Today when I was traveling to office, I encountered and enlightened by an interesting incident.
I was traveling to my office from my home, and the distance would be somewhere around 11 km. While I was driving I saw a man and a dog on the road. The dog was so sensible (or so fearful) to cross the road. But the man was crossing the road, pointing the palm towards the vehicle coming towards him. He was expecting the people who are coming in some 30-45 kmph to stop, so as to cross the road. He was not cared about the no. of people who were stopping (and scolding) in front of him.
They dog waited till this happened and went on to cross the road when people were busy shouting at that man who crossed the road. I said this as an interesting incident at the starting of this passage, but it is also an embarrassing situation for us. Possibly the dog cared either for us or cared for itself. Either way, it was not disturbing others.
This is the attitude we don’t have now. We only care about us. I’m not saying that is not good. We don’t care about other people. I would say that is bad. But while caring about us, we’re hurting others in one way or the other. Now that’s pathetic.
Finally, anything which not affects others and which gives you happiness is good. Even a smile which affects others is a sin. When will we people realize that?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Fervent prayers that go unanswered - From TOI Lifestyle
This is the story of a little girl called Ranu, who grew up studying in a convent, where besides the three R’s, she was taught to pray.
‘‘Ask and you shall receive,’’ says the Bible and Ranu had been trained well in the art of ‘asking’. Not just that, she also learned to do small acts of kindness, to be generous and cultivate virtues. She was taught to remember that her Guardian Angel watched over her constantly.
‘‘Even in the washroom?’’ she had inquired innocently of Mother Christine for which she had been sent away to learn three pages of a history lesson.
In school, she and her other little friends prayed regularly for a variety of favours. Prayers included appeals for a bright, sunny morning on sports day, for flowers to bloom in the manicured school garden in time for the flower show, for seniors at school to perform well in their Board exams ... the list was quite long.
Ranu also had her own little list of personal prayers that she was certain needed immediate attention. “Please, God, give the measles to Miss P Alvarez,” she pleaded, ‘‘ ... for giving me a zero in my drawing test.’’ But Miss Alvarez looked none the worse than she was; in fact, she seemed to look even better with each passing day. Reluctantly, the disappointed Ranu gave up on this.
She didn’t give up praying, however. ‘‘I’ve never fainted at morning assembly,’’ she informed Him, ‘‘though girls around me keep dropping like nine pins. I feel so jealous of them God, especially when they’re fussed over and given a glass of yummy orange juice. Can’t You let me have a blackout too, just once?’’
But no! He had decided to ignore her plea again. She would watch with envy as other girls closed their eyes, raised their hands delicately to press throbbing temples, sway gracefully and collapse in a heap while her own two feet remained firmly anchored and refused to show any sign of weakness.
Then her best friend Anju fractured a bone in her foot. Her foot was now in a cast, and Anju was turned into a hero overnight. Her classmates rallied around her to touch the cast and write little messages of encouragement on the plaster of Paris. Anju’s fan following grew by the day; they followed her around. Ranu’s heart was consumed by envy.
‘‘Can’t you do anything for me? I want to feel important, too. It’s just not fair. I want a fracture. Perhaps you could break my hand ... No, on second thought, i need both hands to do my favourite needle work. Okay, my foot, but not the right one, please.’’
Ranu had no such luck. All her pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears - why wasn’t He listening? It seemed as though she simply did not exist (for Him). She tried her best. She slid down the banisters backwards, raced up and down the staircase three steps at a time and even jumped off the swing in the hope that she would at least sprain her ankle. And what did she get in return? An unscathed body and a summons to appear before Mother Superior in her office!
‘‘Child, we have had enough of your wild ways. You will be gated. No morning walks for you for the next three weeks.’’
For Ranu, who loved nothing more than meandering in the woods that surrounded her school, this was an awful punishment. What would she do?
Later, much later, when life had moved on beyond childish dreams and innocent school girlish demands, when Ranu had grown to adulthood having weathered many challenges in life, she learnt the true value of prayers that go unanswered. And, that when He leaves some prayers unanswered, it is His way of showing that He knows what is best for us. He does answer every single prayer but in His own time and sometimes, when a prayer goes unanswered, that is the answer.
‘‘Ask and you shall receive,’’ says the Bible and Ranu had been trained well in the art of ‘asking’. Not just that, she also learned to do small acts of kindness, to be generous and cultivate virtues. She was taught to remember that her Guardian Angel watched over her constantly.
‘‘Even in the washroom?’’ she had inquired innocently of Mother Christine for which she had been sent away to learn three pages of a history lesson.
In school, she and her other little friends prayed regularly for a variety of favours. Prayers included appeals for a bright, sunny morning on sports day, for flowers to bloom in the manicured school garden in time for the flower show, for seniors at school to perform well in their Board exams ... the list was quite long.
Ranu also had her own little list of personal prayers that she was certain needed immediate attention. “Please, God, give the measles to Miss P Alvarez,” she pleaded, ‘‘ ... for giving me a zero in my drawing test.’’ But Miss Alvarez looked none the worse than she was; in fact, she seemed to look even better with each passing day. Reluctantly, the disappointed Ranu gave up on this.
She didn’t give up praying, however. ‘‘I’ve never fainted at morning assembly,’’ she informed Him, ‘‘though girls around me keep dropping like nine pins. I feel so jealous of them God, especially when they’re fussed over and given a glass of yummy orange juice. Can’t You let me have a blackout too, just once?’’
But no! He had decided to ignore her plea again. She would watch with envy as other girls closed their eyes, raised their hands delicately to press throbbing temples, sway gracefully and collapse in a heap while her own two feet remained firmly anchored and refused to show any sign of weakness.
Then her best friend Anju fractured a bone in her foot. Her foot was now in a cast, and Anju was turned into a hero overnight. Her classmates rallied around her to touch the cast and write little messages of encouragement on the plaster of Paris. Anju’s fan following grew by the day; they followed her around. Ranu’s heart was consumed by envy.
‘‘Can’t you do anything for me? I want to feel important, too. It’s just not fair. I want a fracture. Perhaps you could break my hand ... No, on second thought, i need both hands to do my favourite needle work. Okay, my foot, but not the right one, please.’’
Ranu had no such luck. All her pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears - why wasn’t He listening? It seemed as though she simply did not exist (for Him). She tried her best. She slid down the banisters backwards, raced up and down the staircase three steps at a time and even jumped off the swing in the hope that she would at least sprain her ankle. And what did she get in return? An unscathed body and a summons to appear before Mother Superior in her office!
‘‘Child, we have had enough of your wild ways. You will be gated. No morning walks for you for the next three weeks.’’
For Ranu, who loved nothing more than meandering in the woods that surrounded her school, this was an awful punishment. What would she do?
Later, much later, when life had moved on beyond childish dreams and innocent school girlish demands, when Ranu had grown to adulthood having weathered many challenges in life, she learnt the true value of prayers that go unanswered. And, that when He leaves some prayers unanswered, it is His way of showing that He knows what is best for us. He does answer every single prayer but in His own time and sometimes, when a prayer goes unanswered, that is the answer.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Why arsenal’s title hopes still alive.
After seeing Chelsea drop points against Hull, Arsenal can feel completely hopeful but not relaxed. ‘If Hull can make Chelsea not score, Arsenal also can’ and they has to believe in this. Now that Arsenal will be completing the so called ‘big fixtures’ next week. It’s now time for ManU or Chelsea to face against each other or against the teams which are fighting for the fourth place (most importantly Liverpool). So it would be unfair to say that any of the top two wouldn’t drop points. But that’s not the case with Arsenal. After losing to ManU and Chelsea in the first leg, Arsenal ran an impressive 10 matches without defeat. Arsenal needed ‘a big ManU’ to make them lose again. And if they run an impressive run again, possibly they might not find any team to stop them (as good as ManU or Chelsea). That’s why I feel Arsenal hasn’t lost the title yet.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Go Gunners....!!!
Arsenal was completely pathetic yesterday. ManU played good, but the stated fact of the first sentence takes the credit out of ManU (esp. Nani) and puts it into the hands of Arsenal as a huge debit. The debits in the hands of Arsenal are a horrible goalie, a completely selfish lone forward and a pathetic defensive midfielder (U know I’m not talking about Song).
Alumnia is completely out of sorts, bad in judgment and more importantly don’t know where his bars are. Denilson is pathetic. Instead of running with Rooney, as everybody saw, he was jogging behind him. Whatever might be the reason he might have, but the selfishness of Arshavin is not so pretty. He made some fantastic chances and gave a torrid time to Brown. But still his unwanted quality made him look like a loser. These were the three major reasons which I think handed Arsenal a defeat. But still, I can point some positives of the match which don’t actually matter much. First is the return of Song and presence of him on the pitch was stunning. He’s the only gunner who looked like putting decent challenges. Second is ever improving Vermaelen, who showed no signs of injury.
Now the transfer window is almost closed the chances of Arsene Wenger buying is also closing. So they need to play with group they got. They need to regroup and take it from there. Possibly, Replacing Alumnia and Denilson with Fabianski and Ramsey, and starting with Bendtner would be some good ideas. I still want Arsenal to win their remaining matches and win PL as well. Go Gunners!
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