God Answers !

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.

The worst had happened - everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. God, how could you do this to me he cried. Early the next day, however, he was wakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island.

It had come to rescue him. How did you know I was here asked the weary man of his rescuers. We saw your smoke signal, they replied.

It's easy to get discouraged sometimes when things appear to be going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive answer for it.

Share this on, you never know whose life may be in need of this today. There are some times that we all feel our huts are burning.

Smile... Your Everlasting Smile...

Be nice and smile to everyone you meet.
You don’t know what they are going through,
and they might just need that smile.
At least for a moment, it would make a lot of difference to them.

Life gives us many such moments to make others feel better.
For tomorrow when you feel low,
someone might smile and you may feel better.

Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world. -- Lawrence G. Lovasik

I Support This Foundation... Do You ?
Smile Foundation NGO India

A Walk To Remember...

Backache, strained eyes, muscular pain, insomnia, upset stomach... sounds familiar... isn't it ? Few very common problems of working professionals like us... and moreover we all know the reason... our unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits... but the worst part is, even after knowing the reason we don't do anything about it... we just keep on crying over our problems and making excuses, but don't want to make any efforts from our side.

"Early to bed and early to rise" has become a thing of past... it is now more of "Late to bed and late to rise". We come late from work or party till late hours...go to bed late...  wake up late... no time for workouts or morning walks... no time to prepare or even eat, healthy breakfast... just rush to office and grab onto any unhealthy thing to eat on the way. This fast food culture is one of the major causes of our ill health... but then we all know that.. don't we ? But who cares...

This careless attitude is the second big reason for all these health problems... we simply don't care... these backaches and body-aches come and go on their own... if they bother us a bit more we take a pain killer or two... go for walks for a couple of days and then back to our same careless attitude. Everyday we go to bed thinking we'll definitely go for a walk tomorrow but then that tomorrow comes for how many of us ?

Another good excuse that we all make is..."We have a very tight schedule... we don't have time for all this..." But come to think of it are we really that busy ??? Can we not give even one hour or 30 mins to ourselves... of course we can... we all can... provided we are determined...

This unhealthy lifestyle is causing a lot of problems... first and foremost our body immunity is weakening day by day and we are becoming allergic to a hell lot of things... believe me friends we all are living in peril and with a whole lot of new diseases showing up everyday we are being exposed to a greater danger.

Come on guys... lets start caring for our body before it stops caring for us !!!

Come Let's Spread Some Sweetness !!!

Of late I've been quite engrossed by "Is Diwali Kyun Na Kuchh Mithaas Ho Jaaye" advertisement of Cadbury's Dairymilk. The concept of Cadbury's new diwali campaign is to seed the thought of sharing and bringing happiness to people's lives... quite a nice concept and all the stories in the ads are really inspiring and you actually start thinking what you can do to bring a bit of happiness, smile and sweetness in the life of those around you when they ask in the ad "to bataaiye aap kise is diwali khush kar rahe hain"

Come let's join hands and celebrate this Diwali with a different fervor and in a different style... let's not just enlighten our home... let's stretch the boundaries and enlighten others' life by spreading some smile and some mithas in their lives too...

I read this article related to the campaign in Times Of India, a couple of days back and thought of sharing it with you all.

(Click on the article to view the large image.)

Article Courtesy : Times Of India, Lucknow

25th Sep 2009

A Woman of Substance !!!

Dr. Kiran Bedi... heard about her for the first time when long time back a serial named "Udaan" was aired on Doordarshan, the serial was said to be inspired from the life of Dr. Bedi, a small town girl who went on to become the first woman IPS Officer of India... i was just a small kid then... still i remember the fervor and eagerness with which we used to wait for its telecast... the kind of motivation and inspiration the life of that small town girl brought to us is inexplicable.

Yesterday I was reading an interview of Dr. Bedi published in "Times of India" and suddenly all those memories got revived and i was inspired once again by her life... this time to write this article to show my admiration and gratitude to her for being my role model since childhood !!
Kiran Bedi, a retired controversial IPS Officer and a social activist, was born in Amritsar, Punjab on June 9, 1949. She is the second of the four daughters of her parents, Prakash Lal Peshawaria and Prem Lata Peshawaria. She did her schooling from Amritsar, inherited passion for tennis from her father, joined NCC, earned a Master’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Chandigarh, topping the University. Even while in active service in the Indian Police, she continued her educational pursuits, and obtained a Law degree (LLB) in 1988 from Delhi University, Delhi. In 1993, she did her Ph.D. in 'Drug Abuse and Domestic Violence' from the Department of Social Sciences, the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
She began her career as a Lecturer in Political Science (1970-72) at Khalsa College for Women, Amritsar, India. But she was not satiated with this career and had some more important missions to take on in her life. In July 1972, she joined the Indian Police Service... as she states she joined the police service "because of my urge to be outstanding".
She served in a number of tough assignments ranging from Traffic Commissioner of New Delhi, Deputy Inspector General of Police in insurgency prone Mizoram, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau and also on a United Nations deputation, where she became the Civilian Police Advisor in the United Nations peacekeeping department,and for which she was awarded with the UN medal. She is popularly referred to as Crane Bedi for towing the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's car for a parking violation (the PM was on tour of United States then).
The path to success and glory has never been smooth... but the respect, adulation and accolade that you receive in return evens out the rough and coarse path... Dr. Bedi's life also has been full of controversies but they are a part and parcel of being a pioneer.. aren't they?
Her excellent PR work for her prison reforms policies lead to her winning, the 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award. Subsequently, she has founded two NGOs in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing in 1987[2] and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms, drug abuse prevention, child welfare in 1994.
She voluntarily retired from IPS in December, 2007. After retirement she has launched a new website, www.saferindia.com The motto of this website is to help people whose complaints are not accepted by the local police. This project is undertaken by the non-profit, voluntary and non-government organization, India Vision Foundation. She is also hosting the TV show Aap Ki Kachehri Kiran Ke Saath on Star Plus.

Outstanding... yes she is... A Super Cop... A Super Human...

"The Motivating Bedi" - A Woman of Substance !!!

I salute her for being such a wonderful woman... Do you ?

(Information Source : Wikipedia)

Want to know more about her ? Here are some links...
Kiran Bedi on Wikipedia
Kiran Bedi's Website
Kiran Bedi's Blog

(Click on the picture to read the interview)

Give Your Best To Relationships

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her.

The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed. The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.

That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn’t sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

Moral of the story:
If you don’t give your hundred percent in a relationship, you’ll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent..

This is applicable for any relationship like love be it between parent-child, husband-wife, girl-boy or brother-sister, employer-employee relationship or friendship.

Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully.

Conquer Your Weakness !!!

(Photo Courtesy : Michelle St.Sauveur)

This is a story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Sensei intervened. "No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defence for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's greatest weakness had become his greatest strength.