Ek - The power of ending in a 1

The festive season is here again, and there is a lot of excitement, and hope in the air that the gloomy days and the dreaded R (read Recessionary) days are behind us.

One of the earliest memories I have of celebrating Diwali and New Year is that of waking up early in the morning, dressing up in new clothes, and visiting friends and relatives to wish them love and luck for the upcoming year.
We children used to have a gala time, gorging over sweets and receiving gifts and cold cash; inevitably in strange denominations like Rs 11/-, Rs 21/-. Rs 51/- or Rs 151/- etc...

I always wondered what was the rationale behind giving cash in such odd denominations. I never received my pocket money in such strange denominations; it always used to be a round figure.

Only recently did I come to know the significance of giving gifts and donations ending in a 1.

As per our ancient scriptures, a cash gift received, which ends a 1 indicates that the giver wishes us love, luck and that the blessings of the giver are with us with this gift.

In times of tragedy also people do make donations.
Here too, there is a practice of ending a donation on a one, like donating Rs 101/-, Rs 1001/- etc/
Here, it signifies that the donor sympathies are with the victim, and the donor wishes to do all that he can to help; but, at this point of time this is the maximum contribution that he can provide for.

So, the next time you are making a donation, remember to end on a 1!

VOTEs' in a NAME ?

They say that

"Behind every successful man is a woman"

;
and Shakesphere has also remarked that

"Whats in a name?"

Combine the above two sayings, and you have "Whats in the name of a successful man, behind whom is a woman??".

My name has appeared in the daily national newspapers on two occasions (which I consider an achievement in itself), and on both of these occasions, the above (clubbed) saying has held forte.

The first occasion my name ever appeared in the newspaper was in the Times of Oman, immediately after the declaration of the Class X board results; I had top scored in one of the subjects then.

The second time my name appeared in the newspaper was recently during the 2009 national elections. Inspired by the JaagoRe campaign, and desperately wanting to exercise one of my rights as a citizen of a democratic India, I had spent many a weekend visiting my constituency to enquire about my Voter ID card; but never did receive it.

Then, on the D day (make it E day for Election Day) I was one of the first persons to queue up for registering my vote. Here, I had to scan through hundreds of sheets of paper to figure out if my name was in the list.

I was aghast to see that my name did appear on the list, but was spelt as Manisha. Gajjaria, and registered as a female. The voting booth officer didnt allow me to vote, as he reasoned that the statistics of the country would be hugely affected if I voted as a female; After a lot of running around, and sharing my disappointment with the Chief Officer @ the Polling station, I was finally allowed to vote.

After a couple of days of voting, there was a news snippet titled "Gender Blues" published in the Times Of India, Pune edition dated 27th April, 2009; which carried my story (as if it were):

There are the State Vidhan Sabha Elections today @ Maharashtra - 13th October, 2009, I am stepping out to VOTE; hopefully, previous mistakes should have been corrected this time round;

Will update @ Blog whether the 13th will prove lucky for me...Stay tuned;

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

This is a lovely mail forward that I received today from my dear friend, Chill;

Friends,

Friendship is not about “I m sorry “ its about “abbe teri galti hai “

Friendship is not about “I m there for u “ its about “kahan marr gaya saale “

Friendship is not about “I understand “ its about “sab teri wajah se hua manhus“

Friendship is not about “I care for u “ its about “kamino tumhe chhod ke kahan jaunga “

Friendship is not about “I m happy for ur success “its about “chal party de saale“

Friendship is not about “I love that girl“ its about “saalo izzat se dekho tumhari bhabhi hain “

Friendship is not about “R u coming for outing tomorrow “ its about “ nautanki nahi, hum kal bahar ja rahe hai “

Friendship is not about “Get well soon “ its about “ Itna piyega toh yehi hoga“

Friendship is not about “All the best for ur career“its about “bahut hua, abhi toh switch mar saale“

Cheers to our friendship!

16th November, 1989

This is one date that every Cricket lover across the world should care to remember.

On this very day, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, then all of 16 years stepped out onto the Test arena; and has since then conquered everything the world of cricket has had to offer, and much more.

I might have been around 6 years old at that time; but I do remember the time when Sachin played for India for the first time. I was in Muscat, Oman at that time, still learning the intricacies about the game.

This was before the Cable TV era; and people used to then follow the Cricket match updates on radio. I remember that day when Sachin made his debut; my father had come home excited and shared with us this news.

At that time, I had the following questions to ask my dad: How can somebody, who at that age should be in school, actually play for India?

In my mind, I had already framed some answers:
Maybe, Cricket is not so popular a sport in India, so hes' gotten a chance;
Another thought which had come up to my mind at that point was that the Indian team would have run short of players at the start of the match due to some players unwell; and they would have picked up somebody from the crowd to cover up; and this is how Sachin would have got picked in the side.

Then I used to dream of similar things happening to me :-)

Over these two decades, Sachin Tendulkar has become a role model for the young and old alike; for the gentlemanly manner with which he has gone about things, and carried and lived upto the expectations of the nation single handedly.

We are all too privileged to have lived in the Tendulkar Era.

PS: I am currently enjoying reading " Sachin Tendulkar: The Definitive Biography by Vaibhav Purandare"; and some of my doubts raised above have definitely got cleared; but I still do get similar dreams!
:-)

Garden of Life

What's in a Garden that draws persons of all ages, and from all walks of life.

A simple Garden can be best described as having lush green grass, and a few Swings,Slides, Merry-Go-Rounds etc; where kids have a gala time; and adults can spend some quality time with their family and with nature.

The Grass represents natures attitude towards us; you may trample over the grass, shred the grass buds; but it refuses to die down; it just grows up the way it is destined to.
This is the Never Say Die attitude that nature wants us to imbibe.

The Swing is one of the first equipments that a child learns to play in the garden. It represents the starting point.
Given a slight Push, the child can then continue to be in motion, enjoying the periodic going up motion, and the shrill in the tummy while coming down.
We all require that little initial push to shake off our inertia.
Very few of us have an Auto Start button; we need to be Kick started into motion.

The Slide remains one of the favorites with kids. They love climbing onto the top of the Slide, and sliding down; and redoing the thing all over again.
This represents our daily grind. Climbing the Ladder to anywhere worth going is always tough, and takes time and effort. However, the Slide down is fast. Once down, we have to again aspire to reach the top.

However much we may proclaim that the The World is Flat; the fact remains that it is round. The Merry-Go-Round helps us realize that what goes around, is what comes around. Do good, and good will happen with you.

So, feeling a bit bored today; a bit dull? Take a walk through the nearby Garden; and appreciate the Garden Of Life.