THE MAYONNAISE JAR

When things in your life seem almost to much to handle, when

24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar......

and the beer.

A Professor stood before his philosophy class and had some

items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly,

he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and

proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then

asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the Professor then picked up a box of pebbles and

poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.

The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The Professor next picked up a box of sand and

poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up

everything else. He asked once more if the jar

was full. The students responded with an unanimous "Yes."

The Professor then produced two cans of beer from

under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar,

effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the Professor, as the laughter subsided,

"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - your family,

your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions-

things that if everything else was lost and only they remained,

your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things 
that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is 
everything else - the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued,

"there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy

on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are
critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to 
get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.

Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

When he had finished, there was a profound silence.

Then one of the students raised her hand and with a

puzzled expression, inquired what the beer represented.

The Professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life

may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."
Source:www.catsprn.com

The gentle, witty, simple monk has been a great source of inspiration to many all over the world irrespective of their religious leanings.

Interesting trivia about the Dalai Lama at

http://www.gluckman.com/DalaiLama.html

"Take into account that great love and great

achievements involve great risk."

"When you lose, don't lose the lesson."
"Follow the three R's: Respect for self, respect
for others and responsibility for all your actions."
"Remember that not getting what you want is
sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck."
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly."
"Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship."
"When you realize you've made a mistake,
take immediate steps to correct it." "Spend some time alone every day."
"Open your arms to change,
but don't let go of your values."
"Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer."

Recipe says "do this"

I cannot stick to "this"

I have to do "that"

"why not try that?"

am I wired differently

that I just have to

tweak it a bit here..

twist it a bit there..

"No one should ever ask themselves that: why am I unhappy?

The question carries within it the virus that will destroy

everything. If we ask that question, it means that we want to

find out what makes us happy. If what makes us happy is

different from what we have now, then we must either change

once and for all or stay as we are, feeling even more unhappy"

बुझ रहे हैं चिराग...

दिल जलाओ के रोशनी कम है...

Bujh rahey hain chiraag...

dil jalao ke roshni kam hai...

Haiku

Space is limited
In a haiku, so it's hard
To finish what you

Came across this on some site-

rib-tickling

DIETERS' ANONYMOUS

Bringing the kids back from school-their last day 
of the year. They are a noisy bunch, ecstatic, thinking 
of the long vacation ahead. Home is just a few blocks 
away. The kids just cannot wait to get in and throw 
away their books-for good!

Huff and puff

huff and puff

I can hear Anju slogging at the myriad machines

trying to melt away her ample derriere

and all those protrusions at the wrong places.

That was a couple of months ago..

The kids’ summer holidays are over

at last to pack them off to school..

after the struggle to keep them occupied

for two long months..

what a relief!

After the razzmatazz of the past few weeks,

chaos reigning supreme everywhere,

suddenly the days seems to have grown longer

with time on my hands to call my own.

That’s when I decided Ill drop in at Anju’s place

With Anju around, time definitely flies

There is no end to what she knows about others

probably she knows others better than she knows herself

or even better than they know their own selves!

I decide to buy her a diet drink

after all I don’t want to be the temptress

to break her fitness regimen

She must have gotten herself an all new wardrobe by now

After all, at the pace of her work-out

it would be impossible to wear her old clothes

that would surely flap about her.

I feel rather self-conscious of the flab that Im carrying

around my waist. May be I can ask Anju to teach me a

few tricks to melt it down in real quick time.

I can hear the chimes of the doorbell echo inside Anju’s house.

I feel my eyeballs popping out of my head

Anju has bloated to twice her earlier self

She gives me a guilty look and I feel equally silly

with the cans of diet drinks which seem to mock her

Over a cup of very sweet milky coffee (may be that’s

the secret of her girth) she confesses how she resolutely

stuck to her workouts but ended up bingeing on twice

her normal quantity of food later. The cycle went on

uninterrupted until one fine day Anju realized this wasn’t

taking her anywhere and she was much better off without

her punishing work out schedules.

Now the machines are neatly stacked in a corner of 

her room. But of course they aren’t wasted

They make good clotheslines and shelves!

Its one of those days..

the argument begins..

Husband wants to go watch a movie at the multiplex

Being my slothful self I prefer curled up in my

favorite chair with the DVD version of the movie

Kid is being the unbiased referee-

not taking sides, game for either options.

Ultimately female decibel power wins

the verdict is out-DVD it is!

The credits start rolling, the opening scene…

The lead actor enters with a swish and a swagger

the heroine flutters her lashes coyly

in her purple and pink ensemble-

so much like the one I wanted to buy the other day

but which both my husband and kid

ruled out firmly saying I may have to

rewind at least twenty years to carry it off-

when all means of dissuasion- pleading,

cajoling, wheedling, sweet-talking failed-

threatening me with tears-to spare them the

embarrassment of being seen with me in this costume-

well, that’s another story altogether..

To cut a long story short, that reminded

me of the call to my friend which was long overdue.

I told them I would be back in a minute after

making that call and to continue watching the movie

My gentlemanly husband said he would wait

for me to finish the call and we could all watch it together.

Luckily for me, my friend is at home all bored

and brimming over with juicy bits of gossip..

Two long hours have passed and

there sits my husband remote in hand

looking visibly aged and covered slightly with dust.

Would anyone blame him for preferring the highly-priced

movie ticket to the easy-on-the-pocket Rs. 20/- DVD?

If I Knew...

If I knew that today would be the last time I’d see you, I would hug you tight and pray the Lord be the keeper of your soul. If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I’d embrace you, kiss you, and call you back for one more. If I knew that this would be the last time I would hear your voice, I’d take hold of each word to be able to hear it over and over again. If I knew this is the last time I see you, I’d tell you I love you, and would not just assume foolishly you know it already.

BATTLE OF THE REMOTE

Ever noticed how the TV Remote triggers our basic instincts and brings out the stone-age war skills in us? The most common areas of dispute are:

       1) Ownership of the TV Remote: this is signified by its being on the arm of the chair/sofa closest to you - it is more important than life itself.
2) On those blood-freezing occasions when you look up from your seat to discover that the TV Remote is still lying on top of the TV, then one of you must retrieve it; who shall it be? And how will this affect (1)?
3) Disappearance of the TV Remote: Precisely who had it last will be hotly disputed, witnesses may be called. Things can turn very nasty indeed when the person who isn't looking for it is revealed to be unknowingly sitting on it.
4) The TV Remote is a natural nomad and sometimes, it goes missing for heart-stopping minutes. During these dark times, someone must actually get up to change the channel; International Law decrees that this, "will not be the person who did it last" - but can this be ascertained? Who will be the referee in such peace-shattering disputes?

Life is tough indeed!

MISSING SOMETHING?

Is this generation missing something? No doubt today’s

kids are better off than us in every conceivable way, be

it technologically or economically.

But arent they ignorant of the little pleasures of life?

In my childhood I could spend a whole day just watching

the hustle and bustle of a railway station-the trains

chugging along, the babble of a million voices, the

mélange of smells, attacking our senses all at the

same time. Train journeys were meant to watch the

ever-changing landscape swish by through the celluloid

of the window. Sure, books, cards, board games were

taken along, just in case, but never saw the light of the

day in the coach.

When I say the best of my childhood days the first

thought that enters my mind is the power-off nights

when the entire neighborhood spills on to the streets-

the adults exchanging notes about their day, the

adolescents sharing their secrets away from the eyes

and ears of their parents, the kids outdoing each other

in creating a racket-a festive element in the air that

lasts until the EB bestows its kindness on the locality.

As kids we used to accompany my father to the

vegetable market. The compensation for putting up

with the discomforts of the noisome cacophony of the

place was usually a parrys toffee. But if the trip takes

a longer time or the load is heavier than usual we were

treated to a gas-filled balloon each. The bags would be

weighing in both our hands and the balloon’s thread

held by the teeth. Throughout the long trip home we

took care to hold on to the precious thread. Father

would deliberately keep asking us something or the

other provoking us to open our mouths and let go of

the gas balloon. Bringing our spoils home was in itself

an adventure.

I cannot imagine today’s kids sitting idle on a train

without their books, ipods, laptops and whatnot

and still complain about getting bored.

Walking to the market, what was that??

Its as if we run on electricity too,

no-power days are literally so.

Where have all the little pleasures gone?

Do our kids even realize it?

But then only if you have something

will you miss it when its gone

Ignorance is bliss after all!