Dates

There are many definitions for dates. I am going to talk about the kind on a calender. Speaking of calender and dates, its been such a long time since I have blogged. So many days have passed, but I am glad to be back here! :-)

[As an aside, I remember my cousin saying, "why are person A and person B doing the thing you find on a calendar?" In other words why are they 'date'ing!]

Ok now getting to my post. The recent Mangalore plane crash, made me think about how those related to the victims are going to handle the calamity. There is no easy way to handle losing someone. Time heals but the wounds are always there. They just get smaller as time passes by, but that doesn't mean it stops hurting.

One of the major reason behind the hurt becoming as good as fresh again is dates; birthdays, anniversaries etc. But what is a date but mere numbers written in various places. If there was no such thing as dates all that people would be able to remember are the memories. Now this is what really counts, the memories.

Living each day for the day really helps. This way all you take from everyday is the memory and not timestamps. If for example someone passed away on a certain day, remember not the day they passed away. Remember the days you spent with them. The days that brought a smile to your face and theirs.

Even birthdays are just like any other ordinary day, what is important is that a new life was brought into this earth. If that life is one of a good person then it should be celebrated everyday, not just on birthdays.

In good situations it is always nice to trigger the memory with the dates. But it is important to remember that the date doesn't hold value for the memory. Smile and always remember the pleasant memories. They will take you far in life. Even a fleeting moment of happiness, can be one that holds value forever with a memory! :-)

10 Second Rule

I'm sure everyone has heard of the 10 second rule (this however is the 1 second rule in India). All it is usually is that if your food falls on the ground you have 10 seconds to eat it and its still considered uncontaminated!

Kids however have their own version of the rule. Its still the 10 second rule but they seem to operate more on a flavour based system. I have observed this happening with many kids, so it must be just the hip and happening thing to do when you are a toddler or even younger. These kids aged 4 and below seem to have made it a habit of rubbing any food they have on the ground for precisely 10 seconds.

In this 10 seconds however they ensure they get an even spread of the batter (dirt and bacteria) by twisting the food all sides and across as much area on the floor as possible. Perhaps its a flavour thing? Its just how we usually find road side food with sweat and dirt much tastier usually than the food found at 5 star restaurants. Are the kids really onto something here?

Heart Warming!

Hey all this was a forward I recieved. Instead of it being a forward which was automatically deleted I decided to put it up on my blog where I know it will be read. What a wonderful story. It shows that there's nothing more important than being humane! Please read it and leave your comments! :-)

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At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again..

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

B y the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

Care

Just a thought. When we as people care so sincerely for those who are near and dear to us (our friends and family), why is the same care not extended onto other things. Below are a few examples:

People really care about their children however they do not necessary care about the environment or about creating a sustainable future for the next and subsequent generations.

Another example is animal lovers not being vegetarians? This has always stumped me. If you love animals how can you want to eat one, something that is living and breathing? There is the argument that plants and such are alive and have micro-organisms on them. But the response is that people should try to do the least possible damage they can. We can counter the effect of us eating plants by planting and caring for the plants.

On a general note, why is it that people care for those who are near and dear and around them and not for those who are obviously underprivileged and in need of help? Its a lot to do with people wanting to give what they get, but its also a lot to do with people not realising that there is more in this world then themselves and their close circle.

So here comes my point. If people just thought outside of the box or self created enclosure and started thinking and acting for the sake of the general good, this world would be a much better place! Whether it be environmental issues, poverty or any of the other crucial issues in the world today, thinking outside of the box and extending care to more than just those you generally do would do a world of good for everyone!

Put yourselves in other people's shoes for a split second and see what you can do to help them! Spread the love with empathy and action! :D

Hair Wash

When there is a movie called Hair Spray why can't I write a blog post called Hair Wash? Lol..

The hair wash routine is all normal, just as any other normal person.

Post the hairwash though when I look at myself in the mirror my hair dripping wet there's only one song:



Then comes the blow drying routine and time for this song:

#TweetOff

Hey all,
Due to popular confusion of what a #TweetOff is, let me explain:

• It is like a dance off only its a tweet off (no dancing only tweeting)
• We compete (friendly though), max no. of tweets is the winner
• Tweets must be longer than one word
• The judge gets to decide all the other rules
• The judge can throw random topics and make it such that for a certain amount of time only those topics are to be tweeted about.
• Extra points can be awarded for wit, humour, smartness, or anything mildly entertaining.
• Its a friendly exchange of tweets and in no way a war!

Ok I think that's enough explaining. Its pretty straight forward. If you want to know more follow me @preethzzz and @fossiloflife tomorrow 10am-10pm IST! The decision of who is the judge is pending either to be @adapaavi or @rohitsabu or whoever else wants to!

Rule 1# Tweets must be longer than one word

Rule 2# There must be no repition of tweets

Rule3# TweetOff tweets must be tagged with #TweetOff+(first letter of name e.g for me #TweetOffP) -

A Series of Unfortunate Events

On special request from @82kg here is a recurring nightmare that I used to have in my childhood. Anyone who can make sense of dreams please do tell me what this was trying to tell me. Well here goes:

Corkscrew stairs by RSchuetz

I found myself in Paris (or so I thought in the dream) surrounded by many wonderful people all carrying about their everyday business. Some travellers such as I were also around clicking pictures like crazy. Then after walking 3 steps I saw in front of me the wonderful Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was leaning more than usual (from what I had seen in pictures).

I went inside and there awaited a staircase which I started to climb. It seemed pretty never ending and finally I was at the top of the staircase and there actually wasn't anything exciting to see. I was turning around looking to all sides to see if there were any sights I could see but I found myself completely alone surrounded by concrete walls. Then out of no where I found my Aunt who happened to be visiting as well at the same time.

I was so excited to see her, but it was just as if we see each other everyday. She didn't seem to find it surprising I was there and that we met, despite living in different countries and not knowing we were visiting the same place. Anyway, then she told me there's no point being up there because there was nothing exciting to see and she said come lets go back downstairs. Now the originally straight and normal staircase turned into a spiral staircase.

We started walking down, she was behind me and we were having a conversation. Suddenly I realised I wasn't getting any response from her. I looked back to find a huge black dog growling at me with its extremely sharp teeth. I started to run as it bolted down after me. To make things worse the staircase was becoming more and more narrow and the number of steps seemed to be endless.

I kept running and running, completely breathless and to the point of exhaustion. Then suddenly out of no where there were no more stairs and only concrete floor which melted away at my feet. They gave way and I was dropped into the sky and then somehow on what I recognised to be the first Boeing flight to exceed the speed of sound by a large amount (a bit sketchy on the details here, but I heard there was an incident similar to this).

The passengers and crew were celebrating the feat with some drinks. Just as they said cheers the plane started going out of control and right in the middle of the aisle the plane was starting to tear apart. The red carpet first tore and then a hole started appearing getting larger and larger as it sucked the passengers out of the aircraft. I was sucked out of the aircraft, hurled through the sky only to fall into a ship.

The ship was none other than the Titanic. Once again there was merriment all around. People were having fun and seemed to be without a care. I was glad I was safe and just looking around taking everything in. Then as I walked around the ship I saw a giant Iceberg and knew that at anytime a collision was going to occur as the ship headed for the iceberg with full speed ahead. Just as the ship approached the iceberg (I could see the iceberg like a white mountain in all its glory just near me, almost able to reach it) I woke up!

This was by far one of the craziest dreams I have had. This was actually a recurring nightmare in my childhood. The most bizarre thing is that it happened before I knew about the Titanic ever existed, yet in the dream the ship I was on was approaching an iceberg headed for collision. Later that year in fact the movie got released and I was in total shock upon seeing it and realising that it too truly was something that took place in history.