The Great Alumni Reunion ~ Coffee Cups and Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. 

Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. 

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand. 

the lecturer said: 'If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. 'While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress' 

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups.' 

'Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. 

They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. 

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it' 

So don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.

What Say!

Love, Peace, and Happiness - What more can u want? Book Review

L - Lust-filled ladies on top
O - Open relationships 
V - Variety of partners
E - Emotional co-dependence

P - Psychological problems
E - Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy
A - Avarice and Greed
C - Clairvoyant cures
E - Ego tussles

H - Hates responsibilities in marriage
A - Ass and Grass go well together
P - Past was perfect
P - Please excuse...duty first
I -  Insanity is in vogue
N - No-nonsense bride selection
E - Emotional cripple
S - Spiritual solutions
S - Soulmates bring a song to your lips

The nine stories in the book revolve around imperfections in the modern society. But, why do you call them imperfections? When technology and lifestyle change, emotions and habits also change. Immense opportunities brings with it immense immorality. But, who are we to judge? We need 'everything' to be productive and successful. We are not willing to wait for the light at the end of the tunnel. We want to experiment. And who told you that all the nine stories happen only now? They may have been existing from time immemorial - just the tools, methods, and resources may have been different . But we get to talk about all this only now. Or there is very large audience now for any type of communication!

The last story in the book tries to tie all the characters together. But it is a vain attempt. Looks like an unwanted summary. Nevertheless, the stories penetrate your thoughts, evoke different feelings, make you sad, make you happy, and make you shudder. 

The USP of the book is the Alternate Endings. You can write an alternate ending for each story in author Rituraj Verma's website. So, the reader becomes a part of each story. Good endings will be published in the website. And you can get the links of the alternate endings if you buy the book. So, buy the book now by clicking here. You get 223 pages of entertaiment for Rs. 104.

Can u Relate to this Ship?

Primary and Secondary Template in a Marriage

Psychologist Vijay Nagaswami in one of his books explains how a groom and bride walk into the marriage with a primary template or a primary set of expectations. This primary template is mostly derived from the lifestyle of parents, relatives, and close friends. Say for example the husband expects his wife to give all her earnings to him. Or the wife wants a nuclear family.

Most of the times, this Primary Template of either partner may not work. So, both the hubby and wify tweak their Primary Template a bit and arrive at a Secondary Template. Say the husband agrees to take only a part of the earnings of his wife or share household expenses. The wife may agree to live in a joint family for the first five years of marriage and later move into a nuclear family.

All is well for the couple if they are able to lessen their egos and settle for a Secondary Template. Else it is splitsville in the making. So, wats brewing in your family cuppas ;)))

Two Coconut Trees & Sparrows - Roots of Quarrel

Two coconut trees were standing nearby each other and touched one another whenever there was a gentle breeze. They became good friends.

There were few sparrows on each of the coconut trees. They would chat with each other. After few months, the sparrows were a little jealous of the friendship between the trees.

The sparrows spoke ill about the opposite coconut tree and the sparrows on it, to the tree on which they were sitting. The two coconut trees continued to listen to the sparrows but were still good friends.

But the sparrows would not stop. They fought with each other much to the chagrin of the coconut trees. Small tiffs between the trees were exaggerated by the sparrows. The trees were beginning to get a little irritated.

One day there was a cyclone. Storm winds blew. The coconut trees brush against each other. And this continued. Already a little irritated they started getting angry. When a heavy wind blew again, the coconut trees rammed into one another and fought like hell and broke a few branches.

The two coconut trees can be compared to a husband and wife and the sparrows to the in-laws. The trees can also be compared to two close friends, lovers, or business partners or even employer-employee. The sparrows can be compared to anyone trying to spoil a nice relationship by gossip,untrue speculations, and lies.

Get Cosy - Get pricked - But don't FREEZE...

My athan Charles has started a blog. He lives in Dubai. If you are wondering why I'm calling him athan, it is b'cos i was given strict instructions by my cousin sister Sudha - not to call him by his name. Traditions, respect et all at play. Anyways, i enjoy calling him athan.

Charles athan has stared a new blog and i was touched by one of his posts. I have quoted it here for your pleasure.

Snow fell heavily on the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah on Friday night due to the cold spell that has engulfed the country. My daughters and I were out that evening and they were hugging on to me for warmth. This reminded me of a story which I told them. The story of the ‘porcupines in the Ice Age’.

During the ice age many animals died because of the cold. Seeing this situation, the porcupines decided to group together, so they wrapped up well and protected one another.

But they hurt one another with their thorns, and so then they decided to stay apart from one another.

They started to freeze to death again. So they had to make a choice: either they vanished from the face of the earth or they accepted their neighbor’s thorns.

They wisely decided to stay together again. They learned to live with the small wounds that a very close relationship could cause, because the most important thing was the warmth given by the other.

And in the end they survived.


http://charlesopinions.blogspot.com/