(66)

Do take time and Read this...................................

ONE BEDROOM FLAT...

WRITTEN BY AN INDIAN SOFTWARE ENGINEER..

A Bitter Reality

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in

Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the

land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA , it

was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I

would be staying in this country for about Five years in which

time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India .


My father was a government employee and after his retirement,

the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.


I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling

homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and

speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone

cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and

pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange

rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.



Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have

only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within

these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight.

Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for

all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be

talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through

all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting

shorter I was forced to select one candidate.


In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get

married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After

the marriage, it was time to return to USA , after giving some

money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after

them, we returned to USA .


My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she

started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India

increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our

savings started diminishing.


After two more years we started to

have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us

by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked

me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India ... But part work part

monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting

India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a

message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I

couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India ... The

next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there

was no one to do the last rights the society members had done

whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed

away without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's

dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down.

I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my

savings were short and the property prices had gone up during

all these years. I had to return to the USA ...

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to

stay in India ... My 2 children and I returned to USA after

promising my wife I would be back for good after two years.


Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an

American and my son was happy living in USA ... I decided that

had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India ... I

had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a

well-developed locality.


Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is

for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife

has also left me and gone to the holy abode.


Sometimes
I wondered was it worth all this?

My father, even after staying in India ,

Had a house to his name and I too have

the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM..

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing.

This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these

children are losing their values and culture because of it. I

get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well

at least they remember me..

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will

be performing my last rights, God Bless them.

But the question
still
remains 'was all this worth it?'
I am still searching for an answer.................!!!

START THINKING
IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM???
LIFE IS BEYOND THIS .....DON'T JUST LEAVE YOUR LIFE ........
START LIVING IT .......

Try to know the real purpose of life :-( .......

(62)

A Lesson to Teach

Her name was Mrs. Thompson. As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie.

Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs.Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs.Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume.

But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.

Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs.Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to," After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded.

By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer -- the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs.Thompson did.

And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't really know how to teach until I met you."

Please remember that wherever you go, and whatever you do, you will have the opportunity to touch and/or change a person's outlook.

Please try to do it in a positive way:
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

(13)

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese Management was the case of an empty soap box which happened in one of Japan’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one box went through the assembly line empty, Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

The engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a lot to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral of this incident:

“Complex problems can be solved through simpler solutions. Stay calm to look for simpler solutions”
 
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(4)

Just Have an Interesting Story about our Life…

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.
Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor 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 best cups and were 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. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Don't let the cups alone drive you...
Enjoy the coffee also !!!

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