Random thoughts

Monday Morning Inspiration # 75

2009-07-06T19:24:00.003+05:30

I will never forget what my old headmaster told taught me. Normally when you are only 15 years of age you do not remember most of the things that are preached by your teachers. But, this particular story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I get reminded of this story.

It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly, and he was addressing the students on important things in life and about committing ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went:

An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.

His house was filthy, and a stench came out of the house and it smelled horribly. The neighbors could not stand the smell anymore, so they summoned the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house in anticipation to share the good news with him. When he arrived home that evening, he was met by one the officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.
He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train, and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.

Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing, commitment.
We should remain true to our course; which may mean committing yourselves to things that people around you would normally disapprove. Let nothing distract us from being happy, let nothing else determine our fate, but ourselves.

What makes us happy is what matters in the end, not what we acquire.

To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here.

Courtesy: Internet

Sunset @ SRM

2009-07-03T13:30:00.002+05:30

Sunset at my University captured from my hostel block :)

End of Vacation

2009-07-03T13:24:00.002+05:30

OMG! I guess this is the first time a month has gone by so soon .. Really .. It's been one helluva vacation .. Yeh Dil maange more *sigh* ..

Monday Morning Inspiration # 74

2009-06-29T19:50:00.004+05:30

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" Mom asked.

"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.
This young child waited about another minute and repeated, "Mom, let's run through the rain."
"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.
"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"
"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If God let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.
Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories... So, don't forget to make time and take opportunities to make memories everyday.

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.

To read other Monday Morning Inspiration clicke here.

Monday Morning Inspiration # 73

2009-06-22T19:57:00.002+05:30

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

To read other Monday morning Inspiration click here.

I am 2 !!

2009-06-13T00:12:00.004+05:30

With this 350th post of mine I am so happy and proud to say that it has been 2 wonderful years in blogsville .. Yup, my blog turns 2 yrs. old today *drums roll* . Well, this 350th post on this day was jus' a coincidence and I am really happy at that. And for those of you wondering whats with my new background .. well, I jus' wanted to give my blog a new makeover .. not completley though..

Blogging to me started as a very casual time pass kinda activity , which turned out to become a hobby to one of my most loved passion , I was even able to earn out of my blog and the best of all it made me realise the writer in me and brought into my life a wonderful set of blogger friends.

In fact I started my Monday morning Inspiration columns only coz blogging inspired me so much to understand myself better and was one of the few things that kept my life going in some of the not so good phases of my life. Now, I am deeply rooted to my blog .. thou' I ve started many other blogs this one of them that I update regularly and I feel guilty if I dont.

At this very happy moment I would like to bow and thank all my fellow blog buddies who have been here , shared your views and supported me all the way into my second successful year of blogging .. Thank you so so much !! I'm happy to say I'm growing with my blog and all my blogger friends :)

P.S. I'm off to my native place for a few days and will be back soon.

Facebook quiz , the movie and my life ..

2009-06-12T23:55:00.004+05:30

I ve kinda got addicted to these quizes on facebook of late and during one of the quiz which was about to which bollywood movie my life resembled to - after answering a series of questions the answer I got was Na Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na . Well, I hadn't watched the movie back then.

But, the answer to the quiz made me curious and even more were the comments which I recieved from my friends stating that is so true and I'm so like Genelia in that movie .. Couple of days back I decided on downloading and watching it. Well, I don' really know if it resembles my life or I would rather say 'may be it does' .

As for the movie, it was a little boring in the beginning but loved it later on. A very cute story, it would have been a lil silly sometimes but then I totally liked it may be coz it was said to be similar to my life :)

From my new laptop .. yay!!

2009-06-09T23:59:00.002+05:30

We (Me and my friend D) got our new laptops delievered this evening . It is a Sony Vaio CS21GN. I couldn't contain my excitement until tomorrow to wait for the service engineers to arrive to set our laptops and load the necessary softwares on to it .

Almost an hour ago, I along with my parents started unveiling my laptop and now its totally configured except for a few softwares which should also be done positively by tomorrow. I'm excited!!!!

I was jus' a little confused when the settings asked for a name for my new laptop. I'm open to suggestions :) I totally love my old laptop as well and I don' think I will get away with her, probably will jus' set it right and have it along as well .

Monday Morning Inspiration # 72

2009-06-08T14:31:00.003+05:30

About 6 months ago, I joined a gym. Every morning, there is one personal trainer there that works out at the same time that my little group does our workout. He does his "routine" with such a quiet determination that he makes it all look very easy; although I know all too well how hard he is working. When I am tempted to whine and quit, I watch him push himself to his own limits, and I find myself motivated to work as hard and without complaint.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching him do chin ups. He made them look effortless. I broke away from my group and asked him if I could try a chin up. I had never tried before, but he just made it look so easy. He eagerly stepped aside and encouraged me to step up to the bar. I pulled myself up without thinking...once...then twice. That was all I had in me, I had no strength left. I told him that was all I had, so he stepped up behind me and pushed me up for a third and fourth "pull." It felt so good. I felt strong and I smiled from ear to ear.

The next day when I was done my workout, I asked him to spot me again. Again, I did two. Again on day three and so on. I thought it was pathetic that I could only do two, but when I came to the gym at the end of the week, he was standing there just shaking his head. When I asked him what was up, he said he was impressed with my chin ups. He told me that when they are training firefighters, the men are required to do 5 chin ups, and women are required to do 1 or 2. He explained that most people can't do them at all, and that he was impressed that I could. He further told me that if I practiced every day, I would be doing 5 or 6 in no time. At this point I should probably add that I am 50 years old...and female.

The moral of this story...because I didn't know any better, because he told me I could, I saw no reason to doubt. I just jumped in and gave it a try - and I did it! I didn't see it as a great accomplishment, because I didn't realize that it was difficult and it became my goal to get stronger. No one told me I couldn't do it, in fact, I was encouraged to try. Had he told me initially how difficult it was, I more than likely would not have tried at all. Or I might have tried, but given it only half an effort, because failure would have been the expectation. I applaud him for letting me believe that for me, it was not only a possibility, but that success was a realistic expectation.

How many times have we decided not to try at all because we were told that we couldn't, that we shouldn't, that we had expectations that were too ambitious? How many times have we told our children, our friends and our co-workers that they couldn't do something; that their ideas were impossible or beyond reach? How many times have we told ourselves that we would fail before we even started?

I started to ponder examples that I had witnessed and this came to mind...I recalled a conversation a friend of mine had with his daughter just prior to her heading off to university. He spoke to her (with good intentions) of how hard she would have to work in order to succeed. University wasn't like High School - this was the real world and now she would have to grow up. This child quit after two years. Another friend spoke to her daughter of the adventure she was embarking on and how proud she was. I remember how we laughed because the mother already had her outfit picked out for convocation day! This child just graduated with her degree in physiology. Looking back, neither daughter was more intelligent than the other. Was it the silent expectations (or lack thereof) that predicted the outcome?

I have a new approach now. I have experienced first hand how good it feels to rush in so innocently. To believe that we CAN do it and go on to accomplish exactly what we set out to do, because no one told us we couldn't. I've learned how important it is to support others (and ourselves) in our endeavors and to let them know that we believe they can do it rather than telling them we think that they can't.

I personally want to be like my trainer; standing there behind the people that I love, encouraging them, believing in them and being ready to catch them when they get tired. I will be the one that is there on the second and third day making sure they try again, because I know they CAN.

What a powerful lesson this has been for me. I'll be doing "5" in no time at all. Because I was told I CAN.

- Jan Graham

To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here.

Adventurous weekends ..

2009-06-08T00:00:00.004+05:30

My last two weekends have been pretty much a thrilling experience , though I knew my last weekend was going to turn out to be that way , this weekend came up a s a shock.

First, my last weekend
This time over for the vacations we were asked to completely vacate the hostel as our college some renovation plans for the hostel and they didn't want the students to leave behind their stuff . This turned out to be such a messy situation in the hostel expecially during exams running around hunting for carton boxes, getting all your stuffs into it and it was even worse for those of them from various other parts of the country coz they can't be carrying so much stuff back and forth along with them.

So few of them decided to courier few big bags and most of the other stuffs were dumped into an apartment where few of my friend's stay. Well, I didn't have much of these prob. since my home was conveniently located in Chennai.

So, I was out there helping few of my friends move their luggage to the apartment and this is how we did it ..

Whaat fun we had in the car .. LOL! This is one of those moments that I would cherish in my college life :)

This weekend is again to do with the car but not on a very positive note .. My parents, I and my friend D were planning to check out laptops, so we thought we could head to E-zone close to OMR Road . Sometime a little before noon we started form my place and the car was not proper , before even we could move it out of our flats we encountered that there was some prob and we decided on taking the other car , that s when I opted to drive it to the place.

Things were going pretty fine and I was even thrilled that I could use the fourth and fifth gear driving in Chennai, don' really remeber using them in the recent past. It was on the roads of Tidel park that I was trying to contain the excitement of my driving skills , as the lanes were beautiful and that's one place I love driving in the Chennai city and a little later I found the music system stopped functioning and then the A/C and after a while I couldn' honk either ..

I jus' thought this was fine and we jus' put down our windows and continued only to realise a little later that something was wrong with the speedometer as well. So, I jus' went ahead to stop the car in a corner and I'm happy I did that as teh car didn't strt therafter .. what if it had got stuck in some signal :D .. After a little bit of hushingand pushing we decided to take autos and there we were finally at the shop :)

We've decided on a Sony Vaio 14' inch , 2GB ram, 160 gb hard disk with Vista business . I'm pretty much excited about my new laptop thou' my old one has been a darling to me for the last four years.

Hoping my weekdays are as much fun too ;) Have a great weekahead ppl :)

What am I doing this vacation ??

2009-06-05T12:33:00.003+05:30

I'm jus settling into my holidays, these few days of my vacation got me into myraid of emotional twists and turns jus' reminding me that life s not always about fun :)

All that apart, got loads of things to do in my month long vacation ..

CLEAN MY ROOM

Got loads of books in hand which are unread - so gotto read them atleast now

Lottsa movies to catch up with - Umpteen movies I ve collected from all possible sources.

Got a whole bunch of school friends whom i ll be meeting this vacation as most of them are leaving to other cities and countries in a few months.

We've got this grand re-union plan going on , that would be some fun tym again ..

Prepare for my various entrance exams (I know this has been coming up in all my things to do in vacation list for so many times now .. But this time I have to prepare, no other go).

Planning for a short visit to my native place

Got to prepare the paper for the International conference thats coming up next month.

A lil bit of shopping..

Graduate from driving Corsa to Civic

I guess that pretty much sums up most of it! And with all this ofcourse comes the T20 world cup :)

I would jus' be more than happy if I could fit all of this into my month long vacation.

Vacation !!

2009-06-03T00:31:00.003+05:30

Vacation - this word sounds like bliss to me , not that I have been working round the clock all these days but still vacations bring in so much more fun and life into the ever so monotonous month full of exams ..

With the T20 world cup round the corner, loads of titsy bitsy work to be done, lots of meet ups scheduled since most of my friends from school are leaving abroad for higher studies in a month or two , re-unions, shopping (I guess I make a seperate post on what I am gonna be upto this vacation , as there are a whole lot of stuff to be done .. )

And of course our very own blogging . Lot more posts coming up and will soon be there blog hopping into all your spaces. Have a great week ahead people! :)

Happy 5th weekend of the month ..

2009-05-31T17:52:00.002+05:30

Hey did you realise this month May had 5 weekends contrary to what my school taught me that there were only four weekends to a month. I jus' got a forward from my friend yesterday which actually made me realise this fact in between my on going semester exams . It seems this kinda thing happens only once in 783 years.

Interesting!! What did you guys do in this historic weekend ?? Well,I was upto some good fun filled crazy stuff about which I ll be posting after my exams :)

Happy fifth weekend of the month ppl! Have a good time :)

Monday Morning Inspiration # 71

2009-05-25T13:50:00.003+05:30

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room .... just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away, just for this time in my life."

She went on to explain, "Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing."

And with a smile, she said, "Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less."

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

Exams Vs IPL

2009-05-23T23:37:00.002+05:30

The IPL series has been such a fun one with me and my friends in college .. With friends from all over the country we actually have atleast one native supported for all IPL teams in our gangs . And when the teams take over each other at the grounds of South Africa .. OMG! What debates we have .. well, not to forget the bets for chocolates and ice creams too ...

When life seemed so fun with IPL as we hardly noticed our model exams go by .. The semester exams demended our attention for the fear of arrear and boy! adding to this was the distraction of IPL and calls from the team supporters ..

Me a die hard Chennai supporter with Dhoni and Muthiah murali Dharan being my favourites .. I'm nw deeply dis- appointed with Chennai not being able to get into the finals .. Well, never mind it was still a tough semi final .. I'm now looking forward for the world cup T20 that is soon to begin ..

And about my exams .. 3 down and 4 more to go .. I'm jus looking to get donw with them and I've already got loads of plans for my month long vacation ..

P.S. It is jus' that I have my exams going on and thats the reason I'm not able to drop by your blogs regularly or update mine either .. Jus' waiting to get into hols to get back into my blogging tempo! c ya all till then .. Take care and have a great weekend ..

For the IPL T20 finals .. I'm for Royal Challengers Bangalore .. Manish Pandey seems to be a good bet ;)

I'm gonna turn 21 ..

2009-05-13T21:59:00.002+05:30

It is my birthday tomorrow and I'm already pretty hyper about it :) .. Will update about my day in this space in 24 hours :)

I Voted !!

2009-05-13T21:53:00.003+05:30

For the first time I voted today .. Yay!

Monday Morning Inspiration # 70

2009-05-11T13:53:00.003+05:30

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ' God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

God led the holy man to two doors.. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand..'

It is simple,' said God . 'It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

Remember that I will always share my spoon with you !

Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.

Courtesy: My uncle's mail

To read other Monday Morning Inspirations click here.

My Summer cravings ..

2009-05-06T15:42:00.002+05:30

Most of us would associate summer with juices, water melon, tender coconut, lassi, butter milk et all . But for me its Paani puri and god knows why ? I get this weird craving for paani puri especially in summer , do you get any such cravings ??

I'm already planning to head to the chaat shop opposite my home to get today's quote of PP :)

Scenty Affair

2009-05-05T19:55:00.003+05:30

There have always been certain smell that has appealed to our olfactory senses and few of my all time favourites are the smell of wet sand especially when the rain kisses the ground , Scent of jasmine, smell of Jhonson baby powder - it gives me a sense of freshness , smell of my favourite food as my grand mom cooks , smell of new clothes, smell of nail polish remover , smell when brownies or choc cookies are being baked . Well, I'm jus' starting to turn hungry .. These lovely scents have always been a treat to my nose and senses :)

As a kid I always had this habit of collecting perfume/scent bottles especially the small ones that come as a set. The last time I remember collecting was a couple of years backa nd the only brand I could recall at the moment is Nina Ricci . Loved it!

Monday Morning Inspiration # 69

2009-05-04T23:36:00.003+05:30

I had just come from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum.

From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered. This was one of those "don't want to be bothered times." I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought. He didn't. He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke. "That's a very pretty car," he said. He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly blond beard keep more than his face warm. I said, "thanks," and continued wiping off my car.

He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between us widened something inside said, "ask him if he needs any help." I was sure that he would say "yes" but I held true to the inner voice. "Do you need any help?" I asked. He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall never forget. We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments.

I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He spoke the three words that shook me. "Don't we all?" he said.

I was feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above a bum in the street, until those three words hit me like a twelve gauge shotgun.

Don't we all?

I needed help. Maybe not for bus fare or a place to sleep, but I needed help. I reached in my wallet and gave him not only enough for bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for the day. Those three little words still ring true. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too. No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help.

Even if it's just a compliment, you can give that. You never know when you may see someone that appears to have it all. They are waiting on you to give them what they don't have. A different perspective on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respite from daily chaos, that only you through a torn world can see. Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger wandering the streets. Maybe he was more than that.

To read other Monday Morning Inspiration click here.

Beating the heat

2009-04-29T22:13:00.002+05:30

It's that time of the year when mercury levels in Chennai and most other parts of India soar. In a city with climate ranging from hot, hotter to hottest - it is also the time when students like me are bombarded with exams from all directions and the worst of all is getting back home mid day after an exam , I truly feel like a sizzler.

Apart from all this, me being a summer person these are all the stuffs I do everyday to beat the heat:

Wear cotton clothing
Have a face wash as and when possible
Find a seat right under the fan
Have a juice right after the exam
A butter milk and lassi at Tambaram station
A bottle of water at Chetpet station
Keep the A/C on.
Watermelon and Tender coconut water :)

Ice- creams to be added on the list at the earliest :)

What's the weather like at your place ?

Chicken a la carte - true story of hunger and poverty

2009-04-24T15:40:00.001+05:30

A friend of mine passed on the link of this video during one of the random chats in Orkut today .. I was deeply touched and thought I should share it with you all..

Ayan - Movie Review

2009-04-23T11:15:00.004+05:30

I finally caught up with Surya and Tamana starer Ayan last night at Inox with my parents. The long delay in catching up with the movie was due to my semester practical exams which jus' got over 2 days back .

As for the movie - as always Surya was at his best , Tamana was good too and all the other actors did a great job as well .. The songs were bautifully scened but the only thing I didnt like much about the film was the violence factor , guess it was a little over board . It was a complete entertainer otherwise - jus' couldn't figure out how the time flew by :)

Today I have a holiday cause of bandh .. yay!! A much needed one after those dreadful prac. exams

Monday Morning Inspiraton # 68

2009-04-20T23:14:00.003+05:30

If you read the front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, Dec 15, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.

The fifty-foot whale was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her her tail, her torso and a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her - a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.

To read other Monday morning Inspirations click here.