TRICK OR TREAT!!!

I heard lot of crazy stories about westeners especially Americans. They do crazy things to have fun of any kind. I only get to see and experience when I got here. Especially, its true during the Halloween time. Halloween is celebrated on the last day of Oct. If you google it, you will be able to find out different versions of its history and how Halloween came into practice. I am going to stay away from the history part of it.


Basically, Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Its the time of the year that spookiness gets out of hand and people are licensed get to act and show their scary behaviors. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, Halloween festivals, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving jack-o-lanterns, and viewing horror films.


At end of Fall season around october time, fun of Halloween starts. Many residents decorate their lawn and entry ways in a spooky way like pics below,

Trick or Treat

This is been a traditional activity during the Halloween night(Oct 31st). Kids and even adults dress up in costumes of various horror characters like vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Recently some costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from movies and other pop culture icons. Many people just take it to extremes with their imagination and dress up so wild to look so realistic spooky characters. I even dressed up like scare crow character from the all time famous family movie Wizard of Oz.

After the dress up, kids with adults supervision go in groups door to door inside their neighboorhood asking for Trick or Treat. They are suppose to go to the house only that has have patio lights switched on welcoming trick or treaters. OK! What does it mean Trick or Treat? If the House owner has a horror trick, they can show and BOO the kids. If not, they have to treat them with chunks of candies. otherwise, they can expect some horror stuff happen to them.

My little boy started his first Halloween lastyear when he was just 4 months dressed up as little elephant(dumbo) and now his 16 months and can walk too. So why miss the fun ?!

Here he goes dressed up in Pumpkin costume ready for his Trick or Treat, cute huh!!

Walking with his mommy for his Trick or Treat

Kids who came to my home for Trick or Treat.

Isn't the Pooh looks so cute ?! I just boo'ed them and treat them with lot of candies.

After the trick or treat, kids just thrilled to research on different types of candies they got during the trick or treat. My son is getting trained here by his mommy,

Check out my Halloween album for some more pictures. I enjoy these kinda fun activites. Its always fun. My wife is one step up ahead. She already shopped for the next year costume in Halloween after sale.



Did you have fun reading this blog?

Do you work like Donkeys?

We all work hard, actually too hard these days. Sometimes it gets worse with the layoffs and budget cuts. We get overloaded and dumped with too many items to tackles at a short work time(taking over blogging time). Especially, at the information age, when almost everyone in every office is a knowledge worker, we're actually paid to process information. And since there's an infinite amount of information, there's an infinite amount of work. For everyone.

If you think that your boss is probably giving you enough work every week to fill three weeks. That may also because you are letting him do it. If you work a certain way, it could also fill only three days. The point is that people who feel overworked in some respects choose to be overworked.

I found some 5 good tips/choices that will help avoid being overworked like donkeys. I can practically relate these tips to my own ways of working. Actually I was just following them without knowing they were few best practice.

Here are the tips for you,

1. Force your boss to prioritize. Because processing information is not an objective task, you can do a good job or a bad job or any kind of job in between. Which is to say that you don't have to do a great job with everything. You can't, right? Because your boss is giving you too much work. So you have some choices. First, you can try to force your boss to prioritize. Say to him or her, "If you want me to do project z perfectly, then you need to get projects w, x, and y off my plate." Maybe your boss will think project z is so important that he or she will clear your plate. But most likely, your boss will say, "Forget it. You need to do everything." This is an open invitation to start experimenting with cutting corners.

2. If your boss won't prioritize, do it yourself. Please don't tell me you don't believe in cutting corners. It's the layman's term for prioritizing, and you probably perfected it as a way of life in college. In fact, cutting corners is what college teaches best. Over the course of a semester, you were assigned sixteen 400-page books to read, plus you had to write papers about them. You also had to show up for classes to find out what was going to be on the tests. Of course, there was no way you could read all 6,400 pages you were assigned -- that would be impossible in the allotted time. So you figured out what you could skip. You determined that the best way to get out of the reading was to go to the lectures, because professors lecture about what interests them, and their tests reflect their interests. Now back to your workplace, where you have too much work to do. Here's how the losers handle it: They complain about being overworked. They keep accepting more work, and trying to do it perfectly, and complain. And their bosses keep dumping it on them and saying there's nothing they can do about the workload. Meanwhile, neither of them is prioritizing, neither of them is taking responsibility for the situation, and each is blaming the other. If you boss insists on giving you more work than you can do, you should start cutting corners. Do everything very quickly, and ignore the idea that it needs to be done perfectly -- it can't all be done perfectly. Your boss refuses to prioritize for you, so you'll have to do everything as best as you can.

3. Get comfortable with ignoring some tasks. For some of you, even doing things less than perfectly will take too much time. In this case, you'll have to blow some stuff off. So experiment and see which things can fall through cracks without anyone noticing. You already do this. Someone at work sends you an email demanding a response. But before you have time to reply, another recipient does so, so you just delete the original message. Try this approach with work you're not a central force on and see what happens.

4. Stop complaining before it ruins your life. I can already imagine the comments flying about this column. Some of you will say that you'd be fired for following the above advice. But what's your choice? You've already told your boss you have more work than you can get done in a day, and he or she didn't scale back. Do you want to continue to just complain about it every day? Probably not, because complaining is toxic. Besides, do you really want to work 15 hour days to get extra work done for a company that doesn't respect its employees' time? Why should you give up your personal life because your boss can't prioritize? Instead, take control of your life and create a situation where you stop complaining about having too much work. If you're fired for not doing all the work, you probably didn't want to work at the company anyway. And if you're not able to scale back, consider that you might over-identify with your job to the point that you're working harder than you need to because you can't imagine not being perfect.

5. Take responsibility for being overworked, then change it. OK, suppose you love your work and you're happy working 15-hour days. That's fine. Just don't complain about it. What I'm saying is that if you complain about having too much work you should look in the mirror -- it's your own fault, and you can change the situation by drawing boundaries at work. Be an adult by taking responsibility for your time, and complain only when you have a solution. Star performers don't talk about being overworked, they talk about time management. The best time managers excel at it because they're good at figuring out what they don't have to do. The best time managers have the confidence to say, "I'll still be a star even if I don't do that task."

This is great advice from someone who's succeeding in an area where most people would succumb to information overload. Clearly, the way to do good work is to know when it's time to not do it.

Negligence might not be choice in many profession but not for the IT people.

Source from Yahoo Posted on Wednesday, August 22, 2007, By Penelope Trunk

Don't Blink, Life Goes Faster Than You Think

In the past 2 days, I hit upon this song titled "Don't Blink" more than 5-6 times. It may be just a coincidence. Morning and evening whenever I traveled in my car, this song just pops up from my favorite Country music FM channel.(Texas is famous for Cowboy type Country music. I liked this genre especially for the down to earth lyrics!)

I was like why in the world this particular song just happens to play whenever I turn on the radio. I thought may be the timing was just in sync. But still it was weird and I didn't want to discard the hunch. May be the repeated occurrence of the song is for purpose and its trying to convey something to me so badly?

So I started listening close to get the full essence of the song. I was right. It was trying to remind me some important aspect of life which we happen to forget in our busy life. I think I might be in due for a reminder.

Here is the full song lyric, Click to watch the video

Artist: Chesney Kenny

Song: Don't Blink

I turned on the evening news
Saw a old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today
Asked him what's the secret to life
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said "All I can say is."

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

I was glued to my tv when it looked like he looked at me and said
"Best start putting first things first."
Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth

Don't Blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

So I've been trying' ta slow it down
I've been trying' ta take it in
In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster then you think
So Don't blink

Naw, don't blink
Life Goes Faster Than You Think
Don't Blink...

The song can be easily related to anyone's life. Its so real and practical. Take my son in our life as an example. It seems just few days ago he came into our world. Now he is already making impressions in our life being just 1 and half year old. It will be not soon that he would be big boy going to school. It all happens fast. Doesn't it ?!

Some more good stanzas really worth dwelling on.

"Best start putting first things first."
Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand

You can't flip it over and start again

Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth

Ain't he totally right about it. Put first things first and hourglass can't be flipped over. Its not in our hand. I wish I do have the control.

Many of us with the way life takes us tend to forget what comes first and just go with the flow missing the moment. But its good to reevaluate now and then to put things which need to come first, first. Because we never can go back in time unless we have a Back to Past machine. We all got the present tense, past is already gone with the wind.

So I've been tryin' ta slow it down
I've been tryin' ta take it in
In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in

Time flies fast. I hear that all the time and many of us Sigh on it big time. I don't know whether its because we are so occupied with day today activities. I felt that days go faster than it used to be. I really thought at times that we should slow it down and take it in.

Grasp the moment, breath the fresh air, play with kids before they growup older, play silly games and have fun with the counterpart whenever can and just be live the life and enjoy the very instant of it.

Isin't an interesting song to ponder upon !! I figured thats just the reason for it to hit on me repeatedly.

DON'T BLINK, WE ALL GOT ONLY TODAY TO LIVE AND CHERISH. DON'T YOU THINK !!

Negligence: A Nasty fact, costing lives.

Talking of negligence, it happens all the time in India. People just don't care for others life like every other human which differentiates from other beings. Especially people like doctors, lawyers whose profession really affects one's life and who are in a position with more responsibility doesn't seems to emit their sincerity. Their main motive these days seems to be money, if something goes wrong badly their first instinct is to cover up not affecting their image.

Let me share a bitter story which was shared by my wife. There was couple who came to Chennai from Singapore for a vacation. They also planned to check on their daughter's tonsils as referred by their singapore doctor. They were told that you can do simply in Chennai because of all the facilities available. So they went to the well-known famous Apollo hospital in Chennai. The doctors recommended for an immediate operation.

As we all know tonsil operation is small minor one these days of technology advancement and they also thought the same way. No risk for life. But it all turned out other way around, the doc did something wrong by cutting some nerves and poor girl died. Who paid the price for the price ?! Obviously the parents who lost their only child. Doctors hesitated to reveal their fault and finally told the parents about it. They couldn't believe what happened. Fate has its way. Hospital pitched in to coverup the doctors mistake by offering money.

They can only offer money, they can never bring back the child's life. Nobody can ever replace a life.Hearing all about, my stomach just bloated and don't know what to think about it. I am sure everyone has a story like this one.

The people who work in important positions who decides the life & death of someone should be so much sincere and take responsiblity for their act. There can't just be careless. Mistakes do happen but not at the stake of someones life.

Attitude towards life has to change, thats the way to go to bring a change in the society. People should start valuing the life. Don't blame of the population for everything. Its the individual nature how to respond and be responsible for one's act should change.

People should start caring each other and think of WE and just ME, a selfish factor.

Schools, Sex Education & Birth Controls.

I was shocked to hear a news in today's CNN headlines. A school in Maine(northeastern US state) is planning to propose a health program to give out Birth Control pills for the Middle schools students between 6 and 8 graders.

Don't you think its ridiculous? I thought its way out of league.

Here is the news in detail for you to digest:

Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School Committee will consider Wednesday.

The proposal would build on the King Student Health Center's practice of providing condoms as part of its reproductive health program since it opened in 2000, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse practitioner who oversees the city's student health centers.

If the committee approves the King proposal, it would be the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to some students in grades 6 to 8, said Nancy Birkhimer, director of teen health programs for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Most middle schoolers are ages 11-13.

Lets take a deep dive into it and analyze a bit more.

The above news clearly shows the sign of schools encouraging kids to have sex in their schools. Way back the sex education was made compulsory for middle school and up. Now giving out birth control pills just starting out. I don't know where the US school system is heading?!

On the other end, there are still schools out there in many states, they can't even give any first aid medicine to kids. If a kid is sick at school teachers aren't allowed to give out any medicine at all - not any aspirin or Tylenol. You never know what allergies a kid might have. And for kids who have to take a prescription, even a pill for acne, they must have a doctor's note and go to the office to take it in front of a designated secretary. They can get in trouble if they take medicine on their own. You see both extremes.

But many school officials support this program because of the Sex intercourse rate has increased to record high in recent years at the middle schools. Its better to safe then sorry and protect the kid out of Child pregnancy danger. Thats a valid point as well.

A sixth grader student who is just 11-12 years old, not even got a clear understanding of whats sex means and how to handle it. It's like test the waters when you aren't absolutely sure about your swimming ability. Secondly handing out pills to children going through puberty, when their bodies are in the process of maturing, that effect their hormones? Also Birth controls has lot of side effects at the most which can trigger heart attack in early age. Considering the above facts, its not really an encouraging news for parents.

Don't you also think Sex education is one major reason for the high Sex intercourses rate in middle schools. We talk to them about sex and kindle their interest. They are not going to stay put like old ages. In this age of time, kids are smart and fast. They just want to try it out. So there you go. They try it out and end up getting pregnant.

Its all scary talk about kids getting pregnant at the age they should start thinking about playing and growing up in life for a better future. When the kids get out of home, they are no more in control of parents. They are their own masters and they control their activities. So its hard to keep an eye out of kids.

Just for that reason, giving out Birth Control pills is too much out of limits. But I feel condoms are ok. Thats fine, as long as there is education to go with them and abstinence is put out as the ideal. BC pills, no way!!!

As Indians living out here, we already think the western world is getting way out of limit especially with Schools shootings, Sex education, sex intercourse in school and list goes endless. Many parents already went back to India when their kids were old enough to go to school to avoid the sending their kids to US school system. It like you are running away from the problem, there is always problem where you go. But as per the parents, they took the right decision for their kids.

This brings an important topic of adding sex education in our India school system. After seeing the aftermath and side effects of sex education, many might feel that we should not incorporate sex education in India. My take, I strongly feel that we should go ahead add to the High schools to a certain extent to educate them on the factoids. I know how tough to not know about it. Many will concur with me.

There is always going to 2 sides for a coin. Its always going to be a tough choice to decide which side to pick. Whether sex education with all sorts of consequences or nothing to keep the kids the ignorant like past. I would vote for better education than none.

Whats your vote for?

YOU AND UR SLEEPING POSITIONS (FUNNY)

I have come across many ways of determining one's personality. Simple one using their stars but more complex using certain answer selections of analystical questions. First time, a funny method to figure via one's sleeping position. If you already seen it, sleep over it.



These images are so funny with their explanations. I did see some positions that matches some individuals including me came not even close. You can try your luck to see whether your position give a good outlook

Looks like a Superman Personality

This one is Nerdy...












May be a forced Bachelor position...









Poor guy







Watchout Lady







Nervous nimbsoul

Love lady

A rich CEO type







Wow!! My son sleeps like this at time







Sometimes, I do sleep in this position.. am I narrow minded

Did you figure out yours?!

Source: Forwarded email from my sister

Are you a Duck or an Eagle?

Harvey Macky - Well known motivational speaker. Author of the New York Times #1 bestsellers Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt.

Wally - A cab driver

*******************************************************
Harvey Mackay was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a car pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed Harvey a laminated card and said:

"I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement."

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally's Mission Statement :

To get my customers to their destination in the quickest,
Safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment .

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, "Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf."

Harvey said jokingly, "No, I'd prefer a soft drink."

Wally smiled and said, "No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice."

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, "I'll take a Diet Coke."

Handing him his drink, Wally said, "If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal , Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today."

As they were pulling away, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card. "These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio."

And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

"Tell me, Wally," amazed Harvey asked the driver, "have you always served customers like this?"

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. "No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. '"

"That hit me right between the eyes," said Wally. "Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more."

"I take it that has paid off for you," Harvey said.

"It sure has," Wally replied. "My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action."

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.
I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.

Great service is a matter of choice. You could either quack like a Duck or soar like a Eagle. It doesn't have to be service, it can relate to anything. It can be the way you act for certain situations like work environment, about life, future and so forth. Its upto us to be DUCK or EAGLE on each occasions.

Who would you prefer to be?


*******************************************************
I recieved this valuable worthy email from ISKCON mailing list. Thanks to my friend who taught a good lesson.

Go Lean with Green

I love vegetables, thanks to my mom who made that habit on me. Especially I like to eat green vegis like Beans, Avaraikai, spinach, herbs which are very rich chlorophyll good for you. Going Green is good for health. Going green can help reduce your risk of cancer, protect your heart, trim your waistline, and even make you happier.

Bean Poriyal

Crisp green beans make for a great side dish. Bean's Poriyaal is one of my all time favorite. Easy to cook, doesn't take a lot of time at all. You can see beans poriyaal served in most of authentic wedding lunch. Here is my quick Bean Poriyal recipe for you to try it out.

Ingredients:
Fresh green beans 2 cups, chopped finely
Mustard Seeds (as needed)
Half cut Onion
Urad Dal 1/4 tsp
Dried Red Chilli 1 or 2 halved
Fresh grated coconut 1 tbsp , for garnishing
Oil 1/2 tsp, Salt to taste

Method:

- Heat oil in a pan. Pop mustard seeds.

- When they start to splutter add urad dal and Red chilli.

- Add onion to it. Let it fry until light redish color.

- After that add the beans, sprinkle little water and Mix well.

- Cover and cook for 8 - 10 minutes or until the beans are cooked.

- Add salt as needed and Finally garnish with coconut and serve hot with any meal.

I also like to try out some recipes from American Cancer Institute. They suggest really neat items good for our heart.

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Herbs

This recipe incorporates delicious sautéed tomatoes and aromatic herbs, adding lots of flavor without additional fat. The onion provides sweetness and, combined with garlic, add a variety of phytochemicals to this colorful dish.

Tasty Green Bean Saute

Ingredients

1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 large ripe tomato, diced, or 1/2 can (7 oz.), diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp. minced fresh basil (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1 tsp. minced fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
3/4 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed, or 1 package (10 oz.) frozen green beans,
thawed Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation:

In a nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato, basil and oregano. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the green beans, cover and cook for 6 minutes, until the beans are crisp but tender. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 54 calories, 2 g fat (<1 g saturated fat), 10 g carbohydrates,
2 g protein, 3 g dietary fiber, 7 mg sodium.

I always like to sprinkle my blogs with foodie ones, now and then especially with dishes I liked the most. Because I am fond lover of great healthy food. Hope you can try and let me know how you like it.

Sources: American Cancer Insitutue email. Photos from web.

VISHY, CHESS & CHESSY ACT

Our whole country went bizzark after winning T20 World champions. It was a thrilling and nail bitting finish, no doubt about it. As a cricket fan myself, it was great victory by the untarnished effort from T20 cricket team lead by Dhoni. It was a surprising win which none of us ever imagined. In no time, T20 team touched a new feat to mark the history.

Every cricket lover in our country and even NRI's showed the joy by showering in party's, fireworks and much more. There were various level of parties and grand gala's to celebrate this grand win starting from local liquor shop to middle class pubs to high star hotels.

Our government went up a notch by hosting a grand ceremony to celebrate the victory. It also lavishly announcing prize money for each individual in the team racking up the sports budget in a way to show a big open hand congratulating the players. Players also got the double doze of happy shock when their own state government announced some more prize money. It all really shows how a sports can turn a country which was cruised for not even entering the Super 8 level few months back in the ODI world cup.

Its all well and good for many. But some quoted, it is way too much of a hype and celebration. National Hockey team came out openly protesting for similar recognition for their win in Asia cup. With the cricket news polluting the air for more than a week, we actually forget to even get the grasp of one more rare victory achieved by our one and only grandmaster vishy.

Oct 1st, our chess grandmaster (GM) Viswanatham "Vishy" Anand was crowned at International Chess Federation's (FIDE) World Chess Champion Mexico 2007 in Palacio de Mineria in Mexico City's Historic Center.

He expressed his feelings openly saying, "I am very happy to be champion and I especially want to thank the warm treatment I received by all the Mexican people and fans that made this possible.

"You can imagine how happy I am to win this title without having lost any game in this event. I don’t know how on an emotional level it affects me.”, said Anand.

Anand overcame Russian GM Valdimir Kramnik to claim the title, and bronze came to Israeli GM Boris Gelfand.

He also said, "One million children are being instructed formally in India to play chess because, I know Mexico is trying to implement a similar program and I wish the Mexican people success".

Till yesterday, no(state or central) government was bothered even to openly congratulate him and do anything about his rare feat. There were not even a big talk about his achievement of winning this prestigious world champion title in the media.




Being ranked No.1 in the world, it was his milestone. He is the first Asian to be the undisputed champion and only the second player from outside Eastern Europe in the last 60 years. (The other was the American Bobby Fischer, who held the title from 1972 to 1975.)

For a sport part originated from India, it is shame to say there was no proper showcase for this rare accomplisher. Are we overshadowed by the big media gimmick and cricket phobia and not hearing what suppose to?

With pride, we always say, we are one of brainy country in the world. But only 1 millions kids out of 50 millions are interested in this sport compared to many millions in cricket. Is it because parents aren't really keen on encouraging this brainy sport among kids?

Since cricket is fueled by big business sharks and government is benefiting on it. Is government only plan to support money making sports like cricket not others?

Suddenly today Tamilnadu government has announced a 25lakh prize money for vishy's achievement. Don't you think its a CHEESY act by our government to take advantage to gain some mileage for their own purpose?

Dad, I will miss you..

My dad was everything to me. I loved him so much my friends are even jealous of our relationship. Not many kids in this country have this perfect father-son relationship and I was thankful to GOD until today.

He is the man behind all my success. May be some call him very pushy but for him he is just doing the right thing for us and it actually paid off. Without him, I couldn't have imagined doing my bachelors at this prestigious college. I got in to this school with full scholarship all just because of my dad's motivation.

He was my soul inspiration. He was a one of the honest and straight forward battery of law enforcement officers(COP) in this side of city. He loved his job so much that he never took a day off. He always wanted to get out their and do the right job to protect the community. But he always wanted us to find a different career path because of the danger in his job. He feared that worst can hit him anytime and he didn't want that to be the life of his kids.

Like every other family, as a father he is so much for us. We never thought he would leave us half way and vanish.

When I got a call that he was hit on his job. I was totally shocked and couldn't stop thinking about his conversation about the worst fear of getting just which just became true. I immediately rushed to the hospital where my mom just blasted out crying as soon she saw me. I tried to console her.

She was the first person to get affected by this tragedy. My parents had a very good relationship and as any couple they had their bad times. But they managed it well enough not to reach our ears. No wonder she is so devastated on his dismissal.

My dad's fellow officer and close friend of him just walked in and couldn't control his tears.

"Sorry my son. You father was a very good person. We all are going to miss him", he said in a low voice.

"Uncle John, can you please tell me what happened ?!",

"Sure! Your father was struck by a passing motorist. When he was on duty, he had pulled over a blue sedan car. His motorcycle parked at the sedan’s side. He was standing up next to the window of the other vehicle talking to the other violator when he was struck by the passing vehicle.

The passing vehicle was a black SUV. You father's body was thrown 90-feet. It seems like the driver of SUV was talking on the cellphone and didn't notice your father standing until last minute. If she had seen him ahead of time and followed the law by shifting to the other lane. It wouldn't have happened at all", finishing with big sigh.

It seems like doctors tried to revive him for more than 2 hours performing CPR, trying to keep him alive. But they couldn't save him. He just suddenly vanished from our life leaving a big hole.

Dad, I will miss you so much!! Thank you for everything you had given us Dad!!

I can never ever forgive the person but I can only console myself that your time is up dad and you had to go...

*******************************************************************
This is another true tragic story that happened in houston 2 days ago. An officer was killed by a passing vehicle. If he was concentrating on the traffic and not on his talk over the cell phone, this COP life might have been spared. Another life for Cell phones misuse, SAD.

The family is opening up on this cause to force the lawmakers to bring the law to enforce no cell phones while driving like other states. It might be no time that Texas will another state which bans cell phones while driving, that might save lot of lives.

I have written couple story blogs on Cell phone. I am doing it more and more to bring some true stories to reach out to more people. Hoping that will really make a difference.

Going out to Movies - A Nostalogia...

We are witnessing salary levels skyrocketing more than ever in almost all sectors, thanks to high-tech industry growth pushing the economy forward. Now every day is a spending spree holiday for middle class families. It palpably attracted investors from all over especially foreign companies debuting their successful business in India.

One sector which is gaining momentum, is the all time cash cow entertainment industry. To be specific, Multiplex Entertainment complexes. Every metro city is now garnered with at least 2-3 big multi-complex theaters all around to attract audiences on every end.

These big complexes with luxury of modern technology, fully air-conditioned enjoyed by us today have a totally different other side 2 decades ago.


Going back to the days of watching movies sitting on the sand floor or a broken bench. It has total different view all-together. Lets take a short ride going back in time?

When I was like 8-9years old, my grandma and mom used to take me to small touring Talkies place called CHITTI KOTAAI(hut). It was in the remote place outside our town limit. There is no proper road to get their and we had to walk like 4-5 miles from our home in a unpaved road. The talkies only had a small brick room for projector and seating's are under a big covered lot roofed by coconut tree leaves.

It was a 3 level seating arrangement. Sand floor, Wooden bench and chairs. Chair seating is like today's balcony. As you can guess, tickets are cheaper for floor seating compared to chairs. It is also fully air conditioned at the time itself. Yes, naturallyventilated! There are couple of standing fans just for chair seating's and others have the luxury of air flowing from all directions thru the open sides. There is no sophisticated bathrooms to worry about, just plain ordinary open space. No need to worry about the cleanliness of it. It's all taken care by mother nature.

No reservations needed. You get tickets all the time because you can sit anywhere. It wasn't that expensive either, just a 50paise to Rupee for the show according to your seating. Only bad thing about this talkies are no security for your life. You might have snakes accompanying you for the evening show in your next seat. So you don't have search for a partner to go with you. I might have watched may be a movie or two in that place before it vanishes. You can still rarely see these talkies in some rural areas or country sides certain states.

Then came real evolution of cine biz bringing more well-built theaters popping around every town. Its was the best movie entertainment, people can get those days far better comparing to cine/touring talkies other than extra money for the comfort. It had the same 3 level seatings starting with bench as the bear minimum, chairs and balcony to the next level. Bench seatings are closer and not very comfortable. Chair seatings fits our valise perfectly with great luxury of fans whirling on top, fueling in cool air all around. Balcony was extreme suited for upper middle class audiences with little hefty price to pay for the comfort. It was so much better and different.

During holidays, it has become a family tradition to go out for good movies. Me, my sisters usually accompanied by my mom, grandma and aunts for a matinée shows, thats the only time they were free. This change in suburb peddled a transition to big screen theaters in city side. Watching movies at City theater became one of my teen age dreams. It finally came true, when I saw the movie "JAWS" first time on the big screen during a visit to my other grandma(mom's side) house in the city. It was the time when theater complexes exploded all parts of the city. There were 3/4 theaters in one complex were the big buzz those days.

Movie going trend suddenly experienced a bottleneck by the evolution of high-tech Video players exported from Singapore and Malaysia. High class people experienced the luxury of watching all new movies (pirated mostly) within few days of its release just sitting at our own living room introducing the first movie piracy.

That introduced the Cine industries first battle with surge of video tape piracy, literally taking over the theater experience. Nobody could able to control it because there were no proper law to handle them. From there on, it just took different avatars from Tapes to CD's and to DVD's of now days. Piracy still continue to be a virus which bugs the movie industry till today.

This critical situation calling for something different that suits today generation. A different technique that will attracts audience back to theaters. Answer, birth of Drive-in theaters and Multiple complex movie theater with more fun items like bowling, video games, car racing etc in one place for every age. It is now the magic kingdom and talk of the town around kids and even among adults, changing the overall movie going experience.

Going out to movies transformed from a mere touring talkies experience to Drive-ins and luxury multi entertainment mall masala.

Whats on the works to entertain us next, I am yet to guess!! Any clues ?!

Tibido Coudro & Boudro

We heard it and even seen it all in movies. I am talking about our favorite Sardar jokes. It gets boring after sometimes and need different genre. These type of funny ones are all around the globe. They take their own avatar according to the places like Irish Jokes, Yankees(Newyorker) jokes, Blonde Jokes so forth.

Did you ever heard of Southerner Tibido & Boudro Jokes?

These jokes are very common in Southern part(Texas North Carolina South Carolina Georgia Tennessee Mississippi Louisiana) of USA.

Heeree ya go...

There are two guys, one named coudro and one named tibido.Coudro comes up to tibido one day and says this,

Coudro: Guess what tibido.. I learned me some logic today in school.
Tibido: Logic? What's logic?
Coudro: Ok heres an example, you got a weedeater?
Tibido: Yeahsa
Coudro: Ok den, since you got a weedeater, I can logically assume you got a yard.
Tibido: Yeahsa,
Coudro: and since you got a yard, I can logically assume you have your own house.
Tibido: Yeahsa,
Coudro: And since you got a house I can logically assume you are more than likely married.
Tibido: wow, thats logic? Wow. That's right dere.

So, Tibido is walking down the street the next day where he runs into boudro. he says BOUDRO!, guess what i learned.
Boudro says what?

Tibido says I learned me some logic!
Boudro says, logic? whats dat?Tibido says, Ok, you got a weedeater?Boudro says nope.
Tibido says....Man you must be gay!!

Next one,

'ol Tibido wus fishin one fine day on da banks of da mississippi.
He spied a water moccasin wit a frog in his mouth.

Tibido knew dis frog would be great fisshin bait. He also knew the snake wus dangerous. He stealtily snuck up on the creature an' grabbed it by the neck. He got his frog, but what to do? Iffin he dropped the snake, it would chomp him.

Thinkin quickly, Tibido took out his hip flask an' dribbled a few drops o' whisky down de snake's gullet. De snake rolled his eyes back an went limp. Tibido put da snake in some bushes an went ta fishin.

An hour later, Tibido felt a gentle nudge at his foot. Lookin down slowly he saw it was the same damn snake.

With two more frogs!!

Last one...

Tibido been searching for a job.

He finally get a job in the telephone company as a service man to put telephone poles. He starts working on the job immediately with great enthusiam, putting poles everyday. He was so exhausted after putting 3 poles a day. He thought he doing a lot of work.

One day his supervisor called him.

Supervisor yelled at him, "I have other crew who put 10 poles a day, what you doing putting just 3 poles a day?"

Tibido replied, "Oh really, I wonder they didn't have pull out as many of 10 poles like I do every day!!!"

Did you get it ?! If you have any rare jokes like this one runs around the place you live in. Don't hesitate to share to us. Its always good to hear some refreshing new ones.

Source: first 2 jokes from web, last one word of mouth.

FINALLY, I AM A TOP BLOGGER IN SULEKHA

Atlast, I get to join the top bloggers league last Friday when I touched my rank 112. It was one of my memorable milestones to be specific a dream come true. It might sound silly for some but definitely not for me. Its been one of my milestones or short term goals to make to top blogger league. I know its vision of many bloggers out there. I am happy to be a one to make it.

When I started blogging very actively in Jan of this year, I always wondered about the Top bloggers faces show up on the left of Sulekha main page. I decided and set my goal to make to the list one day. I started my journey to post atleast one blog a day and thought it would be an easy ride but it wasn't for a guy who never wrote anything informative, funny and valuable to others.

It took me,

8 months(240 days) of blogging on an average 1 blog a day

210 Blogs including 4 Travelogues, 10 movie reviews

2280 posts including comments, discussions, blogs all together

average 1 featured/showcased blog for a month, total 10 as of today

alteast 10 blog friends/fans who visited every blog of mine

Its indeed a wild ride which kept me busy and entertained during this tenure. So its worth a celebration. I like to celebrate this happy moment sharing with my fellow bloggers who helped me to get to this level.

Like the saying,

"One who never forgets the path he traveled and people who helped him on the way always set to win the forts"

Thank you all my friends who accepted my scribbles and thoughts/views and motivated me to write more with your kind open comments. I like to make a special mention of few fellow blogger friends who read almost every blog of mine and never failed to comment,

Ranjini
Melody Queen
Ether
Silvia

Others who were get to read some and always shared open thoughts,

Usha
VerboseViju
Kalyanee
Nargisji
Indu
Kiran
Raj
maddss123
snowey

and few others who visited my blog on and off to shower their valuable comments.

THANK YOU ALL FOR the comments and notes which inspired me to never falter and write more in the sulekha blogdom.

Also Sulekha just made a blogger out of me. So I can't never forget them. My humble Thank you to Sulekha Team who had sent me some encouraging emails to blog more and more on every featured post.

This journey has been so interesting to me. I learned a great deal during this blogging adventure. From now on, I don't have to worry about my blog being disappeared in no time by tons of bloggers coming out. It will atleast stay for a while for lot more people to check it out.

I am sure you all enjoyed my blogs. I plan to entertain(bug) you all more and more with my intuitive and informative writings and will try to make up to the top leaguers expectation.

Hope you all it. You all better like it.

************************

List of my featured blogs I liked most, if you want to check it out:

BRAVEHEART - Taste the essence of success
My First Marathon Run - A Real Story
CURD RICE - Poor Man's Rich Meal!!
Tribute to PRINCESS DIANA - One Lady, the world loved most...

Blog to Videologs - Changing trends...

When Internet emerged as a global platform and boon to the mankind, everybody was amazed of what it can do. But we all had our own big doubts. After a while, it became a common phenomena to browser internet anywhere you want, carry a email id or two just for the heck of it. Now everyone has atleast 3-4 email accounts between personal and work.

Then came the website buzz. Everybody went crazy on making their presence in the web creating free websites. Now even petty shops have their own website.

In the past couple of years, the trend has shifted to BLOGGING. It started out as small, now spreading its branches all over the net. At first nobody really got an hang of it. "What do you mean blogging ?!", "How can it help?!" and so forth. Now, there were tons of blog sites and every computer savy person atleast have account in 2-3 blog sites.

But recently, attention is moving towards Videologs. People really welcome to see live scenes instead of lengthy words.

"A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words" is a old saying. Now its time for the new one, "Video shows million live details than Pictures".

I am sure most of you will agree and join me in my bandwagon supporting Videos has become the new way of sharing and communicating. Videos are everywhere nowadays. Whether its a simple blog on making a mouth watering dishes or a business site promoting their product. Whether its about a professional speaker who is marketing his skill or a individual sharing his weird idea to an interested group. Its all over the net.

How can you make a video?!

Just because anyone can easily make videos, net is now overloaded with videos on various genre and one has no difficulty in getting them. You can easily make videos using simple digital video cameras or recording small video snippets by one of those digital cameras. Its has become so much easier compared to good old days. Once you recorded your videos, just download them to your computer as mpeg or wmv file type. You can use softwares that came with your cameras to stream and download them.

If you have one of the old type cameras, don't worry you can still stream them out to save in the computer using Windows movie maker.

How post the video I made?!

It has become much easier to share them over the internet. There are plenty of sites available just waiting for you to upload your videos offering free space attracting people of different kind.

Some interesting ones apart from the usual famous Youtube are,

VideoJug - Huge collection of recipe and how to do video's
apnatube - Desi type video site
photobucket.com -
ourmedia.org - Share your video to the world as a
Facebook.com - Add videos in your profile
myspace.com - has video section to add your personal videos

Videologs are changing the way the people share and communicate. Now you can attach video's in blogs, websites easily then ever before to show people some live activities.

Did you ever thought interviewing can get so much easier these days?! One can just tape or record 8-10 mins of their details resume and upload it as a profile and send it over to the companies. There are some sites which offer this service like http://www.grimmis.com/

It can't get simpler than that. Videologs got so much hype and popularity and now every blogsites offer functionality to add videos in the blogs. So you can just create your blog and add video in the blog and send the blog page to them.

Don't wait for the opportunity, if you have a camera. Just get out there, record some video snippets and upload it to any of the above video sites or even to sulekha and share it in the blog or directly to your friends. Its that easy. I don't see that many people using this new option except few.

Videolog is now big buzz around the web. What's next on stack to surprise us and take on a ride ?! We have to wait and see..

My wife hated CELL PHONES...

Thats right. My wife hated Cell phones, till yesterday...

Do you believe it ?! You better believe it.

There was actually a soul(even my son likes to play with it) who didn't want have the magic gadget in her wallet. She is one in million (I should say) who doesn't like to carry cellphones and don't like me talking too long over the cell phone(may be all wifes like that, I don't know). In this world of gadget manics who wait 2- 3 days in front of the store to just put their hands on the first iphones. Here she was, who never bothered to have this simple cell phone to communicate. I know she is little different but didn't expect to be this peculiar.

She had her own reasons and I respected it. She is my wife after all who else would do. First reason being, she never went out alone much as we had only one vehicle and I take to work everyday. Because of that, she was never pushed to a situation to communicate on any urgency. She had some silly ones. She worried about losing it like every other mom and more importantly she didn't want to be bothered when she is at friends place. I know they were silly ones but I have to respect it after all she is my wife.

It was ok with me until few months. I got a truck now and she started driving her own car. Now she goes out with our 1 year old son to libraries, friends places and grocery shopping. God only know what if something happens. How will I know about it was my big concern. So I been strongly insisting her to get a phone. She kept neglecting my offer for a new phone. Who would ever want to say NO to a free cell phone paid all but she did until 2 days ago?!

For some other purpose, we really wanted a way for her to communicate me when she was away from home. So she agreed finally to get a phone. I did my research and tried to stay away from any long term commitments because I am still not sure what will be reaction to it. I bought a cheap but a good prepaid phone and handed over to her. She was bit hesitate to store in her handbag and not a happy camper. Its her first Cell phone ever.

When she told me an interesting true story about the cell phone yesterday. I was thrilled to hear all about it. She used to take my son to library for kids play time every Wednesday and she was there yesterday. Looks like there were lot of mama's who are usuals to this kids time. Its all chat time and fun for kids. At the end, they were all leaving. One American lady accidentally put her 6months old kid in the car and everyting including key her cell phones inside locked herself out. She has no way to open it or call for help. She got panic and reaching out for help. She was asking people to give their cell phones to call her husband. My wife was happy to help and lend her new cell phone to let her call her husband. She tried to call her husband to get code to open the door(some ford cars has the door with code to open, thats good) Finally she got hold of him, got the gode and opened it. She was so relieved and thanked my wife a lot for the help.

It was as if my wife got the cellphone to just help her. Who knows Gods has this instant on store for my wife to help somebody.
I immediately responded to my wife after the story, "Do you now agree that Cell phone is a must to have now?!". She is still like, "Yeah, May be".

I replied to her "What if something similar happens to you, just imagine". Thats true, it would have been pathetic. Finally she is getting out of the Cell Phone phobia and starting to get use to her new attachment in her life.

Life without cell phone these days.. No way right ?! I tell you, in no time she will an addict.

Accidents Happen...

Yesterday, it was a very nice evening out of ordinary in Houston. It felt like fall is just around the corner. I left work little late around 6pm and headed back home. I always like to enjoy nice breeze if one avails (I know its actually ethanol added) so I whisked down the driver side window and continued my drive. Usually around 6pm, traffic gets lighter in this tollway and yesterday was pretty much that way. Still every vehicle showed the hurry in racing back to their destination with an average speed of 70miles/hr on the tollway. I was at the very left lane(3-4 lanes inthe tollway on one side of traffic) trying to keep up to pace of the traffic. Suddenly I heard,

"Khewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwl, Bang, bang, bang..."

Hearing that big noice, my eyes immediately tried to find where it came from search front and back of my vehicle first. I couldn't find anything. But I saw some comotion on the other side of the traffic. I just saw in fast motion, a black car got hit by another car and driver seems to have put a break which turned the car to perpendicular direction off the traffic. So all the vehicles following that car just couldn't hit the break that fast, stars to collide eachother ending up a cascaded accident.

I just witnessed an accident,for real. I am bit happy I wasn't part of it but worried about the person inside the car and other vehicles involved in the accident. Afterall, I am human too. I can't do anything because I am not the otherside. So I just have to continue my ride. My eyes were on the road but my mind and heart were somewhere else.

I know how hard to face an accident like this one. Two years back, I was the victim of a small accident. I was waiting to turn left and a big van just rearended me without noticing my idle position. Its not a big one but still that shock took 2-3 days to vanish.

"What if this big accident happens to me?! "

"am I ready to face it ?!"

I get to answer myself, "May be, May be not". It all depends on the mental state we are at the time. Also,

"How well is your family equipped to take this?!"

"How are they going to know about it?!"

There were a whole set of questions just kept popping over my head like internet spam poppers. I tried to answer one by one to see whether I am actually ready.

Did you ever thought about it?! I guess some do and some think about but forget to find the solutions for the questions. In busy daily life, it gets forgotten after that day.

But don't you think, these are some very important questions to ask yourself whether you are in alien land or your home country. It doesn't matter where you get in accident. Accident is devastating for you and your family wherever happened. We all wish it never happen to us but it does. We should be atleast ready to face tragic moment.

On the Accident Spot,

1. If you conscious, Don't Panic. Try to Comm down.

2. Don't move if you are in severe pain and feel something is broken.

3. Don't hesitate to ask for help.

4. Call 9-1-1(if you are in USA) to get emergency help if needed and you are in a state to call.

5. Give phone to somebody and ask to call your loved ones.

Precautionary things you can do ahead,

1. Always have your Drivers license with you. Don't leave without it.
2. Have the emergency numbers stored and easily visible in your cellphone like HOME, ICE(in case of emergency), WIFE

3. Always have a bottle of water in your car. It can even save a life at times.

4. Try to have some good insurance coverage atleast to cover your medical expenses and other liabilities.

Accidents do happen, doesn't matter we are very careful or not. It has more possiblities if we aren't careful enough. Its the fate which we don't have any control at times. But we can always be ready to face the worse case situation by just being alert.

Please share your thoughts on this topic, by adding your comments. Its always good to hear some valuable thoughts for others benefit.

GOD, On the Eyes of Kids...

We had a casual Ganesha Chaturthi Party last Saturday inviting few friends and their kids. It was nice family get-together both for adults to share the holiday spirit and for kids who had good time making Ganesha and getting to know about him.

I was requested to show the kids how to make Ganesha because they thought I am an expert in Ganesha making by looking at my Clay Ganesha from last week's Vinayakar Chaturthi. I accepted the request and just took the chance to show off my artistic ability. Ladies prepared instant artificial dove and got it ready for the art lesson.

I recollected my skills of making Ganesha from last week. F irst I took a trial run to practice myself once and then showed the kids step-by-step to make him. They wanted 3D Ganesh instead of 2D which I made last week. I gave it a try. Ladies helped kids to follow my lead. Actually they did better than me.

Check out the pictures of cute Ganesha's - different shapes and sizes,

My 3D Ganesha

Kids busy taking my lead creating their own Ganesha

Parade of Ganesha from artistic hands - Isn't so cute..



Close up look at them..

After creating Ganesha, Kids were lead by my friend's wife to tell slokas and thotrams as a prayer. Also she explained reasons of Ganesha's Elephant head, big stomach and other characteristic via some old stories. Some intelligent kids heard similar stories, tried to argue with her on different versions of it.

One who was like 12 years old, tried to make fun of the stories on cutting the elephant head and so on. It was funny to hear his argument but I went on to explain him, that these are just man made stories to make people believe in some good things. "Do you think its true?", I asked him. He started talking to me like, "Why can't it be true, if its not true why do follow, endless list of questions followed". I don't know what to say.

I am going throw out a big question, "How do yo tell GOD stories are imaginary ?!", "How to answer kids on that topic of GOD & RELIGION ?" In general, how well it can be explained to make them believe in religion you believe in. I know its a difficult question with too many answers. As parents many of you already gone thru this rapid round questions from your kids, whether its when you take them to temple or celebrating festivities. They are so picky but smart to ask simple questions like, "Why do we have so many GODS? Why do we celebrate Deepavali, Navarathi" like every American ask us?! "

We all have well versed answers for these questions with stories which was transferred to us by our elders. But Kids of this age, they are really smart and they are touch different religion in their very small age. I feel its lot more thought process need to be involved in answering this question in a simple way.

I believe in GOD greatly but I also know very well that these stories aren't actually true as an adult. I am conscious enough to differentiate them and believe or not to believe it. I also believe in ONE GOD, a super power which guides us but we all happen to continue our own HINDU tradition of worshiping many GOD's. Its all easy for us to think about it but when the small minds try to digest this big thing, its not an easy fact to grasp.

I had similar arguments with my wife and she strongly believes that we should continue to instill our beliefs to our kids but in a right way telling the true facts. We should walk in a fine line to explain about GOD and also about our religion not crossing the line. I totally agree with her. If we seed wrong belief system at this smaller age, it might end reaping adverse effect in the future.

What do you guys say ?! I love to hear from others on this very broad topic.

Problem is Inside, Don't look outside...

We always try to search around us whenever anything goes wrong. We tend to find excuses to point somebody or something for the failures/problem we encounter. But don't you think, its also us being the part of the equation. We should start looking inside us.

Here is something interesting from the mail which I recieved mailing list from As A Man Thinketh mailing list.

"The circumstances which a person encounters with suffering are the result of his own mental inharmony. The circumstances which a person encounters with blessedness are the result of his own mental harmony." - As A Man Thinketh

It's amazing that when we are in dire straits the first place we look is always the last place we should look. And the last place we look is always the first place we should try.

Stop and think about it. If you're like me, don't you always look for the cause and the solution outside of yourself? When you start making changes to try and cure the problem, don't you always try to change the things outside of yourself?

Go back and read the first line of James Allen's wisdom again. The problem is our "own mental inharmony." The problem is inside, not outside. And that's the first place we always need to look.

Try this exercise: Identify one type of habitual thinking that you have. For instance, do you habitually think you won't have enough money to go around...or....are you always thinking that you never have enough time to get all the things done you need to do. After you've identified the thinking pattern, take a 3x5 card and write out the OPPOSITE of your habitual thinking.

For instance, "I am surrounded by abundance. I always have enough money and enough of everything I need." Put the card in your purse or pocket. For the next week, be alert to every time you fall into the old, habitual thinking. Take out the card and read it --- and, if possible, read it aloud with MEANING. Do it for a week and I promise you'll be happy with the results.

William James, the great psychologist of the early 20th Century knew the solution is always to go inside: "There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true self."

I am yet to try this idea but isin't it worth thinking about atleast.

Souls Missing in Action from blogSpace

As many of you know, Sulekha has undergone wide range of changes since the time it started till today as per many veteran bloggers. Actually within the past 8 months(my close presence) itself in this blogdom, I have seen a huge transformation happen on different areas starting from giving face uplift to Sulekha, recognozing bloggers by awarding points and showering them gifts, incorporating some interesting contests to encourage bloggers to come up with new articles and currently the Blogprint which is really big move taking up notch giving chance for the great bloggers to get published.

During this drastic change, Sulekha has flourished very well by opening his arms by inviting new visitors in a large way. We saw lot of faces just jumped to gain advantage of the point system just for mere prizes but they vanished in same speed like weasel. We see many more new faces every day in the blogspace trying to make their presence. But at the sametime, we have lost or didn't see many avid bloggers activity involved. They either vanished from this arena permanently or not really active these days. I am just trying to catch up on those souls who are Missing in Action.

Let me start with a blogger who I really liked and had a very close conversation about her experience in this blogdom.

*********************Allyternity

Some might very well remember her controversial featured blog " Why I rejected religion". She had an unique way of presenting her thoughts and views. In a short period, she did make a very good impact among fellow bloggers. She somehow got offended by replies from other bloggers and didn't feel comfortable about Sulekha environment and migrated to the other blogdom as per my last conversation. I do miss her writings.. Mottogucci

She has a way with her stories especially talking lot about her M-I-L. Don't ask me whats that, go and check her blogs listed below which are featured. I hope some can easily recollect it. They were so funny and good read.

THE TIMES I ALMOST STRANGLED MY MOTHER IN LAW
MY M-I-L's HOWLERS - AN EPILOGUE TO MIL WOES

She was good in deplicting her stories real deep in way anybody can relate to and understand. I don't see her really active these days. May be she is busy with her own priorities. We need to give her a walk up call.

Shashi Krishna
I have no doubt that many who tasted his writings would agree with me, We really miss his creations. I like him for his professional way of presenting his creations. Check out the featured blogs below,

Everyone has an Everest
A blogger's worst nightmare

I did see him active on and off but not really very active like the past. Don't see very many interesting stories coming out from his treasure chest. May be he needs a push to rekindle his hunting skill to entertain us.

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These are the few ones which I miss in the blogspace. I know sulekha doesn't care whether they are live or not. Its normal that many times other important priorities in our life get on the way and overshadows our habits. We sometimes forget all about it until somebody remind us or they long for some open hands to welcome them back. We might miss the creations of this wonderful, talented bloggers on the otherhand we are overloaded with so many new comers who surprises us everyday with their creative writes to get visible in this forest of bloggers. Anyway, I am going to take this opportunity to invite them back to atleast stay in touch with us and enjoy our company. I am planning to send a note to these each individual requesting them come back with vigor.Share you thoughts. If you know any other soul Missing in Action, Please go ahead and add in the comments. I would be happy to post it as a part of my blog.