I am a very successful man... I pursued my career like a maniac... and that made me very rich...
and ofcourse that made me famous too...
wherever i go, people turn back to look at me... there are articles about me in magazines... and guess what, i have heard that fathers ask their son to try and become as good as me... children run to me for my autographs...
In short everywhere i go... there is a crowd around me...
But at the end of the day when i go home there is no one to smile and open the door.. in the pursuit of my success i forgot about a very important ingredient of life... love...
and then i think ..
Whats the point....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
How to...
AN ANCIENT KING once dreamed that all his teeth had fallen out.
He was naturally concerned about his dream, so the next morning he sent
for a predictor to interpret his dream for him.
The predictor listened to the king's dream, pondered it for a moment,
and then delivered this pronouncement:
"Your Highness, the dream means that all your relatives will die and you
will be left alone."
The king was furious at the predictor's interpretation, and he demanded
the predictor remove himself from the palace at once.
Then the king called for a second predictor.
This predictor listened to the king's dream, pondered for a moment, and
then proclaimed:
"Rejoice, O King! The dream means that you will live many more years. In
fact, you will outlive all your relatives! LONG LIVE THE KING!"
This interpretation so pleased the king that he gave the interpreter a
large purse of gold.
Essentially, the two predictor made the same prediction. But there was
a big difference in HOW they delivered the message...
It's not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that counts... :)
He was naturally concerned about his dream, so the next morning he sent
for a predictor to interpret his dream for him.
The predictor listened to the king's dream, pondered it for a moment,
and then delivered this pronouncement:
"Your Highness, the dream means that all your relatives will die and you
will be left alone."
The king was furious at the predictor's interpretation, and he demanded
the predictor remove himself from the palace at once.
Then the king called for a second predictor.
This predictor listened to the king's dream, pondered for a moment, and
then proclaimed:
"Rejoice, O King! The dream means that you will live many more years. In
fact, you will outlive all your relatives! LONG LIVE THE KING!"
This interpretation so pleased the king that he gave the interpreter a
large purse of gold.
Essentially, the two predictor made the same prediction. But there was
a big difference in HOW they delivered the message...
It's not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that counts... :)
My Mother...
I was born in a small village and i grew up in the countryside.
My mom only had one eye. I hated her... she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell... anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment.
There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me.
I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don"t you have the other eye?! You"re only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don"t you just die?" My mom did not respond.
I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that I had said what I"d wanted to say all this time.
Maybe it was because my mom hadn"t punished me, but I didn"t think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.
That night...I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was
something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.
Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I"m living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it"s a place that doesn"t remind me of my mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see me "What?! Who"s this?!"... It was my mother...Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom"s eye. And I asked her, "Who are you? I don"t know you!!!" as if I tried to make that real. I screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out here now!" And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I"m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thank good ness... she doesn"t recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn"t going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me... one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to call a house...just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper in her hand.... it was a letter to me.
She wrote...
My Son,I think my life has been long enough now. And... I won"t visit Seoul anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school.... For you... I"m sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you.
You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn"t stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine... I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself, "it"s because he loves me." I miss the times when you were still young around me.
I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me.
My world shattered!
Then I cried for the person who lived for me.
My Mother.
My mom only had one eye. I hated her... she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell... anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment.
There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me.
I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don"t you have the other eye?! You"re only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don"t you just die?" My mom did not respond.
I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that I had said what I"d wanted to say all this time.
Maybe it was because my mom hadn"t punished me, but I didn"t think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.
That night...I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was
something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.
Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I"m living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it"s a place that doesn"t remind me of my mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see me "What?! Who"s this?!"... It was my mother...Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom"s eye. And I asked her, "Who are you? I don"t know you!!!" as if I tried to make that real. I screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out here now!" And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I"m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thank good ness... she doesn"t recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn"t going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me... one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to call a house...just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper in her hand.... it was a letter to me.
She wrote...
My Son,I think my life has been long enough now. And... I won"t visit Seoul anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school.... For you... I"m sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you.
You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn"t stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine... I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself, "it"s because he loves me." I miss the times when you were still young around me.
I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me.
My world shattered!
Then I cried for the person who lived for me.
My Mother.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Think About it...
Hi...
It's the weekend and I am in Kolkata, waiting at a bus stop. I am going over to a friends
place. I have an Appy in my hand... While i was busy staring at people here and there and
having my drink, this kid comes up to me. My first reaction, like most of the others, was
something like... "kya hai.. kya chahiye.. ja yaha se... "
Then something happened that has changed me and my life.
The kid said.. "Bhaiya.. thoda sa mujhe bhi do na... zyada nahi thoda sa..." and he had this
sweet request kind of smile... This kid, around 5-6 years of age, doesn't have anything.
My boss has a kid of the same age who might know the meaning of "request".
My heart sank to the very bottom. All i could do was stare at the child... and i kept staring
I came out of it when he started tugging at my trousers. I took him to a shop and bought him
an Appy all for himself. You should have seen the smile on his face... the childishness in
it... it made me smile (i think i had giggled a bit too...)
But then had it been some other day, i guess it wud have ended here. That day i started
thinking about the kid, standing at the bus stop.
How must he have spent his day...??? He must have got up sometime late in the morning (i
didn't want to think about where he might have spent the cold night). Must have jumped around
here and there... when he felt hungry, he must have "Asked" for something from anybody he
could get hold of. He must have met hundreds of people. Some of them must have ignored him,
some might have shouted at him and shoo-ed him away... and some might have had a bit of
sympathy and given something. No one is wrong from his or her point of view. Then after an
uneventfull day he must have gone back to sleep.
Now say, one out of those hunderds of people wud have thought in a way a bit different than
the usual. Instead of ignoring him, or shouting at him, or giving him a coin or so...
say he wud have given him a bit of his time. And in that time he wud have tried to teach him
something, like alphabets, or numbers, or anything that he might have thought wud be usefull
for the child in his future. Tell me guys... wud or wud it not have been a step to a more
beautiful world?
The kid wudn't care if you ignore him or shoo him away. You give him a coin and he'll spend
it and forget about it. This will go on... one day he will realise that the only way he can fill his
stomach is by "asking" from people who are walking down the street-not bothered about anything
but themselves.
I agree that we spend tiring hours at work. Then we come back home and again get into doing
something or the other. But then... if all of us... all of us... spend only 2-3 hours a week
will it cut that deep into our so called time schedules... Will it be that bad if we tried
to make the kid's life a bit better...
I dont believe it. I have seen and i KNOW people who want to make a difference in somebody's
life. And i KNOW that if they can... so can I... and so can everybody...
Think about it...
There's my bus... gotta go now.. bubuye.. c ya later...
It's the weekend and I am in Kolkata, waiting at a bus stop. I am going over to a friends
place. I have an Appy in my hand... While i was busy staring at people here and there and
having my drink, this kid comes up to me. My first reaction, like most of the others, was
something like... "kya hai.. kya chahiye.. ja yaha se... "
Then something happened that has changed me and my life.
The kid said.. "Bhaiya.. thoda sa mujhe bhi do na... zyada nahi thoda sa..." and he had this
sweet request kind of smile... This kid, around 5-6 years of age, doesn't have anything.
My boss has a kid of the same age who might know the meaning of "request".
My heart sank to the very bottom. All i could do was stare at the child... and i kept staring
I came out of it when he started tugging at my trousers. I took him to a shop and bought him
an Appy all for himself. You should have seen the smile on his face... the childishness in
it... it made me smile (i think i had giggled a bit too...)
But then had it been some other day, i guess it wud have ended here. That day i started
thinking about the kid, standing at the bus stop.
How must he have spent his day...??? He must have got up sometime late in the morning (i
didn't want to think about where he might have spent the cold night). Must have jumped around
here and there... when he felt hungry, he must have "Asked" for something from anybody he
could get hold of. He must have met hundreds of people. Some of them must have ignored him,
some might have shouted at him and shoo-ed him away... and some might have had a bit of
sympathy and given something. No one is wrong from his or her point of view. Then after an
uneventfull day he must have gone back to sleep.
Now say, one out of those hunderds of people wud have thought in a way a bit different than
the usual. Instead of ignoring him, or shouting at him, or giving him a coin or so...
say he wud have given him a bit of his time. And in that time he wud have tried to teach him
something, like alphabets, or numbers, or anything that he might have thought wud be usefull
for the child in his future. Tell me guys... wud or wud it not have been a step to a more
beautiful world?
The kid wudn't care if you ignore him or shoo him away. You give him a coin and he'll spend
it and forget about it. This will go on... one day he will realise that the only way he can fill his
stomach is by "asking" from people who are walking down the street-not bothered about anything
but themselves.
I agree that we spend tiring hours at work. Then we come back home and again get into doing
something or the other. But then... if all of us... all of us... spend only 2-3 hours a week
will it cut that deep into our so called time schedules... Will it be that bad if we tried
to make the kid's life a bit better...
I dont believe it. I have seen and i KNOW people who want to make a difference in somebody's
life. And i KNOW that if they can... so can I... and so can everybody...
Think about it...
There's my bus... gotta go now.. bubuye.. c ya later...
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
"It...."
Sometimes in the darkness you can hear it. You can feel it as if it's a living being.
It talks back when you talk to it. It laughs and jeers at you. It taunts you. it scares you.
it plays with you. But then again it sings to you. It reads you things that you want to hear.
Sometimes it scares you so much that you dont want to listen to it, but it doesn't stop
It reminds you of every single mistake that you have ever made. Again, it warns you of what
you are about to suffer. At times it gets so painfully realistic, it makes you cry.
You want to run away from it, but it keeps following you. It keeps shouting back at you
everytime you shout it. It knows you so deep inside that you feel naked in front of it.
It makes things unbearable.
Still when you are alone... you search for it... you know you can never live without it...
you know you can never escape it...
coz after all IT is YOU, your heart, your soul your conscience... trying to show you a right
way in this maze of life...
It talks back when you talk to it. It laughs and jeers at you. It taunts you. it scares you.
it plays with you. But then again it sings to you. It reads you things that you want to hear.
Sometimes it scares you so much that you dont want to listen to it, but it doesn't stop
It reminds you of every single mistake that you have ever made. Again, it warns you of what
you are about to suffer. At times it gets so painfully realistic, it makes you cry.
You want to run away from it, but it keeps following you. It keeps shouting back at you
everytime you shout it. It knows you so deep inside that you feel naked in front of it.
It makes things unbearable.
Still when you are alone... you search for it... you know you can never live without it...
you know you can never escape it...
coz after all IT is YOU, your heart, your soul your conscience... trying to show you a right
way in this maze of life...
Monday, December 22, 2008
tell me what to do...
you hugged me... i smiled and i cried...
you ignored me... i laughed it off...
you hurt me... i was still smiling...
you kissed me... i kissed you back...
you changed... i understood...
you had new friends... i was happy...
you blamed me for all of it... i heard you...
you cried... i made you smile...
you cursed me... i cursed myself back
you went away... i waited for you
you kept blaming... i was still quiet..
then you say you love me... Now you tell me what to do...
you hugged me... i smiled and i cried...
you ignored me... i laughed it off...
you hurt me... i was still smiling...
you kissed me... i kissed you back...
you changed... i understood...
you had new friends... i was happy...
you blamed me for all of it... i heard you...
you cried... i made you smile...
you cursed me... i cursed myself back
you went away... i waited for you
you kept blaming... i was still quiet..
then you say you love me... Now you tell me what to do...
Friday, December 19, 2008
I was thinking yester-night... there are so many things that i am worried about... i am worried about getting up the next morning... i am worried about what i'll be doing the next day... i am worried about what my boss is gonna "tell" me... i am worried about whether i'm right or wrong... i am worried about who likes me and who doesn't... i am worried about who i am gonna turn out to be... infact i am worried about being worried in the first place.
But then for a moment i realised... that amongst all these worries i was losing something... i was losing my present... the present where instead of worrying about something that i dont know i cud have made someone's day better... i cud have made someone smile... i cud have listened to someone who wanted to talk... and rather than worrying so much.. i cud have seen the sun set by the riverside... i cud have seen birds returning home... i cud have heard the song that Mother nature sings....
("but then what if instead of making that person smile i turn up hurting him or her... and whats the guarantee that the person wnts to smile in the first place..."..... "nyaaaaah who wud not want to smile.... ")
and worst of all now i am worried about all the stuffs that i missed out coz i was worried in the first place....
sigggghhhhh.. i guess some people just dont learn....
But then for a moment i realised... that amongst all these worries i was losing something... i was losing my present... the present where instead of worrying about something that i dont know i cud have made someone's day better... i cud have made someone smile... i cud have listened to someone who wanted to talk... and rather than worrying so much.. i cud have seen the sun set by the riverside... i cud have seen birds returning home... i cud have heard the song that Mother nature sings....
("but then what if instead of making that person smile i turn up hurting him or her... and whats the guarantee that the person wnts to smile in the first place..."..... "nyaaaaah who wud not want to smile.... ")
and worst of all now i am worried about all the stuffs that i missed out coz i was worried in the first place....
sigggghhhhh.. i guess some people just dont learn....
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