Friday 20 October, 2006

This is the view from my room's window... On one of those relaxed hot coffee evenings...



and this one's half an hour later...

Friday 13 October, 2006

The Donkey

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Update: 28th Nov 2008
I have been retold this story by one of my professors. The story is now called 'The Dunky Story'.

Tuesday 3 October, 2006

Can Dada make it into Blues once again?

Challenger Trophy is on. Though, Indian squad has already been chosen for Champions’ Trophy, this tournament provides much needed hope for many former Indian team members to get back into the team. Their performance vis-à-vis frontline Indian cricketers is their only chance of proving to the selectors that they have what it takes to be in the final 14 and who can know this better than Sourav Dada… Dada is playing in the Indian Greens (Least favorite team to win the tournament) under the captaincy of Mohammed Kaif. It is strange how life can quickly turn tables on you. Who could have ever imagined that the Legend, Sourav Ganguly will have to prove himself for a place in the Indian cricket team and that too under the captaincy of Mohammed Kaif? I don’t know why but when I saw tired-looking but determined Sourav Ganguly trying his every bit to perform, I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry more than I do when I see Salman Khan acting in the movies. I think Dada is really determined to make it to the final 14 and though his performance in the first match does not approve so, sooner or later he will stage a come back.

The challenger trophy reminds me of the chunk of time I have wasted watching the first two matches of the tournament. At times I ponder my sudden shot- term love for time consuming things as unimportant as the Challenger Trophy and prime time soaps as hackneyed as ‘Left Right Left’ when I am preparing for some exam or the other. I had developed a liking for ‘Remix’ last time round when I was to appear for my eighth semester exams.

Among the other things, I can now access orkut from my office… I am logged into orkut from 9-6 these days and every time I open orkut window to scrap someone, my ML peeps into my computer… I have a feeling that he thinks I am logged onto some matrimony site and badly searching for a girl to marry, thanks to the way orkut GUI has been designed… This has, by the way, softened his attitude towards me which is palpable from the kind of work I have been getting…

I have been thinking about saving tax these days… I have gone through considerable amount of material on investments, mutual funds and taxation in the past few days. I think the government is looting us of our salaries and that it would be better if we paid a monthly fee for all the services that the government is making us available. I have made a preliminary analysis of my risk appetite. According to it, I need to invest about 65% of my savings in the equity and related instruments. Now I also know that NSC is a damn bad idea for investing which yields 8% returns 5% of which is eaten up by the inflation. More about my investment tips in the posts to come…