Monday Blues: Be comfortable

As we grow up, society makes us perceive in certain ways and makes us think we are not good enough. We are influenced by people, things, culture and everything possible around us. We must realize that you are unique and specially made by God and he loves you whatsoever. Be comfortable and be real.

Slow poisoning of India

I will recommend is to see an excellent documentary ‘The Slow Poisoning of India’ , a 26-minute documentary film directed by eminent Ramesh Menon and produced by the New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). It deals with the dangers of excessive use of pesticide in conventional agriculture in India which is so rampant that people are eating a ‘cocktail’ of pesticides. India is one of the largest users of pesticide in Asia and also one of the largest manufactures.

The toxins have entered into the food chain and into our breakfast, lunch and dinner. The film showcases startling case studies from Kerala where villagers in Kasaragod district are paying a heavy price as it has been exposed to pesticide spraying for many years. It talks of the health impacts in other parts of India and also on how the magic of the green revolution in Punjab is fading as land and water bodies have been poisoned.

Usha Uthup: Skyfall in a sari

One of the few people I admire. Tonight & every night Usha! No cover charge. Case closed.

Change your limitations to your strengths. Sometimes ignore the marketing mumbo jumbo and be real, be true. Connect with the rest of the world and be yourself.

25 of the most ridiculous client comments according to creatives

Most of the things I have said, heard and this is just fabulous!

Sometimes clients can be a real nightmare, no matter which your occupation is, you are probably struggling everyday against the obtuseness of some clients.

However, the kind of professions that historically catalyze the biggest number of incredibly stubborn and unreasonable clients are the creative ones. In particular we should give credit to graphic designers and art directors for their legendary patience.

For this reason Irish graphic designers Mark Shanley and Paddy Treacy created Sharp Suits, a website that features the worst comments made by creatives’ clients and showcases them into graphically appealing posters. The creators of this website teamed up with other creatives and turned their frustration into these hilarious yet beautiful artworks.

The posters featured on Sharp Suits were also exhibited in The Little Green Cafe Bar and Gallery last year, and the customers were allowed to purchase an A3 copy of their favorite artwork. The earnings were donated to the Temple Street Child Hospital.

You can admire below our 25 favorite picks. Don’t forget to take a look at sharpsuits.net to watch all the posters of the series.

Monday Blues: Transform yourself, others...

This monday, transform yourself, transform other, change your present lifestyle to better. Take up that old guitar, pick up the weights, go for that walk, change and do whatever you wanted to but couldn't find time/motivation. Come on, change is good, change is better. change is everything.

The following video, produced by Rob Bliss Creative, was made for Dégagé Ministries, an association that takes care of homeless and disadvantaged people. It’s the time-lapse transformation of Jim Wolf, homeless US Army veteran. The aim of this transformation is to sensitize public opinion about the importance of helping people that have lost everything in their life.

According to Dégagé Ministries, this video must both represent a new start for Jim, as they are working hard to help him walk down his new path, and be a reminder of the potential that even our most down and out citizens will always carry with them.

In case you’re wondering, Jim is now scheduled to have his new housing and is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for the first time ever.

Lessons from a fish market

I am sure you have been in a noisy class before and one of your teachers/professors might have used the phrase comparing the noisy classroom to a fish market. Here is a reply for that. I found the picture online and this is a spontaneous post. I am sure you can add more to this list.

Fish market is probably where one could learn more lessons in life.

1. Bargain - U can get a better piece for lesser price
2. Speed: The more you wait, the lesser are you chances
3. Catch at the other vendor is always better
4. You end up at a price you feel is good but once you reach home you feel you have paid more
5. You can't earn money with out the stink
6. Your hard-work is ultimately measured by someone else's need
7. What ever you do, you still have to clean up after the deal
8. The txn at the fish market is just the beginning of the deal - You have to clean, cook, consume and so on to take the full utility
9. Size doesn't matter. Or does it?
10. A small live deal is better than a dead large one
11. Sometimes you have to pay more to finish your txn faster/outrun competition by buying out
12. Nature is abundant in resource
13. Skill pays
14. You never know what deal you are going to get
15. Fishing is like life - uncertain. But the returns for hard work are good
16. Ultimately you are doing all this for your survival, your family and your loved ones. And so is the vendor
17. A little smile helps
18. Loyalty pays: You need to lose some to win some
19. Handling loyal customer well pays: A repeat customer is easy as he trusts you. Win your customers over with service, they might ignore the price, turn loyal
20. Sell value/utility not products
21. It is noisier and more down to earth than a classroom because it is real
22. You don't need a classroom to learn
23. Business is messy but you have to do it - dirty your shoes, ignore the smell, be one of them, beat competition, think fast, check quality, be realistic, change with market conditions, update yourself about the prices, weather and what not, be ready, spontaneous....
24. Whatever you do, be ready to get a negative feedback from your boss - in the fish market scenario it could be your wife, partner about the texture, color, quality and almost everything - everything you might have thought about, accounted for and decided
25. All your achievement is past and you got to catch more fish tomorrow to be in the race
26. Regardless of anything you do - it effects about your family, your health and well-being - either positively or otherwise
27. You can cheat your customers - Once
28. You might never get a fair deal - Life is like that, accept it
29. On a good day you might make a lot of money/gains - it is not permanent
30. Save - for the rainy day
31. Skill never retires

Faithful Forever!

Read this in a christian blogpost applies to our daily life as well. Stay faithful, focused, stay bright and stay alert. Leave the rest to the Lord.

From the very beginning of our Christian walk and work, we must learn to keep our eyes on the final day of rewards and not keep looking for immediate blessings and benefits. This is how we can be patient amidst all odds and stay faithful till the end.

 A lone missionary was preaching in the cold wilds of Alaska. An explorer asked him why he was wasting his life in a dreary place like that? The missionary replied, "Results are not my business. I leave the results with God. I must be faithful and do my best for God. Someday results will come!"

Faithfulness is rewarded. May not be from the people you know but from the Lord.

Believe

Your strength lies in what you believe.
You can only do what you think you can.
Start believing.
Start doing.

Found this image online and couldn't help stealing it.

Mentally ill? Who?

What is mental illness? What is peace? The definitions would vary from person to person. Sometimes we don't know who is ill/well. Well this is one just like that. Read on...

It was a sunny morning in 2003 when I first noticed her on my way to work. Her unkempt hair, scornful face and multiples soiled dresses said she is a social outcast but there was certain emotion on her face that adjectives failed to express. She lives in Hyderabad, on the footpath, sitting under a tree with a small sack of clothes, items she picked up from her sojourns perhaps. She is silent and doesn't even beg from the passers-by. Each time I looked at her I knew there was something different in her from others. I wanted to talk to her to find out, but didn't. Few days passed and one day I just stopped and went to speak to her. She didn't like that and shooed me away. I gave her some money, food and kept doing it regularly till she started to consider speaking to me. After many days of bribing, a sweater, fruits, money, food, etc., she opens up. She no longer has that crooked look when I give her something. One day she started speaking. It is 7 AM and the first rays of sun are hitting us. The city is just waking up. She takes one banana from the bunch I gave her and hides the remaining in her sack.

"You are a very stubborn kid," she tells me before settling down. This is a very censored version of her story. I had to change few details, but the essence is till the same.

She is a postgraduate in English literature, used to work as a teacher in a school in Hyderabad till the late 90s. She had a Titan watch, Sunny(two-wheeler), a portable color TV, a small but beautiful house small garden with a swing in it and some jewelery. Her husband used to work in a clerical cadre at the district magistrate's office and she used to compensate by teaching neighborhood kids at home. They made a lot of compromises to fit in all the fancies the kids needed and saw them through schools, engineering college, marriages, bikes and what not. All they did was think about the kids and thought once they get old they will be taken care of by the kids.

She stops peeling the banana, carefully puts the peel in a paper, glances at it and then starts to eat. There is no hurried munching. There is a stylish, cool, calm way she eats it. Once she is finished she washes her hand and wipes it on a dark cloth.

She has 3 sons and a daughter, all well settled. One of them stays in Hyderabad in a well-to-do locality. The other two are in Bangalore. Her daughter is a homeopathic doctor in Mumbai. Don't think they have left her like this. She left them. She walked out as she couldn't see how her husband was treated in his sunset days when all her children would make it a point to split his medical expenses and then quarrel insulting him and her. Then they wanted him to divide his pension, gratuity, their house and settle everything before he died. But the old guy had become smart and had changed his will in his wife's favor. After he passed away they found the new will which made the situation worse. They made her change the will in their favor. When forced she complied. Then it became hell. She was seen as a burden and was hated. One of her daughter-in-laws slapped her for borrowing money from a neighbor for medicine. That's when she decided to move out. She started living in the railway station, bus-stand, parks and later ended up in an ashram where she found there were more horrific tales than her own. Then she faced the hypocrisy of the caretakers and decided the street is the best place to try living. And hence the street life and her designated footpath.

She barely speaks to anyone now and has her own world to worry about. What does she eat? Anything that she is given, usually stale food she picks up from a prominent hotel's bin nearby. Once in a while she buys idlies with sambhar from roadside vendors but that's rare.

"I am a regular here. I even get credit from the idly-walah. The police here recognize me and don't chase me away."

"What's your wish?" I ask her to check if I could do something.
"Do a movie with Nagarjuna!"
"No. Tell me something that I can do."

I look at her eyes to see if she is sad. She is not! There is a glow in her eyes, a glint that tells me there is a wicked twist.

"Do they visit you anytime?"
"No!"
"Do you visit them?"
"NO!"
"To them, I am dead and so they are to me."

"Tell me something..." this is the first time she looks at me eye-to-eye, "Why is your generation so selfish?" That look burns my insides and my mouth goes dry even when I know I am not in the wrong.
"I don't know."
"Forget it. You seem to be a nice kid."

"You know I am very neat," she smiles. "I wash my clothes and take bath everyday." I smile back.

"It is getting late. You should go now. All other neighbors would come and literally seize your money and gold away. Worse they will throw me out from here. Leave now." I nod and got up and as I reach to my purse she smiles and tells me she doesn't need any money. She has a bank account and gets her pension. "That is more than enough."

"Moreover, this city takes care of me now. I will be fine. And thanks for your time." She looks away. I smell moistness in her eyes.

I still give her some money and start my bike. I some how carry a lot of weight in me now. I want to do something but don't know what to. I tell myself I will do something for sure.

"Munna! You want to know what I did with my money?" That is the first time she calls me that. And that's the last. I stop my vehicle and look at her blankly.

"I donated everything to the ashram I used to live. It is a small amount, but my children would never get it."

That wicked smile comes back to her face again. Only this time it is not wicked but the joy and satisfaction. I feel a lot lighter and confusingly happy. While I was recovering from this jab she lifts her sacks and walks away into the park opposite to her spot. I look at her disappear into the shadows.

The next day I see her she has her 'mentally ill' look and antics back again and acts as if she doesn't recognize me. She refuses to take the food or money I gave and starts yelling. I try a few more times and then I decide to leave her alone. For her I represent the truth, pain and suffering that she had to face from my generation.

Back in my own life I couldn't taker her off my mind as to why she was calm. Now I know. She is at peace with herself. I'm not.

Pic: Old Age

Mumbai attacks real story

The untold story of 2008's terrorist attack on Mumbai last year, in the words of its victims and the gunmen. While most behaviour of media was unacceptably cheap to gain publicity and TRPs, some were good too. This programme contains graphic images and descriptions of the atrocity which may upset some viewers. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed, Terror in Mumbai tells the story of what happened when 10 gunmen held one of the world's busiest cities hostage; killing and wounding hundreds of people while holding India's crack security forces at bay.

Featuring footage of the attacks and interviews with senior police officers and hostages, including the testimony from Kasab - the sole surviving gunman, Dispatches reveals what happened, hour by hour, from the perspective of the security forces, the terrorists, their masterminds and the victims.

While it may be chilling and horrific it is reality. Damn the religion, race, nation, hatred. How can anyone do such a thing? Indian Government's response was calculative and decisive but not as strong as people expected it to be. While there is a lot of need to build up strength and scale up measures the question of why us still remains unanswered by the innocent victims and their families. Hope some sanity dawns on them.

Check the complete video here.