**From & To Satish **( New Pictures Pl see pg 163) - Page 151

Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us each day with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; He asks that we celebrate it. ~Robert Brault,

A simple and old story and yet rings a bell

A woman baked chapatti (roti) for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra chapatti on the window sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the chapatti. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunchback came, picked up the chapatti and uttered the words:

"The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself… "Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?" One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get rid of this hunchback," she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the chapatti she prepared for him!

Festival of lights,sweets and new clothes


Growing up,from the years 1973 to 1982 if my memory serves me right Diwali or deepavali as the festival of lights is called was a big affair in our house.No low key preparations but my aunt went the whole way.Those days as akin to most of you and the rest of the families we got new clothes for three ocassions.starting with diwali,pongal and one's birthday and which ever order it came first.But diwali took the cake,what with all the crackers and sweets.

A month before diwali came around,a sunday we were all herded into the ambassador and we were nearly a dozen of us and off we went to t.nagar.Now this place we went to was frequented by my people much before i came to madras as chennai was called those days.Anyway i was just a mute spectator as were kost of my cousins and this place was kailash emporium.It stood opposite to the old rajakumari theater and i am not sure if it still exists for the theater is long gone.Those were days when one could bravely plan and go to T.NAGAR and come back on time which one can surely not do today.So me and cousin brother pradeep my aunts son and if any of the poorer cousins had come from bangalore than them included we got measured and that was that and end of the matter.Now come diwali and for many diwali's after that we all used to turn out in uniform colors and i sometime wondered if some of us were twins or quadruplets.

Well the atrocious shirts which ramarajan would be proud of adorned us and yet that was just okay for diwali meant sweets and most importantly we got to go see a movie on the first day.It was mostly done in the afternoon for we had to burst crackers later in the evening.The culmination of the diwali day would be my late uncle lighting 1000 wala with his cigarette and wow he would do it with a flair and style which even the superstar would envy.
Next day at school me and my classmates would tell tales and lies about the crackers we burst and i always told the tallest tales.


Nowadays many decades later diwali does not hold or pose any fun or joy anymore.I mostly just go to the temple and park my car safely away from the road for fear that it might catch fire.2012 is very different from the 1970's for one did not know about noise and smoke pollution,one was unaware of global warming and so many other evils which seem to swamp us today.Those days we would fight over the loudest crackers and today when someone bursts a cracker, all i hear are expletives coming loudly from my gob.Oh the world has changed as one ages.


I stand in the balcony and my memories bring back my late grandma who used to hunt us down and cover is in oil and then scald us with boiling water.I am not sure if we had a heater those days but we had those copper boilers behind the house which used to run on coal.of the youngest lot i was the oldest so i always came last and i used to fight from screaming when those mugs of hot water came pouring down and there were many a times when i wanted to pour hot coal over my grandma.But luckily it never happened.well from the second floor of my building i will stand and watch and smile gently thinking back on those younger days of sweets,crackers,oil and hot water.Well at least now i have got a heater in the house and maybe just maybe tomorrow i might oil my head and stand under the scalding water and let those years of memories rain down on me.I wish you all and your families a happy and safe diwali.Be well.

The nicest place to live in this world is in someone's thoughts.

Hi Satish

Wishing you and your family Happy Diwali

It is different from old days that's 100% true people busy with so many things and priorities change too

One evening, a young woman came home from a date, rather sad. She told her mother, "Anthony proposed to me an hour ago." "Then why are you so sad?" her mother asked.

"Because he also told me he is an atheist. Mom, he doesn't even believe
there's a Devil." Her mother replied, "Marry him anyway. Between the two of us, we'll show him just how wrong he is."

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?


GEORGE W. BUSH

We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.


ERNEST HEMINGWAY

To die. In the rain. Alone.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA

In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.


OHN LENNON

Imagine all the chickens crossing roads in peace.

ARISTOTLE

It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

KARL MARX

It was an historical inevitability.

VOLTAIRE

I may not agree with what the chicken did, but I will defend to the death its right to do it.

SIGMUND FREUD

The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

BILL GATES

I have just released eChicken 2003, which will not only cross roads, but also will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook - and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON

I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define chicken, please?

It's no mystery why weed and same-sex marriage were legalised on the same day. Refer to the Bible. Leviticus 20:13 - 'A man who sleeps with another man shall be stoned'.

A witty quote from a friend of mine called alan bartley