Short story from maktub (reproduced with permission) from the website of Paulo Coelho
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Author: msanjay
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take the jump
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climbers and mountaineering
[Anyone who’s actually done any mountaineering might relate to this more… Also maybe mountaineering is an exaggeration, I might consider changing it to hiking 😉 Actually these are just unstructured initial thoughts, I suppose this post will probably get edited over time – but no idea when… and below please regard him = him/her]
Mountaineering can be quite an educational experience…
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possible career directions
Found this in an email I’d sent dated November 2003! Looking back, it dosen’t look like I’ve done anything significant in this direction except maybe very indirectly. It may have been quite a while, but my interests have not changed, they’ve only strengthened. The signs have been pretty strong, definitely the universe has been most supportive [reference: Alchemist].
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A fresh perspective of a mother – not just a Mom!
[source: forwarded mail]
Not Just a Mom
A woman named Emily renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s
office was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She
hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
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comical nostalgia
Was reading a post on comic book day by H.P.
Today I happened to be talking to my neighbour about comics – I can still remember stories from Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha like I read them yesterday! (more…)
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breakthrough in image compression
Arvind Thiagarajan explains how he compressed data, on his way to a path-breaking invention.
An invention that saves money, time and precious resources, and at the same time also exemplifies simplicity.
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upbringing free of fear
I will tell you one thing which may sound unpleasant, so please bear with me and by all means let me know your disagreement. We have been fed with fear all our life. We live on it. I have been told all my life that “water is a dangerous thing” and “there are snakes in the forest don’t go there” and “if you have forgotten to put a flower in front of Gods photo today something terrible will happen” and most frequent of all “if somebody asks where are you going when youre leaving, that’s terrible luck”… a never ending list of all kinds of things (some baseless, and some having some shred of common sense but overly exaggerated). We also strengthen our fears by building our own interpretations of any bad experiences we have.
Over the past week in Honnemaradu, I met many people whom I was very impressed with. People who don’t hesitate to just sleep on the floor of a forest without even a tent at night. People who just allow their 10 year old kids to go boating alone. One of the kids just walks around the house in the darkness in the home if he dosen’t get sleep. One of the ladies there whom I spoke to told me that she restrains herself from warning her kids as far as possible “no no NOOOO don’t do that my God its so dangerous!!”. I am not talking about villagers, but all upper middleclass people. And of course I could observe that these kids had extraordinary commonsense, never doing anything stupid and recklessly dangerous. Most importantly, these kids have on many occasions stayed without their parents for a couple of days, with some family friends, without crying for their parents. I did not feel that this independence at a young age was similar to the American version of independent kids. Unlike Americans, here the kids definitely had a lot of affection and regard for their parents.
[not that I’m complaining about the way I have been brought up 😉 Just an alternate possibility here]
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unexpected events in life
> …I think it really is a grim reminder of how
> swiftly
> and unexpectedly this life passes by. Certainly
> never
> when we have planned or prepared for it!Another reminder today – I tripped while crossing the road and got a (slightly) bleeding cut on my head and very sore knee apart from some other minor things. (So much for my awareness!! 🙂 ) [Later I figured I hadn’t been very alert mainly since I’d skipped my lunch]. Anyway very luckily though a usually busy road, at that moment had no traffic, else things wouldve been much worse. Also it was a reminder that humanity is very much alive (not that there was a doubt but reminders always help 😉 ) – I was very touched with the concern people – complete strangers – showed me. An auto driver got me some water – and when I went into IDP they were even more hospitable – someone got me some tissue papers and one guy cleaned it using dettol – someone ordered me a sandwich – which under those circumstances, tasted like the best I had ever eaten.
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what is love?
(someone had posted this question so here’s an answer…)
Nothing original here, just something that I keep relearning every now and then from countless sources and experiences…
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surprising quote by Einstein
Written in old age:
“I have never belonged wholeheartedly to a country, a state, nor to a circle of friends, nor even to my own family. When I was still a rather precocious young man, I already realized most vividly the futility of the hopes and aspirations that most men pursue throughout their lives. Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig.”