गब्बर सिंह' का चरित्र चित्रण

कल  रात  चेहरों  की किताब  (फेस बुक ) पर  ठाकुर  और  गब्बर  की  कॉमेडी  देखी  .. थोडा  विचार  करने  पर  लगा  क्या  पेर्सोनालिटी  था  गब्बर  भी .. शोले  की  कहानी  ..एक  थोथली  कहानी  होती  अगर   गब्बर  न  होता .. बस  यही  विचार  हमारे  बीच  वार्तालाप  का टोपिक  बन  गया  और  ..गब्बर  की  आज  के  समय  मैं  प्रभाविता  और  योगदान  कुछ  इस  तरह  से है  .. 

1. सादा जीवन, उच्च विचार: उसके जीने का ढंग बड़ा सरल था. पुराने और मैले कपड़े, बढ़ी हुई दाढ़ी, महीनों से जंग खाते दांत और पहाड़ों पर खानाबदोश जीवन. जैसे मध्यकालीन भारत का फकीर हो. जीवन में अपने लक्ष्य की ओर इतना समर्पित कि ऐशो-आराम और विलासिता के लिए एक पल की भी फुर्सत नहीं. और विचारों में उत्कृष्टता के क्या कहने! 'जो डर गया, सो मर गया' जैसे संवादों से उसने जीवन की क्षणभंगुरता पर प्रकाश डाला था.

२. दयालु प्रवृत्ति: ठाकुर ने उसे अपने हाथों से पकड़ा था. इसलिए उसने ठाकुर के सिर्फ हाथों को सज़ा दी. अगर वो चाहता तो गर्दन भी काट सकता था. पर उसके ममतापूर्ण और करुणामय ह्रदय ने उसे ऐसा करने से रोक दिया.


3. नृत्य-संगीत का शौकीन: 'महबूबा ओये महबूबा' गीत के समय उसके कलाकार ह्रदय का परिचय मिलता है. अन्य डाकुओं की तरह उसका ह्रदय शुष्क नहीं था. वह जीवन में नृत्य-संगीत एवंकला के महत्त्व को समझता था. बसन्ती को पकड़ने के बाद उसके मन का नृत्यप्रेमी फिर से जाग उठा था. उसने बसन्ती के अन्दर छुपी नर्तकी को एक पल में पहचान लिया था. गौरतलब यह कि कला के प्रति अपने प्रेम को अभिव्यक्त करने का वह कोई अवसर नहीं छोड़ता था.


4. अनुशासनप्रिय नायक: जब कालिया और उसके दोस्त अपने प्रोजेक्ट से नाकाम होकर लौटे तो उसने कतई ढीलाई नहीं बरती. अनुशासन के प्रति अपने अगाध समर्पण को दर्शाते हुए उसने उन्हें तुरंत सज़ा दी.

5. हास्य-रस का प्रेमी: उसमें गज़ब का सेन्स ऑफ ह्यूमर था. कालिया और उसके दो दोस्तों को मारने से पहले उसने उन तीनों को खूब हंसाया था. ताकि वो हंसते-हंसते दुनिया को अलविदा कह सकें. वह आधुनिक यु का 'लाफिंग बुद्धा' था.


6. नारी के प्रति सम्मान: बसन्ती जैसी सुन्दर नारी का अपहरण करने के बाद उसने उससे एक नृत्य का निवेदन किया. आज-कल का खलनायक होता तो शायद कुछ और करता.


7. भिक्षुक जीवन: उसने हिन्दू धर्म और महात्मा बुद्ध द्वारा दिखाए गए भिक्षुक जीवन के रास्ते को अपनाया था. रामपुर और अन्य गाँवों से उसे जो भी सूखा-कच्चा अनाज मिलता था, वो उसी से अपनी गुजर-बसर करता था. सोना, चांदी, बिरयानी या चिकन मलाई टिक्का की उसने कभी इच्छा ज़ाहिर नहीं की.


8. सामाजिक कार्य: डकैती के पेशे के अलावा वो छोटे बच्चों को सुलाने का भी काम करता था. सैकड़ों माताएं उसका नाम लेती थीं ताकि बच्चे बिना कलह किए सो जाएं. सरकार ने उसपर 50,000 रुपयों का इनाम घोषित कर रखा था. उस युग में 'कौन बनेगा करोड़पति' ना होने के बावजूद लोगों को रातों-रात अमीर बनाने का गब्बर का यह सच्चा प्रयास था.


9. महानायकों का निर्माता: अगर गब्बर नहीं होता तो जय और व??रू जैसे लुच्चे-लफंगे छोटी-मोटी चोरियां करते हुए स्वर्ग सिधार जाते. पर यह गब्बर के व्यक्तित्व का प्रताप था कि उन लफंगों में भी महानायक बनने की क्षमता जागी.

Pay rise in salary of Indian MPs

Our Members of Parliament (MP) (and state legislators as well) want to be called honourable, though they do not eschew the things they supposed to do. They are covetous and not beyond robbing the state till. What else can you call the sanctioning for themselves 100% rise in their salaries. But first the facts.

MPs can look forward to a hefty hike in their salaries, which are likely to shoot up over an unprecedented 100 per cent. The current salary of a member, including perks, comes to about Rs.42,000 per month and the government is hiking it to a minimum of Rs.80,000.

Charandas Mahant, MP, who is heading a committee formed last year to go into MPs salaries and allowances, has discussed the proposal with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The Mahant committee has said since MPs’ positions are higher in protocol compared to government secretaries, they should get more pay than the latter. At present the secretary gets around Rs.80,000 besides 47 per cent Dearness Allowance which together come to Rs.1.2 lakh per month on average. The panel is said to have argued that the government should enhance the salaries of MPs to more than Rs.1.2 lakh or at least more than Rs.80,000 that the secretary gets without DA.

At present, a member gets a salary of Rs.16,000, Rs.20,000 as constituency allowance and Rs.6,000 towards stationary allowance. He/she also gets up to Rs.14,000 towards staff but this amount directly goes to the bank account of the staff. Other perks include free travel on both Indian Railway and business class by air, constituency allowance, daily allowance for signing the parliament roster, free electricity, phone etc. As regards travel, they can make 34 trips to Delhi from their constituencies apart from those for attending meetings. As regards train travel there is no restriction. They are entitled to travel on the highest class along with their spouse besides a companion who can travel second class AC.

The increase in salary amounts to robbing the state treasury because the MPs have voted it for themselves. For the babus the increase in salaries is recommended by periodically appointed pay commissions and are examined and decided by the government. There are two levels of checks and balances when salaries are decided for babus. In the case of MPs, they decide it for themselves This is bad in principle and gives a bad example for the rest of citizens.

Apart from the principle and example angles, MPs don’t deserve any rise if the work they do (or don’t do) is considered. As The Times of India editorially commented, “Our MPs clearly don’t deserve a salary hike. Any pay rise should be linked to performance. But the track record of Indian MPs in the recent past has been poor, to say the least. They have neglected one of their basic duties – crafting and debating legislation. The figures of business conducted in Parliament speak for themselves. The number of sittings of the Lok Sabha has come down from a yearly average of 124 in the first decade of 1952-61 to 81 between 1992-2001, a decline of 32 per cent. For the same period, the decline of Rajya Sabha was 20 per cent. This has had direct impact on the number of Bills passed by Parliament. The annual average of the number of Bills passed has come down from 68 in the first decade to 50 between 1992-2001. This hasn’t got any better in the past few sessions of Parliament. The government could only get six of the 27 planned Bills for the Budget session passed.”

I saw the latest news about Parliament suggestion to give 3G phones to all MPs at http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=37280. What an idea sirji..? They can rise petrol and diesel prices and they can cover the ass of ambani's and mittals. Why should MPs think about that..? Their intention is all about how to fill their bank account with lump some money. Below are few things listed where our MPs aren't thinking about finding solution.

* Bhopal gas tragedy
* Naxalites problem
* Kashmir communal issues
* Coal mine problem in many states

Forget about MPs, think about the media and their duties. I am so happy about the behavior of fourth pillar of indian democracy - media last week. Why should they are caring about all above mentioned issues when they have high profile Dhoni's marriage coverage.? Why should they want to think about people issues. Their only aim is give coverage proportion to fill film stars interviews/cricketer's function. It was ashamed that Headlines Today put flash news about "I hate Love storys" review. Cum'on .. we have more issues to talk or address about.

Role Model..

Do I want fame like Shah Rukh Khan’s? Do I want success like Sachin Tendulkar’s? Do I want beauty like Aishwarya Rai’s? Do I want intelligence like Dr Kalam’s? Do I want compassion like Mother Teresa’s? Do I want power and courage like Kiran Bedi’s? Do I want to be a good human being, like my parents are? Or do I just want be myself?


These are some questions that flit between our unconscious and conscious mind. Such questions not only help us formulate our own characteristic features but also help us choose our ideal persona. That choice determines our oneness with that ‘other’, which we generally call ‘role model’.

Although it has come to have a variety of connotations — from a source of inspiration to a social icon — the phrase quite literally means a model for a role, a person one can strive to emulate. For example ‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’ is more than a name — it is a symbol of dreaming big, realising those dreams and inspiring others to do so. Dr Kalam is not just a huge success — the son of a fishing boat owner who went on to become a rocket scientist and then the President of India — but he also embodies the right values. In short, a role model in every way.

Children choose role models for themselves as early as the pre-school years, according to a theory of Dr Amy Beth Taublieb, a clinical psychologist. The type of model changes with the development level of the child. It is the youth, with the unlimited possibilities of the future before them, who are influenced by the people that inspire them to fly high.
Today’s role models are associated with money, beauty and fame. Actors and rock stars have become the centre of attention as our heroes in the 21st century. But a good role model is someone we should want to be like because we see value in his or her actions. The role models people choose reflect the type of values they have and the society they will create.

We often do not recognize our true role models until we have noticed our own personal growth. Thus, we need to keep the following points in mind before defining our source of inspiration:

Confidence: Choose someone who has a lot of confidence in himself/herself and in his/her abilities. A good role model would be someone who knows who he or she is.

Genuineness: You do not want role models who would pretend to be something they are not, and would fake a personality to suit others.

Individuality: Choose someone who thinks it is alright to be unique, even if that means facing some ridicule. They should make you feel good about being yourself; they should not make you compare yourself to them and wish you were prettier or richer.

Empathy: Choose someone who is kind and can communicate with people.

Skills: Look for someone who is living life the way you would like to. If you want to be a famous author, your role model could be someone who is a success at writing.

With these points, plus our intuition or faith, we can create a picture of the ideal self that we really aspire to be. Then we just need to take one step forward to close the gap between that ideal self and the real self.

Think ..

THINK .

 There was
a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see
the world, I will marry you.'

One day,
someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her
boyfriend.

He asked
her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.


Her
boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'


This is
how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a
Gift


Today
before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't
speak.

Before
you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat..

Before
you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today
before you complain about life - Think of someone who is no longer alive ....

Before
whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.

And when
you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.

And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still
around..

==========================

I PRAY
THIS MOVES AROUND
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.....

You are here to be you... just you,...

I read a story which resemble to my life events .. here it is ..

A plum once said, just because a banana lover came by, I converted
myself into a banana. Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few
months and so I became an orange. When he said I was bitter I became an
apple,but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so
many people, I have changed so many times that I no more know who I am.
How I wish I had remained a plum and waited for a plum lover.

So true .. many times in life i changed .. i pretend to be what i am not.I pretend to be that person which he/she like.. i have done all possible things for that.lie , manipulations ..
I always run towards that admire, that praise ..and then pretend.. It never gave me happiness .. One day I realised it was all vain.I realised Just because a group of people do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to strip yourself of your originality. You need to think good of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate.If you doesn't love yourself . how come other can??? If you bored with your company how can others ..
You need to think good of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate. Never step down in order to gain recognition. Never let go of your true self to win a relationship. In the long run, you will regret that you traded your greatest glory - your uniqueness, for momentary validation.Even Gandhi was not accepted by many people. The group that does not accept you as you is not your world.There is a world for each one of you, where you shall reign as king /queen by just being yourself. Find that world... in fact, that world will find you.What water can do, gasoline cannot and what copper can, gold cannot.The fragility of the ant enables it to move and the rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted. Everything and everybody has been designed with a proportion of uniqueness to serve a purpose that we Can fulfil only by being our unique self. You as you alone can serve your purpose and I as I alone can serve my purpose. I am here to be me .. just me and You are here to be you...just you.

I need an inspiration

I've been living with a shadow overhead,
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed,
I've been lonely for so long,
Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on...

I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away,
Just in case I ever need em again someday,
I've been setting aside time,
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind..

I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine,
I've been searching but I just don't see the signs,
I know that it's out there,
There's got to be something for my soul somewhere..

I've been looking for someone to shed some light,
Not somebody just to get me through the night,
I could use some direction,
And I'm open to your suggestions..

There are moments when I don't know if it's real,
Or if anybody feels the way I feel,
I need inspiration,
Not just another negotiation..

I MISS YOU… Still…

I miss you when I cry,
Because you are no more there to hold me,
I miss you when I am happy,
Because you are no more there to share it with me,
I miss you when I m troubled,
Because you are no more there to understand me.
I miss you when it rains,
Because you are no more there to tease me.
I miss you when I am awake,
Because you are no more there to talk to.
I miss you when am trying to sleep,
Because you are no more there to text me good night.
I miss you when I am asleep,
Because you are no more there in my dreams.

I miss you all the time,
But especially when I think of all the good times we spent together,
And now I realize how I have lost them,
They were the best moments I spent with you.I
try to hear the raindrops falling on the roof,
But all I hear are my tears falling on the cheeks,
And know that I am missing you.

It felt so good when you said am special and close to you,
You made me feel like an angel,
We used to talk for hours on the phone,
and meet on every weekend,
And after every meeting it felt like a dream.
Friendship was everything, and love heaven.

I miss our phone calls at all hours of day and night,
Our walks in the park and on the road,
Our bus rides, and bus stop dates,
Our Spice,McD and vatika hangouts,
Planning for the future in A380 suites,
Our messages and chats,
Our sharing, our caring for each other,
Our code words, and laughing on each other’s friends,
Joking about rains and clouds,
Telling each other everything that happened during the day,
No matter how immaterial that might be,
We could not survive without each other,
And now we cannot live with each other.

Now that you are gone, it pains to think
Not only have I lost my love, but my best friend as well.
It hurts to miss you,Hurts to think about the choices u made,
Its my mistakes, and I lost you forever.
But you have not lost my love,
You are my world, my haven
I can never forget you,
And it breaks my heart everyday,
To think I don’t have you, and can never have you,
Yet I miss you.

"memories r always confusing.. making u laugh wen u remember d times u cried together..
and cry when u remember the time u laughed together".

This is neither a poem, nor a prose,
This has no rhyme or rhythm.
It has got nothing, saying in the traditional sense,
just my raw feelings from the deep silence.

Drenched .....

...and then it rained

like your memories weren't enough to drench me.....

Mobile Phones defined ..

Toot gaye hai taar jameen se
Hath me aaya hai cell phone
ab to dil ki awajo se..
jyada sunte hai Ringtone

pehle nanihaal se phone aata tha
uncle ki dukan par
har insan dil me rehta tha
har no jubaan par..

ab to unreachable hai hum
pehle ki tarah aajad nahi
ab apne no ke siva
koi apna yaad nahi

ab to mutthi me hai duniya
phir kyo hum sabsedoor hai
network bhi apna busy hai
kyaa kare majboor hai

pehle bacche dosto ke ghar
lekar jate the bat aur ball
ab to bas bahar se hi
kar lete hai missed call

har har chotti baat ke liye
do shabd nahi bole jate
thanks kehna ho ya sorry
SMS se hi samjhate

kyaa remote kyaa calculator
computer ka bhi baap hai
ungliyo pe chalti thi duniya
ab sab anghootha chaap hai

kyo pairo se cheen kar jameen
ajnabi sky diya
phir bhi khushi se kehte hai hum
wah sir jee "what an IDEA"

credit goes to me n my roomies..:):)

Twang of my thoughts Part 2

Free Will
Whatever we do, whatever we say.. we do it for ourselves - good or bad. We make someone happy, it is because we wanted to. We did something wrong its we who decide too. We choose to be mean. We choose to see someone happy. And since it is our choice what we do.. we can't expect them to do something in return. You are a good friend because you want to be. S/he is not because s/he chose so. Thats my explanation of free will. You can choose to believe, not believe, to be happy, to be sad, to be angry, to love, to feel loved.

Life is like Ludo..(yeah the board game)
(Ok lower the eyebrows, and miffle the laughter at my weird ideas.) Just like the game, you have a path and you have a destination. The destiny is the dice. You don't know what you'll get when you throw the dice. You get a number, a situation and you get a choice, what to make of it. You can choose which counters you can move. Some times you have a lot to choose from..sometimes you don't.( hmm.. the theory isn't finished... yet. But its a spark.. I mean start.)

Change is the only constant
(you try to derive I mean drive it and it is zero, (nerdy pj.. u'll get it if passed 12th with maths :P, you'll get it faster if you had failed. :P:P))I am amazed at just how dynamic we are! You are changing every minute every second. You are not the same person you were a while ago. A thought, an idea, a word, a song... something... something pops up into your mind.. turning keys of this machine and your mind is on fire! What will be the outcome when it slows down.. you can't even guess now. It will be something you have not been before. Yes we may do the same things. The event or action may be the same.. but the doer is transformed! Its something like a chemical equilibrium. It may seem static but it really is dynamic. The old keep on moving away and the new keep on adding in.

** As me and my dear friend ( who really writes well ) were discussing, whenever two people meet, it really is a chemical reaction. (Ok aaj chemistry bahut yaad aa rahi hai..lol). This was probably a quote I read somewhere, but really, whenever two people meet and talk even for a while.. they exchange ideas, vibes, thoughts, energies. And the two are left changed after the interaction. The change can be big or small depend on the inteREACTION. but yes.. we are changed.. we get something new, are reminded of something old... but finally we are ..yes you guessed it.. changed!
Dunno how much any of it makes sense to you right now. Will try to be clearer with more experience ;) ;)
Till then, Love and a spark of fire for your head! :)
Smoke it up!

Twang of my thoughts

After a long long time I have enough time to write what the voice in my head has been saying all along and poking me to spill out. So sit back this one is gonna be long.. and... incoherent in places. So following are some theories that have been developed over hundreds of discussions with myself and my friends.

You are alone (.. and thats good!)

I have realized, that if life is a journey than you are all by yourself. You are the only one who is going to be with yourself till the end. Everyone has there own paths. People meet each other. Walk with you for a while. Probably exchange ideas.** They teach you, by words or by actions, by love or by deceit... And then they move on. Your paths separate and then you meet new people and new sights on your journey. You may meet again at crossroads, some faraway turn or not meet at all.. Everyone has a journey, a story of which you are a part only for a while. It is up to you..totally.. what you make of what is given to you. The knowledge and experience you gain, whether it is from watching Discovery channel or by selling flowers on the redlight, they make you what you are. You are a residue of your own actions and choices. You are a residue of your yesterdays. What people say or do are just events. What happens is an event. The events are momentary. They will happen on and off to add stories to your journey. What you make of an event is ~You~. Each event whether good or bad, moves you one step closer to being a new person. People are just part of your journey it for a while. In the end you are the one that is there for you, (And also the faith.. in case you are a theist...) So you have to make the most of it all.

Life is ours we live it our way... Nothing else matters.

Prayas Talent club - Starting a new Dimension in Prayas

From the long time , A thought is thumping in my mind. In Prayas we teach kids .. We gave lot of effort .We try our best. No doubt kids are always amazing. In spite of whole day school, condition in their home they eager to learn, eager to study more and more. Their pace may be slow , but they are trying really hard.
All effort paid off when 21 of our kids selected in Nayi .And our 5 old kids got good rank and marks.
However there is always a thought, a tease is there. In our school days we used to study in similar boring fashion. I am really proud of my teachers of school days. But now it’s our responsibility, it’s our creativity to deviate that similar way of teaching. Why not we started a class which not only give them learning but also give them some fun, enjoyment. We already know these kids have talent, but somebody need to bring that up. Some body need to give canvas to these young mind to draw their dream, somebody need to give them a platform to perform.
Vocalizing a thought is always easy .. but execution is always a daunting task. After many meetings , and literally using my full vocal power , the suggestion has been welcomed in one of our admission celebration. As I am initiator of thought, the responsibility came to me to execute the idea.
Now start the thought process, what are the activities which need to be planned, what will be games to be play .. how to relate them from teaching, how to relate them from kids daily routine life yet give them fun and uniqueness. It is really a daunting task.
Google is always a big rescuer in that. Isn't really amazing, whatever you wanna know just type in google and here comes all sort of information .. ( i know there is a brilliant algorithm of page ranking executing in behind ). After lots of information gathering/editing a final plan come into the picture. Now I am eager to execute this plan on coming Saturday the time slot ( 3- 5 pm , venue new class room of Prayas ) provided to me.

Life is ...

There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow;utterly Colorful.. scenic beauty
But it takes both rain and sunshine to make one.....
If life is to be rounded and many coloured, just like a rainbow;
Both joy and sorrow must come to it !!!

Weakness Or Strength

Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest strength.

One 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the Sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.

Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Sensei intervened.

"No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue."

Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

"Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grap your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

THE TAILOR'S NEEDLE

A tailor was at work. He took a piece of cloth and with a pair of shining, costly, scissors, he cut the cloth into various bits.

Then he put the pair of scissors at his feet. Then he took a small needle and thread and started to sew the bits of cloth, into a fine shirt. When the spell of sewing was over, he stuck the needle on to his turban.

The tailor's son who was watching it asked him: "Father, the scissors are costly and look so beautiful. But you throw them down at your feet. This needle is worth almost nothing; you can get a dozen for an Anna (25 paise). Yet, you place it carefully on your head itself. Is there any reason for this illogical behaviour?"

"Yes, my son. The scissors have their function, no doubt; but they only cut the cloth into bits. The needle, on the contrary, unites the bits and enhances the value of the cloth. Therefore, the needle to me is more precious and valuable. The value of a thing depends on its utility, son, not on its cost-price or appearance."

REFLECTION

Similarly, there are two classes of people in the world-1. those who create dissensions and disharmony, who separate man from man; and 2. those who bring about peace and harmony, who unite people.

The former category of people are generally some of the rich snobbish people, like some of the mighty, haughty kings or politicians and people of high status and power who have only money, name and fame in their minds and totally disinterested of the actual welfare of the people and nation, some of the religious fanatics who cause terror in the name of God, and others who are hungry for power and fame that they eventually destory peace and harmony among the people and nation.

The latter category of people are generally the poor and sincere devotees of the Lord, the penniless wandering monks, and mendicants who completely renounce everything at the feet of the Lord and with whose prayers the world is still in balance forbearing the calamities, injustice and tragedies. They are emodiments of peace and mercy and their mere glance brings a total serenity in minds of people and their only goal is to bring unity, peace and harmony among the people and make people realise their divinity and attain happiness.

The Lord makes use of both these 2 categories of people to carry on HIS function of providing the field for the evolution of individual souls.

With time and laws of karma, HE throws down on the dust the mighty kings and millionaires who create wars and disharmony; and HE keeps the poor, pious devotee over HIS own head and grants them Moksha or liberation.

In HIS eyes the scale of values is entirely different!

Don’t make promise when you are in joy.
Don’t reply when you are sad.
Don’t take decision when you are angry.
Think twice., Act wise

Hold on to my hand..

Hold on to my hand,
and never let go.
I'll tell you my thoughts,
then you will know.
Hold on to my waist,
Because I'll feel safe.
Let's cherish everyday,
Cuz everyday's a gift.
Hold on to my body,
for someday I will fall.
I will fall into pain.
Worst pain of them all.
Remember my words I've spoken,
for if I die,
you'll never hear them anymore.
Even if you cried.
Hold on tight to my heart,
For it's like glass.
If you drop it,
it will crack.
Hold on to me,
For I'm like a mirror.
If you break me,
I will shatter.
Only you can hurt me,
yet, you already have.
I hope that you'll realize
all the pain that you've caused.

Follow your heart... No reason

(Steve Job’s Stanford Commencement Address, June 12, 2005 )
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots would connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even if it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.

My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was an awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
P.S. : If he can, so can I.