Three Stories

Today I got a forward mail containing three wonderful stories. I am posting them here as I don't want to lose them :)

The Turtles

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at last!For about six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich.At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, 'See! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.'

[Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves

The Frogs

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs! The farmer replied, 'There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!' So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, 'Well... where are all the frogs?' The farmer said, 'I was mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were making a lot of noise!'

[ Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]

The Pretty Lady

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of acussations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. 'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'

[This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous .. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away.We keep on carrying the baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony.Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over.This will immediately remove all our agonies.There is no need to be further h urt by the unpleasant event after it is over.]

Thank you Vidya for sending me the mail :)

From Strike City to Striking City

All the auto drivers of Mumbai have gone for three days strike from Monday midnight. When commuting to office has become really difficult for a big section of the population in Mumbai sub-urban area, the rest population is not complaining though. The roads had never been so jam-free! So, for those who do not take their cars out but prefer to avail other alternative instead after suffering hours of motionless driving, it's time for them to celebrate.

For me the days of strike days in Kolkata are back. The roads are empty and everybody speaking about 'strike'.

But my question is, why blame Kolkata only for strikes?

Baichung not playing? Who cares? Amir, Saif hai na!!!

Everything is filmy in India. Even Olympic is.

Olympic is an event that unites the sportsperson and athletes from all across the globe in one place. But when it comes to India, more than the sports, its Bollywood that speaks louder. When all countries bestow the rarest honor to carry the Olympic Torch on the shoulders of their celebrated sportsperson, it’s film actors in India who get that privilege. This year the honor is showered on two popular Hindi movie stars – Amir Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Mikhail Singh will ALSO join them while taking a walk in the rajpath of Delhi.

Recently, Baichung Bhutia announced that he wont carry the Olympic Torch following the Tibet issue. But is there anyone bothered? Both media and public are concerned what Amir Khan and Saif Khan has to say on this issue. They don’t disappoint us; both have their own SAY over the matter. So, please don’t mind over the fatuous comment they make, because it’s Bollywood who seems to be only one to bring bread-butter to the media. So there comes a report on torch carrying issue for Olympic 2008 with images of two film-stars in their vests flexing their muscle giving a killer look.

Probably this explains the focus of a nation and also the fact that why its national game cannot even qualify to enter the Olympics.