Beaming sense of humor

Last friday I had been to the Emirates Humor Club's 22nd meet. The new talk show plan unveiled by the Humor Club made me think why not I put these topics to a wider audience so as to propagate this Humor epidemic!

The talk show topics are as follows:-

Sense of humor refines family life
sense of humor helps professional life
sense of humor is simply recreational

The participants are to take up one topic and impress the audience with their arguments humourously.

All the above statements are real facts and are very useful, if we practice them for increasing the overall happiness quotient. Like the Butan king's campaign for Gross National Happiness, if we all follow the above three humor statements, one can really achieve overall happiness.

For that simple reason, a famous poet had advocated the practice of humor even in adversity i.e., to laugh it out whenever somebody is in trouble, to be able to surmount such difficulty.

Humor requires a little bit of effort on the part of oneself. That is what the sense of humor is all about. Whilst humor is everywhere, we need to discern it to enjoy the same.

There are several people who refuse to get amused over any issue! such people radiate a sense of glum and seriousness around them and also vitiating the entire atmosphere.

How many marriages have happened through letters of love, for the sheer humor content despite the bad grammer!

A person who is humorous not only himself happy but also propagates the happiness all around them by creating an 'aura' of happiness to all!

Like the quality of mercy, the sense of humor is also doubly blessed; it blesseth the one who transmits it and the one who receives it too!

So friends, shall we start beaming our sense of Humor every where?

Corporal Punishments

There is still a school of thought that one cannot bring in discipline in children without the use of corporal punishments. To support this view the advocates of this theory still harp on old proverbs, like the one in Tamil 'adiyatha madu padiyathu', to the effect "beat the animal so that it doesn't go offbeat!"


I still remember my maths teacher Mr JV in 10th standard. He had an obsession of buying different kinds of canes from his own funds that he would flaunt in his class. He was like, say the character of "Gabbarsingh" of Sholay to all of us. We would be holding our breath every day in fear to find out who was his prey on every class. He would first choose his prey and call him to his side 'lovingly'. Then keep showering with pleasantries like 'your shirt is very nice.. where did you take it.. did you go to the shop yourself or you went with your parents'.. all such enquiries he will make whilst he would teasingly run his newly acquired cane on the body of the boy(Thankfully it was a boys only school!).

He would extract a confession that the boy did not complete the homework. He would then cane him at the most unexpected moment and inflicting excruciating pain.

This was in 1974!

Now I wonder if this person could have gone scotfree, had he been living now. There were several instances of suicides by young children due to sense of humiliation and loss of self esteem, due to corporal punishments or just due to the fear of an impending one. world over, Governments have now brought in strict rules prohibiting corporal punishments not only in schools but applicable to child abuses happening anywhere.

We all know that several old beliefs have been replaced over the years based on new findings about the ill-effects of following such beliefs.

There is a direct relation to the childhood experiences in the development of human personality. A child growing fearlessly grows in its natural behaviour and becomes a well-rounded personality.

In a forwarded mail, I read this heartrending story of a boy who inscribes something in the new car, using a nail. The father of the boy, in a fit of rage, punctures his hand only to learn later that his son had inscribed on the fender of his new car, "I love you Pappa"

Let us say no to corporal punishment, be at home or at school, or for that matter anywhere from the area of influence of children!

There is somebody ahead of you!

What if Newton did not find the law of gravity? What if the epic of Ramayana was not written?

Well if Newton had not made the findings of gravity, somebody else would have found it, depriving a chance for Subu!

How many versions of Ramayana(substitute for any other work like dictionery!) have been written so far? Can any one say that some of the ideas are unique and no one else could have generated those ideas?

Well for those who generate ideas, such ideas are thought to be unique only unless they themselves find those ideas to be already in existence.

Some simple ideas can be very useful in finding solutions to complex issues. I remember reading an English Lesson titled "Little Things". The story explains how ignoring small details, would result in great losses. Read these words which explains the result of failure to attend to a minor probleum:


For want of a nail a horseshoe was lost,
for want of a horseshoe a horse went lame,
for want of a horse a rider never got through,
for want of a rider a message never arrived,
for want of a message an army was never sent,
for want of an army a battle was lost,
for want of a battle a war was lost,
for want of a war a kingdom fell,


And all this happened for want of a nail!.

It is true that one should not ignore a potentially serious problem that may result 'a stich in time can save nine' kind of issues.

Recently, I returned from Mumbai to Dubai. In order to easily identify my checked baggage from a distance when it is put on the baggage bay, I used a 'unique' idea of tying a red ribbons to my bags.

Waiting for my two checked bags at the bay, I found a gentleman who was also travelling along with me looking out for his bag. Now I spotted one bag with ribbon tied approaching me. Before I could reach, the gentleman picked it up and left the aerodrome immediately!

I kept wondering if my bag was, by mistake, carried away by him, while I was waiting for the other bag with red ribbon. The small bag with red ribbon arrived but the bigger one was missing. Now I was almost certain that the other one must have been carried away by that gentleman.

When I was almost lost hope, there came my bag similingyu with red ribbon! Joyfully I collected it and approached the green channel exit.


Well, you may get some ideas which may look unique but be aware that there is somebody ahead of you to have visted there!

Suraksha Bandhan

Whilst on vaccation at Mumbai, I am back to the usual habit of browsing the news papers. What is disturbing me is to read the news about road accidents every day.

Someone, I met during an air travel, told me that there is no point in reading the news papers as they give only depressing and 'late' news. Very true. But I couldn't help thinking about the frequent road accidents happening in our country and compare them to the road accidents in other parts of the world.

Whilst in the middle east, I have observed that most of the accidents are due to human errors like over speeding, loosing control and the like, or due to fog, storm and other Acts of God. In contrast, in India, I find many head-on collisions taking place day in and day out, resulting in innumerable loss of lives.

Accidents do not happen; they are caused. Should we not find out the root cause for such accidents?

When you find that this kind of accidents do not happen in the Middle East and many other countries, then you would realise that the fault lies some where else which can be identified and remedied.

Yes. The roads and transport authority should face this issue head on and come out with solutions so as to prevent all head-on collisions happening in our roads. This is very much achievable if all our roads are laid by preventing two way traffic.

I would ask our legal eagles to evaluate if there is any merit in filing a PIL to compel our Roads and transport Authority including the transport ministry to accept their responsibility in failing to construct exclusive two way lanes across the country.

Any road project shall be cleared only if it conforms to a collision proof standard!

Our country is witnessing a number of bandhs and dharnas for reducing the taxes, tolls etc. Why not we have some useful Bandhs to establish safe roads for the masses?

Can we hope to tie a SURAKSHA BANDHAN for all on this Raksha bandhan day?

How to Persuade people?

Haven't you ever felt that some people are really hardnut to crack?.. that you can never persuade them to your way? Have you ever analysed why it happens that, with some people, you can never make any headway with all your tact and persuation skills?

Two type of people are difficult to persuade.

1. Those who are absolutely clear!

2. Those with whom you can never engage a conversation!

On many occasions, you would find it difficult to convince your boss, not because he is absolutely clear, but because he is shutout for any discussion. The same is also true with your close kith and kins.

Our old teachings say that one can use four methods to convince or persuade a person. They are known as 'Sama','Dhana', 'Bedha' and 'Dhanda'. To put it simply, the methods include Consultation, Motivation(reward), Segregation(isolation) and Punishment.

Out of 4 methods, three are useless when it comes to convincing your boss. Only consultation is the best method. But it would be futile if your boss is of any of the afore menitioned types!

With your children, may be consultation and motivation might work provided they are not falling under the above categories.

In any situation, not all four methods are required to be used every time you think of persuading someone. It may be enough, sometimes, if we use one of them, whereas one has to exahaust all the four options but still would fail to achieve the desired result.

Persuation techniques are like a medicine on hand which will cure a particular desease. You would come to know of its effectiveness only when you get an occasion to use it!

Use it with different doses for different people, but with the knowledge that it may not work at all.

Men are simple and women are nimble?

I had been to the Humor club meet last Friday. There were several speakers and performers who made interesting contributions. Needless to mention, it was really an interesting evening as usual. The icing on the cake was the speech given by one Mr Niazi who is a consulting psychologist, specialized in marital relationship problems.

We came to know that he comes to the rescue of those for whom the marital bliss turns to martial blizzard!

His topic was aptly on this subject and quite naturally, evinced lot of interest and attention from one and all. He revealed some keys to happy married life, that came as an eye opener for the audience.

He started with a sweeping statement to the effect,'all married men are naive and simple whereas all women are smart and nimble'!

Men are easily caught on the wrong foot doing 'white mischiefs', or whilst letting loose their rowing eye! They are also blamed for being non communicative when it comes to displaying their love and affection for their partners. Women not only need to be reassured about the 'unadulterated' love by their partners, but also want their immediate circle to recognise it.
He made another interesting statement that all men fear their wives without an exception! He went on to declare that if some one does not fear his wife, then he must be God!

To drive this point, he narrated a joke: One day God of Death,Yama, was addressing men who arrived after death at the auditorium of Heaven. He asked all men to stand in two columns, whereby those who do not fear their wives to form a line to his left side, and those who fear their wives to the right. As expected all men jostled towards the right side, whereas only one person reached to the left side.

Surprised to see this man standing to his left, Yama asked this man, "Were you not afraid of your wife during your life time?"
The man replied, "Oh my lord, this what exactly my wife told me to do, that I stand in left when such a question was asked, and I just carried out her instruction"!

Women on the other hand are good face readers. They can tell from a distance what transpired on a given day at office or what is running on the minds of their men without having to utter a word!

Hearing all this I have two observations to make.

1. Men are too smart before marriage that they somehow tend to attract women of their choice. After marriage... well, they become too predictable that their tricks don't work anymore!

2. We hear a lot about domestic violence, especially by men on their women. After hearing this psychologist, I tend to believe that those men who perpetrate this violence on their women are not normal. Either they are under the influence of intoxicants or need counselling!

Dear readers, you may be curious to know if I am 'fearless'. You should have already realised that I am an exception.

Here I want to remind you that my younger daughter and wife do not visit my blogs.

Now, can we safely conclude that Men are simple and women are nimble?

Namesake!

Have you ever felt the need to have a different name in place of your given name? May be you are different. But during my childhood, suddenly I developed an urge to change my name!

One day, I went to a Tamil movie, along with my siblings.
The movie was euphemistically named'Vietnam Veedu' to signify a family having endless skirmishes. That was perhaps taken during the time of Vietnam war. The daughter of the protagonist would fall in love with a fellow student by name 'Ramani'. She will surreptitiously make phone call(those days telephones are kept in pedestal!)to him. When father passes by, she will switch over to loud conversation addressing the person as her girl colleague, using Tamil phrases in feminine gender, like 'podi Ramani.. vaadi Ramani...!

Back from the movie, my brothers started taunting me by frequently calling out.. 'vaadi Ramani... podi Ramani'! Now I began to hate my name and blame my parents for that as to why they kept such a ridiculous name!

My mother would pacify me saying that the name denotes beauty and suitable for both boy and girl but particularly more suitable for boys! She would also elaborate as to how much thought was given in choosing the name for me!

Most of my class mates and colleagues would call me subu! Some call me P.S, using my initials. My mother would get annoyed whenever someone calls me'subu', although I started liking the substitute name 'subu'!

But the fact remains, even the name 'subu' is an acronym for Subulakshmi!

I tend to get carried away by some names until I find that name also used in both genders.. like the name 'Prassanna', after the famous cricketer, until one day I heard someone calling out the name, Prassanna, when a nice looking girl responded!

Of course, names should not be obnoxious or ridiculous that the person bearing the name would hesitate to get himself introduced.

One day I met a colleague accompanying a foreigner. I got myself introduced to him and in return, he murmured his name to me. Confused, when I asked him again, he repeated his name as,'Titman'. After hearing the name, I realised why he murmured!

There is a custom in South in that, if repeatedly miscarriages happen, the family would keep some funny or obnoxious sounding name so that the child would survive to live longer.

Once somebody gave me a compliment, 'Sir, you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger!' Not knowing the greatness of that name, it sounded to me something like 'Arnackayar', which in Tamil denotes a string tied to waist!

Care and due diligence is required while choosing names for our children. For the younger daughter, we poured over various books on baby names and engaged in discussions well before, so that we could get the birth certificate mentioning the name. This we did because, we had to struggle to get a revised birth certificate for elder one, as the original we obtained, at the time of birth, was without mentioning name.

All said and done, both my children are found using fancy names for their email ids and user names!

Therefore, dear readers, think a lot and take care for NAMESAKE!

50-50!

Reaching 50 is a great milestone, be it in the game of cricket or growing up in age. I have started blogging for some time now and going to reach 50! The other day when I was talking to my elder daughter, whom I consider my guru in blogging, asked me to give some credit! She did not ask for any 'fulus' but wanted me to write about my daughters in my blog!


I have seen my daughter glued to the desktop all the time. I then came to know that she is a regular blogger. She has a registered blogger certificate, which procedure, I do not know even today.

When I started blogging, albeit hesitantly, I did not even think that I will continue to blog this far. Whilst my daughter Bharathee is responsible for my exploration in blogosphere, I should also acknowlege Mr Ragavan and, other journalist friend,Mr Ramesh, for their encouragement to write. The latter has published many of my blogs in his Daily, no matter whatever criticisms they might have generated.

Also my acknowledgements go to my wife Lakshmi and younger daughter, Devika for not reading my blogs! If they had ever read one earlier, I would have stopped blogging long long ago. The reason being simple, both are my virulent critics, who will not spare even if I make a careless mistake in my post!

I should mention here that, way back in 1988, my lady love found fault with my English in the first ever letter I wrote to her!

So, I thank my entire parivar for taking pains to read my blogs or not. Nevertheless, they are contributing by appearing in the anecdotes I have incorporated in my posts.

Well, If I start registering my acknowledgements to my readers, especially those regular ones, like A,Arvind,Latha,Rama,Sadanand,et.al., then it will look as if I am a retiring cricketer. I, therefore, save those words of acknowledgements for special occasions.

There is also a significance of recording the blog at the 50th entry here. Well as I mentioned earlier, I am going to reach the number in blogs... and, come september, I would be reaching that score in age too! INSHALLAH!


Looking back, I have come a long way from a Vagabond to a Bloggard now!

Palindrome!

When I was a kid, we used live in Chennai, then called Madras. My uncle was living in the Airport quarters. We used to visit them once in a while. Whenever, we enquire about our uncle, my cousin would say that he is in"Aerodrome". I was too young and of course too naive.. Aerodrome word itself would be sounding a bit strange and exotic to me those days.

My uncle, if he is around, would make us write a paragraph or two from Editorials of 'The Hindu', before inviting us to have lunch or dinner! I being the youngest of the lot, would be given one paragraph and my brothers would be asked to write 2 and three paragraphs respectively.

We stopped going to his house for fear of this uncalled for impositions! But there was an upside to it as well. We became very anxious to develop English speaking ability like our cousin and our eldest brother, who were privileged to attend English medium schools from class one!

I vividly remember my uncle telling me some Palindromes, such as RADAR used in Aerodromes and words in our lingo such as "vikatakavi"(விகடகவி), which can be read either way to have the same sound!

Yes; a word that would mirror the same if you read from either way,is called, Aerodrome.. oh.. no.. it is Palindrome! Well I am fixate with the word Aerodrome, which has found little usage nowadays. To rev it up, Delhi terminal 3 may be renamed as IGI Aerodrome!

My ex-boss who is a very good friend, philosopher and guide, used to say one Phrase in palindrome which could possibly be the oldest one, as told by Adam to Eve, "MADAM I'M ADAM!"

I think this act of Adam had a salutory effect on all women, so much so that all our WOMEN UNDERSTAND MEN; FEW MEN UNDERSTAND WOMEN !


Here is a popular poem,written by James A. Lindon, in which every line makes a Palindrome:-

King, are you glad you are king?1
Fall leaves after leaves fall.2
Says Mom, "What do you do?" – You do what Mom says.3
You know, I did little for you, for little did I know you.4
First Ladies rule the State, and state the rule: "ladies first."5
Please me by standing by me please.6
Blessed are they that believe they are blessed.7
Escher, drawing hands, drew hands drawing Escher.8
You can cage a swallow, can't you, but you can't swallow a cage, can you?9
Did I say you never say "never say never"? You say I did.10


I have started having an EYE on this word. Whenver I spot a Palindrome, my EYE would POP up!

Most of the companies and great personalities having names in palindromes are found to be extremely popular and successful.

Here are a few names, like, AXA,OXO,OMO, AVIVA, ICICI,ROTAVATOR, M&M, HANNAH and SUBUS!

Thinking of Palindrome, Emirates Towers in UAE appears to be a standing example of a structural palindrome, that you would rarely find anywhere in the world!

And Now, a question to the readers: Name a very popular language that is made of a Palindrome!

Spare the Sparrows

Suddenly I started wondering, 'when did I last saw sparrows?'

'Was it about 10 to 15 years ago?'

House Sparrows, Passer Domesticus, were quite commonly sighted in our surroundings as easily as the crows, but now they appear to have vanished in the thin air.

As a child I used to admire these chirping birds coming in hoards but always seen in pairs. You will find a pair in which slightly bigger one with well defined contours of black and brown shade would represent the male gender.

Many times I have noticed them making nest within a day. I have even gingerly lifted the young one when I was so exited by the warmth and delicate feeling inside the palm!

One day I was engrossed in work keeping the window open. Suddenly I heard a 'thud, in the room. 'Oh..shuck'.. a sparrow which entered the room through the window got hit by the fan blade and fell dead. I felt so bad.

Keeping the window closed would be the only way to prevent the birds from entering.. but keeping the window closed was not possible as the room was not air conditioned. Even as I was wondering how to prevent recurrence, there was another 'thud'. Alas! There lay his companion dead...

But, there after, there was no such instance even though the windows were kept open. I have heard about birds committing suicides in hoards. Sparrows live in pairs and they are too attached with each other.

There is a song which talks about a forlorn male bird committing suicide by deliberately hitting against the stem of Rose, after its love bird dies in an accident. I do not 'pooh pooh' the song any more. Yes; sadly enough, the second 'thud' proved the truth in the song.

All this thought come to my mind, after reading a news about release of a Stamp by India Posts on this endangered species of House 'sparrows'.

WE ALL HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE BIO DIVERSITY.

If we don't attempt to do, then time is not too far when we can only see such lovely species in philatelist collections and audio-visual archives.

SHALL WE TAKE A PLEDGE TO PROTECT THE PLANTS AND ANIMAL SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION?

Subustew!

Today I wondered, 'how come, the most popular blog topic was out of my mind for so long! May be because I had this feeling that recipe writing is not my 'cuppa tea'.

If only experts are supposed to write about anything, then users would not have opportunity to become experts. Moreover, not all good academicians are good teachers.

All this caveat is for justifying my recipe that is to follow! One thing you can be rest assured that I will write only about what I have experienced myself and found to be reasonably OK, if not adjudged as'yummy'!

Today, we are going to see the recipe for Stew which is widely known in southern part of India, popularly known as Olan. I call this as Subustew. Because this'Olan' is not made exactly in the traditional way, but only to suit the requirements of an expat or someone who is too hungry & impatient!

Subustew

Ingredients:-

1 Pealed and nicely cut grey gourd(vellai poosanikai or ilavan)- 300 gms
2 Ditto- carrot 50 gms
3 Ditto- arabi(big special chepankizhangu/chembu) 50 gms
4 Long green chillies- cutt longitudinally 3 or 4 nos
5 Optional- other vegetables (like green pea, capsicum) 25/25 gms
6 Cocunut oil- 7 to 12 ml
7 Asafotida- just enough to add flavor
8 Plain milk 50 ml(for puritans - coconut milk) 50 ml
9 Kadipatha/ curry leaves- (optional) 10 leaves
10 Moong dal 25 gm

SALT TO THE REQUIRED AMOUNT

Using a heavy bottomed vessel, In about 300 ml of boiling water put the moong dal(item 10)and allow for about 5 minutes. Then add all the items from 1 to 5 together.(If you thing that the arabi may take more time to cook, you may put it earlier for 5 minutes and then add all other items). Now, add salt and boil it for another 5 minutes.

At this moment, you can add Asafotida, Coconut oil and Kadi patha. After 5 minutes(ensuring that all vegetables are cooked properly) add the milk and swich off the stove within one minute!

SUBUSTEW is ready to be served!

You can be sure that the dish will not only be tasty, it will be too caring and affectionate to your stomach!

RISK MANAGEMENT NEWS LETTER

During times of financial difficulty, we often try to find ways to reduce our costs wherever possible. Whilst it will be a prudent measure not just during the financial difficulty, but during normal times as well, caution to be exercised to see that we are not taking things a bit too far in curtailing our essential expenses.


During difficult economic times, one would find difficult to find funds for working capital requirements let alone manage sudden and unforeseen expenses. God forbid, if some loss or damage happens to our assets due to act of god or other perils, there should be a proper risk financing plan to meet additional expenses to rebuild or rehabilitate the affected items.


It is always an unwritten rule that if some one considers things won’t go wrong, certainly things would go wrong! Therefore, it is necessary for one to expect the unexpected.

For this simple reason, it would be always advisable to review our insurance coverage or enhance the cover already availed, during difficult economic times. This step will go a long way in ensuring proper business continuity mechanism for any organisation.


We, as insurance advisors, have several case studies to prove the above point, therefore, we advise our clients and potential clients to ensure proper insurance program for their organisation as a business strategy.

We not only just provide insurance covers but also engage our customers so as to give fit and proper insurance solutions for their organisation thereby participate in their Risk Management concerns.


Should you feel the same way and want to ensure a safe, secure and well thought out insurance program for your organisation, please feel free to contact us for a discussion and exploratory meeting at your office.


subu

Note: The drop in business enquiries made me think of reaching out to potential customers. Instead of a simple introductory letter, I thought that I can make a news letter!(Although I have an underlying concern for the insuring public, this news letter is the result of a selfish motive to improve the business enquiries- will it work?)

Mumbai and Dubai!

I came to Mumbai in the year 1994. One evening I went to a restaurant at Church gate, Mumbai. I spotted a known face having snacks at another corner. Quickly we could recognise each other. "Hi! Kannan when did you come from the US?" Kannan is a relative, who went to US several years ago. That was a surprise meeting which made our families come closer.


On a busy evening, whilst crossing the Foot over Bridge, in one of the suburban stations, I met an old acquaintance. Ignoring the fast moving human wave, I called out his name. The quick conversation facilitated our follow up phone calls and meetings.

Recently, I received an SMS that Mr PM has taken up a job in UAE, with a local contact number. I was surprised and delighted! Mr. PM was my colleague on my first posting way back in 1988, at a small town in India. More than just working together, we were living in the same compound in the official quarters. I was the only bachelor in the staff quarters and enjoyed the courtesies and hospitality of other two families living there.

I called up and invited him to come over to my place, which he, readily obliged. We had a great time recounting the entire events happend in our lives since 1990.

It is amazing to note that both Mumbai and Dubai has a striking similarity of facilitating rare encounters of old friends!

Don't you think there should be more than just the alphabets that are common to both Mumbai and Dubai!

Can you identify the building and location?

Note:-The top picture is an Architectural representation.





















I visited this place today and the building in the background has some speciality. It reminds us of a world famous structure. Can you identify the world famous structure and the one in pic?



The structure bagged the Guinness record recently!

Fitness for survival

Of late, I have stopped doing exercise. I could realise this only when I made a comment during a conversation with a new acquaintance. Yes, as usual, I had been to the Humor club meet last Friday. I met a gentleman, who came back to his seat, after sharing some interesting incidents and personal experiences with the audience.

I praised him on his talk and got myself introduced. During the conversation, I observed that life in UAE is quite unique as people are habituated to controlled environment, ....and, one has to do regular excercise....blah..blah.., otherwise, it would be difficult to remain in shape!

When I learnt that he worked for a fitness company, I realised my genius in explaining about the importance of fitness to an expert in the field!

I started going to Gym after the first visit of my family in UAE. The idea dawned on my mind when my daughter taunted me about my sign of prosperity. Recently, when my family was here for 40 days, I skipped my Gym sessions, on the pretext of giving company to them.

The gap of over one month had its effect on me. Again my daughter, before leaving for Mumbai, gave a nice punch on my paunch, to dig at my fickle minded approach to fitness.

This week I mustered up my wits and renewed my Gym membership.

On my first day of resuming the session, the instructor was happy to receive me and guide me, saying that I should slowly get back to the original program, without being impatient. He also explained about the new value added program of a free session for members on Self-defence techniques!

I started fantasizing that I would not only be fit, but would really become fighting fit! At this moment, he distracted me and asked, 'did you do the abs exercise?', giving an impish look at my rich looking 'breadbasket'!

Even when I answered him with a firm, 'I did do the abs exercise', I secretly vowed that one day, I would achieve a 'washboard' like abs!

Well, in UAE, even on controlled diet, one can put on weight. This is mainly due to lack of physical activity and sweating. The only way to ensure regular physical activity, other than for those blue colored work force, is to join a fitness club.
And mind you, I am not owning a FITNESS CLUB myself!

Yes; who doesn't want to be fit, if not FIGHTING FIT?

Darwin theory says, 'Survival of the fittest'. I would say that the relevance of the theory is in maintaining the fitness for survival!

New Gadget!

I used to attend Humor club meetings. To make humor sessions interesting, the organisers felt variety was needed.

To keep the "jokes" apart, the organisers introduced a singer. Slowly, his performance was taking the centre stage. Initially the singer sang one or two songs during the entire evening as the humor club meetings were devoted for jokes only (including'kadi jokes' and skits).
Suddenly people started taking interest in music. From children to elders, they now come with Karoake(track music) to sing along. Last meeting one new member came with a pendrive full of track music and sang a few old tamil songs. The interesting part was, this gentleman has a problem of stammering when he speaks. But due to his rigorous practice, he sings beautifully, overcoming this problem.

When he narrated about himself, after singing a song, he said, 'I have this problem of stammering'..."yennakku pesum bothu vaai thikkum". I heard somebody from the audience saying,"<strong>aanaal padum bothu... thithikkudae!"

Now the jokes have become few and far between.

Of late, I am trying to prove that I can also attempt to sing, if somebody can provide background music! Of course, I would prefer A.R Rehman for that. But for now,I have made a collection of track music to sing along. You can observe some change in my blog today.

Yes! scroll down to find a new gadget of dizzler music player. You can search and find songs like: 'Melliname'... and 'Ninaipathellam'... or any song of your choice that would resemble my renditions. After listening carefully please give your feed back about my New Gadget!

Disclaimer:- The songs and music rights are with the respective authors/creators and singers only.

Charity needs no clarity

That was during my college days. I was managing with the fixed quota of money transferred by my father each month to meet the hostel & college expenses.

One day, when I went to the town, a visibly perturbed man approached me saying that he had lost all his money to a pickpocket. He went on to explain that he came from a far off place on some mission, when this misfortune happened and, he did not have any friends in the town to look for help. He appeared too genuine to me.

Moved by his plight, I offered him the Bus fare and a little extra to take care of one time meal. When I moved on, an old lady approached from nowhere and muttered to me, to the effect, ‘’you are too naive”! When I returned after an hour, I found the same fellow hanging out there, smoking an expensive brand of cigarette and holding a full pack on his other hand!


The story repeated again. A man came to office with a similar story, but promised me that he would return the money once he reaches back to his place. He carefully noted down my address before leaving. This time, I defied my colleagues who dissuaded me from helping. Well, that was the last I saw him!


Recently there was another instance, here at Sharjah, One afternoon, a car came and halted near me at Rolla. The man at the driver’s seat asked me for direction to City Center, saying that he had come all the way from Oman. There was a girl child in the back seat. He asked the child to greet me and went on to say that he needed some money to feed the child and for the expenses for his return. I gave him 20 dhs and went to office. At office, my colleague narrated the same story about a person of similar description approaching him a day before!

I have had several such instances of helping people in need. Among them, a few may not deserved it. But should I stop helping people, just to ensure that I am not cheated?


The joy of giving is something one can never achieve when receiving help from others. In my view, the sheer joy of giving would be sufficient to ignore such instances of cheating by a few undeserving characters.

Here remember the words of Shakespeare, who said:

‘The quality of mercy is not strained;
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes’.

Charity or helping the needy is a practice that is praised by every Faith, the world over. This quality would never lose its purity, even if it goes to the benefit of a few undeserving. So let’s get the pleasure of giving to others, without bothering about our failure to recognize right beneficiary, lest we may lose the habit of giving!

Yes; charity needs no clarity!

Anger!

A famous poet and thinker said that one should learn to loose "temper" when injustice, apathy and atrocities are committed on innocents. But what about people who are always simmering with anger?

There was a man who went to gulf for earning a fortune for his family. He returns to his home after 15 long years. When he reaches home, it was past midnight. He looks through the window to find an young man of 20 years sleeping with his wife with his arms around her. The man becomes furious on seeing this sight. He removes a sword from the roof, kept hidden by him long ago, when a 'parchment paper'with some inscriptions props out with it. He reads out thus, "think before acting on haste"!

Now he realises that his son who was 5 years old when he left for the gulf, wouldbe turning twenty years. Wife now opens the door to see her husband with a sword. She spends no time in explaining how their little son has grown up to be an attractive young man now!

An old saying states that 'If some one wants to protect himself, he should first control his anger. Anger not only harms oneself, it will harm those 'kith and kins' as well.

Anger is lethal like a poison. That is the reason we find several instances of crimes committed in madness like the 'road rages', 'honour killings' etc

There are several sources wherein self-help tips available in plenty, giving various measures that one can take to control anger. No wonder the word Anger in English is close to the word Danger!

Can all of us now, get angery with ANGER?

Time Management

We had a group of hardworking boys during our college days. They were separate group who would not mingle with any one outside their ring. Always found under the roadside lamp-posts slogging out with thier text books and notes.

There was this other group of boys who were always seen at the "touring talkies" about one km away from the hostel giving their prompt attendance on every friday when a new movie was released.

When the term exam results come, it would be always those "touring talkies" boys who would score good marks, whereas those hardworking "lamp post" guys will carry those vetted papers sulkingly with their low score.

Again I could observe junior colleagues at work place who would stretch their work beyond office hours. Sometimes they carry work to home or come to office on weekends to office to finish the pending work.

Other set of people who stick to their office time and never seen in office on week ends are carrying work to their homes. Yet they finish their jobs silently and without any delay or pendancy!

Have you ever compared people who are in highly demanding jobs wherein one person is found to be always smiling and receptive of customers, whereas the other would pounce on all the callers and visitors?

Talking about Time Management, most of us believe that it is all about planning and managing your 24/7 effectively so that you can complete your work.

You can now go back to see whose success is great... those boys who toiled hard by sacrificing their dose of entertaiment or those from the "touring talkies" camp?

Well, Time management is not managing your time effectively; it is all about successful endeavours.

Yes! time management is about, Success that leaves no bad taste!

Different school of thought

Within two years of stay at one place, my dad would suddenly spring a surprise, ‘Be ready for a change of place’.

Those days you do not have packers and movers on your beck and call. My mother would collect old news papers, used clothes and other packing materials. She would pack all the household items and keep only necessary items essential for cooking for the last day. We used to have a big wooden box to store all the kitchen utensils which will be stuffed just before leaving the place.

After lunch the truck will come to transport the household goods to the new place. Reaching new destination, we would stay in a guest house for a couple of days until the goods arrived and an accommodation is found. In the new place, my dad would take us to the best school for admission, after making thourough enquiry with the local people. Just a meeting with the Head master, the admission for all would be done!

I am counting the number of schools I have studied upto my 11th grade(SSLC). I could not just believe the fact that I had studied in 9 schools!

These days schools occupy the centre stage in the minds of parents. Parents first decide about a school and spend all their resources to secure an admission for their children in that particular school. Once admitted, the child is not removed from school, come what may!

I have observed parents switching their jobs if they are transferred from one place, instead of relocating there with the family, as the child is studying in a ‘good’ school. Sometimes, single parent would manage the child whilst the spouse would accept the transfer or change of job.

I have this family friend who has taken up a job in UAE. His child is studying in one of the reputed schools in Bangalore. This friend is now torn between the idea of bringing the family to UAE or to continue to live alone here by leaving his spoue to manage the child who studying in that 'reputed school' back home.

His relatives and friends circle, barring myself whose childhood experience is quite unique, are advising him against shifting the family from Bangalore.

For a person who has studied in 9 schools during 11 year of school education,this fixation of modern day parents, is difficult to understand.

After all we should admit that they are from a different school of thought!