August 28, 2008

Have 'Plan B' in place. ALWAYS !!!!

"A woman was serving a life sentence in prison. Angry and resentful about her situation, she had decided that she would rather die than to live another year in prison.

Over the years she had become good friends with one of the prison caretakers. His job, among others, was to bury those prisoners who diedin a graveyard just outside the prison walls.

When a prisoner died, the caretaker rang a bell, which was heard by everyone. The caretaker then got the body and put it in a casket. Next, he entered his office to fill out the death certificate before returning to the casket to nail the lid shut.

Finally, he put the casket on a wagon to take it to the graveyard and bury it.

Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with the caretaker. The next time the bell rang; the woman would leave her cell and sneak into the dark room where the coffins were kept. She would slip into the coffin with the dead body while the caretaker was filling out the death certificate. When the care-taker returned, he would nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison with the woman in the coffin along with the dead body. He would then bury the coffin. The woman knew there would be enough air for her to breathe until later in the evening when the caretaker would return to the graveyard under the cover of darkness, dig up the coffin, open it, and set her free.

The caretaker was reluctant to go along with this plan, but since he and the woman had become good friends over the years, he agreed to do it.

The woman waited several weeks before someone in the prison died. She was asleep in her cell when she heard the death bell ring. She got up and slowly walked down the hallway. She was nearly caught a couple of times. Her heart was beating fast. She opened the door to the darkened room where the coffins were kept. Quietly in the dark, she found the coffin that contained the dead body, carefully climbed into the coffin and pulled the lid shut to wait for the caretaker to come and nail the lid shut.

Soon she heard footsteps and the pounding of the hammer and nails.

Even though she was very uncomfortable in the coffin with the dead body, she knew that with each nail she was one step closer to freedom.

The coffin was lifted onto the wagon and taken outside to the graveyard. She could feel the coffin being lowered into the ground. She didn't make a sound as the coffin hit the bottom of the grave with a thud.

Finally she heard the dirt dropping onto the top of the wooden coffin, and she knew that it was only a matter of time until she would be free at last. After several minutes of absolute silence, she began to laugh. She was free! She was free! Feeling curious, she decided to light a match to find out the identity of the dead prisoner beside her.

To her horror, she discovered that she was lying next to the dead caretaker!

Most people believe they have life all figured out..... But sometimes it just doesn't turn out the way they planned it.
Things can go wrong and quite unexpectedly at that.

Have 'Plan B' in place. ALWAYS
!!!!

August 27, 2008

The Rat Trap

A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a rattrap.

Retreating to the farmyard the rat proclaimed the warning; "There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The rat turned to the goat and told him, "There is a rat trap in the house". "A rat trap in the house? I am so very sorry Mr. Rat"; sympathized the goat," but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers."

The rat turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow, Mr. Rat, a rat trap. I am in grave danger. Duh! "

So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's rattrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rattrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever. Now 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.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the goat. The farmer's wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rattrap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.

 

August 26, 2008

August 19, 2008

Braintester

 
Try filling this blank with Yes or no..
 

________,I am not a human.

Story of a brave Duck

Something really amazing happened in Downtown Spokane this week and I had to share the story with you. My brother, Joel, is a loan officer at Sterling Bank. He works downtown in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid nine eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks and Monday afternoon all of her nine ducklings hatched.
Joel worried all night how the mamma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching. Tuesday morning, Joel came to work and watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off!
 
The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In his disbelief Joel watched as the first fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below. My brother couldn't watch how this might play out. He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was stuporing near its mother from the near fatal fall.
 
Joel looked up. The second duckling was getting ready to jump! He quickly dodged under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him and the babies above. As the second one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the cement. Safe and sound, he set it by the mamma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap.
 
One by one the babies continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time Joel hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall. The downtown sidewalk came to a standstill. Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining 7 and set them by their approving mother.
 
At this point Joel realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had 2 full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the Spokane RiverThe onlooking office secretaries then joined in, and hurriedly brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies.
 
They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them up into the white cardboard container. Joel held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the SpokaneRiver, as the mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight.
 
As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping into the river and quacking loudly. At the water's edge, the Sterling Bank office staff then tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to their mother after their adventurous ride.
 
All nine darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snugly to mamma duck. Joel said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, and proudly quacking as if to say,
 
"See, we did it! Thanks for all your help!"
 
Learnings from the story:
 
Make DECISIONS in life.. however difficult they may appear and then take ACTION. The task or goal may also appear impossible but the mother Duck's conviction and belief that she will get help when required. Although all the risk of getting hurt by the fall, getting killed on the busy street,  being attacked by other animals were all there.. still life goes on.
 
The ducklings kind of SURRENDER for the mothers word.. and jump one after the other, having absolute TRUST in her.
 
Can we also be like the Mother Duck a bold LEADER to make timely DECISONS and take immediate ACTION.
 
Can we be like these Ducklings having absolute TRUST and BELIEF in our LEADER and just allowing our Leader to steer us to SUCCESS..?

August 14, 2008

Happy Independance Day


Kannadasan




His given name at birth was Muthiah. But when he made his exit from this world, at the age of 54, on October 16, 1981, millions of Tamils remembered him only by the name Kannadasan. For Tamils all over the world, he epitomised Tamil poetry. Even the illiterate, who couldn't read and
memorise the poetry of Kamban or the maxims of Valluvan, could hum the compositions of poet Kannadasan.

A number count of his publications shows a tally of 109 volumes, which include 21 novels and 10 slim volumes of essays on Hinduism, captioned Arthamulla Indu Matham (Meaningful Hinduism). In addition, he produced about 4000 poems and approximately 5000 movie lyrics, between 1944 and 1981, all with an eighth grade education at the formal level. He was also
an excellent example of this century's Tamil goliard.

What made Kannadasan click? There is no doubt that he had a penetrating eye and keen observational powers. He also did not live a cocoon-type of life. He dipped into everything that Tamil Nadu could offer - wine, women, drugs, gambling, politics, polemics, atheism and religious sanctuary. After enjoying everything, what he did was remarkable - he composed verses about
all his experiences, with self depreciating humour and biting sarcasm. These verses touched the sympathetic chords of Tamils from all walks of life - school boys, undergrads, housewives, farmers, manual labourers, plantation workers, middle class representatives and even upper class elites.

He was at his best when he wrote lyrics on the philosophy of cycles of life. It is a pity that Kannadasan's verses has not been translated into other languages yet. Kannadasan reinforces the theme, "sorrows are credit of life, while the joys are debit, with the balance being mere dreams, and who can comprehend the arithmetic of fate".

If only Kannadasan had been born in Europe or the USA, instead of Sirukuudalpatti village in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, he probably would have become a Nobel laureate in literature and received international recognition. But on the other hand, Tamils would have lost a goliard, who composed lyrics in Tamil for every sentimental moment they experience in life.

Horror !!!

On a dark, stormy night, a driver stops his empty bus to pick up an ashen-faced woman. She grunts what sounds like thank you and makes her way to the back of the vehicle. Unsettled by his odd, raven-haired passenger, the driver glances back at her in his mirror several times as he winds his way down a country road. Suddenly, there is a flash of lighting and when the driver looks in the mirror, the woman is gone.

Shocked, he slams hard on the brake. He looks again. The woman has reappeared, but blood is trickling down her face. The terrified driver puts his foot down. Flash. More lightning and the woman disappears once more. The driver slams even harder on his brakes, stopping the bus with a jolt. He glances in the mirror. The woman is back in the seat. This time her face is covered in blood and she lets out a piercing scream. "Could you stop braking the bus?" she wails. "I'm trying to tie my shoelace!"

 

Tested positive

Did you hear about the Pepsi exec who got fired? He tested positive for Coke.

The Wish

 

"Hamburger and fries," a man orders.

"Me too," says the ostrich sitting beside him.

"That's $9.40," the waitress says. The man reaches into his pocket and hands her the exact change.

They return the next day. Both order a steak and potato, and again the man pays with exact change.

"How do you do that?" the waitress asks.

"A genie granted me two wishes," explains the man. "My first was that I'd always have the right amount of money to pay for anything."

"Brilliant! But what's with the ostrich?"

"My second wish was for an exotic chick with long legs who agrees with everything I say."

August 13, 2008

Chennai Beaches

Chennai is situated on the eastern coast of India and is the capital city of the coastal state of Tamil Nadu. Attributed to its location, Chennai boasts of a number of serene beaches. Though the ancient city of Madras is known for its rich historical and cultural heritage, it is surely not behind on the scenic beauty front also. Mother Nature has bestowed the city with enormous natural wealth, which is a blessing for the tourists as well as the residents. Chennai has turned into a fast paced hustling bustling metropolitan city, which gives people very little time for themselves. As a respite to the people, these beaches and natural surroundings come to the rescue. Therefore, on your trip to Chennai, do not forge to visit these exotic beaches and unwind yourself from the worries of the daily routine.

Covelong Beach
Covelong Beach is one of the finest beaches on the coast of Coromandel. It is located at a distance of 40 km from Chennai. The beach is situated amidst picturesque locals and serves as the perfect retreat, away from the hum drum of the city life.

Elliot's Beach
Elliot's Beach is one of the cleanest beaches in the city of Chennai. It is located towards the south of Marina Beach and is an extremely calm and tranquil place. The beach is known as 'Bessei' amongst the locals. As the beach does not offer much activity, it is ideal for long walks.

Marina Beach
Marina Beach is the most famous beach of Tamil Nadu. It is situated in the city of Chennai. It is considered to be one of the largest beaches in India and the world over. The beach stretches over a distance of 12 km and has a considerably large width.

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