If you take a look at the "Other Top Stories" section of the Times of India right at this moment, you will see 2 news items - one below the other. The first one says - Follow Gandhi, Obama tells young African leaders. And the one below it reads - 4 die in Kashmir Valley, mobs defy shoot-at-sight.

Despite knowing that most of what the leaders and politicians say is mere Lip Service, I find it very ironic that Obama should site Gandhi's example while Gandhi's own nation is not following his advice. :-(

Of course, I wonder if the African leaders in-question were tempted to tell Mr. Obama "After you, sir". :-)

कल रात मैंने अपने सारे गम आसमाँको सुना दिए
आज मै चुप हू और आसमाँ रो रहा है

Here we go again! As if the Earth didn't have enough problems, looks like now we are going to be hit by a massive Solar Tsunami. There is talk of change in the magnetic field around the sun - whatever that means. I would have appreciated it if the scientists had been a wee bit more specific about the time. Not sure if they are talking about GMT or PST or Zulu time.

Hell, there isn't much I can do about this anyway. So I will be okay as long as this tsunami-thingy doesn't tinker with Mother Earth's gravity and cause me to hang upside down in the air :-)

Someone forwarded me this 'devdas' style शेर today morning:

मेरी तबाहीका इलज़ाम अब शराब पे है
मै और करता भी क्या, तुमपे आ रही थी बात

Talking of the customer service people, let me tell you what happened today morning. I had barely settled into my place at the office when the mobile rang. I knew it had to be some salesman. But there was some time before the laptop could boot up and so I decided to answer it.

Even before watching the movie "Rocket Singh....", I have always spoken nicely with these salespeople, unless they catch me on my bad hair-day ;-) After all, they are doing their job, right? But I would hate to waste a moment of their and my time if the conversation is not going to be beneficial to either side (it rarely is!). So these days I have taken to saying the following "I am not interested in any financial or insurance product, personal loan or credit card". In almost all cases, this terminates the call.

But some people, like the guy who called me today morning, want to know why. So they go on - 'is there any particular reason?'. I would so like to reply - 'that's because I am thinking of chucking this all pretty soon and retiring to the Himalayas'. But I refrain, with a lot of difficulty and say benignly - 'I don't need these for the moment' or 'I have got all I want'.

Till now, this has shut them up for good. But I am sure that like a new Malaria or Dengue strain, they will soon become immune to it and keep pushing. I guess then I will have to resort to the good ol' "I am in the meeting so call me later". Of course, that means I will have save their number, ignore the next 2-3 calls and then delete it. But whosoever said life was a piece of cake never got such calls. Trust me on this one.

In the meantime though, I am seriously toying with the idea of making "I am not interested in any financial or insurance product, personal loan or credit card" my caller tune :-)

Here we go now! Since I read about all the noise regarding Repo and Reverse Repo rates being changed by the RBI (I still cannot remember which one is for what!), I was wondering when will I get an SMS from my banks regarding the changed FD rates. I got the first one just now.

I don't think my next visit to my financial advisor will do any good to our BP levels if I ask her what she thinks about investing in FDs. So like a good kid, I have deleted the message. :-)

I just received an SMS from my mobile service provider. I am informed that my bill for July has been delivered to the billing address. The Service Provider has also suggested that I switch to receiving my bills on the email and has provided the instructions on how to go about it.

I am cursing those who are in charge of taking care of this paperless billing. I had switched the facility on months back and was delighted to see the bill in my e-mailbox rather than in the physical one. This joy, however, was short-lived. Barely a day went by before I saw the bill in the daily post. :-(

I don't have the heart to talk to their customer service people and point this out. But this does indicate that there is a disjoint somewhere between different departments of their business. I hope and pray that some customer, somewhere, with loads of patience, will call them one day and set this right.

Till then, I will have to reconcile myself to not being as eco-friendly as I would like to be :-(

Happy Friendship Day!

And this goes out to all my friends. Folks, thanks a million times for being an important part of my life!

कभी कभी नहीं, हर रोज मिली
ज़िन्दगीसे चाही वो मौज मिली
मांगा था जिंदगीसे एक सच्चा दोस्त
मुझे तो कमिनोंकी पूरी फ़ौज मिली

:-)

In case you are wondering why I posted so much of forwarded content today, I am on my monthly, sorry quarterly, mailbox-cleanup mission. That means I managed to read, reply to and forward mails that friends had sent since May. And I am only halfway through as of now. :-(

There are still cheques to be written and investment tracking to be completed. Wish we had more weekends in a week :-)

Equations!

Equation 1

Human = eat + sleep + work + enjoy
Donkey = eat + sleep

Therefore:
Human = Donkey + Work + enjoy

Therefore:
Human-enjoy = Donkey + Work

In other words,
A Human that doesn't know how to enjoy = Donkey that works.

++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ ++ ++
Equation 2

Man = eat + sleep + earn money
Donkey = eat + sleep

Therefore:
Man = Donkey + earn money

Therefore:
Man-earn money = Donkey

In other words
Man who doesn't earn money = Donkey

++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +
Equation 3

Woman= eat + sleep + spend
Donkey = eat + sleep

Therefore:
Woman = Donkey + spend
Woman - spend = Donkey

In other words,
Woman who doesn't spend = Donkey

++++++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +++++++++ +

To Conclude:
From Equation 2 and Equation 3

Man who doesn't earn money = Woman who doesn't spend

So Man earns money not to let woman become a donkey!
And a woman spends not to let the man become a donkey!

So, We have:
Man + Woman = Donkey + earn money + Donkey + Spend money

Therefore from postulates 1 and 2, we can conclude

Man + Woman = 2 Donkeys that live happily together!

Encouragement!!

1. When the Snake is alive, the Snake eats Ants.

When the Snake is dead, Ants eat the Snake.

Time can turn at any time.

Don't neglect anyone in your life........

2. Never make the same mistake twice,

There are so many new ones,

Try a different one each day.

3. A good way to change someone's attitude is to change our own.

Because, the same sun melts butter and also hardens clay!

Life is as we think, so think beautifully.

4. Life is just like the sea, we are moving without end.

Nothing stays with us, What stays with us are just memories of some people who touched us as Waves.

5. Do you want to know how rich you are?

Never count your currency,

just try to Drop a Tear and count how many hands reach out to WIPE that - that is true richness.

6. Never change your originality for the sake of others.

No one can play your role better than you.

So be yourself, because whatever you are, YOU are the best.

7. A baby mosquito came back after flying the first time.

His dad asked him "How do you feel?"

He replied "It was wonderful, Everyone was clapping for me!"
Now that’s what is called “Positive Attitude”

Nobody Can Hurt You Without Your Consent

On the first day, as President Abraham Lincoln entered to give his inaugural address, just in the middle, one man stood up. He was a rich aristocrat. He said, “Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family.” And the whole Senate laughed; they thought they had made a fool of Abraham Lincoln.

But Lincoln and that type of people are made of a totally different mettle. Lincoln looked at the man and said, “Sir I know that my father used to make shoes in your house for your family, and there will be many others here…. Because the way he made shoes; nobody else can. He was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes; he poured his whole soul in it. I want to ask you, have you any complaint? Because I know how to make shoes myself. If you have any complaint I can make another pair of shoes. But as far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes. He was a genius, a great creator and I am proud of my father”.

The whole Senate was struck dumb. They could not understand what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was. He was proud because his father did the job so well that not even a single complaint had ever been heard.

Moral of the story:
“No one can hurt you without your consent.”
“It is not what happens to us that hurts us. It is our response that hurts us.”