Obituary of the late Mr.Common Sense

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

London Times Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense - Sunday,  31st March 2008 (This was “forwarded” by someone through email. I am not the author of the text)

 

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: “knowing when to come in out of the rain”; “why the early bird gets the worm”; “life isn’t always fair”; and “maybe it was my fault”.

 

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

 

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

 

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

 

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

 

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

 

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

 

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers: I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

 

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.


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June 11, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

Thought provoking speech on Graduation Day

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

This is a speech given by J.K.Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series at the Harvard University’s Graduation Day..
 
 
President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.
The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world’s best-educated Harry Potter convention.
 
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
 
You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.
 
Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.
 
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.
These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.
 
Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
 
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.
They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.
 
I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.
 
What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
 
At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
 
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
 
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
 
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.
 
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.
 
Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.
You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.
 
One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.
 
There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.
 
Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.
 
I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.
 
And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.
Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.
 
Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.
 
And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.
 
Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.
Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.
 
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
 
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
 
I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.
 
One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
 
That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.
 
But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.
 
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
 
I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I’ve used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.
 
So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I wish you all very good lives.

Thank you very much.

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June 9, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

Posted by as Just like that, story, vacation time pass

Dream on ! ! ! a short story



PART 1

Year: 2008 Time : 0740 hrs



I am always busy. I woke up at six this morning, packed my stuff and got in to the cab that Ravi had booked earlier. Ravi is so particular about this car.

“This is the latest model that anyone in this country can lay their hands on, boss” he says so proudly. I nod my head as I know what is coming next.

“Image boss image. You will look great when you get down at The Parks building boss.”

Yes, Image is something for which I am being paid by my company, Rockwell advertisers proclaimed to be the best in the industry. And I really don’t care as all the expenses are paid by the company. Its well over fifteen minutes in the car now and the busy traffic demands a few more minutes. Its 8.00 am as I reach the reception desk of the ‘The parks’. I slide a business card to the lady at the desk.

“I am hari sado. I work for the Rockwell’s”. She takes a quick glance

“Nice to meet you”, she says out of habit. “How can I help you?”

“I am here to meet Mr.Raj, the vice-president and I have an appointment too”.

Before even she responds, Mr.Raj is all over me with handshakes and how-are-you’s?

He guides me to his air-conditioned office room. Glass tables designed to suit the classic theme, paintings hanging over the walls. Wealth and prosperity is what I see everywhere. I sit before the panel and start discussing about my company. I finish my presentation and just before lunch they sign the deal worth 2.3 crores and it is all as smooth as a cake. They invite me to Lunch and we eat slowly discussing a variety of issues. The deal will open up new doorways for Rockwell and I will get a share as pay hikes and promotions.

I walk back smiling to the receptionist and give a hi-fi to Ravi on my way back in the car. The return journey is faster and over the phone I tell my CEO everything that happened in there. I take the day off; go to the nearby shopping mall to buy Sports shoes for pintu and a bright red sari for Rekha. The shop is small but very posh and stylish. I put the stuff in a basket and hand it over to the man at the counter.

“Eight triple nine rupees. Sir”, the man says after punching in some numbers at the machine.

He swipes my credit card and asks for a signature. I pick up pintu from school on my way back and surprise him with the gift. He is so happy that he hugs and kisses me. I return home expecting the same from Rekha. Dinner at the ‘meridian’ and I can call it a wonderful day.



PART 2

Year : 2008 Time : 2230 hrs



Night times at this part of the city aren’t safe these days. The streets are deserted and are lit only by the moon. I once again check my bag and make sure that the cash is safe. If everything goes well, I would be relieved of all my debts by tomorrow and still have around two thousand eight hundred rupees at my disposal. Rupa can have a thousand from it for her summer swimming classes that are about to begin in a week she would definitely be happy on hearing this. Poor kid, it’s about two years since I had taken her out.

Lights are still on at my apartment and I slowly climb the stairs and reach the fourth floor. The door swings open and I hand over my bag to kala. I have always wondered how she recognizes the footsteps and she is always ready, waiting for me.

“Kala today is a special day!” I wait for her to respond.

“What is it?” she lets forth a giggle.

“We got the payment that we were expecting a month back today. Those sleazy people at the city centre finally agreed to pay us the twelve thousand rupees.”

‘Kumar enterprises’ is a parcel services company with 2 trucks and a mini-van. It is jointly owned by me and ramesh, my friend from college. We named it with my name as ramesh felt that my name will bring luck to the company. So far it has not.

“You know what? This is not at all a big money for those and they made us wait for this in spite knowing well how important is this money to us. And we cashed the cheque in the afternoon”

“Oh. How nice!” and she really means it.

“And kala, we will pay back the bank loan and we are also planning to buy some furniture for our office.” I say drinking a glass of water.

“How about a visit to the family temple tomorrow. Rupa can also come as she is bored these days.” She plans in her own way.

“Ok, we’ll plan it for the weekend.” We talk for a while and I take a pillow and a bed sheet and leave to the terrace. Sleeping under the open sky is very relaxing and soothing to the mind.



Part 3

Year : 1995 Time : 0930 hrs


The assembly Hall of Sri Gurudev School is fully packed. The prayer gets over and the principal takes over the mike.

“Dear students, our school has yet again proved its mettle by performing extremely well in the board exams. This year the school administration will provide full scholarship to all the 3 toppers and will assist them in everyway in pursuing the courses of their choice.

I now individually call upon the toppers to come over the stage and receive the scholarships. With a total score of 95 percent we have Lalita .She has secured admission in the state college and the school will fund her fees for the next four years. The auditorium roars with applause as lalita gets on stage. Next we have hari sado and kumar with a score of 92 percent each.”

Both the boys jump on to the stage and receive the medals from the principal.

“Students, hari sado is joining the National engineering college and we wish him success in all his endeavors. Kumar here deserves a special mention. He has rejected the engineering and science degree offers from various institutes and has chosen to join a history course, the subject of his interest. I ask every one of you to derive inspiration from kumar and follow your own dreams.”

The principal hugs kumar and pats him on his back.

Kumar felt very proud, but for the last time for the decision.

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May 21, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that, story, vacation time pass | Comments Off 

Respect your parents!!

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

kavidhai

Popularity: 7%



February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

The “Indian Punctuality”

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

This is one topic I wanted to write about for a very long time.. I had been fretting and frowning about this issue within myself and now I thought its time to share with the world.
 
I dunno whats gone wrong with the people that they never give the things the right priority it needs. For instance, let me start from my college. When a class is scheduled at 8:30am, why do people find it difficult to be on time ? I wont accept that, 8:30 is early and students sleep late and hence they find it difficult to be in class at 8:30. Because, even if the class is kept at 1:30pm, thats the same case. Nearly 70% of the students come late. The only reason I would give for this is - Wrong Prioritization. The priority they give to computer games they play on the LAN, the priority they give to their sleep, the priority they give to chatting with friends at the canteen or the Juicy (its a fruit juice shop at our college) and importantly the priority they give to having food on time (even if they get up at 8:30 , they want to have their breakfast no matter what and then only come to class that was scheduled at 8:30) is not given to attending classes on time. Yeah, I agree.. Health is important. But if you are really concerned about it so much, you should plan your activities accordingly. Get up early and gulp in as many idlies or dosas you want. Who cares ?
 
I see this “Indian Punctuality” everywhere.. Once I was attending a training session by a person from U.S. The training was scheduled to start at 10am. Of the 80 odd people who had registered for the training, not even half had turned up at 10am. The U.S. guy asked us - “I dont think the seats are going to get filled. Shall we start ? ” for which one guy replied - “Thats India for you. It would get filled in another 30 mins”. Should’nt one be ashamed to say such a statement ? But really we cant blame that guy for replying like that, coz what he said was absolutely true. People never think that they should keep up the time.
 
But this doesnt happen in all circumstances. People do keep up their time when going for a movie, when they have to board a train or a flight, when he/she is going to meet his/her beloved lover etc. In these situations, they are very well ahead of time, because they would be the loser if they fail to be on time. So they give these things the utmost priority they could give. My question is, why cant you give the other things the priority that it requires ? When a thing should start on time, why cant you play your part to ensure that it does start on time ? Do people need hard and fast rules to be tied to everything ? If they fail to be on time, they would be penalised this much.. or they would be stoned to death.. he he.. If only then, people are going to change their mentality, Im sorry to say there is something seriously wrong in the way you perceive things.
 
In my dad’s office, they had to swipe their card when they enter teh company and the time they enter would be recorded. There is no flexible timing for his office. And his office starts at 8 o clock. I have never seen my dad at home after 730. He ensures that he is in office well ahead of time. Not just because he wants to swipe his card before 8, but because he is punctual in everything he does. I should say I got this quality from him. Coming to the work environment I work, I could see people utilizing the flexible time allowed by our company. Or rather I would say, they are exploiting the benefit offered. My very own roomate, comes to office after 11 regularly. The simple reason he says is - I work late and it does not matter if I come late. Agreed. Thats your point of view. But in my opinion, the flexi timing thing can be utilized once in a while when you cant make it on time to office due to some reason. But making it a habbit to be late to office everyday is something thats not appreciable.
 
Once I was taking a company shuttle to airport. According to the timing mentioned, it should take me one hour from my campus to the airport. I had a flight at 9pm and according to the timing mentioned by the transport facility, the cab would reach the airport by 730. But to my dismay, I was told by one of the co-passenger that the shuttle would reach the airport only by 8 or 815.. and the shuttle reached at 820. I had to literally run into the airport. It has been a routine for the shuttle to reach late due to heavy traffic. When thats the case, why cant the transport facility change the timing mentioned ? They dont just care if a 730 shuttle reaches at 8 or 815 or 830.. Coz they have this “Indian Punctuality” mentality. They have grown up with this. They could always escape saying that - “It was heavy traffic sir. We are not responsible”. The same traffic is there everyday.. and there is only one shuttle to airport. When thats the case, what prevents them from updating the time schedule to mention that it would reach the airport only at 815 ? Another thing I want to change with the transport facility is that - a 630 cab never leaves at 630. It waits for 5-10 mins for people to come and board. Why should it wait for defaulters ? If a 630 cab leaves at 630, automatically the defaulters would become losers and they would start coming on time from the next day. Why do you want to bend the rules ?
 
 
I dunno what makes me think this way, but to be on time to office, there are innumerable days when I have missed my breakfast (Almost 99% of the days). Its not a sacrifice that Im doing but the price Im paying for not planning properly and not getting up on time.. Its just a price that I pay for my laziness. Nothing else. Not only people, even the public transport is like that.. Trains for example - never on time. Really I have never travelled by a train that starts on time and arrives on time. Now-a-days even flights have adopted this trend. They have a huge list of reasons - “due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft”, “as the runway is blocked by another flight”, “we cant land as there are dead birds on the runway” and the list goes on. I agree, some reasons are legitimate, but who is responsible and who is affected because of this ? Just saying “We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused to you” is not going to solve any problem.
 
To conclude, In all my humbleness I request you to keep up the timing in whatever you do. Please try to be punctual. Imbibe this quality in you. To me, the world starts from where I stand. So I should be perfect and the people around me should be perfect. Only then, we could create a positive wave from us, to spread the quality and change the meaning the term “Indian Punctuality” from what it is now currently to what it should be (On Time performance as KingFisher Deccan puts it).
 
Thanks for readind my blog..
 
 
 
A related article from “The Hindu” :

 

Time and tide

A. DEVA RAJU

To be successful, one has to be regular and punctual at all times. Without these principles, success may seem difficult. If a student is regular and punctual in his studies from the beginning of the school year he would pass his examinations with ease.

Ensure that you are in the classroom well before class begins, complete your home work, read all the lessons taught in class that day - this will make the study load lighter.

Regularity, punctuality and discipline go hand in hand.

Most Indians are famous for their “Indian punctuality”. As is commonly notice if there is a function at 10 a.m., most people start gathering at the venue only at 11 a.m. Even educated people do not think these virtues are necessary for success. They take life casually. It is needless to mention that an a person who is not punctual misses the train.

Apart from being punctual, one should be patient and persevere to achieve success. One cannot become a millionaire in a day. One has to work to taste success. A sapling cannot bear fruits, it needs to grow into a tree. A student cannot get a first class by studying for a day. It is the result of working hard over a period of time.

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January 8, 2008 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

My Favorite Quote

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

If you are anyone closer to me or even someone who has spent a few hours with me, you would have noticed me writing this quote “Great things are done when men and mountains meet”. This was quoted by William Blake. The first time I came across this quote was for an elocution competition in my school days where my topic was “Where there is a will, there is a way”. Quite a simple topic only, but when I prepared my speech I went through certain books and collected some stuffs.. This was one of the quotes that captured me and ever since its been my favorite quote. I have come across numerous other quotes that are better than this but somehow I like this one the best, simply because it is more closer to the way i perceive things. To me, nothing is impossible if u have the will to do it.. (not that im quoting something from my speech).. I seriously believe in that.. No matter how much people around u may discourage you doing anything, just dont hear to them. Do what you think is right (be sure its right). Coming back to the context, you can find me writing this quote always.. In all my notes, in all the scrap paper in my desk, I keep writing this when I feel bored. I love to write this quote coz it boosts me if im stuck with any issue. To those who are feeling a little not-so-confident, here is what I have to say.. See, there are lot of people who have achieved great heights in life. In your own field, take them as example. Now see.. When so many of them can reach that level, why cant you ? Ofcourse they were not born with a silver spoon and if at all they were, you are not very far from them. Keep this mind, and I’m sure anyone can reach any great height in life if they really want to.

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July 5, 2007 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

An interesting incident

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

 
 This incident happened a few days back..

 

 

I had some work to be completed at college. So I started from home, and as usual my brother was fighting with me on whose turn it was to take the bike. I argued with him for sometime and finally decided that I would go by bus.

 

 

It had been a long time since I went by bus to college. After boarding the bus, I got a seat and was just gazing through the window. Looking at the cloudy skies, feeling the cool weather that is very unlikely in Trichy was certainly a pleasant experience for me. It was just a 10-minute travel by bus and I got down at my stop and started walking towards my department.

 

 

It was a 400-meter walk from the bus stop to my department. Its a straight road heading to the department. When I started walking, I remembered one of my seniors telling me why he always preferred this road to get to the department, to an alternate route that was available to reach my department from the previous bus stop. He told me that he could get a lift from anyone who passes by as it was just a straight road ahead. I just grinned at his idea. It was of no use to me because I never ask anyone for a lift no matter how far I had to go. Walking is not a matter of concern to me though I hate crowds.

 

 

So I started walking.. I would have hardly walked a few steps when I heard someone calling “Thambii” ( A tamil word used to address someone less than your age - literally means brother). I turned back and saw someone roughly around 35-40 on a bicycle. He offered me a lift . I was amazed for a moment, coz no one would offer you a lift unless he is too good or unless you ask for it. I hadnt asked for it. So I neatly and politely rejected his offer. He insisted that I should come with him on his bicycle. I politely rejected again stating that my destination wasnt far off. He was determined not to let go of me. I could nt reject his offer then. Eventually persuaded I agreed.

 

 

He asked me what I was studying and where I stayed etc.. I pondered over every question and answered with wariness. But this guy seemed very good and helpful. He wished and enquired about the well being of everyone(the security and other staffs) who passed by during the drive. He also told me, that he was a non-teaching staff in one of the departments in the college. I was happy to know that such kind hearted people still did exist in this world. I got carried away quite a bit, wondering whether such good people were the sole reason for rains.. he he..

 

 

While we were on our way, I felt he was struggling to ride the bicycle with me seated at the rear. I pitied him and thought of asking him to stop, so that I could relieve his burden. But since my department was just a few meters away, I dint say anything. He also picked up speed. When we reached the department, I asked him to stop and I got down. 

 

 

I was feeling really happy that I had met such a noble soul. I whole heartedly thanked him and when i turned to enter the department, a hand stopped me. I turned back and saw that it was his. He then said “Thambi… naan oorukku ponum… ” (means Brother, I hav to go to my native place) . I wondered why he said that to me. Then came the revelation “Oru paththu roova irundha thaa pa” (means.. Could you give me 10 rs)..  I was dumbstruck.. Shit man.. What the hell.. The good opinion about him that I had nurtured through my little journey broke that moment.. I really felt as bad as how good I felt just moments back. What else could have I done ? I sent him away with 10 rs and went into the department.

 
I was thinking about this incident, the whole day. Infact 10 rs is not a big sum of money at all but that man need not have acted in such a way, portraying a wonderful image of himself to get that 10 rs from me. That was what I felt so bad about that incident.

 

 

Its very hard to gain someone’s trust but its so easy to break it. Isnt it ??

Popularity: 6%



December 13, 2006 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

Feeling bored at home :-(

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

This time, we have very long hols for this semester.. Almost 2 months for an odd semester is a very long time to spend at home doing no useful work. I thought of doing an internship at a company but soon ruled that off my mind coz this is going to be the last hols i ll be spending at home. When i take up my job next year i wont be having time to spend leisurely at home. So just thought of staying at home and doing something that proves to be useful. By way of which I thought of going to the gym and was even successful for almost a week. My laziness put a full stop to it. Im thinking of converting that full stop into a comma.. lets see..
 
I then booked my dates to write TOEFL… the new pattern of toefl is quite tough since it includes a speaking section. Its almost 3 years since i actually spoke good english. Thats what bothers me. :-( .. Its due on december 15th and im not doing any useful preparation for that. Sleeping is what i enjoy and i do that for almost 10+ hrs everyday. Since im used to working under pressure, i dont get to do things when i know i can finish within the available time. I procrastinate until i feel im running out of time and finally sit one day and do everything breaking my head. Thats the typical me. Thats exactly what im doing now.
 
Now that i ve got only 5 days left for toefl i ve decided on putting a little serious preparation from tom. This is what i think every night and the tomorrow i speak of never comes.. :-)
Lets see..
 
And adding to my anxieties, our semester results were to be released on dec 8th. But as expected, its not yet been released. Thats India for you. So my anxieties i have on getting to know my results just builds up every day and ruins even the slightest thoughts i have for preparing for toefl.

Popularity: 4%



December 10, 2006 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off 

My First Blog

Posted by Pradeep M as Just like that

Hmmm..
Finally its all set to write my first blog… I hav been thinking of blogging quite some time but wasnt able to decide quickly on that.. Now i have got some time and so i decided not to think anymore..
So..thats it for now..
Will continue later.. :-)
 

Popularity: 5%



October 24, 2006 | Filed Under Just like that | Comments Off