MIND SET - LIVE OUTSIDE THE BOX - acknowledgement Neelabh TOI 28.09.2008

Dear Friends,

As I told you recently, i am seriously getting involved with the blog that is close to my heart.

Today I present something which talks of courage in the context of current topicality of environment....

Trust this will touch you all the way it touched me

With Best wishes,

Ashis Sen

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LIVE OUTSIDE THE BOX by Neelabh
Jump into the storm, do not stand on the sidelines, too scared to do anything about the ugliness around you, says Skye Thomas

Most of the world likes to play it safe. They go to their safe jobs, come home to their safe relationships, they drive safe cars, they invest money in safe corporations, they think safe thoughts, and they want nothing more than to feel safe and secure. Survival of the fittest dictates that these people live another day and therefore get to breed and would make up the majority of the population. We could say that they play it smart. But there is another kind, too. This other group lives for thrills. They don’t just occasionally think outside the box, they actually prefer to live outside the box. This is a group who thrives on adventure, change, and newness. They love innovative new ideas, they like to explore new things, and push the envelope beyond its capabilities. They are the visionaries who perceive something beyond where we stand today. This group often does not feel understood nor supported by the mainstream population. They are not rebels, although they are often accused of being rebellious because they do not embrace the status quo. This group is not anti-anything. They do not define themselves by not being a member of someone else’s group. They do not require group consensus to be who they are. Young adults often think that by dressing badly or by misbehaving that they are somehow brave and different from whatever it is that they are opposing, but that is not revolutionary and different, that is just anger turned inside out. Most of the time they are not accomplishing anything by simply making a mess of their lives. They are not making a point, they are not changing the world, they are simply behaving in a manner that causes people to shun them. That is not the group i am talking about today. This group is made up of people like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Nikola Tesla, Susan B Anthony, Melissa Etheridge, Nelson Mandela, and countless others who do not strive to be different nor to go against the mainstream beliefs. They simply are different, they think different, they live different, and they make passionate choices to contribute something meaningful to humanity despite the fact that others oppose them. All of these people stand tall despite the chaos and anger of those surrounding them. “Why can’t you just leave well enough alone? Why do you always have to push people too far? Why can't you just get along?” Those who would keep things safe and comfortable become frightened and angry at these innovative new thinkers. They torment them, threaten them, mistreat them, ostracize them, and create a storm of ugliness to try and stop these people from simply sharing the gifts of their hearts that they were born to share with humanity. Years later, often after they have long been dead, future generations can look back in hindsight and see their bravery as admirable. But in the moment, these people are historically treated terribly. These people are typically men and women of peace who do not go out with an angry rebellious need to stir up trouble. They fight for higher ideals because in their heart of hearts they truly believe that things could be better for mankind. They hold a vision of better things to come and they follow that vision wherever it takes them. Today there are millions of people who would change the world with their beautiful openminded hearts and their incredibly brilliant minds, especially the upcoming teenagers and young adults in their early twenties. They feel that there is no point in even trying because the current political and cultural environment is so against them. I would be lying if i claimed that what you see as extreme hostility towards change was not at a peak right now.

You are right. They do not want to change again, but you are right, it is time for another change and you are the ones to help bring it. Do not be afraid of the backlash. Stand tall and do what you know in your heart is right and just for all, not just what benefits a chosen few. You know that ignorance can no longer rule the people. You know that blind obedience is no longer a viable option.

To you I say, meet me in the eye of the storm and together we will steer this mess in another direction. Jump into the storm. Do not stand on the sidelines too lazy and scared to do anything about all of the ugliness going on around you. Jump into the storm. Swim and fight your way to the center of the vortex. There we will sit together in the quiet and find the solutions.

Until we embrace the eye of the storm and really see what is at the root of humanity's hatred of each other, we will never find a longterm solution that creates real peace and equality for everyone. We need to heal our planet, our bodies, and the spiritual hearts of our species. People say that the signs are all here and Armageddon has begun. Why save the planet if the savior is coming to take the good and holy people away to a better place? Since we are not going to be here much longer, we may as well fry it on our way out. How selfish to assume that your god will come carry you off to heaven, therefore you do not have to care for the people and planet that are going to be left in the wake of your final choices.

Who is to say that is not the ultimate test of who stays and who gets to ascend to a better place? If you had to pick and choose who were truly worthy of burning in hell or going to heaven, would you pick the folks who were killing and raging war in the name of God or would you pick the people who were crying out for love, equality, and to save the planet?

I stand here in the eye of the storm, turmoil and war all around me, my heart quiet and strong. The vision is very clear here. I will do my part to save the planet for the sake of those left behind. It is not for me to say who should or should not prevail. Someone will be left standing here on this planet, with this atmosphere, with this water, with this soil. For them, I say let's create a plan so that they have the best possible chance of rebuilding a new world. For love of this place with its beaches, mountains, and forests that I love so much, I will hold the love of Mother Nature in my heart. You know, if the savior comes to haul all the good guys off to a better place, I think I will volunteer to stay behind to help make this battered planet a place of beauty once more. When you are done with your religious wars and your ascensions into heaven, give the planet back to those of us who care for her and please do not come back. Embrace the eye of the storm, for the vision is very clear here. (Skye Thomas is a spiritual writer, entrepreneur, astrologer and philosopher based in the US)

The Cup Of Life - Mother Theresa - Acknowledgement Gita Venkat

Dear Friends,

All of you, whoever were visiting this blog regularly earlier, must have wondered at times what happened to its own inspiration to survive, and, provide others looking for inspiration, ideas and courage.... for this blog, sort of, went into a long period of hibernation since October 2007 ...... the reasons are many .... no point in elaborating them here and wasting your valuable time.

I was thinking this morning, (after in a chat with a new friend from Delhi, I asked her to have a look at the collections I assimilated here), how dear really is this blog to me? And, how unfaithful I had been towards it ... I made a resolution in my mind ... from October 2008 this blog will be bounce back to life .... another thought then hit me, more powerfully...why wait another week or so ...what is so sacrosanct about October 1.... the sun that day will also rise in the East and set on the Western Horizon.... there will be a morning following the night before and there will be a night to follow after.... so why not "Resumption" today as well ..... when Nature makes no differentiation of cycles of time in its frame of a day counted in 24 hours .....

So Friends with great pleasure on the eve of my trip out of town.... I am initiating the "REVIVAL" of the blog with an anecdote by none less than Mother Theresa....
It speaks of a simple way we can remain happy and content....

Gita, dear, thanks again for sharing this unique simple sermon.

With Best Wishes,

Ashis Sen

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The Cup of Life

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves. When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.



What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."

-Mother Teresa

Whatever Happens ... Happens For The Best - A Parable retold by Ashis Sen

Dear Friends,

Well the months of September and October have been a bit of a let down. I was confined for long periods in bed with viral fever and could do no justice to the blog. However, I am now on the path to recovery now and will hopefully be able to take up the work of nurturing my passion for the blog on a regular basis.


The Festive Season is on, so. SEASON'S GREETINGS TO YOU ALL MY FRIENDS, as I scribble a message of hope through a fable.

With Best Wishes,

Ashis Sen

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Whatever Happens Happens For The Best

Once upon a time a king decided to go for hunting. He and his men went to the forest. On the outskirts they set up camps for resting. Then they made merry picking and eating ripe fruits from the trees.

Suddenly, there was a major commotion people were shouting "The king had cut his hand". All the king's men ran here and there looking for herbs and water to apply to the wound, and there were shouting and commotion all around. Actually, the king tried to slice an apple into pieces with his sword, in the process he cut the little finger of his left hand.

The king felt pleased that his men were so concerned for him.

But then he noticed the minister was ignoring the issue and felt irritated. He called the minister and asked him " Are you not concerned about the spilling of royal blood?". The minister calmly replied "Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best." This reply enraged the king no end and he shouted "What! are you not concerned at all about my cut finger?" The minister kept his cool and replied again "Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best."

The king was most annoyed at the extreme indifference and ordered the minister to be put in captivity awaiting trial for royal treason after the hunting was over. He asked the minister for the last time if the minister had any submission to make, all he said again was "Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best."

The next day the king entered the deep forest with his men in search of a big game. With great zeal the King rode far ahead of his men and got separated from his group. In the deep forest he lost his way and was taken prisoner by a clan of ferocious dacoits. The dacoits planned to make a Royal sacrifice to propitiate their deity and seek her blessings for usurping the throne.

The next morning there was great chanting and merry making all around the den in preparation for the great event. The king duly bathed, appropriately ordained, was led to the alter for the sacred sacrifice. Just when he was to be beheaded, it was noticed that the subject for sacrifice , the king, had a cut on his left hand. The practice of the clan forbade offerings with defects.

So with no better option at hand the dacoits released the king and he finally made his way back to his camp. He narrated the experience to his men and then remembered that he had the minister in captivity waiting for trial for royal Treason.

He called for the minister and sat in judgment. The minister then said " My lord, consider the facts as they occurred. You cut your finger, and I said 'Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best.' you got annoyed and put me into captivity before going for the game hunting and I again said 'Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best'. You went deep into the forest and got lost from your companions and should I have not been left behind I would be keeping you company and we would have both fallen into the hands of the dacoits. The dacoits were about to make a Royal Sacrifice, but for your cut finger you escaped certain death and the Kingdom was saved from rule of the dacoits. Had I been with you failing to make a Royal Sacrifice the dacoits would have very certainly sacrificed me, as the next best alternative. So because your finger was cut you got saved, because I was left behind, I have now a chance to explain the deep philosophy of my statement 'Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best.'

The king reflected on the happenings and released the minister saying yes you are a wise man and see things in their positive perspective.


Always, Life has two forces, the positive force and the negative force, negative force pulls us down like gravity, the tragedy is most of us surrender to the negativities of life, but those who succeed see the brighter side of the worst tragedies and remain positive and psyche themselves up through positive energy to new levels of success.

So being able to say 'Sir, whatever happens, happens for the best' is a great way to look at LIFE and its happenings.

Dear Friends,

Of late I have been caught in a vortex of activities that is forcing me off from running this blog with regularity - an activity I cherish so much.

Well I am now trying to compensate a little for my failure to attend to the blog in the recent past, and, then what is a better way than to share with friends the live examples of LEADERSHIP in society.

So here we go with some extraordinary anecdotes and analysis on leadership.

With best wishes,

Ashis Sen


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LEADER in DEED

Paralysed body, indomitable will

A bullet left him immobile. But could not break his spirit. Today, he has brought smiles to the faces of over 300 physically challenged in Delhi by providing jobs

Avijit Ghosh | TNN

It was late in the night and Rajinder Johar was getting ready to watch Siddharth Basu’s famous Quiztime show on Doordarshan. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Three men stood outside. They wanted to make a phone call. On being let in, one of the robbers pulled out a gun. In the scuffle that followed, Johar was shot in the chest. As he rushed towards the adjoining room, they fired a second shot. “It hit my neck,” he recalls, “I immediately felt a numbness enveloping me and collapsed like a sack of potatoes.”

They rushed Johar to Lucknow’s King George Medical College where, incidentally, he also worked as an occupational therapist. The bullets were taken out immediately. The doctors hoped he would be able to move his
limbs once again. But the recovery never happened. Only 37 years old then, Johar had become a quadriplegic, paralysed below his neck.

“The next five years,” he reminisces about 21 years later, “I was occupied by negative thoughts and trying to come to terms with my disability. I kept quarrelling with God and simply wondered, how long can I keep watching television. Then one day, I told myself, let me do something.”

Though bedridden since that eventful night in March, 1986, Johar, who moved to hometown Delhi the same year, set up an organisation, Family of Disabled (FOD), and started publishing a magazine titled, Voice. His objective: creating awareness and sensitising the masses on various aspects of disabilities.

But Johar soon realised he wanted to do more. His job profile earlier required helping people with cerebral palsy, paraplegia, polio and other debilitating diseases. In a different sense, he wanted to do the same thing: improving the lives of the disabled, especially those from disadvantaged sections. “If you are well-off, you have others to take care of you. But who takes care of a disabled if he or she is poor?” he asks.

Johar felt that economic self-dependence is imperative to their empowerment and set up the Apna Rozgar Scheme, which helps them kickstart self-employment of their own. ARS not only provides seed money but also teaches them how to run the business and maintain accounts.

So far, 325 individuals in and around Delhi have benefited from the endeavour. Jatinder Kumar, a gunshot victim of Punjab terrorism, successfully runs a kirana store. Polio victim Ashok Kumar of Dabri, owns an STD booth. Mohini Devi of Sultanpuri, who suffered a paralytic stroke, has a small grocery store. “People laughed when I told them, we only offer Rs 2,500 (now increased to Rs 3,000) worth of appliances and tools to set up business. But I have an 80 per cent success rate,” says Jo har, who is ready for work by 9.30 every morning at FOD's east Janakpuri office. The NGO can be reached at contact@familyofdisabled.org.

Johar now wants to set up a multi purpose centre for disabled persons “It will be a training centre with recre ational facilities,” he says. Consider ing what Johar has achieved, that wish may soon turn into a reality.

Blood, Tears & Sweat To Offer - Sir Winston Churchill - TOI 19.08.2007

Blood, tears & sweat to offer

Noted orator, politician and writer, Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. This was his first speech to the British Parliament where he prepares the nation for a protracted war against Nazi aggression.


I say to the House as I said to ministers who have joined this government, I have noth ing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat We have before us an ordeal of the most griev ous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea, and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim?

I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. Let that be realised. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal. I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel en titled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.

She stood up by staying seated - Rosa Parks TOI 19.08.2007

TURNING point

She stood up by staying seated

ROSA PARKS CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

There are some people who are accidentally thrust into history books. Rosa Parks was one of them. A resident of Montgomery, Alabama, in the American south at a time when racial segregation rules applied in virtually all spheres of life, Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus for White passengers. On December 1, 1955 she had boarded a bus in downtown Montgomery after work and sat in the seats reserved for Blacks. But when several White passengers boarded the bus and the White-only seats became full, the bus driver asked Parks and three other blacks to get up.

Parks refused to comply and was arrested. She was charged with violating segregation laws and released on bail the same day. This would spark off what is now known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Parks would later write, “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

The day of Parks’ trial marked the beginning of a boycott of buses for 382 days by the Black community. The case would eventually reach the US Supreme Court where the court outlawed racial segregation on buses. The boycott was also the launching pad for the best known black civil rights activist Martin Luther King.

For her singular act of courage Parks was later dubbed the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement When she died in 2005, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice paid the ultimate tribute to Parks. If it weren't for Parks, Rice said, she would never have had the opportunity to become secretary of state.

MY Mmoment - Jagdish Khattar - TOI 19.08.2007

MY Mmoment

A strike couldn’t break us

JAGDISH KHATTAR MD | MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA

In October 2000, the labour union protested against the management's decision to link bonus and incentives to productivity and efficiency. Almost 90 per cent of the workers agitated outside the factory, demanding that the decision be reversed.

What started out as an attempt to improvise on quality standards to become a competitive force in a liberalised economy, became an unpleasant situation. Some of the workers decided to go on a fast unto death.

The primary concern was that production should not stop. We got some employees from our suppliers and, along with supervisors and managers, got the plant started again in a week's time. But the story was far from over. There was indirect pressure from the government and the case was being discussed in parliament. Every move of the management was being noticed, for a lot was at stake — if the management of the country’s largest car maker succumbed, it would set an avoidable precedent for smaller companies.

The deadlock continued for 90 days As pressure mounted from the government and politicians, we had hours of heated arguments for and against our stand. After all, it had been over three months and how long could we continue? Often, I would have my doubts too. For, we were dealing with human lives here. Not only of our employees, but also of their families.

But I was aware that it was in the long-term interest of all and, I dug in and stood my ground. The strike broke on January 9, 2001, on the management's terms. The impact of this de termined effort was that the country was now recognised as a secure cli mate for investment, the company was acknowledged as one that did not com promise on quality and paved the way for the government to privatise the company and list it on the stock exchanges.

While it was a painful episode critical decisions have to take cognisance of the interests of the society as a whole.

A Leader Needs To Instil Trust - N R Naryanmurthy - Co Founder, Infosys - TOI 19.08.2007

They got it WRITE

NR NARAYANA MURTHY | CO-FOUNDER, INFOSYS

A leader has to have followers to be a leader. That is why I stood by my controversial decision on CEO’s salaries being linked to company’s earnings. If you want to enhance the trust of employees in the leader, then the leadership of the company has to conduct itself in a manner that enhances trust. Also, the CEO or the leader must definitely reap benefits proportionate to the benefits derived by the company.

Never before in the history of the business community in the world did we have a situation where trust of man and woman in the street is lowest in business leaders. According to a US survey, corporate leaders are least trusted, as many of them violated codes of ethics and even laws.

On the Indian side, if you have analysed how salaries of CEOs have increased in 15 years, they have gone up from Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 to Rs 70 lakh (Rs 7 million) on an average. I am one of those who fought for this. When on board of a company, I saw to it that the CEO had a variable linked to output.

Indeed, salaries of the lowest paid persons have not correspondingly gone up. I won't get into a debate whether this is right or wrong.

We'll miss you, Dr Kalam by FALI S NARIMAN courtesy Mr P K SEN

Dear Friends,

Well for a while I had been in hybernation and now am emerging from my long sojourn.

I thought friends there is no better way to make a come back than to pay homage to one of India's greatest gift to MANKIND .... DR A P J ABDUL KALAM

I am sure my friends, you will agre with the observations of the eminent Jurist F Nariman.

Hope friends you all find this eloquent exposition very heart warming....

With best wishes,

Ashis Sen

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We'll miss you, Dr Kalam
FALI S NARIMAN

We will miss him - that unconventional figure who became India's First Citizen in July 2002.

Never pompous, not even 'Presidential' (in either deportment or demeanour),

he walked into the Palace at Raisina Hill with few worldly goods -- he now leaves with even fewer:

"I will go with only two small suitcases,"

he wistfully said last Thursday.

We could have asked him to stay: but we didn't.

There were excuses (there always are).

It was said that apart from Rajendra Prasad there had been no 'precedent' for a second term.

But as any lawyer will tell you, if you have a good case in court there is no need for a 'precedent';

it is the good case that makes the precedent! But all this is in the realm of wishful thinking:

as the poet says: "We look before and after and pine for what is not..."

The stark reality is that this lovable figure - popular, sometimes even populist, but never ostentations

- now exits from Rashtrapati Bhavan in the same frame of mind as he entered it:

with an overriding concern for the 'underdog'. Hear this: one year into office, on the morning of July 14,

2003, at 8.40 am, the RAX in the office of the secretary to the President rang.

President Kalam was at the other end.

"Mr Nair," he said in a voice that was (as always) cool and composed,

"last night I could not sleep because my bedroom was leaking..."

PM Nair froze and muttered something.

"Any other President," he now recalls, "and my head would have rolled, although for no fault of mine."

At the other end of the line, the President (sensing Nair's embarrassment), continued reassuringly,

"Don't worry Mr Nair, I know you will immediately set things right in my bedroom.

What I am worried about are those houses on the President's Estate where they may not have a

second bedroom to shift to when the only one that is available leaks."

So Nair got moving, and with the help of the CPWD, the old staff quarters - until then dilapidated a nd neglected - were transformed into bright new leak-proof houses: in almost record time.

Nair tells me that he was greatly impressed at the concern and compassion shown by the President

- not for himself but for other inmates on the Presidential Estate.

It has been said that no man, however great, is a hero to his own secretary or his own valet.

In May 2006, President Kalam's relatives from the south decided to descend on him

(as relatives tend to often do). On instructions of the President they were welcomed by his staff at

the railway station, and were looked after right up to the time they departed.

But the Controller of Household was under strict instructions to keep a meticulous account of all

the expenses incurred on behalf of the relatives - all 53 of them.

Not once was an office vehicle used for any of them.

It was made clear by the President that he would pay - not only for the transport of all his relatives

to and from Delhi, and also within Delhi, he would also pay for the various rooms occupied by

them at Rashtrapati Bhavan and the food that was consumed by them - the rooms at the prescribed rate,

the food on the basis of expenses actually incurred.

When his relatives left after a week's stay, the president was of course sad to see them all go,

but he was also lighter in his pocket: the total expenses debited to his personal account was Rs 3,54,924!

As we practising lawyers often say in court "the facts speak for themselves":

President Kalam has set a high benchmark of rectitude in public office - worthy of emulation.

And as a living embodiment of 'Transparency-National', his parting words of advice were:

"Don't accept gifts." Delicately put: what he meant to say of course was:

on the Bihar Dissolution Proclamation, and for not insisting on a personal meeting with

Aung San Suu Kyi during his Presidential trip to Myanmar, in retrospect, these were but aberrations

- small lapses - in a hugely successful Presidency.

Of him it can be said, as Winston Churchill once said about his departed king:

"He nothing common did, or mean, upon that memorable scene."

Memorable scenes are rarely re-enacted, but they are always remembered.

The writer is an eminent jurist fnariman@hathway.com

--
Sriram Savarkar
Hinduism is more a way of life than a method of worship.

Jobs Possible

Dear Friend,

Please pass this message on....

Any one looking for work opportunity or learning and earning after passing Madhyamaik or equivalent can contact me, particularly, if the person is Kolkata based, more so...

The jobs are of various kinds .... ....

In HardWare and Net Working, minimum qualification, successful completion of class X.

Other opportunities are servicing pepole, generally from X+II onwards, to experienced hands .... the jobs are in the Retail Chains, BPOs, Call Centres, Soft Ware Development, Insurance Sector, Marketing, Accounting and other Maagement Functions...in fact the jobs cover a wide area...

My Address

Ashis Sen,
BC 258, Sector 1,
Salt Lake City (Bidhan Nagar),
Kolkata 700064

Phone: 2358 1982
2359 6254
Cells : +91 98310 62155
+91 98831 72412
+91 98364 55267

With Love,
Thank You,

Ashis Sen

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! - acknowledgement Diana

Dear Friends,

I am not a great believer.....

But here is an astounding story of LOVE....hard to ignore...

Diana, dear, thanks again for sharing this unique tale.

With best wishes,

Ashis Sen

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DO YOU SMELL THAT?
At the end of this story, it gives you two options. I think you will figure out what option I chose.
A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery. Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.


That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.
"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could.
"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one."
Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.
She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.
"No! No!" was all Diana could say.


She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.
But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana.
Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.


There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.
At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.
Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.


One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.
As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent
Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."


Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like Him.


It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.
Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.
During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

The Yellow Shirt - acknowledgement Diana

Dear Friends,

A touch of LOVE can take us through a lot of trauma....

This YELLOW SHIRT did....

Diana, my friend, thanks for such a touching contribution....

With best wishes,

Ashis Sen

_____________________________________________________________

Y E L L O W S H I R T



The baggy yellow shirt had long sleeves, four extra-large pockets trimmed in black thread and snaps up the front. It was faded from years of wear, but still in decent shape. I found it in 1963 when I was home from college on Christmas break, rummaging through bags of clothes Mom intended to give away. "You're not taking that old thing, are you?" Mom said when she saw me packing the yellow shirt. "I wore that when I was pregnant with your brother in 1954!"



"It's just the thing to wear over my clothes during art class, Mom. Thanks!" I slipped it into my suitcase before she could object. The yellow shirt be came a part of my college wardrobe. I loved it. After graduation, I wore the shirt the day I moved into my new apartment and on Saturday mornings when I cleaned.



The next year, I married. When I became pregnant, I wore the yellow shirt during big-belly days. I missed Mom and the rest of my family, since we were in Coloradoand they were in Illinois. But that shirt helped. I smiled, remembering that Mother had worn it when she was pregnant, 15 years earlier.

That Christmas, mindful of the warm feelings the shirt had given me, I patched one elbow, wrapped it in holiday paper and sent it to Mom. When Mom wrote to thank me for her "real" gifts, she said the yellow shirt was lovely. She never mentioned it again.



The next year, my husband, daughter and I stopped at Mom and Dad's to pick up some furniture. Days later, when we uncrated the kitchen table, I noticed something yellow taped to its bottom. The shirt!



And so the pattern was set.



On our next visit home, I secretly placed the shirt under Mom and Dad's mattress. I don't know how long it took for her to find it, but almost two years passed before I discovered it under the base of our living-room floor lamp. The yellow shirt was just what I needed now while refinishing furniture. The walnut stains added character.



In 1975 my husband and I divorced. With my three children, I prepared to move back to Illinois. As I packed, a deep depression overtook me. I wondered if I could make it on my own. I wondered if I would find a job. I paged through the Bible, looking for comfort. In Ephesians, I read, "So use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over, you will be standing up."



I tried to picture myself wearing God's armor, but all I saw was the stained yellow shirt. Slowly, it dawned on me. Wasn't my mother's love a piece of God's armor? My courage was renewed.



Unpacking in our new home, I knew I had to get the shirt back to Mother. The next time I visited her, I tucked it in her bottom dresser drawer.



Meanwhile, I found a good job at a radio station. A year later I discovered the yellow shirt hidden in a rag bag in my cleaning closet. Something new had been added. Embroidered in bright green across the breast pocket were the words "I BELONG TO PAT."



Not to be outdone, I got out my own embroidery materials and added an apostrophe and seven more letters. Now the shirt proudly proclaimed, "I BELONG TO PAT'S MOTHER." But I didn't stop there. I zig-zagged all the frayed seams, then had a friend mail the shirt in a fancy box to Mom from Arlington, VA. We enclosed an official looking letter from "The Institute for the Destitute," announcing that she was the recipient of an award for good deeds. I would have given anything to see Mom's face when she opene d the box. But, of course, she never mentioned it.



Two years later, in 1978, I remarried. The day of our wedding, Harold and I put our car in a friend's garage to avoid practical jokers. After the wedding, while my husband drove us to our honeymoon suite, I reached for a pillow in the car to rest my head. It felt lumpy. I unzipped the case and found, wrapped in wedding paper, the yellow shirt. Inside a pocket was a note: "Read John 14:27-29. I love you both, Mother."



That night I paged through the Bible in a hotel room and found the verses: "I am leaving you with a gift: peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me."



The shirt was Mother's final gift. She had known for three months that she had terminal Lou Gehrig's disease. Mother died the following year at age 57.



I was tempted to send the yellow shirt with her to her grave. But I'm glad I didn't, because it is a vivid reminder of the love-filled game she and I played for 16 years. Besides, my older daughter is in college now, majoring in art.
And every art student needs a baggy yellow shirt with big pockets.

Stress Management - Acknowledgement Geeta Venkat

Dear Friends,

Here are some tips on stress management.

I thank Geeta for this contribution.

With best wishes,

Ashis Sen

_______________________________________________________

S T R E S S


A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked,


"How heavy is this glass of water?"



Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.



The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.



It depends on how long you try to hold it.



If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.



If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.



If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.



In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."



He continued,

"And that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,

as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,

we won't be able to carry on. "



"As with the glass of water,

you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.



When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."



"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.



Don't carry it home.



You can pick it up tomorrow.



Whatever burdens you're carrying now,

let them down for a moment if you can."





So, my friend, why not take a while to just simply RELAX.

Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.

Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Life is short.



enjoy it!



Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:




* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.



* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.



* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.



* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.



* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.



* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it



* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.



* Never buy a car you can't push.



* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because ! then you won't have a leg to stand on.



* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.



* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.



* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When every thing's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.



* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.



* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.



* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.



* We could learn a lot from crayons..

Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.



Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today....