You might be a guy looking for some unique wedding proposal ideas. Ofcourse, it’s crunch time buddy! There has to be something really exciting about it!!

This YouTube video is a wonderful compilation of real life incidents of guys proposing their dream girls and making them go crazy. Take a look:

Words Of Wisdom: And hey! Don’t pay too much attention to the ‘price of the diamond ring’. Trust me, it’s a complete waste of time. The ring that you will be presenting itself is a ‘priceless’ token of honor for the bondage of love that you share with your lady love.

The mathematician called his son and asked, “What is more valuable – gold or silver?” “Gold,” said the son. “That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son.”

So the son of the mathematician told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression. “Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver.”

The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin. “Why don’t you pick up the gold coin?” he asked. In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. Turning to his father, the mathematician’ s son said, “The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money.”

Words Of Wisdom: Sometimes in life, we have to play the fool because our seniors and our peers, and sometimes even our juniors like it. That does not mean we lose in the game of life. It just means allowing others to win in one arena of the game, while we win in the other arena of the game. We have to choose which arena matters to us and which arenas do not.

The mouse realized that he was in big trouble. Hence he retreating to the farmyard and proclaimed this warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM! I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”

The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap all alone…

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house – the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. Unfortunately the snake went on to bit the lady.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she still had a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient – the chicken!

But his wife’s sickness continued. Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig!

But, alas, the farmer’s wife did not get well. She eventually died.

Large number of people came for her funeral and the farmer had to slaughter the cow to provide enough meat for all of them for the funeral luncheon.

And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

Words Of Wisdom: The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn’t concern you, remember – when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry. Our lives are woven together for a reason. One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend.

Keep Smiling

There was a salesman called Ramesh in Kerala, a state in the southern part of India. He was honest, polite and hard working. It was the month of June (start of monsoon in Kerala) when he got his first assignment in his new office. He was given the a list of people whom he has to approach and sell the product. Surprisingly he realized that the list is full of local Kerelean laundry owners. He got scared and thought he won’t be able to achieve the desired target. He approached his senior Monty but got not much help. So he went back to his desk, thought for a moment and accepted the challenge as he had no other option.

The next day he started approaching the laundry owners and within 15 days he got some really nice response. Almost 80% of them purchased his product but in credit and everyone promised to pay him off within the next 15 days. He was very happy as he knew that his job is almost done! So was his senior Monty. But he didn’t knew that the next one month was going to be tougher than what he was thinking of.

On the last week of June amidst heavy showers he started visiting the laundry owner’s place to collect money. Upon visiting half of them he realized he has collected not a single penny. And the same trend continued for the next 7 days. He was frustrated, demoralized, impatient and so was his senior Monty. Ramesh explained everything to Monty including peculiar behavior he noted amongst the laundry owners – whenever he knocked the owners, they used to look at the sky before asking him to come the next day. Listening this his senior smiled once and said that he is ‘on track’ and will soon get some good results. He never realized for once what his payment has to do with the sky!

After almost 14 days, on a bright sunny monday morning he started visiting the laundry owners once again. Though it was the monsoon season it didn’t rain heavily for the last three days. Suddenly by noon Ramesh realized that he has collected the payments from almost 50% of the owners which was almost unbelievable. He worked hard through out the day and by the day end he had completed 90% of his target for June and July. He was very happy and so was his senior. By month end he went on to become the ’star performer’ for the month of June, July and was handed over the letter of confirmation by the management. It was like a roller coaster ride for him.

Yet he wondered what the sky has to do with the payment. Why the laundry owners used to look at the sky and tell him to come the next day? To solve this mystery he went to a laundry owner and asked the same question. The owner laughed at him and said “Son this is the month of monsoon and we have to wash the clothes, dry them off, iron them before handing them off to the customers. Now if the sun doesn’t shine how can we dry our clothes, earn money to pay you?”. Ramesh recollected his memories and smiled at the owner and realized that it was his patience and endurance that kept him going and ultimately helped him achieve the pinnacle of success.

Like Ramesh everyone of us should realize that apart from being a honest hard worker if we can keep our patience and wait for our turn to come, we are inching towards the ladder of success! Keep smiling

He said he would forgo the farmer’s debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter.

He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven.
2. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven.
3. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer’s field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag.He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

What would you recommend to the girl to do?

Well, here is what she did…

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

“Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one.

And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one!

Conclusion of the Story

Most complex problems do have a solution. It is only that we don’t attempt to think.

When the mind is alert, sharp and calm while facing any problem, there definitely would crop a good solution to it whereas if the mind is too agitated, depressed and fidgety, the brain loses its ability of positive “thinking” and everything seems blank and bleak with no solution that the mind forces a person to take drastic and negative measures like commit suicide or a crime as an immediate solution.

If we can understand the problem, the answer will come out of it because the answer is not separate from the problem!

Also, the important thing about a problem is not its solution, but the strength we gain in finding the solution!

Next time you face a problem, consciously make an attempt to think more clearly, cleverly and calmly…and you will surely find the best solution for it.

But the ache persisted with great vigor than before. At last a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients was called for by the millionaire. The monk understood his problem and said that for sometime he should concentrate only on green colors and not to fall his eyes on any other colors. The millionaire got together a group of painters and purchased barrels of green color and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall to be painted in green color just as the monk had directed.

When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire’s servants ran with buckets of green paints and poured on him since he was in red dress, lest their master not see any other color and his eye ache would come back.

Hearing this the monk laughed and said “If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, worth just a few rupees, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also could have saved a large share of his fortune. You cannot paint the world green!”

Let us change our vision and the world will appear accordingly. It is foolish to shape the world, let us shape ourselves first.

It is understood that, there are a number of Upanishads in different names. The numbers so far discovered in written form are said to be one hundred twenty. Out of these, thirteen – namely Kattha, Kena, Isha, Prashna, Mundak etc. said to be the oldest, are attached greater importance.

The hermits who lived in different times during the latter part of the Vedic era, visualized the Truth by revelation. We can know all about the ‘ Truth of Oneness and Divinity ‘ from the Upanishads – recorded therein for enlightenment of the blessed souls who love God for love’s sake and not for any material gain and try to see the light which enlightens the heart of everyone.

Upanishads have been translated in different language of the world -such as Farsi, Latin, English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Czech, Japanese etc. The Mughal emperor Shahjahan’s eldest son Dara Sikoh was a religious and conscientious person having vast knowledge of Holy Quran and other sacred writings. He had also acquired a very good knowledge of Sanskrit. Being very much impressed by the Truth revealed by the hermits, he translated fifty-two Upanishads in Farsi and named it ‘Sir-ree Akbar’ – which means’ Rahasya Vidya’ (Study on Misticism). Many Pundits had the impression that the meaning of Upanishad is “Rahasya Vidya” and for that reason presumably, he had also given such name to his translated works.

Swami Vivekananda presented the world the Message of Vedanta, meant for entire mankind irrespective of religion, nationality or any particular time. He gave a clarion call to all and sundry to take up one of the hymns from Upanishad as the regulatory law of human lives – ” Uttisthata Jagrata Prapya Baran Nibodhata.” The English version of this adage as done by Swamiji – “Arise, Awake And Stop Not Till The Goal Is Reached.”

All of you must have read ‘Aesop’s Fables’. You have seen the way Jesus Christ imparted education or used to give advice to his disciples with the help of short stories. Likewise, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansadeva also with the help of short stories or allegories, used to teach those who came to offer prayer to him and seek advice. The great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa had used umpteen numbers of allegories in his verses. Hence it is expressed in a proverb — ‘Upama Kalidasasya.’ Famous writer Achinta Kumar Sengupta in a book written by him, while mentioning about the numerous allegories made by Sri Ramakrishna, inserted therein a significant remark – “No no, no more Upama Kalidasasya. Henceforth Upama Ramakrishnasya.”

I tell you this because sometimes – knowingly or unknowingly – we fall behind and ultimately fail to reach our cherished goal. Sri Ramakrishna told a very fine story about how to go ahead towards the goal in our lives. May be you will like to hear the story from me.

A woodcutter used to earn his livelihood by cutting trees in the forest and selling the wood in the market. One day, he failed to find salable wood even after searching for a long time. He was very much disappointed because he had no money to buy food. When he was coming back from the forest with a broken heart, he saw a sage sitting under a tree on the other side of the forest.

The woodcutter pondered – “Should I ask him if he can help me to get wood and earn my bread.” He hesitated for a few moments, but lastly decided to approach the sage.

In reply to his query, the sage turned his eyes on him and only uttered — “Go ahead “.

Contemplating his luck, he started moving ahead. A time came when he reached in such a place where there was plenty of wood. His mind was filled with joy. He collected wood as much as he could carry. That day he earned enough money, which he did never get in the past.

Next day, once again he started moving towards that place where there was enough wood available for a few more days. When he almost reached that place, suddenly it came to his mind that the sage had advised him to go ahead. “So why should I stop here. What is the harm if I go forward a bit more farther” — he said to himself.

This time he reached in such a place, which was full of sandalwood. On that day, he could earn much more than the previous day. In this way, keeping in mind the advice of the sage -he advanced farther and farther. As a sequel — he went on reaching, at first silver mine, then a gold mine and finally a diamond mine.

The story thus reveals that the woodcutter, even after getting at the very beginning much more than he ever expected did not stop, but marched forward as advised by the sage and as a result could lay his hands upon wealth.

Likewise you may also march forward without being thwarted by the odds that may come in your way to success so as to reach your cherished goal.

Wish you all the best.

Let you be inspired by the Eternal Message..

“Charoibeti Charoibeti.” ~ ” March Forward March Forward. ”

Written by Ranjit Kumar Banerjee on Mahalaya, 1409 // October, 2002

More often than not, this sort of meeting takes place in the office – may be that either to bid farewell to any of his colleagues on the eve of his retirement from the service or to express condolence of a colleague who died in harness. Obviously, whatever spoken in these assemblages are mostly stereotype in nature. More or less, three or four identified colleagues take the trouble of oratory to maintain the necessity of the so-called assembly. But whether the lectures so delivered are hitting the deaf ears or not – this thought did never peep in anyone’s mind. But the purpose of to-day’s assemblage is totally different. It is a novel one.

There is a prevailing custom in the organization where Asish works. In order to provide more mobility and effectiveness as well as to introduce new ideas in the activities of particular important department, very often the service of an experienced administrator from outside the organization is sought after and the responsibility to steer is entrusted to him. Maintaining parity with this age-old custom, almost a year back, a retired army official had taken charge of the department where Asish is posted.

This department has to carry out the responsibility of procuring necessary spare parts and raw materials to continue or enhance production on demand. Sometimes, these are required to be ensured in a war-like situation. It does not therefore require mentioning that the department is a significant one.

Asish observed that this newcomer gentleman is tremendously dynamic to induce work-culture among all classes of employees under his command by getting personally in touch with almost all and encouraging them.

In course of time, Asish further observed that his modus operandi is altogether different. The importance of all types of works, whatever be the nature, is same to him. What surprises him most that whenever any problem comes in the fore towards completion of any allotted job, then a strong mentality gets activated in him. He is never tired of explaining lucidly the complexity of anything – be whatever as it may. Often it seemed to Asish – as if work and worship are synonymous to him. Thus within a short while, this charming personality in the person of Sri Mangalore Krishna Damodar Kamath was hailed as an agile trouble-shooter.

Apart from the department’s official jobs, in other matters also like Viswakarma Pooja, New Year’s Day Celebration etc. held in the office – his enthusiasm was never found wanting. One day, when he came to know that many offspring of his office employees secured high positions in the just-concluded Secondary and Higher Secondary Examinations, he expressed a desire to felicitate them inside his office. The end-result of his desire is to-day’s function.

Shrugging his discomfiture and getting himself prepared mentally, Asish stands up. He arrived at the conclusion beforehand that it would not be contextual to say something which will be stereotype in nature. The purpose of felicitation, in his opinion, is to arouse enthusiasm, inspire with hope and help to gain more confidence. He decided that he should better try to confine his speech to a theme that may be helpful for them, at least to some extent, to derive inspiration and moral-boost.

After completing the formality of addressing the chair – needless to mention that the man on the chair is none other but Sri Kamath – and all others present, Asish begins his address to the young guests in whose honour this function is being held today.

I consider it a special privilege for me to get this opportunity to speak to you in presence of this august assembly on the occasion of felicitation of brilliant students like you and I really feel proud for this.

Today you have arrived on the threshold of a new universe. This universe is the Universe of Knowledge. It can be compared only with an ocean. The bed of an ocean is the abode of jewels. For this reason, an ocean is also known as ‘Ratnakar’ – which means ‘jewel mine’. If one has great desire for a few of these, he has to go deep into the water until he reaches at its unfathomable depth.

In this context, I think it would not be inconsequential if I narrate exactly what Sir Issac Newton humbly expressed about his realization in respect of knowledge.

At that time, Newton had reached the zenith of fame as the inventor of Law of Gravitation . The British Government, as a mark of respect to him, had conferred on him Knighthood – the highest Royal Award. People from far and near used to come to meet and talk to him. One day, when one such visitor started speaking highly in praise of him indicating his erudition, he humbly stopped him and said – “Oh no, no sir. I am still collecting pebbles on the sea-shore.”

Rabindranath Tagore had also reverberated the same feeling. We can recollect his famous saying in this connection. He wrote…

“So little do I know of this vast universe.”

Presumably you have heard the name of Holy Upanishad. It is said that Upanishad, which is rich in philosophical and religious thoughts, is the main source of Indian heritage. Our philosophy, religion, civilization and culture – everything emanated from this Holy Book. To know how rich is Indian philosophy, we may quote eminent Western philosopher Hamilton – “The Western philosophy when meets the end, from there Indian philosophy starts.”

Upanishad is the last part of the Vedas. Hence it is also known as Vedanta i.e. the end of the Vedas. The mantra that we chant at the time of offering prayer during Saraswati pooja -”Bhadrakalyoi Namo Nityang Saraswatyoi Namo Namah, Veda Vedanga Vedanta Vidyasthanevya Ebacha” is a prayer to the Goddess of Learning for granting knowledge.

You may perhaps like to know more about Upanishad – the mother of Indian philosophy, religion, culture and civilization.

(Continued in Part II …)

He made a decision that he has got to change. The only idea he had was a chicken recipe, which his friends liked. With that idea in mind, he took massive action.

He left his home in Kentucky and traveled to many states in the US to sell his idea. He told the restaurant owners that he had a chicken recipe that people liked and he was giving it to them for free.

What he wanted in return was for the restaurant owners to pay him a small percentage on the pieces of chicken sold.

He got rejections after rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections.

He got 1009 no’s before he got his first yes. With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC.

How many of us will keep knocking on doors when we have received 1000 rejections? I presume not many! This is why there are not many successes like Colonel Sanders.

Age is no barrier to success, and so is capital. What is needed is an idea put into action, followed with proper planning and persistency.

“We must become the change we want to see in the world.” ~ M. K. Gandhi

Murshidabad, a district in the state of West Bengal, India is famous for its history, monuments, silk and mangoes. It is also famous for being the dwelling place of probably the youngest headmaster in the world!

Babur Ali, only 16 years of age is a wonder boy and a TED India fellow, who has taken up the responsibility of passing on his knowledge to his students for free and help them become educated and self sufficient.

He started his teaching almost seven years ago with the aim of educating his friends what he has learnt in school that day. His school now has 10 teachers, who like Babur, are also school students.

Babur and his fellow mates goes to school in the morning, come back in the afternoon and starts imparting education to the 800 odd students (some as young as 4 years old) in the evening.

He just like his students comes from very poor families. Most of the boys in his village in their childhood are either asked to take up the job of farming, while the girls are sent to do household works for earning a handful.

Thus Babur’s biggest challenge was to reduce illiteracy rate by educating them so that their next generation doesn’t suffer.

So do we need proper infrastructure, backup of corporates to start a school and educate the millions of uneducated? I think you now know the answer

Babur Ali, you are our smile maker of the day!

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8302225.stm