien tells him that they stopped it because they saw this one message that he sent from the bottom of the sea “Love you, wife”. They saw that there is hope, yet :-)
I am not saying we are being watched by long-necked, four legged alien forefathers (God knows some of the politicians world over bear a distinct resemblance!). What I am saying is that some of us who are losing hope fast need to see such messages, such tiny beacons of light that will give us the strength to do our bit to bring about peace.
Remember Rabindranath Tagore’s poem? When the Sun asked who is going to light up this earth after he is gone. It wasn’t the chandeliers and bright lights that stepped forward – it was a small humble earthen lamp that said that though it can’t promise to drive away the darkness it will certainly do its bit to light up its corner.
Each one of us must be such an earthen lamp. Each one of us must light up our corner of the earth.
I just wish more and more such people would come forward to give peace a chance and a voice which needs to grow louder steadily so that it can rise above the sound of bombs going off and might, just might turn back some of those who have gone down the wrong path.
I remember watching a movie once - I think it was “The Abyss”. Towards the end of the movie, they show a huge tsunami about to strike a city. It’s just one of the measures that the aliens – it’s shown that they started life on earth – are taking to destroy the always-at-war-with-each-other humanity that they have become disgusted with. And then, abruptly, the Tsunami freezes at its cusp and recedes. The protagonist - played by Ed Harris – asks the one of the aliens if this was their way of warning us about what they can do. The alien tells him that they stopped it because they saw this one message that he sent from the bottom of the sea “Love you, wife”. They saw that there is hope, yet :-)
I am not saying we are being watched by long-necked, four legged alien forefathers (God knows some of the politicians world over bear a distinct resemblance!). What I am saying is that some of us who are losing hope fast need to see such messages, such tiny beacons of light that will give us the strength to do our bit to bring about peace.
Remember Rabindranath Tagore’s poem? When the Sun asked who is going to light up this earth after he is gone. It wasn’t the chandeliers and bright lights that stepped forward – it was a small humble earthen lamp that said that though it can’t promise to drive away the darkness it will certainly do its bit to light up its corner.
Each one of us must be such an earthen lamp. Each one of us must light up our corner of the earth.
The blasts rocked the country – yet again! My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones to nameless, faceless terrorists. And so the closure would take a long time to come, if it ever does. :-(
In the meantime, the law and order is busy pointing fingers at every possible terrorist outfit. One of the news channels at one point flashed a ticker which was absurd and grimly humorous at the same time. It said that the cops say that the terrorists have caused these blasts to spread panic and fear in the populace. I can’t even say that this is the dumbest statement I have ever come across because they might say something even dumber tomorrow. For heaven’s sake, what other motive they think did the terrorists have? Do they seriously believe that these anti-social elements had a surplus inventory of bombs and the costs were running so high that they decided to just dispose them off as a cost cutting measure? Get real people and if you don’t have anything useful to say then keep quiet or “Shut your trap” as the Americans say (trust the yanks to put it succinctly – they deliver always!).
So we were talking about the possible suspects. Our next door neighbors are always the possibility. What with the nuke deal with the US showing signs of going through, this could be the fallout of “Rumble in Karachi”. They have always insisted on behaving like the poor cousins who cannot bear the good fortunes of their richer relatives. Sometimes I wonder what do they need Kashmir for. It’s not that they are doing a wonderful job of looking after whatever they got after partition. Why bite off more than what you can chew?
Sushama Swaraj went even a step further. She accused the government of masterminding this attack so as to divert peoples’ attention from the vote-buying scandal. I, for one, wouldn’t rule out the possibility of any politician adopting any means possible to safeguard his powers. But I think the people have more than their fair of share of troubles already what with the sky-rocketing inflation and rise in the interest rates. The government doesn’t have to resort to such extreme measures to achieve that.
If we assume Ms Swaraj’s premise that the government can go to such lengths then we can also wonder if the opposition would go to such lengths. One, they failed to bring the government down. And two, we don’t know yet who the real guilty party is in the whole vote-buying drama. All said and done, it’s hilarious to see the party - which reminds one of Babri Masjid an Godhra - take a high moral stand and accuse the government of plotting to murder its own citizens.
When you point a finger at someone Ms Swaraj, don’t forget that the three of them are pointed towards you - always!
I am done with reading Lee Child’s “Bad luck and Trouble”. It was a good one though I wouldn’t go to the extent of recommending it to anyone. I wonder if the real life special agents are really endowed with such seemingly super human intelligence and strength as depicted in such novels.
BTW, I was more amused than angry at the reference to Kashmir as “Dump” and “Shit hole” by one of the American characters. Apparently the author has never come across Pandit Javaharlal Nehru’s famous comparison of Kashmir with heaven on earth. :-) Or is this another case of the Americans’ incompetence at the game of “Spot-a-country”?
I remember that when I was a child we used to play a game in free period in the school. 4-5 of us would sit together with our geography books opened at a page with the map of India on it. One of us would name a place and the rest of us would try locate it in the map. “Jalpaiguri” was a favorite destination :-)
Maybe it’s a wise idea to hand a world atlas to Mr. McCain (and to Mr. Obama). At least that would put an end to Mr. McCain’s referring to “Czechoslovakia” ;-)
BTW, I was more amused than angry at the reference to Kashmir as “Dump” and “Shit hole” by one of the American characters. Apparently the author has never come across Pandit Javaharlal Nehru’s famous comparison of Kashmir with heaven on earth. :-) Or is this another case of the Americans’ incompetence at the game of “Spot-a-country”?
I remember that when I was a child we used to play a game in free period in the school. 4-5 of us would sit together with our geography books opened at a page with the map of India on it. One of us would name a place and the rest of us would try locate it in the map. “Jalpaiguri” was a favorite destination :-)
Maybe it’s a wise idea to hand a world atlas to Mr. McCain (and to Mr. Obama). At least that would put an end to Mr. McCain’s referring to “Czechoslovakia” ;-)
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