The other side of the coin
I came across this on internet and it touched me:
It was a very busy street and I was strolling down to my house after a hectic day in office. With a thoughtless mind I was just walking down. Everybody was seems to be in some kind of hurry to go somewhere, without carring where to go. They were just going somewhere, and since I was also a part of that crowd, I was also just going. Suddenly I felt a tap on my back. At first I did not notice it (or may be unconsciously I ignored it), then someone held my hand and pulled it sideward. I suddenly turned towards it. It was a young boy, in a shabby dress, and trying to make a pitiable look on his face.
I asked him "What? What do you want?"
He was a beggar and was asking for some money. I instantly refused; I have always been against young beggars like him. They are the future of nation, and by begging no nation can progress.
"saab please give me some thing, otherwise my young sister will die. Please saab" he asked in a more pitiable manner.
I gave him a disgusting look and said "I know you people very well, these are your tactics of begging, I wont give you anything and now go away from here".
He held my sleeves and pulled "No saab, please give me something. It has been entire day, and I could not get money even to feed my little sister. Please saab" this time he burst into tears. And I could make out those were not fake tears in his eyes.
I stopped and looking into his eyes, " What is your name?"
"Ramu", he said.
"Ramu, why don't you leave begging and study? That way one day you can also earn for your family."
He swept his eyes and said softly, "My little sister and my mother both are sick, and father has deserted us long before, I can not afford to go to school, first I have to save my family."
I did not have courage to ask him, why he had not been working. He was too young to work.
I was steered and speechless, I stood there motionless for a moment, and then took him to the side of road.
I took out 100 rupees note and handed over to him.
"take it and get some food for your family. And promise me you will start going to school once your mother and sister are alright."
He took that note and looked at me. All emotionless.
I was trying to read him, but nothing was clear. I just turned back and started walking again to my house.
It was just two steps I could complete before I felt another tap on my back and I turned back suddenly...
It was the same boy, came in front of me and said, this time more confidently "saab, I can not go to school"
I said confusingly "why? what happened?"
"saab you are the first person who paid any attention to my problems. Nobody ever bothered to stay for me for even a moment. But you stayed back and listened to me, I can not lie to you. I can not go to school as I'll need money for that. And I am the only person earning in my family, my life started with begging, and will end with it. Saab once I tried to work with an auto garage also, but I was beaten badly for a theft that I did not do? saab everybody suspects helpless persons only. Now you tell me what should I do in this situation?"
He left a big question mark. What should he do now? I did not have an answer. It was only then I realized how difficult is it to promise him anything.
"Saab I know you can not help me more, I don't expect also, I just talked to you so much, because this is the first time I had a chance to say something about myself, I'll go now, I need to get some more money today."
And he fledaway, and started begging to someone else.
I kept looking at him, he was again trying all sorts of tactics to get some money.
I again started walking down to my home. But now with lots of questions floating in my mind. Lots of why's popping up in mind, one after the other. I did not have any clear answers for them.
It is so easy to talk about reforms, education, jobs, security, food, health etc etc. But how many of us bother to go and see the real problems of majority of our fellow society members facing. I could not help that little boy more than money. But what he needed was not money, not just money. Perhaps he wants a right to live a free life. How can a society be called independent when its members are not free from birth.Where does our promise for equal opportunities go, when it come to help poor?
Why Ramu had to beg from childhood, for his family?
There were lot many why's hitting my mind and I did not have any answers to them
Now I was lying in the bed but could not sleep. I was having glimpses of my childhood, and what I saw today.
Two different sides of the same coin... life!
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer
AFTER EINSTEIN IT IS NEILS BOHR: The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen.
"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."
One student replied:
"Tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."
This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbitrator to decide the case. She judged that the answer was indeed correct, but was inappropriate to the problem. It was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the concepts under question.
"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."
"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him, 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."
The student was Niels Bohr, the only person from Denmark to win the Nobel prize for Physics.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
IF by rudyard kipling
[IF]
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Coffee with a friend
When things in your life seem almost too much
to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and the coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him. When the class
began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large, empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf
balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was
full.
They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of
pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar
lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students
again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was full.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and
poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up
everything else. He asked once more if the jar was
full.
The students responded with an unanimous "yes!"
The professor then produced two cups of coffee
from under the table and poured the entire contents
into the jar, effectively filling the empty space
between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter
subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar
represents your life. The "golf balls" are the
important things -- your family, your children, your
health, your friends, and your favorite passions --
Things that if everything else was lost and only they
remained, your life would still be full.
"The pebbles are the other things that matter
like your job, your house, your car.... The sand is
everything else -- the small stuff."
If you put the sand into the jar first," he
continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the
golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will
never have room for the things that are important to
you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to
your happiness.
* Play with your children.
* Take time to get medical checkups.
* Take your partner out to dinner.
* Play another 18 holes.
* There will always be time to clean the house
and fix the disposal.
Take care of the "golf balls" first -- the
things that really matter. Set your priorities. The
rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and
inquired what the coffee represented. The professor
smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. "It just goes
to show you that no matter how full your life may
seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a
friend!!!"
Cheers
to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and the coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him. When the class
began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large, empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf
balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was
full.
They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of
pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar
lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students
again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was full.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and
poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up
everything else. He asked once more if the jar was
full.
The students responded with an unanimous "yes!"
The professor then produced two cups of coffee
from under the table and poured the entire contents
into the jar, effectively filling the empty space
between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter
subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar
represents your life. The "golf balls" are the
important things -- your family, your children, your
health, your friends, and your favorite passions --
Things that if everything else was lost and only they
remained, your life would still be full.
"The pebbles are the other things that matter
like your job, your house, your car.... The sand is
everything else -- the small stuff."
If you put the sand into the jar first," he
continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the
golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will
never have room for the things that are important to
you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to
your happiness.
* Play with your children.
* Take time to get medical checkups.
* Take your partner out to dinner.
* Play another 18 holes.
* There will always be time to clean the house
and fix the disposal.
Take care of the "golf balls" first -- the
things that really matter. Set your priorities. The
rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and
inquired what the coffee represented. The professor
smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. "It just goes
to show you that no matter how full your life may
seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a
friend!!!"
Cheers
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Me and My little expectations
A little me and little my expectations. So were the causes of my happiness.
Days passed and things changed drastically. So did my expectations. Small things no more make me any happy. I have learnt to fight for what ever I do not have now. Day by day the cause of my happiness is becoming expensive and hard to achieve, and the amount of enjoyment is becoming even lesser. I don't know, when did I start feeling those small bits of happiness I used to collect in my childhood are not sufficient for me, now?
In the race to achieve (I don't know what?) I kept skipping those small happy moments, which could have filled my life like stars in the sky. There has never been any end to desire, but sometimes I stay and think what I have at present was my dream of gone days, makes me feel really happy and achieved.
Days passed and things changed drastically. So did my expectations. Small things no more make me any happy. I have learnt to fight for what ever I do not have now. Day by day the cause of my happiness is becoming expensive and hard to achieve, and the amount of enjoyment is becoming even lesser. I don't know, when did I start feeling those small bits of happiness I used to collect in my childhood are not sufficient for me, now?
In the race to achieve (I don't know what?) I kept skipping those small happy moments, which could have filled my life like stars in the sky. There has never been any end to desire, but sometimes I stay and think what I have at present was my dream of gone days, makes me feel really happy and achieved.
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