a story

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam.
He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've got a favor to ask.
I have a friend I'd like to bring with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting.
He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm an leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."
"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."
"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."
"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.
We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives.
I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."
At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told.
The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.
They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around,
but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable.
We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there's someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.
Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer
that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

Rains in Delhi

When it rains in Delhi, it pours...Last week when it finally rained, the city was in a turmoil.. A few days of rain and the capital is at the mercy of the rain gods. Gross mismanagement and life comes to a halt. This makes me wonder what happens to other smaller cities in rain when this is what happens to the capital.

On a more positive side, it helped in bringing down temperatures and the office got shut half day on two consecutive days due to incessant rains. However, we were stuck on road for hours and hours .. Roads were converted into mini black colored lakes full of gutter water...the gutters got freedom to flow ...And trees got uprooted. This also gave us a break from the usual well dressed and grommed selves. I wore an old tee and capris with chappals to work.

But there was no way to venture out. All you could do was to wait at home for the rains to stop. The place outside was a mess with mosquitoes, open gutters, puddles of water and what not. I silently prayed for the sun to come out so that our normal lives are resumed. And finally it did, after 3 days :)

Tulsi : Herbal qualities

Ocimum sanctum or holy basil: You must be guessing what it is? Right? It is nothing but the small herb that grows outside our homes in gardens, pots and bushes. Tulsi it is. I have had many mails by my friends on the benefits of the tulsi plant in the prevention and cure of the dreaded swine flu.
I have always cherished tulsi leaves in my cup of tea. A few leaves plucked from the herb and put in the boiling water adds amazing flavour and taste to your morning cuppa. It also has medicinal value during common cold and cough. Moreover, it is worshipped in Hindu households too.
Just go out, search for a small tulsi plant and give it home in your garden or balcony. Else put a few seeds in a pot and see the plant come up. Holy it is ..

Delhi's autowallahs

Driving is a very essential skill to survive in Delhi. Unfortunately, I quit driving after mastering that skill, a few years back. Driving in Delhi is a pain, it exhausts you to the extent that you are demotivated enough. That does not change the fact that it remains a very important skill ...
Now me being one of the unskilled ones, falls back on autos or someone to drive me to places. The thought of travelling in buses is scary and the reach of metro is limited. The thought of travelling by autos is also stressful with the general perception of autowallahs to be mean, dishonest, impolite and opportunists.
Today was an exception as the two auto drivers I happen to travel with were really nice. They charged me per the meter. The chap who took us back saw that my mother and I were tired of the heat and crowd so he immediately agreed to take us home on meter charges. He also noticed that I was thirsty and was trying to drink the last few drops in my bottle, so he stopped on the way and offered us some cold water from the rediwalla. Though we refused, he got two glasses for us and refused money. His small gesture really touched my heart and I realised that we should never extrapolate our experiences..

Coffee times

Why are we all so stuck up with meeting over coffee? Tea is the common person's beverage. Then why do we all end up in a coffee shop buying expensive cuppas more than we can afford or would like to spend? Maybe because we do not have tea shops? I do not have an answer to this question. All I can recall is a list of long exotic names and most of us have no clue how to differentiate one from another. Here is a small attempt to give you an overview

Black coffee: As the name suggests, is drip brew, percolated or French press style coffee served neat. ( no milk). It is bitter and you really need to cultivate a taste for it to relish it

Espresso: basic standard espresso with a shot of whipped cream on top. Caffè, espresso, is a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee

Americano: A single shot of espresso with about 7 ounces of hot water added

Caffe Latte: A single shot of espresso in steamed (not frothed) milk. The ratio of milk to coffee should be about 3:1, but you should be aware that latte in Italian means ‘milk’

Cafe Macchiato: A shot of espresso with steamed milk added. The ratio of coffee to milk is approximately 4:1.

Cappuccino: Usually equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and frothed milk

frappe: cold coffee

Irish coffee: A coffee spiked with Irish whiskey, with cream on top.

Mocha: This popular drink is basically a Cappuccino or Latte with chocolate syrup added to the mix.

Turkish Coffee (also known as Greek Coffee): Made by boiling finely ground coffee and water together to form a muddy, thick coffee mix.

growing out....

We all grow out.. grow out of things, of people and of jobs.. I've experienced this all my life. What I liked 2 years back is different from what I like today. People whom I left long back do not evoke much interest when they are back after a long gap. Work, whatsoever it may be, becomes monotonous after a time. Rare are the things, people, etc that keep your interest alive forever

Essentials to beat the heat

1. A pair of sunglasses.. a must

2. umbrella

3. A good sunscreen

4. An air conditioner

5. A pair of capris... cool during summers

6. Cool summer t shirts

7. A nice television set to spend the time all at home

8. Nimbu paani, roohafza and chilled coke

9. Lots of ice cream

keep ur head cool ;)

michael jackson

I was shocked to see the sms i received this morning... death of the pop star michael jackson...My memories went back to my childhood days when I used to listen to his songs.. specially black or white....Bad and dangerous... The one cassette I used to own had all songs of this legend. And I used to hear it over and over again trying to imitate his voice and steps...And slowly with time his charm and memories faded away . Still cannot believe that he is no more ...

disagreements

what are disagreements and why do they happen? I feel disagreements are a part of my daily life and move on. I really find it difficult to manage relationships with people who cannot live with disagreements.

I get turned off by people who always like agreements and withdraw when they experience disagreements.

I think arguments are healthy and its good to be with people who are a little different from you..

Tea harvesting

fine plucking: When plucking the leaves for a high quality tea, they pluck the bud and the second and third leaves only. If more leaves are taken with the bud it is said to be a coarse plucking and produces a lower quality tea.

A typical tea bush will generally produce about three thousand tea leaves a year. this makes only one pound of tea.

Tea is graded by size. A whole leaf has better quality than broken leaf