Algebra..

Equation 1
Human = eat + sleep + work + enjoy
Donkey = eat + sleep
Therefore:
Human = Donkey + Work + enjoy
Therefore:
Human - enjoy = Donkey + Work

In other words,

A Human that doesn't know how to enjoy = Donkey that works.

Equation 2
Man = eat + sleep + earn money
Donkey = eat + sleep
Therefore:
Man = Donkey + earn money
Therefore:
Man - earn money = Donkey

In other words

Man who doesn't earn money = Donkey

Equation 3

Woman= eat + sleep + spend
Donkey = eat + sleep
Therefore:
Woman = Donkey + spend
Woman - spend = Donkey

In other words,

Woman who doesn't spend = Donkey

To Conclude:

From Equation 2 and Equation 3,
Man who doesn't earn money = Woman who doesn't spend

1. So Man earns money not to let woman become a donkey!
2. And a woman spends not to let the man become a donkey! 

So, We have:
Man + Woman = Donkey + earn money + Donkey + Spend money
Therefore from postulates 1 and 2, we can conclude

Man + Woman = 2 Donkeys that live happily together.

Room To Read..

Friends, I came across an excellent organization which promotes literacy and reading.  I plan to get involved.
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Children who walk through library doors are better equipped to walk through other doors.

Vision

Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with Educated Children. They envision a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world.

Mission

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, they develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

In 2000, Room to Read began working with rural communities in Nepal to build schools and establish libraries. The organization's geographic reach expanded rapidly as significant needs and opportunities were identified in Vietnam (2001), Cambodia (2002) and India (2003). The Asian Tsunami in 2004 provided a catalyst for entry into Sri Lanka followed shortly by Laos. They expanded to the second continent by launching Room to Read in South Africa in 2006, and then Zambia in 2007. In 2008, they began operations in Bangladesh.

Life is..

This story is about a beautiful, expensively dressed lady who complained to her psychiatrist that she felt that her whole life was empty, it had no meaning.

So, the lady went to visit a counselor to seek out happiness.

The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors. The counselor then said to the rich lady"I'm going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her."

So the old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story:

"Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody. I had nothing left. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I got it some milk, and the kitten licked the plate clean.

Then it purred and rubbed against my leg and for the first time in months, I smiled. Then I stopped to think, if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbor who was sick in bed.

Every day I tried to do something nice for someone.

It made me so happy to see them happy.

Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I've found happiness, by giving it to others."

When she heard that the rich lady cried. She had everything that money could buy, but she had lost the things which money cannot buy.

The Greatest Gift you can give someone is your time. Because when you are giving someone your time,You are giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back

The value of life is best measured by the moments spent giving one's self - sharing wisdom, inspiring hope, and wiping tears.

Story of Appreciation

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?" The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."

The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, "This is what I am looking for to be my manager.

I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first.

He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts.

When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.

For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more.

If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?

We can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV.

But when we are cutting grass or doing household chores, please let them experience it.

After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way.

We want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person.

The most important thing is our kids learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

સારી રીત નથી

A good poem.  Although one sided, it does provide a real emotions of few immigrants in USA.
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એવુય નથી કે વતન માટે મને પ્રિત નથી
હુ એય જાણૂ છુ કે અમેરીકા રહેવામા મારુ હીત નથી
ઇચ્છા થાય છે અમેરીકાના અનુભવો લખુ તમને
શુ લખુ? અહીયા સંસ્કાર કે સંસ્ક્રુતિ સંકલિત નથી.
મને ઘણૉ થાય છે વતન છોડ્યાનો અફ્સોસ હવે,
હિમાલય છોડીને સ્નોના ઢગલા મેળવામા કાઇ જીત નથી.
અમેરીકન રેપ સોંગ સાંભળીને કાન ને એઠા કરવાના 
અહીંયા નરસિંહ મીરા ના પ્રભાતિયા કે ભજન સંગિત નથી.
સંતાનો ના ઉછેરીકરણ નોય અહીંયા હોય છે હિસાબ કિતાબ
અહીયા ભરતીય માબાપ જેવુ ઉદારીકરણ ગણિત નથી
બદલાતી ફેશનના નખરા અહીંયા હોય છે નિત્ય નવા
સ્ત્રીના બાહ્ય સૌદર્ય જેટ્લુ આંતરીક સૌદર્ય ચકચકીત નથી.
પ્રેમ , વિસ્વાસ અને અનુકુલીન આઘરીત સંબઘો નથી
ઇન્ડીયન કલ્ચર જેવુ લગ્નજીવન અહીંયા વ્યવસ્થિત નથી
દુઃખી થવાની ઘણીજ રીતો હશે દુનિયા મા હે પ્રભુ
મનને મારીને જીવ્યાકરવુ એ સારી રીત નથી.

Thank You. No, Thank You

An excellent article.  Courtsey The Wall Street Journal.
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Thank You. No, Thank You

Grateful People Are Happier, Healthier Long After the Leftovers Are Gobbled Up

It turns out, giving thanks is good for your health.  A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being.

Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They're also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.

Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches and feel more satisfied with their friends, families and schools than those who don't, studies show.

"A lot of these findings are things we learned in kindergarten or our grandmothers told us, but we now have scientific evidence to prove them," says Jeffrey J. Froh, an assistant professor of psychology at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., who has conducted much of the research with children.

"The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table," says Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis and a pioneer in gratitude research. And, he notes, "with the realization that one has benefited comes the awareness of the need to reciprocate."

Philosophers as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans cited gratitude as an indispensable human virtue, but social scientists are just beginning to study how it develops and the effects it can have. The research is part of the "positive psychology" movement, which focuses on developing strengths rather than alleviating disorders. Cultivating gratitude is also a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which holds that changing peoples' thought patterns can dramatically affect their moods.

It's possible, of course, to over-do expressions of gratitude, particularly if you try to show it with a gift. "Thanking someone in such a way that is disproportionate to the relationship—say, a student giving her teacher an iPod—will create resentment, guilt, anger and a sense of obligation," says Dr. Froh. Gratitude can also be misused to exert control over the receiver and enforce loyalty. Dr. Froh says you can avoid this by being empathic toward the person you are thanking—and by honestly assessing your motivations.

In an upcoming paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Dr. Froh and colleagues surveyed 1,035 high-school students and found that the most grateful had more friends and higher GPAs, while the most materialistic had lower grades, higher levels of envy and less satisfaction with life. "One of the best cures for materialism is to make somebody grateful for what they have," says Dr. Froh.

Much of the research on gratitude has looked at associations, not cause-and-effect relationships; it's possible that people who are happy, healthy and successful simply have more to be grateful for. But in a landmark study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2003, Dr. Emmons and University of Miami psychologist Michael McCullough showed that counting blessings can actually make people feel better.

The researchers randomly divided more than 100 undergraduates into three groups. One group was asked to list five things they were grateful for during the past week for 10 consecutive weeks. The second group listed five things that annoyed them each week and the third group simply listed five events that had occurred. They also completed detailed questionnaires about their physical and mental health before, during and after. Those who listed blessings each week had fewer health complaints, exercised more regularly and felt better about their lives in general than the other two groups.

Drs. Froh and Emmons conducted a similar study with 221 sixth- and seventh-graders from Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills, N.Y., an affluent area on Long Island. Although the effects weren't as dramatic as with the adults, the students in the gratitude group did report a higher level of satisfaction with school and more optimism than the students who listed irritations, according to the study in the Journal of School Psychology in 2008.

As simple as it sounds, gratitude is actually a demanding, complex emotion that requires "self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humility to realize one's own limitations," Dr. Emmons says.

Being grateful also forces people to overcome what psychologists call the "negativity bias"—the innate tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances and injustices rather than upbeat events. Focusing on blessings can help ward off depression and build resilience in times of stress, grief or disasters, according to studies of people impacted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

Can people learn to look on the bright side, want what they have and be grateful for it? Experts believe that about 50% of such temperament is genetic, but the rest comes from experience, so there's ample opportunity for change. "Kids and adults both can choose how they feel and how they look at the world," says Andrew Greene, principal of Candlewood Middle School, who says that realization was one of the lasting legacies of
Dr. Froh's research there.

Some experts believe that children don't develop true gratitude until they can experience empathy, which usually occurs around age 7. But researchers at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center have shown that infants as young as 6-months old prefer characters who help to those who hinder others. To help lay the groundwork for gratefulness, Dr. Froh says he asks his 4-year-old son, James, each night what was his favorite thing about the day and what he is looking forward to tomorrow.

For older children and adults, one simple way to cultivate gratitude is to literally count your blessings. Keep a journal and regularly record whatever you are grateful for that day. Be specific. Listing "my friends, my school, my dog" day after day means that "gratitude fatigue" has set in, Dr. Froh says. Writing "my dog licked my face when I was sad" keeps it fresher. Some people do this on their Facebook or MySpace pages, or in one of dozens of online gratitude groups. There's an iPod app for gratitude journaling, too. The real benefit comes in changing how you experience the world. Look for things to be grateful for, and you'll start seeing them everywhere.

A Buddhist exercise, called Naikan self-reflection, asks people to ponder daily: "What have I received from…? What have I given to…? and What trouble have I caused…?" Acknowledging those who touched your life—from the barista who made your coffee to the engineer who drove your train—and reflecting on how you reciprocated reinforces humbleness and interdependence.

Delivering your thanks in person can be particularly powerful. One study found that fourth-graders who took a "gratitude visit" felt better about themselves even two months later—particularly those whose moods were previously low.

Adopting a more upbeat mind-set helps facilitate gratitude, too. Instead of bonding with friends over gripes and annoyances, try sharing what you're grateful for. To avoid sounding boastful, focus on giving credit to other people, as in, "My mom took a whole day off from work to get to my game."

Studies show that using negative, derogatory words—even as you talk to yourself—can darken your mood as well. Fill your head with positive thoughts, express thanks and encouragement aloud and look for something to be grateful for, not criticize, in those around you, especially loved ones. New York psychiatrist Drew Ramsey says that's an essential tool for surviving the holidays. "Giving thanks for them helps you deal with the craziness that is part of every family," he says.

Last, if you find you take too much for granted, try the "It's a Wonderful Life" approach: image what life would be like without a major blessing, like a spouse, a child or a job. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personal Social Psychology, researchers found that when college students wrote essays in which they were asked to "mentally subtract" a positive event from their lives, they were subsequently more grateful for it than students whose essays simply focused on the event. The "George Bailey effect" was modest, the authors noted, but even small boosts in positive emotions can make life more satisfying.

An Old Farmer's Advice

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered…...not yelled.

Meanness don't just happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway.

Don 't judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

Don 't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and leave the rest to God.

Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

An eraser and pencil

Pencil: I'm sorry....

Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil: I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)
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Thanks Ajay for sharing.

Ajay found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on).

Words to live by Zen Sarcasm..

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
13. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.
14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
17. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
19. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.
20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
22. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Words to Ponder..

Har khushi Hai Logon Ke Daman Mein,

Par Ek Hansi Ke Liye Waqt Nahi.

Din Raat Daudti Duniya Mein,

Zindagi Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Maa Ki Loree Ka Ehsaas To Hai,

Par Maa Ko Maa Kehne Ka Waqt Nahi.

Saare Rishton Ko To Hum Maar Chuke,

Ab Unhe Dafnane Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Saare Naam Mobile Mein Hain,

Par Dosti Ke Lye Waqt Nahi.

Gairon Ki Kya Baat Karen,

Jab Apno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Aankhon Me Hai Neend Badee,

Par Sone Ka Waqt Nahi.

Dil Hai Ghamon Se Bhara Hua,

Par Rone Ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Paison ki Daud Me Aise Daude,

Ki Thakne ka Bhi Waqt Nahi.

Paraye Ehsason Ki Kya Kadr Karein,

Jab Apane Sapno Ke Liye Hi Waqt Nahi.

Tu Hi Bata E Zindagi,

Iss Zindagi Ka Kya Hoga,

Ki Har Pal Marne Walon Ko,

Jeene Ke Liye Bhi Waqt Nahi

The King and His Four Wives..

Once upon a time there was a rich King who had four wives.  He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one day she would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidant and was always kind, considerate and patient with him.

Whenever the King faced a problem, he could confide in her, and she would help him get through the difficult times.

The King's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the first wife.  Although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her!

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short. He thought of his luxurious life and wondered, "I now have four wives with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone." Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No way!", replied the 4th wife, and she walked away without another word.

Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart. The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"No!", replied the 3rd wife. "Life is too good!  When you die, I'm going to remarry!" His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!", replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only walk with you to your grave." Her answer struck him like a bolt of lightning, and the King was devastated.

Then a voice called out: "I'll go with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The King looked up, and there was his first wife. She was very skinny as she suffered from malnutrition and neglect.

Greatly grieved, the King said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"

In truth, we all have 4 wives in our lives: Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it will leave us when we die.

Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to others.

Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

And our 1st wife is our Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go. Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of us that will follow us to the throne of God and continue with us throughout Eternity.

Ant and Grasshopper (modern version)..

OLD VERSION OF THE STORY...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for
the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. BBC, CNN, EURO-NEWS, NDTV, FOX NEWS show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper. NDTV starts an SMS campaign for the grasshopper (if you are for the grass hopper SMS Y for yes, if not N to 6388,charges 6 Rs. per SMS)

Opposition MP's stage a walkout.  Samajwadi Party calls it anti-minority and claims that the grasshopper is being victimised as it is green in colour!

Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by BBC,CNN, AAJ TAK and NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". (But this time Aamir Khan chooses to stay mum!!)

Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly...

After a few weeks the ant is forgotten and dies in the cold !!!

Greetings..

Very Hilarious..
------

Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send us "forwards" over the past 12 months.

Thank you for making us feel safe, secure, blessed and healthy.  Extra thanks to whoever sent us the email about rat crap in the glue on envelopes - cause we now have to go get a wet towel every time we need to seal an envelope.

Also, we scrub the top of every can we open for the same reason.

Because of your genuine concern, we no longer drink Coca Cola because we know it can remove toilet stains, which is not very appealing.

We no longer check the coin return on pay phones because we could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

We no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though we smell like a wombat on a hot day.

We no longer go to the shopping centre because someone might drug us with a perfume sample and rob us.

We no longer eat KFC because their "chickens" are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

We no longer worry about our souls because at last count, we have 363,214 angels looking out for us.

Thanks to you, we have learned that God only answers our prayers if we forward an email to seven of our friends and make a wish within five minutes.

We no longer have any savings because we gave it to a sick girl on the Internet who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).

We no longer have any money at all in fact - but that will change once we receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending us for participating in their special on-line email program.

We want to thank you all so much for looking out for us that we will now return the favour!

If you don't send this email to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large pigeon with a wicked case of diarrhoea will land on your head at 8:00 tonight.

We know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of our next door neighbour's ex-mother-in- law's second husband's cousin's hairdresser.

DO IT NOW OR ELSE.

Sal Khan: Bill Gates' favorite teacher

Very impressive endeavor.
------
By David A. Kaplan, contributor August 24, 2010: 5:53 AM ET

FORTUNE -- Sal Khan, you can count Bill Gates as your newest fan. Gates is a voracious consumer of online education. This past spring a colleague at his small think tank, bgC3, e-mailed him about the nonprofit khanacademy.org, a vast digital trove of free mini-lectures all narrated by Khan, an ebullient, articulate Harvard MBA and former hedge fund manager. Gates replied within minutes. "This guy is amazing," he wrote. "It is awesome how much he has done with very little in the way of resources." Gates and his 11-year-old son, Rory, began soaking up videos, from algebra to biology. Then, several weeks ago, at the Aspen Ideas Festival in front of 2,000 people, Gates gave the 33-year-old Khan a shout-out that any entrepreneur would kill for. Ruminating on what he called the "mind-blowing misallocation" of resources away from education, Gates touted the "unbelievable" 10- to 15-minute Khan Academy tutorials "I've been using with my kids." With admiration and surprise, the world's second-richest person noted that Khan "was a hedge fund guy making lots of money." Now, Gates said, "I'd say we've moved about 160 IQ points from the hedge fund category to the teaching-many-people-in-a-leveraged-way category. It was a good day his wife let him quit his job." Khan wasn't even there -- he learned of Gates' praise through a YouTube video. "It was really cool," Khan says.

In an undistinguished ranch house off the main freeway of Silicon Valley, in a converted walk-in closet filled with a few hundred dollars' worth of video equipment and bookshelves and his toddler's red Elmo underfoot, is the epicenter of the educational earthquake that has captivated Gates and others. It is here that Salman Khan produces online lessons on math, science, and a range of other subjects that have made him a web sensation.

Khan Academy, with Khan as the only teacher, appears on YouTube and elsewhere and is by any measure the most popular educational site on the web. Khan's playlist of 1,630 tutorials (at last count) are now seen an average of 70,000 times a day -- nearly double the student body at Harvard and Stanford combined. Since he began his tutorials in late 2006, Khan Academy has received 18 million page views worldwide, including from the Gates progeny. Most page views come from the U.S., followed by Canada, England, Australia, and India. In any given month, Khan says, he's reached about 200,000 students. "There's no reason it shouldn't be 20 million."

His low-tech, conversational tutorials -- Khan's face never appears, and viewers see only his unadorned step-by-step doodles and diagrams on an electronic blackboard -- are more than merely another example of viral media distributed at negligible cost to the universe. Khan Academy holds the promise of a virtual school: an educational transformation that de-emphasizes classrooms, campus and administrative infrastructure, and even brand-name instructors.

Quick, free, and easy to understand

Distance learning and correspondence courses have been around since the invention of mail. And private, for-profit schools flourish; the University of Phoenix has half a million students enrolled, most of them online. Other private operations, like the Teaching Co., specialize in amalgamating "great courses" from nationally known teachers: the 12-hour Game Theory in Life, Business, and Beyond, from one academic star, costs $254.95 on DVD.

What's remarkable about Khan Academy, aside from its nonpareil word of mouth and burgeoning growth, is that it's free and prizes brevity. Remember your mumbling macroeconomics teacher whose 50-minute monologue in a large auditorium could bore the dead? That isn't Khan. He rarely cracks wise -- if you want shtick, check out Darth Vader trying to teach Euclidean geometry on YouTube ("The Pythagorean theorem is your destiny!") -- but in less than 15 minutes Khan gets to the essence of the topics he's carved out.

Online critics question whether he amounts to a dilettante who's turning learning into pedagogical McNuggets. But while you obviously don't learn calculus in one session -- the subject is divided into 191 parts, which doesn't include 32 more in precalc -- Khan's components seem to hit the sweet spot of length and substance. And he covers an astonishing array. There are the core subjects in math -- arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and statistics -- and the de rigueur science offerings, like biology, chemistry, and physics. But Khan also gives lessons in Economics of a Cupcake Factory, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Alien Abduction Brain Teaser.

The seeds of education

Like so many entrepreneurial epiphanies, Khan's came by accident. Born and raised in New Orleans -- the son of immigrants from India and what's now Bangladesh -- Khan was long an academic star. With his MBA from Harvard, he has three degrees from MIT: a BS in math and a BS and a master's in electrical engineering and computer science. He also was the president of his MIT class and did volunteer teaching in nearby Brookline for talented children, as well as developed software to teach children with ADHD. What he doesn't know he picks up from endless reading and cogitation: His gift, like that of many teachers, is being able to reduce the complex. "Part of the beauty of what he does is his consistency," says Gates. Of Khan's capacity to teach, Gates, who says he spends considerable time trying to help his three kids learn the basics of math and science, tells Fortune, "I kind of envy him."

In the summer of 2004, while still living in Boston, Khan learned that his seventh-grader cousin, Nadia, in New Orleans was having trouble in math class converting kilograms. He agreed to remotely tutor her. Using Yahoo Doodle software as a shared notepad, as well as a telephone, Nadia thrived -- so much so that Khan started working with her brothers, Ali and Arman. Word spread to other relatives and friends. Khan wrote JavaScript problem generators to keep up a supply of practice exercises. But between their soccer practices, his job, and multiple time zones, scheduling became impossible. "I started to record videos on YouTube for them to watch at their own pace," Khan recalls. Other users tuned in, and the blueprint for Khan Academy was created.

Khan continued to work for the small hedge fund he had joined after Harvard, Wohl Capital Management. He said he took away "under $1 million" before the Silicon Valley-based hedge fund wound down, and briefly started his own fund in mid-2008, which didn't really get off the ground because of the financial crisis. ("I called it Khan Capital," he says, "but it never got much beyond 'Khan's Capital.'") He used his nest egg to buy a house with his wife, Umamia, a rheumatology fellow at Stanford Medical School, and as a reserve when he gave up his investment career. On a typical day he tapes a few tutorials, answers posts from students, calls experts when he's stuck on how best to explicate a concept, and fields queries from curious potential backers.

He maintains he has no interest in monetizing the operation by charging subscriptions or selling ads. "I already have a beautiful wife, a hilarious son, two Hondas, and a decent house," he declares on his website. But that hasn't stopped the inquiries, the most notable from John Doerr, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and his wife, Ann. Not long ago a PayPal donation on Khan's site came in for $10,000 (a typical gift is $100). Khan e-mailed the donor. Her name was Ann Doerr. He knew of a John Doerr but just assumed the name was more popular than he realized. He e-mailed her to say thanks. She suggested lunch.

When they met, Ann Doerr told him she couldn't believe hers was the largest donation. "This is, like, criminal," she said. "I love what you're doing." When he got home, he found a message from her: "There's $100,000 in the mail."

Khan is using that money to pay himself a salary. Later, he met John Doerr and has since relied on both Doerrs for entrée to others in the philanthropic establishment. After Gates mentioned Khan in Aspen, John tweeted it to his Silicon Valley legions. In July the academy received another $100,000 -- from John McCall MacBain, a Canadian entrepreneur who made a fortune in publishing. "If I had a million dollars," Khan says, he'd fund software development of more automated problem sets and extensive translations of his videos. Gates, whose foundation spends $700 million a year on U.S. education, plans to talk to Khan soon as well.

An academy or a library?

Khan has his skeptics in the education business. They don't doubt he means well and is helping students, but they question the broad impact of any tutorial that doesn't test performance or allow student-teacher discussion. "It's a solid supplemental resource, particularly for motivated students," says Jeffrey Leeds, president of Leeds Equity Partners, the largest U.S. private equity firm specializing in for-profit education. "But it's not an academy -- it's more of a library."

But Khan intends nothing less than "tens of thousands" of tutorials offering the "first free, world-class virtual school where anyone can learn anything." The advances envisioned by Leeds and others wouldn't hurt either. The education industry can use all the innovation it can find.

Facts of Surat..

Although the stats are bit old and from 2007, nonetheless impressive.  It also gives me a nostalgic feeling and pride, since I grew up in Surat.

1. Diamond capital of the world - 80% of the world's diamond is cut and polished in Surat (in 2005 92% of  the world's diamonds were cut and polished in Surat!!)
2. Textile capital of India - 1 out of every 10 saree in India is manufactured in Surat.
3. Silk capital of India
4. 2nd cleanest city of India.
5. Most number of flyovers in Gujarat.
6. First and the the only multilayer flyover of Gujarat is in Surat.
7. World's fastest growing city - United Nations survey
8. Surat stands as the best city in India to earn fast money and invest money. - The Times of India.
9. India's only zero unemployment city.
10. Surat is one of the most industrially active cities that connect to it - Big corporate houses in Surat are like, Essar, ONGC, Reliance, Shell, L&T, HP, IOC, GAI, and many more.
11. Every international flight to/from India has atleast one passanger from Surat.
12. Only city in Gujarat to have "FAME" & "ADLABS" Theater's Both.
13. Highest income tax paying city in Asia.
14. SMC - Surat Municipal Corporation earns Rs. 1 Crore daily from octroi, which is highest in India.
15. Domino's first pizza outlet in Gujarat was in Surat.
16. In Dasshera 2006... Surat masde a record in western India ...of most number of 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers sale.
17. One of the longest flyover of India is located in Surat.
18. India's only readymade garment park is situated in Surat.
19. World's only public sector jewellery park is situated in Surat.
20. IIn past Surat was a glorious port with ships of more than 84 countries anchored in it's harbour.
21. 40% of India's total man-made fabric production is in Surat.
22. 28% of India's total synthetic output is from Surat.
23. Richest city of Gujarat.
24. Fastest number of growing Crorepati's in India are in Surat.
25. Famous city for making "manja" - thread used for kite flying.
26. Famous city for its unique food - Surti cuisine especailly "UNDHYU".
27. Surat is the city, where Britishers first landed in India.
28. Surat has one of the highest per capita income in Asia.
29. "PONK" is a roasted millet variety that is available only in Surat in the whole world.
30. Surat has been alloted a "S.E.Z. - SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE" by the Central Government of India.



Old Classmate..

MY NAME IS ALICE , AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST.

I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA ON THE WALL, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME. SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 30-ODD YEARS AGO.

COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?

UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT.

THIS BALDING, GRAY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE.

AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL ..

'YES. YES, I DID. I'M A MUSTANG,' HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE.

WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?' I ASKED.

HE ANSWERED, 'IN 1975. WHY DO YOU ASK?'

YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!', I EXCLAIMED.

HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.

THEN, THAT UGLY,

OLD,

BALD,

WRINKLED FACED,

FAT,

GRAY-HAIRED,

DECREPIT

DUDE 

ASKED,

'WHAT DID YOU TEACH???

Parking Ticket..

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.

Well, for example, the other day, Mary my wife and I went into town and visited a shop. We were only in there for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

We went up to him and I said, 'Come on, man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?'

He ignored us and continued writing the ticket.

I called him a dumb ass. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn-out tires.

So Mary called him a shit head. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

Then he started writing a third ticket.

This went on for about 20 minutes.

The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Just then our bus arrived, and we got on it and went home. We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age.

Excellent collections of Gujarati songs..

Select the song you wish to hear first and click the link at the bottom of the full text to play the song.

૧ તારી બાંકી રે પાઘલડીનું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/taribankire.htm

૨ મારા ભોળા દિલનો http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/marabholadilno.htm

૩ છાનું રે છપનું કંઈ થાય નહિ http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/chhanure.htm

૪ નીલ ગગનનાં પંખેરું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/onilgaganna.htm

૫ મારી વેણીમાં ચાર ચાર ફૂલ http://www.mavjibhai.com/madhurGeeto/mariveniman.htm

૬ માહતાબ સમ મધુરો http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/mahatabsam.htm

૭ એક રજકણ સૂરજ થવાને શમણે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/ekrajakan.htm

૮ માઝમ રાતે નીતરતી નભની ચાંદની http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/mazamraate.htm

૯ તારી આંખનો અફીણી http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/tariankhno.htm

૧૦ રાખનાં રમકડાં http://www.mavjibhai.com/madhurGeeto/rakhnaramkada.htm

૧૧ ભાભી તમે થોડા થોડા થાવ વરણાગી http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/obhabhitame.htm

૧૨ તાલીના તાલે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/taliyonatale.htm

૧૩ નજરનાં જામ છલકાવીને http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/najarnajam.htm

૧૪ હે પૂનમની પ્યારી પ્યારી રાત http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/punamnipyari.htm

૧૫ રૂપલે મઢી છે સારી રાત http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/ruplemadhi.htm

૧૬ આજનો ચાંદલિયો મને લાગે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/aajnochandaliyo.htm

૧૭ ઊંચી તલાવડીની કોર http://www.mavjibhai.com/madhurGeeto/unchitalawadi.htm

૧૮ ઓઢણી ઓઢું ઓઢું ને ઊડી જાય http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/odhani.htm

૧૯ પંખીડાને આ પીંજરુ જૂનું જૂનું લાગે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/pankhidane.htm

૨૦ દિવસો જુદાઈના જાય છે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/divasojudaina.htm

૨૧ સપના રૂપે ય આપ ન આવો http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/sapanarupe.htm

૨૨ ના, ના, નહિ આવું, મેળાનો મને થાક લાગે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/nananahiaavun.htm

૨૩ આવો તો ય સારું, ન આવો તો ય સારું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/aavotoysaru.htm

૨૪ રહેશે અમને મારી મુસીબતની દશા યાદ http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/rahesheamane.htm

૨૫ તમારા અહીં આજ પગલાં થાના http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/tamaraahin.htm

૨૬ ઘાયલને શું થાય છે પૂછો તો ખરા http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/ghayalneshun.htm

૨૭ સાત સમન્દર તરવા ચાલી http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/saatsamandar.htm

૨૮ સાંભળ પંછી પ્યારા http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/panchhipyara.htm

૨૯ હો રાજ મને લાગ્યો કસુંબીનો રંગ http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/horajmanelagyo.htm

૩૦ મને કેર કાંટો વાગ્યો http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/manekerkanto.htm

૩૧ સોનાનું કે રૂપાનું, પિંજરું તે પિંજરું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/pinjarutepinjaru.htm

૩૨ મા તને ખમ્મા ખમ્મા, http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/Khammakhamma.htm

૩૩ મને યાદ ફરી ફરી આવે, મારા અંતરને રડાવે http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/maneyaadfarifari.htm

૩૪ પુણ્ય જો ના થઈ શકે તો પાપથી ડરવું ભલું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/punyajona.htm

૩૫ ઘૂંઘટે ઢાંક્યુ રે એક કોડિયું http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/ghunghate.htm

૩૬ આવી આવી નોરતાની રાત, માર સૈયર ગરબે રમવા હાલો http://www.mavjibhai.com/MadhurGeeto/nortaniraat.htm

How To Not Argue..

1. It takes two to argue. If you don't answer back, there cannot be an argument. Just say, "I don't want to talk about it now" and just softly repeat that phrase.
2. Arguments escalate with the volume of the arguers. "A soft answer turns away wrath" (Proverbs 15:1). The more forcefully the other person argues, the quieter your response becomes. You will see the other side tone down his/her voice in response.
3. You can't have an argument if you agree. "That's a good point." "I hadn't thought about that." "You are definitely right." Focus on where you can agree, not where you differ.
4. Admit you were wrong. No one is ever totally right. Find something to apologize for, to take responsibility for. The other person will feel better and may even own up to some mistakes of his/her own.
5. Do not accuse or attack. Don't say, "You said this!" "You did that!" Ask questions, don't make statements. And ask questions with sincerity not as a cutting sword to make an attack.
6. Remember your goal! In the case of marriage, you want harmony, peace, a good atmosphere, love. Arguments breed stress and anxiety, not peace and pleasantness. Tell yourself: I love my spouse, I love my kids, I love my money (divorces cost a lot of money).
7. Don't be foolish to show disrespect to your chosen one and to yourself by saying things that are damaging, mean or not worthwhile. You chose this person to be your spouse. This is the person above all others who has the qualities to be chosen over the other billions of people on this planet.
8. Turn the argument into a discussion. Don't defend a position; set forth an idea or problem to be clarified. People of good will who reason together can come to a common conclusion. Listen with an open mind. Be a judge, not a lawyer!
9. Ask yourself, "Is this argument really worth it?" In the end, whatever you are arguing about may be ultimately trivial. Likely, there are other issues regarding communication, respect, responsibilities which create the angst and anger leading to arguments - rather than discussions.

Income Tax System Made Simple..

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy

with the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce

the cost of your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the

first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But

what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide

the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted

that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would

each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each

man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the

amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued

to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to

compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed

to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar,

too. It's unfair that he got TEN times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back

when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get

anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine

sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the

bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between

all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our

tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most

benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being

wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might

start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do

not understand, no explanation is possible.

Acknowledegement..

What Happens in Heaven

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.

My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received."

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section.

Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them."

I noticed again how busy it was there.

There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing.

"This is the Aknowledgment Section," my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed "How is it that? There's no work going on here?" I asked.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" I asked.

"Simple," the angel answered. "Just say, "Thank you, God."

"What blessings should they acknowledge? " I asked.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. "If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

"And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. "

Also .....

"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .... you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.

"If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation .. you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.

"If you can attend a prayer meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.

"If your parents are still alive and still married .. you are very rare.

If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair."

Ok, what now? How can I start?

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

We have to learn to count our blessings.

સ્વાદરસિયા ગુજરાતીઓ..

Interesting article.  Proud to be a Gujarati.
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ગુજરાતી થાળીને આંતરરાષ્ટ્રીયસ્થાન, સ્વાદરસિયા ગુજરાતીઓ.

જગતના સ્વાદરસિયા(ખાઉધરાનહીં) લોકોમાં ગુજરાતીઓ પ્રથમ ક્રમે આવે. આટલી બધી વૈવિઘ્ય પૂર્ણ અને આટલી સંખ્યામાં વાનગીઓ જગતની કોઇ પ્રજા પાસે નહીં હોય. કડવા સિવાયના તમામ રસો જેની જીભેથી ટપકતા હોય અને રસરંજક ખાણું ખાવા સાવસામાન્ય આરામગાહ (રેસ્ટોરાં) આગળ પણ લાઇન લગાવીને ઊભા હોય તો તે માત્ર ગુજરાતી હોઇ શકે.

ગુજરાતી લોકોની જમવાની ટેવ વિશિષ્ટ છે. ભર્યે ભાણે જમવાની આદતને લીધે ગુજરાતી થાળીએ આંતરરાષ્ટ્રીય સ્થાન પ્રાપ્ત કર્યું છે. ગુજરાતી થાળીમાં ઓછામાં ઓછી બાર વાનગીઓ તો હોય જ. જેમ થાળીમાં વધુ વાનગી તેમ સમૃદ્ધિ વધુ. આથી અન્ય પ્રજાની વાનગીઓ નવ ઇંચના વ્યાસવાળી સપાટ ડીશમાં જમી શકાય.

જ્યારે ગુજરાતી થાળી બાર ઇંચના વ્યાસવાળી તો હોય જ, પરંતુ તેને કાંઠા પણ હોય અને તેમાં પાંચ-છ વાટકીઓ પણ હોય તેથી અન્નકૂટ ભરી શકાય. સર્વપ્રથમ તો થાળીમાં રોટલી કે ભાખરી કે પૂરી કે રોટલો કે પરાઠા કે પુરણપોળીમાંથી એક કે બે અગ્નિમાં શેકીને કે તેલમાં તળીને બનાવી શકાય તેવી વાનગી હોય જ.પછી વારો આવે શાકનો. બે જાતનાં શાક તો જોઇએ જ. એક રસાવાળું અને બીજું સૂકું. એવી રીતે બે કઠોળ પણ જોઇએ.  દાળ અથવા કઢી-બેમાંથી એક ચાલે. પછી આવે ફરસાણ. ફરસાણ વિના જીભનો ચટાકો સંતોષાય નહીં. ફરસાણ પણ બે જોઇએ. એક તળેલું અને એક વઘારેલું. ફરસાણ ખવાય ચટણી સાથે એટલે બે પ્રકારની ચટણી જોઇએ. એક તીખી અને એક ગળી. આમ તો ગુજરાતી રસોઇમાં દાળ, શાક અને ફરસાણમાં ઉપલક ગળપણ તો હોય જ. તેમ છતાં બે મીઠાઇ તો જોઇએ જ, તેમાં પણ દૂધના પાયાવાળી-શીખંડ, બાસુદી, ખીર- એક તો હોય જ.

ગળ્યું એટલે ગળ્યું, બીજું બધું બળ્યું. આ બધી વાનગીઓથી થાળ ભરાય પછી પાપડ, અથાણું, કચુંબર(સલાડ) તથા છાશ તો હોય જ.

કાઠિયાવાડી થાળી એ ગુજરાતી થાળીની જ એક બહેન કહી શકાય. તેમાં રોટલા, ભાખરી, ઢેબરાં, ચાનકી વગેરેમાંથી બે-ત્રણ વસ્તુ હોય. રોટલા કે થેપલાં સાથે માખણ ને ગોળ અનિવાર્ય. શાકમાં રિંગણનું ભડથું અનિવાર્ય. મીઠાઇમાં સુખડી, માલપુઆ કે લાડુ. બાકી બધું લગભગ સરખું. આ બંને પ્રકારની થાળીઓને ગીનીઝ બુકઓફ રેકર્ડ્ઝ નોંધાવવી જોઇએ.

ગુજરાતીઓ માટે ભોજન એ માત્ર કેલરીની જરૂર પુરી કરવાનું સાધન નથી. ભોજન એ ઉત્સવનો એક ભાગ છે. ક્યારેક તો ભોજન પોતે જ ઉત્સવ બની જાય છે. ઠાકોરજીને ચડાવતા છપ્પન ભોગ કે અન્નકૂટ ખુદ એક ઉત્સવ છે. શિયાળામાં લીલાં શાકભાજી ભરપૂર પ્રમાણમાં આવે ત્યારે સ્વામિનારાયણ સંપ્રદાય તરફથી શાકોત્સવ યોજવામાંઆવે છે.

અન્નને ઉત્સવ બનાવવામાં સુરતીલાલાનો જોટો ન મળે. નવેમ્બર-ડિસેમ્બર આવતા જુવારનો પોંક (આંધળી વાનીનો પોંક) ઉત્સવ બને. તાપી પાસે રાવટી તાણી પોંક પડાય. કમિંત બસો રૂપિયે કિલો. પોંક સાથે પોંકના ભજિયાં, લીંબુ-મરીની સેવ તથા તીખા તમતા મસાલાવાળી છાશ ખાવા લોકો નદીકાંઠે જ આજમાવે. મોંઘવારીને હુરતી બોલીમાં સ્વસ્તીવચન સંભળાવતા પોંક ખાતા જાય.

પોંકોત્સવ એ સુરતનો વિશિષ્ટ અન્નોત્સવછે. આવું જ ઘારી બાબતમાં છે. શરદપૂનમ પછીનો દિવસ- ચંદીપડવો એ જથ્થાબંધ ઘારી ખાવાનો દિવસ. લોકો ચંદીપડવાની રાતે ભૂંસુ ને ઘારી લઇ કોઇ નીરાંતવા (!) સ્થળે ચાલ્યા જાય અને લગભગ અડધી રાત સુધી ભુંસુ-ઘારી ખાધા કરે. સુરતમાં અન્નોત્સવ ન હોય એવી એક પણ મોસમ નથી. સુરતનું જમણ ને કાશીનું મરણ.

સુરતીલાલને ખાવાના શોખમાં કોઇ ન પહોંચે. પણ બીજાં શહેરો પણ પાછાં પડે તેવાં નથી. નવસારીનું કોલ્હાનું અથાણું-માછલી, ઝીંગા, ચીકન, ડ્રાયફૂટ, કેરી-ખાસ સરકામાં બને અને ફાંઇવ સ્ટાર હોટેલ અનેપરદેશ જાય. વલસાડ અને ઉદવાડાનાં પારસી ધાન-સાકપ્રખ્યાત.

ઉત્તરમસાલા, લીંબુ-મરી, ચોકલેટ, પાઇનેપલ, મેંગો વગેરે દસેક જાતની સિંગ મળે. વડોદરામાં સવારે સવારે પાંચ રૂપિયામાં પુનામીસળ ખાવા લોકો નીકળી પડે. પુનામાં પુનામીસળ નથી મળતું. તેવી જ રીતે સોલાપુર (શોલાપુર)માં સોલાપુરી ચેવડો નથી મળતો. માત્ર વડોદરામાં જ મળેછે.

ભાવનગરને ગાંઠિયાનું ગામ કહેવાય છે. નરસી બાવાના મરીવાળા ગાંઠિયા (મૂળ-અંગુઠિયા) નિકાસથાય છે. એવી જ બીજી ચીજ છે બદામપુરી અને કાજુપુરી. ચારસો રૂપિયે કિલો. વિકલ્પે ભાવનગરના સરેરાશ લોકો બદામપુરી પણ ખાય છે. જો ભાવનગર ગાંઠિયાનું ગામ છે તો રાજકોટ ચેવડાનું ગામ છે.

આજથી પચાસ વર્ષ પહેલાં જયુબિલી બાગના દરવાજે લાકડાની કેબિનમાં ગોરધનભાઇ ચેવડો ને ચટણી વેચતા. આજે તો તેમનાં સગાં-વહાલાંથી બધી થઇને ચાલીસેક ચેવડા અને ચટણીની દુકાનો છે. ચેવડા કરતાં ચટણી વધુ વેચાય છે તેથી ચેવડાના ભાવે ચટણી મળે છે - ચેવડા ઉપરમફત મળતી નથી.

તમને ભૂખ લાગી હોય ને ખીસામાં પૈસા ન હોય તો ઠોંસાગલીમાંથી નીકળવું. બધીજ દુકાનો ભગત પેંડાવાળાની. કોઇક જયસીયારામ ભગત, કોઇ જૂનાભગત વગેરે. પંદર-વીસ પેંડાચાખતાં ગલી પસાર થઇ જાય. એવી જ રીતે ખંભાતનું હલવાસન અને સુરેન્દ્રનગરના સિકંદરની સિંગ અને રેવડી પણ જાણીતાં. ગુજરાતનું એક પણ નગર એવું નથી જ્યાં કોઇને કોઇ ખાવાની ચીજ પ્રખ્યાત નથી. દુકાન પહોળી હોય કે સાંકડી, પણ ચીજ મળે છે ફાંકડી.

એક સમય હતો કે ગુજરાતમાં બહારનું ખાવાનું વજર્ય ગણાતું. મરજાદી કુટુંબો તો માત્ર પોતાના કૂવાનું પાણી જ પીતા. બીજા પાણીથી અભડાઇ જવાય. બહારગામ જવાનું થાય તો અભડાય નહીં તેવું (દૂધમાં રાંધેલું) ભાથું લઇ જવાનું. ચુસ્તપણે ધાર્મિકકુટુંબો કાંદા-લસણ તોશું, બહારનું કોઇપણ રાંધેલું ભોજન ન ખાતા.

મારાં દાદીમા બહારનાં ફળ ખાવા દેતાં, બહારની ચોકલેટ-પીપર ખાઇએ તો દંડ રૂપે સાંજના વાળુમાં દૂધ કે ઘી-બેમાંથી એક ન ખાવાની સજા થતી. ચોકલેટના વિકલ્પે ઘેર સુખડી બનતી. સરકારી નોકરી કરતાં લોકોને નોકરીના ભાગ રૂપે પ્રવાસે જવાનું થાય તો કાચુંસીધું લઇને જતા અને જ્યાં રોકાય ત્યાં જાતે પકાવીને ખાતા.

હજી પણ આપણે ત્યાં એવાં મરજાદી કુટુંબો છે જેનો નવેજ મળતું હોવાથી તે ગલીમાંથી પસાર થતાં નથી.  ડુંગળી-લસણ ખાતા નથી. ચોમાસામાંકંદ ખાતા નથી. દારૂ અને માંસથી પાપ લાગે અને તે લેવાથી નરકમાં જવાય તેવી માન્યતા આજે પણ જીવીત છે.

આ વાતને હજી ૬૦-૬૫થી વધુ વર્ષો થયાં નથી. વિદ્યાર્થીઓ ભણવાઅને યુવાનો નોકરીએ બહારગામ ગયા અને ૧૯૬૦ પછીખાનપાનની ચુસ્તતા તૂટવા લાગી. તેમાં પણખાસ કરીને જાહેર સ્થળે રસોઇ કરનારની જ્ઞાતિ જાણવા મુશ્કેલ બનીપછીથી ખાન-પાનના જ્ઞાતિગત નિયંત્રણો તૂટી ગયાં.

૧૯૬૦ પછી રસોડું બદલાયું. આજે ગુજરાતી ગૃહિણીનું રસોઇઘર ગેસ, ઓવન, મિક્સર, જ્યુસર, ઘંટી, ફ્રીઝ વગેરે તમામ ઉપકરણોથી સજ્જછે. સરેરાશ ગુજરાતી દીવાનખંડ કે શયનખંડની સજાવટ કરતાં રસોઇકક્ષની સજાવટમાં વધારે પૈસા ખર્ચેછે.

ગુજરાતીઓના ખાવાના ચટાકા એટલા વિપુલ છે કે ગુજરાતી આઇટેમ્સની કોઇ પણ યાદી અધૂર જર હેવાની. લગભગ એકસો જાતનાં ભજિયાં અને એકસો જાતના આઇસક્રીમ (તેમાં વળી આઇસક્રીમનાં ભજિયાં) મળતાં હોય ત્યાં સંપૂર્ણ ખાદ્ય યાદી કેવી રીતે બને!

પરપ્રાંતની કે પરદેશની ગુજરાતમાં બનતીવાનગીનું ગુજરાતીકરણ કરવામાં પણ ગુજરાતીઓ એક્કા છે. ચાઇનીઝ ભેળ, જૈન પીઝા, માખણ કે ચીઝના મસાલા ઢોસા કે ઉત્તપમ, વેજિટેરિયન તથા કાંદા વિનાની બર્ગર તેલમાં તળેલાપરાઠા વગેરે વસ્તુઓ જો તે તેવિસ્તારના મૂળ નામે મૂળ લોકોને ખવરાવવામાં આવે તો તેઓ આઘાતપામે.

વળી દરેક વસ્તુમાં ખાંડ તો ખરી જ. સ્વભાવની મીઠાશ જરૂરી છે, ખાદ્યાન્તની મીઠાશ ઝરે છે, આ વાત ગુજરાતીઓ સમજે તો તેમનાં અડધા દર્દોનું આપોઆપ નિવારણ થાય.

Few Lessons to be Learnt..

TRUST

Trust is a very important factor for all relationships. When trust is broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and enmity may result in separation.

A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call. She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She repeated, "PUB." There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line, she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB.Sorry, I got the number from my Husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it is."

Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead of "PUB".

NO POINTING FINGERS

A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?"

The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you."

We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at ourselves.

If we forgive the others, others will ignore our mistake too.

CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS?

A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage, SDU, and requested "I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a suitable one." The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking, polite, humorous , sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing. Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hour, if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest." The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need television."

There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a blind wife and a deaf husband ,because the blind wife cannot see the faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of the wife. Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed of roses. The nightmare begins.

NO OVERPOWERING

Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after marriage. Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a river than a person's character."

It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness.

It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our expectations..

RIGHT SPEECH

There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "A speech will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything without considering if it would hurt the other party.

A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site. A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted,"Hi, Emily! Remember me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me.Otherwise you will be the wife of a construction worker." She answered ,"You should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the millionaire and not you."

Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad relationship. It's like a broken egg - cannot be reversed.

PERSONAL PERCEPTION

Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home,a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey?"Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey.

Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman."

The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders.

It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.

Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is clear..

BE PATIENT

This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy,I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide.

Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed".