Good deeds go unnoticed

Unfortunately incidents which are negative in nature are what make the news, and too often good deeds go unnoticed! If you mention it to a Singaporean that you are planning on a driving holiday in Malaysia, you immediately hear about words of caution and stories of what had happened to someone they know of, such as, mugging, car accessories being stolen, people being stopped on highways etc. While some of them may be true, but people fail to mention any kind deeds they encounter. I would like to mention one such good deed by a kind gentleman who has helped my family when our car's mud guard has broken off and was precariously hanging off the front wheel. While it is none of his business, he cared to stop to enquire about our situation. While I was sceptical  he did not even bother to ask if we require his help, checked with a local mechanic on phone and took us to the workshop. He explained the situation to the mechanic in Malay and waited while the car was getting repaired. Though I was happy that the car was getting fixed waiting for couple of hundred Ringitts to be charged. The mud guard was patched in no time and we were only charged 15 MYR, the gentleman even helped us to find our way to the hotel we booked for the night, with his daughter riding on his bike as pillion. Sincere thanks to the nameless gentleman who taught me a lesson "small deeds done are better than great deeds planned". 

Room to read

Had the extraordinary privilege of meeting this man, receive a personally signed copy of his new book "Creating Room to Read" and most importantly listen to him today. What an inspirational personality he is, a man of abundant energy and full of enthusiasm. The passion with which he delivers his speech, the confidence and the courage he exudes and the conviction he portrays to make a difference in the lives of millions of underprivileged children across the world by acting as an agent of change makes one wonder, what if the world produces a few hundred individuals like him, what would it be like? Hats off Mr.John Wood ! You made my day, I loved the word - "butt kicking educated women".

Spread the word to end the word

Courtesy : NY Times Editorial

People can be thoughtless and cruel, or well-meaning, and never know the damage their words can do. The campaign is about inclusion. History is full of stories of people from outside who fought their way in. To those with intellectual disabilities, it sometimes seems the battle is just at the beginning, when little victories — like an end to insults — are hugely important.

“Retarded” and “retard” today are variations on a slur. Young people especially like it: as a weapon of derision, it does the job. It’s sharp, with an assaultive potency that words like “moron” and “idiot” lost sometime in the days of black-and-white TV.

The first two limbs of Yoga - Yama (one's ethical standards and sense of integrity) and Niyama (self-discipline) - which are foundational in nature, prescribe how one should conduct oneself for a meaningful and purposeful life (the path to the enlightenment is much farther). People die, but words remain forever - very true. To me, one of my biggest regret is passing comments/remarks disparaging in nature once in a while unable to apply self control - the above lines from the editorial are eye-opening in nature. Before reading this editorial, I was explaining to my daughter the same exact content yesterday, when she used this R-word against her brother.

Be the change you want to see in others - yes, I will control my tongue.

Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them

While clichés have an argumentative simplicity, they often hide a lot. For, language can often make a mockery of meaning when we become too lazy and fail to get under ready-made explanations with which we stereotype fellow human beings. (Courtesy: Nirmal Shekar, Hindu correspondent on cricket)

Though the context the above words were said was different, but what a fantastic way to put it. We try to simplify - the species with the most complex personality, known as "Homo Sapiens" by stereotyping. Also often, we lead our life thinking about, how others are leading their life or what they are thinking of us - ending up as "emotional wrecks". At the same time one need not turn to be a stoic or attain nirvana, but an attempt in that direction would certainly make one's life less miserable.

తాత గారి ఇల్లు

I know my sadness is purely selfish. But it means losing the house my grand parents built brick by brick saving literally in paise (pennies). This is the place where we all grew up, have so many fond memories of it. However infrequently I go there, it is the place on earth that feels like home to me, the place I'll always love to go back to. I've been harbouring the idea that someday, when this whole crazy adventure is over running after money, I would at some point be nine ten year old again, sitting around my grand mother while she serves dinner to the family. But we don't have a choice, like all good things it has to end too.